Minodayz: Well, trust everyone had a great weekend. If you are like me, you"ll be wondering about that text session between RS & LEQ, rest a.s.sured it"s not one of those hanging moments. We are also going to find out if our couple will get their blessings from the Li Family!!! Spidey sense are still tingling, so I believe we are in for more trouble. And thus will we see the rise of the MG!!
As we are closing in on the end of the novel, the team has decided to give out whole chapter yet again…. enjoy while stocks last! LOL!!!
Don"t forget to check out Tranzgeek"s & .
Chapter 55
It"s because I was thinking of you. That"s why I made up this nonsensical text to send you. I was thinking that you"d reprimand me for being silly, but then you said it yourself – I missed you.
In regards to the matter of Li Erqin beginning an "early courtship", her parents found a suitable opportunity during the weekend to start a discussion with her.
Li Zhengwen took first lead. He steeped his cup of tea and then went into the garden to set up some nuts and snacks. Then he had the "aunty" go call for Li Erqin.
(T/N: The term "aunty" is often used in Chinese to speak of a woman who is older but can either be related or a home helper)
Before Li Erqin went to the garden, she had detoured into the study to greet her mother before she finally sat down in front of Li Zhengwen.
Li Zhengwen was blowing at his tea leaves and began his spew in a roundabout way. "Have your studies been going well?"
Li Erqin unflappably looked at her father as she answered, "Yup, and the boy from last time is my boyfriend."
Li Zhengwen sprayed a mouthful of tea out.
Li Erqin went back into the lounge to snag him a tissue and then returned to sit before him again. "Why do you always have to beat around the bush when you want to talk about something?"
Li Zhengwen frowned. "Nothing wrong in wanting to warm up to the topic, right?"
"My studies have been rather good. While I was away from school for those days, my cla.s.smates helped me catch up on what I missed out on."
"Eh hmm," Li Zhengwen coughed. "What"s the boy"s name?"
"Rong Si."
"Rong?" Li Zhengwen rhetorically asked, "Local?"
"Yes."
Li Zhengwen pondered seriously for a moment before continuing, "In principle, both your mum and I are not in favour of you engaging in any relationship at the moment."
Li Erqin finally displayed a look of anxiousness. "I won"t let it affect my studies."
"It"s not just a question of merely your studies. You are at an age where your feelings and body aren"t fully matured yet…"
"Dad."
Li Zhengwen had his spew interrupted and instinctively replied, "Hmm?"
Li Erqin took this simple utterance as a sign to continue. "You"re thinking too much into it."
"Am I?"
"Yes."
Li Zhengwen was still apprehensive. "I still feel that you should put your heart into your studies. Although I know that you"re at the age when you"re beginning to develop romantic feelings, but are you able to differentiate between liking someone and just viewing someone favorably?"
(Minodayz : never knew how hard to find anime to relate to father and daughter, so I resorted to drama. Seems out of place a tad with all the anime, but I love the father"s expression!)
Li Erqin pouted. "Dad, what did you say before?"
"What?"
"Life is about experiences. I like him, and it doesn"t matter if it"s just a nice feeling or true liking, it"s only by being together and giving it a go that I"ll know."
Li Zhengwen had no words to refute this.
Li Erqin continued, "Moreover, once I"ve realised that it has turned out to be a mistake, I will immediately put an end to it."
"For example?" Li Zhengwen felt that Li Erqin had reached an age where he was no longer able to figure her out.
"For example, when I feel that the relationship is affecting my studies, or when I"ve come to realise that my feelings for Rong Si were merely admiration, or should I realise that Rong Si in reality doesn"t like me."
Li Zhengwen lifted his cup of tea to take a drink so he could mask his own expression. He had lived to this ripe age whereby wherever he went he was able to speak confidently and frankly. His thinking was clear and logical and yet not once had it crossed his mind that he would one day be seated face to face with his own daughter and listen to her articulate and discuss matters well beyond her years.
Li Zhengwen wanted to seek his genteel wife for reinforcement as he was unable to out talk his daughter.
Li Erqin took a drink of orange juice before asking, "Do you have any more questions for me?"
Li Zhengwen asked, "What would you like for dinner?"
Li Erqin was grinning as she peeled an orange. "I"ll go ask mum what she feels like eating."
After their conversation had ended, Li Zhengwen realised that he wanted very much to persuade his daughter not to start any boy/girl relationships. The main reason was that he didn"t want his daughter to transfer her attention onto another male this early on. Originally, in this world, Li Erqin"s main love, admiration and concern for a male figure had always been him.
But now it will no longer be.
After much mulling, he felt that he had lost his appet.i.te for dinner.
(Minodayz : Awww… I felt for Mr Li. It"s like hearing my father"s heart.)
While Li Erqin and her family were spending a warm and harmonious weekend together, a video was being rapidly shared around the web.
The videographer had taken a video of the cla.s.sroom block opposite from his own apartment block, and it depicted some female students engaged in an argument. The video was taken from quite a distance so the sound quality was dismal. What could be seen was a girl with a ponytail holding something in her hand as she smashed it into the other girl"s face. The other girl was then shown crouched on the ground in pain. After this, the camerawork turned a little shaky before returning to the scene. The girls had now ganged up and were fighting in a group, and it was indiscernible who was beating whom.
Along with the video was the caption: What in the world! Female student relied on her family connections to bully students at school! After using her phone to smash another student, she then beat that student to the point where the student was hospitalised! We cannot tolerate such violence in school!
Another comment that was posted that had attracted tens of thousands of followings said: I know what happened after the incident. The girl who inflicted the injury was not subjected to any disciplinary action, whereas the female student who was beaten was suspended!
What was originally an undercurrent of turbulence had finally unleashed itself into a ma.s.sive storm.
Li Erqin only came to know of this incident after she had received a call from someone cursing her out. It was unknown who had posted online her personal details like email address, full name, cla.s.s and even her phone number
The only good news was that she had never been one to disclose much about her family background to any of her schoolmates. Thus, none of this had extended to her family.
She searched all related sites and comments on the web and Weibo concerning her and found the majority of it overwhelmingly partial and advantageous towards Shi Meng.
There were all these unknown outsiders who were starting rumours, slandering her and tarnishing her reputation. They depicted her in a negative light and established her as an entirely unsavoury character.
None of it had an iota of truth to it.
Preposterous netizens with their silly mob mentality.
Li Erqin pursed her lips. What had originally been a nice weekend was now totally ruined.
On Sunday afternoon, Li Erqin had packed her stuff and was ready to return to school. Just as she had lugged her week"s worth of clean clothes and the snacks she had prepared and was about to head out the front door, she was held back by Li Zhengwen"s summon.
Li Erqin quietly looked at her own father.
Li Zhengwen sensed that something was amiss. "What"s the matter?"
Li Erqin made an unconvincing expression.
"Why do I feel as if there is something not quite right with you?"
Li Erqin laughed. "Nothing"s wrong."
Li Zhengwen shook his head and decided to let it pa.s.s.
It wasn"t until Li Erqin had left home and he was sitting on the sofa reading the news on his phone that he suddenly came across a particular bit of news.
At the same time, Li Erqin had arrived at the school district. As they were entering the campus grounds, the car had to reduce its speed to a slow crawl as it drove up the main campus road.
It was only when the driver heard a shrill, metal-on-metal sc.r.a.ping sound, that he immediately stopped and jumped out to investigate. All he saw was a male student throwing away a rusted metal pipe as he made a quick getaway.
The furious driver scolded, "Oh, you little *SOB!!"
(TN: the chinese slang for this is 龟孙子 guishunzi, grandson of a turtle, where the turtle refers to a promiscuous grandmother…)
Li Erqin followed suit and got out of the car to take a look. From the front pa.s.senger door was a nasty gash that streaked from the front bender all the way to the back of the car.
She released a sigh as she knitted her brows. "Uncle, why don"t you head back first? I can manage the short distance to my hostel on my own."
The driver glared. "You piece of trash. If I get my hands on you, I will definitely skin you alive!"
Li Erqin reluctantly laughed. "Why don"t you hurry along and get the car fixed."
From where the car had stopped to the hostel was really only a short distance. However, in that very short distance, Li Erqin felt as if her back had been shredded into tatters.
After much effort, she finally arrived at the hostel and immediately let out a sigh of relief.
Su Zi, who had not been able to contact Li Erqin and was already waiting inside their dorms, dashed out to meet a frantic looking Li Erqin. "Erqin, are you alright?"
Li Erqin made a look of displeasure. "I don"t know. I"ve heard so much that I"ve become bewildered."
Su Zi was fuming. "This is possibly the first time I"ve heard you say that you were bewildered."
Both of their eyes met and laughed in shared pain.
"Rong Si and Peng Zige didn"t know how you were faring. They were unable to get in touch with you and they didn"t want to call your home number rashly, so they"re both pretty much worried to death."
Li Erqin"s face showed nary a trace of a smile. "Yah, well that"s because I have been receiving angry and nasty calls and messages."
Su Zi started to curse and swear.
"Let"s put your stuff back later this evening." She added, "The two of them are waiting for you in cla.s.s, and our cla.s.smates are also rather concerned about you."
Li Erqin accompanied Su Zi to cla.s.s. Just as she stepped into the cla.s.s, she was enveloped and surrounded by her caring cla.s.smates. "Li Erqin, are you alright?"
A magnanimous Li Erqin suddenly felt that the incident wasn"t such a big deal after all. "I"m alright."
Standing on her tiptoes, she sought out Rong Si. A quick glance and she was able to spot him standing behind the throngs of cla.s.smates. His stormy mien was the epitome of ominous clouds gathering.
Li Erqin bit into her lips. "Well… I"d like to have a word with Rong Si."
The congregated cla.s.smates were stunned before dispersing to let her through.
Li Erqin walked up to Rong Si and lifted her head to look at him.
There was a sense that the unperturbed, cold G.o.d of the Iceberg was about to go berserk.
Li Erqin wiped the smile from her face.
"Was that stupid or not?" Rong Si asked.
"Not stupid."
Rong Si was speechless.
Everyone"s attention was on the both of them.
After a moment’s pause, he asked once again, "Has it affected your parents yet?"
Li Erqin honestly replied, "Not yet."
Rong Si arched his brows. "What about you?"
Li Erqin used her fingers to indicate the effect. "Just a little bit."
Rong Si"s face once again turned dark and ominous.
The entire cla.s.s was under the spell of Rong Si"s oppressive air. If he didn"t speak, no one else spoke. It was as if they were all awaiting his next move and direction.
Rong Si tried to suppress his mounting anger, but to no avail. "Do you know who would dare do such a thing?"
Li Erqin was unable to give a definite answer. "My guess…. it would be Shi Meng?"
Rong Si did not refute this. "Don"t worry. I am already handling this matter."
"What?" Li Erqin has curious. "How are you handling it?"
Rong Si sneered, "Just wait and see."
Peng Zige, who had been hovering at the side quietly for some time, finally piped up, "Erqin, don"t be unhappy. All you"ve got to do is just wait and see!"
Rong Si lifted his hand and patted her head. "Don"t turn on your phone and don"t bother with what"s happening outside. Just use Su Zi"s phone and give your family a call to rea.s.sure them that all is well with you."
"My home?"
"Yup." Rong Si stuck his hands back into his pockets. "Someone released your home phone number."
Li Erqin was wide-eyed and immediately got hold of Su Zi"s phone and headed out of the cla.s.sroom to make a call home.
Rong Si sent Peng Zige a look and together with a few of the cla.s.s boys, they too walked out the cla.s.sroom heading in the opposite direction.
(Minodayz : OOOOOOOooo RS is onto it!!! SM you are is SO BIG TROUBLE!!!)
At Li Erqin"s home, Xu Yunshu was reluctantly unplugging the landline as she looked at a serious and upright Li Zhengwen talking on his phone.
No wonder she had felt so uneasy earlier in the afternoon. She went in search of the recently returned driver. "Do you think you could take me to Erqin"s school?"
The driver nodded. "Of course!"
After a moment"s consideration, Xu Yunshu added, "I will wait until Old Li is done with his call first."
Just as she had ended her sentence, her phone vibrated with the call from an unfamiliar number.
Xu Yunshu"s heart froze and, helpless, she said, "Don"t tell me they were able to find my mobile number too?"
Li Zhengwen, who was off in the distance, suddenly turned and spoke up, "Take the call. There"s a possibility that it"s Erlan."
Indeed it was Li Erqin.
Li Erqin got straight to the point and asked, "Mum, did they all make prank calls to the home phone?"
Xu Yunshu sighed, "Yes."
Li Erqin"s voice sounded like she was on the verge of crying. "That is too much! They"ve gone too far!"
Xu Yunshu was concerned. "Are you alright?
"I"m fine."
How could she be fine?
Xu Yunshu consoled her. "Don"t worry. Just stay in school and don"t go out. Your father is currently seeing to it."
"Ok."
Xu Yunshu sighed again.
"Mum."
"I"m here."
"Don"t worry, it"s ok. My cla.s.smates are also helping me clear up this matter and speaking up for me on my behalf. Falsehoods will never stand a chance against facts and can never completely hide the truth."
Xu Yunshu"s lips quivered, her heart breaking as her tears streamed down.
"Don"t you worry mum." Li Erqin was not able to see her expression nor hear her voice, and she was anxious. "You just stay home and wait for this to pa.s.s. You don"t need to visit me at school."
"I think we should go over to see you just to ease our hearts."
"There really isn"t any need for that." Li Erqin intentionally laughed for a second or two. "I"m really fine! Plus there are all my cla.s.smates with me."
Li Zhengwen had finished handling matters over the phone and had just hung up when he saw his wife standing by the car crying her heart out. He hurriedly went over and hugged her. "What"s the matter? Did something happen to Li Erqin?"
"She"s fine." Xu Yunshu wiped her tears, yet very quickly her face was wet again. "It"s just that my heart is hurting."
Li Zhengwen very gently held his wife. "It"s ok, don"t you worry. I will handle all of it."
Xu Yunshu gently lifted her head and asked, "Old Li, can"t I just kill him?"
Li Zhengwen was momentarily stunned speechless. "My dear, we should be moral and virtuous when we deal with others.
MInodayz Musing :
Where should I start really…. I love the Li Family! I mean such wonderful parents. They do their best for LEQ and yet trust her. They surround her with love, yet they will fight for her happiness and wellbeing. Then there is the friends – you can"t help loving SZ and PZG! They are such loyal friends, we can only wish that everyone find friends like these!!! They"re definitely a keeper. My fury over SM is beyond words. Her schemes are machinations are that of vipers and sc.u.m really. I"m sure between MG RS and Mr & Mrs Li, fury and justice will be meted out justly – mark my words!!! Lastly LEQ, our girl is getting stronger now and I believe she will also come thru ever stronger in herself because of those who stand before and behind her.
Translator: Minodayz
Editor: maripaz
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