Her eyes having been hurt, An Ning didn't dare wander into other corners and simply sat down in a spot near the front.
"Big sister, why aren't you playing games?"
"Do you not know how to start a game?"
As soon as she turned on the computer, a group of kids gathered behind her. They stood there watching for a long time, seeing her fingers fly across the keyboard like some gaming pro, yet the screen was filled with English they couldn't understand.
Their questions went unanswered by An Ning, and before long, the area behind her became a no-man's land.
An Ning didn't notice them at all, completely focused on figuring out how to register a domain name.
The .com domain couldn't be applied for by individuals, so she had to work on international domains instead.
Domain registration cost around a hundred yuan a year. An Ning wanted to cast a wide net, but she didn't have that much capital, so she relied on memories from her past life and wrote down five simple combinations of numbers and letters as domain names.
Domains couldn't be applied for online, so she still needed to download an application form, mail the information via post office, and then, once approved, continue with a postal money transfer.
After all that effort, it would take at least a month to hear back. She just hoped it wouldn't disappoint her expectations.
Once she finished with the domains, she typed in the URL of the website where she'd done part-time gigs during college. The address showed an error, indicating that the future website hadn't been established yet.
But that was fine—no matter the era, the internet never lacked kind-hearted people.
She found a forum with high traffic, registered an account, and posted a thread asking for help.
Within a few minutes, she got a forum URL in response.
The forum was divided into three sections: one for unpaid translation of foreign news and works, one for language learning, and the last for job hunting.
An Ning clicked into the section and browsed for a while. There were all kinds of translation requests. She spotted one urgently seeking a legal contract translated from English to Chinese, paying two hundred yuan per thousand characters.
Clicking into the post, the supplementary details were also quite brief.
—The contract to be translated contains a large number of legal and economic terms, with a delivery deadline of within two days. Professionals are needed.
The contact method left in the post was a QQ number.
It was only then that An Ning realized QQ already existed by this time. She immediately registered a few special numbers before adding the employer.
Guan Sheng: [Need a trial translation. Is that okay?]
Little Ning Growing Strong: [Okay.]
Guan Sheng saw the other party's name and felt it seemed a bit unreliable. He thought, could this be some kid who stumbled onto his post, saw the high pay, and had no idea how difficult legal contract translation from English to Chinese really was?
Despite his doubts, Guan Sheng still sent the file.
The other party didn't ask about her educational background, and An Ning breathed a sigh of relief—she wasn't used to making up lies.
Opening the file, An Ning found that the person on the other end had decent character. The trial translation content wasn't too much, but as stated in the post, there were plenty of technical terms.
An Ning spent twenty minutes translating, sent it over, and waited a while before getting a reply.
Guan Sheng: [Wasn't at the computer just now. The translation is very professional. Send the full document via email for the record, and I'll pay half as a deposit.]
Guan Sheng had been swamped lately, running off his feet. Normally, the deposit was thirty percent, but he went straight to fifty percent, just to lock this down as quickly as possible so he could catch his breath.
He read through the applicant's trial translation once more, then thought for a moment.
Guan Sheng: [If you don't mind me asking, are you close to Jiangcheng? Our firm has an open position, and the pay is pretty good.]
Seeing "Jiangcheng," An Ning's fingers paused.
It turned out that the part-time job she found online was in the same city.
That wasn't surprising, though. Jiangcheng was a first-tier metropolis with an economy connected to the international stage, and it had no shortage of law firms.
Thriving Little Ning: [Sorry, I'm only looking for part-time work. I have no plans to work full-time in an office.]
Guan Sheng replied with an OK.
After the two exchanged email addresses, An Ning received the documents and provided her bank account number.
Guan Sheng: [It's late today. I'll transfer the payment to you tomorrow.]
This time, it was An Ning who replied with OK.
The domain registration and the part-time job were both taken care of. An Ning glanced at the time and saw it was almost nine o'clock. Even though she still had time left, she got off the computer.
"Ningning, why didn't you say hello when you came to this area to use the internet? Come on, let's hit the disco later—I'll cover the entrance fee."
The moment An Ning walked out of the internet café, a group of slouching, thuggish men surrounded her. The man leading them looked vaguely familiar to An Ning—he was the same type as Huang Ming. Clearly, he was someone who had skipped the original owner's birthday party last time and dodged that disaster.
While she was in the internet café, she had felt someone staring at her the whole time.
Now it was clear it was this group. They didn't dare cause trouble inside the café, so they waited outside for her to come out.
"Not interested."
An Ning blocked the arm he reached toward her. "Are you planning to harass people in the street, or traffic human beings?"
"Why do you have to put it so harshly?"
His hand, which had tried to wrap around An Ning, was knocked away. Zhang Tian's face lost some composure. He lit a cigarette and squinted at An Ning. "Brother Ming is locked up, and your parents don't want you. If you don't come with me, what, are you planning to sell yourself piecemeal at school?"
With that, Zhang Tian started laughing. As he laughed, the other lackeys around him joined in, with Dong Da laughing the most wildly.
The moment An Ning saw Zhang Tian, she also spotted Dong Da.
She wasn't surprised to see him here. That guy was like a stubborn piece of sticky plaster—he desperately tried to get her attention at school, and outside the school gates, when he didn't dare face her himself, he went and tipped off others.
"Huang Ming is only in for a few years. It's not like he's going in and never coming out. How are you going to explain yourselves to him when he gets out?"
An Ning's words made the group go quiet for a moment.
Zhang Tian was the first to react: "He's looking at at least five years. Five years from now, who's even going to remember him!"
After Huang Ming went in, Zhang Tian took over his position and gathered all his former underlings around himself. He hadn't originally thought about An Ning, but after someone reminded him, he remembered that Huang Ming had such a pretty little girlfriend.
Back when An Ning had dyed her hair blonde, she was already prettier than the other girls. Now that she'd dyed it black, she was even more alluring yet innocent at the same time. Not seeing her in person was one thing, but now that he'd laid eyes on her, he was itching with desire.
"Besides, I'm just looking after you on Brother Ming's behalf. When he finds out, he'll definitely say we're loyal."
"That's right! If you go with Brother Tian, that's him being righteous!"
Dong Da stood at the edge, brown-nosing, his gaze even more sticky and disgusting than Zhang Tian's.
"I used to run with the wrong crowd, and when things blew up, it was 'mutual consent.' Now I'm studying properly at school, I'm a minor, and both my parents are working-class employees. Do you have any idea how harsh the penalties for hooliganism are these days? Are you sure you want to test whether this city is really cracking down hard?"
No matter how viciously the group in front of her sneered, An Ning remained calm. She furrowed her brows slightly. "There are plenty of pretty girls out there, and I'm sure plenty are willing to be with you. Why do you insist on bullying a student who hasn't even come of age?"
"Brother Tian, don't listen to her. She's dead last in school—the teachers don't even bother with her and wish she'd drop out early. Her mom's a stepmother, and her dad already signed a disownment agreement with her. No one's going to look out for her."
"Disowned or not, I'm still his biological daughter. When family members throw a tantrum and say they won't care, they don't actually mean it. If that were really the case, I wouldn't be studying at No. 1 Middle School."
Dong Da saw that Zhang Tian and his crew were starting to be swayed by An Ning's words. Afraid the whole thing would fall through, he decided to go all in and reached out to grab An Ning.
"Brother Tian, since you're already here, don't tell me you're scared of a few words from her. She's not well-behaved at school either—she's just putting on an act in front of you all. You don't need to lift a finger—I'll handle it!"
Dong Da volunteering to do the dirty work saved them the trouble, which was fine by them.
Back at school, An Ning had managed to kick Dong Da to the ground only because it caught him off guard. Facing a guy more than ten centimeters taller and half again as broad as her, An Ning didn't hesitate—she bolted straight for the internet café.
As she ran, she screamed about human trafficking and begged people to call the police.
The internet café was still a ways off. By the time she reached its entrance and pressed her hand against the glass door, she realized no one seemed to be chasing her.
She turned around—sure enough, no one was behind her.
As for Zhang Tian and his crew, some had fled and others had been knocked down. Seeing that the person who'd intervened had Dong Da in his grip, An Ning jogged over and asked, "Please kick him a few more times for me—he's the ringleader."
Huo Qin had been about to let go, but hearing An Ning's words, he instinctively kicked Dong Da a few times.
"I won't do it again! I'm still a student—please don't hit me…"
Dong Da was the type who was all bark and no bite—a yapping dog when he had power to back him up, but more cowardly than a rat when facing someone stronger.
An Ning rushed over and added a few kicks of her own: "Colluding with thugs to kidnap a classmate—you piece of trash, and you still have the nerve to call yourself a student?"
Being disgusting at school was one thing, but getting Zhang Tian to corner her was pure malice.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry—it hurts…"
Every kick An Ning landed was full force, and with Huo Qin keeping him pinned, Zhang Tian and his crew had all fled while Dong Da remained under An Ning's foot.
Only when Dong Da couldn't move anymore did An Ning stop.
"Thank you."
With Dong Da dealt with, An Ning finally turned to Huo Qin beside her. She bowed not only to him but also to his driver standing nearby.
In the year 2000, internet cafés were still mid-to-high-end establishments. This one sat on a bustling main street with plenty of traffic passing by, yet only this car had stopped to help her.
"Uncle, thank you. Are either of you hurt? My school's about to lock its gates, so if you're injured, let me give you money for medical expenses first. You can go to the nearby hospital to get checked out, and I'll come visit you tomorrow, alright?"
She tilted her head slightly upward. The man before her was young and handsome—clearly having nothing to do with the title "uncle"—but An Ning ignored the odd look on his face at the address and played the part of a meek, obedient student. "Uncle, you're both such kind-hearted people."
Huo Qin could see through her wariness perfectly well.
A young woman of her age should be wary of strange men—that was exactly the right attitude. Huo Qin gave a slight nod and turned to leave without a word.
But just as he reached the car, he turned back and walked over to stand before An Ning again.
Meeting her bewildered eyes, Huo Qin tugged at the corner of his mouth. How coincidental—last time he'd saved her, she'd had that exact same look and expression. Only this time, she wasn't hurling a rock at him.
"This time, I'm not 'handsome and kind sir' anymore?"
Huo Qin paused, his gaze sweeping over her watery, fox-like eyes. "You're a college student, or…?"
Her face looked somewhat youthful—not too young, but not exactly grown either. Yet the man lying on the ground was tall, with a face that still carried a student-like air.
The bite mark on his neck had been the subject of teasing for days. Don't tell him it was made by an underage girl.