The middle-aged man had been observing Su Qiuge since she got on the subway. He had thought she was a quiet and shy girl that would suffer in silence when something like this happened. Unexpectedly, she actually dared to speak up.

At this moment, many people in the subway looked over and the middle aged man was embarrassed. Then, as if he was a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, he boldly and confidently said, “There are so many people in this subway, so what if I accidentally crushed into you? Are you very expensive?”

**t/n: dead pig unafraid of boiling water – an idiom meaning “to be unaffected”historical

Su Qiuge smiled angrily and was about to reason with him, but Xie Xinglin, who was beside her, pulled her hand and brought her to the other side of him. He directly used his body to block off the greasy sight of the middle-aged man.

Su Qiuge shrank in the narrow space between his arms. She raised her eyes and ran into his gaze, and unexpectedly, she had the illusion that she was being held captive by him.

Then she watched as Xie Xinglin moved slightly and ruthlessly stepped on the middle-aged man’s toe. He seemingly felt that it was not enough, so he faintly twisted his ankle and crushed down the foot with all his strength. The movement was very natural, without any hesitation or even a moment of sloppiness. The middle-aged man couldn’t hide even if he wanted to.

The middle-aged man let out a loud howl. Then he turned his head, revealing red eyes, and cursed at Xie Xinglin, “What’s the matter with you? You stepped on me!”

Xie Xinglin looked at him, the corners of his eyes freezing, “There are so many people here, so what if I accidentally stepped on you.”

He raised his eyebrows and looked down at him coldly with lowered eyes. Then he used the same questioning tone the man had used on Su Qiuge and asked, “Are you very expensive?”

The surrounding people laughed and they probably also understood the situation. The middle-aged man wanted to take advantage of the girl under the cover of the large amount of people. Then the girl called him out on it, but he still didn’t admit it, so the girl’s boyfriend couldn’t stand it anymore and immediately defended her.

“Nowadays, there really are all kinds of people with no shame.”

“Right, that girl already called him out, yet he still acted so bold and confident.

“Her boyfriend is really too handsome though, even our school grass doesn’t look so fine.”

**t/n: school grass – typically given to the most handsome boy at a school (school flower for girls)

“I originally wanted to ask for his WeChat....how embarrassing, fortunately I didn’t go.”

**t/n: embarrassing because they thought XX already had a girlfriend

“The one in my family wouldn’t stand up for me like this, it’s really true that there’s no harm as long as there’s no comparison.”

The middle-aged man was scolded like this by the people around him and his face darkened one moment and turned pale the next. He practically got off the subway the moment they arrived at the next station.

Su Qiuge looked at the back of the man who fled in defeat and whispered her thanks to Xie Xinglin.

Xie Xinglin casually responded, it appeared that he hadn’t taken it to heart.

Later, when they left the subway and reached the station entrance, the two discovered that the rain had gotten much heavier.

The two waited for a while and discovered that the rain didn’t show any signs of subsiding. In fact, the rain was getting increasingly more fierce.

Su Qiuge noticed how Xie Xinglin would look down at his watch from time to time. She felt that he probably had something he needed to go to, so she said, “Are you in a hurry? It’s okay, I can run back by myself. In any case, I can take a shower once I get back.”

After she finished, she moved, ready to step out of the subway station. But who would have expected that the person behind her would hold up their umbrella at this time.

The boy held onto the umbrella handle with his hand full of distinct bones, and a beautifully curved jaw was exposed under the black umbrella.

Su Qiuge was somewhat surprised, “This umbrella probably isn’t enough anymore. If we were to use it together now, we will probably still get wet.”

Xie Xinglin followed, “It’s better to have something than nothing.”

The rain was pouring and lightning flashed. The streets were full of water, and even the road ahead was unclear due to the curtain of rain.

Su Qiuge noticed that Xie Xinglin’s right shoulder was exposed outside, and the light-colored uniform was darkened by the water, but his whole person remained unchanged.

So Su Qiuge moved closer towards him and even accidentally touched his arm. Xie Xinglin glanced down at her and Su Qiuge motioned to him, “Move the umbrella over a little.”

Xie Xinglin didn’t respond and twisted his wrist slightly, moving the umbrella between them.

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