How I Accidentally Bent My Best Friend - Chapter 12

Chen Yushu stared at the barrage of messages from Wen Yan, her chest rising and falling noticeably. Though none of the words were outright malicious, she felt as if a venomous snake had locked onto her, sending chills down her spine.

So, there was a reason she disliked her not just because she was a rival in love.

Her grip on her phone tightened involuntarily, her mind blank with anger.

[I just want to talk to her for a minute. You’re the closest to her, it shouldn’t be hard for you to arrange a meeting, right?]

“Hah.” Chen Yushu couldn’t help but scoff. She typed back: [Go ahead and tell her, then. See if she’ll believe you. See if she’ll distance herself from me. After all, you know as well as I do that I’m nothing like you.]

[Oh, and given the current situation, I doubt you even have the chance to tell her.]

After sending the messages in one go, Chen Yushu swiftly blocked and deleted Wen Yan’s contact.

Silence returned. She set her phone down, breathing heavily, only then realizing her fingertips were trembling uncontrollably.

Despite her anger, she had to admit deep down, she was afraid. Afraid that Lu Wei would find out. Afraid of the look in Lu Wei’s eyes if she did. Afraid of the coldness, the distance, even the possibility of being cut off entirely.

She thought, maybe she shouldn’t like Lu Wei anymore.

Perhaps it was better to just stay friends. That was the safest, most stable relationship for them.

After two days of rest, Chen Yushu rejoined the training squad.

Seeing Lu Wei again, she realized her feelings had shifted without her noticing. She could only try her best to treat her like any other friend.

Though occasionally, Lu Wei’s sudden closeness would still leave her flustered.

But she’d get used to it eventually.

“Today, we’ll learn something new. First two rows, squat down. I’ll demonstrate first.”

Standing in the third row, Chen Yushu had a clear view, her gaze drifting unconsciously toward Lu Wei’s formation.

Lu Wei’s instructor was a middle-aged man tall, burly, with a face full of hardened features that made him look intimidating.

At the moment, they were practicing marching in formation, row by row, with the male instructor barking commands.

Soon, it was Lu Wei’s row’s turn. Without her glasses, Chen Yushu could only see the sway of Lu Wei’s blue-gray ponytail.

Then, for some reason, the entire row was ordered to halt.

“Second from the right step forward!”

“Yes, sir.” A flicker of confusion crossed Lu Wei’s eyes, she hadn’t made any mistakes but she obeyed immediately and stepped out of formation.

The instructor loomed over her. “What’s that around your neck?”

Lu Wei’s heart skipped a beat, her hand instinctively reaching for the thin cord around her neck.

“Did I say you could move?” The instructor’s voice boomed, sharp and loud.

The shout made Lu Wei’s ears ring. She frowned. “No, sir.”

The instructor continued, voice raised. “Did I not say no necklaces during training?”

“Sir, this isn’t a necklace, it’s a luck bead!” Lu Wei lifted her head, meeting his gaze directly.

The instructor’s temper flared. “Take it off!”

Lu Wei stared back silently, unmoving.

“Take it off!” The instructor’s voice rose another notch, his authority feeling challenged.

“I didn’t break any rules!” Lu Wei shot back, undeterred. She repeated firmly, “This is a luck bead, not a necklace.”

The atmosphere took a sharp turn for the worse. The male instructor’s face twisted into a vicious snarl as he pointed at her and barked, “Who gave you the right to talk back? No discipline at all! A hundred squats, don’t even think about standing up until you finish!”

The commotion quickly drew attention from all directions, with everyone pricking up their ears to eavesdrop curiously.

The instructor stood in front of Lu Wei and snapped, “Count them out loud louder!”

Lu Wei bit her lip, swallowing her anger, then raised her voice. “One, two, three.”

The instructor glared at her for a moment, his fury still unspent. He paced halfway around the formation, his gaze darkening as it swept over a few students with dyed hair and tattoos.

“Did I say you could move? You art students, always taking shortcuts for the college entrance exam, and on top of that, you’re all a bunch of misfits. Tattoos, dyed hair, piercings everywhere, your personal lives must be a mess. Do any of you even look like students?”

“And now you dare talk back to your superiors? What other class acts like this? You’re nothing but failures in school, and you’ll be good for nothings in society too!”

His words didn’t just ignite Lu Wei’s anger, every art student in the formation clenched their teeth, glaring at him with barely contained fury, whether openly or in secret.

But the instructor only grew more intoxicated with his own authority, reveling in the power trip.

“Can’t even study properly, can’t handle a little hardship, what the hell are you even good for? Do you have no shame toward your parents?”

“The girls dress like sluts, the boys like thugs. You’re all”

Lu Wei’s temper flared. Wiping sweat from her forehead, she finally snapped, “Shortcuts? If it’s so easy, why don’t you try it?”

“Oh, you studied so hard, yet here you are, just a drill instructor playing tyrant. Must be real satisfying, taking out your frustrations on us, huh?”

Caught off guard, the instructor froze for a couple of seconds before his face flushed crimson with rage. But before he could retort, Lu Wei pressed on, her words sharp and rapid, leaving him no time to think.

“You want to control everything, even how people dress and look? If you love bossing people around so much, why not run for office?”

The crowd erupted in cheers, their collective anger boiling over.

“You all of you!” The instructor’s eyes bulged with fury, his face contorted. “This is mutiny!”

“You’re nothing! We’ve had enough of your crap!”

“What do you mean I don’t look ‘proper’? If your mind’s filthy, everything looks dirty to you!”

“Always dragging parents into this, do yours know you’re making a fool of yourself here?”

“I earned my place here fair and square. If you’re so bitter, why don’t you go be the damn education minister?”

The situation spiraled out of control. Humiliated and desperate to regain authority, the instructor bellowed, but his voice was drowned out by the uproar.

The chaos drew stares from other formations, and nearby instructors rushed over to mediate.

The entire field instantly turned into a spectacle, buzzing with chatter.

As tensions escalated, higher-ups took notice. Several administrators hurried over to assess the situation.

The male instructor was pulled aside, while the lead administrator stepped forward to placate the students. “Everyone, I know military training is exhausting, and emotions are running high.”

But his words skirted the real issue would this just be swept under the rug?

Lu Wei sneered inwardly and raised her voice, “Tired or not, we didn’t run away or slack off. We followed the rules and obeyed discipline. Why should we put up with his insults and slander? Not just today he’s been mocking and belittling us all along. We’ve endured enough!”

Immediately, her classmates echoed their support from behind.

“Well said!”

“Right, we won’t accept his insults and slander!”

Lu Wei: “He owes us an apology! An apology!”

“Exactly, an apology!”

“Apologize, or we’ll file a joint complaint against him!”

Seeing the situation spiraling out of control, the school officials quickly conferred and decided to suspend the day’s military training.

After the announcement to disband, the students showed no intention of leaving. Instead, they instinctively formed a circle on the field, murmuring in low voices as they discussed the matter.

Chen Yushu was pushed to the back and had to stand on her tiptoes to catch a glimpse of Lu Wei.

“Everyone, hurry back! Why are you still crowding here?”

The instructors tried to herd them away like ducks, but their efforts were in vain.

It wasn’t until the head instructor intervened, “Anyone still here gets two extra hours of training!”

The threat worked instantly. Under the instructors’ directions, the crowd dispersed in an orderly fashion.

Still uneasy, Chen Yushu kept scanning the crowd for Lu Wei’s gray-blue figure, but the flow of people pushed her forward, forcing her to glance back every few steps.

Finally out of the field, she found herself in a more open area. Pulling out her phone to message Lu Wei, she saw that Lu Wei had already texted her minutes earlier, telling her not to worry and to go ahead.

But how could she not worry?

Chen Yushu turned back, typing as she walked:

[What happened? Are you okay?]

[I’ll explain later.]

Hurrying back to the field’s entrance, Chen Yushu stopped under a large tree, leaning against the trunk to catch her breath.

The vast field now held only one remaining squad. Lu Wei stood quietly at the front, head slightly raised, her expression resolute and unyielding.

Behind her, the students continued voicing their grievances.

“Alright, alright, students, we understand the situation. Please calm down. We’ll handle this matter properly!”

By now, Lu Wei had regained her composure. She raised a hand, silencing the group behind her, then addressed the school officials, “First, he must apologize to us. Second, we demand a new instructor. We refuse to accept someone so narrow-minded leading us.”

“We refuse!”

“We won’t accept it!”

Seeing this, one of the officials pulled Lu Wei aside and said, “Rest assured, if the investigation confirms the situation, we will ensure justice is served. There will be no leniency.”

Lu Wei replied, “Teacher, our entire class of over thirty people isn’t that enough testimony?”

“Alright, alright. For now, take your classmates back. We’ll notify everyone as soon as we have a resolution. How does that sound?”

Lu Wei frowned. “It’s fine, teacher. Take your time. We’ll wait right here.”

Nearby, another official was speaking to the male instructor, whose face cycled between pale and flushed.

Returning to the squad, Lu Wei briefly relayed the conversation before sitting cross-legged on the ground. The others followed suit.

“That’s right, we’ll wait here. I’d rather skip meals and sleep today than let that bastard get away without apologizing!”

“Did he really think we’d just take it?”

“Damn it, the more I think about it, the angrier I get. Do they really think art students have it easy? We paint until two or three in the morning every day, and yet he just dismisses all our efforts with a few words. I ” The speaker choked up, unable to hold back quiet sobs.

“Who hasn’t been through this? Crying over something so small, what’s the point? Damn it, I can’t hold it in either. Don’t look at me!”

“Ha ha ha ha”

In an instant, the entire class was a mix of tears and laughter, wild and unrestrained, like a scene of madness.

But this, too, was part of youth striving not to be overlooked, fighting not to be misunderstood.

Prejudice already existed; they couldn’t just turn a blind eye or pretend not to hear.

Time passed, the sky darkened, and the streetlights around the field gradually flickered on. Students who had finished dinner began gathering nearby.

The school administrators, initially calm and composed, grew increasingly restless.

Just then, a woman in military uniform, her hair half-gray, arrived. After exchanging a few words with the male instructor, who saluted before striding toward them, the group immediately perked up, scrambling to their feet.

Though barely in their teens, standing together in unison, their presence was impossible to ignore.