Ten-Year Loyal Dog’s Road to Chasing Her Wife (GL) - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

People often fear girls crying because when they do, it possesses a power like mountains crumbling and rocks splitting. In such circumstances, people almost instinctively lean toward the weeping girl and blame the other person, simply because they want the girl to stop crying.

The several people nearby were no exception. Almost instantly, they cast reproachful glances toward Qiao Wan, especially Xia Hanyin’s good friend, Qi Jun: “Qiao Wan, don’t think you can do whatever you want just because you’re good-looking! So what if she was late a few times? It’s not like she did it on purpose. Besides, even the head teacher hasn’t said anything; why are you butting in?”

Qi Jun was standing up for Xia Hanyin against the perceived injustice. Originally, Qiao Wan hadn’t felt anything was amiss . Isn’t that how girls’ friendships work? If one is attacked, the best friend has to stand up and speak for them, otherwise, it’s just a “plastic sisterhood.” But when Qi Jun used Qiao Wan’s face as an argument, claiming she was doing whatever she wanted because she was pretty, Qiao Wan could no longer tolerate it: “Which word I said just now mentioned that I was relying on being good-looking to do whatever I wanted?”

“You are doing it right now!” Perhaps stimulated by Xia Hanyin’s crying, Qi Jun was like a mad dog catching onto Qiao Wan and biting directly, speaking without thinking: “No one else said a thing, but you jumped out to yap. Isn’t it just because you’re pretty? Isn’t it just because you aren’t late? Isn’t it just because you tested while Hanyin bought her way in? So what? Is this your capital for being proud?”

“Alright, Qi Jun, I think Qiao Wan probably didn’t say it on purpose, she probably…” Xia Hanyin sniffled and tugged at Qi Jun’s sleeve, saying, “Probably, she truly just doesn’t like me much.” Recalling her interactions with Qiao Wan over the past few days, Xia Hanyin realized there was no interaction to speak of; basically, they just greeted each other when they met, and even those greetings were initiated by Xia Hanyin. When they met, the expression on Qiao Wan’s face was nothing but coldness; it was obvious she didn’t like her much.

Hearing Xia Hanyin say this, Qiao Wan didn’t defend herself; she just let out a cold snort. Who do you think you are, that I have to be overflowing with enthusiasm when I see you?

On the contrary, Qiao Mo, who had been watching the scene from the sidelines, frowned upon hearing this. Xia Hanyin currently held the upper hand in public opinion; the classmates were already leaning toward her, feeling she was being bullied by Qiao Wan. Xia Hanyin now acting like a victim who “understood” Qiao Wan, while saying Qiao Wan didn’t like her, was simply adding fuel to the fire. One wondered if it was intentional. If it was purposeful, then this chubby, silly-looking girl had quite a heavy scheme.

However, the matter essentially had nothing to do with Qiao Mo, so she couldn’t easily intervene. Before Qiao Mo could speak, the female monitor Gongxi Bitong could no longer stand it. She frowned and said: “Have you had enough? You’re not ashamed to start a fight over something like this? Also, Qi Jun, Xia Hanyin on the issue of being late, I stand with Qiao Wan. As a student, you come to school to learn; if you want to sleep, just don’t come. Do you think you’re so impressive, forcing the whole class to change the rules for you?”

“I didn’t!” Xia Hanyin shouted, the corners of her eyes reddening as tears looked ready to fall again. Qi Jun felt terribly distressed for her and was about to argue back, but as soon as she saw Gongxi Bitong’s stern expression, she chickened out. Gongxi Bitong wasn’t Qiao Wan; Qiao Wan held no position, so bullying her was fine, but Gongxi Bitong was fierce enough and was one of the monitors. Even if Qi Jun became a subject representative, she couldn’t do anything to her.

She could only temporarily suppress this resentment and keep a low profile: “Monitor, anyway, the matter is in the past. Her home and mine are quite close; if you’re worried about Xia Hanyin being late, I’ll go to school with her starting tomorrow. I guarantee she won’t be late starting tomorrow.”

Gongxi Bitong frowned. “Xia Hanyin, although this matter is over, I still have to tell you: because you’ve been late too many times this week, our class doesn’t have many points left for this month. Forget about competing for a ‘Double-Excellent Class’ title it’ll be a good thing if we aren’t pulled out individually by the principal to be named and shamed. Do you still feel especially aggrieved?”

Gongxi Bitong looked fierce, and even more so when she was scolding someone with a stiff face. Being stared at by her, Xia Hanyin didn’t dare let out a peep, only saying in a small voice: “I don’t…” She was completely devoid of the hysteria she showed after being said to by Qiao Wan.

In her heart, she likely felt that Qiao Wan looked quiet and cold, the type who would fear hysterical and pestering people. To put it bluntly, she felt Qiao Wan was easy to bully. Most people in the class felt Qiao Wan was too beautiful and hard to approach; plus, Qiao Wan didn’t like contact with others and even less liked to speak first. Thus, some people felt Qiao Wan was beautiful and from a good family, so she must be very arrogant.

Once someone like that provides a spark to trigger the “eating-melon” crowd’s memory of her original personality, it’s very easy for her to be targeted.

But the female monitor had a strong personality and high prestige in the class. Even if she made a scene, the whole class would stand by the monitor; making a scene would only be counterproductive. Xia Hanyin was often scolded at home for her poor grades, so she had naturally learned how to read people’s expressions and win their sympathy. After analyzing the pros and cons, she decided to back down. “I’ll definitely come earlier tomorrow.”

At this time, Yuan Tianci came out as the other monitor to smooth things over: “Alright, it’s such a small matter. If we can’t be rated as a ‘Double-Excellent Pace-setting Class’ this month, we’ll keep working hard next month. We have so much time anyway, there’s no rush. Who hasn’t made a mistake? If you make one, just correct it. I believe the teacher giving us one chance for an unrecorded lateness is so that we can correct ourselves quickly when we err… Everyone sits down, class is about to start.”

He was naturally a gentle, sunny boy and handsome; saying words like these made him sound like one’s own older brother, specifically the “sister-con” type who dotes on his juniors. To the majority of only children in the class, this was simply a godsend.

Even Qiao Wan looked at him a few more times. When she turned her face, she found Qiao Mo sitting beside her staring back at her quite seriously. Qiao Wan couldn’t help but blush: “The monitor’s voice is actually quite nice.”

Qiao Mo simply laughed it off. If you truly had no thoughts, why fear my gaze? “I didn’t ask you.”

“I feel like explaining, is it any of your business?” Qiao Wan had always been stubborn, speaking with a stiffened neck. In the next moment, she saw Qiao Mo give her a deep look and say with a half-smile: “None of my business. I’m even a bit happy.”

As for what she was happy about, Qiao Mo didn’t say, and Qiao Wan didn’t want to dig deeper. Anyway, this incident was just an exception; she likely wouldn’t explain things to Qiao Mo in the future. The more Qiao Wan thought back, the stranger it felt. Why had she just thought of explaining to Qiao Mo why she was looking in Yuan Tianci’s direction, like a father being cautious in front of a mother?

Perhaps it was because Qiao Mo was her desk mate.

Although she was quite ugly, when she leaned her chin on her hand with a slight smile and looked up at Qiao Wan, Qiao Wan always felt that Qiao Mo should have originally been a very beautiful person.

Like a pink lotus swaying in a cool breeze, even the foulest mud could not cover the peerless elegance of her being.

Qiao Wan herself couldn’t explain why she felt this way. Clearly, she was the only one with this feeling; if she were to say “I think Qiao Mo’s temperament is very much like a lotus,” half the class would probably laugh their front teeth off.

What an absurd thought, Qiao Wan thought silently. She was so deep in thought that she didn’t notice the searching gaze from An Xiaolei in the first group. Qi Jun was Xia Hanyin’s friend, and so was An Xiaolei; furthermore, her impulsive personality was even worse than Qi Jun’s. It was already quite a feat that she had managed to stay silent just now.

For a person like An Xiaolei, the concept of “overnight grudges” didn’t exist in her dictionary because she usually got even on the spot.

Just because the situation didn’t allow her to stand up then didn’t mean An Xiaolei would let Qiao Wan get away with it. An Xiaolei always directly confronted anyone who made Xia Hanyin unhappy, let alone Qiao Wan directly driving Xia Hanyin to tears. Recalling the scene just now, An Xiaolei felt an itch in her back teeth and couldn’t help but grind them.

There would be a way to make her uncomfortable.

An Xiaolei’s desk mate didn’t understand what was wrong with this “delinquent” again, but survival instinct made her move her chair further away from An Xiaolei. What kind of madness possessed the teacher to arrange seats alphabetically? Now look at this, a delinquent like An Xiaolei was sitting right next to her.

Her movement was quickly noticed by An Xiaolei: “Why are you sitting so far away? Am I going to eat you? Rest assured, even delinquents have dignity; I don’t eat ‘top students’ like you whose meat looks like it would be tough and dry and doesn’t taste good.”

“Psychopath!” Her desk mate gave her a cold, sideways glare and picked up her book again. “Tough and dry meat” referred to parched, stringy meat; as a favored child of heaven since childhood, Ao Manshan naturally hoped that even if she were a piece of meat, she would be the one with the best quality. When Ao Manshan realized exactly what point she was angry about, her whole face went paralyzed: What on earth? The piece of meat with the best quality?

Could I be an idiot?

Looking at her expression, An Xiaolei knew Ao Manshan had suddenly realized something. She tilted her head and smiled at her: “Yo, looks like our top student hasn’t gone completely stupid. The piece of meat with the best quality.” Her expression was fine during the first sentence, but by the second sentence, that mocking look couldn’t be hidden. In Ao Manshan’s eyes, this delinquent was ridiculing her.

“I never said that, don’t be so full of yourself.” So Manshan composed her expression and propped her book up. “Shut up, I need to study.”

This was clearly a sign of “closing the door to guests.”

Xiaolei, who felt that life only had a purpose when teasing this rigid desk mate daily, felt the world suddenly turn dark. “What’s the point of studying? Isn’t studying every day tiring? Class is over, just play for a bit. If you’re unhappy about me joking with you, I’ll stop, alright?”

“What’s there to play with?”

Ao Manshan didn’t spare her a glance, looking straight ahead. “I have to study. I want to go back to a top-tier class.”

“What’s so good about top-tier classes…” Xiaolei said in a low voice, then turned to look toward Qiao Wan again. “By the way, there’s someone in our class just like you, who fell among us common folk because of a school error. Guess who?”

Ao Manshan followed her gaze, which landed on the desk of the “Two Qiaos.” After pondering for a moment, she said hesitantly: “Qiao Wan?”

“Her desk mate, Qiao Mo. I saw the scores. She should have firmly entered a top-tier class, but for some reason, she was assigned to our Class 11.”