Chapter 194 — The Girl on the Ledge

"Mom, let me help you." Tang Zhi felt a little awkward and stifled inside the room, and wanted to go out and keep her mother company.

"Yun'er, you stay and eat with your classmates, bring out some drinks, chat with them a bit — I can manage fine on my own here!" Mother Tang said with a smile. "I'm not busy at all. On the snack street I handle all those customers by myself, so what's a few today?"

"Oh..." Tang Zhi pursed her lips, displeased. Eat with them? Drink with them, and chat with them too? Did that make her some kind of all-purpose companion?

Kang Xiaofeng had been utterly eager for the delicious barbecue, but now he seemed a little distracted, his eyes constantly straying to the photograph on the bookshelf. Thinking of the girl named Lan Zhi, he could not resist asking, "Tang Zhi, why don't we invite Liu Xinlan and Lan Zhi over to eat as well?"

Kang Xiaofeng had put Liu Xinlan's name first, though that was only a smokescreen — his real intentions lay elsewhere. Liu Xinlan was a classmate at No. 1 High, so naturally he ought to be more familiar with her; that was why he had mentioned her first, while Lan Zhi was in fact the point.

From the very first glance at Lan Zhi, Kang Xiaofeng had felt his blood stir. Tang Zhi — he knew he was unworthy of her, and he did not harbor any illusions there. But Lan Zhi... Kang Xiaofeng had truly been moved.

Tang Zhi frowned, unable to fathom why Kang Xiaofeng had taken such an interest in the person in the photograph. "I'll treat them separately another time. If you want to eat, then eat; if not, just sit there."

Kang Xiaofeng had run into a rebuff, and could only give a dry laugh. "Of course I'll eat. This smell alone is absolutely delicious."

Wei Zhao could more or less guess at Kang Xiaofeng's little designs. Earlier, out of the corner of his eye, he too had glimpsed Lan Zhi in the photograph. She was indeed a fine specimen of a girl — a notch or two below Tang Zhi, perhaps, but still outstanding among the rest. No wonder Kang Xiaofeng's heart had been stirred.

Wei Zhao looked at the barbecue on the table. He had to admit that Mother Tang's control of the heat was excellent, and together with her own seasoning blend, it would have been a wonder if business weren't booming.

He was just about to pick up a skewer and taste it when the door was pushed open and a girl burst in, shouting the moment she entered, "Tang Zhi, something terrible's happened — Xiao Fen's going to jump off a building! Come with me and talk her out of it, quick!"

The newcomer was of course Tang Zhi's best friend, Liu Xinlan. In her rush she had not noticed Wei Zhao and Kang Xiaofeng in the room, but once she had finished speaking, she was startled to find two other people there. Especially upon seeing Wei Zhao — her expression turned rather ugly. Just a couple of days ago she had finished telling Tang Zhi about the business with Wei Zhao, and Tang Zhi had sworn up and down that she had nothing to do with him. Yet here, in the blink of an eye, Wei Zhao was sitting in Tang Zhi's own home!

Liu Xinlan sighed. Silly girl, really — blinded by love! She was beginning to doubt Tang Zhi's earlier explanation about riding in Wei Zhao's car.

"What? Xiao Fen's going to jump? Where?" At Liu Xinlan's words, Tang Zhi was startled as well. She leapt to her feet and made to rush outside.

"Right at the alley mouth, on the three-story building in front of her house," Liu Xinlan said urgently. "Let's go talk her down, quick!"

Just then, Mother Tang hurried in as well. She had been busy with the barbecue when she saw Liu Xinlan come tearing into the house like a house on fire, and though she had spoken to the girl, Liu Xinlan hadn't heard a word and had gone straight inside. Naturally, Mother Tang had hurried after her to see what was the matter.

At the doorway she had caught Liu Xinlan's shocking news, and it frightened her badly. Lan Zhi was Tang Zhi's childhood playmate; the three girls had been exceptionally close, until that business had happened...

So much time had passed that by all rights it should have been left behind, yet now, out of the blue, came word that Lan Zhi was going to jump. What was to be done?

"Mom, Wenwen and I are going to take a look!" Tang Zhi could spare no more words; she grabbed Liu Xinlan and made to run out.

"Hey... be careful..." Mother Tang hastily called after them.

"Auntie, what's going on?" Wei Zhao had only caught fragments of it, but he understood that someone was going to jump from a building.

"Ah, it's a good friend of Yun'er's, named Lan Zhi. She was hurt a few years back, and now... to think she'd actually try to jump..." Mother Tang's voice grew anxious. "No — I'd better go over and see for myself!"

But before Mother Tang's words had even landed, Kang Xiaofeng, upon hearing the name "Lan Zhi," looked as though he had been injected with a stimulant — he shot out the door like an arrow, chasing after Tang Zhi and Liu Xinlan.

Lan Zhi. Wei Zhao shook his head. No wonder Kang Xiaofeng was so frantic...

"Hm? Wei Zhao, your classmate..." Mother Tang was rather baffled by Kang Xiaofeng's behavior.

Wei Zhao of course knew why Kang Xiaofeng was acting this way, and said at once: "Auntie, let's go — we'll come take a look too..."

In front of the three-story building at the mouth of the alley, a crowd had already gathered, the scene somewhat noisy, while Tang Zhi and Liu Xinlan stood outside the crowd, at a loss. Kang Xiaofeng came running up right behind them, and as he lifted his head, his whole body gave a sudden jolt.

In the left-hand window on the third floor, the window was now thrown fully open, and leaning out over it was a girl in white — none other than Lan Zhi from the photograph. Haggard as she was, she still possessed a fragile kind of beauty that made Kang Xiaofeng's heart skip a beat.

"Xiao Fen! It's me, Liu Xinlan — Wenwen! Can you hear me?" Cupping her hands around her mouth like a megaphone, Liu Xinlan shouted up at the building.

But Xiao Fen on the third floor seemed not to hear Liu Xinlan at all. Her expression was dazed, her gaze empty as she stared into the distance, and there was no telling what she was thinking.

"Xiao Fen, go back inside, quick — it's dangerous!" Tang Zhi was frantic too, not knowing what on earth to do.

Nearly everyone in the shantytown who had come to gawk knew that Tang Zhi and Liu Xinlan were Xiao Fen's closest friends, and the onlookers parted of their own accord to let Tang Zhi and Liu Xinlan through.

Reaching the front, they saw Lan Zhi's mother, Song Huiping, standing there in a panic, utterly at a loss, tears glinting in her eyes as she gazed up at Xiao Fen and screamed her name until her voice gave out — yet Xiao Fen paid no heed at all.

"Auntie Song, Xiao Fen, she..." Tang Zhi caught sight of Song Huiping and hurriedly asked.

"Ah, Tang Zhi, Liu Xinlan, you're here — quick, talk some sense into Xiao Fen! I don't know what's gotten into her; she's locked herself in her room threatening to jump. Her father's gone up, but he can't get the door open, and he's trying to reach a locksmith..." Anxious as Song Huiping was, she still pinned her hopes on Tang Zhi and Liu Xinlan.

Wei Zhao and Kang Xiaofeng pushed their way over as well. Kang Xiaofeng looked even more frantic than the girls, beads of sweat about to drip from his forehead: "Boss, what do we do? What do we do?"

Wei Zhao ignored him, lifting his head to look at Lan Zhi above. At this height, he was fully confident he could climb up unnoticed from the side and bring her down — but that would also expose his skills...