“Pickpocket?”
Duan Zhuang glanced at Ji Mian, noticing the beaten and bruised little pickpocket looking at him.
He casually shifted his gaze away and tilted his head at the red-haired young man, urging him, “Hurry up.”
His expression showed no change, but the red-haired young man knew that Duan Zhuang was becoming impatient waiting for him. So, he loosened his grip on Ji Mian’s hair and quickly tossed him aside.
Ji Mian suddenly lost his balance and fell “thud” to the ground.
【Congratulations, that was easy.】The system said coldly.
Ji Mian was dazed and asked, 【What?】
【The ‘Big Brother’ you want to rely on is the younger brother of the female lead, that’s Duan Zhuang. He’s right in front of you.】
It was astonishing that such a coincidence actually existed. Ji Mian nodded in his heart, almost forgetting the pain on his face.
He felt happy and said, 【Oh, that’s great…】
【Great my ass—ah!】The system’s curse word was automatically filtered out.
The abrupt shift in tone made Ji Mian even more confused: 【What happened?】
【That red-haired guy is under Duan Zhuang. If you dare to steal from him, it’s equivalent to offending Duan Zhuang. Don’t even think about relying on him now; it’ll be good enough if he doesn’t come after you for trouble.】
【Then you…】Ji Mian felt a bit wronged, 【Why didn’t you tell me from the beginning that the red-haired guy was ‘Big Brother’s’ man?】
【……】
The system fell silent for a moment, suddenly snorting and stopping its reply.
Ji Mian realized that the system wasn’t omnipotent after all. Most of the time, it was just stating the obvious after the fact.
Ji Mian thought that he couldn’t always rely on the system because it sometimes came up with bad ideas.
His face was still pressed against the ground, but his mind was racing.
He realized that if he didn’t firmly latch onto “Big Brother’s” leg today, he would find it very difficult to have another chance to rely on him in the future.
Today, he could still face Duan Zhuang directly.
If he waited until tomorrow to seek him out, he would have to go through the red-haired young man’s screening. And most likely, he would encounter the red-haired guy again.
Having already made an enemy of him, how could the red-haired young man easily let him off and agree to let him work under Duan Zhuang?
At that moment, the red-haired young man had already entered the store. He pulled out a red bill from his wallet and tossed it on the counter, not even waiting for the boss lady inside to give him change, grabbing the pie and walking out.
“Big Brother, I’m done shopping.” He walked up to Duan Zhuang and said.
Duan Zhuang didn’t respond and turned to leave.
Suddenly, Ji Mian felt a force gripping his ankle, stopping him.
The force wasn’t strong; he could shake it off with a simple movement.
Duan Zhuang turned sideways, his gaze falling on the boy lying on the ground. He was about to lift his foot to kick Ji Mian away—
“...Brother.” Ji Mian grasped Duan Zhuang’s pants tightly and spoke with difficulty.
Ji Mian had originally wanted to call him “Big Brother” like the red-haired young man did, but he felt that calling Duan Zhuang “Big Brother” made him sound older than he actually was since he was clearly very young.
In hesitation, he ended up calling him “Brother” instead.
“Hey—this little brat!” The red-haired young man glared and raised his leg to kick Ji Mian’s hand.
But Ji Mian didn’t let go; he clung to Duan Zhuang as if he were grasping the last straw of hope.
“...Brother, I want to follow you.” His voice was low and a bit breathless, carrying a tone of pleading because of his injuries.
The red-haired young man laughed mockingly, “Someone a lowly underling like you can just follow?”
Ji Mian ignored the red-haired man’s words and repeatedly pleaded, “Brother, please let me follow you.”
Duan Zhuang looked down at him, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
He only asked one question: “What can you do?”
“I, I…” Ji Mian thought for a long while but couldn’t retrieve anything of value from the original owner’s memories.
He could only reply, “...I can only steal.”
“I don’t keep thieves under me.” Duan Zhuang raised his leg and kicked away Ji Mian’s hand that was clinging to his pant leg, spitting out the last word.
“Filthy.”
Ji Mian couldn’t even lift his head and could only lie on the ground, blankly thinking: Fine, I’m filthy, I’m despicable.
After a while, he came to his senses. The two had already walked quite a distance away.
It was over; if they really left, he probably wouldn’t complete his task.
Thinking of this, Ji Mian didn’t know where he found the strength, but he struggled to get up from the ground!
His face was in severe pain, and his waist felt like it was being stabbed. He thought he must have two or three broken bones in his waist. Plus, he probably looked completely covered in blood and dirt, very filthy.
Tears were about to spill from Ji Mian's eyes. He desperately held them back; he didn’t want to cry; that would be too humiliating.
He followed the direction in which Duan Zhuang had left.
Ji Mian’s waist was stiff and couldn’t straighten, but he stubbornly refused to rely on anything, just pushing forward with his legs standing straight. Perhaps the pain exceeded his limit of endurance, and a surge of determination inside him pushed him forward.
Duan Zhuang was aware that someone was following him, but he didn’t care.
After walking a few hundred meters, he stopped in front of an old gray Volkswagen.
He took the keys out of his pocket, pressed the button to unlock the door, tossed the keys back to the red-haired young man, and sat in the passenger seat, closing the door.
The red-haired young man caught the keys and swiftly hopped into the driver’s seat.
At that moment, Ji Mian was only a few meters away from their car.
The car engine slowly started, the tires rolled forward a bit, and the speed suddenly increased.
Just then, Ji Mian dashed a few steps and jumped onto the back of the car, tightly hugging the vehicle.
The red-haired young man turned around in shock, “Big Brother, this kid is out of his mind!”
Duan Zhuang lazily lifted his eyelids and glanced at Ji Mian's figure in the rearview mirror, responding indifferently, “Hmm.”
He didn’t order them to stop, so the red-haired young man didn’t hit the brakes. He cautiously observed his big brother's expression in the rearview mirror, trying to figure out what it meant.
The gray Volkswagen had already left the street and entered the main road. The red-haired young man didn’t dare to speed too much, barely stepping on the gas pedal, fearing Ji Mian would fall off and get hurt.
Ten minutes later, after driving nearly five kilometers, Ji Mian was still stuck to the car's rear like a piece of adhesive candy, firmly and shamelessly hanging on.
Suddenly, the red-haired young man remembered something and shouted, “Big Brother, will this kid sticking to my car get me points deducted?!”
Duan Zhuang replied, “Oh.”
The red-haired young man: …
Really, did no one care about his well-being?!
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