Chapter 53: You know, don't say it—your little childhood sweetheart's moves are pretty cool!

Lin Ning waved her hand, thinking of what the few people had just said, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly.

But even without me, I think you can handle it yourself… After all, he can't afford to offend Xia Shi's identity.

Xia Shi heard the words and seriously shook her head, "When An Sheng drew his knife, I didn't react in time—he almost hurt me! Luckily, Lin Ning came out then; Lin Ning has helped me!"

After saying that, she looked at Lin Ning with eyes full of admiration, like a little fan.

Lin Ning chuckled, but inside she sighed.

Ah, her damn charm is just so likable!

The two chatted for about four minutes.

Lin Ning then realized she had missed a message from her best friend Mu Youyu.

Sent five minutes ago, she had left the school.

Lin Ning smiled as she replied to the message, stood up, and apologetically told Xia Shi, "Xia Shi, I still have some things to do, so I'll go first—I'll treat you to a meal next time I'm free!"

After saying that, she turned her back to Xia Shi and waved.

Xia Shi waved at Lin Ning, her voice clear: "Okay, Lin Ning, goodbye!"

Lin Ning saw Mu Youyu leaning against the car waiting for her from afar.

Seeing her approach, Mu Youyu raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Which little sister has you tied up? I've been circling here twice."

She was obviously joking.

Lin Ning couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth, "I really did run into a little girl—she's quite cute."

Mu Youyu turned her head to look at her upon hearing that, "Cuter than me?"

"No, not really," Lin Ning replied, catching the smile in her eyes from the corner of her eye, deliberately teasing her, "But she's sweet‑mouthed, calling me 'Lin Ning' over and over, which sounds much softer than certain people constantly shouting 'Ning Ning' all day!"

Mu Youyu let out a light hum and poked her arm, "You still picked her up?"

"No way, no way! I like whatever Youbao calls me!"

Lin Ning laughed, dodged her finger, opened the car door, and shoved her inside, "Get in first."

After both were seated, Lin Ning told the driver the address, then suddenly turned serious, "By the way, I just saw A Ci and Gu Xingnan looking injured—what's going on?"

Yu Ci had a cut on his face, and Gu Xingnan's mouth corner was bruised.

At noon she saw they were still fine.

Mu Youyu hadn't expected those two to be seen by her, and after pondering she said, "Today at the archery range, Gu Xingnan and A Ci were blocked."

"Blocked?" "At the archery range?"

Lin Ning instantly sat up straight, her voice rising: "On campus? Who's bold enough to block them? How did they get in?"

Mu Youyu nodded, then shook her head, "Just a few petty thugs—I don't know how they got in either."

Lin Ning then took her hand and turned her around to look, "Are you hurt?"

She turned her around carefully, only then noticing a bit of red on Mu Youyu's fingertip and a faint imprint on the pad of her finger.

She was naturally fair, her palms tender, so the imprint stood out.

So Lin Ning frowned, grabbed her hand and turned it over, "Is this from fighting them? If Brother Xi and the others saw this, they'd skin those guys alive!"

Mu Youyu didn't hide it from her, briefly recounting what happened at the archery range and what she'd found linking Yu Cheng to the incident.

Lin Ning laughed in anger after hearing it, "Yu Cheng's got guts—daring to openly send people to mess with Gu Xingnan, even hurting A Ci? He even dared to hit Jiang Liangjin? Doesn't he fear he won't be able to get by domestically?"

And he dared to do it on campus! He must be stupid.

Mu Youyu leaned against the seat back, her fingertip unintentionally brushing Lin Ning's hand, "He hired out‑of‑town thugs, using a shell company's account—maybe he thinks even if they trace it back, he can act innocent and wash his hands clean."

"So we just wait for the investigation?"

We can't just let him get away with it so easily.

Mu Youyu lightly rested her fingertip on the windowsill, her tone a bit cold: "Don't rush, I have A Jin with me."

She and Jiang Liangjin each sent a few people to secretly monitor Yu Cheng.

As long as he still wants to pull some small trick, their people will catch him.

Lin Ning began to curse those people.

After cursing for two minutes, she seemed to suddenly think of something, stopped talking, pulled out her phone, and checked the Lan Lin campus forum.

She scrolled through, and didn't expect there to actually be a video.

The whole thing had been recorded.

Lin Ning opened the video and began her objective commentary: "The guy who hit Gu Xingnan is really ugly!"

"How did they hit Gu Xingnan in the face? It's all disfigured!"

"The guy who hit A Ci is also ugly!"

"Why didn't A Ci fight back?"

Mu Youyu rubbed her forehead, "He was being held down by several people—could he fight back?"

"Not a single good‑looking one, plus that bald head… hahahaha!"

Gradually, her words turned into: "... You know, don't say it—your little childhood sweetheart's moves when hitting people are actually pretty cool!"

"..."

"Indeed."

Mu Youyu was quite helpless, "Stop looking—where should we go eat later?"

When food came up, Lin Ning put away her phone, looked at her, and said, "It's a new place opened under my sister's name at my family's company! And I came up with the name—Cloud Realm Pavilion! Isn't that a great name? I've tried it these past few days and the taste is really good!"

It suits Mu Youyu's picky palate.

Saying that, she didn't give Mu Youyu a chance to speak, her eyes full of pity, "You were also frightened today—later eat a bit more!"

Lin Ning turned to the driver, "Uncle Zhao, hurry up, I'm starving!"

Uncle Zhao responded, steadily increasing the car's speed.

When the car stopped at the entrance of Cloud Realm Pavilion, Lin Ning opened the car door first, quickly went to the other side and pulled Mu Youyu out.

Walking into the restaurant, warm yellow light wrapped in a faint gardenia fragrance came over us.

The manager in a plain cheongsam immediately came forward, smiling and nodding, "Little miss, your reserved table is ready."

Lin Ning practically pulled Mu Youyu inside, not forgetting to tell the manager at the door: "Serve us one portion each of your non-spicy signature dishes, especially the crab roe tofu and the clear-braised lion's head meatballs!"

The manager smiled and agreed, leading the two to their corresponding seats.

Lin Ning pushed the menu toward her, "Youbao, see if there's anything else you want to eat!"

Mu Youyu had just picked up the menu and glanced at it when she frowned and pushed it back, "You order; I feel like any dish with sauce hides chili essence."

She can't eat spicy.

Lin Ning had long been accustomed to her taste, scrolling through the dishes while smiling, "Don't worry, I had the kitchen make it separately, guaranteed no spice!"

After the manager left, she grabbed Mu Youyu's hand again and looked it over, "I forgot to ask earlier, does your hand hurt?"

She felt heartbroken.

Mu Youyu shook her head, lightly tracing the table edge with her fingertip, and comforted, "It doesn't hurt."

It was just warm at first when we were rubbing it, but it's fine now.

No sooner had she spoken than Lin Ning suddenly stood up, went to her side, squatted down, and lifted her sleeve to examine her arm closely.

"How about that arm? Was it scraped? I remember the archery range ground is all gravel—really, why doesn't your Lan Lin archery range hire a few guards…"

"No." Mu Youyu helplessly pushed her arm toward her.

She looked left and right, and only when she saw no red marks did she relax.

Just then, a server arrived carrying the crab roe tofu.

Lin Ning immediately sat back down, had the server scoop some and hand it to Mu Youyu, "Try this first; when I came yesterday to eat, I just knew you'd like it!"

Mu Youyu picked up the spoon, scooped a bite, put it in her mouth, and her eyes flickered slightly.

Lin Ning knew she would react like that when she ate something she liked.

Sure enough, the next second she said, "It's really delicious."

Lin Ning immediately puffed up with pride, "Of course!"

Lin Ning then served her a bowl of soup, "By the way, tomorrow this shop will launch several new desserts—coconut-scented taro pudding sago—would you like me to bring you to try it?"

Mu Youyu had previously eaten a whole coconut; she didn't like drinking it, finding the taste strange, but she did enjoy coconut-flavored drink snacks.

Moreover, she likes chewy things, especially desserts like taro paste mochi.

Yet she is quite picky—too much sugar makes it cloying, too little and she finds it tasteless.

So usually we have our own pastry chef make them.

Lin Ning surely knows that.

She quickly added, "I tried it this morning and guarantee you'll like it! If you make new friends, you can bring them too—may I bring Yi Yi, Yuan Yuan, and Yin Yin along?"

Mu Youyu responded with an acknowledgment, indicating she had no objections.

The two thus decided.