Marrying My Bestie's Ferocious Brother - He Calls Me His Baby!-Chapter 200 - 199: Rats in the Gutter Trying to Drag Down a Phoenix
Outside the west gate of Peking University, a broom raises a cloud of dust.
Zhang Guilan coughs while spitting heavily onto the ground.
"Bah! What kind of thing!"
She wears a worn gray cotton jacket that has been passed through who knows how many hands, holding a large broom with bald bristles.
Since she was dealt with by Gu Yanshen last time and was criticized by the school’s logistics department, her husband almost beat her to death.
To keep her husband’s deputy director hat, she is forced to do the dirtiest and most tiring work—sweeping the streets.
"Beep beep."
A black Hongqi sedan slowly drives out of the school gate.
The window is half lowered.
Zhang Guilan sees Lin Wan Yi sitting in the backseat at a glance.
That woman is wearing an off-white cashmere coat, a red scarf around her neck, holding the little brat who broke her grandson’s hand.
Next to the car, several professors are bowing and nodding, seeing the person off as if sending off an ancestor.
"Take care, Xiao Lin!"
"Remember to bring An An to the lab tomorrow!"
Zhang Guilan grips the broom handle tightly.
Her fingernails dig into the wood.
Why?
Here she is eating dust, while that capitalist’s daughter is being pampered?
The car drives far away.
Zhang Guilan throws the broom onto the ground in anger.
"Ma’am, can I borrow a light?"
A hoarse voice suddenly comes from behind.
Zhang Guilan is startled.
She turns around abruptly.
Three men are crouching at the foot of the wall.
All wearing old army-green coats, collars raised high, hats pressed low, their faces unclear.
But that smell, Zhang Guilan knows.
It’s the stench of not bathing for a long time, mixed with a blood smell that makes one’s scalp tingle.
They don’t seem like proper people.
Under normal circumstances, Zhang Guilan would’ve run away long ago.
Yet today, she’s feeling reckless.
She looks in the direction where Lin Wan Yi disappeared and then at the men who are clearly desperadoes.
Her eyes shift.
"No light to borrow."
Zhang Guilan blows onto her hands, speaking in a sarcastic tone.
"But there’s a big fat sheep on the street ahead."
The leading man lifts his head, revealing triangular eyes.
"Fat sheep?"
"Did you see the car that just passed?"
Zhang Guilan gestures to the ground.
"That woman, her family used to be capitalists, they’re very rich."
"The bracelet on her wrist is high-quality, worth at least two big yellow croakers."
"Besides, her husband isn’t home, he’s gone out of town to serve in the army, leaving her alone with two kids who are still nursing."
The triangular-eyed man squints.
He stands up, brushing off the dirt on his back.
"Ma’am, thanks."
The three men exchange glances, hands tucked into their coats, leisurely following the route where the Hongqi car disappeared.
Zhang Guilan watches their backs, a malicious smile tugging at her lips.
Let you swagger.
Let you complain.
This is what they call bad people being pitted against bad people!
...
Agricultural College, Dean’s office.
"Bang!"
Dean Li slammed the teacup heavily onto the table.
Water splattered all over the table.
"Ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous!"
Dean Li paced around the room with his hands behind his back.
Lin Wan Yi stood in front of the office desk, holding the now-awake Gu Ning.
Gu An sat on the chair beside her, disassembling Dean Li’s pen.
"Professor, please calm down." Lin Wan Yi smiled and handed over a handkerchief.
"Calm down for what? I’m anxious!"
Dean Li pointed at Lin Wan Yi, his finger trembling.
"Do you even know what’s happening outside?"
"An An showcased those mathematical skills; now it’s the talk of the entire Beijing University!"
"Child prodigy, genius, it’s all blown way out of proportion!"
"That would’ve been good news in peacetime."
"But now?"
Dean Li lowered his voice, the expression on his face terrifyingly serious.
"Those hidden enemy agents, they’re eager to find targets for sabotage!"
"A future pillar of the nation, in their eyes, is something they must destroy!"
Lin Wan Yi’s smile faded.
She knew Dean Li was not being alarmist.
Before leaving, Gu Yanshen specifically warned her that recently Beijing has been unstable.
"Professor, I understand; I will be more careful in the future."
"Being careful alone won’t cut it!"
Dean Li took a note from the drawer.
"This is a clearance from the security department."
"From now on, for school commuting, I’ll have two officers from the security department accompany you!"
"And, don’t take the short route by the west gate anymore; take the longer route by the east gate, there are more people there!"
Lin Wan Yi felt a warmth in her heart.
This old man truly treats her and the kids like family.
"Professor, it’s alright, no need for the security department; it’ll draw too much attention."
Lin Wan Yi pushed the note back.
"Before leaving, Yanshen left people to protect us secretly, and..."
She patted her bulging shoulder bag.
"I am not that easy to mess with."
Inside the bag, there’s a bottle of "special-grade pepper spray" she brewed using spiritual spring water.
She specially prepared it for self-defense.
Its concentration is a hundred times that of ordinary pepper spray.
Not just people, even a bear would be blinded for half an hour if sprayed.
Seeing her insisting, Dean Li sighed.
"Alright then, but you must be very careful."
"Get home quickly, don’t linger on the roads."
"Sure."
Lin Wan Yi picked up Gu An, leaving the disassembled pen parts on the table, and pushed the twin stroller out the door.
To send some warm clothes to Gu Yanshen, she veered off and went to the post office instead of directly heading home.
By the time she left the post office, it was already dusk.
Winter’s wind, whistling, poured into her collar.
There were fewer pedestrians on the street.
Lin Wan Yi increased her pace, pushing the stroller.
Up ahead was an unavoidable alley.
Called Ba Jiao Alley.
Usually it had many vendors selling roasted sweet potatoes, but today it’s unusually deserted.
Not even a stray dog.
Too quiet.
"Squeak squeak"
Only the sound of the stroller wheels grating over leftover snow.
Lin Wan Yi stopped.
As someone who fought in the business world, she had a natural instinct for danger.
Too quiet.
She instinctively reached into her shoulder bag, gripping the pepper spray bottle.
It was then.
Inside the stroller.
Gu An, who had been playing with the pen cap, suddenly fell still.
He tossed the pen cap.
The small body, bundled in his coat, struggled to wiggle.
Then.
He pressed his cheek tightly against the metal handle of the stroller.
Those eyes, so resembling Gu Yanshen’s, fixed on the pitch-black end of the alley.
His little brows steadily furrowed.
"Puff puff"
He made hurried sounds from his mouth.
His small hand gripping the handle, knuckles whitening from pressure.
That was vibration.
Transferred from the ground, through the wheels, then to the metal frame of the stroller.
The frequency was rapid.
And chaotic.
Not the sound of wind.
Something was rushing at them, close to the wall.
That was the sound of wheels grinding against the ground.
Getting closer.
Getting faster.
Lin Wan Yi’s hand tightened on the spray bottle in her shoulder bag.
Her thumb already on the spray head switch.
As soon as that shadow reveals itself, she would press it without hesitation.
