“Ye… yesterday’s incident…?”
Qin Haiyue frowned in displeasure.
“Don’t play dumb with me. Don’t tell me you forgot about yesterday when you hid behind Liu Yinuo.”
“What, the pain fades once the wound heals? Are you looking for another beating?”
Ye Xingmian’s body trembled. She looked down at the elbow pressed against her throat.
“So… sorry… can you… let me go?”
“Let you go? Why?”
“I’m… I’m scared.”
“Heh, now you’re scared? When you were hiding behind Liu Yinuo earlier, didn’t you think this day would come?”
Ye Xingmian was silent.
Qin Haiyue didn’t care and smiled casually.
“Do you know why I only came to find you today? You didn’t really think Liu Yinuo could protect you forever, did you? Let me tell you, if it weren’t for that annoying person always coming to my house, no one could have saved you.”
That annoying person?
Ye Xingmian was a bit bewildered, but from Qin Haiyue’s attitude, she felt the person in question wasn’t Liu Yinuo. Who could it be? Was it that girl named Luo Xi who helped her leave Qin Haiyue’s house before?
It seemed it could only be her, right?
So, Luo Xi had been going to Qin Haiyue’s house all this time, which was why Qin Haiyue hadn’t come looking for her lately?
Ye Xingmian hesitated for a moment.
“After school at noon, I’ll wait for you at the school gate. Don’t you dare not come. Don’t make me come drag you out myself.”
“Do what? Isn’t it obvious? Come to my house at noon today, I…”
“S-so… you want me to go to your house… to do what…”
Go to Qin Haiyue’s house?
Was she going to be locked up again? Beaten again?
Back when she endured it, she hadn’t felt much, but now thinking back, she was terrified.
If she had a choice, Ye Xingmian absolutely didn’t want to suffer that treatment again.
Locked in a pitch-black room, a chain around her neck like a dog, the only thing to look forward to was the meals Qin Haiyue brought back at night, and even then she had to bear the fear of being beaten.
That feeling was absolutely unbearable. It might even become the nightmare of her life.
Sometimes, even when she was just spacing out, fragments of her imprisonment would flash before her eyes, making her tremble all over.
She bit her lip and almost instinctively closed her eyes.
She knew Qin Haiyue was staring at her face, that her pained expression was fully on display.
But she also knew she didn’t want to go.
She didn’t want to go to Qin Haiyue’s house. She didn’t want to have anything to do with Qin Haiyue anymore.
That dark experience, that violent treatment.
No… not again…
But she couldn’t say that to Qin Haiyue.
She’d get beaten.
In fact, she couldn’t tell anyone.
The teachers wouldn’t help her.
She had tried to seek help before, but the result was always to smooth things over. No one was willing to offend a rich heiress with vast connections, let alone for someone like her—unpopular and poor in her studies.
“Think more about your own problems. Maybe it’s because your grades are bad and you don’t fit in?”
“Why does she only pick on you and not others?”
She had once tried to tell her former homeroom teacher, and that was the answer she got.
That cold, indifferent look, each rhetorical question stuck in her heart like a knife.
Back then, she really thought being bullied was her own fault, because she had no friends and bad grades.
After all, if that weren’t the case, why would she be the only one bullied and not others?
Later, she gradually realized there was something wrong with that reasoning, that it didn’t feel right.
But she never again considered telling the teachers.
As for… telling her parents…
Her foster parents wouldn’t care whether she was bullied or hurt on any given day.
They only cared if she could still do housework and move around normally. As long as she wasn’t bedridden and unable to move, her foster parents usually couldn’t be bothered.
After that, she slowly understood one thing.
No one—anyone—could be relied on.
Unless there was a special reason, no one would come to help her.
She could only rely on herself.
Run away or endure.
One day she’d break free. That was all she could hope for.
***
Until later, when she met Liu Yinuo, things finally turned a bit.
She didn’t know why Liu Yinuo was willing to help her. She didn’t understand.
But she knew Liu Yinuo was a good person.
Everyone was afraid of Qin Haiyue, even the teachers.
So even though she really liked Liu Yinuo and wanted to get close to her, a simple kindness gnawed at her heart.
She couldn’t drag her down.
Until now, that thought had slowly cracked.
The reason was simple.
The world’s malice was too deep, and she couldn’t bear it anymore.
She was weak, helpless, just a soft persimmon that anyone could squeeze however they wanted.
To survive, just relying on herself wasn’t enough.
She was so scared…
And Liu Yinuo wasn’t around. The only one who could help her was gone. Being scared was useless.
So, should she endure it?
But how could she endure that kind of treatment?
There was only one way…
“Hey, what are you spacing out for? Stop daydreaming. I’m talking to you!”
Qin Haiyue’s displeased voice rang out, and Ye Xingmian shuddered.
She bit her lip and spoke cautiously.
“Can you let me go?”
Qin Haiyue didn’t understand, but since she had achieved her goal, she stopped pressing her elbow against Ye Xingmian’s throat and let her go.
“Did you hear what I just said? If I don’t see you at noon…”
Before she could finish, she froze.
Because Ye Xingmian took the chance while she backed off and was speaking to turn and run.
She wasn’t as tall as Qin Haiyue, but her legs churned almost into blurs. Without looking back, she quickly vanished around the nearby corner.
Qin Haiyue snapped out of it and immediately tried to chase.
Normally, with her height and athletic ability, catching Ye Xingmian would be a piece of cake.
But after turning the corner, she didn’t see Ye Xingmian at all.
Only the faint scent of the girl’s body still lingering in the air confirmed that she had passed through here.
Qin Haiyue frowned unhappily and clicked her tongue.
She didn’t bother chasing. She’d just block the school gate at noon. There was no way she wouldn’t see her.
Shaking her head, she turned and left.
After Ye Xingmian was taken away by Qin Haiyue, Lin Ziyan stood there in a daze for a long time.
She didn’t look at her phone or find anything to pass the time.
A few classmates she knew came to hang out, but she turned them all down.
Her heart felt empty, as if a piece had been gouged out.
She couldn’t figure out her feelings. There was a bitter emotion, but she didn’t feel like crying. It wasn’t sadness.
Was it envy or jealousy?
She bit her lip and lowered her eyes.
From all over the playground came noisy sounds, a bit chaotic.
Maybe it should be called helplessness?
Why did she feel this way?
If it was only because she had failed to protect Ye Xingmian as promised, it shouldn’t be this strong, right?
She shook her head. She felt more and more like a stranger to herself.
Ever since the day she discovered her parents were committing financial fraud.
She turned and walked toward an abandoned school building.
Staying here alone didn’t look good. It made her seem like someone with no friends.