Chapter Thirty-One: The Night Visit

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The next morning, after finishing his morning training, Zhao Rui drove straight to Tian Yaru’s house.

When he arrived, the little girl was still curled up asleep in the comfort of her luxurious bed. In her world, getting up early during the holidays was simply unthinkable.

A servant opened the door and led Zhao Rui to the living room to wait.

Half an hour later, Tian Yaru finally emerged, bare-faced and dressed in a cool, lightweight set of pajamas.

Her delicate features and softly contoured face were smooth and radiant even without makeup, possessing a beauty all their own. The tender freshness of a young girl was far more captivating than beauty concealed beneath cosmetics.

Rubbing her bleary eyes, she glanced at the time on her wrist before lazily saying, “Brother Zhao Rui, why did you come so early today?”

“Didn’t you want to go out and have some fun? I asked Auntie Song for two hours off. I can take you out for a stroll and help you relax.”

Sitting on the sofa, Zhao Rui picked up a plump, juicy peach and took a bite, savoring it with obvious pleasure.

“Wonderful! Hee-hee, I knew choosing you as my tutor was the right decision.”

The girl broke into a radiant smile and quickly turned around, running toward the washroom.

“Give me ten minutes!”

Zhao Rui answered with a hum and continued eating his peach. Peaches of this quality were not available at ordinary supermarkets or roadside stalls; they had to be bought from specialty fruit shops.

At several dozen yuan per half-kilogram, they were unquestionably luxury fruit.

Zhao Rui had been working as a tutor for nearly ten days. He had not done much actual work, but he had certainly enjoyed plenty of delicious food.

Ten minutes later, Tian Yaru returned, neatly dressed and wearing only a light touch of makeup, her face glowing with happiness.

“Let’s go!”

“You’re not having breakfast?”

“No, I’m not hungry. Time is tight and the mission is important. I’ll eat when we get back!”

“All right.”

For a young girl confined to the house throughout the entire holiday, going out into the wider world to have fun was naturally the most urgent matter of all.

The two of them stepped outside, and a family driver immediately pulled up in an Audi sedan.

Once they were in the car, Zhao Rui told the driver, “Take us to Heluo Park.”

Heluo Park was a comprehensive recreational park in Lincheng, combining leisure, entertainment, and sports.

It regularly hosted all kinds of athletic competitions, as well as concerts, song-and-dance performances, and cultural shows organized by various informal groups.

It was extremely popular with the citizens.

It was also the destination Zhao Rui and Tian Yaru had agreed upon.

The car reached Heluo Park in less than half an hour. Before the driver had even found a parking space, Tian Yaru had already impatiently jumped out.

“Don’t get too carried away, or it’ll be hard to explain when we get home.”

Seeing the little girl practically vibrating with anticipation, Zhao Rui hurried after her and reminded her sternly.

“No problem! I’m going to try this!”

With that, the girl dashed toward an anime and comic experience exhibition nearby and plunged straight inside.

Zhao Rui shook his head and followed her.

Before long, the girl poked her head out of a changing room dressed as Sakura and asked Zhao Rui, “Can martial artists see through clothes?”

Zhao Rui glared at her and replied irritably, “Yes. Then don’t change.”

“Huh? Really?”

The girl covered her chest, her delicate eyes narrowing slightly. Then she pursed her lips and said, “Never mind. I’ve been at home with you for so many days. You’ve already seen everything anyway. It doesn’t matter.”

“…”

Zhao Rui was stunned. Just as he was about to explain, the girl gave him a sly little laugh and slipped back into the changing room.

This kind of anime exhibition offered simple character-experience activities. Visitors who were interested could pay to rent costumes of various animated characters and take part in the exhibition.

“How about this?”

A moment later, a warrior dressed as Hatsune Miku appeared before Zhao Rui, her futuristic outfit complemented by twin ponytails and a face as lovely as a peach blossom.

Her tight-fitting costume displayed her already graceful figure to perfection, despite the fact that she had not yet fully matured.

“Looks good.”

“You should change too!”

“I’m not changing.”

“Come on!”

Ten minutes later, Zhao Rui, dressed in a plain, ancient-style robe like an elegant young gentleman, followed expressionlessly behind Hatsune Miku through the crowd, a folding fan in his hand.

“I’ll tell you a secret. There’s a girl in our class who likes Zhao Ke!”

Tian Yaru bounced along happily, clearly in an excellent mood.

Her parents usually took her out for walks, but they mostly went to plazas and shopping malls.

They would never allow her to play cosplay, either.

The girl clearly understood the principle of returning a favor.

“Could it be you?” Zhao Rui asked casually.

“Of course not!”

A colorful sticker was pasted beneath each of Tian Yaru’s eyes. As her eyes narrowed, the stickers shifted slightly, making her already bright eyes appear even more lively and beautiful.

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“I like someone who can protect me.”

Stars seemed to sparkle in Tian Yaru’s eyes. Clearly, she had once again fallen into a girl’s fantasies about handsome young men.

“Just like you!”

The girl suddenly turned toward Zhao Rui, delivering the startling statement without warning.

“Cough, cough!”

Zhao Rui’s old face flushed. Just as he was about to speak, the little girl burst into giggles.

“I’m only teasing you!”

Then her expression suddenly became solemn.

“You don’t have feelings for me, do you? I’m your younger brother’s classmate, you know!”

The corner of Zhao Rui’s cheek twitched.

What kind of child was this? What on earth went through her head all day?

He immediately tapped her on the head with his folding fan and said expressionlessly, “I don’t like little brats.”

Tian Yaru’s eyes narrowed at once, and a cold glint flashed through them.

“Why, you—come fight me!”

Zhao Rui held the girl’s little head back with one hand. No matter how wildly she swung both arms like windmill blades, she could not touch him in the slightest.

As the two of them bickered and tussled, the parade passed through the center of the park and arrived at a bustling plaza.

The area was crowded with people and filled with all kinds of performances and snack stalls.

Tian Yaru was lively by nature, and before long she had struck up a friendship with several other girls dressed in cosplay.

The girls laughed and played together in the parade, enjoying themselves without a care.

Zhao Rui had no interest in such activities. He walked slowly at the back.

Only after following them for a while did he realize that behind many of the pretty girls were “protectors.”

During that time, Zhao Rui saw three lecherous men attempt to approach some of the costumed young women in the parade. Each was promptly struck by someone behind them at a pressure point that left them numb and sore.

One man went too far and was directly kicked out of the parade from behind, crashing to the ground and howling in pain.

Everyone else seemed accustomed to such incidents, and no commotion arose.

Zhao Rui thought to himself, No wonder Mr. and Mrs. Tian refuse to let her come here. This place is crawling with perverts.

After playing for more than an hour, Tian Yaru finally began to feel tired. She said goodbye to the new friends she had made and pulled Zhao Rui toward a nearby snack street.

There, she enthusiastically devoured a mountain of street food.

“Is it really that delicious?”

“Of course it is. My mother never lets me eat it!”

Tian Yaru puffed out her cheeks without the slightest concern for appearances as she gnawed on a freshly grilled, heavily seasoned squid skewer, eating with immense satisfaction.

The corner of Zhao Rui’s mouth twitched. He suddenly felt that the girl was not quite as beautiful as before.

After making a full circuit and filling their stomachs, the two returned to the changing area and put their original clothes back on.

Once they left and reached a slightly quieter path, Tian Yaru turned to Zhao Rui.

“All right. You kept me company all morning, so I’ll tell you where those people are.”

“But I’m not showing myself.”

“No problem.”

Zhao Rui nodded.

The two soon got into the car and headed toward the area near No. 1 High School.

Even during the school holidays, those street thugs often loitered nearby, forming gangs and getting into fights.

The car moved slowly through the alley. The summer heat was oppressive, and there were few pedestrians about.

“It’s too hot. Those bad guys must have gone somewhere cool. Uncle Wang, go to the billiard hall ahead. Turn at the next corner.”

The driver, Uncle Wang, immediately turned the car around and drove toward the billiard hall.

This driver was no ordinary man. He was a third-level martial artist who possessed genuine martial skills.

He was probably a former special forces soldier transferred out of the military.

The car turned the corner and arrived in front of a rather old-looking billiard hall less than a minute later.

“Uncle Wang, drive the car away. We’ll hide around that corner over there!”

Tian Yaru seemed to have become completely absorbed in some detective-tracking film, throwing herself wholeheartedly into the covert investigation.

Zhao Rui followed her and hid in the corner of a residential building some distance away, where they had a clear view of the billiard hall’s entrance.

“You seem very familiar with this place.”

Seeing the girl crouching and sneaking around like a little cat, Zhao Rui could not help asking.

“That’s not important!”

Without turning her head, the girl kept her eyes fixed on the entrance.

Seeing this, Zhao Rui said no more and watched the entrance with her.

The tall buildings blocked the burning waves of sunlight, leaving behind a stuffy shade. The occasional breeze carried a dry, heated breath.

After crouching there for five or six minutes, Tian Yaru suddenly sprang upright.

“This is exhausting. You keep watch. I’m going to rest for a while.”

She stepped back and squatted against the wall, taking out her phone.

Zhao Rui shook his head and continued watching the billiard hall. He had nothing else to do that morning anyway.

After waiting for more than half an hour, Zhao Rui’s eyes suddenly brightened.

Several oddly dressed youths came out of the billiard hall with their arms around one another’s shoulders, swaggering along.

Zhao Rui quickly called out to Tian Yaru.

The girl immediately stood up and leaned forward to look.

“That’s them! The one with blue hair is called Brother Cannon. The others are all his lackeys.”

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Zhao Rui looked closely, narrowing his eyes. He recognized one of them—the boy was a classmate of his younger brother whom he had seen back when they were still in school.

That confirmed it.

Zhao Rui now had a clear idea of what was going on. He committed the men’s appearances to memory, then stood up.

“All right, I know who they are. Let’s go back. It’s getting late.”

“You’re not going to beat them up?”

Tian Yaru stared at him in astonishment.

“Who said I was going to beat them up?”

Zhao Rui smiled and walked around behind the apartment building.

“Hey, wait for me!”

Tian Yaru hurried after him, pouting as she spoke.

“You’re lying. You’re definitely going to come back and deal with them secretly. You just don’t want anyone to know—not even me.”

“You know quite a lot for a little brat. Aren’t you afraid I’ll have to kill you to silence you?”

“Hmph! You’re a little brat too. You’re only two years older than me!”

Tian Yaru rolled her eyes at Zhao Rui and walked toward the Audi approaching nearby.

Half an hour later, the two returned by car to Tian Yaru’s villa.

As usual, no one was home. Tian Muhua was usually busy with business and rarely returned at a fixed time. Sometimes he even had to travel elsewhere for several days at a time.

As for Mrs. Song, as the wife of a wealthy man, she had an abundance of leisure activities. She was probably having her skin pampered at some health and beauty club.

“You’ve played all morning. Time to study. I’ll come again tomorrow.”

After safely escorting Tian Yaru home, Zhao Rui prepared to leave.

“If you go tonight, be careful. They have…”

“Knives!”

Seeing Zhao Rui heading out, Tian Yaru hesitated, then shouted the warning after him.

Zhao Rui smiled but did not reply. It was a pity that the girl did not know martial arts. Otherwise, he might even have been able to take her along.

Before long, night arrived.

Zhao Rui changed into black athletic clothes, put on a mask, and rode his bicycle back to the residential complex they had visited that morning.

After hiding his bicycle, he carefully avoided the surveillance cameras and silently approached the area around the billiard hall.

Under the hazy night sky, scattered stars glittered like diamonds set into a dark curtain.

After patiently waiting for roughly two hours, the group finally staggered out of the billiard hall, swaggering along with their usual careless arrogance.

Zhao Rui followed far behind, keeping his body concealed.

He saw the men pick up several flashy young women by the roadside before heading toward another street.

Zhao Rui was in no hurry and continued following them.

About ten minutes later, the group entered a small roadside courtyard roughly five or six kilometers from the school.

“Big brother, can you lend me a little more money? I’m broke.”

“Always asking to borrow money! How many jobs have you brought me this month? If you don’t find work soon, I’ll cripple you!”

The voice that came from inside was powerful and resonant. Anyone could tell its owner was trained in martial arts.

Zhao Rui glanced around, borrowed some force from the wall, and vaulted onto the building.

He quietly crawled to the edge of the roof and looked down.

The blue-haired boy called Brother Cannon, whom he had seen at noon, was trembling as he sprawled on the ground.

A broad-nosed young man with tattoos covering one arm was kicking him.

“Just because school isn’t in session, you think you can stop contacting me? If I have to rely on you lot to make money every day, I’ll starve to death! Get out of here!”

The broad-nosed youth kicked Brother Cannon hard, driving him and all his lackeys out of the courtyard.

Several flashy young women were frightened into silence, like quails. Just as they were about to leave with Brother Cannon’s group, the broad-nosed man shouted at them carelessly:

“What are you running for? All of you, get over here. Big brother’s taking you out for barbecue.”

Afterward, he spat in the direction Brother Cannon had gone.

“Useless trash!”

The young women exchanged glances, then timidly approached him one by one.

“Damn it, I’m not going to eat you! Ask around—when have I ever mistreated women?”

With that, he whistled toward the house behind him.

Before long, five or six tattooed men came out, all bare-chested.

“Let’s go eat!”

The broad-nosed man shouted and led the men and women out of the courtyard.

Zhao Rui watched them leave with a cold expression. Then he leaped down from the roof and quickly entered the house.

The moment he opened the door, a thick wave of cigarette smoke hit him in the face. Even with his mask on, it nearly choked him back outside.

The furnishings were crude: a tea table, a sofa, a large fish tank, a television, an air conditioner, and a few small stools.

A mahjong table still bore traces of used tissues and cigarette butts.

Zhao Rui swept his gaze across the room, then entered the bedroom. Unlike the rest of the house, it was clean and tidy.

By the light of the moon, he began searching the cabinets.

Before long, he found a small medicine bottle in one of the drawers. Three words were printed on the label: Carefree Pills.

Zhao Rui was not certain what the medicine was. However, judging from the conversation he had just overheard, the Qi-Gathering Pill his younger brother had bought had most likely come from this man.