Li Yingqiao really is a jinx.
That night, as soon as Yu Jinyang finished his street dance class, he was cornered in an alley fifty meters from Xiao Hua City.
Tang Xiang Auntie and Yu Renjie were at the movies, so he was walking home alone, taking his time, when he happened to run into the two big fifth-grade brothers coming out of the arcade across the street.
The moment those two saw him, they pounced like cats on a mouse, flanking him and pinning him against the wall.
“Little Yu Meow,” Shi Xiaobei, big and burly, hooked his iron-like arm around Yu Jinyang’s neck and locked him under his armpit, looking every bit the bully.
He even patted Yu Jinyang’s cheek with the back of his hand.
“Still got any pocket money lately? Us brothers are a bit short—”
Yu Jinyang was pressed up against the mossy, damp brick wall, his back chilling to the core.
He was already annoyed—if it wasn’t class committee meetings, it was squad meetings every day, and now after class he had to learn street dance to grow taller.
He was as busy as a spinning top, and even when he was alone, he still had to be humiliated like this.
His frustration was at its limit, and at that thought, his fist clenched in his pocket without him realizing—
So what if I die!
He was just about to pull out his fist when he heard a loud and familiar voice from the end of the alley, “Shi Dapeng! Are you bullying my deskmate again!”
Before Yu Jinyang could react, Shi Xiaobei’s head was smacked hard from behind.
He instinctively let go of Yu Jinyang and turned his buzzing head, only to see that fourth grader who was just as tall as him, standing there like a tank, holding a rolling pin.
No sense of fair play—she even brought a weapon.
“What are you doing!”
Shi Xiaobei clutched the back of his head and tried to reason with her.
“I was just chatting with Little Yu Meow, why’d you hit me!”
“Do you think I’m stupid? You’re trying to rob him!”
Li Yingqiao bonked the rolling pin on his forehead—not hard, but enough to make him wince.
“If I catch you asking him for money again, I’ll make sure to split your head open with this rolling pin so your mom can’t even put it back together!”
Shi Xiaobei, the biggest kid in Huacheng Primary School, was not convinced by Li Yingqiao’s threats.
He covered his forehead, gritting his teeth.
“Li Yingqiao! You think just because I haven’t shown my fangs, I’m a sick cat? You wanna see me really hit you?”
Yu Jinyang was stuck between them and let out a “Hey” that nobody cared about.
He was just about to say he wasn’t that close to her, so Shi Xiaobei shouldn’t make things hard for her, when suddenly a familiar scolding voice came from the alley’s end, “You kids! What are you doing!”
The Shi Xiaobei brothers turned to look, only to see a woman’s shadow stretched long under the distant streetlamp at the alley’s mouth, like a sword drawn from its sheath, slicing straight toward them.
“What are you doing! Bullying students from which class!”
Li Yingqiao’s ears were sharp, and she immediately shouted, “Liang Laoshi! They’re your students! Shi Dapeng and his brother are trying to get money from Yu Meow Meow!”
“What! You little punks! Robbery, huh!? Come here, come here, firing squad, I’ll have you all shot!”
Even from far away, Liang Mei’s footsteps thudded loudly on the flagstones, like thunder rolling in summer clouds—her voice rang out before she even appeared.
There was a very dark stretch in the alley, and before Liang Mei could get close, Shi Xiaobei seized the chance and quickly said, “Teacher! No! We didn’t! We were just borrowing a little pocket money from him.”
Li Yingqiao smacked his forehead again with the rolling pin.
“Did you pay back what you ‘borrowed’ before?”
“Yes, yes, I’ll pay it back tomorrow!”
Shi Xiaobei finished speaking and immediately grabbed his brother, dashing off in a panic.
He stumbled, and out of nowhere, a high-heeled shoe flew and clanged against the utility pole right in front of him.
He let go of his brother’s hand and ran off like his feet were greased, vanishing in an instant.
The next second, Liang Mei hobbled up to Li Yingqiao and Yu Jinyang, looking them up and down, her tone returning to its usual calm, “Alright, I’ll take you two home.”
But at that moment, seeing her fully exposed in the moonlight, both Li Yingqiao and Yu Jinyang froze.
They instinctively exchanged glances—neither had expected to see Liang Mei like this—the same Liang Laoshi who was always extra strict about class hygiene, who even ran her fingers along the window sills.
Now, she was standing barefoot on the flagstone road, holding a broken high-heeled shoe in one hand, the other trying to smooth her messy hair.
This teacher was rarely like this—usually her hair was neat and shiny.
Now she looked like she’d just crawled out of a chicken coop, her shirt collar askew, her skirt dripping wet, a spreading puddle forming beneath her feet.
The two kids stared at her without blinking.
Liang Mei realized she’d lost her composure and didn’t say anything extra, “So, you two okay? If nothing’s wrong, I’ll take you home. Tomorrow I’m talking to Shi Dapeng’s homeroom teacher.”
On the way home, the two kids kept looking back every few steps at Liang Mei, who was following on her electric scooter, until she got annoyed.
“What are you staring at! You want me to fall in a ditch on my scooter again and show you another demonstration?”
The two kids shrank their heads and walked on until they passed a pharmacy—
Li Yingqiao glanced over, and Yu Jinyang followed her gaze. He seemed to know what she wanted to say.
“I’ll go buy it.”
He ran straight into the pharmacy, and behind him came Liang Mei’s exasperated shout, “You little brat! Where are you going now!”
After the two kids finished tending to the speechless Liang Mei on her scooter, Tang Xiang Auntie and Yu Renjie were returning from the cinema and ran into them at the entrance to Xiao Hua City.
After Liang Mei explained what happened, Tang Xiang Auntie pulled her son and Li Yingqiao aside.
“Come upstairs, I’ll take care of your wound, it needs disinfecting. And Liang Laoshi, if you go home wet like this, you’ll catch a cold. I’ll get you some clean clothes.”
Liang Mei knew Tang Xiang Auntie had probably guessed what happened.
She forced a smile and didn’t hide it.
“Alright, sorry to trouble you.”
She didn’t feel ashamed—it wasn’t her fault.
Besides, she’d already decided to throw her resignation letter on the principal’s desk tomorrow morning.
Whoever wants this crappy job can have it.
Yu Jinyang felt someone tugging his sleeve.
Li Yingqiao winked at him.
He looked confused, not understanding the meaning in her eyes, but the precocious Li Yingqiao had already read the heavy atmosphere among the adults, and the words Liang Laoshi held back.
-Liang Laoshi definitely didn’t just fall in a ditch.
Li Yingqiao walked with them to the Chuanming Street intersection, patted Yu Jinyang’s shoulder, and said in an old-fashioned tone, “Meow Meow, leave Liang Laoshi to you guys. I’m heading home—my mom’s waiting.”
Yu Jinyang looked at her for a long while.
He wanted to thank her for stepping in, but the words stuck in his throat like a tuft of lint.
He knew what he wanted to say, but just couldn’t get it out.
After a moment, he asked, “Li Yingqiao, have you decided which middle school you’ll go to?”
Li Yingqiao rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Yu Meow Meow, are you done yet? If you ask again, I’ll think you like me!”
Yu Jinyang was baffled.
“Huh?”
Before he could say anything else, Yu Renjie came over and whisked him away, afraid they’d talk about something they shouldn’t.
Tang Xiang Auntie took Liang Mei upstairs to change clothes, while father and son strolled home slowly under the dim streetlights of Chuanming Street.
Yu Renjie patted his son’s head and said, “Liang Laoshi might stay at our place for a bit. Let’s take a walk before heading back.”
Yu Jinyang nodded, still thinking about what Li Yingqiao had just said. He looked up and asked, “Dad, what does it mean to like someone? Why did Li Yingqiao say I like her?”
Yu Renjie stopped and, for the first time, seriously told him, “First, liking someone is a very serious matter. You can’t say it lightly. Li Yingqiao, that little rascal, just blurts out whatever she wants—even to adults. You can’t be like her.”
Yu Jinyang nodded.
“Second, at your age, it’s not about liking or not liking someone. At most, it’s just a little childhood friendship. When you get to middle school or high school, you’ll understand—those feelings don’t count for much. Besides, with her grades, you two won’t even go to the same middle school. After a few years apart, you’ll be like strangers. Even if you like a girl in high school, that feeling is very vague. Before anything is settled, it’s too early to talk about this stuff. That’s why your mom and I are firmly against puppy love. Li Yingqiao is an exception—even if I’m halfway in my grave, she’s still on my blacklist.”
Yu Jinyang nodded earnestly, like a pecking chicken, and promised, “Dad, don’t worry, I’ll never like her! Even if you die, I won’t like her.”
Yu Renjie ruffled his hair.
“Alright, good boy. Let’s go home, I’ll make you some noodles. Oh, what did you learn in dance class today?”
Yu Jinyang hopped forward two steps.
“Popping—like this, like this.”
He quickly showed off a hundred-yuan’s worth of class performance, afraid his dad would think the money was wasted, so he danced especially hard—raising his wrist, as if a current shot from his fingertips, slid through his elbow, and silently flowed to his shoulder blade.
In the next second, with a “ka,” he froze, then his joints trembled smoothly one after another.
Yu Renjie suddenly felt his ten-year-old son was starting to have some edges to him.
He teased, “Cool! Looking good, son. Want to learn something else? How about piano?”
Yu Jinyang shook his head at once.
Yu Renjie laughed and slung his arm around him as they walked home.
“Let’s go! Mom’s probably waiting anxiously! Oh right, she just got her hair permed today. When you get home, remember to compliment her. You didn’t notice she changed her hairstyle, did you? She’s been complaining all the way, saying it’s ugly, she won’t be able to sleep tonight, and needs sleeping pills! You’d better say something nice.”
“Okay!”
Li Yingqiao tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
So much had happened recently—the madman at Crazy Harbor with bloodstains; Liang Laoshi definitely hadn’t just fallen in a ditch; and that man who came to buy cigarettes during the day.
No matter how much she questioned him, he just smiled with a flawless smile and said, “So, after school tomorrow, I’ll wait for you at the milk tea shop by the school’s back gate. I’ll treat you to something, and we can chat, okay?”
She’d gone to the milk tea shop early to scout it out, just in case something happened tomorrow and she needed an escape route.
She was just too curious.
As it turned out, she ran into Yu Meow Meow being cornered by Shi Dapeng in the alley.
But why was Liang Laoshi working so late today?
She always left on time.
The next evening, as soon as the bell rang, Li Yingqiao showed up at the milk tea shop by the back gate.
The sunset slanted through the glass, and she absentmindedly chewed her straw, scanning the crowd, but never saw the man from yesterday.
The shop emptied out, students were picked up by their parents, and the lively milk tea shop turned quiet again.
Then, at the crossroad nearby, a black van slowly pulled up.
The side door slid open, and the man with the sharp features from yesterday stepped out, still in a suit and shiny shoes, giving her a gentle smile and beckoning her over.
The man didn’t expect that not only did the girl not come out, but after she whispered something to the shop clerk, the clerk locked the door.
The clerk knew Li Yingqiao, and the two of them hid behind the counter, calling the police while whispering, “Are you sure this guy’s a bad person?”
Li Yingqiao nodded.
“Look at his license plate—such an old van, but the plate is brand new and shiny. My uncle says that’s usually a stolen car or always using fake plates. And look, the windows are so tightly tinted you can’t see inside. My uncle says the back seats in these vans are usually taken out to tie people up. And look at the mud on his tires—how could there be so much mud?”
That’s right, it hadn’t rained recently, so there shouldn’t be that much mud on the tires, unless he lived in the mountains.
But a guy dressed like that probably didn’t live in the mountains, and Xiao Hua City was already on the outskirts—past there were only elderly people left behind.
The clerk, half convinced, decided to call the police first.
If he turned out to be innocent, at worst they’d just owe him two cups of milk tea.
Five minutes later, two officers from the nearby police station arrived and immediately pulled up the only surveillance footage at the intersection.
Back then, surveillance cameras were rare, especially in the suburbs, so any unfamiliar vehicle in this urban-rural fringe was suspicious.
What was even more suspicious was that the van had avoided the camera’s field of view—normal cars wouldn’t bother to do that.
A week later, that van was finally tracked down by the police who’d been following the clues day and night, and so was Gao Dian, the child who’d been lured into the van that afternoon, wanting to go to Shenzhen to find his parents.
“Wow, Qiaoqiao’s amazing this time,” Tang Xiang Auntie couldn’t help but talk about the big news in Xiao Hua City at dinner.
“The threshold of Li Shuli’s grocery shop is worn down—reporters are lining up for interviews every day. The front page of Star River Daily is all about Qiaoqiao’s story. They used a fake name, but everyone in Xiao Hua City knows that ‘Xiao Fang’ is Qiaoqiao. She’s really become Xiao Hua City’s little hero this time.”
That night, Gao Dian, who had gone hungry for a whole week, was brought to their door by his grandparents.
The two elders, thin as sticks, carried a whole basket of homemade dried sweet potatoes.
Trembling, they knelt before Li Shuli.
“Shuli! You raised a good daughter! Thank you! If not for Qiaoqiao, I really don’t know how we’d face the boy’s parents!”
“If you don’t mind, let Gao Dian do anything for Qiaoqiao from now on! We’ll definitely repay this kindness!”
Li Shuli was burning with anger—she’d meant to shut the door and give her troublemaker daughter a good beating.
She’d even gotten the rolling pin out, gripping it tight, but looking at the two elders’ hunched backs, bent and dried out like hollow stalks, she couldn’t bring herself to hit her little benefactor in front of them.
Gao Dian, probably still dazed from hunger, squatted on the floor with dull eyes.
Li Yingqiao walked over.
“Hurry and help your grandparents home. My mom’s about to beat me.”