Chapter Seventeen Fang Zhi

  After Ning Qingming and Zhou Ling left, Fan Dongyang smiled and asked Xiao Yesheng: "How about it, do you like that black glasses guy?"

  "What's with the sunglasses? I just gave you my phone number, and it has my name on it." Xiao Yesen said discontentedly, "Don't randomly give nicknames to girls!"

  "Alright, alright, you're already protecting her before she's even your girlfriend." Fan Dongyang leaned in closer, staring intensely into Xiao Yesheng's eyes and said: "You're done for, actually having a secret crush!"

  "Get out! Don't talk nonsense!" Xiao Yesong's face turned red, somewhat annoyed and embarrassed, glaring fiercely at Fan Dongyang.

  "With my extensive experience with women, I can tell that the girl in black glasses has a good figure, but lacks a key packaging. Fan Dongyang shook his head directly, "A pair of black-framed glasses covers half of her face, and you can't even see if she's beautiful or not. If she changes to a better-looking pair of glasses, it will definitely be much more pleasing to the eye."

  "She's improved a lot, you haven't seen her at the beginning of the semester, there's only one word to describe her, 'rustic'! Jiang Mingzhi brought in a thermos from outside and heard Fan Dongyang criticizing Ning Qingmian, chiming in: "The clothes she wears now are also very ordinary, if she's willing to dress up a bit, maybe she'll really pass."

  Xiao Yeshe didn't like others talking about Ning Qingmin behind her back, so she changed the subject and said: "Dongyang, isn't your uncle's factory a joint venture? I heard they're usually very strict when hiring people. Is it hard to get in as a part-time worker this time?"

  "Hey, don't mind this time, we're only hiring females for part-time jobs." Fan Dongyang waved his hand, "It's supposed to be quality inspection, but it might just be doing odd jobs. It's the end of the year, there are a lot of miscellaneous things to do, and every department is short-handed!"

  "According to Zhou Ling, Ning Qingmin's family is not well off. If there's a way, you should help out!" Jiang Mingzhi poured water for Xiao Yesheng and turned to Fan Dongyang: "Now that we're only in our first year of university and don't have any useful certificates, we can only rely on ourselves to find part-time jobs. If we're not careful, we might get cheated."

  "HR Zhang is probably at work now, I'll call her right away!" Fan Dongyang patted his chest and said: "I'll take care of it, you guys can rest assured!" Great, bringing up a serious topic has made last night's matter disappear into thin air.

  Fan Dongyang hung up the phone and turned to Xiao Yesheng and Jiang Mingzhi, saying: "I heard it's a classmate from my alma mater, let's go to work tomorrow!"

  Ning Qingmin and Zhou Ling returned to school, from a distance, they saw Guo Shangliang leaning against the big tree at the bottom of the dormitory building, holding a book in his hand and flipping through it.

  Is he waiting for me? Ning Qing's eyes lit up, it had been more than a month since they last met on the road. She tried her best to suppress the urge to look for him automatically and attempted to forget about him. But past events were like a branding iron that left an indelible mark in her heart, she couldn't forget even if she wanted to.

  "I'm going up first!" Zhou Ling pulled Ning Qingming's sleeve and ran off on his own.

  Ning Qingmian slowly walked closer to Guo Shangliang, gazing at him with a fixed, greedy and deep look, as if wanting to make up for the days of longing.

  After all, one can conceal his feelings but cannot hide his thoughts.

  What made Ning Qingmian deeply attached to Guo Shangliang? Ning Qingmian's heart suddenly darkened, and she suddenly remembered that it was also the second day of the first semester break. The dormitory was left with only herself, her father's current wife Fang Zhi brought her daughter Peipei to find her in the dormitory, and slapped her in the face. At that time, Guo Shangliang happened to come looking for her, and he hurriedly protected her and drove away the fierce mother-daughter pair.

  For the first time, a man held me in his arms and gently comforted me. Those wounds and pains seemed to fade away.

  Feeling someone's gaze on him, Guo Shangliang raised his head to meet Ning Qing's piercing stare. The sunlight filtering through the trees cast dappled bright spots on Ning Qing, who was gazing at him with a complex expression, as if she had known him for a very long time.

  Guo Shangliang only felt that his heart was as if struck by something, with a vague memory flashing by, and he couldn't grasp it no matter what.

  The sun was shining brightly, Ning Qingmin looked up at the sky and walked towards Guo Shangliang.

  "I've seen the class photo of my cousin, and it's her, Ning Qingmian!" A girl's voice whispered, while pulling a richly dressed woman, pointing at Ning Qingmian in front and saying: "Cousin said that this kid is spirited and lively, maybe dad secretly met with her and secretly gave her money to use."

  She furrowed her brow, recalling how she had thought of ways to get that man back then. After all these years, the men around her seemed to be getting more and more disloyal. It was as if she regretted the decision she made back then, and a surge of resentment rose uncontrollably. She quickened her pace, walking up behind Ning Qingming.

  "Are you Ning Qingming?" Fang Zhi's voice sounded from behind, with an uncontrollable hatred in her tone.

  Ning Qing's body stiffened in an instant, and she smiled bitterly in her heart. What was bound to happen would still happen after all!

  Turning around, she lightly glanced at 14-year-old Pei Pei and Fang Zhi who had taken away her own father and childhood happiness.

  Pei Pei wore a white coat with fur trim on the collar and cuffs, like a princess, forming a sharp contrast with her own shabby clothes.

  Everything has been obtained, and you're still not satisfied?

  Ning Qing gave them a cold and detached look.

  Fang Zhi's expression changed repeatedly, and he asked again: "Are you Ning Qingming?"

  Lift your head, straighten your chest, and look into the eyes of the person in front of you. Ning Qingmin took a deep breath and calmly said: "I am Ning Qingmin!"

  With a "slap", Fang Zhi didn't give Ning Qingmian a chance to explain, and a palm swept across. However, the palm did not land on Ning Qingmian's face, but instead landed on Pei Pei's face.

  "Wah!" Pei Pei wailed, her face bearing five deep finger marks from a resolute slap.

  Ning Qing quickly released her grip on Pei Pei's arm and dodged to one side.

  With the experience of that year, Ning Qingming naturally knew Fang Zhi's next move. Just as she was about to swing her hand over, she had already grabbed Pei Pei's arm and pulled her in front of herself. Fang Zhi's heavily falling palm slapped onto the face of her own beloved biological daughter.

  "Ah...", Fang Zhi's momentum was insufficient, and she saw that she had hit her own daughter. Overcome with heartache, she turned around to look for Ning Qingmian.

  Kuo Shang-liang was caught off guard and didn't react in time. He turned his head and asked Ning Qing-ming, "What's going on?"

  "I don't know her either, I don't know why she wants to hit me!" Ning Qing saw Fang Zhi comforted Pei Pei for a few words, and walked towards herself with a vicious expression, saying lightly: "Guo Xuechang, can you help me call the police?"

  Guo Shangliang looked up and saw that Fang Zhi had taken a few steps closer, so he quickly stepped forward to block Ning Qingmian's path, saying coldly: "This auntie, who are you? Why do you want to hit Qingmian?"

  "Get out of my way, I'm going to teach her a lesson today!" Ever since the beginning of the semester, Fang Zhi had been seething with anger after discovering that her husband Liu Zhen had tried to send money to Ning Qingmeng. On top of that, she and Liu Zhen had a huge fight last night and she hadn't slept all night. Today, she dragged their daughter along, determined to find Ning Qingmeng and vent her frustrations.

  Ning Qingmin walked out from behind Guo Shangliang and stared at Fang Zhi, saying: "Who are you? Why do you want to teach me?"

  Fang Zhi was stunned for a moment before she suddenly remembered that Ning Qing didn't know her.

  Liu Pei Pei covered her red face and walked over to say: "My dad is Liu Zhen, you this country bumpkin, if you used the money my dad gave you, then my mom has the right to hit you."

  "So, before Liu Zhen divorced my mom, whoever used Liu Zhen's money, my mom also had the right to beat her up?" Ning Qing raised an eyebrow and looked at Fang Zhi, "What a pity! Back then, my mom was too kind-hearted, no one got beaten!"

  "You..." Fang Zhi was so angry that she trembled with rage and raised her hand to slap him.

  Guo Shangliang's eyes were bright and his hands were quick, he swung the book in his hand to block Fang Zhi's hand, and with his other hand, he pulled Ning Qingmian behind him, shielding her as he angrily said: "How can you just hit someone without thinking?"

  "I'm going to beat her up, what's it to you?" Fang Zhi angrily retorted, "What are you to her? What right do you have to interfere in our affairs?"

  "I'm her boyfriend, if you dare to lay a hand on her again, I'll call the police and see who's in trouble!" Guo Shangliang was furious, glaring at Fang Zhi.