When Ji Xue received the WeChat message from Lin Man, she was eating instant noodles in her tiny rented room. The versatile white ceramic bowl contained almost no soup, and the half-soaked noodle cake had not yet softened completely.
Her phone model, long ago phased out by the market, had become increasingly laggy over time. It would take a long while to buffer after receiving just a few images.
Ji Xue was very hungry. She finished the small bowl of noodles in a few bites, drank the remaining half cup of warm water in one go, and clicked on the photo that had been loading for ages.
The old house in the urban village was not only aged but also had poor signal.
Ji Xue picked up her phone and walked a few steps toward the door. The blurry image finally became clear. It was a photo of Xie Ling holding hands with a girl.
Ji Xue had never seen that girl before, but she knew just from her back that she was very beautiful. Looking at her attire and the accessories visible on her wrist, she easily reached a conclusion.
She was a girl who was a much better match for Xie Ling than herself.
Thinking of this, she looked back at her room with its poor lighting. Although it was kept clean, the peeling wall paint, the crooked furniture, and the cheap street stall goods hanging on the clothesline outside were all telling her how delusional it was to want to be friends with Xie Ling.
Sigh, perhaps this was fate.
Ji Xue turned off her phone, rubbed her sore nose bridge, glanced up at the sun overhead, went back to wash her bowls and chopsticks, and picked up her electric scooter keys to head to work.
At the same time, at the Lin Group headquarters, in the CEO office.
Ever since meeting Xie Ling earlier, Lin Man had sent several stolen photos to Ji Xue, but she had been waiting a long time for a reply. Now, she could not help but tap on the input box and start typing.
She sat sideways on the corner of the oversized desk with her long legs resting on a chair. She wrote a long paragraph but feared that Ji Xue would think she was too long-winded. After thinking it over, she deleted it word by word and finally changed it to a short but purposeful sentence: She has a girlfriend.
When Ji Xue received this message, she was wearing her helmet and riding her electric scooter to her next part-time job.
Lin Man still felt frustrated after sending the message. She looked up at the ceiling for a while. She truly could not understand where she was inferior to Xie Ling.
Family background? Appearance? Ability? Character?
That could not be it. She clearly felt that she surpassed Xie Ling in every aspect.
This Xie Ling must have coerced and lured Ji Xue somewhere she could not see!
Coming to this realization, Lin Man pulled back her long legs, tapped her toes on the ground, sat up straight as her chair moved, and continued to check the documents in her email.
Late that night.
Xie Ling lay on her bed, holding her phone and dozing off. Just as the phone was about to slip from her hand, a continuous buzzing and constant message alerts shocked her into sudden alertness, and she opened her eyes wide.
The Crazy Girls group had already been set to Do Not Disturb, so it was clear she had been dragged into another group.
Xie Ling rubbed her eyes, picked up the phone, and took a look. It was nearly midnight. Appearing at the top of her chat list was the Blockade the Lin Family Action Team group she had just quit not long ago.
There were dozens of messages. Xie Ling browsed through them roughly; almost all of them were messages claiming credit for forcing the Lin family into a corner through their individual efforts.
Xie Ling was confused. She did not quite understand how the Qian, Tang, and Ren families had operated to achieve the results they claimed.
The Xie family was in the real estate business, and the Lin family was in construction materials. It was normal for the Xie and Lin families to have collaborated in the past, as there was indeed a need for it.
However, the Qian family dealt in seafood, the Tang family in garment trading, and the Ren family in cosmetics.
How did they manage to blockade the Lin family through such unrelated business relationships?
Xie Ling expressed utter confusion.
Therefore, amidst the cheers and pleas for praise, she typed a whole input box of question marks.
Then she asked: Qian Lu, are you planning to implement a real-name verification system for buying seafood, so that the Lin family and all of their employees can never eat your seafood again for the rest of their lives?
Give You a Punch: ……
Xie Ling: Wenwen, what about you? Are you going to ensure the Lin family can never wear your clothes again? Please, the Lin family gets their underwear delivered by shop assistants!
Backhand Punch: ……
Xie Ling: And Ren Xuan.
Drink More Hot Water: Stop, you should listen to us finish first.
Xie Ling pressed the bottom of the screen and shouted angrily, “I will listen to nothing! It is already midnight, and I have to go to work tomorrow! I beg you! I really need to sleep!”
The group of four went quiet after Xie Ling’s roar. Xie Ling was just about to be grateful for their understanding when she saw the notification that she had been removed from the group chat.
Fine, fine, as long as you are all happy.
She threw the phone aside, covered her head, and slept until dawn.
The next morning, she woke up on time with the alarm clock for work.
It seemed she had completely disregarded the tall tales Ren Xuan and the others had told, until a week later, when she was blocked on the road by Lin Man again.
Xie Ling’s driving skills had steadily improved with practice, but she still had not reached the level of ease the original owner had. After hitting the brakes in time, her white Audi A6 still tapped the taillight of the Maybach.
As everyone knows, for the entire rear of a car, the taillight is the most expensive part to repair.
So, when Xie Ling realized it was Lin Man causing trouble on purpose, she calmly waved her hand and said, “Settling privately is impossible. Go through your own insurance.”
Lin Man swallowed hard. Her already sky-high anger grew even stronger. She had been blinded by rage and ignored even the last bit of restraint, pressing Xie Ling against the side door of her car right in the middle of the street.
Xie Ling tilted her head and looked at the onlookers who were slowly gathering around, saying indifferently, “You were the one who forced me to stop on purpose anyway.”
“Xie Ling! Do not go too far!” Lin Man spoke through gritted teeth, not wanting to hear her analyze the liability of the traffic accident at all. She looked as if she wanted to tear her apart on the spot.
Xie Ling looked at Lin Man’s face and her voice gradually lowered.
However, in the days since, she had been working earnestly every day, getting off work on time, and had not even seen Ji Xue. What could she have possibly done? Could it be that she found out about the thesis?
That could not be it. Had she, the person involved, not yet received a call from the school?
The more Xie Ling thought about it, the more confused she became. She raised her hand in doubt to block Lin Man’s hand.
Seeing more and more people stopping to watch, Lin Man still had no intention of backing down. Xie Ling frowned and said coldly, “Let go. I do not understand what you are talking about.”
“You do not understand? You villain! Just because of your personal grudge against me, you actually escalated it to involve my entire family and company, cutting off all my business partners!” Lin Man’s eyes were red. Perhaps the angrier she got, the more she could not help it, as she raised her hand and punched Xie Ling in the face.
Xie Ling tilted her body, her forehead hitting the car body, and her teeth cutting into her cheek, causing drops of blood to flow from the corner of her mouth.
“……”
Xie Ling had long found Lin Man unpleasant, but out of the realization that she was just digging her own grave, she had endured it. She had not expected this rebellious child to actually hit her.
She immediately lost her restraint, punched her back, and then lunged at her. While pulling Lin Man’s hair and pressing her to the ground, she scolded, “Rebellious child! Idiot! Do you know who I am! How dare you hit me! Do you believe I can write you to death?”
“You say everything is my doing. What evidence do you have? I was wondering why I suddenly gained extra points; it turns out it was all things you made up in your head!”
Xie Ling was truly angry. Was Lin Man’s intelligence not supposed to be set very high? How could she do such a brainless thing!
Setting everything else aside, just based on the fact that she attacked her in broad daylight, it was enough to conclude that she was brain-damaged.
Assuming the Xie family truly had the power to cover the sky as Lin Man claimed, would doing this now not just be intensifying the conflict? Had she never thought about the fate of the Lin family after such an impulse?
Or was it that the Lin family had already reached the point of giving up on themselves?
Or even worse, did Lin Man feel that she had been defeated and could no longer stand up?
Simply ridiculous!
She was just a jerk!
Night had fallen. The onlookers whispered to one another, and from time to time, one could hear voices shouting “Stop fighting,” but no one stepped forward to break up the fight. Most were simply holding up their phones to record videos.
To them, two rich people driving such expensive cars fighting on the street was a very fresh event.
Ji Xue had just finished work, rode her electric scooter from the corner onto the main road, and within five minutes, she saw this scene. She looked over curiously, slowly decelerated, and stopped to the side.
The two people rolling together had disheveled hair, and their clothes were stained with mud and dust, making it hard to see what they looked like.
Ji Xue parked her scooter, pulled out the key, and did not even take off her helmet or remove her wool gloves. She rushed over in a panic to pull them apart.
“Stop fighting, stop fighting! If you have something to say, say it nicely. You are causing a traffic jam behind you.”
Xie Ling and Lin Man were stunned when they heard Ji Xue’s voice. Xie Ling was pressed underneath, and Lin Man, who was on top, was pulled up by Ji Xue.
When Ji Xue saw clearly that the person lying on the ground was Xie Ling, she hurriedly squatted down to help her up. Then, she looked at Lin Man with a hint of subtle hostility.
Lin Man looked at those indifferent eyes, wanting to say something but stopping herself, and a sense of powerlessness instantly engulfed her.
Xie Ling also did not expect to run into Ji Xue here. She used Ji Xue’s strength to sit up from the ground, and when she saw the complicated emotions in those eyes, she slowly withdrew her hand.
Ji Xue looked at the empty hand, then turned to look at Lin Man, “Are you bullying her again?”
“I…”
Little Rebel dinged: “Congratulations! Frustration level +2!”
Xie Ling looked at Ji Xue standing in front of her, listening to the system’s broadcast, yet she could not feel happy at all. The story’s development had completely derailed.
The misunderstanding between Lin Man and Ji Xue was likely deepening.
Thinking of this, Xie Ling felt a headache.
She clapped her palms, stood up from the ground, looked at Ji Xue, who was clearly so short yet still standing in front of her, opened her mouth helplessly, and said coldly, “Mind your own business.”
More shocked than Ji Xue was Lin Man, standing opposite. Her mouth twitched, and her eyebrows knitted together.
What was this? The person Lin Man was longing for was considered so superfluous in that person’s eyes? Saying Ji Xue was meddling in her own business?
Lin Man’s clenched fists tightened again. She looked past Ji Xue’s head at the expressionless Xie Ling, wishing she could add a few more bruises to that already battered face.
Xie Ling looked into Lin Man’s eyes, snorted through her nose, pointed her index finger at her, turned around, and got into the car.
Ji Xue heard the sound of the car door closing. After looking back, she also pulled out the car key from her pocket and got on her electric scooter.
The scene, which had been filled with car horns just a moment ago, was now left with only Lin Man. She looked at Xie Ling’s taillights, punched the rear of the Maybach in hatred, and silent tears slid down the corners of her eyes uncontrollably.