9. Operation Wolf Hunt (Part 2)

Time crept by slowly, and amid an atmosphere thick with jittery nerves and phantom shadows in every bush, nearly an hour had passed. It was now Wen Mingjuan and Wei Lizhu's turn as a pair. They set out from the school gate, and had barely walked a few steps when, seemingly from nowhere, a figure leapt out and blocked their path. By now the only two pedestrians left on the road were the two of them; a chilly wind blew through, raising goosebumps relentlessly on their skin.

"Evening, ladies." the figure said, in a voice that sent shivers down the spine.

"What do you want?" Wen Mingjuan instinctively pulled Wei Lizhu behind her.

"Nothing much." He flashed a wickedly lewd grin. "Just wanted you to take a look at something." No sooner had he finished speaking than he brazenly exposed himself, holding nothing back, and gloated: "Impressive, isn't it?"

"You... you shameless... shameless scumbag!" Wen Mingjuan was so stunned by this sudden act that she froze for a moment, a wave of nausea rising to her brain, filling her stomach with sour bile.

Honestly, in all her years, she had never once seen a man's "little brother" — she had no concept of what one was even supposed to look like, so how would she know whether it was impressive or not?

"Daring to mess with this lady — didn't you ask around before coming here?" The words came flying out of her mouth before she could think, and Wen Mingjuan suddenly realized this was exactly Gao Weizhao's manner of speaking. But she had no time to dwell on that; she pulled out her whistle and blew it as hard as she could.

"Drop dead!" Wen Mingjuan then cursed him without a shred of mercy and, with all her strength, drove the thin heel of her high heel straight at the pervert's family jewels.

She was genuinely furious out of her mind — she'd completely forgotten to be scared.

The pervert dodged just in time — narrowly avoiding what might have ended his family line for good — and, terrified, fled in the opposite direction without even pausing to zip up his fly.

"Don't run!" Wen Mingjuan yanked off her high heels and chased after him relentlessly, raining blows the whole way.

After running a short distance, she was just starting to feel breathless when, out of the darkness, a figure suddenly appeared and swiftly blocked the pervert's path.

"You've disgraced every man alive." A sharp rebuke rang out, and the pervert was already doubled over, clutching his stomach, groaning by the roadside.

Gao Weizhao?

Quick as lightning, the pervert took two solid slaps from Gao Weizhao.

"You came?" Wen Mingjuan stopped running, gasping for breath: "And you're... actually... late?"

"Why is it you?" Gao Weizhao startled.

"Fighting crime... is everyone's responsibility, you know." She forced out a smile in response to Gao Weizhao.

"Where are the students?" Gao Weizhao asked.

"Over on the other side." Wen Mingjuan's breathing had finally started to steady a bit.

"Let me say this upfront — when you take this guy to the police station later, count me out." Gao Weizhao said.

"You must be joking, I don't want to go either. I've already been to the police station twice because of Tao Muwei — plus the last time, that's three times total. I don't want to set foot in a police station ever again." Wen Mingjuan was practically roaring at this point.

"So what do we do, then?" Gao Weizhao's expression carried a hint of confusion.

Just as the two of them were caught up in this bizarre little argument, the pervert seized the opportunity to make a break for it.

"Hey! He's getting away, go after him, quick!" Wen Mingjuan rushed forward, forcing herself to run once more.

"Damn it!" Gao Weizhao was clearly furious — a lowlife scumbag like this actually managing to slip away right under his nose. If word got out, he might as well hand over his position as boss.

"Could you maybe change up your swear words? I've told you before." Wen Mingjuan corrected Gao Weizhao even as she ran, unable to let it go.

"As long as I'm not cursing at you, why does it matter?" Gao Weizhao said coldly.

"I'm saying this for your own good."

"No need." Gao Weizhao apparently wasn't giving her an inch.

As he spoke, Gao Weizhao had already pulled far ahead of Wen Mingjuan. He was considerably taller than her, meaning his legs naturally covered far more ground with each stride, and combined with his sheer physical fitness, this outcome was inevitable.

"Stop right there!" Gao Weizhao bellowed with a voice that seemed to come straight from his gut, and in the stillness of the night, the sheer force of it was truly startling — it froze both the pervert and Wen Mingjuan dead in their tracks.

"I wasn't talking to you." Gao Weizhao executed a forward flip, instantly pinning down the pervert with both hands, then turned his head toward Wen Mingjuan, who didn't dare move a muscle, and said this.

"Oh..." Wen Mingjuan said, relief flooding through her.

"So who's actually going to take him to the police station?" Gao Weizhao said, delivering another kick to the pervert as he spoke.

"Can we discuss that later? Could I maybe get in a couple of kicks too, just to let off some steam?" Wen Mingjuan said.

As she spoke, she put her thin-heeled shoes back on.

"You're planning to use those to kick him?" Gao Weizhao looked rather alarmed. "That could kill someone."

"Oh... never mind, then. I don't want to become a murderer." Weighing Gao Weizhao's words, Wen Mingjuan gave up on the idea of kicking him with her high heels.

"Tell you what — you kick him once for me, on behalf of all us women, as a lesson to him."

"Fine." Gao Weizhao agreed, and delivered another sharp kick to the pervert. A fresh, miserable scream rang out into the pitch-black night once more.

"That should do it, right?" Gao Weizhao asked.

"Mm." Wen Mingjuan nodded, satisfied.

"So who's actually taking him to the police station?" Gao Weizhao seemed to be quite fixated on this point — perhaps that was even why he'd taken so long to decide to show up and lend a hand in the first place.

"Let's do this..." Wen Mingjuan thought it over. "We'll go together. Neither of us takes advantage of the other."

"Could we maybe not?" Gao Weizhao frowned.

"No way! Unless you're not a man."

So, with no choice in the matter, Gao Weizhao and Wen Mingjuan once again found themselves headed to the police station.

This time, the officers, spotting Gao Weizhao from a distance, couldn't help but straighten up with reverence.

"Brother Wei! You're here again?"

Whoever the officers had gone and consulted over the past few days, they now seemed to have a thorough grasp of Gao Weizhao's background, and their about-face from arrogance to obsequiousness was plain for all to see.

"Did you take the wrong medicine or something? Suddenly calling me Brother Wei." Gao Weizhao didn't give them the courtesy of a pleasant expression.

"We failed to recognize a person of importance that day, sir — if we caused any offense, we beg Brother Wei's magnanimous forgiveness, and hope you won't hold it against us." The officer had already bent at a full ninety-degree bow.

"Forget it." Gao Weizhao said, a bit impatiently, kicking the pervert straight into the police station.

"Look at what you public servants have been up to. I have to personally handle catching a flasher myself? I came back to my hometown for a vacation, not to get into fights." Gao Weizhao said.

"Our sincere apologies." The officer's face was flush with shame. "Next time, anything you need, just say the word — we'll handle it."

"Teacher... Wen. You again?" The officer turned his head and was startled to spot Wen Mingjuan.

"Is that a problem?" Wen Mingjuan lowered her head, looking a bit embarrassed.

Gao Weizhao spoke up on her behalf right on cue: "It's precisely because you people aren't doing your job properly that a female teacher had to stay up in the middle of the night and put herself out there to lure that dead pervert into showing himself. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

This Gao Weizhao — he'd just spouted a whole basketful of plausible-sounding nonsense, and something about it felt off, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what. Wen Mingjuan glanced at him, wanting to object, but quickly gave up on the idea.

"Yes, yes." The officer, finding himself thoroughly outmatched, rubbed his nose and ushered the two of them into the station to sit down.

"Please, have some tea." One officer kept a firm hold on the pervert to prevent him from escaping, while another hurried to bring over a cup of tea for each of them.

"How strange — I've been here three times and never once gotten tea. Why such special treatment this time?" Wen Mingjuan muttered, staring at the tea on the table.

"Enough chatter — drink it if you want, leave it if you don't, what's there to go on about?" Gao Weizhao looked at her coldly.

"If I'd known, I should've just let you come alone. The police treat you so nicely, and here you are still bickering with me over this." Wen Mingjuan, unwilling to back down, shot back at him.

"You two, please stop arguing." The officer, sensing the situation was slipping out of control, walked over carrying their standard paperwork folder.

"Let's get your statements down." the officer said.

* * *

Back at the apartment, Zhang Tingyu had already gotten home long ago. Returning close to ten o'clock and finding Wen Mingjuan nowhere in sight, she'd been anxious as an ant on a hot skillet. Wasn't she supposed to be sick? Where had she run off to? Worried about this and that, she'd imagined every possible scenario. The moment she heard the door open, she rushed straight to the entryway.

"Where... where on earth have you been? Even a doctor's visit shouldn't take this long." Zhang Tingyu anxiously questioned Wen Mingjuan.

"Went to catch that flasher." Wen Mingjuan said flatly, utterly exhausted, dead on her feet by this point.

"You mean Gao Weizhao?" Zhang Tingyu had a real knack for hitting exactly the sore spot she shouldn't touch.

"No, it's a different one." Wen Mingjuan flung herself into a chair.

"What?" Zhang Tingyu looked utterly baffled. "Are you saying there are two perverts?"

"I don't know either." Wen Mingjuan said, shaking her head. "That night, I really didn't see wrong — it really was Gao Weizhao. But tonight, of all things, he actually helped us catch a pervert. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have caught him so smoothly."

Zhang Tingyu had no idea what had actually happened from start to finish; after all this explaining, she was still thoroughly confused about what had gone on.

"Were you lying about having stomach cramps?" Suddenly, Zhang Tingyu seemed to grasp a certain truth. "You went out and caught a pervert? Since when does that look like period pain?"

"Finally caught on, did you." Wen Mingjuan said, pounding her aching legs, which felt about ready to give out.

"You did all that just to leave me and Teacher Lin alone together?" Zhang Tingyu asked.

"Exactly."

"You really didn't need to do that." Zhang Tingyu sat down too, her face falling. "He doesn't like me. Even if I watch a movie with him and he sends me home, that doesn't change anything!"

"Nothing under heaven is too hard for someone with determination. Don't worry so much — let's just do our best and leave the rest to fate." Wen Mingjuan comforted the crestfallen-looking Zhang Tingyu.

"That's not quite right." Zhang Tingyu corrected her. "Teacher Lin is also someone with determination, and you've put him through so much without ever accepting him."

"Love has to be mutual. You can't force yourself to accommodate someone when the feeling isn't there on one side — doing that wrongs not just yourself, but the other person too." Wen Mingjuan said earnestly.

"So doesn't that apply to me and Teacher Lin the same way? You're creating chances for me, but he might not even appreciate it. His heart only has room for you — how could there be any space left for me?" Zhang Tingyu said, lowering her head. "You should just stop bothering, before it all turns out to be for nothing."

"Trying is always better than never having tried at all. Take Lin Yitan, for example — if he'd never made up his mind to pursue me, how would he ever know how it would've turned out?" Wen Mingjuan patted Zhang Tingyu's shoulder. "There's no shame in giving it a shot. Worst case, he still doesn't like you in the end — so what? What difference does that really make?"

"Besides, he's been pursuing me this long with no results — eventually he'll give up hope, and little by little, he might just start noticing how you feel about him, who knows!" Wen Mingjuan added.

"I don't know if what you're saying is right or not. All I know is, it feels really hard." Zhang Tingyu said, looking utterly lacking in confidence.

"And here I thought you studied science — how can you be so completely lacking in boldness when it comes to actually doing something?" Wen Mingjuan studied Zhang Tingyu, looking baffled.

People, it seemed, always lost their footing the moment feelings got involved — even someone as sharp as Zhuge Liang himself would seem to lose half his wits the instant he stumbled into the confines of love.

Wen Mingjuan sighed. Although she'd dated a few boyfriends before, she had never once truly experienced the deeper meaning behind the saying "love is blind." Perhaps she had simply never truly loved anyone before — which was why, to this very day, she had never once felt that particular feeling herself.