Chapter 255 The Ambush

The grown-ups are busy building the herbal medicine base. Being a former “guardian of the mountain” himself, Lin Luoran’s father shows particular interest in the base under construction and checks it out every now and then.

The little one in the family is therefore left out. Lin Luodong feels like finally melting down an ice mountain named Huang Weijian. He finds him actively raise the idea of hitchhiking after school—on the backseat of Lin Luodong’s bike.

Although he is jeered at by fatty Ma Ming, Huang Weijian is very faithful toward his duty. He said a lot of tourists travel around the custom street, thus a lot of trash is dropped there. He will definitely find something there. In fact, what he said makes sense because he actually brings back something valuable every day. Lin Luoran believes him without any doubt.

For a month he has come to the street. Even the nearby shop owners know about this garbage-picking boy in the uniform of a famous school. The monster in Huang’s head has not yet shown up, which makes him wonder before going to bed if he should continue tomorrow.

Could his sense be wrong?

It’s not possible. Grandfather said the bald pen is the most sensitive to monstrous Reiki. Can it be wrong? Is it because his cultivation is so low that it clouds the judgment of the pen?

Tossing between this certainty and self-doubt, he has become sleepless. As psychologically mature as he is, he is still a thirteen-year-old boy who has no clear perception of his ability nor the old bald pen.

With the lack of confidence, he did not tell the Lins that monsters could be in the school. He just does what he can to protect Lin Luodong along his way home every day.

He will go to back to school tomorrow to search for any sign of monsters. If there isn’t any, the bald pen must be too old to detect precisely.

Making up his mind, he finally falls asleep before midnight.

He gets up very early the next day, searching every corner of cla.s.srooms, the playground and dormitory at once with few students in the school.

Still no clue.

Lin Luodong comes to the cla.s.sroom, seeing Huang Weijian sitting there, frustrated.

Frustrated? Lin Luodong wonder if he got it wrong. The ice mountain finally shows some expressions!

“Huang Weijian, you are here so early today! No one has come to cla.s.s yet.” He himself is half an hour early before cla.s.s. Why would he come to the cla.s.sroom so early with only a few students here?

Just a random sentence of Lin Luodong enlightens Huang Weijian—cla.s.smates? How could he forget? What if the monster is hiding among the students? Maybe in other cla.s.ses or grades? Or even among the faculty? Making such a breakthrough makes Huang Weijian relaxed.

He is prepared to look for it during breaks when the school is full of students.

Knowing Huang Weijian’s temper very well, Lin Luodong doesn’t expect him to respond and starts to answer his question all by himself as usual, “Is it because you didn’t finish your homework…”

The boy raises the corner of his eye hidden by his fringe, comforting himself that he is too generous to care about Lin Luodong’s silliness.

Half an hour roll over quickly. A brand new day of study starts with the ringing bell. Lin Luodong starts focusing on the difficult knowledge and forgets all about the abnormality of Huang Weijian.

…

It’s just that he seems a little bit off today. Why is he going out during every break?

Lin Luodong feels he should ask his friend about it after he comes back if he’s had diarrhea or something. He can’t see him go to the bathroom again and again.

But the headteacher waves at him before he could find the opportunity to check out on Huang Weijian.

“Lin Luodong, come with me.”

Lin Luodong was raised to respect teachers. He respects Rong Donglin at home. Hearing he is called by the headteacher, he follows the teacher quickly to the office.

Huang Weijian with “diarrhea” comes back to the cla.s.sroom, only to find Lin Luodong’s desk empty. He has no one to ask because he is not familiar with his cla.s.smates. The fatty Ma Ming just two desks away jeers in low voice secretly, “Lin Luodong was caught by the teacher. He really deserves it!”

“Called by the teacher?” Huang Weijian is relieved. Lin Luodong is almost the student model in the cla.s.s. He is genial to his cla.s.smates and respectful to his teacher with good grades. He thinks that no teacher would make things difficult for him on purpose.

Ma Ming doesn’t get the result he expected, so he makes a face at Huang Weijian’s back and gets caught red-handed by the teacher. The teacher asks him to stand up and answer a question. He grunts for a while and comes up with a completely irrelevant answer. The cla.s.s burst out laughing.

His face ripples as he feels like being insulted by Huang Weijian and Lin Luodong who were used to his mistreat before. He texts his sidekicks secretly after sitting down.

“You guys skip the cla.s.s and come to ambush at the gate this afternoon!”

After some time, he gets the response. “Ambush whom? How many people should we bring along?”

Ma Ming becomes furious. Bring along? It’s not like they are against some gangs. Then again, they are going after two people. He texts back, “Call on some people. We’ll wait and see!”

Receiving their message, Ma Ming puts his phone away contently and fakes a smile to the back of Huang Weijian. He bends on the desk—he has an appointment with Mr. Sandman. Better not be late.

When Lin Luodong gets back, the cla.s.s is already near the end.

As soon as he sits down, Huang Weijian frowns at the sight of him. The bald pen, silent for a month, starts to shake excitedly as if it met a relative.

Monstrous Reiki! He has monstrous Reiki all over him!

“Who did you meet just then?” He lowers his voice.

What? Is Huang Weijian caring about him?

Lin Luodong lowers his voice too and tells the story. A European financial group donates a library to their school and plans to help them exchange students with a famous school in Britain. Therefore, the headteacher wants to recommend Lin Luodong, the top student in the cla.s.s. That’s why he was called to the president’s office. They asked about his opinion and the representative’s. That’s why it took so long.

Exchange student? Huang Weijian pinpoints the most important part. “Just you alone?”

Lin Luodong shakes his head. “About a dozen. I heard they want students with good English ability. My English is not good enough. So I don’t want to go at all.”

Huang Weijian nods. Lin Luodong is indeed not fond of English and usually doing his homework is all for this subject. But he just went for a while, the monstrous Reiki on him it so strong that it is detected by the bald pen. Can he handle the monster alone?

“Call your sister to pick you up today. I have something to tell her.”

Pondering for a while, Huang Weijian did not tell him there are monsters in the school. Since Lin Luodong is just an ordinary person. Telling him will do nothing than making him afraid.

Lin Luodong thinks that he may actually have something to tell Lin Luoran, so he texts her during the break and that’s the end of this matter.

*******

“My sister says she is in the mountain. She would need half an hour to get here. What if you tell me instead and I’ll ask her about it?” Lin Luodong is holding his bike, standing with Huang Weijian on the sidewalk in front of the school gate. The sycamore tree is peeling off. The cleaner is sweeping the street. Huang Weijian stays alert while watching the crowds coming out of the school, paying no attention to what he said.

Is it because of his self-esteem? Lin Luodong takes his silence for disagreement and saves further questions, waiting patiently with Huang Weijian.

The sun is running down. Students flood out of the gate. Within a couple of minutes, only several students remain lingering at the school gate.

Lin Luoran is not here yet and the monsters haven’t showed up.

The fatty Ma Ming waiting for the ambush across the street starts getting impatient.

What happened to the two of them today? Why aren’t they leaving? There are snacks sold on the street. Ma Ming already ate three packs of potato chips and a dozen barbecue lamb s.h.i.+sh kebab yet they haven’t showed up.

This snack bar has very spicy noodles. One of the sidekick’s tongue goes numb. He breathes heavily while suggesting, “Chief, there are not so many people at the gate. Why don’t we… Ouch! Why would you hit me? It hurts!”

The little sidekick covers his head, shrinking himself on the stool. Ma Ming hits him with the plate for the potatoes, face rippling. “Right in front of the gate? Do you want to get me expelled or what? d.a.m.n you. Do you think it is easy for me to come to this stupid school? It cost my father a fortune. You want me to waste my legacy on such a dumb thing for nothing?” Can attacking from the front be called ambus.h.i.+ng? You jacka.s.ses. Ma Ming sends a piece of potato to his mouth, feeling superior to them all.

What belongs to the father belongs to the son. What a great deal. The boss of the snack bar smiles. Quarreling and fighting, these are what middle school students do. They wouldn’t meddle with others’ business.

These middle school beginners believe in him. The chief is always the chief. They are sucking up at him while eating potatoes and kebabs. Since they are waiting anyway, why not eat for now?

…

A black Lincoln stops at the school gate and the door is opened. A handsome westerner comes to the two boys.

The bald pen is vibrating furiously. Huang Weijian holds the bag still. His fingers are pressing so hard that they turn white. How dare they make a move under the daylight?!

“Lin Luodong. You are Lin Luodong, right?”

He looks familiar. Maybe he’s a representative he saw in the president’s office? Lin Luodong nods subconsciously. “I said I’m not going to exchange. Why are you still asking me?”

The handsome smiles. “The Miss from our group said you may change your mind. I’ll tell you in the car.”

Lin Luodong finally realizes he is speaking the language of Huaxia fluently. He becomes alert at once. “Sorry. I’ll talk to you at school tomorrow. I’m going home now.”

He drags Huang Weijian, trying to leave here. However, Huang Weijian has a lot of sweat on his forehead. His feet stuck—he has the feeling that the bald pen wants to break out from the bag and charge to the inside of the car!

“Emm… This one is interesting too. Take them both.” A woman’s voice comes out from the car in Huaxia language with a rolling tone. Huang Weijian is attracted to the voice and led to the car before he could attack.

“Huang Weijian! Come back! It’s dangerous!” Lin Luodong shouts at him. The man grins. “Not when you are with him.” He reaches to the pocket of his suit, takes out a well-folded silk handkerchief and shakes it in front of Lin Luodong. His armor doesn’t prevent such things. A few moments later, he is unconscious.

“Let’s go.”

The door is closed. The Lincoln disappears in the flow of cars.

Ma Ming and his sidekicks are shocked. One of the sidekicks says nervously, “Did somebody just s.n.a.t.c.h our jobs…”

Ma Ming’s face ripples even more. s.n.a.t.c.h our jobs? This is kidnap! He peeks at the Lincoln driving pa.s.s them. The window is half-open. He sees brown curly hair and a high bridge of the nose.

It’s her? A foreign woman?

Witnessing a kidnap that can only be seen in a movie, they are an exciting mess, not knowing what to do. The fatty Ma Ming calms down quickly. “Another three plates of potatoes, please!”

The sidekicks are at a loss. “Chief, shall we go now…?”

Light is sparkling in his tiny eyes. “The h.e.l.l we go. Did you get the plate number?”