Jiang Tinglan stopped in her tracks, her expression turning cold as well. “What do you mean?”
She couldn’t stand hearing anyone say anything bad about her father.
Instead of answering, Yu Xiaxing asked, “Did your dance competition go smoothly that day? How did you solve the problem with your costume in the end?”
“My mom found someone to lend me one.”
“There you go, then. Your mom may have yelled at you, but she did help solve the problem. What did your dad do besides give you some candy?”
“Think about it. Suppose you had a boyfriend in the future, and he forgot to do something, so you complained about it. Then someone next to you immediately said, ‘I’m not like Tinglan. I only know how to dote on my brother~’ Wouldn’t you instantly know which one was the fake, manipulative type?”
“The logic behind intimate relationships and parent-child relationships is the same. How can you not see that your dad is being a green tea?”
“You say he treats you well, but he never actually gets into conflict with your mom for your sake!”
“When your mom was scolding you, he didn’t defend you to her face. Instead, he secretly gave you a piece of candy afterward and won you over?”
Jiang Tinglan was furious!
How could her father possibly be a green tea?
Her father was simply gentle. He just didn’t want to argue with her mother. He just didn’t want their family to fall apart completely!
“What do you know? What I needed at the time was emotional support! You say my mom solved the problem for me, but she also scolded me and ruined my mood before the competition! If you keep saying bad things about my dad, I can’t go shopping with you anymore!”
Yu Xiaxing: “…”
People who refused to take responsibility or deal with the consequences would naturally find it easiest to appear gentle.
And as a scheming school chairwoman with no blood relation to Jiang Tinglan, Yu Xiaxing didn’t have to take responsibility for her either, so she decided not to try persuading her anymore.
Yu Xiaxing immediately apologized. “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It’s just that my own parents aren’t around, so I’ve never experienced what having a good dad is like. That’s why I said those things about your father.”
Seeing that she had apologized, Jiang Tinglan stopped being angry. “All right, I forgive you.”
The two of them continued walking down the street with their milk teas in hand.
Yu Xiaxing asked, “Does your dad support you dropping out too?”
Jiang Tinglan nodded. “Yes! My dad said he would support me no matter what I decided to do.”
Yu Xiaxing continued, “Then let’s say the chairwoman approves your application to withdraw from school. What will you do after you leave? Do you have any plans? Has your dad made any arrangements for you?”
Jiang Tinglan was caught off guard.
She really hadn’t thought that far ahead.
“What about you?” she asked Yu Xiaxing in return.
Just as Yu Xiaxing was wondering what she should make up, someone suddenly charged toward them from behind!
It was a middle-aged man riding an electric scooter.
He was actually watching short videos while riding and hadn’t noticed the people ahead of him at all.
Neither Yu Xiaxing nor Jiang Tinglan had time to dodge. The scooter’s handlebar clipped the milk teas in their hands, and both cups hit the ground with a smack, spilling everywhere.
“Ah!” the rider cried out in alarm as he fell to the ground along with his scooter.
The man immediately scrambled to his feet and began pointing at the two girls, cursing. “How do you two walk? Are you trying to get yourselves killed?”
Jiang Tinglan frowned. “We were walking perfectly normally. The electric scooter lane is over there. You’re the one in the wrong for riding here!”
The man had only intended to curse at them to blow off some steam, but then he suddenly noticed that his phone’s screen had shattered!
Replacing the screen would cost him two thousand yuan!
He glanced at the two girls. They were both wearing school uniforms, with bare faces and an unmistakably harmless, schoolgirl look about them.
So the man decided to bully them.
“What’s wrong with riding on the sidewalk? Just because it’s a sidewalk doesn’t mean you can suddenly jump out in front of someone! My phone is broken now. Don’t even think about leaving unless you pay me!”
Jiang Tinglan found him completely unreasonable. She said to Yu Xiaxing, “Let’s not bother with him. We should just leave.”
But Yu Xiaxing fanned the flames instead. “He was the one who came speeding up from behind and hit us. Now that he fell, he’s blaming someone else. We agreed that we were going to fight back. We can’t only stand up to our parents—we have to stand up to anyone in the world who bullies us!”
Jiang Tinglan felt that made sense, and she hesitated.
Yu Xiaxing said to the middle-aged man, “You owe us the money for our milk teas!”
The man looked at the two girls menacingly. He looked them up and down, then his gaze landed on their school uniforms. When he saw the two characters “Shengde” on the badges over their chests, his eyes immediately lit up.
“Oh, I get it. You’re Shengde students!”
“No wonder you’re acting so arrogant. Just because your families have a little money, you think you can forget who you are?”
“You all dress like respectable people, but you slander others at the drop of a hat. Is this the level of character Shengde students have?!”
“Let’s see whether I go to your principal tomorrow! I’ll go straight to your teachers!”
He knew that the two easiest groups of people in the world to bully were employees and students.
As long as someone threatened to make trouble at their company or school, nine times out of ten they wouldn’t dare fight back. They could only settle the matter quietly.
Besides, at this hour, these two students had clearly sneaked out during evening study hall.
They were bound to get scared and pay up immediately!
With someone fighting alongside her, Jiang Tinglan felt brave enough to resist. “You were the one who hit us first!”
The man cursed, “Did I kill you or something?!”
The two of them went back and forth, trading insults.
Meanwhile, after successfully stoking the flames of war, Yu Xiaxing quietly took two steps back and stood to the side, peacefully watching the show.
Jiang Tinglan’s argument with the man grew more and more heated. The man even began shoving her.
Jiang Tinglan stumbled from the push, her eyes turning red with anger, but she stubbornly refused to retreat.
Then she suddenly realized something was wrong.
Wait a minute. Weren’t the two of us supposed to be fighting back together?
How had it turned into me standing here alone?
Jiang Tinglan whipped around to look at Yu Xiaxing. “Why aren’t you helping me? Weren’t you the one who told me to make him pay for our milk teas in the first place?”
Yu Xiaxing gently advised her, “I thought about it carefully, and one milk tea really isn’t worth much. I’ll just buy you another one. Don’t be angry.”
Jiang Tinglan frowned. “How can you do this? I’ve been arguing with him for so long, and now you’re suddenly saying we should let it go?”
Yu Xiaxing was silent for several seconds. Then she suddenly smiled and asked cheekily, “Do I look like your dad to you?”
Jiang Tinglan exploded. “Are you sick?! Fine, you don’t have to take my side, but now you’re cursing at me too?! At first, I thought you and I came from similar families, so I was planning to become friends with you. Now I realize I completely misjudged you! I never want to see you again!”
Yu Xiaxing put on a deeply wounded expression. “All right… Then I’ll leave.”
With that, she turned and walked away without the slightest hesitation.
Jiang Tinglan also intended to leave. What an awful day! She had been tricked by such a disloyal person!
But the man grabbed her. “No, you can’t leave! You have to pay for my phone!”
Jiang Tinglan cursed the girl who had just left her behind. How could she really abandon her like that?!
She had no idea what to do now, so she could only call her father.
…
In the distance—
Yu Xiaxing had taken a detour and come back. She was now hiding behind a patch of bushes, secretly observing how things unfolded.
