TSIBAMS Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Ye Xing didn’t sleep well all night, the 3D buzzing of mosquitoes around his ears making him extremely irritable. He simply got up to go to the bathroom and glanced at the time, 5:30 AM.

The awkward thing about this time was that he couldn’t be sure if he had actually fallen asleep or not.

He calmed himself down and noticed a few unread messages on his phone, all from Huang Shanshan.

If they were birthday wishes, it was way too early!

Although he didn’t particularly want to see “Happy Birthday” messages, since he had already seen them, swiping through the phone wasn’t a big deal.

The first three were sent shortly after midnight.

– Ye Da, Happy Birthday.

– Are you asleep?

– I have something to tell you, it’s very important.

Probably because he hadn’t replied, she had a change of heart, and sent two more messages around 1 AM.

– I’m sorry, I thought I had enough time to gain your trust first before slowly revealing everything.

– I know it’s presumptuous, can you reply when you see this?

Ye Xing held his phone, feeling groggy. He didn’t know what she wanted to say. Although he figured she was probably asleep, he typed three words and sent them.

– What’s up?

Then he put his phone on vibrate and set it aside, preparing to sleep a bit more.

As soon as he put it down, his phone vibrated. Damn, do these young girls not sleep? He had to pick up his phone again to unlock it.

The moment he opened the chat box, he almost dropped his phone.

– Qi Guang has been locked up by his dad!

Ye Xing rubbed his eyes, making sure he wasn’t seeing things, and double-checked the name in the chat box, it was indeed Huang Shanshan. If he remembered correctly, this person was a little fan who had just recently added him on WeChat.

Am I dreaming? What the hell!

Ye Xing pinched his arm.

Damn, it hurts!

This time he was completely awake. He frowned and opened his contact list, finding Qi Guang’s number and calling him.

“The number you dialed is currently unavailable…”

Listening to the busy tone, he was stunned.

Even if Qi Guang was sleeping now and had turned on airplane mode, why did this girl know Qi Guang? This was too much of a coincidence.

Ye Xing opened the chat box, tapping the screen a few times.

– Who are you?

– That’s not important, but I know you’re Qi Guang’s friend. His phone has been taken away, and he can’t contact anyone. I’ll send you the address.

Then, she sent a string of addresses.

The key person was unreachable, and there was only an address to go on. Instead of a perfectly planned scam, it felt more like a simulation game, except this NPC felt more real than one in an ordinary game.

– Why should I believe you?

After Ye Xing hit send, he didn’t close the chat box, quietly watching “Typing…” appear and disappear on the screen. After going on for two minutes, he received a photo.

On a dark leather sofa, there was a schoolbag lying there.

It was Qi Guang’s schoolbag. Even the ink stain on it was exactly the same.

Ye Xing took a difficult breath, memories flooding back. He clearly remembered that yesterday after school, Qi Guang had gotten into his dad’s car carrying this schoolbag. And at that time, Qi Guang hadn’t appeared to resist at all.

Was he actually tricked?

At the same time, he also vividly remembered the surveillance video from that day. He couldn’t forget Qi Guang’s disgusted attitude and aggressive tone towards that man. He had thought that after that suicide attempt, it was all over, but he hadn’t expected this abduction!

Damn it! He knew something bad would happen after school yesterday!

How could someone be so shameless! Isn’t Qi Guang very smart? How could he stupidly fall into someone’s trap! Isn’t he good at fighting? How could his phone be taken away!!

The more Ye Xing thought about it, the angrier he got. Not having time to ask more questions, he quickly jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom.

He vigorously brushed his teeth while glaring at himself in the mirror. He looked very tired because he hadn’t slept well, and his eyelids were twitching uncontrollably.

He couldn’t care about his appearance at this time.

He hurriedly washed his face, threw on some clean clothes, and went out. It was still dark, the sun hadn’t peaked over the horizon yet, but there were already two or three pedicabs on the street looking for customers. He almost bumped into one when he rushed over to stop it.

After getting into the back of the pedicab, he finally had time to stop and think — how was he going to get Qi Guang out?

He wondered if Shuai Xiaoyun would know more about the situation. He tentatively sent her a message but didn’t receive a reply. Ye Xing looked at the time, it was past six.

A normal girl wouldn’t reply to messages at this time, except for Huang Shanshan. He opened her chat again, zoomed in on the schoolbag photo, and fell into thought.

He had never been so worried about someone else’s affairs before. Was his reaction today too impulsive?

But he already owed him, didn’t he?

So, if he hadn’t hurt him, hadn’t wronged him, would he still be this determined?

The answer was definitely yes. Thinking about this, he suddenly felt excited. If they hadn’t had a falling out, how would anyone else be able to give him this information? He would know all of Qi Guang’s plans like the back of his hand!

Annoying!

The most annoying thing was that he didn’t know how to rescue Qi Guang. His mind was blank when he rushed out, and now that he was calmer, he began to doubt his own ability to go alone.

Maybe it would be better if he called Xu Ge, Bai Shu, and Zhou Tian.

But he couldn’t wait.

No matter what, he had to get there as soon as possible, before Qi Guang did something impulsive or harmed himself.

Ye Xing checked the route, planning to take a bus to the train station, then a two-hour train ride, and finally a taxi. He would be able to get there before lunch, still in time for a meal.

After being in Chen Town for too long, he had almost gotten used to its atmosphere. Holding the ticket and getting on the bus to leave, he even had the illusion of going on a trip. He remembered when he came to this city with his suitcase, it had only been a little over a month, and so much had happened.

Things had changed.

He received a message from Huang Shanshan on his phone.

– Tell me your plan, I’ll help you.

Ye Xing tapped on the keyboard and replied.

– I’m on my way, I’ll be there by noon.

She probably hadn’t expected him to move so fast. She didn’t know what to reply, and didn’t even have the “Typing…” notification. After two minutes, she sent a message.

– Call me when you get there.

Then she sent a phone number.

Ye Xing tapped the number, clicked to save it to his contacts, and entered her name. He swiped through his Moments, quickly finishing all the updates.

Waking up too early was quite boring.

So he clicked back into the chat and pressed the number, calling her.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Ye… brother.” It was a soft, young voice, and she spoke a little cautiously.

“Sorry, although you won’t tell me who you are, I still want to know, how did you confirm that I know Qi Guang?” Ye Xing asked.

Besides his own paintings and photos, there wasn’t any personal information on his Weibo, let alone photos of his friends. And the photos weren’t even of people.

“You drew a picture of him, do you remember?” Huang Shanshan said, “He posted it on his Moments first, then I saw it on your Weibo.”

Ye Xing finally remembered the painting of Qi Guang studying in the study. “So that’s when you started planning to get closer to me?”

This girl seemed very familiar with Qi Guang, why go to so much trouble to get to know him?

“I’m really your fan,” she quickly explained, “I was just silently following you, but I had no choice. Qi Guang blocked me, so I had to come to you.”

The more Ye Xing listened, the more confused he became. An uneasy feeling started to spread within him. “Who are you exactly? What’s your purpose?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not a bad person. It won’t hurt to tell you, you’ll find out sooner or later…” She paused and continued, “I’m his younger sister.”

“Younger sister?” Ye Xing’s eyes widened. “He never mentioned you to me.”

Qi Guang, how many secrets do you have?

“That’s normal, he probably hates me,” Huang Shanshan’s voice became cold. “If it weren’t for me and my mother, he wouldn’t have run away from home.”

“I’m sorry.” Ye Xing felt very uncomfortable. Although he was shocked, there were many complex emotions. Qi Guang didn’t like others knowing about his family matters. Ye Xing even worried that knowing this would make it harder for him to reconcile with Qi Guang.

Huang Shanshan’s emotions were also fluctuating, her voice getting louder. “And I hate him, and his self-righteous dad! I even hate my own mom! If my dad hadn’t been struggling financially and hadn’t agreed to let me live with them, I would never have moved in with that family.”

“Huang classmate…”

“I’m sorry, I got a little agitated. I’ve always felt sorry for Qi Guang, because I was partly responsible for him leaving. Before, I took my anger out on him because I hated what the adults did, I was so immature.” Her voice returned to its original level, but it was still hard to hide her uneven breathing. Then, she spoke softly, almost to herself, “He and I are actually the same kind of people.”

Ye Xing felt a little sad hearing the last three words. Why should the younger generation bear the consequences of the adults’ sins? He comforted her, “Thank you for telling me all this, and thank you for being willing to help him.”

“I’m sorry, it’s your birthday today, I didn’t expect this…” Huang Shanshan was still breathing unevenly, sounding like she was about to cry.

She was really just a kid!

From her voice, she sounded no more than fifteen or sixteen years old.

Although he didn’t have a younger sister and had never known what it felt like to be a big brother, he instinctively treated Qi Guang’s sister as his own younger sister. Hearing her voice sounding so wronged, he found it both funny and heartbreaking.

“There’s nothing to apologize for, you didn’t do anything wrong.” He said seriously.

“Yes, there is! The birthday video I mentioned before was fake, it was just to trick you into adding me on WeChat.”

“…”