Chapter 5
That night, Yin Hengyu sent me message after message, desperately explaining that Yao Yao had not meant it that way.
I replied, “Have mercy on me. I truly can’t take any more.”
Yin Hengyu: “…If it really bothers you, I can keep my distance from Yao Yao starting tomorrow. I genuinely admire you, Yu Taozi. I’ve never admired anyone this much before.”
Me: “Shit up!”
Yin Hengyu: “It’s shut up.”
Damn his mama. English was too hard.
I had thoroughly offended Yao Yao.
When I went to school the next day, her gaze followed me everywhere and never left me for an instant.
You would have thought I had stolen her sanitary pads, tampons, and panty liners all at once.
It was downright creepy.
During the break, she rose with reddened eyes, came over to me, and said in a trembling voice, “Yu Taozi, I’m sorry.”
Then she bowed deeply.
Me: “?”
The comments zipped past.
[God, the heroine is so pitiful. My heart really hurts for her. Everyone calls her a tease for wavering between the male lead and the second male lead, but they’re the only people she has.]
[Exactly. What is the supporting girl trying to do? First she steals the male lead, then the second male lead. Does she have to take everything from the heroine?]
[The heroine’s mother barely cares about her, and people constantly mock her for being a housekeeper’s daughter. Without the two male leads protecting her, she might not even finish high school.]
[Here’s why the heroine is the heroine: the moment she cries, the entire world is in the wrong. Got it?]
[Exactly. Just watch. The male lead is a stubborn softie. He’s had a little misunderstanding with the heroine, and the supporting girl barged between them, so he’s been anxious for days. He’ll come save the damsel any second now.]
[Just wait. The supporting girl is about to get expelled.]
An inexplicable anger surged through me. I was about to speak when a lipstick tube flew onto my desk.
“Oh, sorry. Missed. Let me try again. Don’t move, Yao Yao.”
Several pretty girls approached with their arms linked. The one in front pulled a tube of lip balm from her uniform pocket and tossed it at Yao Yao’s head.
“Yes!” She high-fived the girl beside her with exaggerated delight. “You can keep the lip balm, Yao Yao. No need to thank me. I heard your mother’s entire salary goes toward your father’s medical bills. Don’t you get any pocket money?”
“Oh my God, really? Yao Yao has it so rough.”
“Yeah, she’s super pitiful. No wonder she’s weeping all day long.”
“So that’s why Zhou Fanjun treats her differently. He just feels sorry for her.”
Zhou Fanjun sat to one side, watching it all with a cold face. I understood. He was waiting for Yao Yao to ask him for help. They were fighting, and it would cost him too much pride to rush in uninvited.
Yin Hengyu was also watching from the side, with no intention of helping. I understood that too. He was desperate to learn how to bark.
Under everyone’s gaze, Yao Yao’s tears burst forth like the Yellow River breaking through its dikes!
She clutched her chest as though she were having a heart attack and slowly sank to her knees. Her slender shoulders shook, as if she might shatter at any moment.
The girls giggled at the sight.
“Why is she crying again? Hahaha.”
“Hurry, get a picture! Aim at her face. Why does she make it look like she’s acting in a drama?”
Someone else threw a little perfume bottle in her direction, but it struck me on the head.
Fine, it hit me. But instead of apologizing, the girl rolled her eyes at me in annoyance and muttered, “Damn, her head’s hard. Better not have broken my perfume.”
If they bullied Yao Yao, it was none of my business. If they bullied me, I would not stand for it.
I promptly hurled the bottle back!
The girl I hit clutched her head and yelped. The others surrounded me with expressions that said, Who do you think you are?
I took a deep breath, jumped onto a desk, lay down, and started rolling from side to side.
“Damn your daddy! Help, I’m being bullied! I’ll report this all the way to the central government! Is anyone in charge? Is anyone in charge?”
My voice rang like a great bell, loud and powerful. Before long, our homeroom teacher arrived.
The corner of her mouth twitched. “Yu Taozi. Why is it always you?”
I lay weakly across the desk, gave two feeble kicks, and whimpered, “Boo-hoo.”
The girls all talked over one another, accusing me of attacking someone with a perfume bottle. I pointed at the surveillance camera. “Check the recording. See who struck first.”
The pretty girl who had thrown the lipstick first curled her lip impatiently.
“Stop making such a racket. Do you have any idea who my father is? One word from me, and you’ll be expelled.”
I whipped out my phone and shoved the camera in her face, snapping picture after picture.
“And who is your father? Come on, tell me! Who is he? You bully classmates and think you’re in the right? Do you know who my gran is? Her name is Yu. Go ask around our village—everybody knows seventy-eight-year-old Madam Yu is sick all over, and her one dying wish is to see me go to university! You’re going to get me expelled? Fine, just wait. I’m calling her right now! Gran! I don’t want to live anymore! Let’s hang ourselves together outside the school gates!”
The girl seemed to choke on her own breath. She stared at me, unable to utter a word for ages.
Our homeroom teacher looked ready to faint.
After gathering herself, she rubbed her forehead and decided on the spot. “Whoever started this, apologize to Yu Taozi. Now!”
Every eye turned to the girl who had hit me.
She burst into tears.
Still sobbing, she bowed to me. “I—I’m sorry. Please don’t call your grandmother.”
I jumped down from the desk, locked my phone, and waved magnanimously. “All right, then.”