"They're shaking people down for money."
"What should we do? Should we keep going?"
"Let's take another route. I'm a little scared..."
Miao Jing followed her friends, quickly turning back the way they came.
"You there! What are you running for? Come here!" someone roared behind them. "Just you few, dare to run and see what happens? Get over here!"
Five or six girls trembled to a halt, shrinking back as they turned and shuffled step by step toward the voice.
The one who shouted was a dark-skinned boy wearing a denim jacket, a cigarette dangling from his lips, holding a wooden stick. His eyes swept over the young girls. "Where were you trying to run off to?"
"B-back to school."
"What for? To tell the teacher or find security?"
"N-no, we're going back for evening self-study."
"If you dare report this to the school, you're asking for trouble, you know that?!"
"We know!"
A pale, chubby boy walked over, noticing the snacks in the girls' hands and knowing they must have money. "How much money do you have on you? Show us."
"N-not much." The girls panicked.
"Yi Ge said not to rob girls. It's beneath us." The dark-skinned boy swung his long stick, tapping his chubby companion. "Let them go. Girls are the best at tattling."
"Go on, get out of here. If the school finds out..." The chubby boy's sharp eyes caught a student ID in one girl's pocket. "Class 5, Grade 7. You lot will regret it if this gets out."
"Okay..."
The group of girls hung their heads in terror, timidly shuffling forward with hurried, chaotic steps.
A boy with a crewcut who had been squatting nearby tossed his cigarette butt to the ground and slowly stood up. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, leaning lazily against the wall, stretching out a long leg to block the last girl—Miao Jing.
His voice was listless, devoid of energy. "You—"
His dark eyes roamed over her, noticing the skewer of fried meatballs in her hand. Feeling hungry, he snatched it from her. Miao Jing hadn't expected this and jerked her hand back, shrinking away. Watching her startled, evasive reaction, he narrowed his eyes slightly and smirked contemptuously. "Scared to death?"
He devoured the meatballs in one bite, tossed the skewer to the ground, and clapped his hands briskly, brazenly extorting the junior schoolgirl. "How much money do you have? Hand it over."
The dark-skinned boy had just said—don't rob girls.
Miao Jing's eyes flickered with panic. She glanced at Chen Yi twice, pressed her lips together, and remained silent.
He wore clothes she had never seen before—a black hoodie and jeans. Tall but slouching, he had the look of a shameless ruffian. His chin had a faint bluish tint with a few small cuts from a razor. His eyes fixed on her like a predator's, carrying a subtle pressure yet also a lazy indifference.
Miao Jing clutched the hem of her school uniform, her delicate brows slightly furrowed, lips trembling. Her slender frame appeared timid, as if too frightened to speak.
Seeing her expression of suppressed anger, Chen Yi raised an eyebrow slightly. He unfolded a folding fruit knife, wiping his fingerprints from the blade, his tone cold. "The money? Should I search you myself?"
With everyone watching, the other girls stared at Miao Jing in terror, not daring to breathe. Miao Jing glimpsed the cold silver blade, swallowed hard, and slowly pulled a roll of bills from her pocket, handing it to him.
"How much?"
"Ninety-eight..."She didn't need to buy daily necessities since she lived on campus, using all the benefits provided by Chen Libin's work unit. Her weekly living expenses were only one hundred yuan, covering three meals a day, bathhouse and hot water room fees, stationery, paper, and pens, with a little left over as pocket money. She had just spent two yuan on two skewers of meatballs—one in her stomach, the other eaten by Chen Yi.
Chen Yi nodded, pocketed the money, folded his fruit knife, and nudged her shoulder. "Let's go."
Miao Jing stumbled forward, was caught by a female classmate, and was dragged away in a flash.
The boys were wide-eyed, gaping in confusion. "Yi Ge, didn't you say you don't extort girls? Why'd you target her? And you picked the prettiest little sister—no chivalry at all."
"She's different." Chen Yi indifferently averted his gaze. "Let's go, let's go, time to eat. I've been hungry all day."
—
The girls from the dormitory had gone out together, but only Miao Jing had been robbed by the troublemaker. The girls were uneasy: "What should we do? Should we tell the teacher? Or call home and let them know?"
Miao Jing sat dejectedly on the edge of her bed, staring blankly. "Forget it..."
If she told Wei Mingzhen, she was afraid Chen Libin would beat someone again, and she also feared Chen Yi would bully her like he did when they were young.
Miao Jing borrowed thirty yuan from a dormmate. Her meal card had a balance of twenty yuan, and with ten yuan a day for food, she could barely scrape by for a week—but she had just paid fifteen yuan for the class fee during evening self-study. After deducting water tickets for showers, she had less than thirty yuan to last the week.
She survived on steamed buns for breakfast and dinner, with only one vegetarian dish for lunch. At an age when she was still growing, Miao Jing felt constantly hungry. The school had daily exercise breaks between classes and two PE lessons each week. After running two laps on the track, she would feel dizzy and weak-legged.
Too embarrassed to let others see her plight, she used an English textbook as cover, secretly eating steamed buns on a garden bench.
Suddenly, a small stone flew over, hitting her arm before rolling to her feet. Miao Jing turned to see who threw it—the scoundrel who had extorted her living expenses was crouching in the bushes behind her, holding a cigarette and taking furtive puffs. Smoke curled around his dark, defiant eyes, half-hidden in the haze.
Looking down at her feet, she saw a pink paper-wrapped stone. Not sure what it was, she picked it up and found a large stack of cafeteria meal tickets.
"Don't you know how to go home and ask for money?" His voice was hoarse and cracked, but not unpleasant. "Can someone really be stupid enough to starve?"
Miao Jing was used to his tone and replied coldly, "Where did this come from?"
She smoothed out the meal tickets—paper vouchers sold at the cafeteria window, each redeemable for one meat and two vegetable dishes. There were twenty in total.
"Did you steal these?"
Chen Yi scoffed dismissively. "Lao Li gave them to me... as a prize."
He didn't specify what the prize was for, took two quick drags of his cigarette, buried the butt in the soil, stomped on it twice, and walked away.
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