Holy Crap, Ruo!

"Smack~" As Guo Yuan stood at the entrance of the alley, someone patted his right shoulder.

"Yuanzi, why did you get here so early?"

Hearing this, Guo Yuan turned and glanced at the newcomer. He was a man dressed very casually, wearing an oversized white short-sleeved shirt on top, black knee-length shorts below, and a pair of flip-flops on his feet.

The newcomer was Shi Ze, Guo Yuan's best friend since childhood.

"Shitou, you haven't seen Xue Ruoyi in years, and this is what you wore?"

Shi Ze answered without a care, "We grew up wearing split-crotch pants together. Do I need to dress up just to see her?"

"That's true."

"Yuanzi, Xue Ruoyi said she became a cop. Is that for real?"

"It's real!"

"Isn't letting her become a cop treating the people's lives and property like a joke?"

Guo Yuan's expression turned a little strange.

"What? You don't believe me? Yuanzi, don't tell me you've forgotten the things Xue Ruoyi did as a kid?

That girl bullied boys and girls from the time she was little. She punched the two of us and kicked Uncle Luo's twin brother and sister, who were two years younger than her. On her first day of elementary school, she lost the 200 yuan for textbooks. After that, she lost an eraser today, a pencil tomorrow, and every few days, she'd even lose a textbook.

With someone like that becoming a cop, I'm really worried about the people's property!"

"Shi Ze, so this is the kind of impression you have of me?" A crisp, pleasant voice devoid of any emotion sounded beside Shi Ze's ear.

Shi Ze's expression froze.

Before he could turn around and apologize, a sharp pain shot through his big toe.

"Shi Ze, you should be glad I wore canvas shoes today." After saying that, Xue Ruoyi increased the pressure under her foot, making Shi Ze's eyes well up with tears.

After stepping on him, Xue Ruoyi gave a cold snort and walked into the alley.

"That's what you get for running your mouth! Are you okay?" Guo Yuan walked over and asked.

"Try getting stepped on while wearing flip-flops! And you too, Yuanzi. You saw her coming and didn't say a word?"

"You were talking so enthusiastically, I was embarrassed to interrupt!"

"What are you two doing? Hurry up and get over here!" Xue Ruoyi shouted as she turned around ahead of them.

Guo Yuan and Shi Ze hurried after her.

The three of them ate their way from one end of the food street alley to the other, and by the time they came out, their stomachs were nearly bursting.

"The stinky tofu here is still the most authentic! I haven't had stinky tofu this good in all these years," Xue Ruoyi said.

"To be fair, it really is," Shi Ze agreed.

"I think the best thing in this alley is the grilled chicken necks. The stinky tofu is pretty average," Guo Yuan countered.

"That's because you don't eat spicy food. Their stinky tofu only tastes good with chili."

"Xue Ruoyi's right. Their stinky tofu has to be spicy."

"Wait! You call each other Shitou and Yuanzi, so why do you just call me by my name? Have we gotten distant after not seeing each other for years?" Xue Ruoyi asked with an unhappy expression.

"Then what should we call you? Yizi?" Guo Yuan asked with a smile.

"No, no. If people hear Yizi, they'll think it's soap!"

"Then how about Ruozi?" Shi Ze said with a mischievous grin.

"Holy shit! Ruo—"

Guo Yuan and Shi Ze were on the same wavelength. Though Xue Ruoyi did not understand what they were talking about, she knew the two of them definitely had not said anything nice.

"I'm older than both of you. I was born in the first lunar month of 1998. From now on, call me Sister Xue! Your big sister will look after you!"

Guo Yuan and Shi Ze both looked disgusted.

"What kind of expressions are those?"

In the end, neither Guo Yuan nor Shi Ze called her Sister Xue. The two of them just laughed it off.

After ten that night, the three went their separate ways and headed home to sleep.

Guo Yuan's home was the closest, so he did not even unlock a shared bike this time, treating the walk as a way to digest after dinner.

Just as Guo Yuan reached the opposite side of his residential complex and prepared to cross the street, a taxi pulled over as well. A swaying woman stepped out of it.

Guo Yuan took a closer look. Wasn't that Lin Yumo, the neighbor living across from him?

Coming home so late, reeking of alcohol, and unable to walk steadily—she had probably gone to a business dinner or some company group event, right?

While Guo Yuan was idly speculating, Lin Yumo had already staggered into the road.

Just then, a Buick Excelle came speeding toward her. Lin Yumo had clearly failed to notice it and kept stumbling forward.

In fifteen seconds, you will witness the scene of a car accident. This story teaches us to drink less. Alcohol—

Guo Yuan did not catch the rest of the narration. The moment he heard that Lin Yumo really was about to be hit, he rushed out, sprinted to her side as fast as he could, and pulled her away.

"Whoa~" Lin Yumo's body narrowly brushed past a speeding Buick Excelle.

The wind stirred up by the car poured in through her collar and down her back.

Lin Yumo could not help but shiver, and more than half of her drunkenness vanished.

Thinking back to what had just happened, a layer of cold sweat seeped across Lin Yumo's forehead. Her hands and feet immediately turned icy, while her heartbeat grew faster and faster.

Lin Yumo looked up at Guo Yuan, a trace of relief at having survived the ordeal rising in her heart. She could not die like this. If she died, Longcheng Biology would truly become someone else's.

Guo Yuan supported her across the road and walked her to the entrance of the residential complex.

Lin Yumo took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down before saying to Guo Yuan, "Thank you for saving me."

"It was nothing, just a small favor. Speaking of which, the driver of that Buick was crazy too. Didn't he know to slow down when he saw someone?"

Hearing Guo Yuan's words, Lin Yumo sobered up completely.

That was right! That car had shown no intention of slowing down at all. Could they have known she would be attending a business dinner today and deliberately hired someone?

"Are you alright?" Seeing how pale Lin Yumo looked, Guo Yuan asked instinctively.

"N-No, I'm fine. Thank you."

That was a lie. Lin Yumo had been badly frightened. For the first time in her life, she felt that her life was under threat. Someone wanted Lin Yumo dead.

They knew that, in order to obtain a virus isolate from a certain university, Lin Yumo would be having dinner and socializing with the leadership there today.

A drunk person getting out of a car and heading home without checking the traffic on either side being hit and killed was perfectly normal. This type of accident was the most common every year; there had been over thirty thousand such cases in 2021. One more Lin Yumo would not make any difference.

Guo Yuan suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Had saving someone this time gotten him involved in something? Was this tied to some major corporation's conflict of interests?

At that thought, Guo Yuan's expression became somewhat unnatural as well. He was just an ordinary nobody—when had he ever experienced anything like this?

So Guo Yuan immediately let go of her and said, "W-Well then, Miss Lin, if you're alright, you should hurry home! It's late, and you're standing by the roadside after drinking. If you stay out in the wind for too long, you might catch a cold."

Lin Yumo nodded and said, "Guo Yuan, thank you so much for today. You saved my life. I'll treat you to a meal when I have time."

By now, Ruozi should have appeared this year.