PCJ – Chapter 532 Reunion with the Beauty

“Fifth Bro, why didn’t Brother Ma clear out the ghost before doing business?” one of the two henchmen suddenly asked.

“Seventh Bro, don’t talk nonsense. Do you know where we are?” Fifth Bro shot him a glare.

“It’s fine. Who’s going to understand what we’re saying anyway?” Seventh Bro mumbled softly and didn’t say more.

Fifth and Seventh each ordered a bowl of zhajiang noodles. As soon as the noodles arrived, Seventh Bro began slurping them down greedily. While eating, he muttered, “I’ve been starving lately. Haven’t had a single oily bite.”

“Don’t worry. Once we finish this job, we’ll be living the good life,” Fifth Bro said with a grin.

The two didn’t take long to eat, devouring their noodles in big gulps. After finishing, they wiped their greasy mouths with their hands and got up to leave. One of them handed a ten-yuan bill to the waiter, took the change, stuffed it into his pocket, and left.

Zhang Jiaohua finished his noodles unhurriedly, drank a bit of the soup, then pulled a packet of tissues from his pocket and calmly wiped his mouth clean. After paying, he too got up and walked out.

Fifth and Seventh Bros headed straight back, and Zhang Jiaohua didn’t follow them. Fat Cat was already tailing them, so there was no need for him to go. Instead, Zhang found a secluded spot and released the Mountain Leopard. After patting its head, the leopard dashed off in the direction the two men had gone.

Zhang Jiaohua wandered aimlessly through the streets when suddenly a figure bumped into him. He quickly stepped aside, brushing past the graceful body.

It was a girl with long flowing hair, wearing a white dress. She ran along giggling, with another girl about the same age chasing after her.

The girl in white turned back and apologized to Zhang Jiaohua, “Sorry, sorry… huh?”

As she spoke, Zhang finally got a clear look at her lovely face—wait, he had definitely seen her somewhere before.

Time seemed to freeze. Two pairs of pure, innocent eyes locked onto each other.

“Zhang Jiaohua? Are you Zhang Jiaohua?” the girl was the first to speak.

“You’re Ji Jiaxin!” Zhang Jiaohua immediately recognized her.

“Ah! You are Brother Jiaohua!” Ji Jiaxin ran up excitedly and grabbed his hand.

“Jiajia, what are you doing here?” Zhang asked, baffled. Ji Jiaxin had been studying overseas and should’ve still been abroad. What was she doing in a small alley in Beijing?

“My parents came back to work in China, so I followed them. We live nearby. What about you, Brother Jiaohua? What are you doing here?” Ji Jiaxin said with a bright laugh.

Ji Jiaxin’s friend walked over and stood beside her, eyeing the two hand-holding teens curiously, though she said nothing.

“I came to Beijing for school,” Zhang replied.

“You’re still in middle school? I’m already in high school now. If you come to our affiliated school, you’ll have to call me ‘senior,’” Ji Jiaxin joked.

“Not necessarily. I’m also in high school now—at No. 4 High School,” Zhang said with a smile.

At this point, Ji Jiaxin’s friend finally spoke, “Hey, are you two going to hold hands until you’re old?”

“Ah!”

Both Zhang and Ji Jiaxin exclaimed and quickly let go of each other’s hands. Zhang suddenly realized that holding a girl’s hand was completely different from holding a boy’s hand. That strange, soft sensation—it lingered.

Ji Jiaxin’s cheeks turned slightly red. She lowered her head but stole a glance at Zhang Jiaohua from the corner of her eye. Seeing him looking flustered, she couldn’t help but giggle again. Then she introduced her friend: “This is my classmate and best friend, Zhao Canhui.”

“Hi, I’m Zhang Jiaohua,” he said with a smile.

“Hi, I’m Jiaxin’s good friend. How do you know her? She never mentioned you before,” Zhao Canhui asked curiously.

“I met Brother Jiaohua when I was very little. It was when he came abroad. I never thought we’d meet again like this,” Ji Jiaxin explained briefly.

“Wow, so you’ve known each other for that long!” Zhao Canhui exclaimed.

The three chatted for a while before exchanging contact info and going their separate ways.

Afterward, Zhao Canhui leaned in and whispered to Ji Jiaxin, “Would you call this fate?”

“Fate your head,” Ji Jiaxin grumbled, though she felt a strange sense of loss after parting ways. I wonder if Brother Jiaohua has a girl he likes now… she thought.

Zhang Jiaohua rubbed his fingers, as if still feeling that soft, lingering touch.

The Mountain Leopard suddenly returned and nudged Zhang’s pant leg with its head.

As night slowly fell, the grave robbers were getting ready to make their move. Zhang Jiaohua quickly followed the Mountain Leopard.

Zeng Lei was sandwiched between the group of grave robbers and was led into a van. As he got in, he asked, “Where are we going?”

Ma Fusong, who had just stuck his head in, pulled it back and gave Zeng Lei a sly grin. “You’ll know once we get there.”

Zeng Lei nodded and got in.

“Brother, it’s not that I don’t trust you. In our line of work, we’re gambling with our lives every time. One misstep, and it’s all over. We’ve got to be careful,” Ma Fusong said with a meaningful tone.

“Better to be cautious,” Zeng Lei replied with a slight smile.

The van’s windows were covered with black curtains. Once drawn, the inside of the van was dim, with no view of the outside. Zeng Lei could only feel the van taking many turns.

Indeed, the van was going in circles, weaving through alleys and streets for who knew how long before it finally settled on a direction. Though Zeng Lei hadn’t been blindfolded, he completely lost his sense of direction.

Zhang Jiaohua bought a bicycle from a bike shop and followed the Mountain Leopard as it tracked the van. After circling around a few times, he realized something was off—the bastards were deliberately going in circles. Zhang simply stopped and waited until the van stopped looping before continuing the pursuit.

Even though this was Beijing, with its maze-like streets, it was absolutely impossible for the van to shake off Zhang Jiaohua. With just one tracking technique, he could easily locate the van’s trail.

However, as Zhang continued to follow them, he started to feel something wasn’t right—the roads were becoming more and more familiar.

“Why are they going here?” he muttered.