Emily was stunned for a moment. She did not expect that Terry would care about what had happened at the Jackson family’s abode, especially when the old madam had nothing to do with him.
“Grandmother inhaled some smoke, so her body got a bit weaker, but she is stable for now.”
She looked at Terry and saw the sense of relief that gleamed in his eyes. She was puzzled. “What’s wrong? Why do you suddenly care about JacksonJackson’s affairs?”
“Nothing.”
Terry was not a good liar, so he would always refuse to explain when he did not know what to say.
“I’ll finish assembling these chairs. You should carry on with your work.”
Sally had managed to recruit some new staff, and they would start work the next month. However, the office was only partly ready, as Terry had been busy. Emily still thought that Terry had behaved a little oddly. Unfortunately, she could not pinpoint the exact problem at that time. Since he had started to work on the chairs, Emily thought it was best to leave him alone. So, she went back to her desk to work on her scripts.
Their office was very close to the university. Except for Joe and Terry, who had no class in the morning, the rest had to attend classes at nine-thirty in the morning. They were surprised to learn that Aryan was awake and wanted to go to class with them.
Aryan had always been a lone ranger who did not enjoy social interactions with strangers, but he was very committed to his studies and work. When the bell rang at the end of their class session, the group of five friends packed their bags and left the classroom for the school gate. Lois and Sally were discussing what to eat for lunch.
“Let’s eat braised pork today. I haven’t eaten meat in a long time.”
Both of them had been on a diet. They almost drooled when they thought of braised pork.
“Rufus, are you okay?” Sally winked at him.
“Of course.” Rufus was a food enthusiast. He liked everything and anything delicious.
“Emily, what about you?”
“Ayran just got rid of his fever, so we should eat something light and plain.” Emily narrowed her eyes at them.
Sally and Lois immediately gathered around Aryan, and pleaded pitifully, “We’ll get you some plain porridge, okay? Can you just pretend that you can’t see us eating the meat?”
Aryan wanted to laugh. He had always been alone and had never lived with a group of friends. He was surprised to find that life with a team could be that interesting. He liked a quiet life, but he thought that Lois and Sally were quite interesting after he had hung out with them and listened to the noises that they made all day long.
“I’m okay with anything.” He had no preference for food choices.
“No, today’s lunch must be light. Everyone is eating the same food.” Emily announced stubbornly.
“Emily…”
“I said, No.”
“Awwwww…”
They chatted as they walked. Before they could leave the campus, a group of people suddenly stopped them at the footpath in front of the teacher’s building.
“So, you guys are from the September Studio? The lousy group that produced 1801?”
The boy who led the group looked like he was either in year three or year four.
He stared at Lois, who was in front of the group, and then he snorted scornfully. Lois was so terrified that she retreated two steps backward. That group of people looked intense and scary.
“What’s the matter?” Emily walked past Lois.
Rufus and Aryan immediately stood beside her. Even though the other party seemed to be quite good at fighting, and they were clearly there to pick a fight, the two boys would never cower behind the girls! Lois discreetly tugged at the corner of Emily’s clothes. Those people looked like they were up to no good!
“So, we heard that there is a god-like artist in your group who could draw several chapters in a day, is that true?”
The boys stared at Emily’s hand, and their gazes were sharp. “Is that you?”
“It’s me.” Aryan pulled Emily behind him.
“Oh, you are competent, indeed! You could draw a few chapters in a day, yeah? Was that a joke? You got someone to help you, right?”
“What does it have to do with you?” Aryan retaliated coldly.
“It doesn’t matter actually. We just want to see what kind of hands you, a god-like artist, would have.”
Some of them stared at Aryan’s hand with apparent malicious intent.
“Oh, did you hurt your arm? Was it from the accident last night? What a pity that only your arm was hurt.”
The man smiled wickedly as his eyes moved from Aryan’s hand.
Another tall boy said with an evil grin, “That’s right. Why aren’t your fingers hurt? If three of your fingers were cut off, would you still be a god-like artist?”
“What do you want?” Emily moved in front of Aryan, as she tried to shield him with her small body.
Aryan’s hand must not suffer any injuries at such a critical time. The other team members were replaceable, even herself. She could still dictate the script if her hands were injured. However, if Aryan were wounded, then their entire team would be doomed in the competition. Those people seemed to know about Aryan’s injury so early in the day. Was the accident planned?
“Little girl, we are not talking to you. Did you jump out from somewhere?”
The leader of the group’s face darkened when he spotted Emily. He took a step forward and attempted to shove Emily.
However, Aryan slapped the guy’s hand away from Emily. “Don’t touch her!”
“Why? Can we touch you instead, then?”
The tall boy looked so fierce, and a few of them had closed around the group of friends. Emily held Aryan to prevent him from lunging forward.
She calmly said, “This is the campus. Give it a go if you think you can do it.”
Rufus had already taken his phone out and adjusted the perfect shooting angle.
He announced in a cold voice, “Give it a try. I promise you that this would be the hottest live broadcast on the campus forum today.”
Those boys looked at each other, and then they backed away. The leader was still staring at Aryan’s hand.
He sneered, “Sure, we can’t do anything within the campus, but you guys would have to come out of the campus, right?”
“God-like artist, you better take good care of your hand. Who knows, someone might accidentally chop them off. If that were to happen, you’d just be a lousy painter in your group, got it?”
“The lousy hand of a god-like artist…” Then they laughed.
They walked away while they continued to laugh derisively. Aryan wanted to rush after them for a fight, but Emily stopped him. She would not allow him to be so impulsive. She was distraught, and her eyes subconsciously fell onto Aryan’s hands.
“Emily, do you think they would really do it?” Sally walked up to Emily as she also stared at Aryan’s hand.
Emily turned to look at Lois. “Is the result for the semi-final out yet?”
“It should be out in the afternoon, but those with insider connections probably found out about it in the morning.”
It seemed that the other party was better informed than herself. They might have even known about the result the previous night. It was so much easier to work with a good network.
“I think they are the team that produced 1601.” Rufus pushed his glasses and stared at the backs of those people who had walked away from them
Emily frowned. “1601?”
“Oh, I know, that group is actually quite impressive. Their captain is…”
Lois searched for relevant information in her head. Suddenly, she slapped her head hard.
“She is the queen of our Design Faculty, Flora Hans, the Fourth Young Miss of Golden Summit Group.”
Lois had massive storage of information in her head. She looked at Emily as her heart fluttered with anxiety. “Flora had only an average status in the Han family, but her half-sister seems to spoil her.
“As for her sister, I heard that she is a very good friend of Fourth Young Miss Jackson, Tabby.”
Their relationship seemed unusual and suspicious. Those boys had probably acted on Flora’s order, and they were not from the campus. The group of friends was safe on the campus, but not when they were out of the compound. Before Emily could say anything, her phone rang.
An unfamiliar number appeared. She hesitated for a moment before she answered, “Hello?”
At the other end of the phone call, a somewhat familiar voice echoed. “Treat me to a meal, and I will tell you the truth about the incident that happened this early morning.”