Xiao Yan did not hurry home to do homework as usual after getting off work. He sat alone at the bar, holding the half-empty bottle of red wine, drinking silently.
The bartender, who had a good relationship with him, patted his shoulder and comforted: "You made quite a lot in tips tonight, almost equal to our salary for a few months. What's there to be upset about?"
"I'm not upset."
He wasn't upset, just a little frustrated.
"I know. You never knelt to serve customers before just for more tips. But you did it for the first time tonight. We don't have money or dignity without money. Overthinking will only make you more upset."
Indeed, before tonight, Xiao Yan had never degraded himself like other waiters, becoming a jumping clown without any bottom line just for more tips.
He believed he would climb up eventually with his own ability, standing on his feet to earn money.
What happened tonight, he admitted, he wanted to teach Xu Jia Ning a lesson. At the same time, he also wanted to stimulate Lin Chu Sui, to let her see the cruelest truth of this society.
The progress jumped to 10%, proving he succeeded.
Xiao Yan was a practical person. To live, to live decently, he could do anything, use any means.
With his skills, seducing a silly girl who was carefree as a samoyed every day would be easy.
Just a little trick could make her obedient, help improve her grades, and guide her onto the right path...
While Xiao Yan just wanted to survive, he wanted to earn himself a future.
The task was one-tenth complete. If it kept going according to plan, completing it in a year would be easy.
But Xiao Yan just couldn't feel happy. Not only was he not happy, he felt very depressed, especially when he saw Lin Chu Sui defending him repeatedly, every word was "my deskmate this and that"...
Since childhood, except for his sister, no one had cared about him like this.
His sister was a relative. But what was she?
He was the culprit who indirectly caused her father's death. If she found out the truth one day, would she want to stab him with a knife?
Xiao Yan drank the last sip of wine, flipped the bottle upside down on the table, and left.
...
Xu Jia Ning took Lin Chu Sui back home.
It just so happened that Fang You Yi was on a business trip these two days and not at home. Actually, Lin Chu Sui was a little apprehensive, afraid that her stepfather Xu Song Bai would want to discipline her again.
But tonight, Old Xu probably had no mood to quarrel with her, because Little Xu had just spent a total of 223,400 on his bound credit card.
Xu Song Bai was not that he couldn't afford this amount. But the key was the whereabouts of this money, which turned out to be a certain entertainment club.
He had always been strict in controlling Xu Jia Ning. With so many years of tiger dad education, he had cultivated his son into the most excellent appearance.
It could be said that Xu Jia Ning was a model example of his educational philosophy.
Precisely because of this, although Fang You Yi was dissatisfied with his previous words and deeds towards Lin Chu Sui, she didn't say much more, because the excellent Xu Jia Ning was here, facts spoke louder than words.
But tonight, not only did Xu Jia Ning go to the entertainment club he shouldn't have set foot in, but also spent over two hundred thousand lavishly!
When Xu Song Bai saw the text message, he was so angry that he almost fainted.
Old Xu wanted to discipline his son, of course Lin Chu Sui was happy, wishing this Xu Jia Ning would be scolded and beaten every day.
However, she was true to her words. She had promised Xu Jia Ning something, so she had to keep her words.
She walked up to Xu Song Bai and bowed to apologize: "I'm sorry."
Xu Song Bai suppressed his anger towards Xu Jia Ning and asked, "What are you sorry for?"
"Kids shouldn't bully adults, shouldn't embarrass you, shouldn't fail to notice Xu Jia Ning taking pictures and videos in a timely manner when we were fighting..." She continued, "In short, I'm sorry!"
After saying this, Xu Song Bai's anger turned directly into level ten fury. He couldn't hit Lin Chu Sui anymore. Instead, he took out all his anger on Xu Jia Ning.
"Bastard, kneel down for me!"
Xu Jia Ning knelt down straight without hesitation.
Xu Song Bai looked around the house, couldn't find any "weapon" at hand, so he went to the balcony and picked up a hanger, hitting Xu Jia Ning's broad back with crisp sounds.
Even listening to the sounds made Lin Chu Sui feel pain. But Xu Jia Ning had a backbone. He didn't make a sound, let alone plead for mercy.
Seeing him clench his teeth like this, Xu Song Bai became even more angry, and increased his strength, hitting Xu Jia Ning's spine. He shouted angrily, "I've raised you in vain all these years! I sent you out to study, but instead you developed the bad habits of a prodigal son. What's the difference between you and those good-for-nothings! Do you admit your mistake!"
"Yes, I was wrong." His voice was already weak and hoarse.
Unexpectedly, Xu Song Bai hit him even harder: "I see you don't even realize where you did wrong!"
Lin Chu Sui finally couldn't stand watching anymore. She blocked in front of Xu Jia Ning and said, "Do you have any chivalry? He already admitted he was wrong, yet you still beat him?"
"It's none of your business how I discipline my son. No pain, no gain. If you were my daughter, I would beat you all the same!"
"Well I'm not your daughter. Try hitting me."
"I promised your mother I won't hit you, but I have ways to make you know your mistakes."
Lin Chu Sui knew this guy's nasty tricks—he must have been badmouthing her behind Fang You Yi's back to make her days difficult.
But even so, Lin Chu Sui couldn't just sit by and watch: "This is my home. If you want to beat someone, beat them outside. We don't allow violence in our home."
These were Old Lin's words.
Fang You Yi listened to Old Lin very much. Even though she had a fiery temper, she had never laid a hand on Lin Chu Sui, no matter how rebellious and unrecognizable she had become later.
Home should be a place full of warmth and understanding, not violence.
Xu Song Bai looked at Lin Chu Sui and shouted angrily, "Your mother and I are already married. This is our shared home. It's only natural that I discipline my son in my own home. I advise you not to get involved, or I'll teach you a lesson as well."
"You dare!"
Xu Jia Ning, who had been silent all along, couldn't help but tug lightly at Lin Chu Sui's sleeve: "Stop playing hero here. Go back to your room and do your homework."
Lin Chu Sui ignored him and confronted Xu Song Bai, enunciating each word clearly: "Don't hit him anymore!"
Seeing the girl blocking in front of him, Xu Jia Ning's eyes were a bit complicated.
Xu Song Bai put down the hanger. His anger was not yet extinguished as he said, "Fine, no more hitting. Although I don't know what you were spending so much money on at the bar, money spent is money spent. But I've taught you since you were little to consider the consequences before making choices, think thrice before you act. Now that you've made your choice, do you have the courage to bear the consequences?"
"Yes, I do." Xu Jia Ning lifted his head as if having expected this.
"Good. For the midterm test, I want you to rank first in the grade."
Lin Chu Sui laughed. "The difficulty of that is the same as him suddenly waking up tomorrow morning and becoming my loving elder brother... The probability is slim. The top student in our school is a super genius. No one can surpass him."
Xu Song Bai looked at Xu Jia Ning: "If you can't do it, you can move in with your mother."
Xu Jia Ning looked incredulous. "What!"
Xu Song Bai was completely serious: "Since someone questioned that I'm not a good father, you can go experience what a good mother your mother is."
"Blaming others' faults on me, punishing others' thoughts on me. In your eyes, am I so unworthy?"
Xu Jia Ning almost blurted this out, but held it back in the end. After a long time, he unclenched his fist and said in a deep voice, "I will rank first."
...
During that time, Xu Jia Ning studied hard to compete for the grade's first place against Xiao Yan.
Lin Chu Sui told her "esteemed deskmate" this secret news, but her "esteemed deskmate" only replied:
"Oh."
Lin Chu Sui officiously said, "During the time you were working part-time, that fake foreign devil has been studying late into the night every day. And this morning at five, he was already reciting Poetry in the courtyard!"
"As far as I know, that poem should be called Kong Que Dong Nan Fei (The Peacock Flies Southeast)."
"Don't mind the details."
"That's not a detail." He knocked on her head with his book and said, "It directly affects your score."
"Nevermind me! Aren't you afraid?"
"Why is my deskmate suddenly concerned about me?"
Lin Chu Sui argued, "I'm not concerned about you. I just don't want to see that arrogant look on the fake foreign devil's face when he ranks first."
"Then you can rest assured. He won't surpass me."
At first, Lin Chu Sui was still worried that Xiao Yan was overconfident. But after a math quiz two days later, Xu Jia Ning's face turned dark right on the spot.
Lin Chu Sui secretly looked at their papers, 147 and 150.
Although the scores were close, with only a small difference of 3 points... it was enough to demonstrate the gap between the two.
She smiled and turned back, stabbing the already battered Xu Jia Ning once more: "A mere school star, vainly attempting to compete with the school genius, how audacious."
...
Lin Chu Sui also started preparing seriously for the marathon coming up in half a month.
Every evening, she stayed behind to train with the school team. Lu Chi curious asked her, "Weren't you very easygoing about it at first? Why did you suddenly decide to participate in the competition?"
Lin Chu Sui admitted frankly, "I was inspired by the school genius's motivational spirit."
"Because of what happened that night at KTV?"
"Yeah."
Lu Chi patted her shoulder, "Competition in this society is cruel to begin with. Survival of the fittest. It's regress if you don't progress."
Lin Chu Sui nodded grievously. "Yes, especially for people like me."
"What kind of people are you?"
"People like me, if I don't work hard, I'd have to go back and inherit the huge family fortune. How embarrassing would that be for me."
After speaking, she let out a deliberately meaningful sigh.
Lu Chi: "..."
The hand reaching out to comfort her retracted back.
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