chapter 5
chapter 5
“Cheng Lin!! Are you insane?!!”
Zhong Lan wiped the red wine off her face, her expression full of humiliation and fury. Rage seemed ready to burst out of the birthday girl’s body.
“I’m fine, thanks, and you?” Cheng Lin said rapidly. “Oh, you don’t look very fine.”
Zhong Lan’s eyes rolled back, and she nearly fainted.
The entire room went silent.
The culprit responsible for all this was cutting loose inside.
— “That felt fucking amazing.
— “That’s what you get for pitting women against women, and pitting women against women, and pitting women against women, and pitting women against women.
— “Anyone who does that gets demoted out of the human race.
— “Be a sow in your next life.
— “No one will give you postpartum care.
— “You won’t even be able to birth piglets.”
Zhong Lan’s face flushed the color of pig liver. She looked as if she was about to deprive herself of oxygen by holding in her rage.
“Need me to call 120 for you?” Cheng Lin said considerately.
“Send her to psychiatry first.
“Get her brain treated.”
Seeing that she could do nothing against Cheng Lin’s mouth, Zhong Lan began to sob softly.
The birthday girl had shed tears, and everyone was ready to condemn Cheng Lin, itching to act.
Cheng Lin sneered inwardly.
— “I’m dying.
— “Why act like some innocent little white flower?
— “I got tired of playing that game ages ago.
— “I’ll put on a world-shaking man-eating flower performance for you right now.”
Cheng Lin’s expression changed. Her crying instantly drowned out Zhong Lan’s sobs as she sat on the floor and bawled dryly.
“Waaah, waaah, waaah, waaah, bullying!!”
She cried like a wild giant salamander.
No technique, all volume.
“Is this how the Zhong family treats its guests?”
Everyone choked. How could they still say anything to accuse her? They were all immersed in her ability to turn the tables and play the victim.
Even Zhong Lan was stunned. For a moment, she even forgot to cry.
She shakily raised a hand and pointed at Cheng Lin, but for ages she couldn’t squeeze out a fart.
A stalemate.
On my side, I brewed my emotions for a moment, and two streams of tears fell.
“Zhong Lan, my younger sister and I came here with nothing but good intentions to celebrate your birthday. Why would you treat us like this?”
Everyone’s gaze fell on me again.
I could almost see the huge question marks and six dots over their heads.
?
…
Why was another one crying now?
Sigh. I honestly didn’t want to either. After all, I had lived for twenty years as the eldest daughter of the Cheng family. Ever since I became sensible, I had never lost my composure in front of outsiders.
But Cheng Lin’s little scene needed a proper ending.
I had to come and draw it for her.
Besides, being caught up in this farce gave me such a novel feeling that I actually found it—kind of fun.
Cheng Lin’s crying, however, faltered.
— “Oh my god, am I acting too well?
— “The heroine, this silly sweet thing, actually believed it.
— “She’s crying so aggrievedly.
— “Fuck!
— “It must be because what Zhong Lan said just now hurt her, right?
— “Boohoo, my poor heroine.”
She cried even harder.
The emotions I had brewed nearly went to waste.
For one instant, I was so speechless that I almost laughed again.
And Zhong Lan, who was already confused, grew even more confused after the two of us made such a scene. The moment she opened her mouth, she sounded unsure of herself. “How did I…”
With reddened eyes, I cut her off directly.
“I know. Now that my status no longer qualifies me to hang out with you, you can ignore me, humiliate me, say I’m worth less than a dog in the Cheng family. None of that matters.” I shed aggrieved tears.
I still knew how to do the whole on-the-verge-of-collapse routine.
“But you actually said it was a good thing my biological parents were already dead.
“They were my biological parents. They were the family Xiao Lin had kept company for twenty years.”
I pointed at Cheng Lin, who was still sitting there dry-bawling, and choked up at just the right moment.
“She was already overwhelmed with grief, and after you provoked her like that, she’s on the verge of breaking down now.
“Look how heartbroken she is crying.
“So, Zhong Lan, what’s wrong with pouring a bottle of red wine on you?
“All you lost was a bottle of red wine, but Xiao Lin—what she lost was family!”
Zhong Lan couldn’t get a single word in. She could only stand there anxiously, glaring helplessly.
Everyone else fell silent too, showing clear signs of switching sides.
Wasn’t it always like this?
Whoever was weaker was in the right.
I wanted Cheng Lin to become the disadvantaged one.
Only that fool was still wailing in her heart.
— “Boohoohoohoo, the heroine is so kind.
— “I bullied her like that before.
— “I stole the person she liked, and I even stole the chocolate she liked, but she’s still speaking up for me.
— “In this life, she has to be happy and well.
— “Protect our heroine.”
I blinked, and my tears fell naturally.
How nice.
The feeling of having someone support you unconditionally from behind.
It was something only I, in this whole world, knew about.
Silent support.