Chapter 22

Why Are You So Ruthless?

Wen Qiao slapped away her hand.

“On one hand you’re mocking me for coming from a poor family while on the other, you’re accusing me of engaging in some underground shady deal. Hey, can you be more consistent? Decide on what sort of a public persona you wish to create for me before speaking, okay?”

Clenching her teeth, Zhao Tong was so mad she nearly vomited out blood! “Lulu only got an A grade even though she has received so many awards before. What right do you have to receive an S grade? Stop dreaming!”

Wen Qiao smiled. “What does that tell you? It tells you that your Lulu still has to work hard at her craft for some time before she can catch up to me.”

With that, she drew the card from Zhao Tong’s hand and waved it with a vibrant smile. “Look, it’s an official certification.”

Zhao Tong blurted out whatever came to her mind. “You… you are a fart!”

Wen Qiao smiled in a jesting manner. “I got the S grade, and you, an A grade. If I’m a fart, doesn’t that make you worse than a fart? Why are you so ruthless to scold yourself like that?”

Zhao Tong was nearly driven insane by the anger. Feeling attacked by that remark, Xu Lu’s eyes reddened slightly. But Wen Qiao only patted her on her shoulder and cast a nonchalant smile at her. “Don’t cry. Or else it’ll look like you can’t afford to play.”

With all that said, she then picked up her pipa case and happily left the backstage area with Lu Youyou. On the side, Lu Youyou’s savage laughter rang in Xu Lu’s ears, sounding extremely jarring on her ears. This, to her, was the greatest humiliation, the biggest irony.

The things she had been worrying about were happening one by one, and she was powerless to stop any of it.

…

At the hall entrance, Wen Qiao had just taken two steps down the staircase, when she heard someone calling her from behind.

The moment she turned her head, she saw Zhuang Yan in his white shirt leaning against the wall, his gaze riveted upon her.

Pretending she didn’t see him, Wen Qiao hooked her arm around Lu Youyou’s and continued walking forward. But there was a sudden movement and he grabbed her by the wrist. “Stop right there!”

Wen Qiao broke free of his grip and stared at him coldly. “Is something the matter?”

“Why do you not have any self-respect?”

He saw that man’s car—it was a Bentley. Clearly, that was a rich man.

Wen Qiao was speechless.

Both Xu Lu and Zhuang Yan had this ability to make her burst out laughing from anger. In a certain sense, the two of them were actually rather compatible with each other.

“Butt off!”

Zhao Tong was to be blamed for this—all the talk about farts and butts made Wen Qiao slip up. She actually wasn’t such a crude and vulgar person.

She couldn’t be bothered to explain herself. In any case, her reputation at Nine Middle School was terrible to the max already. When rumors like this first started spreading around in the school, like a fool, she had stubbornly tried to explain things to him. With eyes brimming with tears, she had gone to block Zhuang Yan’s way and told him ‘I don’t have a boyfriend, I’m not promiscuous, and I don’t sleep around. I… I’ve never even held a boy’s hand before’.”

But him?

He treated her as though she was invisible, doing nothing as those sidekicks and brothers of his mocked her mercilessly. The campus violence that lasted a year and his indifference had long made her passionate heart turn cold.

Wen Qiao and Lu Youyou continued walking ahead. Speaking with gritted teeth, Zhuang Yan’s voice rang behind them. “Do you really have such complete lack of respect for yourself? You like him for his money, don’t you?”

But Wen Qiao continued ignoring him. She was immune to an attack of this level by now.

Zhuang Yan frustratedly slammed the violin he was carrying onto the floor.

That exorbitantly-priced violin with a million yuan price tag, bought at a Sotheby’s auction, was slammed onto the floor just like that.

…

Losing control of her emotions, Xu Lu went to the washroom.

Wen Qiao had always come out on top in the cultural classes, now that she even passed the interview with the highest grade, they were definitely going to become schoolmates.

This was the outcome she hated to see the most.

Seated in a cubicle, shortly after, she heard the door to another cubicle open, followed by the sound of water running and the voices of two women speaking.

“Sister, what do you think of that child Xu Lu?”

“She’s alright I guess.”

“Everyone says she’s very compatible with our Zhuang Yan. They perform together frequently.”

Zhuang Yan’s mother and aunt had come to watch him perform, and so it was clear they were the ones talking.

There was a blatant contempt in the woman’s chuckle. “Her? Forget it, she’s only the stepdaughter of the Wen family. Her biological mother used to be Wen Jianmin’s secretary, before she somehow managed to become his proper wife. Her biological father is a cab driver. How is she good enough for our Zhuang Yan? You think too highly of her.”

“Ah? Her background is that awful? Forget about it then.”