Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Lu Zhengqing, who was leaning against the wall and smoking, also wanted a warm-up when he saw Cen Yi hitting them so hard.
He flicked away the cigarette bud between his fingers and took off his tie and school uniform. He rolled up his sleeves and grabbed Zhong Tie’s hair. He dragged Zhong Tie out for around two meters before he starting to beat him up.
Cries of pain could be heard on the ground below Cen Yi. No student dared to interfere.
From the genius class, the girl who sat beside Qiao Yuelan, Fu Mengyu, had just returned from the teachers’ office after picking up a stack of scripts.
She returned to her seat and tugged on Qiao Yuelan. She asked secretively, “Lanlan, do you know why there’s so much wailing and howling outside?”
“Someone’s getting beaten.”
Qiao Yuelan angled herself and glanced at Wen Yuansi who was sitting behind Fu Mengyu. Her gaze was a little ambiguous and infatuated. Before Wen Yuansi could lift his head from his script, she looked away. Her cheeks were slightly red.
Fu Mengyu continue to speak: “No, on the way back from the teachers’ office, I saw Cen Yi hitting Qiu Chen.”
“He’s hitting Qiu Chen?”
Qiao Yuelan was a little surprised. However, she thought about it some more and assumed that Cen Yi probably had a crush on her just as the rumors said. If that was the case, it wasn’t strange that he beat Qiu Chen up.
After all, in the afternoon, a junior sister from Qiao Lingxiang’s class told her that Qiu Chen was bullying Qiao Lingxiang.
She looked at Fu Mengyu winking at her ambiguously. A thin veil of anger appeared on Qiao Yuelan’s face.
She said unhappily, “Why’s he such a busybody? Seriously?”
“Why are you unhappy?”
Fu Mengyu placed her palm on her forehead and smiled at Qiao Yuelan.
“Cen Yi doesn’t look bad. He’s quite handsome and he took revenge for your sister because of you. Isn’t that the same as taking revenge for you?”
Qiao Yuelan was afraid that Wen Yuansi, who was sitting behind Fu Mengyu, would misunderstand, so she tried to look angry and opened her mouth: “I don’t like him. Why does he need to be a busybody for me?”
Her voice was a little loud. Not only did Wen Yuansi hear her, but the other top students from the various classes sitting around them also heard what she said too.
Everyone couldn’t help but laugh. Indeed, Cen Yi wasn’t bad-looking but unfortunately, Qiao Yuelan was the campus belle. Many people wanted to chase her. Cen Yi’s grades were bad so he needed to use a different method to leave a favorable impression on Qiao Yuelan. He helped Qiao Yuelan’s younger sister, that fatty, and fought with another student…
However, the others could tell that Cen Yi was just asking to be let down. Qiao Yuelan didn’t like Cen Yi at all.
While these people were laughing at Cen Yi, Fu Mengyu was the only one with any intention of defending Cen Yi. She quietly pulled the corner of Qiao Yuelan’s shirt and whispered to her, “Don’t say such things about Cen Yi. He’s just helping your younger sister.”
“If my younger sister didn’t cause trouble, he wouldn’t need to help her.”
Qiao Yuelan turned around and glanced at Wen Yuansi. He wasn’t laughing. He just continued to work on his questions with his head lowered. It seemed as if he wasn’t interested at all. Qiao Yuelan felt a little defeated.
Thus, after she completed her lesson, she specifically ran over to see Qiao Lingxiang.
She stood outside Qiao Lingxiang’s classroom. There was no need for her to ask others to help her call her younger sister. Her younger fans would naturally tell Qiao Lingxiang that she was outside the classroom when they saw her.
All the junior high year three classes were very noisy since lessons had ended. Someone standing inside the classroom called out to Qiao Lingxiang.
Qiao Lingxiang just raised her head and glanced at Qiao Yuelan who was outside the window. She disregarded her elder sister and lowered her head to continue working on her script. She pretended that Qiao Yuelan was invisible.
Qiao Yuelan was furious. She walked into Qiao Lingxiang’s classroom directly and stopped in front of Qiao Lingxiang under the watchful gazes of her classmates. She rapped on Qiao Lingxiang’s table.
“Dinosaur, can you stop making trouble for me in the future? I already owe many people favors because of you. You’re not young anymore. Your grades are so bad. Can’t you study properly?”
Qiao Lingxiang lifted her head slowly, revealing the blood on her collar. There were still blood patches in her hair and her short hair was a mess. She had natural curls and they now looked like a hen’s nest.
Also, on Qiao Lingxiang’s specially made-to-order school uniform, there were still many footprints she hadn’t managed to pat off.
Since her face and hands weren’t clean, smooth, and fair, she didn’t look good in this state.
Qiao Yuelan was stunned for a moment. Her lips moved. The school bell rang at this moment. She still needed to rush back to complete her script so she didn’t want to spend too much time with Qiao Lingxiang.
She looked at Qiao Lingxiang’s state and asked her again,” You’re a lady. Can’t you try to look more like one? Why do you have to fight with people? Look at you now.”
Qiao Lingxiang stared at her elder sister with an empty gaze. She remained quiet.
Strangely, now, she didn’t feel any sorrow when she heard what Qiao Yuelan said.
She didn’t have any more anticipation or hope. When she needed care and help from her family, they weren’t there. Thus, her heart had died. Any single word from this person standing in front of her couldn’t hurt her anymore.
Qiao Yuelan continued to speak when she noticed Qiao Lingxiang’s silence.
“Alright, Cen Yi helped you beat up Qiu Chen so it’s the same as me helping you. I don’t want to talk to Cen Yi or give him any hope. Help me thank him for me.”
After she finished speaking, she turned and left.
She didn’t care about Qiao Lingxiang’s classmates who were covering their mouths and laughing at Qiao Lingxiang. Or maybe they were laughing at Cen Yi.
The girl sitting in front of Qiao Lingxiang, An Qiongyi, turned and smiled at her as she spoke to Qiao Lingxiang.
“Your elder sister is really cool. Cen Yi helped her so much but she doesn’t appreciate his kindness.”
Qiao Lingxiang stopped writing with her pen. She raised her gaze and glanced at An Qiongyi. Then, she started packing up with a poker face.
She placed her scripts, papers, and stationary into her schoolbag. The entire class watched her as she carried her schoolbag and left the classroom.
This was the last lesson of the day but from the looks of it, no teachers would come to teach them. The scripts were given to them in the middle of the lesson. If Qiao Lingxiang continued staying in the classroom, she would be teased by her classmates and wouldn’t be able to do her work in peace.
That was why she decided to go to the cafeteria to eat her dinner first before walking home.
If she met Cen Yi along the way, she would thank him. Whether he did it to chase Qiao Yuelan or not, he still helped her to beat Qiu Chen up. She was still grateful to him.
She wasn’t doing this because Qiao Yuelan wanted her to thank him. She really wanted to thank Cen Yi personally.
She walked alone in school against the cold wind. The sky was gradually turning dark.