LWDC Chapter 75

Chapter 75: No One Cares When You’re Stubborn

Chapter 75: No One Cares When You’re Stubborn

Chapter 75: No One Cares When You’re Stubborn

Ning Fei opened the car door and, unsurprisingly, saw Duan Yunhong.

Ning Fei got into the car: “Director Duan didn’t make a special trip back, did you?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I just happened to be back on business and heard you didn’t even have a ride, so I thought I’d check on you.” Duan Yunhong looked him up and down, coolly assessing, “You made it sound like you were too injured to even stand up to the wind, but you seem to be doing just fine.”

Ning Fei knew Luo Chenghong had been gossiping. He pointed to the gauze on his face: “Five stitches. Scarred.”

“Is there something you are afraid of?” Duan Yunhong chuckled. “Weren’t you completely indifferent to these superficial injuries before?”

Ning Fei glanced at him: “Well, at least it doesn’t make me ugly.”

This remark was partly a complaint and partly a flirtation. Duan Yunhong choked on it, and after a couple of seconds of silence, he asked, “What did the doctor say?”

“Didn’t say anything, just told me to change the dressing myself and come back in a week to get the stitches removed,” Ning Fei replied. “I’m nowhere near seriously injured. Those street thugs, though, one of them got a minor injury from me hitting him with a bottle, and they even tried to shake me down for money.”

“They want to sue you?” Duan Yunhong looked at the gauze on his face, narrowing his eyes slightly. “How exactly did you get into a fight? It’s hard to believe that you or Lin Shengjia would provoke someone.”

Hearing Duan Yunhong’s interrogative tone, Ning Fei didn’t answer honestly. He leaned back in his seat: “Director Duan, did you just call me over to interrogate me? Won’t even let me eat?”

“…” Duan Yunhong had no choice but to say, “Do you have classes tonight? After dinner, do you have time to buy a phone?”

“No classes, I was just about to go buy a phone.” Ning Fei replied confidently. “Since Director Duan is here and called me over, will Director Duan buy it for me?”

Duan Yunhong said, “They’re extorting you, so you extort me?”

Ning Fei thought to himself, this guy’s so stubborn: “Can’t I? Should I get out, then?”

Duan Yunhong: “…Xiao Huang, drive to the city center.”

The driver, who had been quietly acting as an “invisible man” in the front row, said, “Yes, Director Duan.”

*

On the way and during dinner, Ning Fei finally told Duan Yunhong everything that had happened last night, as well as his guesses.

After listening, Duan Yunhong commented: “You must have speculated which of those bastards was the ringleader. Tell me.”

Ning Fei swallowed the meat in his mouth and replied, “It’s pure speculation, no basis.”

“Mm.”

“Then I guess it’s Qin Ran.” Ning Fei said, “Zhu Yueting has already been kicked out of his social circle. If the most useful pawn can’t be used, he has to consider everyone else. Before, when I was being targeted by those two little devils at your Ji family, they mentioned something Qin Ran said. Qin Ran should be playing the role of ‘elder’ or ‘strategist’ in their little circle, and he’s ruthless. Someone who can decisively hire people to beat up Lin Shengjia with money, I feel like that’s Qin Ran.”

“He’s ruthless? Can he be as ruthless as you?” Duan Yunhong took a sip of white wine. “And I’m not part of the Ji family, don’t say ‘your Ji family’.”

“You just spent your luck to get the ‘taking your mother’s surname’ attribute, but your identity should have been ‘Ji’ in the first place, so isn’t it ‘your Ji family’?” Ning Fei chuckled. “I wonder if the street thug you took to the school gate to identify people today recognized his ‘sugar daddy’.”

Duan Yunhong asked, “In the end, why did Ji Xingzhe suddenly take such drastic action against Lin Shengjia? He himself broke a bone to avoid the final exams and going to Shenzhen, so what was the point of messing with Lin Shengjia? If he wanted to eliminate all future troubles and make Lin Shengjia disappear completely, he shouldn’t have just given him a beating.”

“I don’t know either, there’s probably something I don’t know about happening here. In the end, Ji Xingzhe is also weird and cowardly. Even if he has some extreme ideas, he doesn’t have the means or the guts right now,” Ning Fei thought. “Why don’t you go back and see if there are any changes in the Ji family? Your nephew broke his leg, it’s only right for the uncle to go visit.”

“Do you want me to see him, or to scare him?” Duan Yunhong retorted. “Aren’t you afraid that after I go, he’ll take even more extreme measures because of the pressure?”

Ning Fei didn’t care and replied, “Even more extreme is fine too. It would be best if he could do something extreme enough to get him ‘sent in,’ so I don’t have to constantly worry about him causing trouble.”

Duan Yunhong’s voice was cold: “If he takes extreme measures against Lin Shengjia, you still think you’ll always happen to be there, and always escape unscathed? This time, they only had small pocket knives, and they weren’t trying to kill anyone at first. What if they go for the kill next time? You don’t have any superpowers or special physique, just relying on your bare hands, you’re so confident you can take on multiple opponents and protect Lin Shengjia?”

“If you don’t want to go, just say you don’t want to go, why are you lecturing me?” Ning Fei looked at him inexplicably. “How I want to set things up is my business, how I want to do my missions is my business. Even if I fail, it’s my own business. And if I fail, aren’t you and Xie Baolin even happier? Do you need to be here to criticize me?”

Duan Yunhong looked at his face: “Do you think the injury on your face isn’t painful enough? Don’t you feel pain?”

Ning Fei sneered: “What’s wrong, feeling sorry for me? Duan Yunhong, what are you standing on to say this kind of crap? You don’t want to get serious, do you?”

“…You’re really thinking too much.” Duan Yunhong also sneered. “It’s just because half of you is being supported by me right now, and I’m too lazy to find another C partner in this world, so I hope you don’t cripple yourself.”

“Ha, afraid I’ll be crippled and you won’t be able to enjoy yourself?” Ning Fei drank all the white wine by his hand in one gulp. “Don’t worry, I can’t say about other things, but I know a little about this. Even if I’m crippled, you can still enjoy yourself.”

Duan Yunhong said coldly: “I don’t want to discuss this with you.”

“You brought up the topic, but you won’t let me talk about it, who did I offend?” Ning Fei picked up the wine bottle next to him and refilled his glass. “Also, if you don’t want to help me investigate, then don’t investigate. Just buy me a new phone and I’ll take care of the rest myself. Stop pretending to be an emperor here, pointing fingers.”

Duan Yunhong said: “You’ll take care of it yourself? You chose the identity of a teacher, what can you find out?”

Ning Fei said: “If I can’t find out, let the police investigate, what are you being so arrogant about?”

“Even if the police find the person who paid the money, can they find out what happened in the Ji family?”

“If they can’t find out, they can’t find out, not knowing the situation won’t kill me. I asked you to help investigate, and you don’t want to; if I don’t let you investigate, you still don’t want to. Did I beg you to come back? Did I beg you to listen to these things?” Ning Fei simply couldn’t understand what Duan Yunhong wanted to do. He finished the wine in one go, and slammed the glass back on the table. “I don’t think I need you to buy me a phone either. For a phone, I’ll probably have to listen to you yell at me. Originally, this phone was for convenient contact with you. I might as well install a landline at home, why bother taking all this anger for a toy that’s just for connecting with you alone!”

Saying that, Ning Fei stood up: “Thank you for this… no, half a meal. I’m going back. Don’t call the Lin family looking for me, I’ll tell you the number when I get the landline installed.”

Duan Yunhong stared at him, frowning tightly, as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately didn’t say a word. He just watched Ning Fei pull out his chair and walk out of the seat, then suddenly remembered something and walked to Duan Yunhong’s side, leaning slightly to his ear and saying: “Also, don’t come looking for me recently, or I’m afraid I’ll be crippled, and Director Duan won’t be interested.”

After saying that, Ning Fei really got up and left this time.

Several seconds later, Duan Yunhong finally turned his head to look in the direction Ning Fei left. His back was still tall, his steps were resolute, and he didn’t look like he was waiting for someone to stop him. The waiter at the restaurant door opened the door for him, and he even smiled at the waiter. Duan Yunhong had rushed back on today’s flight, went straight to the school to pick him up, and hadn’t even seen him smile at him face to face.

The glass doors of the restaurant slowly closed, and Duan Yunhong was left alone at the table.

*

In the following days, Duan Yunhong really didn’t appear or contact Ning Fei, and he wasn’t even seen on the weekends.

Ning Fei was too lazy to ask about his whereabouts, and even waited until Saturday to get a new landline, and the line was connected on Sunday. On Sunday afternoon, Ning Fei’s new number finally reached Duan Yunhong’s phone.

As soon as the call connected, Ning Fei didn’t bother with any pleasantries, and went straight to the point: “This is my new number.”

Duan Yunhong “mm”ed on the other end.

Ning Fei’s next sentence was: “Then I’m hanging up.”

Duan Yunhong: “So busy?”

“So so. I still have to tell the police about this number, so they don’t call the Lin family looking for me. I also want to find out about the progress of the case,” Ning Fei said calmly, as if the unpleasantness of the past few days had never happened. “Then I’m going to the Lin family for dinner. They want to thank me for saving Lin Shengjia, and they made a table full of dishes and insist that I come over.”

Duan Yunhong asked: “Is Xie Baolin also there?”

“I don’t know. It’s best if he’s not, even his eyes are annoying, I really want to gouge his eyes out,” Ning Fei replied casually. “Oh right, is he your informant now? Are the relationships between you ‘bandits’ so good?”

“‘Informant’? Bah, how is that possible?” Duan Yunhong said mockingly, “He just wants to watch the fun.”

“Watch the fun?” Ning Fei wondered. “He’s been staying because of this? Isn’t that just wasting time? Or does he think you’ll suddenly ambush me and cause a debt of fate, and he’s preparing to wait and snatch your luck?”

“Even if it’s a bad debt, I won’t let him snatch the luck, he understands that very well.” Duan Yunhong responded lightly. In fact, Luo Chenghong’s original words were, “You’d actually help other people, and a debt collector at that, so hilarious, I definitely have to watch this show.” But Duan Yunhong would never pass these words on to Ning Fei, so he said: “Perhaps Xie Baolin just likes wasting time.”

“I see you’re not much better.” Ning Fei gave a sharp comment and quickly hung up the phone. A pile of explanations that Duan Yunhong had prepared, about his movements this weekend and about the situation of the Ji family, were all useless. Obviously, Ning Fei had already assumed that Duan Yunhong wouldn’t care about this matter and was too lazy to waste words with him. He was really “very efficient.”

“Tsk…” Duan Yunhong looked at the phone that had gone dark after being hung up, frowning in displeasure.

“Mr. Duan.” The Ji family’s nanny arrived at the garden gate and called to Duan Yunhong, “The food is ready, Mr. Ji wants you to come over for dinner.”

Duan Yunhong put away his phone and entered the house. When he arrived at the dining room, Ji Zhenwei and his wife were already at the table. And from upstairs came the sound of “thump, thump,” it was Ji Xingzhe slowly coming downstairs with a crutch.

Honestly, this image of “determination despite disability” made Ji Xingzhe look quite pitiful. However, Ji Zhenwei and Madam Ji must have gotten used to it after watching it for a few days, and they weren’t surprised at all. Duan Yunhong silently watched the teenager’s performance, until the teenager saw him and looked shocked: “…Uncle? Why are you here?!”

“I’m back to handle some business, and I heard you broke your leg, so I came to see you.” There was a hint of a smile in Duan Yunhong’s tone, and it was unclear whether he was concerned about his junior or mocking him. “Why don’t you have someone carry you downstairs?”

“He likes to be stubborn. Except for the first two days when he had someone carry him, he insisted on walking by himself,” Madam Ji said reproachfully. “This child has been like this since he was young, very stubborn, don’t try to persuade him.”

Ji Zhenwei said: “The children of our Ji family have been independent and self-reliant since childhood.”

“You should still ask for help when you need it, otherwise you’ll get hurt even more, and what will you do if your limp can’t be cured?” Duan Yunhong replied meaningfully, then changed the subject. “By the way, young Zhe has been injured for so many days, haven’t his childhood friends come to visit?”

Hearing this, Ji Xingzhe’s heart skipped a beat, and he forced a smile: “They came, they came yesterday. They were afraid of tiring me out, so they left after sitting for a while.”

Actually, not everyone came. For example, Zhu Yueting and Qin Ran didn’t come, and Ji Xingzhe tried to gloss over it. But Duan Yunhong didn’t give him this opportunity and only said: “I’m a little confused about which child belongs to which family. You took a group photo at your birthday last time, right? You can point them out to me later.”

Ji Xingzhe didn’t know what he wanted to do, but this fake young master understood that Duan Yunhong’s request was definitely not well-intentioned.

However, in front of his parents, Ji Xingzhe couldn’t think of a way to refuse, so he had to stammeringly agree: “Okay, okay…”