CH 25

After breaking off with Li Mingxuan, Shen Xi walked out of the alley with an empty stomach.

The words he had just said were certainly the ones from the depth of Shen Xi’s heart and they did not rule out the possibility that he wanted to make use of Li Mingxuan to once again dispel the worry of the Shen family. But when he remembered Li Mingxuan’s attitude and thought of his “sorry”, Shen Xi couldn’t say exactly what he felt.

Sorry? Sorry for what?

Sorry for having ignored him in the past? Sorry for letting his father deprive him of his rights to Shen Group? Sorry for having decided his fate from the start and not giving him a chance to choose?

But what was the use of being sorry?

If he hadn’t been reborn, Shen Xi at this time would be a prisoner struggling to survive and wouldn’t be able to hear their apologies at all. What did their apologies have to do with him?

Shen Xi thought mockingly, since they had decided his life from the very beginning and did not give him a choice, why should he give them a chance now?

Alone with his thoughts, Shen Xi had no idea where he was going. All the alleys here looked the same, criss crossing each other in a mess with no exit in sight. It was midday and the alleyways were silent, with no one in sight. Shen Xi stopped in his tracks and tried to judge the direction to find an exit to get out of here.

Just when Shen Xi had decided on a direction and intended to keep walking, there was a sudden sound of chaotic footsteps behind him, accompanied by loud shouting.

“Fang Luowei, stop right there.”

“Hurry up, he’s just up ahead.”

“We’ll get him soon.”

Amidst the murmur of voices, the words “Fang Luowei” reached Shen Xi’s ears as clearly as if they had been deliberately amplified. Almost subconsciously, Shen Xi turned around and ran towards the place where the voices came from. He didn’t know how to describe his emotions at this moment; he could feel the excitement in his body, the kind of anxiety and eagerness to see Fang Luowei immediately, but there was a trace of apprehension in the excitement, the fear that the Fang Luowei he would see was not the Fang Luowei he had hoped for. In such a mood, Shen Xi only felt that the road in front of him was extraordinarily long.

“Boy, we finally caught you.”

“What the hell do you want?” Fang Luowei’s angry voice came over.

“What do we want? You wouldn’t forget so quickly about what you did to Brother Wang last time at the bar, would you?”

“Our Brother Wang is generous and won’t bother with you in general. As long as you agree to accompany Brother Wang for a few days, this matter will be settled.”

“Brother Wang also said that you have borrowed from Brother Bin’s loan sharks. As long as you are willing to accompany him, he will pay back your debt.”

Messy voices sounded in front of him, but Shen Xi’s heart suddenly settled down. It was Fang Luowei, he heard his voice.

“I will pay my debt myself, Brother Wang doesn’t need to bother.” A dry refusal came over, accompanied by a painful cry of “eww”.

“Hurry up and catch him, he dares to run again.”

By the end of these words, Shen Xi turned the corner to see Fang Luowei surrounded by a few youngsters who looked like punks. Perhaps because of Brother Wang’s orders, those punks didn’t dare to hit hard and just wanted to trap Fang Luowei by taking advantage of their numbers.

Without hesitation, Shen Xi rushed up and threw a punch at one of the punks who was trying to hold Fang Luowei.

In his previous life, Shen Xi had fought a lot in prison, and his punches were always quick, accurate and fierce. In this life, he had deliberately trained during his years abroad, and his skills were much better than in prison. In a few moves he stopped the crowd that surrounded Fang Luowei.

Shen Xi’s appearance obviously took everyone present by surprise. After looking at each other, the punks came back to their senses and immediately pounced on Shen Xi, turning the crowd into a melee.

Ten minutes later, Shen Xi and Fang Luowei were standing back to back, gasping for breath, while the punks around them were stumbling and holding each other up, looking at them with resentment.

Shen Xi pulled Fang Luowei back step by step, and when they turned the corner, they ran for their lives. With Fang Luowei’s guidance, a few minutes later the two ran out of the alleyway and onto the street. Looking at the stream of people and the traffic around, Shen Xi relaxed and held onto the pole by the road, panting desperately. Beside him, Fang Luowei was not much better, gasing while patting Shen Xi’s back as he tried to help him smooth out his breath.

Half a second later, the two looked at each other and laughed together.

“Thank you.” Fang Luowei said while laughing, and then thought of something, “Huh, I’ve seen you before, you’re Shen Xi.”

“Yeah? When?” Even though Shen Xi knew in his heart that Fang Luowei should be talking about the time he was drunk back then, he still had to pretend not to know.

Fang Luowei stood up straight, “The last time you were drunk in a bar, do you remember?”

Shen Xi immediately cooperated with a look of surprise, “So it was you, I haven’t thanked you for sending me back last time.”

Fang Luowei was startled, “Don’t you know? The one who gave you a lift wasn’t me, it was a man called Li Mingxuan.”

The smile froze on Shen Xi’s face, “Li Mingxuan?”

Fang Luowei nodded, “Didn’t he tell you? He seems to care about you quite a bit.”

This statement caused Shen Xi to unconsciously frown.

Fang Luowei realised something and immediately said, “Sorry.”

Shen Xi shook his head, “It has nothing to do with you, it’s a personal grudge between me and him.”

Shen Xi didn’t want to mention Li Mingxuan anymore and immediately changed the subject, “By the way, why are they chasing you?”

Fang Luowei smiled bitterly, “I got into a bit of trouble at the bar the other day.” Thinking about the last time, Fang Luowei couldn’t help but glance at Shen Xi. That time Li Mingxuan and Shen Ji even had a fight because of Shen Xi, who knows what kind of relationship they had with each other.

When Fang Luowei said the word “trouble”, Shen Xi immediately understood. In his previous life in prison, Fang Luowei was in trouble a lot because of his face. Thinking of those punks who had mentioned loan sharks, Shen Xi wanted to ask a question, but felt that the two of them were just getting to know each other. He was afraid that Fang Luowei might be suspicious, so he could only pretend not to hear. But in his heart, he was thinking that he would ask Lao K to check it out afterwards, and he would quietly help Fang Luowei pay his debt.

The loan shark matter was easy to solve, but these punks, Shen Xi couldn’t help but worry.

“Do you live alone? What if you run into them again next time?”

The concern on Shen Xi’s face came from his heart; Fang Luowei felt warm and smiled slightly, “Don’t worry, they usually can’t catch me, today was just an accident.” Fang Luowei’s smile had a hint of playfulness in it when he said this, exactly the same as Shen Xi remembered. Shen Xi was lost in thought for a moment, then quickly lowered his head to hide the nostalgia in his eyes.

The two of them chatted, and Shen Xi’s face was full of smiles from beginning to end.

On the other side of the road, Li Mingxuan sat in his car, watching Shen Xi quietly. He had never seen such a bright smile on Shen Xi’s face, as if it was flowing from the bottom of his heart, filled with undisguised joy.

The young man opposite Shen Xi, Li Mingxuan still remembered him, he had left a very good impression on Li Mingxuan last time. But looking at Shen Xi’s unbridled joy as he talked to Fang Luowei, Li Mingxuan inexplicably looked at Fang Luowei with displeasure. Li Mingxuan didn’t dare to think about why he didn’t like him, though.

He just looked at Shen Xi from afar, and a voice in his heart kept screaming: go and talk to Shen Xi, even if it’s just to say something. It seemed that as long as he spoke to Shen Xi, it would be as if nothing had happened between them.

Li Mingxuan didn’t pay any attention to that voice; he just looked at Shen Xi seriously and carefully. He felt as if something was about to get out of control. He was now standing on the edge of a cliff, and one step forward was an abyss of ten thousand feet.

Li Mingxuan closed his eyes and resolutely stopped watching Shen Xi. Some things couldn’t go on anymore.