Aftermath

"Haha! You're quite funny, Zhan! You're telling me to address my classmate as Miss Ziyi? I feel a bit awkward now. Should I drop you here?"

His words instantly stunned both of them. They didn't even respond to his joke.

"Wait, are you saying you're Sister Ziyi's classmate? Is this during school or college?"

Xiao Zhan was the first one to snap out of his stunned state. He quickly asked with amazement in his voice, finding it hard to believe that the three of them knew each other.

Only after Xiao Zhan's question did Zhang Ziyi come out of her stupor. She hurriedly walked to the side of Li Xian, observing his face again.

As they had already walked out of the alley, street lights completely illuminated Li Xian's face. Her eyes couldn't help but radiate amazement as she remembered a distant figure with whom she had occasional conversations in college.

Even though she had limited interactions with him, they still spoke occasionally, having been in the same class for many years. Most importantly, she knew him more for his girlfriend, who was also a campus belle like her at that time.

"Li Xian! It's really you... I didn't expect to meet you again here in such a situation. I couldn't get to meet you during the last get-together."

Zhang Ziyi blurted out loudly with a surprised and accusing tone. But after finishing her words, she felt a bit embarrassed for losing her cool like that.

"Haha! It's great to be recognized by the great Ziyi finally. I thought you completely forgot about me."

Li Xian teased, seeing her embarrassed face, making her even more embarrassed with a hint of red climbing onto her tear-stained face.

"It's nothing like that... It was just a bit dark there..."

Zhang Ziyi tried to reason out, but she couldn't finish her sentence seeing the teasing expression on Li Xian's face.

Of course, if it were the previous Li Xian, even if he didn't suck up to her like most of his classmates, he would never be this expressive towards her or any other. As his strength grows, his confidence is also growing.

"Stop teasing Sister Ziyi! She already faced a lot today."

Xiao Zhan said with a muffled voice, holding his nose up to the sky to reduce the blood flow.

"Alright! I'm just kidding, Ziyi, don't take it to heart. Let's go to the hotel that I am staying in; it's quite close to here. I don't think this is a big wound that needs a hospital visit, just a little bit of cleaning and dressing up will do. You can also take a short rest, or you can rest for the night there."

Li Xian also stopped teasing her, hurrying his steps after saying that.

Zhang Ziyi carefully observed the man once again with a twinkle of unknown emotions in her eyes before hurrying to catch up with him.

"Is Ji Yan here with you?"

Sitting inside the kitchen, Zhang Ziyi asked while David stuffed some cotton inside Xiao Zhan's nose to stop the bleeding.

"Ji Yan?... I'm here because of her. She recently broke up with me."

Li Xian felt a pang of pain, but he soon recovered his emotions and lied in a joking manner.

"Oh! What... Nah! I shouldn't have asked about it. Sorry for bringing it up."

Zhang Ziyi felt surprised at this. She wanted to ask what happened, but she stopped as she felt that Li Xian is here to heal himself from this break up.

"Nah! It's alright. I'm already feeling good, and I have made two good friends here. No, it's three."

Li Xian said as he looked at David first, then Olivia, who is preparing coffee for them on the kitchen counter. But he remembered Xiao Zhan has also become his friend during this journey only, before adding to his count.

"That's good to know. I didn't know you were that good at fighting."

Zhang Ziyi again said, as she never heard that Li Xian is this good. She almost felt like watching a martial arts movie.

"Yeah, Big brother Li! I didn't expect that you are that good. By the time I was able to see what happened, all four of them were lying on the ground. You were like, dishoom, dam, bam... Ahhh."

Xiao Zhan also interjected excitedly, waving his hands to show how it might have looked. Due to too much excitement, the cotton in his nose fell down, causing his nose to bleed again, making him cry out.

David hurriedly used a new cotton cloth to stuff his nose, stopping the bleed.

"Please don't move too much, Mr. Xiao! Please drink this coffee."

Olivia said as she brought coffee for everyone. She placed the tray in the center before taking a seat beside Li Xian, making Zhang Ziyi raise her eyes in suspicion.

There is a seat beside her too, but she didn't say anything.

"Ah! Thanks for this cup of coffee, Miss Olivia."

Xiao Zhan also calmed down as he took a cup of coffee, expressing his gratitude for this free coffee.

"Alright! It's not that exaggerated as you said. But I did practice martial arts from a very young age, so handling four punks is pretty easy for me."

Li Xian blatantly lied as he took a sip from his cup.

"Oh! Are you from any sect? I mean, are sects real?"

Xiao Zhan asked excitedly, as he had childhood dreams of learning martial arts and dealing with hooligans, just like Li Xian did.

Zhang Ziyi also looked at him with expectation.

"I cannot say anything about that. So, don't ask about all of that. But if there is a chance, I will let you know."

Li Xian said, feeling troubled under their curious expressions, making Li Xian a bit disappointed.

"Can we hang out tomorrow, Li Xian? I don't have any shooting scheduled tomorrow."

Zhang Ziyi suddenly said, making both Xiao Zhan and Li Xian stunned. Xiao Zhan gave her an inquiring look, knowing that she has shooting tomorrow.

But she ignored him completely, awaiting Li Xian's response.

"No, my return flight is scheduled for early in the morning. It's already been more than a week that I have been here."

Li Xian replied without thinking much, making Zhang Ziyi a bit disappointed.

"Ah, that's alright then. We can hang out when I return from here."

Zhang Ziyi recovered her smile pretty quickly, saying so. Li Xian also nodded his head, as though agreeing to her. But he knew that he probably won't be there by the time she returns.

"Alright! Stay here for the night or ask someone to come pick you guys up. Olivia, are there any empty rooms that they can stay?"

After that, Li Xian asked them first and then Olivia. This time he talked in English, so Olivia and David finally understood his words. They had been trying to understand what they were talking about for quite some time, but they couldn't even get a single word.

"Yeah, I can prepare two rooms for you both. Just give me five minutes."

Olivia said as she stood up, ready to go upstairs to prepare rooms.

"No, thanks for your hospitality, Miss Olivia. But we need to go back to our hotel, or else my director will make a lot of fuss."

Zhang Ziyi said in very good English compared to Li Xian.

"Alright then! I will see you guys back at Guiyang. I will go and take rest, as I need to catch an early flight."

Li Xian bid his farewell to them, going upstairs to get some decent sleep.

"Have a safe journey, Brother Li!"

Xiao Zhan said as Li Xian climbed the stairs, to which he simply nodded without turning back.