Cherish You as My Life - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

After finishing the meal, Han Xi walked towards the subway station, and Ji Yao took the chance to send her off.

On the way, he glanced at her and casually asked, “I saw you looking at a house in Xiangxue Pavilion the other day. How was it? Do you want to buy it?”

Han Xi tucked a hair strand that touched her cheek under an ear and replied, “Still thinking about it.”

Ji Yao: “The house over there is so nice, and it’s so close to the City Bureau.”

Han Xi: “How about I give it to you?”

Ji Yao: “No, ladies first.”

Han Xi didn’t really intend to give it to him. She really liked the house and was going to sign the contract over the weekend.

Ji Yao walked side by side with Han Xi.

The leaves on the maple trees were dancing with the wind. The roadside food stall owners were wiping their sweat while grilling barbecue, and the white-collar people who were walking after work were chatting happily.

Only when a dog and its little owner ran past Ji Yao did he come out from his reverie and see Han Xi turning to look at the roasted corn on the barbecue stall. 

Ji Yao hurriedly went over, bought two corns and handed one to her.

Han Xi hadn’t eaten roasted corn for many years. She spent most of her time alone and didn’t like to go out. She lowered her head and smelt it, and a sweet fragrance wafted over, which whet her appetite.

Ji Yao took her to sit in front of the barbecue stall, and Han Xi took a bite of her corn. It was delicious, especially the browned part of the skin.

Seeing that, Ji Yao looked at the woman and asked, “Do you like it?”

Han Xi nodded and replied, “I liked eating it very much when I was a child. When we were very hungry, we would go to the nearby corn fields to pick it and then hide behind the mountains and bake it ourselves.”

‘Why did she steal corn, and with whom?’ Ji Yao didn’t ask because he guessed that she would not tell even if he did.

A stray dog came to the barbecue stall. It seemed very hungry and tried to climb onto a food table. 

Seeing that, the owner picked up a stick from a corner of the stall and hit the dog’s leg.

However, the stray dog finally grabbed a tender skewer and ran away lamely. 

The dog was very small and seemed a little bigger than the palm of the hand.

Han Xi sighed. “Sometimes you are unlucky and get caught.” She didn’t say more; she just took out a small transparent bag with a zip and put the half-eaten corn in the bag. “Food is a very precious thing and cannot be wasted.” She thought of taking it back as a midnight snack or feeding it to stray dogs.

The man got the meaning of the woman’s words. ‘Food is precious to people who have no food.’

Seeing her serious and careful look as she put the half-eaten roasted corn into the bag, Ji Yao suddenly felt a slight pain in his heart. That feeling came and disappeared so quickly that he didn’t even have time to taste it. 

The two of them continued walking to the subway station.

Ji Yao lowered his head and kicked the pebbles under his feet: “After signing the real estate contract on the weekend, you should take a good rest at home. You have worked hard this week.”

Han Xi turned to look at Ji Yao with a puzzled expression. “How do you know that I’m going to sign the contract tomorrow?”

Ji Yao Yao: “…” He smiled and said, “I just guessed. When you move, if you need help, call me to go through fire and water.”

Han Xi: “No, thank you.”

Ji Yao slowed down his steps and replied, “You’re welcome. This world is full of love.”

Han Xi paused, lowered her voice, and changed the topic. “What about Xiao Yu? She shouldn’t have died. If only one person had been down there that day shouting not to die, she probably wouldn’t have  jumped.”

Wu Ting also committed suicide in despair.

‘Maybe what Luo Haiyao said was not entirely wrong. Most people in this world are indifferent.’ 

Ji Yao had nothing to say about Xiao Yu’s death.

When they reached the subway entrance, Han Xi turned around and walked into the subway station without giving the man another glance.

After Han Xi vanished in the crowd, Ji Yao returned to the mailbox next to the barbecue stall and looked at the palm-sized little dog on the ground.

The puppy seemed a little afraid of people. Noticing Ji Yao approaching it, the puppy shrank back and leaned against the pillar of the mailbox, shaking.

Ji Yao picked it up from the ground with one hand and took it away.

As soon as he returned home, he began to clean the puppy. While he was bathing the dog, Ji Yao received a mission call, telling someone was trying to commit suicide by jumping off the overpass behind the City Bureau.

He hung up the phone, randomly wrapped the dog in a bath towel, changed his clothes, and went out.

Standing on the railing of the overpass was a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old female middle school student. She was wearing the uniform of a key middle school in a certain city.

The girl’s ear-length hair danced with the wind, and she was shouting something. 

The wind was too strong, and people down there couldn’t clearly hear what she was saying. However, they heard some words like studying for a mock exam. Therefore, people thought the girl was going to jump because she was under too much pressure from studying.

The overpass was at least ten metres high from the ground, so if the girl jumped, she would either die or be disabled.

Before the firefighters could arrive, Ji Yao ran forward desperately while observing what was going on under the overpass.

He didn’t want to see the second Xiao Yu anymore. As long as someone dared to make noise below, he would dare to go up and beat them.

More and more people gathered under the overpass, and they kept pointing and discussing something.

Ji Yao climbed over the railing and ran over.

However, an unexpected thing happened.

Several taxis and private cars went around under the overpass and spontaneously formed a row, blocking the ground.

The models of the vehicles were different and the colours were different, but they had the same purpose. They were telling the girl on the overpass not to die but to live well.

One of the drivers opened the top of the convertible, holding a small speaker he got from nowhere, and shouted through it, “Kid, your parents are still waiting for you at home. Go back quickly. The wind is quite strong. Don’t catch a cold.” 

“It’s just that you didn’t do well on the exam. What’s the big deal? Look at me, let alone college; I didn’t even graduate from high school. I’m doing well now. My car costs more than 10 million. Newly bought, come on down, don’t let me break it.”

“Girl, come down. Look how beautiful you are. It will be a pity if you don’t harm a few handsome guys in the future.”

The drivers took turns to speak into the speaker.

Influenced by those words, the girl finally got down from the railing, squatted on the ground, and cried loudly.

Ji Yao quickly ran to the overpass, went around the railing, and protected the girl.

The girl cried for a while and finally stood up. She looked at the kind faces under the overpass and shouted with a vibrato after crying, “Thank you, uncles and aunts; I will definitely be admitted to Tsinghua University or Peking University.”

“Farewell girl. Don’t be so stressed about studying. Our Nanquan Vocational and Technical College is pretty good too. I graduated from there,” one of the drivers replied loudly.

Several drivers nearby also laughed.

Seeing that the girl was out of danger, the drivers gradually dispersed, and traffic returned to normal.

The girl’s parents arrived and kept thanking Ji Yao. “Thank you, police officer; thank you, thank you.”

The girl’s mother hugged her child and cried her heart out. “You scared mom to death… Baby, you scared mom to death.”

Ji Yao glanced under the overpass. The cars gradually disappeared into the night, and the cars’ tail lights illuminated the city brightly and warmly.

Ji Yao saved a picture of the scene and was about to send it to Han Xi, but found that he was still on her blacklist.

He had no choice but to post it in the City Bureau WeChat group.

It was an unofficial group, and there were only people from their criminal investigation team, plus a few forensic doctors and a few anti-narcotics people who were close to each other.

He wanted to tell her that although life was occasionally unsatisfactory, the world was still full of warmth after all.

******

After slicing off the roasted corn kernels, she mixed them with minced pork and steamed it. Then she took it to the gate of the community to feed the stray dogs. 

When she passed the place where Xiao Yu jumped from the building, she stopped and looked up. ‘Maybe Xiao Yu’s departure might also be a relief for her. After all, sometimes the indifferent world is not worth lingering on.’

“Ding”

She took out her phone from the trouser pocket and saw there was a message from the “Urban Bureau Rangers” WeChat group. She opened the chat interface and found out there was a picture. 

Han Xi clicked on the picture and zoomed it out. 

More than a dozen cars lined up neatly under the overpass, with their lights on. The drivers stood by the car doors and looked up at the overpass.

The girl who tried to commit suicide had come down from the railing.

There was a familiar figure standing next to the girl. The man was tall and standing behind the thin girl, like a powerful protective god.

New messages were constantly popping up in the WeChat group.

[Xiangzi☆Fan Da Da Da: Our team leader is so handsome! Hurry up and save the picture to worship.]

Seeing that message, Ji Yao thought to himself. ‘Of course, this is a picture I selected from several photos. Here I look more handsome.’ He even adjusted the colours of the photo before posting it. 

[Don’t call me Jingjing: Team Ji, the search warrant for Qiao Jiang’s family has been approved, and we are ready to execute the order at any time.]

[I don’t like Yangchun noodles: Vice Captain Zhao is really a role model for our generation. He is still thinking about work after work. How about eating?]

[Zhou Meili is Zhou Li: This is another life saved by Captain Ji. Captain Ji is the most handsome man in the world. He will be single this year but he will have a baby next year. Well, Captain Ji, the Lamborghini I bought for Wu Ting’s live broadcast… Director Ye said it was difficult to follow the procedures and transferred money for us.

Two seconds later, Zhou Li, who received the big red envelope from the private message, smiled from ear to ear.

[City Bureau Yi Zhihua: It was not me who saved her, but the drivers below the rooftop. The world is full of love; do you think it is @Han Xi?]

Han Xi returned home, turned on all the lights in the room, and sat on the sofa to look at the picture Ji Yao sent. The motorcade lined up was like a ball of torches, illuminating not only the cold concrete ground but also people’s hearts.

[Han Xi: Yes, yes.]

[City Bureau Yi Zhihua: It’s quite late; you should have a good rest.]

[Han Xi: You too.]

[City Bureau Yi Zhihua: Have a good dream at night.]

[Han Xi: Okay.]

[City Bureau Yi Zhihua: Remember dreaming about me… us.]

[Yangchun Noodles Don’t Like Noodles: Can you show affection on the private chat? There are some single guys here. “Overturn this bowl of dog food.jpg”]

Ji Yao wanted to have a private chat, but he was still on someone’s blacklist.
End of chapter 15