"Why are you so surprised? Weren't you quite calm when I burned you with a cigarette butt earlier?" Xia Qingyu glared at Nie Qingkong and said impatiently.
"But you shouldn't use something meant for dogs..." Nie Qingkong tried to pull his hand back but realized Xia Qingyu's grip was quite strong.
"What are you two arguing about? Didn't I tell you I've already asked?" Xia Qingyu pressed down Nie Qingkong's hand and only let go after applying medicine and bandaging his wound. "Try to avoid getting it wet. Find time to go to a proper hospital. This is just a simple treatment for now."
Glancing at his arm, Nie Qingkong curved his lips. "You've wrapped it quite professionally."
"To be honest, I don't like you," Xia Qingyu said, putting the remaining gauze and ointment back into the bag. "I didn't like you before, and now... I like you even less."
"Is this how you treat someone who helped you?" Nie Qingkong asked, lifting his arm.
"Have you ever thought about how sad the people who care about you would be if you got hurt?" Xia Qingyu looked at Nie Qingkong, her gaze calm.
Putting herself in someone else's shoes, if she were burned today, whether intentionally or not, Xia Qingtian would be very upset. Just thinking about Xia Qingtian being sad made her chest feel heavy and uncomfortable.
"In any case... thank you for what you did today, but let's leave it at that," Xia Qingyu said. "I don't have any other intentions. I just want to earn more money so that the people I care about can live a life free from worry about food and clothing, and I can give them the best."
"Who? Li Xiaozhong?" Nie Qingkong asked. "So you're not a sibling duo, but a couple?"
"It has nothing to do with you, does it?" Xia Qingyu found Nie Qingkong rather inexplicable.
"It really doesn't," Nie Qingkong said, standing up. He looked at Xia Qingyu, and for once, he didn't put on his fake gentle smile. His face was cold, with an icy chill reaching his eyes, as if this was his true demeanor. "Xia Qingyu, I am very disappointed in you."
With that, Nie Qingkong walked straight out of the pet hospital.
He really was wasting his time! There was no talent he wanted here at all!
"Have you ever thought about how sad the people who care about you would be if you got hurt?" Recalling Xia Qingyu's words, Nie Qingkong's eyes grew even colder. "You really have the nerve to say that..."
"Who cares if you're disappointed..." Xia Qingyu frowned, feeling somewhat speechless as Nie Qingkong left like that.
They weren't very close to begin with. Apart from the people she cared about, other people's thoughts had nothing to do with her!
Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Xia Qingyu thought of the people she encountered today, her eyes hardening. "Z-Media, is it?" Given time, she would gather enough evidence to get all those scoundrels expelled.
She waited for a long time at the hospital. After the stray dog's surgery concluded and Xia Qingyu personally confirmed everything, she paid some additional fees and left the dog to stay there for hospitalization before returning to the Xia residence.
Seeing the bloodstains on Xia Qingyu's school uniform, Aunt Liu almost fainted on the spot.
"It's not mine! It's from that stray dog!" Xia Qingyu immediately said. "It was too severely injured."
"It's good that it's not yours," Aunt Liu said, her face pale. Finally, she let out a long sigh. "Quickly take this uniform to the laundry room. I can't bear to look at it. Then come quickly for dinner."
"Okay," Xia Qingyu replied and hurried upstairs. Upstairs, she saw Xia Qingtian, who was wearing a facial mask.
Upon seeing the blood on Xia Qingyu's clothes, Xia Qingtian, who was wearing a mask, was startled. Her face turned cold, and she questioned, "Are you hurt? What happened? Who was it?"
"It's not my blood, don't worry!" Xia Qingyu quickly explained.
Xia Qingtian breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, is that so? Do you still have enough money? That dog was so badly injured... the treatment must have been quite expensive, right?"
"I have enough," Xia Qingyu nodded immediately. Although her current funds were still far from her goal, treating a dog was not a problem.
"Alright, if you need more money, just tell me anytime," Xia Qingtian said, patting Xia Qingyu's arm with confidence. She was someone with her own financial backing now. "Don't be polite with me."
"Mhm," Xia Qingyu felt a warmth spread through her heart just listening to Xia Qingtian say that. Her sister was the best sister in the world.
Arriving at the laundry room, Xia Qingyu put down the bloodstained school uniform and then went downstairs for dinner. That night, Aunt Liu and Xia Qingtian entered her room one after another and talked with her for a while, seemingly worried that she might have been scared today.
Realizing the gentle treatment from Aunt Liu and Xia Qingtian, Xia Qingyu felt a sweet warmth in her heart. Even for the people who cared about her, she would protect herself well and not let herself get hurt. She had people who cared about her too.
Recalling Nie Qingkong, who had pressed the cigarette butt onto his arm without flinching, Xia Qingyu's gaze deepened, and she sighed. If not for Xia Qingtian and Aunt Liu, perhaps she would have become that kind of person too.
Never mind, it had nothing to do with her. Shaking this thought out of her mind, Xia Qingyu decided to rest well and recharge her energy. After all, she still had to work hard to support her sister.
Meanwhile, in a deserted alley in Z City, several young men lay sprawled on the ground.
"No way? You're already done for?" Under the moonlight, Nie Qingkong, dressed in casual pants and a suit, with pointed leather boots, wore a cruel smile on his cold face. "You were quite fierce in the park earlier, weren't you?"
"Please... please let me go..." These men never imagined they had provoked such a demon. "Please... please..."
"Listen to your voice, it's so similar to that stray dog in the park." Nie Qingkong snapped his fingers, and someone immediately handed him a lit cigarette. Nie Qingkong stepped forward and placed his foot on the man's hand, then crouched down and pressed the glowing cigarette butt onto the man's arm.
"Sizzle..."
"Ah!" The man cried out in pain.
"Young Master," a burly man who had been accompanying Nie Qingkong walked over quickly. "I've investigated. Two of these people have families that run businesses and companies. The two companies have dealings with each other. The rest are their sycophantic subordinates, just young masters from some low-tier local enterprises."
"Understood," Nie Qingkong stood up and casually tossed the extinguished cigarette butt in his hand. "Acquire those two companies at a low price and sell them at a high price. Ensure the profit margin is over twenty million. For the sycophantic ones, eighty thousand each, to be deposited within two days." He never did business at a loss.
"Yes."
"Let them know what they should say and what they shouldn't," Nie Qingkong said, his hands in his pockets, his tone reverting to that of a gentle youth. "There's morning reading tomorrow. I'm going back to sleep. You all should rest early too."
"Yes, Young Master."
After Nie Qingkong left, the sounds of wailing drifted over. It was just like that of a mistreated stray dog.