Chapter 536: Fate’s Neck
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Your fifth sister?” Yan Yixian pictured a girl as beautiful as a spring begonia in his mind. “Does your fifth sister know about this?”
Chu Xuyao shook his head. “No, she doesn’t know. My fifth sister is usually very busy. I want to try to solve this problem myself first. If I can’t, then 1’11 ask her for help.”
Yan Yixian agreed with this approach. “Do you need me to do anything?”
Chu Xuyao firmly shook his head. “Teacher, you don’t need to do anything. Everyone is watching you closely now. If you get involved, it could lead to more misunderstandings.”
Yan Yixian looked at Chu Xuyao thoughtfully and then said, “Alright, I’ll follow your plan. If there’s anything I can help with, just let me know.”
Chu Xuyao nodded. “Yes.”
Shuiyun County.
He Shaozhi and Su Wenji, who lived in the county, were neighbors.
On the street, He Shaozhi suddenly turned around, scratching his head in confusion. “1 feel like someone is following us.”
Su Wenji, slightly stiff, urged He Shaozhi to keep walking. “Don’t look back. 1 feel it too. Since both of us have noticed, it’s not an illusion.”
He Shaozhi frowned, both annoyed and afraid. “Who would be following us?”
Su Wenji clenched his teeth, equally scared. “I don’t know, but let’s hurry home. We’ll be safe there.”
He Shaozhi was tense and did not even dare to breathe loudly. “Yes.”
The two of them quickened their pace and walked home, but in the end, they could not escape the cruel reality of being gagged, blindfolded, and pulled into the alley.
“It’s you?!” He Shaozhi and Su Wenji were infuriated to see who was following them.
Chu Xuyuan pushed He Shaozhi against a wall, appearing quite aggressive, as if ready to fight.
His sister had told him that to subdue an enemy, one must first break their psychological defenses, dominating them with an imposing presence, essentially instilling fear in them to achieve one’s goal more easily.
“What, you wish it were someone else? I’ll tell you, you’re lucky it’s us. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to go home today.”
He Shaozhi, his back hitting the wall painfully, looked at Chu Xuyuan fearfully. “Why are you abducting us?”
Chu Xuyuan denied it. “We’re not abducting you. We’re just asking you to chat with us here.”
He Shaozhi bet Chu Xuyuan wasn’t just here for a chat.
Su Wenji, braver than He Shaozhi, demanded, “What do you want to say? Hurry up, we need to get home.”
Chu Xuyao pressed Su Wenji against the wall, using his internal strength to immobilize him. “Tell us, did you spread the rumors?”
Su Wenji struggled against Chu Xuyao’s grip, shouting, “We have nothing to do with the rumors. Don’t falsely accuse us.”
Chu Xuyao stared into Su Wenji’s eyes. His sister had said that a person’s eyes can’t lie. “Apart from you, 1 can’t think of anyone else who would hold a grudge against us!”
Su Wenji, agitated, pushed back fiercely, but couldn’t break free from Chu Xuyao’s hold. “Just because we hold a grudge, you think we caused your trouble? Do you have any evidence?”
“You hold a grudge against us, and when something happens to us, naturally we think of you first,” Chu Xuyao provoked Su Wenji, knowing that people often reveal the truth when they lose their temper.
Su Wenji, in a mix of anger and schadenfreude, revealed, “Let me tell you, we did plan to spread rumors to drive you out of the school. But obviously, you have more enemies than just us. We hadn’t even started yet when the rumors already began spreading.”
Chu Xuyao slowly released Su Wenji. Su Wenji’s eyes showed anger, hatred, agitation, but no evasion. It really wasn’t him.
If it was not them, then who could it be?
Su Wenji pushed Chu Xuyao away and ran off with He Shaozhi. As they reached the mouth of the alley, Chu Xuyao’s voice leisurely followed, “The teacher is planning to visit your homes to demand the medical fees.”
Their steps halted abruptly, panic instantly spreading through them.
They had pushed Yan Yixian at the food festival, and many had witnessed it; there was no denying it.
These past few days, they had been living in constant anxiety, fearing Yan Yixian would come after them.
Now, this matter was like a huge rock pressing down on their hearts.
Turning back, Su Wenji’s face slightly paled, “We will go and apologize to the teacher ourselves.”
Chu Xuyao approached Su Wenji, “The harm has been done; an apology is useless.”
Su Wenji’s face lost even more color, “What can we do then for the teacher to forgive us?”
Chu Xuyao leaned in close to Su Wenji and whispered, “Help us find the real person who spread the rumors, and I can plead with the teacher on your behalf.”
Su Wenji bluntly asked, “Why would the teacher listen to you?”
Chu Xuyao looked them straight in the eye, his gaze sharp, “Didn’t everyone say my brother and 1 are so close to the teacher that he would even leak exam questions to us? What, don’t you believe it now?”
Su Wenji vehemently denied, “Those rumors have nothing to do with us.”
Chu Xuyao shrugged. “You’re the most suspicious now. The only way to get rid of the suspicion… is to find the person who really spread the rumors.”
Su Wenji cursed, “Damn it!”
The four of them went to a different place. They came to a teahouse and asked for a private room.
As soon as he sat down, He Shaozhi said, “We must be home before dark.”
Chu Xuyao glanced at him, “You can leave right now.”
He Shaozhi clammed up. If he left now, what would he do if the teacher came to his house demanding money tomorrow? His parents would kill him!
Su Wenji cut to the chase, “What’s your plan?”
Chu Xuyao’s fox-like eyes shone brightly. “”The teacher distributed the exam papers to ten classrooms. We doubt our senior brothers in the higher grades would bother with such things, so I believe the real rumor spreader is among these ten classrooms.”
He Shaozhi scoffed, “Ten classrooms, thirty students each, plus you two, that’s three hundred and two people. How will you find the rumor spreader?”
Chu Xuyuan frowned, “Don’t interrupt, let my brother speak.”
He Shaozhi glanced at Chu Xuyuan discontentedly.
Chu Xuyao coolly looked at He Shaozhi, “Actually, your question is quite good, but I don’t want to answer it.”
He Shaozhi was speechless.
He felt insulted! Why was Chu Xuyao so infuriating?
Chu Xuyao continued, “There are so many people. Seventh Brother and 1 don’t even know many of them. If we don’t know them, it makes no sense for them to frame us.”
Su Wenji, arms crossed and wearing an annoyed expression, retorted, “What if someone just doesn’t like you guys?”