That day was pure chaos. At the very end, police sirens wailed against the darkening sky, finally separating the two groups of brawling people.
Zhou Wan witnessed firsthand what Lu Xixiao looked like in a fight.
She finally understood why even someone like Luo He feared him.
He wouldn’t listen to any reasoning, his eyes bloodshot, reckless, and completely irrational, seemingly unaware of his injuries.
The police car took away a group of people, finally dispersing this chaotic scene.
Zhou Wan was among them, as a witness who understood the situation.
She sat next to Lu Xixiao, carefully studying him from the side. His brow bone was bleeding, his tall beautiful nose had a cut across it, and the knuckles of his hand were scraped raw.
Zhou Wan reached out, trying to hold his hand.
But Lu Xixiao quickly pulled away, turning his head to look out the window, his face cold, not saying a word.
Zhou Wan pressed her lips together and asked softly, “Does it hurt?”
He remained silent.
Zhou Wan bit her lip, and wordlessly, stubbornly reached for his hand again. Lu Xixiao dodged again but finally turned to look at her, though his eyes still carried unspent anger.
“Zhou Wan, you’re something else.”
She lowered her head, not knowing what to say, her eyes growing hot as a bitter feeling rose in her nose.
She inexplicably felt like crying but didn’t want to shed tears in this situation.
She sniffled.
“What the hell are you crying for?” Lu Xixiao said coldly.
Zhou Wan clenched her jaw, forcing back the sob in her throat.
Lu Xixiao: “Cat got your tongue? When people bully you, you don’t come find me, and you even try to cover up for them. You’re something – why don’t you just go with them?”
Zhou Wan’s head drooped lower.
“I just didn’t want you to fight with them,” she mumbled.
“Then why didn’t you run? What good are those legs of yours? Didn’t I tell you to stay away from them?”
“You did,” she said quietly, then couldn’t help but defend herself, “There were too many of them, I couldn’t run. Later they pushed me, and I twisted my ankle. It hurts a bit.”
Lu Xixiao paused, then reached out and pulled up her uniform pant leg.
His movement was rough, yanking the uniform up to her knee, revealing her slender white calf. Her ankle was purple and badly swollen.
Lu Xixiao stared at it for a while, finally unable to hold back a curse under his breath.
Jiang Fan sat in the front seat, watching the two through the rearview mirror.
If Ah Xiao hadn’t been so angry that no one dared to try persuading him, who wouldn’t soften at Zhou Wan’s pitiful appearance? Only Ah Xiao could look at such a face and not only fail to comfort her but continue to scold her.
More importantly, Jiang Fan had never seen Lu Xixiao like this before.
He’d had many girlfriends, and whenever Luo He bullied any of his previous ones, Lu Xixiao would seek revenge.
So Lu Xixiao fighting for Zhou Wan wasn’t particularly shocking. What was shocking was that he was willing to spend so much effort scolding a girl.
After seeing Zhou Wan’s injury, Lu Xixiao grew even more furious, but he couldn’t express this anger anymore.
It just crashed around inside his chest, burning his internal organs with pain.
*
At the police station.
The police asked them to explain the fighting process. Lu Xixiao couldn’t be bothered to speak, and Luo He, with his bruised face, was holding onto his grudge and wouldn’t talk either. Both sides were stubborn, so the police could only turn to Zhou Wan: “You tell us.”
Zhou Wan paused, then related everything that had happened after the second half ended.
Including the unspeakable things those people from No. 18 High School had said.
Anyone who heard would be angry, especially given how the young girl before them spoke so softly, was so thin and weak, with red-rimmed eyes, appearing both delicate and wronged.
The police officers grew increasingly convinced that Luo He’s group was worthless as they listened.
And these were all things Lu Xixiao hadn’t known about.
He had fought Luo He just because he saw Zhou Wan’s injury to her temple, and now he learned about her twisted ankle and how she had been humiliated.
He suddenly stood up and threw another punch at Luo He, both sides erupting again, and it took several police officers to barely drag Lu Xixiao back to his seat. He rarely showed anger so openly, his chest heaving, his gaze cold enough to kill: “Luo He, this isn’t over. Watch me kill you or not.”
The police officer slammed the table hard: “This is a police station! Try making trouble again, and you’ll all be detained!”
Zhou Wan quickly tugged at Lu Xixiao’s sleeve, shaking it to signal him not to be rash.
Lu Xixiao gave her an irritated look and shook off her hand, but at least he didn’t continue making trouble. He pressed his brow, leaning back in his chair, frustrated and weary.
Half an hour later, Zhou Wan finished explaining the whole process, the police finished their warnings, everyone signed statements, and it was finally over.
As soon as Lu Xixiao walked out of the police station, he lit a cigarette.
His nicotine craving had hit.
He took a hard drag of the cigarette, then exhaled, and the cold night wind finally cleared his stuffiness.