After the Fake Heiress Died, She Was Filled with Regret - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Tang Yin Must Hate Her

After dinner, everyone wasn’t ready to call it a night, so they decided to grab milk tea and discuss whether to go for an escape room challenge.

“The new escape room on the pedestrian street has a great price on Meituan!” Weiba exclaimed, looking at her phone.

“We can, but… Shinan, can you handle it? There are horror themes!” Duan Xiaofei looked up and asked.

Xia Shinan immediately nodded: “Of course, no problem.”

She had never played escape rooms or similar activities, so it was a good time to try.

“What about Tang Yin?” Weiba asked excitedly: “If Tang Yin comes too, we can go for the pure horror one!”

Tang Yin paused, “I can’t.”

Everyone looked at her, curious why she couldn’t.

Tang Yin forced a slight smile, “I’m sorry, I’m actually very afraid of ghosts. I wouldn’t dare to play an escape room.”

“Ah… that’s too bad,” Weiba sighed, “Then it will just have to be the rest of us.”

Xia Shinan glanced at Tang Yin with her peripheral vision. She wasn’t sure if she was seeing things, but she thought she saw a hint of bitterness in Tang Yin’s smile.

“Xia Shinan!”

A sharp, ear-piercing female voice rang out, startling everyone. Xia Shinan looked towards the voice and saw it was Miao Miao.

Miao Miao practically ran up to her, gripping her hand tightly while everyone was caught off guard.

“Shinan, can you please be kind and let me off the hook!”

This statement made Xia Shinan freeze. She glanced at everyone, who seemed to be looking at her with surprised expressions.

“Hey! What nonsense are you talking about? What ‘let you off the hook’? Don’t you know what you’ve done? Are you trying to act like the victim first?” Qian Yu pulled Xia Shinan behind her, defending her friend.

“I’m not… Shinan, my family’s financial situation isn’t good. I couldn’t refuse when Qu Bo asked for my help.” Miao Miao’s eyes were red. “I know it was wrong, but you didn’t really suffer any harm, did you?”

“If you liked Qu Bo, I’d even be considered a matchmaker! Even if it didn’t work out, you haven’t lost a thing!” Miao Miao grew angrier as she spoke, “How could you let my parents lose their jobs? What am I supposed to do for school now? What am I going to do in the future?”

Xia Shinan looked at the agitated Miao Miao, trying to grab her hand, “Please calm down. Can we go over to a quieter place to talk?”

Miao Miao shook off her hand, “Why should we go to a quieter place to talk? Are you guilty? I want to say it in front of your friends so they all know your true colors! This kind, rich girl persona you put on is fake!”

Tang Yin raised an eyebrow from the side. That last sentence wasn’t false.

She just hadn’t expected Xia Shinan to cause Miao Miao’s parents to lose their jobs… No, Xia Shinan probably couldn’t do that, but her parents could.

Xia Shinan felt helpless. She actually didn’t agree with what her mother had done, but outside the family, what difference was there between what her mother did and what she did in the eyes of outsiders?

“Miao Miao, I can’t decide this matter. But… I did plan to give you some compensation,” Xia Shinan said, clenching her hands. “If your parents are willing, I can help introduce them to a job…”

“I don’t need it!” Miao Miao refused without listening to the end. She hesitated for a few seconds, and her next sentence shocked everyone: “One million! You have to compensate me one million, or I’ll post everything your family has done online. I’ll ruin your reputation!”

Qian Yu was stunned, “Do you even know how much one million is that you’re naming a price!”

“What’s wrong? Are you mocking me for being poor? Yes, I’ve never even seen ten thousand!” Miao Miao smirked, “But I know that one million is nothing to Xia Shinan, isn’t it? Her family is so rich, what’s a million?”

Xia Shinan quietly watched Miao Miao’s tantrum, her expression bitter and mean. She couldn’t reconcile the person in front of her with the sweet and lovely Miao Miao she first met in freshman year.

She spoke softly, “Miao Miao, just because I’m rich and easy to talk to, does that mean I deserve to be treated like an idiot?”

Miao Miao was taken aback, “What do you mean?”

Xia Shinan lifted her gaze, “I treated you like a friend, but you treated me like an ATM. Did you consider the consequences when you tried to swindle me? In your heart, our friendship was only worth twenty thousand!”

“My personality may be soft, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to be bullied by you like this.” She paused, then continued: “You want to post my business online or tell everyone, then go ahead, but you’ll bear the consequences! But don’t expect one million. I won’t give you even ten thousand.”

Xia Shinan pulled Qian Yu, “Let’s go. We’re going back.”

She was no longer in the mood for an escape room. She looked at Duan Xiaofei and Weiba apologetically: “I’m sorry, everyone. Let’s play together next time. I’m heading back first.”

“I’ll go with you too.” Tang Yin glanced at the disheartened Xia Shinan and immediately said.

Miao Miao couldn’t believe she hadn’t gained anything and shouted angrily: “I can post anything? I even have photos of you in the dorm, photos of you changing clothes! You don’t care about that either?”

Tang Yin frowned, pursed her lips, reached out, and grabbed the front of Miao Miao’s shirt, her eyes slightly narrowed, “What did you say?”

“I…” Miao Miao was scared, stammering, “This is between me and Xia Shinan. It’s none of your business!”

“Tang Yin, don’t hit her!” Xia Shinan quickly pulled Tang Yin’s hand, making her release Miao Miao, and then said coldly: “If you really have those photos, I advise you to delete them immediately. Otherwise, tomorrow, my lawyer will contact you.”

Lawyer…

Miao Miao panicked, remembering her parents’ scolding and hitting her at home: “Can you afford to mess with the Xia family? Behave yourself from now on!”

“I was just talking nonsense… I don’t have the photos…” Miao Miao said with a trembling voice.

Tang Yin still didn’t let go, and was about to say something more when Xia Shinan pulled her away.

The weather was getting warmer, and the days were getting longer. Even at almost eight o’clock in the evening, there was still daylight.

The three walked to a shaded area on campus and sat down. Xia Shinan was silent, clearly in a very bad mood. Qian Yu was extremely worried, rambling about how excessive Miao Miao was, and that the kind are truly easily bullied.

Xia Shinan couldn’t help but say when she heard this, “But her parents did lose their jobs because of me.”

“But you already offered compensation, suggesting her parents work at my family’s company! She’s the one who refused!” Qian Yu said indignantly. She looked up at Tang Yin, winking to signal her to quickly offer some comfort too.

Tang Yin stood leaning against a nearby tree trunk, her hands in her pockets, and said lightly: “I have nothing to say. As an outsider, it seems that that female student’s family is also innocent, aren’t they?”

Xia Shinan looked up at Tang Yin, remaining silent.

Qian Yu’s eyes widened, “Why are you taking that person’s side?”

Tang Yin forced a smile, “Perhaps because I’m also an ordinary person. So I understand how important a job is to an ordinary person.”

Qian Yu opened her mouth, “But Shinan didn’t do it! It was all her mother’s fault…”

Tang Yin didn’t reply. Instead, she tilted her head to look at Xia Shinan, “By the way, that boy who confessed suddenly withdrew from school and said he was going abroad. It doesn’t seem like it was because he was embarrassed and didn’t want to stay at University A anymore?”

Xia Shinan sat, twisting her fingers. She couldn’t say a single word to Tang Yin’s sudden remark, only nodding.

Tang Yin pursed her lips and nodded, “It seems being rich really lets you do whatever you want…”

“Hey! What’s wrong with you?” Qian Yu stood up anxiously. “You were just defending Shinan so much. Why are you saying such awful things now?”

“Are they awful?” Tang Yin looked at them, “Compared to what her mother did, what are these words? No, a mother did all this to protect her daughter. I should be praising her.”

“Ah, what great maternal love,” Tang Yin said with a bitter smile, then turned and walked away.

“What’s wrong with her?” Qian Yu was stunned. She looked at Xia Shinan, unable to figure out a reason. “I… I must investigate her properly! What if she’s secretly colluding with Miao Miao…”

Xia Shinan watched Tang Yin’s receding back, her nose suddenly stinging, “No need, Xiao Yumao. What Tang Yin said… is right.”

She was useless. She couldn’t handle her relationships herself, and then her mother stepped in to solve the problem, which ended up causing so much harm to everyone.

“Xiao Yumao, if I wasn’t from the Xia family, would everything be different?”

Qian Yu held her friend’s hand, “If you weren’t from the Xia family, you could only be angry in silence when encountering something like this, and there would be nothing you could do about being taken advantage of. Shinan, you didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t think so badly of yourself.”

Xia Shinan bit her lip, but her mind was filled with Tang Yin’s soft smile.

Tang Yin must hate her.

Cherry Blossom Garden (Yinghua Yuan) was the girls’ dormitory area. A cluster of cherry trees was planted behind the buildings. The season for blossoms had just passed, and now the branches only had scattered green leaves, looking desolate late at night.

There were very few students outside at this time, only a few reluctant couples still holding hands and strolling along the road.

Miao Miao was sitting on a stone stool under a tree, making a phone call. From a distance, it was hard to hear what she was saying, but her expression was distressed, looking as if she wanted to tear the other person apart.

“It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t confessed, would my parents have lost their jobs? They’re all blaming me. I don’t even have living expenses now. You have to compensate me!”

“You just packed up and went abroad. What about me! Qu Bo, go to hell!”

After venting, she realized the other person had already hung up. Miao Miao buried her head and cried bitterly, clutching her phone. She cried so hard she didn’t realize someone was standing in front of her until she looked up.

Miao Miao suddenly raised her head, startled by the gloomy-looking girl standing before her.

“You… you’re that friend of Xia Shinan’s!” Miao Miao’s heart immediately tightened after saying that.

Why was she here? And why was she looking at her with that expression?

Could it be that she was here to help Xia Shinan take revenge? Thinking this, Miao Miao tried to get up and run, but Tang Yin firmly pressed her down with one hand.

Tang Yin’s strength was surprisingly great. Miao Miao couldn’t move at all.

“What are you doing? Let go of me!” Miao Miao was so scared that tears streamed down her face.

Tang Yin looked at Miao Miao and suddenly sneered: “With this kind of courage, how do you expect to achieve anything?”

“What exactly do you want to do!”

Tang Yin released her, wiping her hand as if it were dirty, “Nothing. I’m here to ask you for something.”

“What thing?” Miao Miao’s voice trembled as she spoke. She had nothing left.

“The photos,” Tang Yin said.

Photos?

Miao Miao immediately shook her head: “I don’t have them! I didn’t take any photos of her changing clothes! I just said that to trick her out of desperation!”

Tang Yin smiled, gently leaning down to look at Miao Miao, “Do you know? Usually, when people lie, their eyes can’t hide it. If you don’t hand over the photos now, even if you want to give them later, it might be too late.”

“I don’t have them…” Miao Miao continued to insist, but her body couldn’t stop trembling.

Tang Yin couldn’t be bothered to waste any more words with her. She reached out and gripped Miao Miao’s chin tightly, as if she were about to crush it: “Hand over everything, or you can forget about studying at University A.”

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