Zhou Rui strode over angrily, but was immediately kicked by Chai Meicen who leapt up. He staggered back several steps before regaining his balance.
Chai Meicen did not let Zhou Rui off so easily, and went after him to land several more kicks. This bratty kid really deserved a beating.
Yang Ming was so shocked that he didn't dare to move. This was the first time he had seen Zhou Rui being beaten up like this. He didn't know whether to go over to help Zhou Rui or not.
Li Xiaonan simply took out his phone to call a taxi, unperturbed.
Even if Zhou Rui really had a feud with Chai Meicen, how could they get physical with a girl?
"Gotten arrogant recently huh, thinking I've become weak?" Chai Meicen leapt up again to grab Zhou Rui's ear.
"I'm wrong, I'm wrong! I apologize!" Zhou Rui's ear was twisted by Chai Meicen as they walked several steps. He was in so much pain that tears welled up in his eyes.
"Where were you guys planning to go?" Chai Meicen continued asking. If Zhou Rui did not answer honestly, she would continue beating him up.
"We were just going to catch someone cheating."
"Catch someone cheating?"
Zhou Rui immediately shut his mouth, and stole a glance at Li Xiaonan.
Li Xiaonan said in a calm voice, "It doesn't matter."
Only then did Zhou Rui explain, "It seems like Li Xiaonan's girlfriend is still unclear about her relationship with her ex-boyfriend. She went to meet up with her ex-boyfriend today, so we wanted to go over to beat him up...I mean catch them red-handed."
Chai Meicen let go of Zhou Rui's ear, and turned to look at Li Xiaonan with some sympathy.
With the green halo above his head, Li Xiaonan looked quite calm, as if he did not care much at all. This left Chai Meicen rather confused.
In the short time it took them to walk out, Chai Meicen said while walking beside Zhou Rui, "Look at him, willing to help out even when he's not involved. And you, leaving me behind as you walked away. Where's your conscience, eaten by dogs?"
"Yes yes, other people's kids are just better. If you're so capable, go steal one for yourself. After you've raised the stolen kid for a few years, he'll turn out just like me anyway. You might as well leave other people's kids alone, repent and improve yourself first, then your own kids will be presentable."
"With your constant nitpicking, you've become rather shameless."
Zhou Rui was still unhappy, and glared at Li Xiaonan, "Why're you so helpful huh? I've never noticed before."
"I saw that she was about to jump down herself, and was worried that she might get hurt. It'll be even harder for you to explain to your mom then." Li Xiaonan replied nonchalantly.
In Li Xiaonan's eyes, Chai Meicen was just a "tattle-tale". Offending a tattle-tale would surely lead to undesirable consequences.
Zhou Rui really wanted to tell them that his mom was right here, but he just could not say it out loud, since no one would believe him anyway.
All he could do was nod, "Alright, let's take a cab there."
The three boys sat at the back of the taxi, while Chai Meicen sat alone in front. It was a little cramped.
Yang Ming was fine, but Li Xiaonan and Zhou Rui were both tall, so sitting like this was rather uncomfortable.
When they arrived, Chai Meicen looked at the entrance and asked Zhou Rui, "Can you guys enter this place?"
Wasn't this place clearly prohibited for minors?
"Where there's a will, there's a way." Zhou Rui's answer was very annoying.
After answering, the three boys looked towards Chai Meicen together.
They had all changed before coming out, only Chai Meicen was still wearing her school uniform. Zhou Rui looked left and right, then brought Chai Meicen to a nearby shop to buy clothes.
At this time, only one shop was open. Its style was very nightclub-esque.
Zhou Rui searched the store, and even the most conservative clothes he picked out made Chai Meicen react with a numb expression, "This is a swimsuit right?"
"Or you could just wait outside. We'll be out in an hour."
"No, I'm going in with you!" Chai Meicen was afraid Zhou Rui would get into another fight if she let him enter alone.
The handling of Zhou Rui's previous fight had not been concluded yet. Chai Meicen was anxious every day, worried that Zhou Rui would get into trouble again. If that happened, Chai Meicen felt that she would have a breakdown right there and then.
Carrying the clothes, Chai Meicen went to change out of her school uniform, putting it into a bag.
She wore an orange bandeau crop top on top, and dark blue denim shorts at the bottom. Along with the black canvas shoes she came in with.
She also pasted an especially "social" Peppa Pig sticker over the scar on her abdomen.
Overall, she looked pretty decent. It was the first time Chai Meicen's slender waist was shown off, with faint outlines of abs visible. Her figure was so good there was nothing to nitpick.
After taking a look, Zhou Rui could not help but think: His mom actually needed to chase someone? With a simple crook of her finger, a bunch of foolish boys would come running over.
Just what kind of demon was his dad?
"Let's go." Chai Meicen passed the bag containing her uniform to Zhou Rui for him to carry.
Zhou Rui accepted it readily, discussing with the other two how to enter to look for people.
"How do you guys know Li Xiaonan's girlfriend will definitely be here?" Chai Meicen could not help asking curiously as they entered.
"Today is her ex-boyfriend's birthday. They're celebrating here. We know she prepared a birthday present for him, and specifically bought new clothes too. She'd definitely come right?" Zhou Rui replied.
"Such complex love and hate..."
Not long after they entered, Zhou Rui and his friends spotted the people they were looking for.
Li Xiaonan was sitting in a corner drinking, while Zhou Rui watched him sneakily with a silly grin. Only Yang Ming was secretly using his phone to record a video.
Chai Meicen really could not understand what was going on, so she just sat beside them and watched.
It seemed like the birthday party had noticed them, so Zhou Rui immediately got up and pulled Chai Meicen along to leave.
Li Xiaonan followed behind, while simultaneously messaging Yang Ming to quickly go.
Just as Yang Ming caught up to them, a young girl also chased out after them.
"Li Xiaonan!" The girl shouted.
Li Xiaonan ignored her and continued walking.
The girl chased up to grab Li Xiaonan's wrist, and explained really quickly, "Hear me out okay? This is the last time I'm meeting him, I just want to give him a present and say a few words, then I'll be with you properly after. "
Li Xiaonan stopped and turned to look at her, giving a cold laugh.
Seeing Li Xiaonan's reaction made the girl start crying immediately, "He was the first boy I liked! I can't get over him, I keep thinking about him. I didn't do anything improper, I just wanted to meet him one last time. I was planning to leave after too."
"If you can't get over him, then get back together with him." Li Xiaonan finally replied. At the same time, he pulled his hand out from the girl's grasp.
"But we can't go back anymore..." The girl continued crying.
Chai Meicen standing at the side had more or less understood what was going on.
The melodrama of youthful love was truly exhausting.
The girl could not get over her ex-boyfriend, and thought that finding a new boyfriend would help her forget about him right?
Then she would secretly lament in her heart: I miss him, I miss him so much.
Spending the day with her current boyfriend, she would put on an act, like the injured female lead in an idol drama. So much drama, feeling the most grieved in the whole world, looking up at a 45 degree angle, even the rain falling from the sky was there to cry for her.
She would still feel unsettled thinking about her ex-boyfriend, wondering who her ex-boyfriend was with now.
If her current boyfriend did not let go, she would keep both sides hanging.
If she was strong enough, good-looking enough, she might even be grooming backup boyfriends at the same time.
Chai Meicen had been young before too. She had seen girls like this who were dramatic and put on acts.
Back then, her friend had deliberately worn thin clothing and gone out in the cold to make herself sick. Then she went before her crush pretending to be frail and delicate, hoping he would care about her.
Her friend who had a crush would punch walls when arguing with Chai Meicen, punching until his hands bled. Then he went to Chai Meicen pretending to be upset. Chai Meicen would be so heartbroken that she cried and wailed.
At that time, Chai Meicen silently blessed the two of them to be together for a hundred years.
Who didn't have melodramatic youth?
"Is it because she rejected me?" Chai Meicen suddenly spoke up.
Everyone froze when she said that.
Li Xiaonan turned to see Chai Meicen winking at him, whispering, "Watch me redeem your pride."
Then Li Xiaonan saw Chai Meicen walk up to his girlfriend and start acting.
Let the drama begin!
Who wasn't a drama queen?
"And here I thought Li Xiaonan kept praising his girlfriend, saying he would not change his heart. Can't believe you would do something like this." Chai Meicen berated.
"Who are you?" The girl looked Chai Meicen up and down. Seeing Chai Meicen's face made her feel rather irritated.
In terms of looks, she was completely outclassed by Chai Meicen.
"I...transferred to Jiahua because I like him." Chai Meicen pointed to Li Xiaonan. "It seems I have a chance now. Don't worry, after you guys break up I'll keep him company."
"Bullshit!"
Girls with inner drama were like this. As long as each minded their own business things would be fine.
But if someone tried to snatch their man, they would rise up to the challenge. Maybe they were planning to break up with their current boyfriend just a second ago, but the next second after knowing someone liked their current boyfriend, they would immediately be reluctant to part with said boyfriend.
They would instantly recall all their boyfriend's merits, absolutely refusing to break up now.
Similarly, if her ex-boyfriend appeared close to someone else, her heart would also turn endlessly.
She might not want him anymore, but she could not stand losing him to someone else. That would make her the most uncomfortable.
Yang Ming turned to Zhou Rui and asked softly, "What's going on?"
"Let her act it out!" Zhou Rui was rather entertained watching this.
His mom was like this. Chai Meicen scolded Zhou Rui everyday and did not care. But when she heard others scolding Zhou Rui, even if Zhou Rui wasn't the one causing trouble, she could start battling the other person fiercely for 300 rounds.
Zhou Rui had witnessed before how Chai Meicen drove away half a square dancing team by yelling at them.
The gist of it was being protective.
Just now Li Xiaonan had helped Chai Meicen, so now Chai Meicen was helping Li Xiaonan gain the upper hand.
"I thought I completely lost my chance, luckily you're so fickle. This way he can give up hope and I'll have a chance in the future. I really feel bad for him, wholeheartedly thinking of you, yet you treat him like this." Chai Meicen continued.
Li Xiaonan was so embarrassed he kept scratching his nose, and looked up at Zhou Rui pleadingly.
But Zhou Rui just stood there grinning, not helping out at all, leaving Li Xiaonan to despair.
After Chai Meicen finished speaking, she pulled Li Xiaonan along to leave. Li Xiaonan hesitated for a while before pulling Chai Meicen back, turning to say to the girl, "Let's break up."
Only after saying so did he follow Chai Meicen out.
Zhou Rui and Yang Ming followed behind them. The girl did not dare to speak to Zhou Rui, so she grabbed Yang Ming and asked, "Who is she?"
"Oh, she just transferred to our class. Pretty huh? People are saying she's more suited to be the school belle." Yang Ming poured more fuel on the fire.
"Li Xiaonan likes her?"
"Didn't you hear? Li Xiaonan has been rejecting her because of you all this while. She forcibly followed us today. What a coincidence bumping into this. She'll probably seize the opportunity now. Just break up, go back to your ex-boyfriend."
"No..." The girl still wanted to chase them.
At this moment, Chai Meicen called out, "The cab is here, hurry up and get on."
Once they got on the taxi, the girl had no way to chase anymore.
Li Xiaonan blocked and deleted the girl's number.
After getting on the taxi, Zhou Rui leaned against the front seat and asked Chai Meicen, "Was that satisfying to act out?"
"Very satisfying! I should have gone to acting school in the past."
"Alright, you're pretty enough, just lacking in foundations."
"Lacking what foundations? Haven't I been dancing in the plaza for so many years?"
For so many years, Chai Meicen had been square dancing.
Zhou Rui could only nod along, "Yes yes, you were the best technician in your dance team, a complete expert in the past."
In the past, Chai Meicen had been short and stout. Just being able to join the square dance team was truly by relying on skill.
Hearing Zhou Rui's flattering words, Chai Meicen immediately became gleeful. She laughed for a while before turning to ask, "So what exactly happened today? I feel like you guys didn't care at all."
