Showbiz Scandal: The Official Announcement of My Ex and Myself-Chapter 263: Narrow Encounter on a Collision Course
The tricycle is ready, and they returned to that old street.
This time, the young lady and Yu Xia were holding the dog together, like sisterly socialites discussing pet care, while Wei Yaoyao was sitting on the edge, acting as the tool person adjusting the weight balance of the carriage, hunched over, gripping the railing and calculating the travel distance.
"One hundred meters, one hundred and fifty meters, Xie Qingci, keep it up!"
"Xie Qingci, are you about to run out of breath? I feel like your thigh muscles are about to burst out."
"Keep going! Two hundred and fifty meters!"
Beads of sweat appeared on Xie Qingci’s forehead, but his voice remained steady, though a bit tense: "Wei Yaoyao, maybe you should get off."
"Oh, listen to this! What do you mean, Xie Qingci? When you needed my money, you said I was indispensable, and now just because you can’t pedal the tricycle, you want me to be the first to get off? This is called betrayal, in ancient times Bao Gong would have decapitated you, and people would have thrown rotten vegetables at you!" Wei Yaoyao loudly shouted and scolded him.
Xie Qingci gritted his teeth, "Fine, you stay on."
Wei Yaoyao muttered, "That’s more like it," and leisurely continued to check the stopwatch.
"Three hundred and seventy-four meters, it’s almost noon, hurry up. Nobody’s eaten, pedal faster!"
Xie Qingci: "..." Seriously, you’re pushing it?
While they were exchanging brotherly banter, Yu Xia was happily petting the dog.
"Good boy, here, shake hands."
The Alaskan put its paw on her hand.
"It really shook hands! Clever boy! Good boy!" She excitedly shook its paw.
"Can I rub your head? Your fur is so long and smooth, and it even has a fragrance, did you get a bath yesterday?"
She was smiling happily, while Xie Qingci was getting irritated in the front.
Finally, breaking the five hundred meter mark, they encountered a small red light, he stopped to rest a little.
Their travel group was quite peculiar on this street, attracting glances from passing pedestrians.
A young guy with a proper look, pedaling a shabby tricycle, with three young people seated behind and a large dog, and that one guy with curlier hair than the dog, grinning without reason.
There was even a drone in the air.
They didn’t look like scrap collectors or anyone doing serious business. This isn’t even comparable to sending a bride on a donkey cart thirty years ago.
A group of people stared at them for a good while, until the traffic light turned green, releasing them from the gaze of onlookers that felt like the stern eyes of elders judging wayward youngsters.
Yu Xia verbally encouraged Xie Qingci: "Come on, we’re almost there!"
Hearing this, Xie Qingci didn’t respond, but the Alaskan barked first.
It thought it was being called.
Xie Qingci was so annoyed, he wanted to abandon the bike outright.
As they reached eight hundred meters, Yu Xia felt tense too.
She always felt that the critical moment at the end was the most crucial and prone to mistakes, just like in TV dramas when unexpected accidents happen.
Like encountering a roadblock due to an accident, or getting stopped by traffic police, or the dog being distracted by another dog and wanting to jump off, or—
"Oh crap! The show’s car is in front! They’re here to catch us!"
"Red light!"
Yu Xia’s heart leapt to her throat as she stared wide-eyed at the familiar black car across the street.
Isn’t this precisely "walking into the lion’s den", "serving oneself up", "coming face to face with adversity"?!
Who knew they’d accidentally bump into their pursuers just like that?!
"Wei Yaoyao, how many meters left?" she asked in a hurry, seeing the task almost finished, it would be such a shame if they were interrupted.
Wei Yaoyao: "Ninety-two meters left. Maybe you should just jump off and run, I don’t mind you leaving me, the farther you run, the better."
This way, no need to rebook the hotel.
Xie Qingci remained composed, reassuring Yu Xia: "It’s okay, this is a single-lane road, they have their lane, we have ours. They can’t change direction to catch us until the next U-turn junction. Ninety-two meters isn’t too far, although they’re fast, I’ll pedal faster, and once we’re there, we’ll ditch the bike and run into the nearby alleys, we’ll lose them easily."
Yu Xia nodded, eyes fixed on the traffic light countdown.
"Do you think they tracked us down using online info, or did they just happen to run into us on their way elsewhere?"
"Most likely tracked us, don’t naively hope they won’t recognize us, we’re the only ones with a tricycle in this street, very conspicuous," said Xie Qingci calmly.
Yu Xia gave a quiet "uh-huh," quickly adjusting her plan.
"Xie Qingci, keep an eye on the traffic light, as soon as it turns green, pedal off, speed up as much as possible."
"Miss, we’ll go through the thank-you procedure first, thanks for your dog, and thank you for joining us to complete the task, after we get off, let Wei Yaoyao pedal you back."
"Wei Yaoyao, after we run, please return the bike, and if the pursuers catch up to you, don’t reveal any information about us."
Wei Yaoyao felt like he was sending off poor relatives after the harvest festival, willingly complied with these small requests, eagerly nodding.
Just as his smile began to show, she added: "Oh right, the hotel room floors are not disclosed to the public, which is quite secure, but please help us extend the room stay."
"...Sure sure sure, green light, go quickly."
Xie Qingci stood up and powered forward, the tricycle shot off quickly, facing the black car that came from the opposite direction.
The pursuers inside kept staring at them, like they were looking at fugitives, causing Yu Xia’s anxiety to spike a little more.
So just as they passed the one thousand meter mark, with Xie Qingci barely squeezing the brake, she jumped right out of the carriage.
The tricycle teetered a bit.
Xie Qingci swiftly followed, leaving the bike to Wei Yaoyao, the two of them ran along the side street, entering a cross alley, disappearing in no time.
By the time the pursuers drove up, the two had long since made their escape.
The old city’s structure was intricate, alleys connected to alleys, Yu Xia and the others dashed down one street, found another alley entrance, and dashed in again, not caring where it would lead.
Finally, they arrived at a food street.
Next to them was a towering building, seemingly some construction company, adjacent to a narrow alley, with an end.
One side of the alley was lined with small storefronts, selling grilled squid, takoyaki, small seafood, braised chicken, hot pot noodles, with a few foldable wooden tables set outside, blocking the road so only people could pass, even e-bikes would struggle.
Xie Qingci paused and tugged her to a halt, his thighs feeling sore and swollen, unsure whether to shake his arms or legs.
"They shouldn’t be able to catch us now, let’s stay here for a while, just in time for lunch."
Yu Xia leaned on her knees breathing heavily, nodded and said: "Alright, are you...are you okay? Want to eat something?"
