That familiar magnetic voice carried a teasing tone. An Ning tilted her head up, looking at the slight curve of the man's lips across from her, his handsome face tinged with a hint of roguish charm. She blinked blankly.
What were the odds?
It had been over a month now, and occasionally when she caught a whiff of sweaty male body odor, she would still involuntarily think back to the kind man who had saved her.
Both were male, but most of the boys at school reeked of body odor, while the kind man who saved her carried a faint woody fragrance, mixed with the warmth of his body heat—better than any body wash she'd ever smelled.
Thinking this, An Ning quietly shuffled a step forward, trying to use her sense of smell to confirm whether this was the same gentleman from last time.
Last time, although she had kept her eyes open and looked at him for a long time, her eyes had been filled with uncontrollable tears and her mind had been a complete fog from the drugs, so no matter how hard she tried afterward, she couldn't recall what he looked like.
The reason she called him a kind and handsome gentleman despite not knowing his appearance was, of course, because she'd only given him two hundred and sixty yuan—she needed to make him feel the joy of doing a good deed from other angles.
Who would have thought they'd run into each other again?
And in such a scenario, no less.
An Ning subconsciously touched her hair, which had already turned black again.
Not only was this kind gentleman genuinely handsome, but his eyesight was also quite sharp—he'd actually recognized her.
The girl in front of him looked as if she'd been scared stiff, staring wide-eyed straight at him. Seeing her like this, Huo Qin finally felt that pleasant sense of satisfaction that came from doing a good deed.
"Aren't you in a hurry to get back to school? Let me call you a cab."
Huo Qin gestured with his chin toward the road, not offering to drive her back to school himself.
During the time the two of them were talking, Dong Da had already scrambled away in a panic. Neither of them paid him any mind.
An Ning fell into step beside Huo Qin: "Handsome big brother, you're such a good person."
Knowing full well he wasn't an uncle, An Ning changed her form of address, clasping her hands together in front of her. "I must be incredibly lucky to have such good fortune—every time I'm in danger, I run into you."
"So why is it that you run into danger every time?"
After Huo Qin said this, his peripheral vision caught the sight of An Ning's face glowing softly like white jade in the night, and only after the words left his mouth did he feel his question was too harsh.
She only knew they'd met twice; he remembered one more time—at the China International Fair.
Being able to work as a part-time interpreter at the expo and doing well at it meant she couldn't be some brainless delinquent girl.
He wasn't the type to meddle in others' affairs. The first time he helped her, it was because he'd overheard her reporting to the police. This time, after getting out of the car, he'd heard several vulgar curses.
Clearly, both times she'd been caught up in misfortune that wasn't her fault.
"Actually, my life is usually pretty smooth. It's just that my unlucky moments happen to be the ones you've witnessed, big brother."
Huo Qin looked to be in his mid-twenties, probably around the same age she'd been in her previous life, but An Ning didn't feel the slightest bit awkward calling him big brother.
He'd already seen her at her most helpless. There was no dignity left to lose.
"Study hard. If you want to go online, don't stay out so late next time."
Huo Qin didn't extend the conversation further. He hailed a taxi and took out a business card from his wallet, handing it to An Ning. "Finding me might not be faster than calling the police. If you don't need it, keep it as a souvenir."
An Ning looked at the business card. She'd received several cards at the China International Fair, but none of them had the premium quality of the one in her hand.
This business card was clearly a personal one, with only a name and phone number written on it, no other professional information.
Huo Qin.
An Ning vaguely felt that the name was somewhat familiar, but she couldn't tell for the moment whether the familiarity came from the original owner's memories or her own.
While she was pondering, Huo Qin had already opened the taxi door, lazily raising his hand to shield the top of the door frame, his gaze fixed on her.
An Ning snapped back to reality and immediately got into the car.
"Thank you, big brother. Good people will be rewarded with good fortune."
An Ning felt that a simple thank you was a bit too plain, so she added that last sentence.
Her sincere gratitude made Huo Qin curl the corners of his mouth. He first pulled a hundred-yuan bill from his wallet, instructed the taxi driver to take her to her destination, then turned his gaze back to her: "Answer one question for me."
An Ning instinctively nodded: "Hmm?"
Huo Qin met her eyes: "What were you sniffing at?"
He had noticed it earlier on the roadside—her nose twitching as she secretly closed the distance between them. Now that she was in the car, she was even more boldly twitching her nose while he was talking to the driver.
Just like the few cats in the old mansion that would come sniffing around his feet whenever he came home.
The only difference was that she was much cuter.
"A nice smell."
An Ning replied honestly, "Big brother, you smell quite nice."
Huo Qin carried the air of a young nobleman. Both times she had encountered him, he had been doing good deeds, but when she met his eyes, An Ning felt a sense of pressure.
After answering instinctively, she wanted to salvage the situation, but her attempt at recovery didn't seem much better.
She swallowed back the rest of that sentence—"different from other guys"—and raised her hand to wave. "Big brother, bye-bye, good night, hope you have sweet dreams."
Huo Qin's thoughts were still lingering on the word "nice," and when he heard An Ning stiffly change the subject, a low chuckle sounded briefly in the car. The next moment, Huo Qin raised his hand and closed the car door.
"Don't worry about my dreams. Keep your nose in check and don't go sniffing around everywhere."
When Huo Qin's face was taut, he had the refined aloofness of a noble heir, but when he smiled, there was a hint of roguish charm.
Under the warm yellow streetlight, there was something of a peacock spreading its tail about him.
He didn't think she was flirting with him, did he?
Not that it mattered anyway, because he quickly put away his smile and signaled the driver to go.
Probably because he still remembered that she hadn't answered his question about whether she was a college student.
The taxi started moving, and once she could no longer see Huo Qin's face, An Ning couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
Afraid of being caught by her teachers, the internet café she had chosen was a twenty-minute drive from school. She hadn't paid attention when she took the bus here, but now in the car, she realized that the hotel Huo Qin had taken her to last time was nearby.
It seemed he frequented this area often. She'd have to switch to a different area next time.
The composure she had just shown didn't mean she wasn't actually embarrassed.
Hopefully they wouldn't run into each other again.
Putting away the business card Huo Qin had given her and holding the eighty-five yuan in change the driver had given her, An Ning made it back just before the dormitory gates closed.
A few minutes of quick washing up, and An Ning lay back on her bed, reviewing the day's events.
She had resolved the work situation. She didn't know if Zhang Tian would still come looking for her, but at least Dong Da probably didn't have the guts to cause her trouble anymore.
She wasn't worried about Dong Da tattling to parents or teachers. Since he hung around with Zhang Tian, he was probably more afraid that she would expose him for aiding the villain and bringing a bunch of thugs to corner her.
Huo Qin, Huo Qin…
Realizing that this name wasn't one the original owner of the body was familiar with, An Ning thought for a while and finally remembered why it felt familiar just before going to sleep.
She didn't really follow financial news, but the name Huo Qin had left an impression on her because her classmates had gossiped about him more than once.
The Huo family was wealthy, and Huo Qin was even wealthier, with real estate developments blooming all over the country.
Huo Qin kept a low profile and rarely appeared in public, but because he was rich and handsome, tabloids would always dig up information about him—and when they couldn't find any, they'd just make things up.
They claimed Huo Qin kept a harem of concubines and had countless illegitimate children.
The Huo family was even portrayed as a wealthy dynasty straight out of Hong Kong dramas, complete with multiple wives and concubines. They said Huo Qin had delayed marriage because he'd been sabotaged in the family inheritance battle and left unable to father children.
They even attached a photo of Huo Qin sitting in a wheelchair, claiming he rarely appeared in public because his prosthetic legs made it inconvenient to stand.
The tabloids spun their stories with gusto, completely unconcerned that "countless illegitimate children" contradicted "unable to father children." The consequences were obvious—the Huo family's legal team wasn't just sitting around.
Not only the entertainment papers, but even the bloggers who spread the rumors online were sued one by one.
Because the Huo family's legal team demanded relatively high compensation and collected it without any discounts, she'd actually followed that lawsuit.
Having figured out why the name Huo Qin felt familiar, An Ning closed her eyes. No matter how rich a rich man was, if his money wasn't hers, it had nothing to do with her.
The only connection they'd ever have in the future would probably be her making a small fortune from registering domain names and buying a few properties in the Huo family's real estate developments.
Sigh, she wondered when she'd be able to make that small fortune.
She really wanted to get rich!
With the goal of accumulating funds, over the weekend she kept her running schedule the same but rearranged her study time.
Early in the morning, she'd head to the internet café to do the translation work she'd taken on, then return to school in the afternoon to study until the library closed.
After the weekend passed, she translated the printed materials onto paper by hand, planning to go to the internet café again when she had time.
An Ning arrived at the classroom early. Because she was buried in her own work, she didn't even notice when morning reading began. It wasn't until her name echoed around her that she looked up.
Zhao Wen was already standing at the podium, though An Ning had no idea when she'd gotten there.
Hearing her classmates' reminders, An Ning belatedly stood up, looking at Zhao Wen in confusion.
Zhao Wen suppressed her smile, trying to put on a serious expression, but thinking of the grade report in her hand, she couldn't hold it in and burst into a grin again.
"Look at An Ning's attitude toward studying—completely focused, so absorbed she forgets everything else. How many of you can do that? You all perk up your ears at the slightest commotion, even when it has nothing to do with you! I'm talking about you, Chu Hang—sit up straight!"
Thinking about how An Ning had been so focused she hadn't heard anything and had to be nudged from behind by Chu Hang, Zhao Wen felt a pang of distress.
Chu Hang was big and strong, with the strength of an ox—what if he'd hurt her good student?
Chu Hang had been waiting to watch the show, never expecting to be the one scolded. Hearing the class laugh, he glanced at Teacher Zhao's barely contained smile and oddly understood why she'd suddenly criticized him.
"Boss Zhao, even the roses I planted at home don't bloom as beautifully as your smile right now. Just tell us—did An Ning do really well this time? How much did she improve? She didn't actually get first place in the whole grade, did she?"
"More beautiful than a rose" was Chu Hang's survival instinct as a student. In reality, he shook off the goosebumps on his skin—Teacher Zhao's smile was too unsettling.
Zhao Wen had no time to bicker with Chu Hang right now. She looked at An Ning, growing more satisfied with each glance. How could this child become so clever once she finally got it? It was worthy of Zhao Wen giving her another chance.
"Why wouldn't she? Classmate An Ning works hard and strives to improve—what's so strange about her getting first place!"