Rebooting 60, let's go on a rampage with the orange cat!

On the way to school that day, Liu Hui stopped Zhong Hanzhe on his bicycle and said, "Hanzhe, I remember when I helped you teach Gu Jingxing a lesson, it was also for a girl named Shi Huai'an, right?"

When Zhong Hanzhe heard the other party bring up the old matter again, a hint of displeasure welled up in his heart. He frowned, a hint of dissatisfaction in his eyes, and asked strangely, "Why are you asking about her? Why are you suddenly so interested in her for no reason?"

Liu Hui looked up, glanced at him quickly, then smiled slightly, revealing a mysterious smile, and said softly, "She seems to have run into a little trouble recently. Someone asked me to come and remind her, and I was wondering if this could be the same person you know, so I came here specifically to confirm with you whether it's the same person."

Upon hearing this, Zhong Hanzhe's heart tightened, as if gripped by an invisible hand. His eyes widened, and he stared at Liu Hui with suspicion, urgently pressing, "What trouble is it? Just tell me already! Don't keep me in suspense!"

Seeing his nervous expression, Liu Hui couldn't help but chuckle, but quickly suppressed his laughter, his expression turning serious. He glanced around warily and lowered his voice, saying, "Oh dear, look how anxious you are! What's wrong with you? Your business is my business. If anyone dares to cause trouble for your friend, that's the same as causing trouble for me! Do we need to distinguish between us?"

Hearing this, Zhong Hanzhe felt slightly calmer, but still somewhat agitated. He raised his right hand high, as if to slap Liu Hui, and snapped irritably, "Stop talking nonsense! Explain yourself clearly, what exactly happened..."

Liu Hui quickly laughed and said, "I have a friend named Mu Yinghong. Yesterday, when she was alone, she was almost beaten and kidnapped by a group of people! Luckily, my friends and I ran into her on the street and rescued her! Those people ran away when they saw that there were many of us, which terrified Mu Yinghong. She said that when they kidnapped her, she heard them say that they were going to take someone else with them. So she asked me to find Shi Huai'an from Class 1, Grade 8, to warn her and tell her to be careful. The school gatekeeper wouldn't let me in to look for her, but I thought you're also studying here, and in Grade 8 too, maybe we know each other..."

Zhong Hanzhe reacted quickly, pulling him to the side of the road. His face was filled with anxiety, and he asked urgently, "Do you even know who those people who beat her are? What happened in all of this?"

At this moment, Liu Hui was intently observing the students who had come to school.

Suddenly, his eyes widened as if he had discovered something of vital importance.

Immediately afterward, he turned around with lightning speed, his back to the school gate, and said in a low voice to Zhong Hanzhe, "Hey! Have you seen that boy in the blue striped t-shirt? The one who's walking side by side with a girl in a white short-sleeved shirt and blue long skirt with braids at the school gate right now, did you see him?"

Zhong Hanzhe looked in the direction he was pointing and saw Ma Jianqiang and Wu Yutong walk into the school gate. For a while, Wu Yutong often came to see Shi Huai'an and Lin Shaoyi. He would secretly find out about anyone related to Shi Huai'an. She was a first-year junior high student. Shi Huai'an had saved her, so they were very close. He hadn't paid much attention to her.

Ma Jianqiang was a notorious troublemaker in the neighboring class in the second year of junior high school. Fighting, skipping classes, and being absent from school were commonplace for him. Such behavior caused headaches and frustration for the teachers, who tried to educate him many times but to no avail.

However, what truly made Zhong Hanzhe take notice of this troublesome fellow was a seemingly ordinary encounter in the corridor. In that instant, when their eyes met, Zhong Hanzhe's heart jolted, as if a lightning bolt had struck his mind—for he recognized at a glance that this unruly young man was, in his previous life, a notorious leader of the Red Army (or rebel) faction.

At that time, Chung Han-che had also joined the team on a whim. Later, seeing that things were getting out of control and some people had even killed someone, he secretly delivered medicine to an injured soldier. Fearing that he would be implicated, Chung Han-che promptly withdrew from the Red Army. After getting married, he quickly went to the countryside to become an educated youth.

When Chung Han-che recognized Ma Jian-qiang at school, he kept his distance from him. After all, the two were not in the same class, so they didn't usually interact. One was a top student, and the other was a poor student.

He thought the two of them were from completely different worlds and would never cross paths, but he never expected that Ma Jianqiang would actually take action against Shi Huai'an this time, which was something he absolutely could not tolerate.

This Wu Yutong is quite remarkable; she actually found such a protector, and this matter must be inextricably linked to her.

Liu Hui lowered his head and said, "According to Mu Yinghong, it's probably because a girl named Wu Yutong liked Gu Jingxing, but Gu Jingxing ignored her. So she spread rumors about Shi Huai'an and Gu Jingxing's early romance. Shi Huai'an had helped Mu Yinghong once before, so Mu Yinghong took the initiative to investigate the situation and made trouble for Wu Yutong. Unexpectedly, this Wu Yutong is not someone to be trifled with. This time, she actually found accomplices to take revenge on them..."

Zhong Hanzhe pondered for a moment and said, "You go back first. I'll tell Shi Huai'an to be careful. They probably won't dare to retaliate openly at school; it must be outside of school. I'll remind her to be careful."

Seeing that he had completed his mission, Liu Hui said, "Alright, just say you want to beat up Ma Jianqiang. But I think they're not just going to beat him up to vent their anger; it seems like they have some other plan. I'll head back now. Mu Yinghong is quite pitiful; her stepmother doesn't care whether she lives or dies. I'll go buy some food and take it to her. I'm off now."

"Wait a minute, go find Wang Kai and help me..." Zhong Hanzhe whispered in his ear for a while.

Liu Hui nodded and said, "Okay, I'll take care of it right away and get back to you at noon."

Liu Hui rode away on his bicycle, and Zhong Hanzhe entered the school. The morning sunlight streamed through the windows into the classroom, illuminating every desk and the students' energetic faces. As usual, Zhong Hanzhe quickly took out his textbook and began to study intently.

The bell rang, breaking the quiet atmosphere in the classroom. The students got up and stretched, while Zhong Hanzhe noticed Shi Huai'an packing up his books, preparing to leave the classroom.

He quickly stepped forward and whispered, "Shi Huai'an, Mu Yinghong asked me to tell you to be careful after school. It seems someone might be trying to harm you."

Upon hearing this, Shi Huai'an looked up at Zhong Hanzhe with a blank expression, his eyes filled with doubt, and asked, "Who is it? What's going on?"

Zhong Hanzhe took a deep breath and quickly explained, "It's like this, Wu Yutong called Ma Jianqiang from the class next door to get revenge on her. As a result, Mu Yinghong was beaten up outside yesterday and they seemed to be trying to kidnap her. And from what they said, they also want to deal with you. So you really have to be careful these next few days!"

Shi Huai'an thought to himself, "What kind of logic does Wu Yutong have? I didn't confront her about the rumors, and she still came to cause me trouble, even wanting to retaliate against us. What kind of robber logic is this?"

She nodded thoughtfully and replied calmly, "Okay, thank you for coming all this way to tell me."

However, before he could finish speaking, Zhong Hanzhe quickly added, "Don't be so polite with me! The situation is quite dangerous right now; Mu Yinghong is injured. I'll walk you home after school so I can protect you."

To everyone's surprise, Shi Huai'an raised his eyebrows slightly, a look of disdain on his face, and replied without hesitation, "No need, I can protect myself."

After saying that, she walked quickly out of the classroom without looking back, leaving Zhong Hanzhe standing there, watching her departing figure with a troubled expression.

Zhong Hanzhe couldn't help but wonder: Shi Huai'an wasn't this stubborn and confident before. Why does she seem like a completely different person now? Did she go through something that caused such a big change in her?

Thinking of this, Zhong Hanzhe shook his head helplessly, turned around and returned to his seat, but he couldn't let go of the matter and kept racking his brains for a solution.

...During self-study, on the rooftop of the teaching building, Ma Jianqiang saw Zhong Hanzhe waiting for him.

He leaned casually against the railing and asked, "I heard you were looking for me. What's up?"

Zhong Hanzhe said bluntly, "I heard Wu Yutong asked you to deal with Shi Huai'an?"

Ma Jianqiang looked at Zhong Hanzhe with disdain and said, "What? You want to be a hero and save the damsel in distress? It's a pity that no one knows about your hard work behind the scenes. Shouldn't you have intervened when she was being chased and beaten? That way, she would have been grateful."

“What I meant was that it wouldn’t sound good if word got out that you bullied a girl, it would ruin your reputation, and you were being used as a pawn without even realizing it,” Zhong Hanzhe said.

"Hahaha... You care about me that much? Do we even know each other? I'm willing to be used as a pawn by Wu Yutong, what's it to you? I think you're tired of living." Ma Jianqiang said with a fierce glint in his eyes.

"You want to clear obstacles for your sweetheart, is that right?" Chung Han-cheol asked rhetorically.

"What do you mean? You'd better explain yourself clearly," Ma Jianqiang roared.

Zhong Hanzhe said slowly, "You helped her not because of money, but because you like Wu Yutong, right? You probably don't know that Wu Yutong made you cause trouble for Shi Huai'an because she likes Gu Jingxing. Of course, she can't bear to see Gu Jingxing get hurt."

He stared intently at Ma Jianqiang's changing expression, and seeing his thunderstruck look, he immediately knew he had guessed correctly.

"What did you say? Yutong likes Gu Jingxing?" Ma Jianqiang's eyes flashed with murderous intent. He glared at Zhong Hanzhe with his bloodshot eyes and gritted his teeth, saying, "Do you know the consequences of lying to me?"

“I bet Wu Yutong asked you to do more than just cause trouble for Shi Huai’an. She must be asking you to come up with a way to get Shi Huai’an to transfer schools, like ruining his reputation, right? Don’t you think about why she treats someone who once saved her like this?” Zhong Hanzhe said.

Ma Jianqiang was stunned. How many things did he not know? He couldn't help but ask, "Shi Huai'an saved her?"

"Of course Wu Yutong won't tell you that when she was being bullied by Mu Yinghong and her gang, it was Shi Huai'an who stood up for her. I hope you're not that naive. If you really do something outrageous, Shi Huai'an is an excellent student, and the school will protect her. But if you are expelled, even if she transfers to another school, you won't get away with it."

Zhong Hanzhe analyzed for him that he did not know what method or when Ma Jianqiang would choose to make his move. They were in the dark and impossible to guard against. The best way was to make him give up the idea or change his target.

He continued, "And what good would it do you to get rid of Shi Huai'an for her? She just wants Shi Huai'an to be gone so she'll have more opportunities to be with Gu Jingxing. You can't be unaware of Gu Jingxing, can you? If he's the school heartthrob, then you're just a nobody... Maybe it's because of Shi Huai'an and Mu Yinghong that Wu Yutong needs you more. Otherwise, do you think she'd still pay attention to you?"

After recognizing Ma Jianqiang, Zhong Hanzhe had already found out his address. Knowing your enemy is half the battle, and he hadn't expected it to come in handy so quickly. One of his apprentices, Wang Kai, from a roof repair team, happened to live in the same alley as Ma Jianqiang, so he had already inquired about him. He knew that Wu Yutong used to ignore Ma Jianqiang, but these past two days she had suddenly started going in and out with him, probably seeking his protection.

Caught off guard by Zhong Hanzhe, Ma Jianqiang was momentarily confused. He slammed his fist on the railing, his brow furrowed, and said, "But I've already promised her..."

“Now that you’ve dealt with Mu Yinghong, you can tell Wu Yutong that you’ve alerted her, and she’s already on guard. This matter needs to wait for the right opportunity. Besides, if she knows everything and you still do it, you’re just walking into a trap,” Zhong Hanzhe advised patiently.

"Or you could tell her that you only took action because Gu Jingxing discovered you were dealing with Shi Huai'an. That way, Wu Yutong won't blame you, and she might even rely on you more for fear of retaliation."

“Our people have been observing them these past few days, and they do indeed always walk home from school together…” Ma Jianqiang muttered to himself.

Zhong Hanzhe reminded him, "Do whatever you want. I'm just reminding you that they are all skilled. You'd better avoid Shi Huai'an and deal with Gu Jingxing, otherwise you might not be able to win."

"Why did you come to remind me?" Ma Jianqiang asked suspiciously. "You're so eager to protect her, but who is Shi Huai'an to you?"

“Shi Huai’an—she’s someone I need to protect, kind of like family. Anyway, don’t touch Shi Huai’an,” Zhong Hanzhe added.

"As for Gu Jingxing—heh, it's embarrassing to admit, Gu Jingxing beat up my brother, and I've fought him too, but I didn't come out on top. Of course, what you do is your business. Men only fight men, don't you think? But this Gu Jingxing is indeed very outstanding, it's normal for girls to like him..."

As he spoke, Zhong Hanzhe pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and tossed it to him, saying, "Let's be friends. Don't tell Wu Yutong what I said today, okay? What if we end up together? Won't she hate me?"

"Why do I feel that Shi Huai'an doesn't really need your protection? Heh... another one who's just being delusional."

Ma Jianqiang took the cigarette, smelled it, then put the pack in his pocket and laughed, "Hehe... Okay, buddy, don't worry, I'm not a freeloader, I won't betray my friends."

Zhong Hanzhe smiled and left first.

Ma Jianqiang looked out onto the playground, where many boys were rushing to the ping-pong tables to play. He thought that Gu Jingxing must be attracting Wu Yutong's attention again, and he couldn't help but feel a deep sense of jealousy.

He felt like a fool, having been used by Wu Yutong, yet he didn't want to blame her. In his heart, he gently felt that Yutong had only used a little trick, and was simply trying to get the one she loved by any means necessary.

Ma Jianqiang knew she had never liked him. She was usually as aloof and unapproachable as a swan. Fortunately, he didn't like internal conflicts. For him, if he liked someone, he would pursue them. How could something that was too easy prove his discerning eye and her excellence?

The key is that she needs him now. Even though it's a form of exploitation, being used by someone who is truly interested in her demonstrates her value. What he needs to do is make her even more dependent on him and more reliant on him after he's done using her...