"Brother, let me tell you, today the teacher gave us an extra question. No one in the class could solve it, so I raised my hand. The teacher let me go to the blackboard to do the question. I solved it quickly, and the teacher praised me in front of the whole class."
Big hand holding small hand, the young boy and the little child walked on the street, their shadows stretching out in the sunset, harmonious and warm.
The child walked obediently all the way, head tilted up, dark eyes fixed on the young boy, continually talking about interesting things that happened at school today, sometimes pouting, sometimes smiling with twinkling eyes.
The young boy carried two backpacks, one large and one small, the simple combination of jeans and a white short-sleeve shirt highlighting his slender figure. The silver nameplate necklace hanging from his collarbone occasionally reflected bright light in the sunset.
When the child reached the most interesting parts of his story, the two similar faces, one exquisitely handsome, the other adorably tender, both showed smiling eyes and upturned mouths, making passersby momentarily lost in their expressions.
"Very good, you have your brother’s style." Bi Xia lavished praise on Little Bun.
Little Bun raised his chin proudly, "Of course, I’m your little brother, and you’ve taught me a lot of questions!"
Bi Xia chuckled softly and led Bi Xiaoyuan toward home. When they passed a corner of an alley, both stopped in their tracks.
They heard the sounds of hitting and cursing coming from the alley, followed by the noise of fists and kicks landing.
The small hand tightly held in his moved. Looking down, Bi Xia saw Little Bun looking towards the alley, hesitating for a moment before asking, "Brother, should we help?"
Bi Xia made a shushing gesture towards Bi Xiaoyuan, closed his eyes slightly, and listened carefully to the voices coming from inside.
"Bi Wu, you asked us to help smash your relative’s store, but in the end, we didn’t smash it, and instead, we all got beaten up. This medical expense, you better cover it," a gruff voice said.
Bi Xia opened his eyes and frowned, not expecting to run into Bi Wu here. What a coincidence.
But... it was clearly aimed at Bi Wu.
Seeing Bi Yuan’s expectant gaze, Bi Xia paused, then continued listening.
"Cover what? I got hurt worse than you all, and you didn’t even get the job done. You got beaten up by someone much smaller, and you still dare to talk!" Bi Wu panted, obviously injured, his voice weak and floating.
"You dare talk back to me!" Clearly pissed, the other guy sounded like he kicked something, followed by Bi Wu’s scream, "You promised us ten thousand if we succeeded, now not only is there no money, but we also got beaten. I tell you, you have to compensate us!" ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ⓝovelFire.net
"Compensate? I didn’t hire anyone to beat you, why should I compensate?" Bi Wu retorted.
The guy sneered, "I don’t care, today, if you don’t come up with the money, you’re not leaving!"
"Didn’t your family have plenty of money? What, can’t come up with it now?!"
Bi Xia’s starry eyes darkened as he pieced together the situation. It was nothing but Bi Wu stirring up trouble at his store before, beaten up by him, and now the gang was shaking him down for the unpaid money and possibly medical fees, taken down by someone else too.
"Brother, should we help?" Bi Xiaoyuan, seeing Bi Xia in a daze, tugged his hand, asking softly.
Bi Xia looked at Bi Yuan. If Bi Xiaoyuan wasn’t there, she would just walk away. Bi Wu’s fate meant nothing to her, but the issue was that Bi Xiaoyuan was here...