1990s: Spring Water Family

Chapter 164 A Sleepless Night: Li Jing Gets into Trouble, Wang Fan Gets Injured
There are four dormitory supervisors in each girls' dormitory building; three are from out of town and one is a local.

Lin Xiyu took two of them to the wholesale market to buy wool sweaters last time, and the two praised them highly after they came back.

The other two aunties were also tempted and wanted to get some cheap goods as gifts for the New Year.

Lin Xiyu readily agreed. The four dormitory supervisors took turns working, with only two able to rest each day. This time, the other two accompanied her to the wholesale market to purchase goods.

She became familiar with the dormitory supervisors and learned that one of them was surnamed Liu and the other was surnamed Wang.

Aunt Liu is from out of town, her hometown is Anhui, while Aunt Wang is a local, living in the suburbs of Shanghai.

Aunt Wang is a kind-hearted person. When she heard that she was buying a large quantity of goods and that shipping them through the post office was too expensive, she offered to have her eldest son help her ship them.

His son rides a motorcycle and usually earns some extra money by giving rides to passengers near the train station.

Motorcycle taxis were very popular in Shanghai during those days.

The roads are crowded with cars, especially when you're rushing to catch a train. The more anxious you are, the worse the traffic gets, to the point where you question your existence.

Motorcycles are flexible and convenient, and faster than taxis, making them the preferred choice for people catching a ride.

Lin Xiyu was pleasantly surprised to find someone helping with the shipping.

When she learned that Aunt Wang's son usually picked up passengers near the train station and was very familiar with the station, she was overjoyed.

When such a wonderful opportunity fell into her lap, she naturally agreed without hesitation and with immense gratitude.

-

The group of four took the first bus the next morning and arrived at the wholesale market early, securing the best spot in front of the warehouse gate.

Just like last time, as soon as the warehouse door opened, Lin Xiyu rushed in at top speed.

Wu Meng was a beat slow to react. By the time she realized what was happening, the crowd had already surged forward, starting a new round of panic buying.

"Oh my God"

She was stunned by the rare sight, and it took her considerable effort to fight her way through the crowd to reach Lin Xiyu: "This is truly an eye-opener! Wholesale clothes are like a battle; those people are all charging forward like madmen!"

"The styles that come in at the warehouse are different every day. If you're not quick, you won't be able to get the good stuff."

Lin Xiyu anticipated this reaction, smiled nonchalantly, and continued selecting her favorite samples.

She was lucky and managed to snag quite a few new wool sweaters that she liked.

"Is this how you always come?"

Wu Meng looked on in disbelief.

"more or less."

Lin Xiyu was distracted for a moment, and the wool sweater she had her eye on was snatched away.

"Don't say anything now, keep an eye on the goods for me, I'll go check over there again."

Without saying anything more, she threw the woven bag to Wu Meng and ran towards the few remaining areas.

"Hey, wait for me."

Fearing she would get separated from her, Wu Meng hurriedly pulled the cart and chased after her.

-

Wow, the wool sweaters here are really cheap!

"Xi Yu, what do you think of this? I think it looks great."

"This pattern suits my mom perfectly. I want to buy her several more so she can compliment me."

"Do you have men's sizes? I'd like to buy one for my dad and Li Liang too."

After the first round of shopping, Wu Meng moved from the front row to the discount area. The crowd was no longer so dense, and she finally breathed a sigh of relief. She regained her energy and was in a good mood to chat and laugh.

She was an extroverted person by nature, and when she first arrived in a new environment, her eyes lit up with excitement. She followed Lin Xiyu around like a sparrow, chattering incessantly.

"This outfit looks a bit old-fashioned on you, but it would look fine on your mom."

"They have men's sizes, but there aren't many styles to choose from."

"Men's wool sweaters are generally similar, with similar styles and the most pleasing colors being black and gray."

“Li Liang is tall, so pick a black, tight-fitting one that will make him look slimmer. Your dad needs a looser fit, and gray would suit him better.”

Lin Xiyu listened patiently to her rambling and gave her some advice, helping her choose her favorite style.

The two dormitory supervisors listened with smiles, also benefiting from the attention. When they saw a sweater they liked, they would ask the supervisor to take a look. As long as she said it was good, the two of them would beam with joy and quickly stuff it into their woven bags, afraid that someone else would snatch it away.

The four of them got along well, chatting and laughing, and kept picking things out from morning until noon, until all four woven bags that Lin Xiyu brought were completely full and could not hold any more.

After settling their payments, Aunt Wang's eldest son, Wang Peng, was already waiting outside the exit.

His motorcycle was similar to Wang Fan's; it could carry people, and when tied securely with ropes, it could carry two woven bags at a time.

"I'm sorry, we have too much stock, you'll have to make two trips."

Lin Xiyu smiled apologetically and gave him an extra 30 yuan as a tip.

"It's alright, it's not far from here to the train station, a couple more trips won't take much time."

After receiving the money, Wang Peng was very easy to talk to: "Find a place to sit for a while, I'll be back in a bit."

"Row."

Lin Xiyu naturally agreed without hesitation.

-

Although Shanghai winters are not as cold as Jinan winters and it rarely snows, the howling north wind still makes you feel chilly to the bone.

The two dormitory supervisors are older and not as resistant to the cold as younger people.

Lin Xiyu didn't want them to suffer with her, so she let the two of them take the bus back to school first, while she and Wu Meng stayed at the wholesale market to wait for others.

Motorcycles weave through the streets and alleys without worrying about traffic jams, and are indeed much faster than taxis.

Wang Peng returned quickly, in less than half an hour, and even brought back a price list for general freight transportation by train.

Lin Xiyu glanced at the price list. Shipping from the train station to Jinan from Shanghai only cost 6 yuan, which was much cheaper than the post office.

It costs 6 yuan per kilogram, so 50 kilograms would cost 300 yuan, which is 200 yuan cheaper than at the post office. After deducting the 80 yuan for Wang Peng's transportation and service fee, we can still save 120 yuan.

You save 120 yuan on each purchase, and the advantages become apparent over time and with repeated purchases.

Lin Xiyu was calculating her options, thinking it would be very cost-effective to have Wang Peng help with the shipping, and she began to consider a long-term partnership with him.

"No problem, this is my pager number. Just call me CaII if you need anything."

Wang Peng readily agreed when there was money to be made.

After the two agreed on the terms, he took two more woven bags to the train station, delivered the goods, and brought back the delivery receipt.

After settling the bill, Lin Xiyu called her cousin and gave her the tracking number. Once everything was settled and she had no more worries, she finally felt at ease and took the bus back to school with Wu Meng.

-

"Xiyu, did you tell my mom about the bet between me and Wang Fan?"

The two best friends returned to their dorm room, only to find Li Qing there as well. Li Qing looked very unhappy, and upon seeing Lin Xiyu, she launched into a long tirade of complaints without saying a word.

"Your mother came to the school yesterday to ask me about you."

Seeing the resentful look on her face, Lin Xiyu felt wronged: "I can't lie to her, so I can only say that you have a boyfriend and didn't mention the bet."

"No wonder my mom told me to cut ties with him, it's all your fault."

Li Qing was agitated and wouldn't listen to any explanation, continuing to yell at her.

"What do you mean I'm the one who caused your trouble?" Lin Xiyu couldn't help but feel angry when she saw that he was being unreasonable: "I didn't ask you to make a bet with him, and I also advised you, but you didn't listen and insisted on going headlong into it."

"The word 'admit defeat' does not exist in my dictionary."

Li Qing was pampered growing up and never experienced setbacks; Wang Fan was the first person to make her encounter difficulties.

She was very stubborn and believed that men should revolve around her, so Wang Fan's rejection was hard for her to accept.

"Li Qing, listen to my advice."

Seeing that she still hadn't come to terms with reality, Lin Xiyu sighed helplessly: "If you have no feelings for Wang Fan and only want to beat him, there's really no need to continue."

“Wang Fan is not someone you can control. He had a constant stream of girlfriends in high school. A person like him will never be sincere. Do you think you can beat someone who has no heart?”

-

"You think you know him well?"

Li Qing wouldn't listen to any advice and retorted, "The way you say that is truly foolish and self-righteous."

"Okay, I'm stupid, I'm stupid, alright?"

Lin Xiyu didn't want to argue any further and gave up on trying to persuade her: "If you don't want to listen, then forget it. That's all I have to say. You'd better take care of yourself."

Where is Wang Fan?

Li Qing wouldn't give up: "He and your boyfriend are best buddies. Don't tell me you didn't know that, I don't believe you."

"He opened a branch in Pudong."

Lin Xiyu had run out of patience and just wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible: "I don't know the exact location either, you'll have to find out for yourself."

You better not be lying to me.

Li Qing's eyes lit up, and as expected, she lost all desire to continue bothering her and left impatiently.

Is this person crazy?

Wu Meng hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise until now, when she finally had a chance to vent her frustration: "Why did she have to bet with Wang Fan of all people? I tried to persuade her with good intentions, but she wouldn't listen. She was determined to kill herself."

"Stop talking, let her do whatever she wants, I don't want to interfere anymore."

Lin Xiyu rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. She was upset and said she didn't want to care, but a strange sense of panic welled up inside her, as if it were a sign that something bad was about to happen.

That very night, her premonition came true.

At midnight, her pager suddenly went off. Seeing Gu Bin's message startled her so much that she jumped out of bed, almost unable to stand.

"What are you doing in the middle of the night?"

Wu Meng was woken up by her noise and yawned sleepily.

"Wang Fan is in trouble."

Lin Xiyu fumbled for the light switch and said, "Gu Bin told us to go to the hospital right away."

"what?"

Wu Meng was no longer sleepy and broke out in a cold sweat: "What happened? What's wrong with this kid? How did he manage to get himself into the hospital?"

"I don't know the specifics of what happened."

Lin Xiyu smiled wryly: "Gu Bin didn't say, he only said that his condition was quite dangerous and that he needed a blood transfusion, and asked us to go over and have our blood types checked."

"Blood transfusion?"

Wu Meng's voice changed in shock: "How serious must this injury be? Will it be life-threatening?"

"Stop asking, just hurry up."

Lin Xiyu finished dressing and urged her hurriedly, "You'll know when we get to the hospital. Gu Bin told us to take a taxi and get there as soon as possible."

"I know, I know"

Wu Meng didn't delay any longer and quickly climbed out of bed.

The two left the school and took a taxi directly to the hospital.

The blood test results were unexpected; Lin Xiyu, like Wang Fan, had the rare Rh-negative blood type.

Without the slightest hesitation, she allowed the nurse to draw her blood and send her to the operating room.

-

"Drink some water."

After Gu Bin finished drawing blood, he helped her back to the corridor outside the operating room to rest. Wu Meng hurriedly came over and handed her a bottle of water.

"What happened to Wang Fan? Why was he stabbed?"

Lin Xiyu wasn't in the mood to drink it, so she took it and put it aside.

"It's all because of that woman, Li Qing."

Gu Bin frowned, and a hint of disgust flashed in his eyes when he mentioned Li Qing: "She came to see Wang Fan this afternoon, had a fight with him, and went to a bar to drink in a huff, where she got into trouble with a bunch of thugs."

"Wang Fan went to rescue someone and got into a conflict with those people. He was stabbed with a fruit knife. If I hadn't seen that he looked strange before he left, called him a crazy woman, and gone with him, he would have been in real danger and almost lost his life."

"Li Qing?"

Lin Xiyu's heart skipped a beat, overwhelmed by an indescribable sense of guilt: "If I had known it would turn out like this, I shouldn't have told her Wang Fan was in Pudong. Why is she so stubborn, insisting on clinging to someone?"

"Where is she?"

Wu Meng was incredulous: "Wang Fan was stabbed because of her, and there wasn't even a trace of him at the hospital. How can this person be so heartless? Doesn't he feel any remorse at all?"

She's at the police station.

Gu Binyi was shocked: "After something like this, how could she possibly get away so easily? Those thugs have also been arrested and are all locked up inside."

"Wang Fan is really unlucky to have been entangled with this kind of woman."

Wu Meng was furious and complained irritably, "In my opinion, Li Qing isn't innocent either. Maybe she and those thugs conspired to put on an act, deliberately deceiving Wang Fan so she could get revenge on him."

"It's not impossible."

Gu Bin, being meticulous, noticed something was amiss from Li Qing's expression at the time.

What was she thinking?

Lin Xiyu couldn't believe that her classmate, with whom she had spent a semester, could be so heartless: "Murder is a crime, isn't she afraid of going to jail?"

"Perhaps her original intention was not to want Wang Fan to die."

Gu Bin analyzed rationally: "She just wanted to test him with those thugs, but things didn't go as planned. Cooperating with a bunch of thugs is like throwing a lamb to the slaughter. Those people are not easy to deal with. Luckily, Wang Fan went tonight. If Wang Fan hadn't gone, she wouldn't have been able to escape either, and things would have been even worse."

"very scary."

Wu Meng's expression changed upon hearing this: "If she were really defiled, it would be better for her to die."

"Ugh."

Lin Xiyu's eyes darkened, and she sighed deeply.

-

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night.

The police investigation yielded results just as Gu Bin had predicted: the thug who committed the assault insisted that Li Qing was the mastermind, and her parents rushed to the police station in a panic.

Wang Fan received a timely blood transfusion and was out of danger.

Gu Bin asked a teacher from the Fudan University Law School to help Wang Fan resolve the matter by contacting one of his nominal senior classmates.