Running a Night Stall and Got Spotted by a Beautiful Superintendent - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Must Be Possessed.

The crowd cried out in surprise one after another, yet Gu Xiyan was already prepared for it.

Flashing to the side, she revolved behind the fat man’s back as nimbly as a swimming snake, immediately lifting her foot to kick twice fiercely against his knee pits. That person knelt onto the ground.

“Kada.” The handcuffs shined with silver light, locking onto his wrists cleanly and decisively.

Gu Xiyan hoisted him up by his inverted hands, sweeping a glance at the spectating crowd, restraining her anger to warn: “Kid, assaulting a police officer is a crime. If you can’t control this pair of hands, then wear the cuffs the entire time, understand!”

The fat man bared his teeth and twisted his mouth to cry out in pain a few times, asking for leniency with a crestfallen expression: “Understand, understand! Sorry, Officer, I drank too much just now and failed to control myself, it was me who was impulsive, impulsive.”

The tall, lean male beside him also continuously helped chime in: “Officer, we truly didn’t do anything, it was just making a joke, that’s all. It’s those little girls looking for trouble over nothing.”

Gu Xiyan scooped a cold eye at him. Tian Jingjing took advantage of the chance to step forward, her gaze staring at the lean male with a killing aura: “Don’t you blank out either, let’s go together!”

The two officers hoisted the men and walked outward. When passing other tables, the middle-aged men held downcast faces and drooped brows like drowned dogs, completely drained of momentum. The girls followed behind, the corners of their eyes swimming with red.

Quite a few people looking at the excitement stood before the night stall, and a few had even ordered fried rice noodles. Chen Mu assumed this matter had reached a conclusion, and therefore turned around to start the fire.

Unexpectedly, right after she finished drizzling the hot oil along the edge of the pot, a blurry striped silhouette flew straight toward her!

The hot oil was boiling and scalding, the fierce fire radiating blue light.

Chen Mu slanted her peripheral vision, closing the gas cylinder with quick eyes and fast hands, retreating quite a few steps before managing to stand firmly.

Gu Xiyan reacted rapidly, immediately striding to grab his handcuffs and jerking backward. That fat man suddenly braked beneath his feet, his body rushing forward due to inertia, his entire center of gravity unstable as he knelt on the ground.

The spectating crowd erupted into bursts of roaring laughter.

Sister Zhang next door pulled Chen Mu over in one swipe to protect her behind her back, quietly grumbling at her: “Why say it was you who reported to the police, silly girl.”

Chen Mu kept her head down and remained wordless, yet saw a few sparks of oil splattered onto her arm, radiating a burning and searing pain. She lifted her eyelids, just wanting to curse him.

Unexpectedly, that Officer Gu hoisted the fat man up without a second word, spitting with anger: “In addition to intentional injury and endangering public safety, does it absolutely require the special police to come arrest you before you behave?”

That person was deferential and dared not argue further, being kicked two times by Gu Xiyan and hoisted up, pushed and jostled away.

Officer Little Tian, who was wrapping up the squad, said to Chen Mu when passing before her: “Ma’am, trouble you to return to the police station with me to make a statement.”

Chen Mu blanked, lifting her hand to point at the fried rice noodle stall: “Officer Tian, I have to go too? The noodles haven’t finished frying yet, and I’ve already collected the money.”

Tian Jingjing held a face full of black lines, looking at the oil-slicked frying pot quite helplessly: “Then you come after closing for business. Don’t forget ah, otherwise we still have to give you a phone call.”

Chen Mu nodded upon hearing the words.

The surrounding diners withdrew from the farce one after another, returning to the dining tables to continue shifting cups and changing platters.

Sister Zhang patted her shoulder, bending her waist to fish out an ice pop from beneath the counter to hand to her: “Got scalded, right? Quickly apply it to reduce swelling. That pack of dog things always provokes and teases girls. Encountering a sister of violent temper, they get cursed until their heads are drenched in dog blood, but encountering little girls of thin skin, they can’t bear up, the people were entirely frightened to tears.”

Chen Mu didn’t express whether she agreed or disagreed, taking the ice pop to express thanks, wrapping it well with a towel, and continuing to start the fire to fry rice noodles.

Finishing making these few portions, she would pack up the stall, and concurrently still had to go to the police station to make a statement. Not knowing what time it would be upon reaching home, the corner of her mouth twitched.

A moment later, the diners ate the fried rice noodles to their hearts’ content, and Chen Mu’s stall was also packed up tidily.

The night market was uniformly managed by a local contractor. To ensure operational safety, the stall owners merely needed to handle the daily ingredients and utensils, as for the stalls and gas cylinders, there was a dedicated person to inspect and maintain them every night.

She sorted the items to be taken away and processed into the camping wagon, subsequently unwrapping the ice pop to inspect the scald. Blisters were looking to emerge right away.

However, despite a whole night of busy labor, Chen Mu did not feel it was arduous, on the contrary being incomparably carefree. She calculated tonight’s turnover with a beautiful mind, walking toward the parking lot in a leisurely and carefree manner.

Just after starting her mount, a WeChat notification suddenly popped out at the top of her phone, coming from Eldest Sister Chen Xian:

“Mumu, next Wednesday Lu Sifan’s and Chen Qian’s parents’ meetings clash in timing. I haven’t gone to my daughter’s kindergarten for a long time, so—this time I’ll accompany Lu Sifan, you go to Chen Qian’s place, alright?”

Chen Mu’s head instantly exploded, and she simply flipped the phone face down, pretending she hadn’t seen it.

The black Chevrolet SUV sped on the highway, crushing and scattering the lingering reflections of light within the night scenery. The slight scald still throbbed with a faint pain, and Chen Mu’s thoughts gradually flew along with the light breeze rolled up by the window gap.

The Chen family’s three sisters: Chen Xian, Chen Mu, and Chen Qian. The youngest sister was precisely studying her second year of high school this year. Not knowing what kind of demon she was possessed by, she was proficient in every single matter outside of studying, and the moment the grades were questioned, it was ‘you don’t care’.

Moreover, she also hated Chen Mu the most.

The year Chen Mu was nine years old, her father passed away due to illness. A year later, her mother Chen Huaping became pregnant and gave birth to a girl, who was precisely Chen Qian. At that time, Chen Xian and Chen Mu were still hazy and ignorant. Who could have expected that what was more despairing was that on a certain rainy night, Chen Huaping suddenly left home and ran away, lacking any message or news up until today.

The three sisters were pushed back and forth by their maternal uncle and maternal aunt. In the end, it was their maternal grandmother who bit her teeth and took in the few children.

Back then, Chen Mu leaving home to study and work was entirely concealed from Chen Qian, causing Chen Qian to hold a grudge over this, vowing not to have mutual dealings with her.

Letting me go to the parents’ meeting, crazy, right. Chen Mu let out a bitter smile.

Amid her wild thoughts, the black Chevrolet had already smoothly driven into the neighborhood. When Chen Mu opened the door, a sudden jolt hit her mind—ah, forgot to go to the police station…

For no reason she felt even more annoyed, simply dragging the camping wagon to return upstairs. After coming out from a cold shower, she rubbed on medicinal ointment anew.

Only after everything was gathered and tidied did she unwillingly head downstairs preparing to go to the police station. At this time it was already past two o’clock in the morning.

The neighborhood where Chen Mu resided wasn’t far from the night market and the police station, precisely being a triangular route. The main roads of the small city late at night were clear and unobstructed. Stepping twice on the gas pedal, she arrived very quickly.

The moment she stepped into the police station gate, she lifted her head and saw Gu Xiyan who had gone on the dispatch today.

That person stood at the lobby front desk, the sky-blue uniform on her back slightly wrinkled, her waistline smooth, narrow, and sharp, her posture upright like a mountain snow pine, holding a white plastic bag in her hand, currently lowering her head to speak with a colleague.

“Brother Zhao, this… what to do with this hedgehog?”

“What hedgehog? Oh that, I called the forestry bureau, the people said it’s not a protected animal, telling us to see to releasing it into the wild.”

“Ah, releasing it?”

Gu Xiyan sighed with a face full of sorrow, yet turning her head, she bumped straight into a pair of deep, tranquil eyes.

She looked at the girl and found her inexplicably familiar, stepping forward to ask: “Hello, this is the police station, what matter do you have?”

The girl wore a casual outfit, her facial features clean and elegant, the tips of her hair wetly curling: “Hello, Officer Gu, I am the owner of the night market fried rice noodle stall. An Officer Tian told me to come make a statement after closing for business.”

Gu Xiyan muttered in her heart, “Grandmother, you can count as having come. To wait for you, it’s dragged to two o’clock and I haven’t off-clocked yet.”

Holding a nest of hedgehogs picked up by an enthusiastic citizen in her hand, her tone was inevitably somewhat annoyed: “How come you only arrived now? They have all finished handling it and left.”

“May I ask, how were those two people handled?”

Hearing the opposite party follow up with a question, Gu Xiyan further felt this proprietress could also count as a good citizen who abides by the law, obeys discipline, and acts courageously for a just cause. Therefore, she endured her temper to reply to her: “Maximum penalty, detention for ten days. You follow me to make a statement, it will be very quick.”

The two walked into the interrogation room and took their seats. Gu Xiyan stretched out her hand to hand her a bottle of ice water.

“Thank you, I am not thirsty.”

Gu Xiyan flipped open the laptop, the small blue nevus beneath her right eye corner faintly discernible, saying light-heartedly: “It’s for you to apply to the injury place.”

The girl lifted her eyes to look over, yet Gu Xiyan panicked and instantly pressed the space bar to fake an appearance. For some reason, she all along felt that pair of clear and transparent gazes held a distant sense of familiarity.

In line with the principle of routine business, she hurriedly cleared her throat: “Report your name and ID number briefly, and speak of the situation at that time.”

“Chen Mu.”

Gu Xiyan’s nerves suddenly braced a string. Hearing that the girl’s ID number indicated she was a local, furthermore being the same age as herself, she couldn’t help but freeze up.

Certain long-lost fragments flooded into her brain, churning up the muddy earth qi within a summer rain shower. The exhaustion of consecutive days of duty caused her willpower to decrease, being easily hooked into a frayed edge of memory by someone.

The heartbeat concealed within the “hearing of” and “gazing from afar” during her youth gradually grew clear. The elegant and upright back figure suddenly held a real, touchable image. Gu Xiyan hurriedly lowered her head, secretly defending that it was nothing but a trace of throbbing during an ignorant age. The party involved didn’t even recognize her at all.

Yet she clearly remembered back then after the college entrance examination Chen Mu was admitted by Southern University, and furthermore heard she went to Shenzhen after graduation, how could she suddenly appear at the old home’s night market?

“Officer Gu?” Chen Mu lifted her hand to wave before her, her face displaying incomprehension, “Are you recording?”

“Oh sorry, just now I thought of another case. You wait a moment, I shall print it immediately for you to sign.” Gu Xiyan typed with a pipalala sound, desperately suppressing her curiosity.

She input the case details with flying speed, taking advantage of the printing interval to temporarily relax her emotions. When returning to the interrogation room anew, Chen Mu had already stood up waiting for her.

“Sign here.” She pointed at the bottom right corner of the A4 paper, not quite daring to lift her head.

Chen Mu. She wrote characters fast and sharply, everywhere leaking an elegant and excellent strength of brushstrokes. Gu Xiyan’s spirit swayed along with it again.

The present Chen Mu looked even more tranquil, cold, restrained, and sparse of words compared to her youth, her consistently cold-white skin somewhat striking under the light, in no way looking like a stall proprietress who practiced under the wind and sun.

Thinking of this, Gu Xiyan truly couldn’t suppress it anymore: “How long have you been at the Lan River Night Market?”

Chen Mu fished out a wet wipe to wipe her fingers clean. That pair of long eyes that held no ripples looked over, and Gu Xiyan unexpectedly felt a bit guilty.

“A month, I suppose.”

Gu Xiyan was greatly shocked: “Only a month?”

Following that, she thought again that Lancheng was so small, and the police station was close to the night market; even if it wasn’t today, they would encounter each other sooner or later.

During the interrogation in the evening, the female university students stated frankly that they saw posts on social software. Quite a few local people strongly pushed this night stall, further saying the boss was a big beauty, they merely wanted to taste the fried rice noodles and concurrently shoot a few videos to post onto the internet.

Big beauty? Gu Xiyan peeked stealthily.

Black hair in a low ponytail, relaxed wild brows, a fine, high nasal bridge propping up a pair of full, narrow single-appearing double eyelids.

The elegant and restrained young girl had indeed grown into an upright and grand woman.

Before she could continue to strike up a conversation, Chen Mu had already pushed the door and left. Gu Xiyan subconsciously chased out, blurting out: “So late, you, how did you come?”

Chen Mu obviously caught for a beat, turning her head to reply faintly: “What’s the matter, Officer Gu?”

“Uhm, the few streets around the vicinity have many and mixed people at night, you, how about I send you in a bit?” She held that stack of A4 papers, yet her tone couldn’t conceal her anxiety, “Very quick, wait ten minutes for me.”

“Fine too, then trouble Officer Gu.”

Chen Mu turned her body to nod toward her, sitting on the lobby bench very calmly: “I am not hurried for time.”

Must be possessed. Chen Mu leaned against the ice-cold chair back, feeling her back breaking out in hot sweat continuously.

The temperature in early summer in Lancheng was gradually rising, and the cold air conditioning had already turned on inside the police station lobby, slivers of coolness gradually climbing onto her limbs along her clothing corners.

Both cold and dry.

If human sight held a temperature, then she must have been baked dizzy by Gu Xiyan’s scorching gaze. Otherwise, how to explain her inexplicable lie just now? She had to find a reason.

Chen Mu simply didn’t realize that bottle of ice water in her hand was still applying to the searing injury place, cooling and fitting. That pair of clear, drooping deer eyes of Officer Little Gu, and the nevus the size of a pen tip beneath her right eye corner, vaguely floated before her eyes.

Seeming like an old acquaintance, yet she could not search out a source of memory in the slightest. Seeing Gu Xiyan’s anxious expression, she only felt a slight resistance stagnating in the air, not allowing her a step outward.

Until Chen Mu sat on Officer Gu’s passenger seat, she still felt a head full of fog regarding this type of emotion.

When waiting for a red light, Gu Xiyan drew out a wet wipe to wipe the steering wheel, saying out of the blue: “Those few girls let me pass on the message, saying many thanks to you.”

“No matter.” Chen Mu looked somewhat fatigued, her elbow lazily propped by the window side, “This is the road going to the outer ring highway, why not take the inner ring?”

“Ah, sorry,” Gu Xiyan was vexed and embarrassed for a time, hurriedly explaining, “The inner ring frequently experiences traffic jams, I am used to taking the outer ring, actually… it doesn’t differ by a few minutes.”

This was true instead. Most of the time, she would intentionally detour a section of the road in order to listen to the rustling sound of the wind outside the window.

Twenty minutes later, Gu Xiyan stared blankly at the neighborhood entrance, every single cell within her whole body resisting: “You, you live here?”

Chen Mu held a face full of innocence: “Uhm, what’s the matter?”

Within Gu Xiyan’s small heart, thousands upon thousands of alpacas suddenly galloped past, a ground of muddy mess and ruins.

Heavens ah, who understands—what kind of experience is it to live in the same neighborhood as my secret crush from ten years ago?!

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