Chapter 98 Apologize

An Qinyan watched Lu Xuan leave the cafeteria. Her eyes smiled when she saw him holding the cookie box. She picked up her handbag and left the cafeteria. She was exiting the cafeteria when she bumped into a figure.

“Ah Xin?” An Qinyan called out. She didn’t know when she started calling Han Zixin so intimately.

“Hello, Auntie, “Han Zixin properly greeted her. He pretended as if he didn’t see her talking to Lu Xuan inside the cafeteria or heard their conversation. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, it was just that he was sitting with his back facing hers inside the cafeteria where he was having his breakfast.

“How are you?”An Qinyan asked.

“I’m doing good, “Han Zixin replied. “How are you doing?”

“Oh, I’m fine. How was your result?”An Qinyan ended up asking.

“I managed to pass, “Han Zixin said humbly.

An Qinyan patted his head and congratulated him, encouraging him to work harder in the future. She had some chocolates in her handbag that she had put for those days and gave him one.

Han Zixin stared at her retiring back and wondered to himself. Why did these mother-daughters like giving sweets to everyone? He didn’t know that An Qinyan and An Xiulan’s habit of giving sweets meant to spread happiness.

Although he only got the second last rank in the school, he was happy to know that someone genuinely congratulated him.

Inside the class, as An Xiulan entered, she was overwhelmed by happiness as she had seen that she had passed the exam. She managed to protect her rank this time. She wanted to tell her mother on the phone but thought that it would be better to tell her face to face.

Then, she met Han Nanxian who congratulated her for being able to protect her rank. He wasn’t surprised to see her result. He had expected this much from him.

Now she was going to tell Han Zixin that she had passed the exams. But she didn’t find him inside the class. As she put her bag on the desk, she noticed a change in the class’s atmosphere. She noticed how students stiffened and took their seats and even on the seat that was empty next to them, they put their bags on it as if the seats were occupied.

It was actually funny and startling how the students were trying to pretend that the seats were occupied when the seating arrangement of the class was based on marks.

As if it was not enough, An Xiulan began to hear her classmates calling someone a murderer. There were many other nicknames too. All of them sounded demeaning and rude.

She always thought that Song Ci or Mona or even Qiao Wei would never involve themselves in demeaning other students but she was proven wrong today. She watched a girl entering the class, her face wasn’t visible as her shoulders were slumped and her eyes were on her feet. The bangs covered her face.

“Xiuxiu, she is someone who pushed another student to death,” Qiao Wei whispered as she saw how An Xiulan was staring at the other girl. She didn’t want her friend to be involved with bad students.

“Don’t talk to her. You need not talk to murderers,” Mona commented while giving a look to the girl who took the seat at the first desk.

“Xiao Lan, stay away from her. She is a bad influence,” Song Ci said.

“What are you doing here?” Xu Ningwan, the monitor of the class Ten K asked. He always scored the top score in his class. That’s why he had been sitting at the first desk with his classmate who was ranked second. He had checked this morning that he scored rank Second in class Ten K this time and the fatty scored rank one in class Ten K. It shouldn’t be a surprise as the girl used to always score good marks in Class Ten A.

Shen Yue looked at her hands and said in a soft voice, “This should be my seat.”

“Do you think anyone wants to share a seat with you?” Xu Ningwan asked. “Do you think there is something good in you worth sharing a seat with, Fatty?”

Shen Yue swallowed back a sob and said again, “This should be my seat.”

She would be scolded if she didn’t take her seat in the class teacher. Teacher Jin was very particular about the sitting arrangement. Not only her but the boys taking her seat would be scolded along with her.

Xu Ningwan and his deskmate picked up their school bags arrogantly. “If you are so good then why don’t you go back to Class Ten A? Why do you have to come to pollute the good atmosphere of our class? Can’t you see you are not wanted here? Oh, we find out how you used to cheat. Finally, the school flower opened our eyes or we would have thought differently about you! Rot in hell!”

With this said, he went to take the desk where she used to sit initially. He would rather sit there than share a seat with her. As he was about to take a step ahead, he saw An Xiulan standing in his way with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Apologize,” An Xiulan said. She didn’t need to say another word to express her meaning.

“Excuse me?” Xu Ningwan said as he furrowed his brow. He couldn’t understand what she was trying to say here.

“Apologise to her, “An Xiulan said once again.

“Xiao Lan, you want me to apologize to this fatty?” Xi Ningwan scoffed. He knew that An Xiulan was a kind girl but he didn’t know she was this naive.

“I’m sure she has a name,” An Xiulan said with an oh so kind smile. She had nothing against nicknames but those nicknames should be endearing, not demeaning.

Xu Ningwan looked at An Xiulan and then at Shen Yue who was staring at the girl with wide eyes. Shen Yue wasn’t expecting to find An Xiulan of all people here. And never did expect the girl she only met once to stand up for her. To say she was shocked would be an understatement.