Chapter 145: Special Guest and Five-Colored Auspicious Clouds

"Not at all." Jiang Xiwen wore an innocent expression. "Class Monitor, I've always been in that office working hard for China's software industry. If you wanted to find me, you could have found me at any time. I had no intention of avoiding you."

"You!" Zhang Ya knew that although Jiang Xiwen's words were exaggerated, they were the truth. Yet it was precisely his indifferent attitude toward her a few days ago that had made her angry, vowing never to seek him out again. In the end, however, she couldn't suppress the urge and decided to come today to get a clear answer. Never had she expected this rascal to turn the tables and put on such a pitiful look.

Just as she was wondering how to counterattack, she suddenly heard someone calling her name from behind. Hasting to turn around, she saw that repulsive handsome guy, Li Huanwen.

She couldn't help but frown. Initially, she wanted to ignore him, but catching sight of Jiang Xiwen's smiling face, an idea flashed through her mind. She walked over to Li Huanwen and said with enthusiastic warmth, "Brother Huanwen, I was just looking for you. After our high school entrance exams, our class is going to hold a graduation party. I heard you play the guitar really well, so why not be our class's special guest performer?"

"Huh?" Li Huanwen was slightly taken aback. He was quite unaccustomed to Zhang Ya suddenly treating him with such intimacy. However, this pause lasted only a few seconds before he tossed his center-parted hair in a cool-guy pose and agreed, "Yar, I promise you. I will sing a special song just for you."

That single pet name "Yar" made two people cringe simultaneously. Besides Jiang Xiwen, there was Zhang Ya herself, who almost blurted out, "Are we even that close? Who gave you permission to call me that?"

Yet, the moment she thought of Jiang Xiwen's exasperating behavior, she swallowed her disgust toward Li Huanwen, smiled brilliantly, and said, "Brother Huanwen, thank you so much then. Do you have time now? Let's go chat. I want to make the venue arrangement for that day a bit more unique."

"That's wonderful, Yar. How about we go to the Name Language Cafe? I'll give you a ride on my bike." Li Huanwen's eyes narrowed slightly, fixing his gaze on Zhang Ya as the corners of his lips curled up slightly. He had practiced this move countless times and successfully charmed numerous sophomore girls.

To Zhang Ya, this pretentious "star-like aura" made her skin crawl and almost chilled her teeth. Hurriedly averting her gaze, she forced an awkward smile and said, "Let's go then..."

Seeing that his charm didn't work immediately, Li Huanwen felt somewhat dejected. To regain his confidence, he looked at Jiang Xiwen with an expression of triumph and arrogance, while reaching out to grab Zhang Ya's arm to demonstrate dominance. "What a coincidence, Jiang Xiwen, you're here too. What are you performing at the graduation party?"

As far as Zhang Ya knew, Jiang Xiwen didn't have any performing arts talents. Originally, she had wanted to make Jiang Xiwen jealous, but now a helpless wave of anxiety bloomed in her heart, fearing that Jiang Xiwen would look awkward and make a fool of himself. Just as she was about to speak up to rescue him from the spot, she heard Jiang Xiwen say, "We're in the same city, it's not like we won't see each other again. What's the point of some graduation party? It's meaningless. Zhang Ya, you guys chat, I'm heading back first." With that, he turned around and walked away.

The day Li Huanwen left his office, Qi Huanchang had ranted incessantly to Jiang Xiwen about Li Huanwen's arrogant attitude. Jiang Xiwen truly hadn't paid attention to it while programming, but after hearing about it later, he still wasn't the least bit annoyed. He merely thought of Li Huanwen as a tedious person. Now, seeing this guy come to provoke him again, he found it even more devoid of interest.

Zhang Ya had already been in a state of inexplicable, overflowing anger. Now that this boring person had come along to chat with her, it provided a convenient excuse for her to slip away.

Li Huanwen had courted rejection and felt extremely annoyed, cursing Jiang Xiwen's past and present lives endlessly. However, with a beauty by his side, it was inconvenient to voice it out. To recover from the awkwardness, he deliberately put on a disdainful expression and said to Zhang Ya, "That punk has no spine. Let's go, Yar, don't mind him!"

"Go by yourself, I'm going home!" Zhang Ya's eyes followed the direction of Jiang Xiwen's departure as she shook off Li Huanwen's hand from her arm and said coldly.

Li Huanwen was utterly puzzled. "What's wrong, Yar? Didn't you say you wanted to chat?"

"I have my entrance exams tomorrow, there's nothing to chat about. Also, don't call me so intimately; it seems we've only known each other for a few days." Zhang Ya spoke every word with heavy emphasis. By the end, a wave of anger bloomed across her pretty face.

Seeing this, Li Huanwen wanted to reach out and grab Zhang Ya's arm again to offer comfort, but she dodged aside. "Li Huanwen, don't think that just because I invited you to sing at our graduation party, we're all that close. You're a guy, please stop harassing me casually!" Without looking back, she walked away.

Facing the angry departing Zhang Ya, Li Huanwen felt bewildered and even more humiliated. No girl had ever made him grovel like this. He muttered viciously to himself, "Jiang Xiwen, you piece of trash, I'll make you pay at the graduation party..." Clearly, he poured all his resentment onto Jiang Xiwen.

"Achoo! Achoo!" Jiang Xiwen sneezed twice in a row. He could never have guessed who was cursing him. Just like Li Huanwen, another person cursing Jiang Xiwen was Zhang Ya, the only difference being that her anger was mixed with a heavy dose of grievance.

*This jerk! He doesn't care at all who I hang out with. I kindly tried to help him out, and he acted like some big shot without a single care in the world. So hateful! Zhang Ya, you're a jerk too. After being angered by him so many times, you still went looking for him. What's so great about him?! It's not worth getting mad at a jerk, I still have my exams tomorrow...*

Zhang Ya walked along angrily, failing to notice a dark shadow following closely behind her. There was a shortcut on the way home from No. 2 Middle School; passing through it led straight to Luliang North Road, not far from the Municipal Committee compound.

Usually, very few people used this small alley, let alone at night. However, since it was June, the sky was still quite bright. Zhang Ya's anger and grievance had made her forget her fear, and combined with her eagerness to get home, she didn't think much of it and strode into the alley.

About halfway through, she finally sensed that someone was trailing behind her. Fear began to creep in, and she quickened her pace.

*As long as I get through the alley, there will be people,* Zhang Ya thought to herself, her fast walk turning into a light jog. Yet the footsteps behind her accelerated in rhythm with her own.

The patter of footsteps was rhythmic and steady. Overcome with rising panic, Zhang Ya broke into a run. She had barely taken two steps when the footsteps suddenly surged, and a shadow darted from behind right in front of her.

Terrified, Zhang Ya let out a scream. A few seconds later, noticing the person hadn't made any aggressive moves, she gathered a sliver of courage to look up. Standing before her was a tall, middle-aged man with filthy clothes, drool at the corners of his mouth, and a lecherous expression as he stared right at her, blocking her way home.

"What do you want? Move aside!" Zhang Ya forced herself to steady her nerves and scolded him sharply. After all, she had survived a kidnapping once before; once the initial brief shock passed, she was capable of suppressing her fear faster than most girls.

"Hehehehehehe..." The man didn't answer, simply flashing a creeping, spine-chilling grin at Zhang Ya.

"If you don't move, I'll take the other way!" Her heart hammering wildly, Zhang Ya turned around, intending to retrace her steps and take the long way home via the main road.

"Oh, hehehehehe..." The man lunged forward abruptly, blocking her path once more with the exact same smile.

"You!" The terror she had managed to suppress surged from the depths of her heart once again, accompanied by the strange man's laughter. Involuntarily, she thought of Jiang Xiwen, crying out anxiously in her mind: *Jiang Xiwen, if you could just show up right now, I won't be mad at you anymore!* Naturally, she knew this was merely wishful thinking; at this time and place, it was impossible for Jiang Xiwen to suddenly appear and rescue her.

"Little beauty, hehehehe..." The man finally spoke. However, his next action left Zhang Ya stunned into complete petrification, before her face flushed crimson with fury and she spun around—the fellow had actually stripped off his pants in one swift motion.

"Damn it, harassing innocent girls in broad daylight!" A voice dropped from the sky like a thunderclap. Immediately afterward, the squeals of a wretched, terrified man echoed through the entire alley.

"Xiwen?!" Hearing that voice, Zhang Ya was flooded with joyous surprise and started to turn around, only to hear Jiang Xiwen shout, "Don't turn around! This guy is utterly hideous. You should head out of the alley first; I'll come find you in a moment and walk you home."

Clutching his lower body, the man collapsed onto the ground, still letting out weak, foolish chuckles.

*Good grief, I didn't remember Yangjiang having such psycho perverts in this era.* While shouting instructions to Zhang Ya, Jiang Xiwen inwardly lamented the "progress" of the times, then followed up with another kick to the wretched man's body. Even more miserable shrieks pierced the air as Zhang Ya, not daring to look back, bolted out of the alley.

She ran a long way without looking back, finally stopping to catch her breath by a storefront on Luliang North Road, waiting quietly.

*Did this jerk really come? Should I forgive him?! Why is it that every time I'm in danger, he always appears just in time? Could it be that he and I...*

Just as Zhang Ya was letting her imagination run wild, someone abruptly tapped her on the shoulder from behind. Startled into a gasp, she was about to scream out loud when her mouth was immediately covered by a familiar hand.