Chapter 12
After noticing this girl, Chai Meicen asked Zhuo Wen Qian about her.
Zhuo Wen Qian loved gossip and was like an encyclopedia of all the latest rumors at their school, so of course she knew all about this girl.
The girl standing in front of them was called Zhao Bing Qing. Just like her name, she had an icy, pure image.
Her temperament was aloof and cold, and she was quite arrogant. Rumor had it she had never dated before, and all the boys at school aspired to be her first love.
After all, she was the "ice queen" of the school.
She was beautiful, a top student in the rocket class, and came from an excellent family background.
It was not surprising that Zhao Bing Qing was involved with Zhou Rui.
The school bully and the school beauty seemed well-matched.
Plus, Zhou Rui's height was a weakness. Zhao Bing Qing was 175 cm tall, and looked almost as tall as the 178 cm Zhang Ru Xin when standing next to him. So she naturally preferred Zhou Rui more.
However, Zhao Bing Qing suddenly seeking out Chai Meicen did surprise her a bit.
She stood there boldly and asked, "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Haven't you been a bit arrogant recently?" Zhao Bing Qing didn't say anything, staying true to her cold persona. Her good friend spoke first.
"Huh?" Chai Meicen didn't feel she had been arrogant at all. Buying two drinks, drinking one and throwing the other away was arrogant?
"We didn't bother you when you meddled in other people's relationships before, but now you're involved with Li Xiaonan too? And you're playing the field, yet somehow you all seem to have a good relationship?" the girl asked again.
Chai Meicen really didn't understand how these young people talked.
She could admit to having a relationship with Li Xiaonan. That was probably a rumor started by Li Xiaonan's ex-girlfriend, since Chai Meicen herself had said she was pursuing Li Xiaonan.
But what was this about being a third wheel?
That was something she hated the most.
"I really don't understand what you all are saying," Chai Meicen continued asking, suspecting in her heart that the generation gap really was that wide.
In terms of bearing, Chai Meicen was not inferior, she was just at a disadvantage in terms of height.
The girls who had come to find her were generally over 170 cm tall, so Chai Meicen had to crane her neck to look at them.
To outsiders, it looked like a group of tall girls surrounding a petite girl. This inexplicably evoked some sympathy for Chai Meicen.
The girl who had been speaking suddenly reached out and poked Chai Meicen on the forehead, "I just want to warn you, know your place. Don't act so arrogantly as a new student. There are plenty of people who can deal with you. When that happens, even Zhou Rui can't protect you, since he's a guy after all."
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This action irritated Chai Meicen. Before the girl could retract her hand, Chai Meicen grabbed her index finger and forcefully bent it back towards the back of her hand. As she strained to bend the finger upwards, she said in a low voice, "Explain clearly what you mean."
The girl let out a shriek as her finger was hurt and her body reflexively hunched over to relieve the pain, making her appear shorter.
Seeing that the girl was not answering, Chai Meicen pressed while bending her finger, "So was it that your friend Zhao Bing Qing pursued Zhou Rui unsuccessfully, and seeing that Zhou Rui and I were on good terms, you feel that I was a third wheel who interfered, which caused her pursuit to fail?"
"What are you doing?" Zhao Bing Qing reached out to push Chai Meicen, trying to get her to let go of her friend.
"I'm Zhou Rui's relative, there's no way anything could happen between us. So your failure to pursue him has nothing to do with me. You should examine yourself for the reasons," Chai Meicen released the girl and pushed Zhao Bing Qing back.
Although Zhao Bing Qing was tall, she was slender. Chai Meicen had powerful explosive strength, so her push made Zhao Bing Qing stumble.
The bathroom floor was slippery, and she almost lost her balance.
"Also, what business is it of yours how I act? Mind your own business, okay? Who do you think you are?" Chai Meicen didn't have a good temper to begin with. Being suddenly warned for no reason irritated her.
She wasn't the kind of person who would take abuse lying down, so being warned made her retaliate in kind.
Zhao Bing Qing was ready to explode.
At this time of day the bathroom was very crowded, and their confrontation had attracted quite a few onlookers.
And Chai Meicen had said such humiliating things. Her head was boiling.
"I never pursued him! He's just a scumbag, why would I like him? His limbs are developed but his mind is simple. Turning in blank test papers, he should get his IQ checked to see if there's a problem. Does he deserve me? All he ever does is cause trouble. In the future he'll just be a menace to society. He'll end up in prison sooner or later! He should have been expelled for this fight. Leaving him at our school will just be disastrous!"
After Zhao Bing Qing finished saying this all in one breath, she came back to her senses. In her haste to deny, she had forgotten to mind her expression. Her expression was probably quite twisted when saying those things just now.
The image she had cultivated for so long was gone in an instant.
As a mother, the most unbearable thing was hearing others slander her child.
A dragon has reverse scales that one must not touch.
And a child was a mother's reverse scale. A mother's feelings could erupt in powerful force.
Hearing Zhao Bing Qing's words, Chai Meicen's whole body shook with anger.
"I believe in his character. He is a very good person."
"What use is your belief? Ask anyone and they'll tell you he's no good person. Don't be surprised if he turns out to be a wife beater in the future! He probably doesn't know how to do anything except cause trouble. Since you're his relative, you're probably no good either. Oh right, his mother is no good either. She got pregnant at 19 and only registered the marriage at 20. They divorced not long after. Whore!"
Zhao Bing Qing had gone all in, and her words were vicious.
"The kind of person who says such things can't be any good either. I really wonder if you're an orphan, otherwise how could you be so poorly raised." Chai Meicen tried her best to calm down.
This was at school, she couldn't cause trouble. She had come here to set an example for Zhou Rui.
She really wished she had more confidence.
She desperately wanted to be able to proudly defend her son when speaking up for him. To be able to confidently say her son was amazing and excelled in every way.
She wanted to refute those words so badly.
But the truth was Zhou Rui had done many bad things. Her child could not be a parent's pride, but had become a source of public humiliation instead. That hurt the most.
And she was no pride for Zhou Rui either.
Dropping out of school so young to have a child, that was also true.
Zhuo Wen Qian pushed through the crowd and stood in front of Chai Meicen. She scolded Zhao Bing Qing, "Zhao Bing Qing, you shameless thing. Zhou Rui is at the door right now. Even if he can't lay a hand on you, I can make sure you leave this place horizontally."
Zhao Bing Qing saw so many people around and didn't want to escalate things further. She curled her lips in a cold laugh and headed out.
Chai Meicen hesitated for a moment before quickly chasing after her.
Zhou Rui and the others had heard the commotion and rushed over, but it was the girls' bathroom so he didn't dare enter. He had Zhuo Wen Qian go help instead.
Seeing Zhao Bing Qing emerge, he immediately asked, "Looking to die?"
Zhao Bing Qing ignored Zhou Rui with a glare and intended to leave directly.
At this time Chai Meicen caught up and grabbed Zhao Bing Qing's wrist to stop her. Before Zhao Bing Qing could react, Chai Meicen slapped her fiercely.
"You're not qualified to hit him," Chai Meicen meant the slap Zhao Bing Qing had given Zhou Rui earlier. Zhou Rui couldn't hit a girl, but she could.
"You!" Zhao Bing Qing had never been hit before and was shocked.
"It won't be long before I prove all your words wrong with facts, and show you that you're the one who's unworthy," Chai Meicen enunciated before grabbing Zhou Rui's arm. "Let's go."
Zhou Rui stared blankly at Chai Meicen, making sure she was unharmed before asking Yang Ming, "Did you block it?"
"Blocked it tightly."
Zhou Rui was afraid of making a big scene that would get caught on the school cameras. So when he came over he had asked Yang Ming to block the cameras.
This was the experience of a troublemaker, to do things like this.
"Run, run!" Zhou Rui immediately pushed Chai Meicen to run back to the classroom, afraid a teacher would come.
After seeing them run off, Yang Ming also ran back to the classroom.
Li Xiaonan leaned on the railing watching Zhao Bing Qing, and suddenly said, "You sure have a loud voice."
"What do you mean?"
"What you just said could be heard loud and clear outside. You deserved that slap."
"......"
Li Xiaonan followed unhurriedly behind, indifferent to the changing expressions on Zhao Bing Qing's face.
She really had lost control earlier.
*
Chai Meicen had been quite dashing earlier, but upon entering the classroom she started bawling.
When she cried it was with abandon, wailing at the top of her lungs. It sounded like she was possessed.
Seeing Chai Meicen like this irritated Zhou Rui to no end. He thought of hundreds of ways to deal with Zhao Bing Qing.
But classes started soon, so Chai Meicen could only cry as discreetly as she could, head down on the desk sobbing for a whole period.
The strawberry milkshake remained untouched, melted into strawberry juice.
Zhou Rui sat right behind Chai Meicen, watching her cry the entire time. He felt awful.
Chai Meicen also felt terrible inside.
Anything to do with Zhou Rui were her sore spots, also her weaknesses.
She wanted to change Zhou Rui, otherwise she wouldn't have transferred here. But she truly didn't know where her confidence lay.
She didn't know if she could succeed.
After class ended, Zhuo Wen Qian came over to console her, "Don't cry anymore. Zhao Bing Qing is like that, she's spoiled. Good family background, doted on at school too. Flares up at the slightest grievance, that's why she has a bad reputation. If you're upset, I'll go over to the rocket class right now and beat her up for you."
"It's fine, crying is enough." Chai Meicen answered nasally.
Zhou Rui standing diagonally across from Chai Meicen said, "I'll go burn her schoolbag."
"Are you slapping my face right after I just spoke up for your good character?"
Zhou Rui felt so helpless. He was annoyed when he noticed someone lingering at the door. Surprised for a moment, he walked over.
The girl there was not tall, with a cute round face and fair skin. She looked quite adorable.
But her expression was not good, and her lips were bloodless.
Zhou Rui walked out and she softly asked, "Have I caused you more trouble again?"
"It's alright..." Zhou Rui was really not in a good mood at this time, and answered listlessly.
"I heard about what happened, was worried for a whole class, and still wanted to come see how you're doing."
"It's not your fault."
The girl's lips moved, but in the end she didn't say anything.
As she was leaving, she glanced back at Chai Meicen. Suddenly, she made direct eye contact with Chai Meicen.
She panicked immediately, and hurried away.