Chapter 11 Riding a Motorcycle is Like Flying a Rocket
Those who work the nine-to-five grind know just how tough it can be. Qin Chao was no exception. He had endured until nearly noon, when his colleague Chen Yingyang began to pester him.
"Brother Qin, let's have lunch together. I know a quiet place. Come on," Chen Yingyang said, leaning in and grabbing Qin Chao's arm.
"Stop, stop," Qin Chao's head was pounding. "I'll just find a place to eat on my own. Please, let me go."
With that, he broke free from Chen Yingyang's grasp and bolted out the door, making a clean getaway. The security guards couldn't help but burst into laughter, but they were quickly silenced by a glare from Chen Yingyang.
"Stop laughing! If he won't go, you all can come with me!"
"Uh…" The security guards immediately wilted.
"Ah, freedom at last!" Qin Chao stretched lazily and sighed contentedly as he escaped the security room.
At that moment, a commotion erupted at the other end of the playground. Qin Chao turned to see what was going on and saw that everyone was rushing to avoid something, as if a plague had broken out.
"Get out of the way! Move!" A woman's voice rang out, drawing Qin Chao's attention. Suddenly, a young girl on a motorbike careened out of the crowd, her vehicle swaying and tilting precariously.
Behind her was another girl, clinging on for dear life. The second girl was obviously even more frightened, her pretty face drained of color. She was screaming and wailing, clutching the first girl's shoulder tightly.
Her frantic gripping only made the first girl's balance even more precarious. She yelled, "Be careful, Wenyuan! Be careful!" At the same time, she wobbled even more on her handlebars.
It was like driving a tank - the students in front of her scattered like frightened sparrows.
"What's wrong with you, riding like that?"
"You're going to kill yourself! Pay attention, okay?"
"Wow, girl, are you driving a rocket or something?"
Various curses were heard incessantly, as Hu Lili, who was riding her new motorcycle with excitement, almost cried. She thought riding a motorcycle was simple, but when she tried it, it almost cost her life. Tragically, her good friend Fang Wen was dragged along by her and was now in danger of losing her life as well.
The school's automatic door was closed, and the two girls were about to crash into it when a man in a deep blue uniform appeared before them like a savior.
"Move aside quickly!" Hu Lili shouted, afraid of knocking the man down. The man took a deep breath and, in a flash, reached out and pressed down on the motorcycle's handlebar.
With a screeching sound, the motorcycle's tire left a black mark on the ground and came to a stop.
Hu Lili closed her eyes tightly and lowered her head in fear, while Fang Wen hugged her waist tightly. When the motorcycle suddenly stopped, they were both startled and thought they had hit the man.
The man, who turned out to be named Qin Chao, laughed heartily. "Ha ha, it turns out you didn't kill me. That's great."
Hu Lili breathed a sigh of relief, while Fang Wen pinched Hu Lili's waist and said, "You're trying to harm us for money!"
Qin Chao scolded Hu Lili, "You really are something. You were almost hit by a car a few days ago, and now you're out here taking revenge on society!"
"I won't ride your motorcycle ever again!" Hu Lili begged for forgiveness.
Fang Wen was still frightened, "Apologizing is not enough. If apologies worked, why do we need the police?"
Qin Chao nodded in agreement, "For Hu Lili's reckless behavior on campus today, she will receive a severe reprimand. Whether she is expelled or not depends on her future behavior."
"Okay, okay!" Hu Lili immediately put on a very pitiful look and said, "So you two have already formed an alliance so quickly. Well, I will treat you both to KFC for lunch today as compensation, okay?"
"Good, it's settled then." In the northern (northeastern) city, eating at KFC is much more expensive than going to a small restaurant. If Hu Lili could say that, it seems like she's planning to spend a lot of money.
"Very good." Fang Wen expressed her satisfaction. "This queen is very pleased. What do you think, Qin Chao?"
"Since the two beautiful ladies have no objections, then let's get to work at KFC!" Someone treating them meant that Qin Chao would naturally be happy to save some money. However, just as he was about to accompany the two beauties to their parked car, Wang Wenkun, a ghost-like guy, suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Qin Chao!" Wang Wenkun stood at the school gate, holding his waist and looking like an evil landlord from the old society, and said loudly, "You are openly flirting with female students during work hours! I think you don't want to be a security guard anymore. You have repeatedly challenged the school's rules and regulations! This salary will be deducted by fifty yuan as a warning! If you do it again, you will be fired immediately!"
"Who was flirting with female students!" Qin Chao glared, like an angry bull, staring at Wang Wenkun. Wang Wenkun was a bit intimidated by his raging appearance, but still relied on his identity to say, "Look, this female student is right here!" He then turned his gaze to Hu Lili, widened his eyes, and almost threatened her, "You tell me, did this guy flirt with you! If you dare to lie, I will cancel your degree certificate!"
"Why do you have the right to cancel my degree certificate!" Hu Lili was a little annoyed. Wang Wenkun's reputation has always been bad, but she was already a third-year student and knew that these guys are all afraid of being tough. They like to use the threat of canceling degrees to scare new students. But Hu Lili was an experienced person who wouldn't fall for it.
"I didn't cheat on exams, and I didn't fight or brawl. Why do you cancel my degree certificate!" After speaking, this girl took out her phone from her pocket and snapped a picture of Wang Wenkun.
"What are you doing!" Wang Wenkun was startled when he saw that his trick didn't work, and this female student even took a picture of him.
"You threatened me. I will expose you on the internet!"
"You... you..." Wang Wenkun didn't know what to do when he encountered a savage student. Qin Chao was watching with amusement, thinking to himself that a villain deserves to be tormented by another villain.
"Without teasing, let's just forget about it..." Wang Wenkun eyed Hu Lili's phone longingly, his eyes darting back and forth. Qin Chao knew that Wang Wenkun had his eye on that photo, and he likely understood the terrifying consequences of the various "gates" that could be opened if this went public. If this turned into another "Guangyuan security gate," he would be infamous.
"Forget it," Qin Chao knew that if this situation escalated, it would benefit no one. He took Hu Lili's phone and pressed a few buttons. "Director Wang was just joking around with us. Let's delete the photo."
"Cough, cough, that's right, I was just joking. Don't take it seriously, hehe..." Since Qin Chao gave him a way out, Wang Wenkun felt relieved and decided to back down. But he did not feel grateful towards Qin Chao, instead feeling that Qin Chao was deliberately trying to embarrass him. He glared at Qin Chao and left.
"You really deleted it?" Hu Lili snatched her phone back and opened her album, only to see Wang Wenkun's chubby face staring back at her.
"I was joking. It's such a good material, let's keep it," Qin Chao chuckled. "Let's go, you said you would treat us to a meal. Hurry up, I still have to go to work later."
"Shall I ride my bike and take you guys there?" Hu Lili offered.
"We'd rather walk..." Qin Chao and Fang Wen both shook their heads in unison.
The three of them headed towards the nearby KFC, attracting a lot of attention along the way, especially Qin Chao who was dressed in a security guard uniform with a utility belt, making him quite eye-catching.
The KFC was crowded with people mostly looking to use the free Wi-Fi and enjoy the warmth of the place. These people ordered a drink and then occupied a table all day, much to the annoyance of other customers. After waiting for more than half an hour, all three of them were starving and finally managed to find a place to sit.
It was at this point that Qin Chao realized that Hu Lili was quite a big eater. The two of them ordered a burger each, along with a Mexican chicken roll, chicken wings, and fries, which filled up a whole table.
"Wait, you guys can eat all of this?" Qin Chao only took two hamburgers and looked at the table full of food in astonishment.
"Of course, just eat slowly. Treat it as snacks since we don't have any classes in the afternoon," Hu Lili said, pulling out a laptop from her bag and occupying the last bit of space on the table.
Fang Wen also took out a beautiful notebook, but since Hu Lili had taken up all the space on the table, she had to place it on her own lap.
"Are you serious?" Qin Chao was stunned. "You two really treat this like an internet cafe."
"The environment here is great," Hu Lili blinked her eyes, then picked up a French fry, dipped it in red tomato sauce, and stuffed it into her small cherry mouth. Qin Chao had some evil thoughts, but seeing the little girl use her white teeth to slowly chew the French fry into small pieces, he couldn't help but sweat a little. He cleared his throat and waved his hand.
"I only like the restroom here. Also, I don't really like KFC. These are all junk food that can make you gain weight and are bad for your health," Qin Chao said.
"Go die!" The two girls gave him a disdainful look. "Don't talk about disgusting things while we eat."
"Quick, look at this!" Hu Lili suddenly slapped the table, pointed to her computer screen and said.
"What's going on?" Qin Chao and Fang Wen were both startled.
Chapter 12 Is Tomato Sauce Delicious?
"This is the school's forum, and these are the posts from yesterday," said Hu Lili as she tilted her computer screen so that Qin Chao and Fang Wen could see it. She then pointed to a particular post and said, "Look at this post: 'Campus security officer bullies and beats innocent students.'"
When Hu Lili clicked on the post, Qin Chao immediately saw a large photo of himself. In the photo, he was kicking a student who was lying on the ground.
Below the photo was a lengthy, impassioned text that roughly summarized how Qin Chao, as a security officer, was brutal and unreasonable, and had assaulted several innocent students. There were also many comments below the post, most of which were criticisms and insults, with few refutations.
The criticisms were varied, such as:
"Security officers nowadays are too arrogant. Is there any clean place left in this society?"
"Let the brainless security officers go to hell! Give us back our civilized campus!"
"Parents express their concerns about such campus management. They suggest that the school immediately dismiss such people, or else consider the problem of student transfers."
"What the hell! Security officers are even daring to beat students now. Is there still any justice in this world?"
There were also a few scattered comments refuting the criticisms:
"Fang Hua, with your character, you still have the nerve to post this kind of message."
"Lanzhou baked bun (original poster is an idiot), identification complete."
"Fang Hua, f**k your uncle. You stole someone's girlfriend and beat up Liu Chuan so badly, yet you still came here shouting!"
Most of these posts were anonymous, and even those with names were students with significant backgrounds who Fang Hua could not afford to offend.
There were also some who were just bystanders and made random comments. These posts made up the majority:
"Sitting in the front row and watching the drama."
"Posting to earn forum points."
"Wow!" Qin Chao finally couldn't help himself and his anger erupted. He slammed his palm heavily on the table, causing the food, such as fries, to bounce up and down like they were doing ballet, before landing back on the table.
The commotion attracted the attention of everyone in the KFC, and they all looked at this security officer in astonishment.
Qin Chao ignored the gazes of others, his anger burning within him. "This Fang Hua is too good at distorting right and wrong. And there are so many people agreeing with him! Humph, if it weren't for me, Liu Chuan would probably be crippled by them!" Qin Chao's eyebrows suddenly twitched as he remembered the events of last night. It seemed that he had indeed been beaten up by a group of thugs. This student named Fang Hua was really vicious!
"Hush!" Hu Lili quickly covered Qin Chao's mouth. "Big Brother, don't say such things! You're asking for trouble!"
Lowering her voice, she continued, "There are so many students from Fang Hua's school in this KFC. If he hears you, you'll definitely be in trouble again."
"What can he do if he hears me?" When Qin Chao's anger flared up, he didn't care about anything else. He snorted coldly, "He only knows a few thugs. Let them come. I've seen worse."
He vaguely remembered that he had actually beaten up those thugs last night. Qin Chao thought to himself that he had nothing to fear from some punks. He was confident in his fighting abilities and believed that he could easily take care of them if they tried to mess with him again.
Thinking this, Qin Chao became even more disdainful of Fang Hua.
"You've only been here for a day and you've already offended Wang Dianguan and Fang Hua. Who are you?" Fang Wen, who was holding a laptop beside him, couldn't help but ask.
"Who am I?" Qin Chao couldn't help but laugh. "I'm just a tragic man who couldn't find a job after graduating! Thanks to Chairman Su's help, I came to Guangyuan to work as a security guard. Otherwise, I'd probably be begging for food somewhere."
"Hehe, you're not serious." The two beauties were amused by his words. "So you know our principal? No wonder you're so arrogant. You have a backer!"
"I don't know her that well!" Qin Chao shrugged. "I just happened to help her once. She's just returning the favor."
Qin Chao didn't mention his heroic rescue of Su Ji when they first met. It was a memorable moment for him.
"By the way, who is this Principal Su?"
"After all this time, you don't even know who she is?" The two beauties rolled their eyes. "In Su Nan City, who doesn't know about the Su family?"
"The Su family?" Qin Chao admitted that he didn't know. He was not from Su Nan City and had come here alone to seek his fortune after graduation.
"Of course, Su Xianqin of the Su family is a famous conglomerate in Su Nan City! Su Fei is his eldest daughter, the heiress of the Su family."
"No wonder she's so young and rich!" Qin Chao shrugged. "So she's a second-generation rich kid!"
Two beautiful girls laughed again. At that moment, Hu Lili said, "Principal Su is actually a nice person and is good to us students. By the way, she has a sister who is our gymnastics teacher. Her name is Su Ji!"
"Su Ji?" Qin Chao remembered the little beauty who called him "husband" that day, and his heart suddenly warmed. "I still think Su Ji is cuter."
"Of course, this honorary principal and her sister have completely different personalities." Hu Lili typed a few keys on the keyboard and suddenly a beautiful MM's smiling face appeared on the screen.
The MM had a sweet smile on her face, mischievous and seemingly having just accomplished something naughty. She was a spitting image of Su Fei's sister, except that she didn't wear glasses and had a sunny and cheerful temperament.
Moreover, Su Fei's hair was dyed a light gold color, while Su Ji's was completely red and curled into cute little waves that hung on both sides of her ears. Both sisters had light blue pupils, indicating that they were indeed mixed-race.
"You see, this is our gymnastics teacher!" Hu Lili said.
"Compared to Principal Su Fei, I actually think Teacher Su Ji is cuter," Fang Wen commented.
"Yes, yes, and she likes to dance with us! Principal Su Ji likes to dress up in men's clothing, stick on a little mustache, and dance jazz! Wow, she really enchanted a lot of little girls at the time!"
As she spoke, Hu Lili pulled out another photo, once again making Qin Chao's eyes brighten. The picture showed a dashing little MM wearing a black top hat at a slant and two little black mustaches on her sexy lips. This kind of beauty was stunning, and when dressed up in men's clothing, she looked full of heroic spirit.
"Oh? Both the principal and the teacher at your school are beauties. That's interesting..." Qin Chao couldn't help but laugh and suddenly looked forward to meeting these beauties again.
"Of course!" Hu Lili's face suddenly revealed a strange smile. "Our school is quite interesting, you know. Do you know that there have been ghosts in the school recently?"
"Oh? Ghosts?" Qin Chao suddenly became interested. He loved listening to ghost stories. Meanwhile, Fang Wen's face seemed a little off, and she held onto Hu Lili's arm, her face turning pale.
"Of course, many students know about it," Hu Lili said. "It is said that there is a female ghost in the boys' dormitory who often comes out to move around at midnight..."
Qin Chao noticed that Fang Wen's face was becoming frighteningly pale as Hu Lili spoke. She was holding on tight, her knuckles turning white.
"Don't make things up, you're scaring Fang Wen," Qin Chao said.
"I didn't make it up!" Hu Lili rolled her eyes and said, "Wenwen saw it herself, that's why she's so scared."
"Fang Wen, did you see it?" Qin Chao was suddenly very surprised, staring at Fang Wen next to him. A delicate girl like her should not like lying.
"Yes, one night after self-study..." Fang Wen held Hu Lili's arm, trying to stay calm, but her face was still pale, her eyes flickering with panic, as if recalling that day's events. "I saw a white shadow in a room on the first floor of the No. 2 male dormitory, jumping around on two distant upper bunks..."
"Maybe it's just a cat." Qin Chao guessed. Although he liked ghost stories, he didn't really believe in ghosts and spirits.
"It's not a damn cat!" Hu Lili immediately retorted, "The first floor of that No.2 building has been closed for a long time. Usually, the big iron door is locked. I heard that it used to be a girls' dormitory, but then a girl committed suicide. The whole building was closed for a long time until our freshman year, when it was reopened and many boys moved in. But the first floor has never been inhabited, so where did the cat come from, especially such a big cat!"
"Hahaha, maybe Fang Wen was just too tired from studying and her eyes were playing tricks on her..." Qin Chao thought of another reason.
"No, it's not that..." Fang Wen shook her head, "I have very good eyesight, and not just me, many people have seen it..."
"I still can't believe it..." Qin Chao shrugged. "Ghosts and spirits are just figments of the imagination!"
"Hmph, what do you know? You won't say that when you see it with your own eyes in the future!" Hu Lili rolled her eyes at Qin Chao, expressing her disdain.
"Whatever!" Qin Chao retorted by intentionally grossing out Hu Lili. "Look at all the tomato sauce you've dipped, doesn't it look like blood?"
"So what!" Hu Lili boldly picked up a bag of tomato sauce, tore it open, sucked it at her mouth, deliberately smearing it all over her face, and said, "Even if you say it's menstrual blood, I don't care, I love to eat it!"
"Snap!" At the same time, all the bags of tomato sauce in the KFC on that floor fell to the ground. Qin Chao quickly waved the white flag, Hu Lili was too bold, he couldn't match her.
"What do you say? Do you want to try it?" Hu Lili said, holding the red and greasy tomato sauce to Qin Chao's mouth. "It's really delicious, fishy and sweet!"
Qin Chao looked at the so-called fishy and sweet tomato sauce, his stomach churning.
"Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom!" He pushed the chair back, covered his mouth, and ran away. Behind him, he could hear Hu Lili's carefree laughter.
"Hahaha, you're no match for me!"