Chapter 372 – Cla.s.s Leader’s Empathy
At first, the cla.s.s leader kept her vigilance and didn’t want to walk side by side with me. Instead, she chose to walk a meter behind me. And anytime someone looked at us, she would increase the distance between us.
“Cla.s.s leader, aren’t you tired?” I asked, “Are you afraid of people misunderstanding? Do you also do this when you come and shop with Shu Zhe?”
“People can instantly tell we’re siblings if it’s Xiao Zhe. But if it’s you…”
“What about me?” I was curious, “What do you think others will think of us as?”
“Older sister.” The little girl who asked the cla.s.s leader to help us get some dog food pa.s.sed by us again with her mother. She grabbed onto the sides of the cla.s.s leader’s dress and said playfully: “Your boyfriend’s so tall!”
The cla.s.s leader’s face turned red and she quickly denied it.
“He’s not my boyfriend. We’re just regular cla.s.smates.”
“Miao Miao, stop messing around.” The girl’s mother called her to go back, “Let’s not interrupt them shopping for their dinner.”
Huh, the mother was even worse than the little girl. The little girl at most thought we were dating, but in the mother’s eyes, we were already living together. Even my face turned a bit redder.
But I was a bit pleased. I actually dressed up today to visit my dad and used sungla.s.ses to cover my eyes.
Now I can even be mistaken as the cla.s.s leader’s partner.
The cla.s.s leader got a bit upset after she saw my pleased expression.
“Give my stuff back.” The cla.s.s leader grabbed the cart, “I don’t want to share a cart with you anymore.”
“Ah~ the young couple is fighting.”
The young mother covered her laugh and left with her daughter.
I gripped the cart handles tightly to prevent the cla.s.s leader from stopping the cart, “Stop messing around. If you make a scene, then everyone would think you have a relationship with me. I’ll just keep pushing the cart quietly and you can pretend I’m your brother.”
“I don’t want a brother who’s as out of norm as you.”
“Hey, I didn’t even say anything yet. I think you’re an out of norm sister.”
The cla.s.s leader stopped.
“What, how am I out of the norm?”
She cast an angry look at me.
“Do you think I’m too tall?”
Huh, most people would think it’s better taller. And you’re already the tallest girl in cla.s.s 2-3. But you haven’t yet reached the status of joining the female basketball team. The main reason is because you have a well-proportioned body, and you don’t feel like a giant woman, unlike Yao Ming’s wife, Ye Li. The main reason people fear you is due to your Justice Devil aura and not your body size.
“I guess you’re considered tall compared with your brother. But you’re only average in front of me. But Xiao Qin, on the other hand, only reaches my shoulders and it feels awkward when we walk next to each other.”
I then realized I was implying I didn’t feel awkward when walking with the cla.s.s leader and I didn’t want to talk anymore.
We then had another hard to bear period of silence.
At this point, we unintentionally pa.s.sed the female underwear section. Based on the cla.s.s leader’s expression, it seems she’s remembering the time I gave the bikini. If I don’t give her a convincing reason, she’ll think I’m trying to something perverted again.
“Ahem.” I cleared my throat, “Actually, yesterday was a misunderstanding.”
“What was?” She asked knowingly.
“Uh, how I accidentally put the underwear along with the Qing Zi Academy uniform…”
“…..”
I resolved myself and admitted to the cla.s.s leader:
“Cla.s.s leader, there’s actually one thing I’ve been too embarra.s.sed to tell you.”
The cla.s.s leader was scared and moved back a step. She put her hands out in front of her as a defense mechanism.
“What is it? Why do you have to say it in the supermarket…”
“Actually… actually my family runs an online store.”
The cla.s.s leader breathed a sigh of relief, but also seemed a bit disappointed.
“Sigh, I already know your family runs an online store. I heard you guys sell toys for children?”
No, they are all adult toys, not toys for children. It’s because those grown ups can’t find partners to make babies with, so they can only play with toys all day.
“Actually… it’s not toys for children. My dad sells something pretty embarra.s.sing…”
“It’s not embarra.s.sing if it’s legal work.” the cla.s.s leader said righteously, “You shouldn’t look down on your parents’ work or it would make them sad.”
“Actually, my family sells women’s underwear…”
The cla.s.s leader’s face turned red.
Good thing I didn’t tell her the whole truth about how my adult goods store is ranked pretty high and even employs her brother as a rope model. But we do indeed sell women’s underwear, so it’s not a complete lie.
“That bikini underwear was something I was packing for my dad and accidentally dropped in the bag before I left in the morning… it definitely wasn’t a gift for you…”
“It’s because my mother was an terrible person. She ran away with another dude right when I was born. My dad suffered a large enough shock that he quit his job as a university professor and began holed at home selling women’s underwear. He would frequently get dead drunk and I would have to run the business…”
“I originally never liked my dad’s store, but I don’t really have a choice… I even accidentally showed you one of our store’s embarra.s.sing goods yesterday, can you forgive me…”
I followed Shu Zhe’s advice of acting more submissive and sneaked glances at her reaction.
Huh, her eyes are filled with empathy. Does she feel empathetic because she’s also a left behind child without parents? And my situation is worse than them, because their parents are a loving couple who’s working their hardest to bring their kids with them to Shanghai.
“So what you’re saying is that you’ve never had motherly love?” the cla.s.s leader asked with a bit of hesitation.
It looks like we’re completely past the underwear issue. It seems Shu Zhe was right and to deal with his sister, we have to make her empathetic.
“I mean it’s not entirely correct.” I laughed, “My father acted as both my mom and dad and raised me since a baby… other than the fact his job is a bit embarra.s.sing, he treats me pretty well…”
The cla.s.s leader held her hand under her nose with slightly red eyes. It was obvious she thought I was forcing myself to smile and be a good person.
“Ye Lin… do you get into fights because your mother abandoned you?”
No, I only trained to become a Spartan to take revenge on Xiao Qin for beating me up every day. It has nothing to do with Ai ShuQiao.
But based on the current situation, the best thing to do is nod.
The cla.s.s leader sighed after my tacit approval as if my words resolved a lot of her suspicions.
“It’s not embarra.s.sing even if Uncle Ye sells women’s underwear. It’s not like our parents are in complete control of their own jobs…”
She seemed to be a bit sad, maybe she was thinking about her own parents who were currently thousands of miles away.
“But you can’t give up on yourself even if you’re lacking motherly love. Do you know how scared I was when you almost pulled out their eyes in the fight you had back in the alley.”
“Scared?” I was a bit puzzled, “Even if I poked their eyes out, I would be the only one going to a juvenile detention center. It has nothing to do with your or are you afraid of being called as a witness?”
The cla.s.s leader’s right hand twitched as if she wanted to slap me, but she held herself back in the end.
“Anyway… I won’t allow anyone from cla.s.s 2-3 to enter juvy.”
“Also, I won’t allow you to lose hope in humanity. You may not have received motherly love, but… eventually there will be someone who will treat you well…”
I frowned, “Who’s going to treat me well?”
The cla.s.s leader hesitated a bit, then said after biting her lips:
“Doesn’t Xiao Qin like you? She’s already told us many times before you’re the only person she will marry. Although it’s not okay for middle schoolers to date so early, but you guys are childhood friends, so it’s not weird to get together…”
What, why do I have to compensate for my lack of motherly love from Xiao Qin? Stop joking, I’ve never felt inferior for being a child of a single parent family as a child. But I have felt inferior for being beaten up by the Little Tyrant everyday. If I had a time machine, the first thing I do wouldn’t be to go back to the time when Ai ShuQiao abandoned me, but find the Little Tyrant and threaten her and say if she keeps bullying me, I would expose the fact she’s a girl.
I chuckled and left the cla.s.s leader baffled.
“Don’t believe Xiao Qin’s nonsense. I can end up with anyone except Xiao Qin.”
“Is it because she lost your little brother?” The cla.s.s leader still stood on Xiao Qin’s side.
“No, didn’t I already say I don’t have a brother. My mom abandoned us right when I was born, so where would I get a younger brother? Do you think my brother was sent to us in the mail or something? Why would my dad even raise a child of unknown origins?”
“Then… the photo by Xiao Qin’s bed…”
“That’s not my brother, it’s me. If you don’t believe me, I can show you old pictures of me and my dad.”
“Impossible.” The cla.s.s leader shook her head, “That’s a photo of a cute boy…”
So it can’t be me because he’s cute? It still hurts me even if it’s understandable.
“It’s me. I looked good when I was a kid, but my face grew deformed, it’s as simple as that. If Harry Potter can grow up deformed, then why can’t I?”
The cla.s.s leader a.n.a.lyzed my words and began to think it’s possible I didn’t have a younger brother.
“Why did Xiao Qin lie?”
“Because she’s moronic.”
“That means your kids won’t be ugly either.”
Huh, why are you talking about my kids?
The cla.s.s leader also realized there was something wrong with her statement, so she changed the topic.
“Since you never had a younger brother, then that means Xiao Qin didn’t lose your brother. Then why can’t you accept her?”
“There’s not really any good reason, it’s just… because we’re too familiar with each other. We even know how many times we wet the bed as kids. I can’t really date her, but only treat her as a sister.”
Actually, she’s the only one who knew how many times I wet the bed. The Little Tyrant even stuck a note on my back that said ‘bet wetter’.
“Then does Xiao Qin know you don’t want to progress as lovers?”
The cla.s.s leader asked cautiously.
“She does.” I lied to the cla.s.s leader, “But what can I do if she’s moronic and refuses to give up.”
The cla.s.s leader brushed a loft of hair behind her ear and it seemed she was in deep thought.
“Turn left here.”
The cla.s.s leader, who had been following behind me and going with the flow, gave out her first orders and brought us to the kitchen and bath area she was interested in.