Huo Heya.
It was already dark. Why would Huo Heya be calling Cang Wei at this time?
Cang Wei had already stopped what she was doing and was looking at her. Unwilling, Gu Lai still handed the phone over to Cang Wei.
This man was definitely not calling with any good news.
After Cang Wei answered the call, Gu Lai walked toward the outside politely, though her steps were slow and hesitant, pausing with every stride.
Gu Lai pressed her lips together and held her breath, trying to overhear any hidden clues from the phone.
After answering, Cang Wei saw Gu Lai looking like this, paused for a moment, and turned on the speakerphone.
“Damn it, I…”
The noise on the other end was very chaotic. After a moment, a hoarse and angry voice came through clearly: “Cang Wei, your lapdog is quite capable.” The voice sounded as if he was gritting his teeth. “You’d better get over here right now.”
“Location,” Cang Wei said, maintaining her usual expressionless demeanor.
“79 Billiards Hall.”
As soon as she finished listening, Cang Wei hung up the phone.
Gu Lai had her back turned to her. Her little scheme had been seen through by Cang Wei, and she felt a bit awkward for a moment.
“Um, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on your call.” Gu Lai turned around, her gaze shifting away.
Cang Wei did not look offended. “Mm. I’m going out for a bit.”
“Then I won’t disturb you. Go ahead and take care of your business.” With that, Gu Lai left Room 301.
Back in her room, Gu Lai sat on the sofa and pondered repeatedly. What lapdog? What was Huo Heya talking about?
Huo Heya’s tone had been unfriendly, and Gu Lai felt worried. She couldn’t help but keep wondering what the situation would be like after Cang Wei arrived. Would she be in danger?
Thinking about it more and more, Gu Lai sprang up with a carp leap. Action is better than thought. Why didn’t she just follow Cang Wei directly?
No sooner said than done.
Changing back into the clothes she had been wearing when she first transmigrated into the book, Gu Lai walked up to her room door, leaned down, and pressed her ear against it to listen.
After about three minutes, the sound of a door opening came from outside, followed by the sound of footsteps going down the stairs.
Gu Lai gently pushed the door open, leaving just a narrow crack, and watched Cang Wei’s figure descend the stairs. As soon as Cang Wei vanished from view, she quickly headed out to follow.
At eight o’clock, the sky was as dark as ink.
The buses had already stopped running, and Liucheng didn’t have a subway. Gu Lai had never acted so sneakily in the first half of her life. Right now, she hid behind a cover and watched Cang Wei get into a taxi.
Gu Lai memorized the license plate number, quickly ran to the roadside, and waved her arm. Soon, a taxi pulled up in front of her.
“Driver, hurry up, follow that car in front!”
The taxi driver’s initially casual expression instantly turned rather serious. “Which one in front?”
“License plate number GC1654,” Gu Lai said urgently.
After driving for a short while, seeing that the distance between them and Cang Wei’s car was growing further and further, Gu Lai spoke anxiously, “Driver, to be honest, that car up there has my partner in it. She went behind my back to date someone else, and now she’s going behind my back to meet that home wrecker.”
Upon hearing this, the driver remained silent and silently stepped down hard on the gas pedal. Gu Lai glanced sideways at the speedometer.
This driver was really practically pushing his foot all the way into the fuel tank.
The car Cang Wei was riding in stopped at 79 Billiards Hall.
Seeing the driver in front furrow his brows as if deep in thought, Gu Lai seized the opportunity before he could react, quickly paid the fare, and got out of the car.
Cang Wei walked into the billiards hall, but Gu Lai chose not to follow her in immediately. Instead, she turned around to go to a nearby supermarket and bought a face mask to put on.
A light-colored hooded sweatshirt wrapped Gu Lai up entirely. Looking closely, one could see fine sparkles shimmering on her jacket, looking novel and eye-catching.
Putting on her hood and mask, Gu Lai stepped into 79 Billiards Hall. It was very large inside. She kept her movements restrained and made almost no noise, so no one paid her any attention.
For some reason, there were almost no people here.
Smoke drifted around hazily. Gu Lai frowned, walked over to the front desk, and glanced around. In the dim lighting, Cang Wei was standing near table number three further inside.
Her slightly wavy hair draped over her shoulders, and the slender tails of her eyebrows were faintly visible. Her gaze was impatient, and her thin lips were pressed tightly together, as if she were suppressing something.
“Miss, are you going to play?” Seeing Gu Lai standing in place watching for a long time without speaking, the receptionist asked with a puzzled expression.
“Open table number five for me.” Gu Lai had a billiards table at home, so she wasn’t unfamiliar with these things.
“Just you by yourself?” The front desk guy saw she was alone and didn’t move immediately.
“Mm,” Gu Lai replied, keeping her attention on the commotion over by Cang Wei’s side without looking at him.
“If it’s just you alone, there are other billiards halls nearby. Why don’t you try somewhere else?” The front desk guy advised, seeing that she was a young woman.
Gu Lai raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
The guy jerked his chin toward the inside. “Over there, a fight just broke out. Looking at how things are going, I bet they’re going to throw punches.”
Gu Lai looked at him without speaking, but her expression directly conveyed: Are you just going to do nothing about it?
The guy spread his hands. “The ones fighting are the boss’s son and his crew. I’m just an employee, so I wouldn’t dare get involved.”
Gu Lai looked over there. Two clearly opposing groups of people stood facing each other in tense confrontation. Cang Wei was standing further inside, some distance away from both sides.
“What is it about?” Gu Lai asked.
The guy shook his head. “The tall guy on the left was just playing over there. The boss’s son brought a bunch of people to pick a fight, and a whole crowd started brawling, scaring all the other customers away.”
Just as he was speaking, an argument broke out over there again.
Gu Lai concentrated and listened.
“Cang Wei, you don’t need to be afraid of him. I’m here to protect you. Hey you, surnamed Huo, get the hell away from Cang Wei. She’s the woman I’ve got my eyes on.”
“Heh, what my business with her has to do with you? You’re really asking for a beating.”
“Huo Heya, don’t think I don’t know. You’re just seeing that she’s easy to bully.” Having said that, that somewhat solidly built guy took a couple of steps toward Cang Wei. “Cang Wei, don’t worry, you don’t need to be afraid. Come to my side. Be my girlfriend from now on, and big brother will make sure he never dares bully you again.”
System, do me a favor.
The fluorescent screen flickered.
Just as Gu Lai was about to step forward, Cang Wei, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up: “My affairs don’t need anyone’s involvement.”
Cang Wei looked at the solidly built man with a cold tone: “You had better stop looking for trouble.”
Having to come out late at night over such troublesome matters made Cang Wei feel increasingly irritated. Who was this person who kept talking? She didn’t know him at all.
Perhaps losing face in front of so many people caused the solidly built man to feel a bit humiliated. “What did you say?”
“I’m telling you, Cang Wei, me taking a fancy to you is doing you a favor, so stop putting on such high and mighty airs.” With that, he reached out to grab Cang Wei.
Cang Wei stepped back to avoid him, her tone filled with annoyance: “Get lost.”
Zhang Dong’s face darkened. He had taken a fancy to Cang Wei for a long time, but Cang Wei never paid attention to him.
There were too many people at school, and Class 7’s homeroom teacher kept a tight eye on Cang Wei, making it hard for him to do anything at school. To this day, he didn’t even have Cang Wei’s contact information.
When he heard about Huo Heya’s situation today, he was furious. Why was his future girlfriend spending money on another man? That money should belong to him, Zhang Dong.
As it happened, just as Zhang Dong walked in, he saw Huo Heya playing billiards alone in his own family’s establishment, so he called up a bunch of lackeys and aggressively went to demand money from Huo Heya, demanding the money Cang Wei had given him.
Who could have expected that Cang Wei would now make him lose face in front of so many people and even tell him to get lost?
“Damn it, giving you face and you don’t want it, huh?” Zhang Dong’s face flushed red as he reached out to grab her.
Cang Wei glanced at him, casually picked up a nearby billiard cue, and blocked his arm.
Everyone froze.
That thick arm was thus blocked mid-air. The solidly built man grabbed the billiard cue and pulled back hard.
Cang Wei suddenly let go, causing the man to stagger forward from momentum.
Snap.
The billiard cue was thrown onto the ground. Having been toyed with repeatedly, Zhang Dong clenched his fists and swung at Cang Wei in a fit of rage.
Cang Wei side-stepped, a look of annoyance between her brows. With a heavy side kick, Zhang Dong fell backward onto the ground.
The people nearby stood frozen in shock. This, Cang Wei looked like such a slender, delicate young girl, yet she knocked Zhang Dong, this solidly built guy, to the ground with a single kick?
Zhang Dong fell to the floor, his expression extremely unsightly. “What are you standing around for? The two of them are in this together. Beat them up!”
The lackeys nearby snapped back to their senses and raised their baseball bats to charge forward.
Woo, wah, woo.
A shrill police siren drew closer from afar, growing increasingly clear as if it had stopped right at the entrance of the billiards hall.
Huo Heya bit down on his cigarette and strode toward the back door. The rest of them snapped out of it, and Zhang Dong gritted his teeth: “Let’s go. Having the police see us is too much of a hassle.”
A crowd of people rushed toward the back door and vanished in an instant.
The smell of smoke irritated Cang Wei immensely. She didn’t care about the police or anything like that, but who had called the police?
Pondering this, Cang Wei turned and walked toward the front entrance. The previously empty billiards hall had gained an extra person at some point.
The girl bent down and gripped the cue, her posture textbook standard.
The jacket with fine sparkles shimmered under the lights. At this moment, her gaze was resolute as she concentrated intently on taking aim.
She struck with a single shot, banking the ball into the pocket.
“Nice shot,” Cang Wei said.