It looked like those photos wouldn't be easy to get back. "I never took you for a fan of Shao Qi," Sange said, flipping through the pictures with a look of utter disdain.
"Hand them over," Liu Yiyi said, holding out her hand. Her tone had already dropped, though Sange didn't notice.
"Brother Qi, how could you just go around giving people your autograph? What if someone uses your signed photos for bad things?" Sange finished with a pointed, meaningful glance in my direction. "How about this, I'll take these photos for safekeeping." Sange waved the pictures in front of Liu Yiyi's face with a provocative smirk.
Liu Yiyi took a few steps back, suddenly lashed out with her leg, and kicked Sange's arm. Sange felt a sharp pain and loosened her grip on the photographs. Seizing the opportunity, Liu Yiyi snatched them up, turned to Shao Qi, and said, "Thank you, Senior."
Ignoring the pain in her arm, Sange shouted, "Liu Yiyi, you stop right there! Put those photos down!" Hearing the commotion, the other students put down their cutlery and looked over.
Unwilling to pay attention to Sange's hysterical screaming, Liu Yiyi walked straight toward her seat. Sange grabbed a bottle of wine from the counter and hurled it at her. "Yiyi, look out!" Shang Hui cried, throwing herself forward to shield Liu Yiyi.
With a muffled groan of pain from Shang Hui, the wine bottle hit the floor and shattered instantly.
Anger flashing across his face, Shao Qi snapped, "Sange, what the hell are you doing?" Ignoring her, he turned his attention to the girl who had been hit. "Are you alright?"
"It hurts a bit." Shang Hui never expected her idol to actually come and care about her; forgetting the pain, she was overjoyed.
While they were talking, Liu Yiyi pulled open the collar of Shang Hui's shirt to check her neck, where a large bruise was already forming. "Are you an idiot? If that had hit your head, I'd be visiting you at the morgue! I could have handled it myself," Liu Yiyi said, her voice steady and unhurried, yet heavily accented with rising anger.
"I suddenly forgot," Shang Hui said, wearing a pained expression yet trying to play it off playfully.
"Wait for me a moment, I'm taking you to the hospital. Right now." Liu Yiyi helped Shang Hui into her seat and then walked over to Sange.
"Who told her not to give me the photos?" Sange said, still acting high and mighty.
"Sange, right? I've always believed in taking a step back to find peace, but I see you're just pushing your luck. I've given you plenty of chances, so why are you being so dense? You need to realize I'm not one of those people you usually bully, understand?" Liu Yiyi's gaze turned ice cold in an instant. She stepped forward quickly and dislocated Sange's wrist joints in the blink of an eye. A pig-squealing scream from Sange echoed through the entire restaurant.
"My rule has always been: if people don't mess with me, I don't mess with them. I gave you face and you didn't want it, so don't blame me." With that, she dislocated the joints in Sange's other hand as well.
"From now on, take a detour whenever you see me." With those words, Liu Yiyi turned around and kicked Sange right up onto the table.
Tan Qiuyan came over to intervene. "Junior, I'm truly sorry about this. How about this—we'll cover Shang Hui's medical expenses, and we guarantee Sange won't bother you two ever again. Junior, why don't you take Shang Hui to the hospital first?" Liu Yiyi walked back to Shang Hui's side, ready to take her to the hospital.
"And, Sange's hands..." Senior Tan Qiuyan's voice rang out again.
"They're just dislocated. A simple bone-setting will fix it." She still knew her limits and wouldn't damage anything vital.
Cao Han chimed in from the side, "Junior, can you put them back in place?"
Liu Yiyi shot him a cold glare. "Why should I help her?" What were these people thinking? How could they possibly expect her to clean up after the mess Sange made?
At that moment, Shang Hui spoke up. She still didn't want Liu Yiyi to make things any more awkward with the upperclassmen. "Yiyi, just help her out."
Enduring the cold sweat on her face, Liu Yiyi walked back over to Sange, grabbed her wrist, twisted it, and pulled it into alignment with a sharp snap. Another shriek escaped Sange's lips. She repeated the process with the other hand. "Seniors, that's done."
"Junior, Shao Qi will take you both to the hospital. You can ride in his car."
"Yay! Awesome!" Shang Hui cheered happily from the side.
Liu Yiyi helped Shang Hui into Shao Qi's car, and they headed to the hospital. The doctor said it was nothing serious—just apply the anti-swelling and pain-relief ointment on schedule, and she would heal in no time. Seeing Shang Hui walk out, Liu Yiyi asked, "Feeling better?"
"Much better. The doctor applied some medicine, and it works wonders—so nice and cool."
"Where do you girls live?" Shao Qi's voice sounded from the front.
"I live in Yushang Apartment, and Yiyi lives in Jinxi." By the time they were on the way back, Shang Hui had recovered quite a bit and started admiring Shao Qi's car. "Yiyi, am I dreaming? I'm actually riding in my idol's car!"
Liu Yiyi pressed down gently on Shang Hui's injury. "Ow, it hurts!"
"Okay, guess you're not dreaming."
"Yiyi, I'm starving. I want to eat something."
"Fine, what do you want?" Liu Yiyi asked her. Beaming, Shang Hui leaned forward toward Shao Qi in the driver's seat and said, "Senior Shao Qi, Yiyi and I want to grab a bite before heading home. Do you want to come?"
Hearing the voice from the back, Shao Qi replied, "I'll take you there."
"Yay! Eating with my idol, I am the luckiest person ever!" Shang Hui chirped happily.
Shao Qi led us to a soup noodle shop. It was packed to the brim, which meant the food must have been good. Seeing Shao Qi approach, the owner hurried over to greet him—it looked like Shao Qi was a regular here and knew everyone well.
Who would have thought that someone of Shao Qi's status would know such a small, humble eatery? She had always assumed that "celebrities" cared deeply about such things—their fashion choices, the restaurants they frequented. But looking at it now, he was actually very down-to-earth.
The owner looked at Liu Yiyi and Shang Hui and asked, "And these two young ladies are...?"
"My juniors, Xiong-ge. We're starving, hurry up and find us a table."
"Yes, yes, yes. Follow me." The owner led us to a table by the window and handed out the menus. "What would you lovely ladies like to eat?" A warm, goofy smile sat on the owner's chubby face.
Shao Qi introduced the house specialties to us. From the side, Shang Hui chimed in, "Owner, we'll take just the dishes the Senior recommended. Oh, and add an extra order of fried rice." The owner took the menu and walked away.
Shang Hui opened the floodgates of her chatter. "Senior, do you come to this place often?"
"The owner is a really nice guy, and the food is great."
"As a celebrity, don't you have to dodge paparazzi? But you seem no different from an ordinary student."
"I'm close to retiring, so I don't really care about all that anymore. Just trying to enjoy a nice college life."
"Senior, I heard Sange is your girlfriend. Is that true?"
"No. All my time is dedicated to my work; I don't have time for a girlfriend."
"That's good. A fine cabbage shouldn't be ruined by a pig." Shang Hui clapped a hand over her mouth in a panic. "No, no, that's not what I meant!"
Shao Qi just smiled. Fearing she had angered him, Shang Hui fell silent. "What about you two? Do you have boyfriends?" Shao Qi kept the conversation going.
"Nope, nope. The guys I like don't like me back," Shang Hui waved her hand dismissively. "Yiyi, I still don't know if you have a boyfriend."
Liu Yiyi was looking at a voice message Qiyu had sent her when she was suddenly called out. "What did you say?"
"I'm asking if you have a boyfriend," Shang Hui repeated.
"No."
Shang Hui wore an expression of sheer disbelief. A girl like Yiyi didn't have a boyfriend? "No way, Yiyi. Someone like you? If I were a guy, I'd never let you go."
"Probably because they can't beat me in a fight," Liu Yiyi replied absent-mindedly.
Shang Hui was left speechless, black lines framing her face. Beside them, Shao Qi couldn't help laughing at Liu Yiyi's deadpan response. "Yiyi, you're truly one of a kind," Shang Hui said, giving her a thumbs-up.