Chapter 76: 76: A Terrible Fall

Huo Chen, his face flushed, apologized, “Sorry, I, I didn’t mean to.”

Xu Ying was furious, seeing that he wasn’t pulling her up, she suddenly lost her temper, “Pull me up, my leg hurts.”

Huo Chen hurriedly bent down to examine the injuries on Xu Ying’s body.

“Ouch~ Be gentle, it hurts,” Xu Ying grimaced in pain.

Besides her arm, her calves were also injured. Had she known, she wouldn’t have been lazy and ridden the bicycle, thinking about being lazy for once nearly crippled her.

Huo Chen carefully rolled up Xu Ying’s sleeves and pant legs, revealing her arms, tender and pale as white jade, covered in wounds.

The severe ones were directly sliced by rocks, oozing fresh blood.

There wasn’t much harm to her arm, but her lower leg and ankle might have been pressed by the bicycle. There were no external injuries, but inside, it felt indescribably uncomfortable, the pain felt like a sprained tendon.

Huo Chen held Xu Ying’s delicate feet, barely daring to use any force, afraid that he might break them by accident.

He didn’t know if he was nervous or bashful, sweat beading on his forehead, “Bear with it a bit, I’ll massage it, it might hurt some.”

Xu Ying bit her red lips and nodded.

Huo Chen gently pinched her feet, using only ten percent of his strength.

Xu Ying cried out in pain, “Gentler, gentler.”

At this point, Huo Chen didn’t dare to use any strength at all, gently wiping Xu Ying’s ankle.

Huo Chen had never been so anxious in his life.

Wu Qingsong bought some items and pedaled to Xujia Village first to visit a friend, then he went home.

Before going home, he made a special trip to the Huo Family, didn’t see Huo Chen come back, his eyes gleamed as he stroked his chin, waiting for this guy to finish his meeting and come back, he must reward him.

Otherwise, wouldn’t that waste the great opportunity he schemed so hard to give these two?

Meanwhile, Huo Chen was grinding his teeth in anger, just thinking of the various injuries on Xu Ying’s body made him furious.

He cursed himself in his heart for being unimpressive; was it such a big deal to have touched a girl’s hand?

On the other side, the brothers Dong Wenqiang and Dong Wenjie stood in the night, shivering.

The two brothers never did hard work at home, and now after moving to the countryside, the work points they earned were not enough for food and drink,

leading them to turn money sent from their parents into food.

That left them without money to buy fabric, and with winter approaching, the brothers were still wearing thin jackets.

Dong Wenqiang looked at his younger brother and asked, “Did you keep a close eye just now? It’s late, and the State-owned Restaurant closes at seven sharp.

I watched for a long time but didn’t see that girl Xu Ying.”

Dong Wenjie also appeared puzzled, looking around in hopes of seeing someone.

But the pitch darkness of the night revealed nothing, he cursed softly, “This is bizarre, doesn’t Xu Ying usually pass this way?

Could there be another road back to the village we don’t know about? That shouldn’t be!”

Dong Wenqiang couldn’t stand it anymore, rubbed his arms as his teeth chattered, “Wenjie, let’s head back!”

Dong Wenjie nodded.

The two brothers could only stagger back, clutching their flat, hungry stomachs, cursing as they returned to the village.

Just after they left, Huo Chen rode back with Xu Ying on his bicycle.

Mr. and Mrs. Xu were leading the family in search of their daughter.

Mr. and Mrs. Xu initially didn’t take it seriously, thinking their daughter might simply be working late, but by after 8 p.m. and still not seeing her, they grew concerned.

Mr. Xu immediately panicked and started searching for his daughter with his family.

They searched all over the mountains behind the village but couldn’t find a trace of her.

The Xu Family was now in a state of panic.

“Mom, I can’t find my little sister,” Xu said, frantic and sweating profusely.

Second Brother Xu was even more frantic, his face flushed red, “Where could she have gone!

I told you it was unsafe for her to get off work so late, now what do we do?”

Most people in the village were kind-hearted, and when they heard that Xu Ying was missing, they joined in the search nearby.

Inside the Youth Corps office, Chen Yanran and Dong Wenzhong were thrilled to hear about Xu Ying’s disappearance.

Xu Ying hadn’t returned yet, it was possible that Dong Wenqiang and his brother had acted.

Thinking of Xu Ying being violated and losing her reputation, becoming a woman unable to marry, Chen Yanran could barely hide her glee, believing this was the consequence of offending her, Chen Yanran.

Dong Wenzhong was somewhat troubled, but thinking about how Xu Ying made him do such heavy work every day, his discomfort soon disappeared.

Chen Yanran maliciously suggested they search for Xu Ying and ran directly to the road where Xu Ying worked, guessing that the Dong brothers had definitely raped her there.@@novelbin@@

Intending for everyone to see Xu Ying violated, she deliberately brought many people along.

Xu Ying and Huo Chen hadn’t returned yet when they saw Chen Yanran and a group of youths running toward them in the middle of the night.

“Xu Ying, are you okay? It’s late and your family is worried sick. Were you mistreated?” Chen Yanran’s words carried a tone of concern but were actually accusing Xu Ying of not behaving and staying out late.

The other youth corps members and young villagers looked at Xu Ying with disdain and chimed in, “Xu Ying, how could you be so bold, staying out so late with a man?”

The speaker was a female youth corps member who also liked Dong Wenzhong, and her words were unpleasant.

“Zhiqing Liu, how can you speak like this? Stop spouting nonsense,” Lu Daya, who had just arrived, trembled with anger as she rushed to Xu Ying’s side, protective as a mother hen.

Xu Ying placed her hand on Lu Daya’s shoulder to indicate she was fine, “Zhiqing Liu, if you can’t speak properly, don’t speak at all. Your mouth reeks of garbage. I came back late because it got dark while I was riding my bike and I couldn’t see the road clearly and hit a stone and fell.”

“Then what about him? Why is he here too?” Zhiqing Liu glanced at Huo Chen and wanted to call him a mongrel, but, intimidated by Huo Chen’s icy gaze, she refrained.

Huo Chen’s eyes flashed fiercely as he slowly said, “Before, Xu Ying helped me and Old Hui. Today, I happened to see her in the county and thought it was unsafe for her, a girl, in the darkness.

So I came back with her. Clean hands fear no soot. I thought the Youth Corps were educated, but it seems like you are no better than brawling women, only good at creating strife.”

These words turned the faces of those who had come to mock Xu Ying from the Youth Corps pale and then flushed.

But what he said seemed quite right.

Zhiqing Liu, furious internally but facing Huo Chen, couldn’t act out and had to swallow her anger.

Xu Ying wanted to applaud; she didn’t expect such eloquence from this man.

Chen Yanran looked around anxiously, not believing things were so straightforward.

Where were the Dong brothers, she wondered. Could it be they hadn’t succeeded?

Chen Yanran stomped her foot in frustration.

Xu Ying did not miss this expression and immediately grew suspicious.

It appeared there was more to tonight’s events.

“Yingying, you should go back quickly. The Captain and your aunt are worried sick, they’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Lu Daya urged anxiously.

Upon hearing this, Xu Ying quickly patted Huo Chen, “Let’s go back. If a dog bites you, you don’t need to bite back to the death, right?”

Huo Chen nodded, agreeing it made sense.