Chapter 69

“Really.”

Meng Bai could tell from Miao Bai’s expression that she meant it.

She figured Miao Bai fully understood her intentions without needing explicit words like “I love you” or “Will you be my girlfriend?”

Miao Bai got it. She absolutely got it.

So Meng Bai leaned in a little closer. When they were just inches apart, she planted a light peck on Miao Bai’s cheek.

Then she tilted her head and whispered in Miao Bai’s ear, “Then I’ll head home first?”

“Okay.”

“Will you come find me tonight?”

Miao Bai’s reply was cautious: “We’ll see.”

“We’ll see”—that was so like Miao Bai, never one to commit fully to her words. Meng Bai understood perfectly.

“Then I’m really going home.”

“Go on.”

Meng Bai backed up a few steps, said goodbye to Miao Bai one more time, then called out to Zhou An. Only then did Zhou An turn around. “Huh? It’s over?”

“Let’s go.” Meng Bai grabbed Zhou An’s hand and headed out of the courtyard. “Hurry, my parents are waiting for me to eat dinner.”

Zhou An looked totally baffled. “So, success or failure?”

“I’ll tell you later!”

With a creak, the courtyard gate swung shut. Meng Bai’s figure gradually vanished from Miao Bai’s sight. Miao Bai glanced down at the flowers cradled in her arms and sank into thought.

~~~

Zhou An had a barrage of questions the whole way back.

“Did she say yes? Did she say yes?”

“You guess.”

“How did you ask her? How did you ask her?”

“You guess.”

“How am I supposed to guess? I covered my ears super tight! I didn’t hear a single thing!” Zhou An flailed her arm and thumped Meng Bai’s shoulder hard. “She said yes, right? Look at that smile—you’re beaming!”

Meng Bai’s lips curved into a full, radiant smile. “Yeah, I’m pretty happy about it.”

“Huh? So you two are officially dating now? She really agreed?”

“I didn’t ask straight out, but she knew what I meant, and she didn’t turn me down.”

“Ohhh—” Zhou An drew out the sound long and knowing. “I think I get it.”

Rustling through the tall grass, they soon pulled the bicycle up to the house. The light in the main room was still on.

“Why don’t you just eat at my place? It’ll save me from Dad yelling at me for being late.”

“You’re using me as a human shield!”

That’s what she said, but Zhou An hurried ahead, drawn by the tantalizing aroma of stewed pork rib soup wafting from inside.

The Meng family always ate well—meat at least once a week—and Lin Li was the warm, hospitable type who often insisted Zhou An stay for dinner.

“Back already?” Lin Li was carrying a pot of pork rib soup toward the table when she spotted Zhou An and softened her expression. “Perfect timing—Zhou An’s here too. Come on, join us.”

“You got it.”

“You two go wash up and grab the bowls and chopsticks.”

Zhou An piped up eagerly. “On it!”

It was exactly the rich, creamy pork rib soup she’d imagined, its savory meaty fragrance hitting her like a wave and instantly stoking her hunger.

Zhou An rarely got treats like this at home. Carpenter Zhou and Zhang Caiyun hardly ever cooked.

Meng Xingzhong had been brooding silently ever since they walked in.

Meng Bai parked the bicycle and called out, “Dad.”

He looked at her. “Extra classes at school again? You’ve been coming home so late lately.”

“We stuck around school for a bit.”

Zhou An jumped in to help. “Meng Bai and I finished our homework there before heading back.”

“Oh, got it.” Meng Xingzhong didn’t question it; he trusted Zhou An. “Studying sure is tough work.”

Zhou An laughed awkwardly. “Nah, it’s not bad.”

They all sat down to eat soon enough. Lin Li and Meng Xingzhong had been out visiting relatives the night before, so they had no idea Meng Bai hadn’t come home. They’d assumed she’d left for school that morning.

The adults showed no signs of suspicion.

Meng Bai, though, felt a twinge of guilt, like she’d been caught red-handed.

“Have some more soup.” Lin Li ladled a bowl for each of the girls. “I made it special.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Thanks, Auntie.”

Lin Li went on, “Tomorrow’s Saturday—you’re taking the bus to extra classes, right?”

“Yeah.” Zhou An sipped her soup. “Why?”

Lin Li shook her head. “Nothing.” She shot a glance at Meng Xingzhong. “Come on, you still need to eat.”

Catching her look, Meng Xingzhong cleared his throat. “Right. Eat.”

He hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol that day and picked at his food without much appetite. After hesitating forever, he finally asked, “How are those extra classes going?”

Meng Bai thought it was strange. Meng Xingzhong kept beating around the bush, like he had something on his mind.

“They’re fine. What’s up?”

“Nothing, just curious.” Meng Xingzhong mechanically picked up a pork rib and dropped it into his bowl.

He’d been holding it in for so long that he finally burst out: “The guy running those extra classes—is it Zhang Gou?”

Meng Bai was surprised. She hadn’t realized Meng Xingzhong even kept track of that.

“Yeah, that’s him.”

“He’s bad news.” Meng Xingzhong’s voice carried a sharp edge of outrage.

Meng Bai set down her bowl and chopsticks. “What happened?”

Meng Xingzhong couldn’t contain himself anymore. “That scumbag’s a real piece of work. Yesterday, when your mom and I were visiting relatives, Li Xiaoming mentioned Zhang Gou sponsoring you kids for college. I didn’t think much of it at the time.”

Meng Bai frowned slightly. “You’ve known about that sponsorship forever. Why the sudden freak-out?”

No one knew about what happened with Zhou An—not even Meng Xingzhong—so he had no clue about Zhang Gou’s history.

But this agitation meant he’d learned something new.

“I even called the guy Boss Zhang. Thought he was a straight shooter, but—” Meng Xingzhong scowled deeply. “Caught him red-handed in something filthy! Good thing I did. The girl was about your age, from their village.”

Meng Bai startled. “When?”

“This afternoon. Nothing happened, thank God. I screwed up on payroll and went to the Project Department to find Zhang Gou. Walked in on him pinning some girl to the sofa, trying to rip her clothes off. Couldn’t stand by. I charged in, grabbed her, and hauled her out. She was sobbing her eyes out—turns out her own dad had sent her there. Can you imagine?”

The pork rib soup in Zhou An’s mouth suddenly tasted like ash.

A wave of sorrow crashed over her. She remembered that rainy day—when Carpenter Zhou had dragged her to Zhang Gou’s office. She’d been sent there too.

“So yeah, I’m thinking you girls should skip those classes tomorrow. Now that I know what he’s really like, who knows if he’ll try something with you next.”

Meng Bai glanced at Zhou An. She badly wanted to bring up that other matter, but in the end, she held her tongue.

No wonder Meng Xingzhong had seemed so dejected all day.

It was because of this.

“I definitely can’t keep working at the construction site anymore,” Meng Xingzhong said suddenly. “But that’s all right. I’ll just look for a job somewhere else. As for that bastard Zhang Gou, I’m going to expose him.”

Meng Xingzhong’s thinking was simple: call the police and let them handle it.

“Dad, let it go. It won’t do any good.”

“You little punk! How can you say the police are useless?”

“They’re useful, sure. But Zhang Gou and his crew… it might not be just him. Could be a whole gang.”

Meng Bai adopted a speculative tone, trying to caution her father against rash action.

“That’s all the more reason to leave it to the police. Us regular folks don’t have the power to deal with it.”

Meng Bai frowned in confusion. “But you’re the one who always said not to stir up trouble. Now you want to charge right in. You’re so contradictory.”

“Look, if this hadn’t landed right in my lap, I’d stay out of it, no question. But it did. And if it ever happened to you? I couldn’t just stand by. That guy’s rotten to the core—he needs to be taken down fast!”

Back in his youth, Meng Xingzhong had been one of those hot-headed young men. Middle age had mellowed him some.

But that core sense of justice still burned bright.

Meng Bai understood him. Lin Li understood him even better, which was why she stayed silent.

“What if there’s not enough evidence?”

“There is. That girl’s our witness. I’ve got it all figured out: we go to the police station, lay it all out, bring her in for a face-to-face, and he’s done for!”

“What if she’s too scared to admit it? You said it yourself—he didn’t get the chance to hurt her, since you interrupted. There’s no hard proof.”

Meng Xingzhong drummed his fingers on the table. “But if your dad doesn’t step up, and nobody else does, they’ll only get more brazen!”

Meng Bai fell quiet.

She had to admit, he had a point.

These past few days, she’d been thinking they ought to report it—at the very least, tip off the police. Otherwise, how could they stay vigilant? Who knew when the next victim might turn up.

Hearing him put it that way shook her resolve.

Compared to Teacher Xu Qin’s firm stance on gathering solid evidence first, Meng Bai found herself leaning toward her father’s view. She wanted the police in on this.

“So… when are you going to the station? What exactly are you going to say?”

“Tomorrow. Or hell, right now.”

Zhou An, who had been silent until then, finally spoke up. “Uncle, if you go charging in like that, they’ll get held for a few days at most.”

Meng Bai wavered, torn between urging him on and holding him back. She was deeply conflicted.

Under the table, Zhou An stomped frantically on her foot, signaling her not to encourage him.

But Meng Bai remained torn.

Meng Xingzhong pressed on. “Does he think folks from our town are easy marks? Treating our girls like they’re for sale?”

Those words struck Meng Bai right in the heart, filling her with a sudden sadness.

Zhou An kept stomping, though, and it was starting to hurt.

Feeling they couldn’t afford to act on impulse, Meng Bai tried to dissuade him. “Dad, why not wait a little while?”

“Tch. Why are you such a scaredy-cat? What’s there to be afraid of?”

“I’m not scared…”

It was hard for Meng Bai to voice her real concern. She thought it would be better to leave this to Miao Bai.

Let her dig up the real evidence, put the guy away for good—not just a short stint behind bars.

But how could she say that?

Meng Xingzhong didn’t even know Miao Bai existed.

Such a dilemma.

“I’m reporting this for sure,” Meng Xingzhong growled, his anger building by the second. He couldn’t wait another minute. “No—I’m going right now.”

“Don’t, Dad!”

“Come on! Let’s go now. We’ll all go together and show the whole town what a piece of trash Zhang Gou really is!”

“Dad, no one’s going to believe us.”

Meng Xingzhong ignored her. He was probably still seething over losing his job. “Let’s go! Right now! Round up all the neighbors.”

When a grown man got this worked up, no kid could rein him in.

Lin Li saw the recklessness in it and jumped in to calm him. “Easy, Old Meng. We need to talk this over first.”

“No talking! The angrier I get, the worse it seems!” Meng Xingzhong snatched up his jacket, flung open the door, and stormed into the courtyard. Dusk had already fallen.

Next door, a gaggle of neighborhood aunties sat gossiping in their courtyard after dinner.

Meng Xingzhong’s furious stride drew their eyes at once.

“What’s eating you, Old Meng?”

“Off to the police station.”

Their faces lit up with excitement. “What happened? Spill it!”

Meng Xingzhong played it coy, dangling the bait. “Ran into something bizarre today. Only the cops can straighten it out.”

One of them was already on her feet, eager to tag along. “What kind of bizarre? Come on, tell us!”

Meng Xingzhong smoothed his collar. “Let’s go—everyone come! I’ll fill you in on the way.”

Meng Bai hurried after him and tugged at his sleeve. “Dad, this is a bad idea. Listen to me—we’ll end up regretting it.”

“Stay out of it.” He shook her off, channeling his full fatherly authority. “While I’ve still got this fire in my belly, we’re getting this done today!”

The neighbor aunty, her face alight with gossip-fueled glee, ducked inside for her coat.

“Hang on, Brother Meng—I’m coming too!”

“What’s the deal? You’re all going? Count me in!”

“Everyone! Let’s all go!!!”