CH 39

Zheng Qi thought he was going to be killed.

He originally came out to play with a few brothers. One of his brothers was obsessed with a sweet and flattering little actress who ran into some trouble at work. He originally came out tonight to say a few words in support of his brother’s,bullied little sweetheart. Zheng Qi felt it wasn’t a problem; anyway, wasn’t college the time to mess around? He didn’t have much ambition. Plus, his family had more money than he could spend in his life, so why bother trying hard anyway?

The film and television city here was also very close to the urban area, so he came out to play straightforwardly. Anyway, as the youngest child in his family, he was pampered by his elders. At least, grandma loved him most.

Indeed, the night went fine. At one point, the noise inside was so much that he escaped outside to smoke a cigarette and hid, but accidentally got into a quarrel with someone. Then he was dragged into the alley by a few punks for a beating. When had Zheng Qi suffered like this?

He was able to resist at first, and thought about finding a chance to run away, but, in the end, it was difficult to fight two fists with four hands, and he eventually ended up pressed on the ground. Not only that, they even snatched all valuable things from him: his wallet, cell phone, and even his thick gold necklace!

Zheng Qi desperately guarded his head, angrily thinking that these people had better kill him or he wouldn’t let things end like this! But, after all, he was used to being pampered. He had hardly suffered since he was a child, much less being beaten like this. His anger and indignation didn’t last long.

His whole body ached, and he started to feel fear. What if he was really killed here?

No, he hasn’t lived enough, he doesn’t want to die yet!

Just when he was desperate, the little punk who had scolded and swaggered in front of him suddenly screamed, shocking everyone to stop the assault on him! A young boy with yellow hair sat down on the floor covering his shoulders, shaking his teeth and shouting, “Who the hell dare hit me?!”

Zheng Qi froze. Did someone come? Did you call anyone? Did you call the police? Did you dial 120? 1

The head punk ignored his companion sitting on the ground, only thinking that he accidentally fell or something, and said, “A woman who knows nothing about the world is coming to play with us brothers?”

“Ha-ha! This evening’s harvest is not small.”

“Little beauty, don’t be afraid, we will take good care of you.”

“Oh, little beauty, come and play with this brother!”

That smirk made Zheng Qi not only sick, but also even more desperate. Did a woman really come?

“Call the police! Hurry …Ah!”

His back was stepped on once again, causing him to sweat coldly.

He tried to look at the woman. Under the dim street lamp, he could only see through a few men’s feet that it was supposed to be a very weak girl- thin and small bones peeked out of her sandals.

This idiot didn’t know to hide and call a police officer and, along the way, ask someone to save him. But she rushed out to play the hero? Are you brain dead?!!

It’s over. This time it’s really over!

He closed his eyes in despair and wanted to yell at her, ‘you might as well run away by yourself, no need for a buy one get one free victim deal.’

Where did he know he had just closed his eyes when a few heartbreaking screams reached his ears? But…why did it seem to be a male voice—the punks who beat him?!!

Jiang Nian could see that few of the five people in front of her could really fight. That is, they were people who fought in groups, used to doing things that required little ability like acting violently and bullying powerless children. She felt she didn’t need her mind to bully them; she could rely on her brute force.

The yellow-haired man who wanted to come up and touch her face had his arm twisted by her, broken arm hanging softly by his side, and the whole person burst into a cold sweat as he screamed and fell to the ground! At first sight of his companion being bullied, a person laughed that he hadn’t seen a woman for too long and was violently flung on his back; another person came up to grab her arm and was kicked by her into the corner and didn’t get up for a long time. When the other three saw the situation, they smiled and knew that they had kicked an iron plate 2. The few of them looked at each other, glaring ferociously, and rushed together fiercely–

“Smelly woman, don’t toast but drink punishment wine. Die!” 3

****

****

Zheng Qi only heard the screams in pain, and, when he opened his eyes, he saw the arrogant young punks were knocked down by the woman who suddenly appeared, with no ability to resist. They were paralyzed directly on the ground or rolled around, holding their heads, or limbs, or stomach. At first glance, they weren’t lightly injured.

He was shocked! Was this woman so powerful?

When he looked up again, he saw a woman squatting next to him. She was very beautiful. Her facial features were soft and delicate, with eyes as bright as stars, cherry-like lips, a straight nose, dark eyebrows, and white skin like snow. A lock of ink hair fell onto her cheeks.

–Goddess!

She looked down at him and asked, “Hey, are you okay?”

Zheng Qi finally returned to God, looked around, and said unbelievably, “Okay, okay…… it’s really you who knocked them down, right?”

Jiang Nian hummed indifferently. Those people were too useless, but at least let her vent a little bit of her dissatisfaction with the poor life.

“I have called the police and called the hospital. You wait here- they should arrive soon.”

She stood up as if she was going to leave and, Zheng Qi panicked. He didn’t want to lie with them, who knew if they would get up again? He reached for Jiang Nian’s ankle when she took a step back.

“Don’t, don’t go, I’m still in danger!”

Jiang Nian looked at the people who couldn’t get up lying next to him. They shouldn’t pose any threat?

Zheng Qi was terrified, holding back the pain in his body and said, “Yes, sister, what’s your name? My name is Zheng Qi. Now you are my benefactor, I will repay you! My whole family will repay you!”

This was true. Zheng Qi was the youngest child of the capital’s Zheng family. He had been loved since childhood. Although he had two older brothers, a father and mother on top of him, no one could cross him under his grandmother’s pet 4! He really grew up as the treasure of the family and, now Jiang Nian saved his life. She was definitely a benefactor of the whole family!

Jiang Nian hesitated, looked back, and finally looked at the man for the first time.

He was very miserable. His clothing was rough and disheveled, and just his face was full of injuries. Who knew how many more injuries were on his body?

And he is Zheng Qi?

……No, that’s impossible! This is not her rich second generation!

……Her rich second generation should be the prince on a white horse who stepped on the colorful clouds to take her out of poverty to wealth. How could he be the listless kid beaten up and lying on the ground like a bruised cabbage???

****

Zheng Qi lay in the hospital for half a month, his grandmother’s and mother’s tears almost ran dry. His grandfather, father, and brothers gloated that he deserved it. Zheng Qi only lamented the wickedness in modern people’s hearts [his 3 relatives, in this case] and was too lazy to bother with them. His head was now full of his Muse.

His goddess was not only beautiful and splendid but also kind-hearted. She was a weak woman who rescued him from those five scums, regardless of her own comfort. He had seen her perfect beauty, and was now full of worship! As for the group of fair-weather friends who came to the hospital to plead guilty, they weren’t worth mentioning!

When he was finally discharged from the hospital, Zheng Qi told his mother and grandmother that he would go to Jiang Nian in person and thank her for his life-saving grace.

Grandma Zheng, who was over seventy years old, immediately nodded in agreement: “Yes, yes! We should also bring some ginseng, bird’s nest, and another big rooster, and also some eggs!”

Mother Zheng was still young, but said helplessly, “No need for big roosters, people don’t like these nowadays. We just need to give some gifts and a big red envelope.”

The Zheng family industry started with Grandpa Zheng’s career as a real estate agent. Forty years ago, he was a typical villager. Grandma Zheng, having also grown up in the countryside, felt that such a life-saving benefactor should eat more delicious supplements, but her daughter-in-law also spoke some truth: “Then make it a big red envelope.”

“How much is suitable?”

Zheng Qi’s second brother, Zheng Hao, spoke up, “How much is his dog’s life worth?”

Zheng Qi rolled his eyes: “Grandma, don’t be so tacky. What year is it? Don’t insult people with money. Will someone who can come forward to rescue me in such a dangerous situation be a person who loves such common things as money? She’s my Goddess!”

“You can’t lose your courtesy! Anyway, she’s your life-saving benefactor, we must thank her for it.”

Zheng Qi rolled his eyes and took his clothes to the toilet to change. Examining himself in the mirror, he made a quick overview of his body’s condition. His body still ached, and the bruises hadn’t disappeared, but, on the bright side, he wasn’t as swollen as a pig like before, and just barely looked like a person. To think he wanted to see his goddess with this face. So awkward, after all, he was also a handsome guy!

……Well, his goddess is certainly not so superficial about people’s appearance!

On the day Zheng Qi was discharged from the hospital, the fox friends and dog friends who had played with him also came. They came to plead guilty. These days, they’d sent a lot of delicious and nutritious food, begging for forgiveness. Of course, the most important reason in their hearts were to look at the female warrior who could win one against five! Before, when they went to find Zheng Qi after hearing he’d been in an accident, Jiang Nian had already left. They only heard that the girl was amazing. Not only was she beautiful, but she was also powerful enough to defeat a few punks bare-handed.

However, Zheng Qi scolded them all, “Go, go, go. You don’t come when you’re needed, only come when not needed, what are you doing now? Are you here to see my joke?!”

Bi Lei laughed: “How could we dare? Qi Ge, aren’t we here to escort you? Whoever dares to bully you in the future must step on the bodies of us brothers!”

Chen Xin echoed, “A Lei is right. In order to show our sincerity, Qi Ge, for your safety and security, we must follow you to protect you from now on.”

“Yeah, yeah, before we were wrong, but isn’t it because we were unaware that you had been defeated? If we knew it, wouldn’t we have fought desperately?”

“That’s right. Do you see us as the kind of ungrateful brothers who abandon their brother?”

Zheng Qi snorted, “What do you mean defeated? I was sucker-punched, sucker-punched, understand? Would they have beat me if they came upright and directly? Lao Tzu would cut them one by one!”

“………Yes, Qi ge is the best!”

These few boys pretty much grew up with Zheng Qi in a pair of pants 5. As children, they ran together in a yard. As teens, they ditched school together. Their feelings were naturally deep, and their families were all wealthy families that had developed within the past few generations. Even still, some families with a profound history in the imperial capital claimed that they are uneducated upstarts.

But it’s true that, even if they didn’t have much, they had an abundance of money. Bi Lei was the youngest and a womanizer to his core. His brother started investing in the film industry a few years ago. Because of that, he met some pretty starlets. This time’s beating, Zheng Qi had accompanied Bi Lei to give backing for his new love.

Just, no one expected he’d be beaten up and suffer a big loss.

In fact, Zheng Qi was easy to placate. Although he was very angry, he wanted to show these rice buckets (all they’re good for is taking in food] how powerful his goddess was! He fanned his hand, too lazy to care about them, so several people were so reconciled again.

When he was discharged from the hospital, the party went to Jiang Nian in a mighty manner. When he called the police to give a transcript, Jiang Nian’s address was also on file. Besides, the Zheng family also valued this matter, and it was nothing difficult to find Jiang Nian.

At that time, Jiang Nian happened to be at home as the crew was off again. Liu Xiaoxiao didn’t want to work due to the weather. The director naturally was against it. Every minute and every second wasted cost the crew money. What could they do? Then, Liu Xiaoxiao called her gold master, and the gold master dad (As in, he’s the boss/he makes the decisions) spoke, either she rested, or they’d find a substitute. As for the crew burning money? They still didn’t how to make a request! Did he not have enough money?

There was no way, the director was so angry that Group A had a rest. She didn’t know if Group B was still insisting. 6

Jiang Nian was lying down, eating frozen watermelon. Zhao Heng was still wearing a costume and suffering with the crew. At this moment, he’d just returned to the RV to rest and had time to video chat with Jiang Nian.

Zhao Heng, dressed in ancient costume, had sword eyebrows soaring towards his temples. His nose was tall, his features were deep, and he looked like a handsome boy who came from ancient times.

Jiang Nian missed him very much. After all, they hadn’t met for ten days, but she did not forget to ask: “Did you change your assistants? It seems Xiao Zhang hasn’t answered the phone recently.”

Zhao Heng, without batting an eye, smiled, and said, “Ah, Xiao Zhang is busy with other things.”

The new assistant, Xiao Wang, was tall and fat and looked very honest. Because he was new to the work of an assistant, he wasn’t proficient. But it didn’t matter, he could learn slowly. The most important thing was that he dares not conceal Jiang Nian’s phone calls at will, and dare not delete messages from Jiang Nian.

Jiang Nian hummed, she didn’t care too much to begin with, and she didn’t need to worry about people who had left.

He shifted the topic.

“Why are you at home today, ia your crew on vacation again?”

Jiang Nian spread her hand.

“Can’t help it. Anyway, that’s how things are, it will be good just to finish the filming on time. When will you finish filming?”

“It should be about half a month.”

“Then we won’t be able to meet for another half a month?”

Zhao Heng couldn’t help but smile, “Would you like to come to the class?”

Jiang Nian thought about the scene of Ji Yaling enraged at her visiting the crew, and thought that this proposal was really good!

In fact, it was about time for Ji Yaling to come and find her.

After talking with Zhao Heng for a few moments, the sound of the door being pulled open came along with the voice of a woman: “A Heng, it’s your turn.”

Although Zhao Heng had been tepid in recent years, he valued the roles he played were very important. He chose by script and then character. When accepting a role, but the scripts he received weren’t as high as his position, so the director valued him, and his status in the crew was not low.

Unfortunately, Zhao Heng’s strength was not enough, and he couldn’t meet the company’s request for more investment, not to mention Jiang Nian’s affairs. After all, the company also hoped he would break up and concentrate on his career.

And since he found that Ji Yaling and Xiao Zhang often deleted the messages and calls from Jiang Nian behind his back, he felt more and more that Ji Yaling always appeared when he and Jiang Nian were in contact, and he could only end the conversation in a hurry. At night, when he was finally through with work, Jiang Nian might be asleep. If he finished work early, maybe Jiang Nian was still busy with the crew, and they would rarely encounter each other’s downtime.

In this way, after the connection is reduced, the relationship would naturally fade, and the contradictions will be highlighted. It wasn’t difficult to understand that a couple will break up because of this.

Ji Yaling might be playing with this goal in mind.

His eyes sank.

“Niannian, I’m going to rehearsal, come to me, when I have time.”

Jiang Nian smiled and said: “I can come to you at night and return the next day!”

Zhao Heng said, “Okay.”

Hanging up the video, he stepped out of the car and walked to the studio without squinting.

Ji Yaling wanted to take the initiative to say a few words to Zhao Heng, but Zhao Heng looked too cold, still holding the script in his hand, with an expressionless face that refused people thousands of miles away. He was too serious and indifferent, his coldness didn’t seem to be a deliberate pretense, but instead seemed to be aimed at her.

She could not help thinking of Zhao Heng’s gentleness and patience when treating Jiang Nian. She was dissatisfied and smiled coldly.

……

Not long after Jiang Nian hung up, Zheng Qi and others found themselves on her doorstep, murmuring and looking around. Zheng Qi also specially arranged his appearance, and his second brother Zheng Hao laughed and said he was ugly no matter how much he primped, and the two almost got into trouble again.

Bi Lei was a cute child. He first knocked on the door, and then he was thrown to the back by Zheng Qi’s hands on his collar.

“Don’t snatch my limelight! She’s my lifesaver and not your lifesaver. Let me knock!”

“…… good.” 

Jiang Nian opened the door and was a bit scared, seeing so many people. A grandmother, a lady, a handsome man who looked like an elite, another ugly rich second generation, and a few younger brothers of the ugly rich second generation—all seven or eight people watched her smilingly as if she had become a delicious plate of meat.

Grandmother Zheng immediately approached and took her hand and said, “Are you Niannian? I am this kid’s grandmother, and I want to thank you for saving my little grandson. You are such a kind person, ah!”

Mother Zheng also expressed her thanks immediately, saying there weren’t many people in this society who would do such a heroic act. She was really a good girl! Brother Zheng sent a specially-approved thank you gift, which was valuable supplements and medicines that filled both hands, and said politely, “Hello Miss Jiang, I am Zheng Qi’s second brother Zheng Hao. Thank you for saving my brother. This is a thank you gift. Please accept it.”

Zheng Qi was also a bit antsy. It was dark that night, and he couldn’t see very well. Now that it was daytime, he discovered that Jiang Nian was even more beautiful than he thought. Bi Lei and Chen Xin were surprised when they saw Jiang Nian. They didn’t expect such a beautiful girl, “Goddess” was indeed true. They immediately smiled and shouted, “Jiang jie, hello, we are Zheng Qi’s friends. We also want to thank you for saving him so that we don’t have to feel the pain of losing a brother in advance.”

Jiang Nian: “………”

All these people stared at her with bright eyes, especially the one with the bruised nose and swollen face, and smiled until their eyes were nearly invisible. The only normal one was Zheng Hao.

She invited the bunch of people into the house to sit. Since she didn’t have enough teacups, she poured boiled water into disposable paper cups and threw in a few pieces of green tea.

“Sorry, I usually don’t have guests at home, and there are no spare cups.”

Grandma Zheng and Mother Zheng liked Jiang Nian more and more. Such a gentle and kind girl was a good girl. The grandmother looked at her little grandson, who was like a puppy, and pulled Jiang Nian to sit beside her. She took out a big red envelope and stuffed it into her hand: “Don’t misunderstand, this red envelope is one to thank you, and two a good omen. In the future, these evil things won’t come to you.”

Jiang Nian smiled and narrowed her eyes, sweetly saying, “Thank you, grandma!”

The meeting was a great pleasure for both the guests and the host. Jiang Nian thought that the rich second generation was indeed the rich second generation of her destiny. He came to lead her out of poverty towards the gates of riches.

When the group was leaving, Zheng Qi walked in the end. He twisted for an afternoon, and then gathered up the courage to say to Jiang Nian, “That red envelope…are you happy? I’m afraid you will think our house wants to send you away with the money. Actually, it doesn’t mean that it’s just a very simple thanks!”

Jiang Nian shook her head and said, “No, I’m not unhappy.”

Zheng Qi was relieved, showing a white tooth. His goddess really understood righteousness!

“Then, is it impossible for me to come to you to play?”

“I have to work, and I shouldn’t have much time to play.”

“It’s okay, I promise I won’t interrupt your work!”

Jiang Nian touched her chin. Zheng Qi was a little nervous, and his brothers came back in to urge him. Jiang Nian laughed and said, “Could it be that I was so powerful that night and fought off five men without breaking a sweat that you want to be my younger brother? You want me to cover you, right?”

Zheng Qi: “…huh?”

Bi Lei and Chen Xin: “…younger brother?”

Jiang Nian said, “Let me think about it. After all, being an older sister is not good.”

Until he was looking at the closed door, Zheng Qi was still a bit lost. When did he become a younger brother?

When the Zheng family was sent away, Jiang Nian counted the money in her thick red envelope, which was a full five-digit number. The Zheng family was quite generous. It was enough to go to Zhao Heng to play.

Anyway, she was idle. She immediately picked up her backpack and booked a flight. Soon, she arrived at the hotel where Zhao Heng was staying.

Ji Yaling’s face was almost green when she saw Jiang Nian. She (JYL) hadn’t gone to her (JN) yet, but Jiang Nian actually came to find her.

Jiang Nian didn’t know yet. The next day, Zheng Qi came again and brought his group of fox friends and dog friends. He couldn’t be a younger brother by himself, he might as well have someone give him support. So, he pulled his friends to come together.

Bi Lei and Chen Xin still hesitated for a while. After all, they are also big men. It was a bit of an insult to their identity to be a little brother to a girl. They didn’t listen to the big brothers at home, but Jiang Nian was really good. It was said that it took her less than a few minutes to subdue the gangsters, and she was not hurt at all. Like that, she was a heroine among heroines! It didn’t seem shameful to be her little brother?

Thinking about it that way, it seemed okay.

So, Jiang Nian was upgraded from a goddess to an elder sister. : )

1.911.^

2.Messed with someone who shouldn’t be messed with. ^

3.Lit. ‘don’t drink a toast, but choose punishment wine instead’- bad guys often say this when someone rejects their offer for a ‘peaceful’ settlement and chooses to stand against them. ^

4.Spoiling/pampering.^

5.Very close childhood friends. ^

6.To save time, dramas often split into groups for filming, classified by alphabetical letters in order of importance. Group A usually consisting of the director, leads, and some important support roles, group B would be an assistant director filming supporting roles w/out leads, and so on.. ^