Chapter 149: Chapter 149: Report My Name When Bullied Chapter 149: Chapter 149: Report My Name When Bullied High school fights were common, but it was rare to see a scuffle break out right in front of someone’s shop.
Jiang Nanshu peered through the gaps in the crowd and saw Ji Ze’s face covered in dust. He seemed to have grown a bit taller since she last saw him and, compared to his former frailness, he appeared to have put on some weight.
Still, he was just as bad at fighting, pinned under someone else and managing only to shield his head with his hands, trying to avoid taking a worse beating.
Jiang Nanshu finished her last sip and stood up.
Fang Minghe didn’t move but simply asked, “An acquaintance?”
“Uh huh,” Jiang Nanshu responded, “A foster brother from my rural days.”
She clicked her tongue in sympathy, “Caught him in a fight twice now. He gets beaten yet still picks fights, truly asking for trouble.”
She turned her head toward Fang Minghe, “I’ve paid for the milk tea. You can leave. Message me when it’s time to shoot, I’ve got something to handle.”
Fang Minghe watched as she made her way into the crowd.
Since Jiang Nanshu was recognized and brought back to the Jiang Family, she was particularly sensitive about her past. She didn’t hesitate to change her surname, from Ji Nanshu to Jiang Nanshu, and even harbored a particular aversion to her former foster parents. To please the Jiang Family, she hadn’t visited them once in three years.
So this time, was she going there to mock? Or to ridicule?
Fang Minghe stayed seated, deciding to finish the remaining milk tea before leaving; it wouldn’t taste as good if he took it to go.
He bit into a glutinous pearl and discovered some that burst with flavor, as if he’d found a new continent. Today’s gains were not bad at all; he’d signed an ideal spokesperson and enjoyed a milk tea that tasted better than coffee.
Just couldn’t have this thing too often, or it might affect his domineering CEO image.
Jiang Nanshu walked behind the crowd. The young men in front of her gave way unconsciously upon seeing a beautiful girl.
She had initially only wanted to watch from the outskirts, but somehow, she found herself inside the fray.
The boy on top of Ji Ze shouted angrily, “Why can’t we speak about it? It’s been spread everywhere; she’s shameless, materialistic, that’s why she left you to live the good life, and hasn’t sent a cent home in three years, right?”
“She gets called a bitch, yet you still defend her, what a lowlife. Ji Ze, you deserve to be abandoned, you’re the lowest of the low!”
The boy’s eyes were red with rage as Ji Ze curled up beneath him, his voice a restrained grunt.
A fair hand firmly grasped the boy’s descending fist. He lifted his head, and upon seeing the stunning face before him, he was startled for a moment, “You, why is it you, bitch? Let go of me.”
Jiang Nanshu slightly squinted her eyes and, with a smile on her lips, forcefully pulled the boy up from Ji Ze. She bent her leg and thrust it into his stomach. When his hand went to his belly in pain, her small leather shoe went straight to his knee. With a “bang,” he kneeled before Jiang Nanshu.
With her other hand, Jiang Nanshu tightly gripped the boy’s chin, her eyes smiling as she asked, “What were you just saying? Say it again?”
The pain made him bare his teeth and grimace. His kneecaps felt as if they were shattered, and a tumultuous pain roiled in his stomach, with cold sweat beading on his forehead. Tears suddenly spilled out of his eyes.
“Sorry, I’m sorry, I misspoke, please don’t hit me.”
He was just a student who liked to pick on the weak and feared the strong. It wasn’t the first time he had done this, bullying Ji Ze right in front of Jiang Nanshu.
But back then, Jiang Nanshu only cast a disgusted glance at Ji Ze and threw out, “If you’re gonna die, go do it somewhere else, don’t block my way. You’re bad luck. I still need to chase after my fiancé.”
Back then, Ji Ze would still seek Jiang Nanshu’s help, but what she gave him in return were disdain and mockery, telling him not to die in front of her as she found it nauseating.
And then she left, continuing to follow her fiancé’s trail without looking back.
After his failed courtship, he had taken out his anger on Ji Ze, spreading rumors in school that the Jiang Family had bullied her for nearly sixteen years, urging these country bumpkins to stay away from her, resulting in three years of isolation by his classmates. Everyone saw him as silent and taciturn, weak, and easily bullied, someone who wouldn’t even complaint when beaten up.
They ridiculed him for having a wealthy second-generation sister while still living so poorly, not knowing how to properly “suck up” to her.
But the truth was, it wasn’t that they didn’t want Jiang Nanshu; rather, Jiang Nanshu didn’t want them.
Watching Jiang Nanshu’s retreating figure, dealing with those who bullied him, in such a clean and decisive manner that it made others kneel and beg for mercy.
His memory flashed back to when Jiang Nanshu turned twelve that year. She was in her first year of junior high, and he was only eight, in his second year of primary school. When a classmate snatched his candy and he stood by the road crying, Jiang Nanshu happened to be picking him up from school, saw his tears, asked him what happened, and then disappeared.
Later, she brought back two candies for him.
She said she had bought them anew.
He believed her.
It wasn’t until a parent-teacher meeting later that he learned Jiang Nanshu had beaten that little brat, then went to the boy’s home to demand a candy from his parents as compensation. This incident made her notorious at school.
But she didn’t care at all, only gently stroked his head, smiling at him, “Silly, don’t feel guilty. I’m your sister. If you’re bullied, just say my name; I’ll protect you.”
The memory was clear, just as he vividly remembered that Jiang Nanshu had left their family three years ago.
He also remembered her protection, her affection that eventually turned into a sharp sword piercing his heart, making him cautious and afraid to expose his true feelings, afraid he’d be hurt by her once more.
Tears slid from the corners of Ji Ze’s eyes, his once so kind sister, how could she have disappeared just like that…
The boy scrambled away, not even daring to ask Jiang Nanshu to compensate for his medical expenses.
Ji Ze heard Jiang Nanshu mutter under her breath, “To curse so nastily, you’re lucky I didn’t tear your mouth up; I’m just in a good mood.”
Jiang Nanshu turned around to see Ji Ze with red eyes, crying as he watched her.
It annoyed her, but she still tried to be patient, looking down on him from above, “What are you crying for? You’re a man, aren’t you? How can you cry like a little girl after a beating? Show some spirit, Ji Ze.”
Ji Ze hastily wiped away his tears, stood up, and defiantly said, “What’s it to you? I’m the one who got beaten. What are you trying to do for me?”
The crowd had almost dispersed.
Jiang Nanshu’s gaze landed on his bruised face, a light laugh escaping her, “I’m not helping you. That guy was slandering me so horribly. How could I tolerate that?”
Ji Ze pressed his lips together, saying nothing.
Jiang Nanshu looked him up and down again. Boys sure grew fast. They hadn’t seen each other for half a month, and Ji Ze seemed to have grown a few centimeters taller, probably reaching one meter seventy by now.
In her languid tone, she said, “Also, this is the second time. If you can’t beat someone, don’t go picking fights. It’s you who’ll end up hurting. Do you really expect me to show up every time?”
“I don’t care if I get beaten to death; it’s none of your business.” Ji Ze suddenly shouted at her.
His eyes were full of grievance, “You don’t even want me anymore, so why bother with what happens to me.”
Jiang Nanshu paused, then burst into laughter, “You’re right. We have no blood relation, we’re strangers. Next time you get dragged into an alley, or mobbed on a main road, I’ll look the other way. Keep picking fights if that’s what you like.”
With that, she turned and left.
Ji Ze watched her receding back, unable to hold back his tears, he cried out, “Sister, don’t go.”