CHAPTER 98: "ARE YOU VERY EXPENSIVE?"

Lu Qingyan’s face immediately darkened.

She frowned and took a step towards Wang Jingyuan. She also gave the middle-aged man a look of warning.

But when the middle-age man noticed that she didn’t speak, he seemed to want to stick himself to her bit by bit, and even his hands weren’t very honest.

Lu Qingyan was at the end of her patience and raised her voice, "Uncle, can you stop squeezing your way over?"

The middle-aged man had been observing Lu Qingyan since she got on the subway. He had thought she was a quiet and shy girl that would suffer in silence when something like this happened. Unexpectedly, she actually dared to speak up.

At this moment, many people in the subway looked over and the middle aged man was embarrassed.

Then, as if he was a dead pig[1] unafraid of boiling water, he boldly and confidently said, "There are so many people in this subway, so what if I accidentally crushed into you? Are you very expensive?"

Lu Qingyan smiled angrily and was about to reason with him, but Wang Jingyuan, who was beside her, pulled her hand and brought her to the other side of him.

He directly used his body to block off the greasy sight of the middle-aged man.

Lu Qingyan shrank in the narrow space between his arms. She raised her eyes and ran into his gaze, and unexpectedly, she had the illusion that she was being held captive by him.

Then she watched as Wang Jingyuan moved slightly and ruthlessly stepped on the middle-aged man’s toe. He seemingly felt that it was not enough, so he faintly twisted his ankle and crushed down the foot with all his strength. The movement was very natural, without any hesitation or even a moment of sloppiness. The middle-aged man couldn’t hide even if he wanted to.

The middle-aged man let out a loud howl. Then he turned his head, revealing red eyes, and cursed at Wang Jingyuan, "What’s the matter with you? You stepped on me!"

Wang Jingyuan finally looked at him. His gaze was cold and sharp, the corners of his eyes carrying the sort of quiet threat that made people’s spines stiffen. "There are so many people here," he said slowly, "so what if I accidentally stepped on you?"

He raised his eyebrows and looked down at him coldly with lowered eyes. Then he used the same questioning tone the man had used on Lu Qingyan and asked, "Are you very expensive?"

The surrounding people laughed and they probably also understood the situation.

The middle-aged man wanted to take advantage of the girl under the cover of the large amount of people.

Then the girl called him out on it, but he still didn’t admit it, so the girl’s boyfriend couldn’t stand it anymore and immediately defended her.

"Serves him right. Trying to take advantage of a girl in public, disgusting."

"Nowadays, there really are all kinds of people with no shame."

"Right, that girl already called him out, yet he still acted so bold and confident."

"Her boyfriend is really too handsome though, even our school grass[2] doesn’t look so fine."

"I originally wanted to ask for his WeChat...how embarrassing, fortunately I didn’t go."

"The one in my family wouldn’t stand up for me like this, it’s really true that there’s no harm as long as there’s no comparison."

The middle-aged man was scolded like this by the people around him and his face darkened one moment and turned pale the next. He practically got off the subway the moment they arrived at the next station.

Lu Qingyan looked at the back of the man who fled in defeat and whispered her thanks to Wang Jingyuan.

Wang Jingyuan casually responded, it appeared that he hadn’t taken it to heart.

Later, when they left the subway and reached the station entrance, the two discovered that the rain had gotten much heavier.

The two waited for a while and discovered that the rain didn’t show any signs of subsiding. In fact, the rain was getting increasingly more fierce.

Lu Qingyan noticed how Wang Jingyuan would look down at his watch from time to time.

She felt that he probably had something he needed to go to, so she said, "Are you in a hurry? It’s okay, I can run back by myself. In any case, I can take a shower once I get back."

After she finished, she moved, ready to step out of the subway station. But who would have expected that the person behind her would hold up their umbrella at this time.

The boy held onto the umbrella handle with his hand full of distinct bones, and a beautifully curved jaw was exposed under the black umbrella.

Lu Qingyan was somewhat surprised, "This umbrella probably isn’t enough anymore. If we were to use it together now, we will probably still get wet."

Wang Jingyuan followed her, "It’s better to have something than nothing."

The rain was pouring and lightning flashed. The streets were full of water, and even the road ahead was unclear due to the curtain of rain.

It didn’t take long for her to notice his right shoulder was already soaking through—the fabric of his light-colored uniform clinging darkly to his skin. He didn’t even seem to care

Lu Qingyan frowned. Without thinking, she edged closer to him until their sleeves brushed. She could feel the solid line of his arm through the damp cloth.

Wang Jingyuan glanced down at her and Lu Qingyan motioned to him, "Move the umbrella over a little."

Wang Jingyuan didn’t respond and twisted his wrist slightly, moving the umbrella between them.

He didn’t say anything, but she saw the faint twitch of his lips before he tilted his wrist, angling the umbrella more toward her side.

The rain kept falling.

AUTHOR NOTES:

1. dead pig unafraid of boiling water – an idiom meaning "to be unaffected"

2. school grass – typically given to the most handsome boy at a school