To Get Married - Chapter 26.2

Chapter 26.2

However, the brave soul spoke anonymously.

About ten seconds later, the class group chat owner, who had a good relationship with Gao Yangbo, silently set the chat to disallow anonymous messages.

But it was too late. The identity of the person who had posted the highly sarcastic comment was now impossible to trace.

Gao Yangbo and those few boys continued to brag in the chat, saying they were simply too lazy to stoop to a little girl’s level.

In the classroom, Ban Xiangming hesitated for a long time. Finally, before Lu Yudong and Zhang Ziyun were about to head to the canteen, he walked up to them, bowed his head, and whispered: “Classmates, those things they said in the daytime… none of them were said by me. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t mention you…”

Lu Yudong understood that he meant to say that Gao Yangbo and the others targeting her had nothing to do with him.

She shook her head: “It’s okay. It’s nothing.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Sorry for what? Those idiots have had it out for Lu Yudong for a while. Even if they hadn’t used you as an excuse today, they’d find another reason to bully her later,” Zhang Ziyun said, putting her arm around Lu Yudong’s shoulder. “I was right before, wasn’t I? The more you stay silent, the more people will bully you. Only when you’re not afraid of them will they learn to respect you. Look how afraid of you they are now!”

“Yes,” Lu Yudong smiled and nodded.

Ban Xiangming didn’t say anything more, only turned and ran away.

Perhaps he would still fetch water for others tonight, fold military blankets, and clean the room for his roommates tomorrow morning. At noon and in the afternoon, he would still have to help bring food.

Not everyone dares to fight back against those who verbally or physically abuse them, because when a person is incapable of protecting themselves, resistance might only provoke more severe oppression.

Lu Yudong understood that if it were three years ago, she certainly wouldn’t have had the courage to do this.

“They’re our classmates. Maybe we should help him?” Zhang Ziyun said.

“How to help?” Lu Yudong was intrigued.

Zhang Ziyun smiled: “It’s simple. Now that those guys are your grandsons, isn’t stopping them from bullying someone just a matter of your word?”

“Really?” Lu Yudong was a little skeptical.

“Why don’t we try it? Maybe just your word can save him a lot of bullying?”

Lu Yudong pondered for a moment and nodded.

During the lunch break, Zhang Ziyun added Lu Yudong to the class group chat.

Lu Yudong said only one thing after joining the group: “I hope I won’t see certain people bullying other classmates in the future.”

Her tone was serious and she didn’t use any emojis. Those who knew thought someone was speaking up for a bullied classmate; those who didn’t might have thought the homeroom teacher had infiltrated the group.

Just half an hour ago, Gao Yangbo and his cronies were still showing off in the group, saying they were giving Lu Yudong a pass and wouldn’t bother with a little girl.

Now, half an hour later, Lu Yudong suddenly stormed into the group and started warning them.

This time, the boys completely lost face. They immediately started cursing in the group, saying the most offensive things, the summary of which was: “Who are you to say that?”

Yet, in private, they were all sending private messages to Lu Yudong, frantically apologizing and promising never to offend her again.

After all, none of them had a gangster uncle, nor the skill to break a pen with four fingers. It was best to save some face, and when it was time to bow their heads, they did.

Lu Yudong didn’t want to push these guys too far, so she didn’t expose them in the group and quietly lay down.

Wang Yan, who was about to take a nap, saw the barrage of messages in the group and thought Lu Yudong had caused big trouble. She couldn’t help but look up at the bed diagonally across from hers and feigned concern: “Lu Yudong, isn’t it better to stay out of this kind of thing?”

Wu An’an also said: “Yes, you shouldn’t get involved in those boys’ business. It would be bad if they held a grudge against you.”

“Exactly! You’re not the class monitor or the discipline committee member. Why are you trying to assert your authority in the group?” Zhao Wen said.

Lu Yudong found this a bit amusing.

It was true that she was usually frugal and reluctant to spend the money Manzhu gave her. She had saved about 1,300 yuan since school started, always thinking that once she saved enough, she would buy Manzhu a new phone.

After all, she knew that Manzhu was especially generous with money for her but didn’t like to spend it on herself.

She had no defense for being mocked for this and didn’t want to explain.

But how did her habit of meditating at night become a joke for others? Wasn’t it because someone was talking about her little quirk and using it as a topic of conversation with those boys outside?

When the dorms were initially assigned, Grade 1, Class 5 had five girls’ dorms, four on the third floor and one on the fifth. Lu Yudong and Zhang Ziyun were assigned to the less-chosen 523 because they arrived late and wanted to stay together.

Due to the floor level, almost no classmates from their class came to visit this dorm. Only the people in the dorm knew about her nightly routine.

Some people insisted on taking this small, harmless habit outside, labeling her as a “weirdo.” Why were they now pretending to know nothing and advising her to be generous?

Lu Yudong didn’t want to call them out, but she forgot she had a hot-tempered person in the lower bunk.

Zhang Ziyun was scrolling through Weibo on her phone and casually said: “Someone should stop pretending. It makes me feel like the atmosphere in here is so passive-aggressive.”

“What do you mean? Who is being passive-aggressive?” Wu An’an asked.

“Don’t take it personally. I’m just saying, usually, no one visits our dorm, and Yudong just likes to sit and space out before bed. How did it spread outside and become a ‘weird habit’ and she got labeled a ‘weirdo’?” Zhang Ziyun said.

“Who are you suspecting?” Zhao Wen couldn’t lie down anymore and immediately sat up.

“I suspect whoever reacts the strongest. If you didn’t do it, please calm down, so I don’t accidentally hurt your feelings,” Zhang Ziyun didn’t even bother to turn over and continued scrolling through her Weibo.

“Zhang Ziyun, we’re all in the same dorm. Don’t say such unpleasant things,” Wu An’an said, displeased.

“You’re right.” Zhang Ziyun seriously considered it and reflected: “Surface peace must be maintained in the dorm. Unpleasant words should be said outside, like telling some boys in class who already don’t like Lu Yudong very much.”

Wang Yan let out an annoyed “humph”: “So what if we said it? She just likes to sit and stare into space every night. We don’t think much of it. Why is it being treated as something shameful that should be kept secret?”

Zhang Ziyun was about to lose her temper when she heard Lu Yudong from the top bunk let out a soft laugh.

“It doesn’t bother me. You can say whatever you want,” she truly didn’t care about these things.

Seeing that Lu Yudong didn’t want to continue the argument, Zhang Ziyun turned over to face the wall and remained silent.

The three roommates explained one after another, saying they hoped Lu Yudong wouldn’t misunderstand, that they had only mentioned it once or twice and didn’t expect the boys to distort it that way.

However, Lu Yudong ignored them and instead sent a text message to Manzhu before her nap.

Lu Yudong: “Sister, a classmate gave me trouble today. I was very angry and threw his school bag into the girls’ restroom.”

Manzhu: “How did he bully you?”

Lu Yudong: “They loudly laughed and said that I was a good match for a boy in class, but I’ve never even spoken to that boy.”

Manzhu: “Then why did they say you were a good match?”

Lu Yudong paused, realizing she couldn’t possibly text back “we’re both poor.” That would hurt Manzhu’s feelings.

After a moment of silence, she decided to feign ignorance without giving anything away.

Lu Yudong: “I don’t know either. I only know that boy is very introverted and often bullied by them. Maybe because I don’t talk much, they thought I was easy to bully too?”

Manzhu: “Are they still bothering you?”

Lu Yudong: “No! I was so fierce today! I broke his pen with one hand and scared him half to death!”

Manzhu: “When did our little Yudong become so ferocious?”

Lu Yudong: “Super ferocious! The Mid-Autumn break starts the day after tomorrow at noon. I’ll tell you when I get back!”

Manzhu: “Okay, I’ll come pick you up the day after tomorrow.”

Previously, when Lu Yudong and Manzhu texted, they would only briefly describe the situation in a few sentences, leaving the detailed conversation for when she returned on the weekend.

Lu Yudong finished her message, assuming Manzhu wouldn’t reply. Just as she put her phone down, she heard a vibration.

She picked up her phone and saw that Manzhu had sent another message.

Manzhu: “Do you want me to throw a snake at those little brats to scare them?”

Lu Yudong: “No, no! This is school! It will scare the other classmates!”

Manzhu: “But I’m angry. Someone is bullying you again.”

Lu Yudong: “I fought back!”

Manzhu: “If they dare to bother you again, you tell me. I’ll throw some bugs or dead mice into their dorm. Dead ones, so they won’t run around and scare other classmates.”

Lu Yudong: “That’s a boys’ dorm. Sister, you can’t go in.”

Manzhu: “Then I’ll throw them into their desk cabinets.”

Lu Yudong looked at Manzhu’s messages and couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time.

Lu Yudong: “Why didn’t you throw mice that time in junior high, Sister?”

Manzhu: “I hadn’t memorized the Spirit Rules well back then.”

The implication was that she didn’t know how to exploit the loopholes.

Although spirits definitely couldn’t use magic on ordinary humans, nowhere in the Spirit Rules did it say that spirits couldn’t play pranks on humans without using magic.

Although the mice would be caught using magic, throwing them wouldn’t require any magic at all.

Manzhu said that if she had thoroughly understood the rule book back then, she would have found a way to scare those little kids into wetting their pants long ago.

Lu Yudong never imagined that the usually gentle Manzhu would harbor such a childish impulse to do mischief for her sake.

While she didn’t need Manzhu to actually exploit the Spirit Rules’ loopholes and do something inappropriate just to vent her anger, for that moment, she was genuinely happy.

That was the feeling of being pampered and cherished.

No matter how old she was now, whether she was weak or strong, there was one person whose every word and action was doing their utmost to warm her heart.