Chapter 28: The Strong

  "After going out with Du Huahua for one night, she came back looking like a completely different person."

  "Yes, I don't know what kind of trick was used either."

  Two clerks whispered to each other.

  Ning Qingmin bowed her head and typed, pretending not to hear. Since coming to work this morning, she had heard a lot of such talk and was too lazy to pay attention.

  The phone on Du Huahua's desk rang, and Ning Qing hurried over to answer it. She was very busy today and helped Du Huahua answer many calls.

  "Xiao Ning, didn't you promise Grandpa that you'd come visit him again today?" Du Huahua's voice came from the other end of the line. "Although we're just ordinary colleagues, but with Grandpa being like this, you still have to help out!"

  "Alright, I'll take a bus over after work!" Ning Qingming hesitated for a moment. She hadn't slept well the night before and had been busy to death all day, her eyelids were getting heavy. Originally she was thinking of going home, having dinner and sleeping early, looks like that's not happening now.

  "I'll pick you up!" The voice on the other end of the line had changed to Du Huo's, clearly having snatched the phone from Du Hua.

  The shock from last night hadn't worn off yet, Ning Qingmin shivered and hastily said: "It's not very far, I can just take the public bus there myself."

  "Taking a bus is a waste of time!" Du's family was patient and calm, saying in a low voice: "It's settled then!"

  Hearing the "click" of hanging up the phone, Ning Qing's heart skipped a beat, he put down the phone and suddenly became angry. What right did he have to be so overbearing towards me?

  Look, it's almost time to get off work. Ning Qingmin put away the files and stood up. She walked out of the door and headed towards the cafeteria. She had only walked halfway when she heard a female worker gasp:

  "My goodness! That's Du Huahua's incredibly cool second brother!"

  Ning Qingmin turned his head to look. A black, stylish car stopped quietly at the entrance of the factory. Du Hua was getting out of the car. The winter sun had already set. A little sunlight spilled on him, making him a perfect picture of a cool guy with a nice car.

  Ning Qing quickly shrank behind several female workers. Silently moving her body, she wanted to use them as cover to slip into the cafeteria. Planning to finish eating, she would then sneak out of the factory gate and take a bus to visit Grandpa Du. Let Du's family see a ghost go.

  "Xiao Ning!" Ah Fang was coming from the other end. At a glance, she saw Ning Qingming shrinking behind someone else. She shouted: "You came back so late last night and ran away quickly today. I haven't even had a chance to interrogate you properly yet!"

  "Shh!" Ning Qingmin saw from the crowd that Du Huo's family was already looking over this way. Very urgent. He made a hand gesture to Ah Fang, telling her not to shout.

  "What's wrong?" Ah Fang glanced at Ning Qingmian, "Changed her face and doesn't recognize poor friends anymore."

  "What nonsense are you talking about?" Ning Qing was on the verge of tears because Du Hu's family had already walked in this direction.

  "So handsome!"

  "How cool!"

  The several female workers who were blocking Ning Qing's path stopped in their tracks, looking at Du Hua's family with a fierce gaze. Seeing Du Hua's sharp eyes, they looked back and took a deep breath, wondering who had a grudge against this cool guy?

  Afang stood on the other side, staring blankly as Du Huo walked up to Ning Qingmian and stopped in front of her, forgetting what she was about to say.

  "I originally planned to eat dinner first and then take the bus over to see Grandpa Du."

  Du Huajia grunted and raised his left hand. Ning Qing instinctively took a step back, wondering what he was going to do. He also thought that his movement was too slow and wanted to repeat the previous move. In front of so many female workers, if he dared to do it again, he would...

  "What's wrong?" Du Huojia saw Ning Qingmian's frightened face, reacted and smiled lightly: "I just looked at my watch, what do you think I want to do?"

  Ning Qing's face turned bright red with embarrassment, and she hastily walked past him towards the car. The situation was too overwhelming, and she could only succumb to it.

  Du Huajia saw Ning Qing walk forward with his head down, expressionless. He went up and opened the rear door of the car, placing his hand on top of the door frame and saying: "Get in, I won't force you to sit in the front today."

  It was just after work, when workers were walking in twos and threes towards the cafeteria, that most people witnessed this scene. Some imaginative female workers quickly pieced together different versions of a Cinderella-meets-Prince-Charming story.

  Ning Qingmin took a deep breath and got on the bus under the pressure of gazes from all directions.

  When they passed by McDonald's, Du Hujia stopped and bought a set meal from the window to give to Ning Qingming, "Grandpa will be discharged tomorrow, and then I'll invite you to have a big meal."

  Ning Qing was also hungry, and while eating, she said: "No need, I'll pack my luggage tomorrow and go home the day after tomorrow."

  "When are you coming back?"

  "It's not coming back!" Ning Qing saw that Du Huo's car seemed to have slowed down a bit, but he didn't mind, took a sip of Coke, and said: "I'm just part-time, not a formal employee, don't need to come back here again."

  "Hmm, it's not hard to become a formal employee!" Du Hujia glanced at Ning Qingmian, who was eating potato chips in the rearview mirror, "I'll just mention it to your manager."

  "Huh!" Ning Qing was taken aback for a moment. "I'm still an undergraduate student, I can only become a formal employee after graduation."

  "Oh, which university?" Du's eyes sparkled, "What major?"

  Ning Qingmin said the name of the school, and the car just arrived at the hospital.

  Grandpa Du didn't have anything else to say, just repeatedly reminding Ning Qing to contact him after the New Year.

  After the New Year, a new semester has begun, and classmates have entered the classroom one after another, greeting each other as if they hadn't seen each other for centuries.

  Suddenly, a boy stared at the classroom door with wide eyes and said uncertainly: "Is this Ning Qingming? It seems like he's become a different person."

  Classmates looked towards the door one after another, and the classroom suddenly fell silent. Then there were exaggerated gasps, "Oh my god, a huge transformation!"

  Duan Shurong was talking to Li Xiuzhen when she suddenly looked up and saw Ning Qingming walk in, exclaiming: "The country bumpkin has evolved into a hamburger!"

  "Pfft", Li Xiuzhen couldn't help but burst out laughing, "Maybe they spent their entire family fortune on that coat!"

  "It's just that, wanting to learn from others how to be a princess, you also need to have the right background." Duan Shurong's family was quite well-off and she didn't hesitate to spend money on clothes. At a glance, she recognized the coat Ning Qingming was wearing as one bought at a shopping mall, and snorted: "I heard that going out to work and earning money is just for buying pretty clothes, how vain!"

  "Look at how those boys are looking at her." Li Xiuzhen tugged on Shu Rong's sleeve, "It's as if they haven't seen a woman in several hundred years, do they have to be so exaggerated?"

  "Superficial!" Duan Shurong was very displeased, her voice loud, "Is everyone's vision really this narrow?"

  Wu Meimei heard Duan Shurong's changed tone and smiled, poking Mo Xiaohong: "Someone is jealous to the point of madness!"

  "Heh heh!" Mo Xiao Hong chuckled, "Qing Min returned to the dorm last night and her appearance scared us all. We predicted that she would scare others today, but we didn't expect it to be even worse than we thought."

  "So, three points for the appearance and seven points for dressing up!" Wu Meimei sighed: "Qingmin's original appearance was not bad, but before she wore old-fashioned clothes, plus introverted and didn't speak, always lowering her head, making people feel timid and unremarkable. Now that she dresses up a bit, she is more confident and radiant."

  Ning Qingmin didn't expect his classmates' reaction to be so exaggerated, quickly walking towards his seat, Zhou Ling followed behind him, covering her mouth and giggling.

  "Look at that, Xiao Ye Sheng's eyeballs almost fell out." Zhou Ling poked Ning Qingmian and whispered in her ear: "What a shock!"

  "It's too exaggerated!" Ning Qingming slightly raised her head, glanced at her classmates who were looking over at her, and saw that they were discussing her while talking, causing her face to turn red.

  "No wonder they're exaggerating. Your previous image was too rustic, and now that you've changed glasses and worn such a fashionable coat, you suddenly look like a different person." Zhou Ling's big eyes sparkled as she joked: "If I wasn't born with natural beauty, the spotlight would be stolen by you."

  "One day I'll surpass you." Ning Qing felt pretty good and covered her mouth to laugh, "When the time comes and there are guys fiercely pursuing me, I'll also make you my shield, not letting others get close."

  "I'd better go sign up for some self-defense classes. Otherwise, when the time comes and I'm used as a shield, I might accidentally get beaten into a pig's head."

  "Haha......"

  Laughter filled the air as the class bell rang.