Chapter 23

"Su Cheng can have a puppy love with Jiang Xiangnan, but I can't eat with friends?" Su Li retorted, the entire second floor empty save for them.

Upon hearing this, Su Cheng suddenly panicked; her parents had never scolded her about her affair with Jiang Xiangnan, and now Su Li was suddenly bringing it up...

She hurriedly looked at Su Lin.

She saw Su Lin withdraw his attention from outside, then look at his daughter—who, having been caught red-handed, was no longer panicking or making excuses—and his anger flared up.

Who else could have given her this confidence?

Wasn't it just that bunch of people outside?

"Now that you've curried favor with them, do you think you're one of them?"

"They have backgrounds; even if they cause trouble, there are people to clean up their mess. What about you! If you follow them and get into trouble one day, will they stand up for you?" Su Lin said in a deep voice, yet he never once mentioned the matter between Su Cheng and Jiang Xiangnan.

Su Cheng loosened her grip on his clothes and breathed a slight sigh of relief, then looked at the lonely Su Li; even if she had dragged her into this, her father still wouldn't blame her.

She looked at Su Li with sympathy and pity.

Su Li ignored her, clutched her school uniform, and looked straight at Su Lin: "Even if I don't hang out with them, if I cause trouble, would you even come to help me?"

Su Lin frowned; was she still throwing a tantrum because of Su Cheng?

"Su Li! How long are you going to be petty with Chengcheng? Chengcheng has lived..."

Su Li knew what he was going to say and said it for him: "Chengcheng was abandoned from a young age, she had a very hard life outside, the family that adopted her treated her very badly, and they didn't even want her to go to school, wanting her to work early to provide for the family."

"She is sensitive, she has no sense of belonging at home. Xiao Li, be more sensible and yield to your sister more."

Su Li's gaze swept over Su Cheng, who was hiding behind Su Lin: "You have been saying these words to me since the first day Su Cheng came home."

"I listened. So when Su Cheng liked my room, I gave it to her. When Su Cheng liked the birthday gifts you gave me, I gave those to her too."

"But what was the result?" Su Li squeezed her school uniform tightly with one hand.

"The result is that everything I like must be given to her. If I'm unwilling, if I'm reluctant, you say I'm not sensible, that I don't know how to care for my sister."

"When I had a dispute with Su Cheng, even if you knew clearly that I was the one wronged, you still stood on her side. Because you dare not scold her, you are afraid she will suffer even the slightest hurt in her heart, so you can only spoil her and indulge her."

"As time went on, and it happened more often, you felt that wronging me a little didn't matter. After all, I am different from Su Cheng; I grew up held in your palms, I was raised by you, and the food, drink, and entertainment I've had since childhood, and the education I received, were all given by you. I already have so much, so it doesn't matter if I suffer a little."

Su Lin opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but discovered that everything he wanted to say had already been said by her.

"Su Li, let today's matter end here. Come home with Dad." Su Lin pursed his lips, not wanting to continue this topic, and turned to leave.

Su Li, however, did not move and continued: "I understand you. You lost your daughter for over a decade; you need to use all your energy to cherish her and protect her. You have no extra energy to consider my feelings."

"You don't want to, either."

"So, I forgive you. I am obedient and do not envy the attention you give to Su Cheng. Because I also feel that I have more, and I shouldn't be so petty."

"Su Li!" Su Lin said in a deep voice.

Su Li: "Then I met Jiang Xiangnan. I put my heart into him, and every day I happily chased the boy I liked."

"But in the end?" Su Li steadied her trembling hands, forcing herself to calm down.

"I was set up by them together. I said I didn't know Su Cheng and Jiang Xiangnan knew each other, but without hard evidence, you believed Su Cheng."

"Why? Because subconsciously you dare not doubt her, because you know that doubting her would make her feel like an outsider, make her feel that you don't love her."

"You treat her with such caution, making up for the debt of over a decade, afraid she will suffer psychological harm."

"You no longer care what I think. Because you have no energy left."

"But my birth was because of Su Cheng. You spoiled and indulged me since I was little because that was what you wanted to give Su Cheng from the start; you compensated for your debt to her through me."

"Now that Su Cheng is back, you feel I should compensate Su Cheng too. Because I took the affection that should have been hers."

"Is it fair to me? My very birth wasn't even because of your expectations for me."

The same event now carried a different meaning from Su Li's mouth.

Su Cheng was stunned, feeling as if the confidence she had to accuse Su Li had vanished.

She panicked; it shouldn't be like this. Every time Su Li tried to defend herself, her emotions would easily become agitated, tears would fall, and she wouldn't be able to speak clearly. Why was she suddenly so fluent, accusing her without stopping?

Su Li walked over and stood in front of Su Lin.

The Su Li of over a decade ago had been raised by them to be naive and innocent, believing the whole world was beautiful. Once slandered, she was tongue-tied, not knowing how to explain, let alone how to make people believe her; she couldn't even manage an accusation.

Su Lin froze, staring blankly at the daughter standing straight before him, her eyes slightly red.

She no longer cried in front of him; she stood on the opposite side, looking as if she could hold up the sky even if it were falling.

"Dad, to make an underage high school student choose to believe others, preferring to eat at a Hot Pot Restaurant with friends rather than go home."

"Tell me, whose problem is this?" Su Li said calmly.

Su Lin's mouth opened slightly, but he didn't know what else he could say.

Su Li looked toward the stairs: "And today, you didn't even give me a chance to explain eating with friends, directly accusing me and insulting them."

She walked past him and headed downstairs.

Below, the first floor had long been cleared out; now the entire Hot Pot Restaurant was quiet, with only faint sounds coming from the second floor.

Cheng Yu glanced at Zhao Jiu. Zhao Jiu was leaning against the table, his school uniform pressed against the edge, half of it hanging down. He kept his head lowered, not knowing what he was thinking.

Cheng Yu felt Su Li was a bit miserable, having such a sister and a father who couldn't distinguish right from wrong; he wondered if she could win an argument against them on her own.

So why did the boss tell them to come down?

If they were upstairs, they wouldn't have argued so fiercely.

Zhao Jiu looked down at the floor; Su Li wouldn't want people to know about those things in her family.

She hadn't returned for ten years, nor had she ever taken the initiative to call, and occasionally when her family called, she wouldn't talk to them for more than three minutes.

She was clearly trying hard to stay away from them, trying hard to live happily herself.

A waiter brought water, and Zhao Jiu took a sip. Footsteps came from the stairs, and he looked up. Su Li walked down clutching her school uniform, her spirit a bit dazed, but the moment she saw them, she immediately recovered.

"Shall we go?" Su Li asked.

"Where are we going?" Cheng Yu asked cautiously.

Su Li: "Aren't we going to the Cake Shop? And then back to High School?"

The group hurried to get up and walk outside; Yu Qi had long since had the car driven to the entrance, they got in, and headed toward the Cake Shop, where Su Li picked up two bags of toast and two bottles of milk for herself and Zhao Jiu before returning to the car.

Cheng Yu and the others then drove the two of them back to school.

Cheng Yu sat in the passenger seat and snuck a glance at the back; the girl was sitting quietly, holding her phone and tapping on something, looking like there was no problem.

"Cheng Yu, I'm sorry about just now, my dad said things that were too harsh," Su Li said suddenly.

Cheng Yu hurriedly retracted his gaze: "It's... it's nothing, my dad is even fiercer when he scolds me."

Su Li: "..."

It seemed like President Cheng was the one who had been angered to death.

Late at night, the road back to No. 1 High School wasn't very congested, and they arrived in half an hour; Su Li and Zhao Jiu got out of the car.

The two walked into the school gate one after the other under the gaze of the security guard uncle.

Without the Grade 1 and Grade 2 students, the school paths were cold and desolate, as if something might crawl out at any moment.

"Boss, lend me your phone," Su Li said, taking out her phone.

Zhao Jiu handed over his phone, and Su Li opened it and flipped to the contacts.

Zhao Jiu tugged at his backpack and looked back; Su Li was saving a number.

Zhao Jiu: "Hm?"

Su Li: "I'm saving their numbers..."

Suddenly her foot stepped on a pen and she slipped; an arm reached out just in time, she pressed a hand against the arm and looked up to see Zhao Jiu looking down at her.

"Why are you in such a rush to save them?" Zhao Jiu's lazy voice sounded.

Su Li: "There are things that must be said tonight."

Zhao Jiu knew what she wanted to say, watching her save both of their phone numbers into the phone.

Zhao Jiu let her go and continued walking.

Su Li lowered her head behind him to send apology messages to Yu Qi and Zhang Zhuang; they had come happily to find Zhao Jiu today, only to be inexplicably splashed with dirty water because of her.

Yu Qi replied: "It's okay, we aren't that fragile."

Zhang Zhuang: "No worries, and you have the boss!"

Su Li walked two steps, her eyes suddenly stinging again; Zhao Jiu noticed the person behind hadn't kept up, so he stopped and waited.

Su Li continued walking forward, her voice buzzing.

"Boss, don't deduct my wages for no reason."

"I'm not going home to get my documents tomorrow."

Zhao Jiu carried the bread in one hand and tugged at his backpack strap with the other: "I haven't deducted them that many times."

Su Li looked up at his now thin back and choked back a sob; was twice not considered a lot?

The Grade 3 teaching building suddenly became noisy at this moment; they realized Night Self-Study had ended, and students from the entire building were coming out, lively and bustling.

Zhao Jiu and Su Li watched for a while, with the Grade 2 teaching building as the dividing line between quiet and noisy; the two waited until the main crowd had mostly left before slowly walking forward.

They soon reached the Girls' Dormitory; compared to the Grade 3 dormitory, only two or three rooms in this entire Grade 2 dormitory building had lights on.

"Boss, I'm going in first," Su Li said, lifting her foot to walk inside; the dormitory building only left one light on at the entrance of the lobby, making her figure look lonely.

Zhao Jiu pursed his lips, remembering that girl in the freezing winter month, cooking noodles.

Even though the conditions were already so difficult that she was eating boiled noodles, she had smiled very happily because she had cooked enough for two bowls.

Later, when she received her first investment, she got drunk, grabbed a street performer's microphone, and howled randomly.

In Zhao Jiu's ten-plus years of life, he had never heard such terrible singing; not a single note was in tune the entire time.

But at that moment, it was as if the things pressing down on her heart had been washed away.

The Dormitory Manager came out from inside, glanced at Zhao Jiu standing at the entrance staring at the dormitory building, then glanced inside: "Stop staring, staring won't let you in."

Zhao Jiu came back to his senses: "Hm?"

"Hurry back, or I'll tell your head teacher," the Dormitory Manager said, shaking the keys in her hand, clicking the big iron gate shut, and then walking away.

Zhao Jiu: "..."