Chapter 17: Taking a Beating

No one had ever dared to ruffle Zhou Yi’s head like that in her entire life. The sheer awkwardness of it, combined with the temper etched into her bones, the kind that screamed “touch me and you’re asking for trouble,” seized control instantly.

Her emotions surged. She slapped Mu Qinglin’s hand away, her tone sharp. “Where do you think you’re touching?!”

Mu Qinglin was in a perfectly good mood and completely unfazed by Zhou Yi’s outburst. She even poured fuel on the fire. “Didn’t feel it? Want me to try again?”

“Try it!” Zhou Yi ground her teeth.

Mu Qinglin backed down sheepishly. She wouldn’t actually try, but she could still run her mouth. “You know what you looked like just now? Droopy-eared…”

“Show me droopy ears, then,” Zhou Yi interrupted, her face deadpan.

“No need to fixate on the details. It’s just a figure of speech.” Mu Qinglin put on a show of studying Zhou Yi for a few seconds before continuing to stoke the flames. “You had your head down just now, mumbling like a mosquito buzzing around. The look on your face was exactly like a dog that couldn’t get at its bone. So pitiful. I really couldn’t control myself.”

“Mu Qinglin!” Zhou Yi’s small white teeth ground together. She spoke word by word: “Get. Away. From. Me!”

“If I go, who’s going to listen to your apology?” Mu Qinglin burst out laughing.

Zhou Yi couldn’t be bothered to talk to a lunatic.

With her mind suddenly clear, the conversation they’d just had came rushing back.

The moment she’d said the word “apology,” her dignity and reputation were already in the gutter. It couldn’t get any worse. But if she kept this bottled-up frustration inside, it would eat at her forever.

After two seconds of deliberation, Zhou Yi decided to just go for it. “If you don’t care about it, why did you go MIA?”

“MIA?” Mu Qinglin looked surprised. “What MIA?”

Zhou Yi glanced at her, grinding the tip of her shoe against the flat ground. “You haven’t been to Red Gate Alley, and you haven’t been keeping the peace in Jiangping.”

“Sarcasm again…” Mu Qinglin had blood on her and felt uncomfortable. She casually grabbed a tissue and dabbed at her neck. “Didn’t you see our station has a gala? I’ve been busy with that for most of the time lately. Couldn’t get away.”

“Oh…”

“Oh? What oh? If you keep being this dismissive, I’m leaving.”

Zhou Yi’s footsteps stopped. The hand pressed into her pocket clenched into a fist.

Mu Qinglin thought she’d gone too far and wanted to make amends, but Zhou Yi beat her to it. “Oh, oh…” she said.

“??” Mu Qinglin’s tongue stumbled, nearly laughing out loud.

Two “oh’s” and suddenly it wasn’t dismissive?

Why did she have the illusion that Little Hedgehog was getting softer?

Ridiculous as that illusion was, she should still acknowledge it.

“Besides the New Year’s Gala, I didn’t go to Red Gate Alley because there was a news story that needed follow-up reporting. I went down to a county town for a few days. It wasn’t me holding a grudge over what happened that day.” Mu Qinglin explained with particular seriousness.

So that was it.

Zhou Yi’s pressed lips curved with hints of something hidden.

Mu Qinglin noticed by accident and couldn’t resist the urge to tease, but she was terrified of dying, so she swallowed the urge and pretended not to see. She asked casually, “Want to see that girl again?”

The sudden topic change flattened the curve of Zhou Yi’s lips instantly.

There was really no need. She wasn’t a doctor.

The reason she’d gone that day…

“Take a look. We’re already here,” Mu Qinglin said.

Zhou Yi dug her fingertips into her knuckles. “Mm…”

“We can’t go in. We can only look from outside.”

“Okay…”

“Follow me…”

Mu Qinglin seemed to know everyone around here. She got Zhou Yi into the inpatient ward without much effort.

The inpatient ward was strictly managed. Forget about them; even family members were only allowed to have one person stay as a caregiver.

Mu Qinglin and Zhou Yi stood at the entrance to Ward B. The former pointed in a direction. “B2011. She’s in that room.”

Zhou Yi nodded and asked, “You brought her here?” Otherwise, the blood on her didn’t make sense.

Mu Qinglin: “Mm. Her mother fainted from the shock. Little Liu and I went back to shoot more footage and happened to be on the scene.”

“If the college entrance exam isn’t reformed, the Double Reduction policy can never truly be implemented. But if Double Reduction isn’t actually implemented, we can’t get past the Education Bureau. The contradictions just keep piling up. Schools are struggling, teachers are struggling, parents are struggling, but the students suffer the most.” Mu Qinglin said in a low voice.

Zhou Yi didn’t understand all that. She only knew that some pressure didn’t come from the college entrance exam.

“Will your station do an in-depth report on her story?” Zhou Yi asked.

Mu Qinglin pulled her gaze back. “Why do you ask?”

Zhou Yi: “She wouldn’t have jumped off a building just because of being beaten in public.”

Mu Qinglin looked at Zhou Yi quietly and asked, “What else?”

Zhou Yi: “Probably school bullying.”

“Nonsense!” A sharp female voice suddenly appeared behind them.

They both turned at the same time. A well-dressed woman with disheveled hair and a deathly pale face stumbled toward them, her voice shrill. “My daughter is beautiful, well-behaved, and gets excellent grades. How could she possibly be bullied?!”

Zhou Yi: “Impossible? Then why don’t her classmates talk to her? Impossible? Then why would a top student from a key class at West University Affiliated High School run to a place like Red Gate Alley and ask a stranger for help?”

Zhou Yi’s unusually cold attitude made Mu Qinglin glance at her. Just as Yao Xiaoqi’s mother finished her hysterical scream of “What do you know?!” and lunged at Zhou Yi, Mu Qinglin grabbed Zhou Yi’s wrist and tucked her behind.

Mu Qinglin was slightly taller than Zhou Yi, so Yao Xiaoqi’s mother’s slap could only reach Mu Qinglin’s neck.

A loud smack.

Even through the remaining bloodstains, Zhou Yi could see a glaring red mark bloom instantly on Mu Qinglin’s fair skin.

Dead silence filled the air.

Zhou Yi stood motionless, watching Mu Qinglin grit her teeth against the pain, watching her turn her head and press her hand against the spot.

An inexplicable fury churned inside Zhou Yi.

She stepped out from behind Mu Qinglin, her eyes calm to the point of being unnerving.

“Who did you just hit?”

Yao Xiaoqi’s mother froze.

Zhou Yi didn’t give her time to recover. She pressed on immediately: “I’m asking you a question. Who did you just hit?”

“Zhou Yi!” Mu Qinglin pulled Zhou Yi back as she was about to approach Yao Xiaoqi’s mother. Her thumb pressed against Zhou Yi’s slender wrist and rubbed it gently twice. “I’m fine…”

Zhou Yi turned back, a storm already gathering in her pupils. “If you think you’re fine, that’s your business. Not being okay with it is mine. And my business is yours to…”

“Stay out of?” Mu Qinglin finished, then laughed softly. “Didn’t you just admit you were wrong? Here we go again.”

Zhou Yi’s gaze trembled. After silently looking at Mu Qinglin’s smiling eyes for a few seconds, she spoke again, her tone softening. “She hit you…”

Three words loaded with obvious partiality. Hearing them made Mu Qinglin feel surprisingly pleased. Even the burning pain in her neck seemed to fade.