Li Jia was walking in a small forest not far from the school. The autumn sun was not warm, but his forehead was sweating slightly. He was a little nervous, but also a little excited.
Because he was not alone at this time, Serinda was walking beside him. She was still carrying the basket, in which you could vaguely see some bread and fruit. She was still wearing the coarse cloth clothes, but she had changed into a red skirt that was a bit old. Li Jia knew that for a poor farm girl, this might be her best skirt. Her long red hair was tied up with a piece of white cloth, revealing her swan-like head and neck, which made Li Jia keep stealing glances at her from the corner of his eyes.
It seems that this is a well-prepared date, Li Jia thought excitedly. This is the fourth time they have met. Every time before, they met secretly in the school. But today, as soon as they met in the secret base, Serinda pulled him out. Thinking that a girl actually took the initiative to invite him to an outing, Li Jia's heart was always pounding.
The two of them walked slowly and quietly. Li Jia enjoyed the silence, but was afraid that it would become evidence of his boredom. He felt it necessary to say something to break the silence.
"It's so nice here." Li Jia pushed his glasses, looked up at the sky and said seriously.
"Okay!" Serinda smiled back at him.
Li Jia knew that she was just repeating her own voice, like a babbling child. But he always felt that she understood everything, and this feeling gave him the urge to confide in her.
"In the past, there was a forest like this in the park not far from my house. Whenever I didn't do well on an exam, I would comfort myself by buying some KFC and eating while walking in the forest. Whenever I did well on an exam, I would reward myself by buying some KFC and eating while walking in the forest. But no matter which situation, there was only one person. At that time, I would think, screw the exam, after all the exams, I'm still eating KFC alone."
Serinda tilted her head to listen to him, looking confused, and repeated: "KFC?"
Li Jia laughed, "KFC, it really makes me miss it. If I could go back now, I would definitely finish a family bucket. I would buy two, one for you and one for me, and eat until I die in one go."
"Family bucket?"
Li Jia looked up at the confused look on the other person's face and laughed happily. He gestured to shovel rice into his mouth, "Yeah, it's just some delicious junk food I've eaten before. But then again, now that you're here, it doesn't matter if I don't go back. Uh, actually, what I want to say is that who you eat with is much more important than what you eat."
Serinda seemed to have misunderstood what he meant. Seeing that he was pretending to want to eat, she thought he was hungry, so she quickly pulled him to sit on a rock, put down the basket, took out the bread and handed it to him.
The bread was hard and dark, but Li Jia knew that it was already very good food for the people in the surrounding villages and towns. He broke off a small piece and stuffed it into his mouth, then stuffed most of the rest back into Serinda's hands. Unexpectedly, Serinda followed suit, breaking off a small piece for herself and eating it, and then handed the rest back to him. The two of them passed the bread back and forth, and the bread became smaller and smaller, but a strange tacit understanding began to flow between them.
If everything goes on like this, it will be a perfect afternoon.
However, before he finished eating the bread, Li Jia suddenly heard the sound of a dead branch being stepped on and broken behind him. He turned around and dropped the bread in fright. Ten meters away, two burly men in black, with their faces covered and sharp blades in their hands, appeared out of nowhere. The two men approached quietly, but when they saw Li Jia spotted them, they quickened their pace and rushed over.
Li Jia was horrified and pulled Serinda up and ran away. Serinda, not knowing what was going on, looked back and quickly followed Li Jia to run away.
Li Jia hurriedly glanced at the school roof that was sticking out from the treetops in the distance, and secretly regretted that he had walked so far without realizing it, at least two or three kilometers away from the school. He believed that as long as he got closer to the school, he would run into a patrol team, and no matter how fierce the bandits behind him were, they could not be a match for "Five Six and a Half".
However, they were too close, only seven or eight meters away from Li Jia at most. Moreover, Li Jia was running with a girl... Hearing Serinda's heavy breathing beside him, Li Jia's heart sank.
Sure enough, before running fifty meters, Serinda seemed to trip over something and fell to the ground with a scream. Li Jia's palm slipped and he lost Serinda's hand. He turned around and saw that Serinda had been held in front of him by a man in black, with a long sword against her neck.
Li Jia pulled out a dagger from his waist and yelled, "Let her go!" His voice was full of tension.
Seeing that Li Jia stopped running away, the other man in black did not approach him. Instead, he pointed his sword at Li Jia from a distance and shouted at him.
Li Jia didn't understand what the other party was saying at all. He could only watch Serinda being held hostage with a pale face, then waved the small dagger vigorously and shouted over and over again: "Let her go!"
"Surrender... Follow me!" Suddenly, the man in black uttered something in stiff Chinese with a strange intonation, but Li Jia understood it.
"You... can actually speak Chinese?" Li Jia asked in astonishment.
"Surrender and go!" The man in black pointed at Serinda, "If you don't surrender, you will die."
Li Jia's mind raced, and he suddenly realized something. He said, "You are definitely not ordinary robbers. You are here specifically to arrest me, right?"
"Humph, that's right! You... can't escape...!" the man in black said firmly.
Li Jia suddenly put the dagger to his throat and shouted: "If you let her go, I will surrender. If you don't agree, I would rather die here."
This action not only startled the two men in black, but even the kidnapped Serinda was surprised and looked at Li Jia with a complicated expression.
The two men in black looked at each other, and the one who spoke sneered and said, "If you die... we will catch the others!"
"But, will there be an opportunity like today? As long as you promise me to let her go, I will go with you obediently. Not only will you complete the task, but you won't have to take risks again. I'm just an ordinary person who can't use magic. If you meet a truly powerful warrior or wizard, you may not even be able to save your life!" said Li Jia.
The man in black didn't know if he understood what he said. He hesitated and whispered to another robber. Li Jia pointed the dagger at his throat, and his heart was in turmoil. He knew it would be difficult for him to escape today. All he could do was to use his value to save Serinda's life. I hope you can escape, at least send a message to the people in the school, he looked at her with some despair.
However, what puzzled him was that Serinda was not panicking at this time, but a resolute expression slowly appeared on her face. While the two robbers were still arguing, she slowly reached into her pocket and secretly took out a knife. This knife was originally used to cut food, and it was only two inches long. Serinda held it in her hand backwards, so it was not conspicuous.
She gave him a resolute look, which made Li Jia's heart tremble. Then, she gritted her teeth and stabbed the knife into the thigh of the robber behind her. Then she leaned back and hit him.
The robber dropped his weapon, covered his thigh with his hand, and fell backwards screaming. The other robber was stunned by the sudden change, and he didn't expect that what followed was the knife thrown by Serinda and the kick from Li Jia.
Li Jia had never thought that he would fight a knife-wielding criminal. Normally, if he encountered such a situation, he would run as far as possible. But when Serinda pulled out the knife, he somehow found enough courage and rushed forward without hesitation.
Maybe it was because Serinda's movements were too fast, or maybe it was because the flying knife distracted him, but Li Jia's kick actually hit the black-clothed man's lower body. The man groaned, bent down and knelt.
"Run!" Li Jia quickly pulled Serinda up and ran into the woods.
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After running for a long time in a panic, the two finally arrived at the secret exit of the school exhausted. Li Jia looked back at the forest behind him with lingering fear. There was no trace of the man in black.
He gasped, hugged Serinda, and murmured, "Fortunately, fortunately, you are okay. We actually escaped. We really escaped. I was scared to death."
Serinda was hugged by him, feeling a little overwhelmed and her body stiffened. However, after listening to Li Jia's rambling post-disaster speech, she relaxed and began to pat his back gently with her hands.
Li Jia talked for a while before he slowly came to his senses. He put his arms around Serinda's arms, looked at her and said, "Thank you. If you hadn't been so brave today, we would have been finished. But I'm also very happy because I understand one thing, I really like you, and I'm willing to fight for you. I'm really, really happy to understand this."
Seeing the puzzled look on Serinda's flushed face, Li Jia laughed at herself and said, "I didn't expect that the first time I confessed, no one understood. But it doesn't matter, you will understand one day. Now, hurry back to the village. Take the main road and be careful!"
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Not long after Serinda left the main road, several people came out of the woods and approached her. Nina was the leader, and two black-clad robbers, who had taken off the black cloth on their faces, followed her. They were in good shape and did not look injured at all. It seemed that the previous fight was just a show.
"Your magic words are so bad!" Serinda said to the two robbers unhappily.
"That is an ancient saying after all. We dare not compete with you." A man in black said embarrassedly.
"But the guy understood. And his reaction was pretty brave," added another robber.
Serinda smiled, but quickly hid it. "Let's end today's business here."
"Miss, why did you change your mind?" Nina asked softly.
"I suddenly don't want to capture him and torture him anymore." Serinda said lightly.
"This... didn't you say that there is not much progress now?"
"I think... maybe if we keep the status quo, we can gain more." Serinda waved her hand and walked into the depths of the forest.