Chu Yang had no intention of paying any attention to Lin Shushu, but Lin Shushu walked right up to her and said sarcastically, "What are you doing here, Chu Yang? Don't tell me you found out where we were going and followed us here. You really are everywhere, I won't believe you're not stalking Li Qinglu and the others. You rejected an open invitation to join us before, but now you're sneaking around like this."
Chu Yang simply rolled her eyes. "Bad vibes!" she said, then immediately left.
Lin Shushu was stunned. "What did she just say?"
Li Qinglu and the others were also confused. Although Chu Yang had said "bad vibes" last time as well, Shushu thought she was just in a bad mood. She didn't expect her to say it again - did she really not want anything more to do with them?
One of the boys said, "What's up with Chu Yang? Didn't she used to follow us around?"
Another boy replied, "Maybe she's got herself a new gang."
"But didn't she have a thing for Ah Xiao before?"
"Maybe seeing Li Qinglu and Ah Xiao together turned her off them."
Gu Xiao's eyes flashed with distaste. "Let's go," he said.
"Yeah, let's go. We wouldn't have given her the time of day if she hadn't stuck to us before."
"Too right."
Hearing everyone talk like this made Lin Shushu happy. "Let's get out of here!" she said.
On Monday morning, Chu Yang noticed Teacher Li glance at her several times during class. After class he called her over. "How's the home tutoring going? Is the student alright?"
Chu Yang nodded. "Pretty good. The student is very obedient."
"That's good. Come to me if you have any difficulties."
"Thank you, teacher."
Then there was silence...
Suddenly Teacher Li said, "Is there anything else you want to say?"
Chu Yang shook her head in bewilderment. Li Deyong waved his hand to dismiss her.
As she walked out of the classroom, Chu Yang smacked her forehead - of course, she used to always tell Teacher Li if she foresaw anything, but everything had already happened this time, so that was why he asked.
Chu Yang 'looked' again - today's Teacher Li had no mishaps, all was well.
That night, as Teacher Li was about to go to bed, he thought about how smooth the day had been and understood why Chu Yang had said nothing... No! As a teacher he shouldn't believe in feudal superstitions! Science and technology are the primary productive forces! Yes, yes, it was all just coincidence.
Whether it really was just coincidence or not, perhaps only Teacher Li himself knew.
At 7pm on Friday the school gala was held in the auditorium. Zhou Caicai, who was performing, had gone over very early and saved seats for Chu Yang. When Chu Yang, Jin Yang and Xiao Bai arrived just after 6pm, the auditorium was already packed and noisy.
"Luckily Caicai saved us seats, otherwise we'd be stuck right at the back," said one of them.
Their seats were pretty near the front with a decent view.
The gala started bang on 7pm with a sizzling hot dance routine. Chu Yang thought the atmosphere was great - it made her appreciate college life all over again.
And she'd heard there was going to be a prize draw later too.
Chu Yang sat sipping her milk tea and watching the performances. After the second act she suddenly needed the bathroom. She handed her drink to Jin Yang, "I'm just popping to the loo, be right back."
"No problem."
The bathroom wasn't too crowded - either people were backstage getting ready or sitting out front watching the show. Chu Yang went straight in, did her business, and was out again in two minutes.
She went back to her seat to carry on watching.
Backstage, Zhou Caicai was chatting with her team while they waited. Then Li Qinglu from another group suddenly said, "I can't find my dance shoes, has anyone seen them?"
Everyone shook their heads. "Haven't seen them."
Li Qinglu looked close to tears. "What am I going to do?"
Gu Xiao and Lin Shushu quickly said, "Don't worry, you've still got one performance before yours, we'll go look for them."
The teacher also sent some other people to help search.
But by the time Li Qinglu was due on stage they still hadn't found them. She gritted her teeth and said, "It's fine, I'll just go on barefoot. I can do it."
And she did - just like in the book, she performed very well. The teachers in the audience kept nodding, and asked the person sat next to them, "What's that student's name? Which department is she from?"
From her seat out front, Chu Yang also thought she was great. What a female lead! Though...why was she barefoot? It definitely wasn't Chu Yang who'd thrown her shoes away or anything.
When Li Qinglu came off stage and went backstage again, a girl came from the bathroom holding a pair of shoes. "I saw these in the bins in the ladies' toilets - are they yours?"
Li Qinglu quickly nodded, "Yes, they're mine! But who threw them in the bin?"
Everyone realised when they heard that someone must have deliberately dumped Li Qinglu's shoes in the bathroom trash. They started whispering among themselves.
"Must be someone who doesn't like her getting back at her."
"None of our business anyway. It's our turn next, let's get up there."
Everyone shook their heads - it definitely wasn't them.
Lin Shushu suddenly remembered, "I saw Chu Yang go to the bathroom earlier! Could it have been... She's been so weird and hostile lately. I think it's very suspicious, and we know she went to the bathroom."
As soon as she said this, Zhou Caicai objected. "What do you mean it's most likely Chu Yang? If you've got nothing nice to say don't say anything! Loads of people went to the bathroom, what's your point? And Chu Yang hasn't even been backstage! What evidence have you got?"
Lin Shushu said, "The evidence is she's jealous of my Li Qinglu."
Zhou Caicai rolled her eyes. "Talk about big-headed! So if you say she's jealous then she must be? I could say you're the one who's jealous of me!"
Lin Shushu, "You-"
The others pulled Zhou Caicai back, "Alright alright, we need to get ready, our turn's coming up soon."
Zhou Caicai just "humphed" and ignored them.
Lin Shushu said, "Why don't I go and confront Chu Yang then?"
Li Qinglu shook her head. "Forget it, I'm sure it wasn't Chu Yang. And the show's nearly over anyway."
"We can't just let her get away with it!" Lin Shushu said angrily. "You're too soft, that's why people take advantage of you. I'm going to find her!"
Lin Shushu had seen where Chu Yang was sitting. She marched right up to her and said, "Chu Yang, come backstage for a minute."
Without even looking at her, Chu Yang said, "If you tell me to go then I have to go?"
Lin Shushu put one hand on her hip and jabbed a finger at Chu Yang with the other. "Hey! You - fine, if you won't go over I'll tell you here - you took Li Qinglu's shoes and dumped them in the toilet, forcing her to dance barefoot on stage, didn't you!"
Chu Yang: ...The pesky woman just won't leave me alone! I guess that's what you get for looking like a popular girl in a romance novel, huh? The annoying minor characters always crowd around you.
Chu Yang stood up. "You're saying I did it? Then report me to the police!" But she still followed Lin Shushu backstage, conscious of the sudden attention focused on her as she entered.
Chu Yang said very clearly in front of Li Qinglu, "Since you're alleging it was me, report me. Call the police and let them come and investigate exactly who did it." She already had her phone out to dial 110.
The female lead, Li Qinglu, immediately grabbed her hand to stop her. "No, no, I didn't say it was you. Shushu, forget it."
Lin Shushu still had her arms folded. "Let her do it! Whoever doesn't report it is acting suspicious!"
A teacher didn't want things to escalate to the point of getting police involved, which could damage the school's reputation, so they quickly said "Chu Yang, don't make that call, Miss Lin, don't throw around unfounded allegations. Without evidence we cannot carelessly accuse people. Chu Yang, we just asked you here to understand what happened, we did not say it was you. If it wasn't you then it wasn't you. Anyway, the matter is over, let's all make some compromises."
Li Qinglu nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, that's right. It's no big deal, really I'm fine."
Chu Yang just rolled her eyes again. "Fine, then you can go ahead and apologise to me. Just now, out there, she was announcing it was me who did it." She held out her hand, demanding an apology.
Lin Shushu said nothing. Like she was ever going to apologise!
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