Chapter 785 - 270: We Have a Marriage Certificate (3)

The two of them were so attractive, she had even wrung her hands and sighed about it.

"You’re out already?" the auntie blurted out. ’They must have connections at the Public Security Bureau.’

Jie Jingchen remained impassive, and Qin Mei wasn’t angry either. Right in front of the auntie, she linked her arm through Jie Jingchen’s and announced with a beaming smile, "My man."

The auntie’s mouth twitched. Qin Mei’s behavior was a blatant provocation to the red armband on her sleeve. ’Does she really think this thing is just for show?’

"Let go! Let go of him! Have you no sense of decency, acting like this in public?" the auntie said sternly, stepping forward to separate them. ’Just think of all those young couples out there. The moment they see me, they scatter. Who else would be like these two, walking right into the line of fire?’

"We have a marriage certificate." Qin Mei lunged for Jie Jingchen again but was yanked away by the auntie.

"It doesn’t matter if you have a marriage certificate." The auntie stood between them. Qin Mei’s behavior was completely beyond her comprehension; she seriously doubted the girl’s identity, and even more, her sanity. ’What normal woman throws herself at a man in public like that?’ "Do you really have a marriage certificate? You’re not trying to trick me, are you?"

"We really do. We’ve been married for over a year," Qin Mei said with a smug look.

"Show it to me." The auntie wasn’t so easily fooled. ’All the couples I’ve caught fooling around have tried to lie to me about having a marriage certificate. And what was the truth? They had no damn certificate! Over time, I’ve learned not to be so gullible. Real married couples don’t go sneaking into cornfields.’

"Come home with me, and I’ll show you," Qin Mei said. ’Who carries their marriage certificate around with them?’

The auntie immediately grew wary. ’That man is a human trafficker! A car thief and a human trafficker, they’re in it together! They’ll trick me into some secluded corner, knock me out, and sell me off to some remote mountain village! My life will be ruined!’

"Show it to me right now. If you can’t produce it, then you’re just a pair of shameless lovers, a human trafficker, and a car thief. And now you can add another crime to the list: hooliganism. Hooliganism is a serious offense, one that can get you a bullet," the auntie threatened.

Jie Jingchen had a bad feeling that Qin Mei was about to get in way over her head, and drag him right down with her.

’Of all the people to provoke, she had to pick an auntie with a red armband. She was practically begging for disaster.’

Qin Mei was once again reminded of the golden rule: if you don’t look for trouble, you won’t find it.

Qin Mei and Jie Jingchen exchanged a look. Then, Qin Mei shoved the auntie aside, and Jie Jingchen grabbed her hand and took off running.

"Agh, my back!" The auntie almost threw out her back. After a quick twist confirmed she wasn’t actually injured, she took off after them, shouting, "Get the human trafficker! Get the car thief! Get the hooligans..."

The auntie’s shout brought several other people with red armbands sprinting over. They, in turn, attracted some righteous passersby, and soon, a huge, menacing crowd was chasing after Jie Jingchen and Qin Mei, shouting for their heads.

It set off a chain reaction, and Qin Mei was filled with regret. ’I shouldn’t have been so cocky and provoked that auntie with the red armband. Now look, they’ve added hooliganism to the list.’

’Isn’t hooliganism supposed to be a one-sided thing? How can it be hooliganism if it’s mutual?’

Qin Mei decided it wasn’t her fault. The auntie with the red armband was just being too uptight.

The movie theater... Qin Mei felt like she and movie theaters were a cursed combination. She swore she would never set foot in one again for the rest of her life.

Jie Jingchen was in great shape. Even while being chased, his face wasn’t flushed, and his breathing was even. He simply treated it as a workout. Qin Mei, however, couldn’t keep up. It wasn’t long before she was gasping for air.

"Jie Jingsi, I can’t... I can’t run anymore," Qin Mei gasped, feeling like her lungs were about to explode. Her feet only kept moving because Jie Jingchen was pulling her along. The moment he let go, she knew she’d collapse.

"Meimei, look behind you," Jie Jingchen prompted.

Qin Mei glanced back, and her pupils constricted as the color drained from her face.

’Whoa! Holy cow...’ There was a whole sea of people. Qin Mei was worried they might cause a stampede.

’We can’t stop. If we stop now, they won’t be able to halt in time. We’re at risk of being trampled to death.’

’Human trafficker, car thief, hooligans... Can those accusations really incite such public outrage?’

Qin Mei guessed that a good portion of them were probably just gawkers who had joined in for the spectacle.

With a crowd chasing them from behind, Qin Mei found a new surge of motivation to keep running. It just didn’t last long. "I can’t do it. I really can’t."

"I’ll carry you on my back." Before the words were even out of his mouth, Jie Jingchen hoisted Qin Mei over his shoulder and kept running.

"..." Qin Mei was speechless.

’Didn’t he say he’d carry me on his back? Is this what that means?’ Qin Mei suspected Jie Jingchen had some serious misconceptions about the term "piggyback."

Being carried like this while he ran was even more uncomfortable for Qin Mei. She felt like all the blood was rushing to her head and she was running out of oxygen.

"Jie Jingsi, we can’t just keep running like this," Qin Mei managed to say, her words muffled from being slung over his shoulder.

"Then what’s your plan?" Jie Jingchen couldn’t think of anything either. For now, running seemed to be their only option.

’If that auntie with the red armband had caught us at the beginning, the worst that could have happened was a trip to the Public Security Bureau. Now... the situation has spiraled out of control.’

"Here’s the plan..." Qin Mei explained her idea to Jie Jingchen.

The corner of Jie Jingchen’s eye twitched. "Are you sure about that?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Qin Mei asked. Jie Jingchen shook his head. "Then it’s settled!" Qin Mei declared. "Jie Jingsi, there’s our chance! Run for that alley up ahead! See that tree? We’re climbing it."

"Alright." Jie Jingchen picked up his pace, darted into the alley, and stopped under a tree. "Meimei, use my shoulder. You climb up first."

"No need, we’ll climb together." Qin Mei still used his offer for a bit of leverage and scrambled up the tree as nimbly as a monkey.

Jie Jingchen was not to be outdone, scaling the tree in the blink of an eye.

Qin Mei leaned against the tree trunk, panting for breath, while Jie Jingchen also rested against it for a moment.

"Meimei, you’re out of shape. You need to work out more." Jie Jingchen secretly made a resolution. ’I can’t just let her sleep in every day. From now on, when I get up, I’m waking her up and dragging her out for a morning run with me.’

Qin Mei’s eyes went wide. The mere mention of the word "exercise" was enough to give her a headache.

’All I want to do is chill, and he wants me to work out? What’s the goal, to turn me into some muscle-bound Barbie doll?’

The personalized fitness plan Jie Jingchen had designed for her had been shelved after she’d whined her way out of it.

"Glaring at me is pointless. Just look at your stamina. You only ran for a little while and you were already too tired to move. At this rate, if you ever ran into a real bad guy, you’d run out of energy halfway through your escape." This time, Jie Jingchen wouldn’t go soft on her. ’No matter how she pleads or pouts, I’m going to make sure she follows through with her training.’

"Hmph! If I really ran into bad guys, they’d be the ones running, not me," Qin Mei said, full of confidence. ’Even if I can’t take them head-on, my silver needles are no joke.’

"What if you ran into a formidable opponent like Xu Anshan?" Jie Jingchen countered.

Qin Mei faltered. Xu Anshan had managed to catch her silver needles, which had completely caught her by surprise. But in the next second, she bristled again. "That was only because he caught me off guard! That’s how I fell into his trap. If I’d been..."

"Shh." Jie Jingchen put a finger to his lips. Qin Mei immediately understood and fell silent.

When the first few people in the mob reached the alley, they saw no trace of Jie Jingchen and Qin Mei. But they didn’t dare stop. With the rest of the crowd still charging from behind, stopping suddenly meant getting trampled to death.

Even the red-armband patrollers, who had started the chase, were now just being swept along by the momentum. As more and more people had joined in, the scene had descended into chaos. They were now being forced to run, with no energy left to shout slogans. The people at the very back didn’t even know why everyone was running anymore.

The logic was simple: If you’re running, I’m running. And so, everyone ran together.

Only after the last person had run past the tree did Jie Jingchen and Qin Mei jump down.

"Whew." Qin Mei patted her chest and let out a heavy sigh. ’Finally, we don’t have to run anymore.’

Jie Jingchen brushed himself off. When he saw a leaf stuck in Qin Mei’s hair, a small smile touched his lips, and he reached out toward her.

"What are you doing?" Qin Mei reflexively jumped back a step. ’Making a move on me in broad daylight, in full public view? How inappropriate!’