Chapter 33: What I’m Good At ③
“Who’s your friend? I have no money, don’t follow me!” Suddenly, a voice in the classroom caught Nie Qiu’s gaze. She looked up and saw the girl named Bai Ya shaking off Chen Li’s hand, “My dad said anyone who is with you will have bad luck, don’t touch me.”
“Bai Ya, how did I treat you before? How can you be so heartless?” Chen Li looked up at Bai Ya, appearing somewhat disheveled.
“How did you treat me?” Bai Ya rolled her eyes. “If my dad didn’t insist on cooperating with your family’s company, I wouldn’t want to be around you! You tell me to do anything, and I do it. Who do you think I am? How do you treat me? Do you really think of me as a friend? Don’t be ridiculous, Chen Li. We both know what you think of me, and what I think of you.”
Chen Li stumbled back, let out a ‘hehe’ laugh, and then squatted on the ground in front of everyone, bursting into tears.
She… had lost so much now. Yes! Just as Nie Qiu said, if she had no money, who would still want to be her friend? If her parents had no money, who would still listen to her commands? She didn’t understand anything before, but now she did.
Bai Ya’s hands trembled slightly. She looked at Chen Li, who was squatting on the ground, with some compassion, before finally turning back to her seat.
Chen Li… wasn’t her lie a bit too much? Wasn’t this too cruel? If this was the reason for the bet with her, then it was completely unnecessary.
Nie Qiu took a tissue from her bag, pulled one out, walked over to Chen Li, squatted down, and handed it to her. “Stop crying, your makeup is all smudged.”
Chen Li heard Nie Qiu’s voice, looked up, took the tissue, and wiped her tears. “Nie Qiu, you won.”
Nie Qiu nodded. “Yes, I won! Chen Li, shouldn’t you clarify things now?”
Chen Li gave Nie Qiu a deep look, smiled, and said nothing. She stood up and turned to leave. She didn’t speak, but her elder sister and brother-in-law had divorced, her brother-in-law had started a studio and taken 80% of their family’s clients. The company was now in chaos and facing the danger of bankruptcy at any moment.
Now… her sister cried at home all day, and her parents were overwhelmed with worry. The thought of her going from being a pampered young lady of wealth and status to a poor person struggling to make a living filled Chen Li with shock and fear. Her friends, who used to surround her, now avoided her like a plague, showing her the stark reality.
Nie Qiu looked at Chen Li’s back and couldn’t help but call out, “Chen Li, class is about to start, where are you going?” Being treated like this by friends must feel awful, right?
Chen Li waved her hand and left the classroom under everyone’s gaze. Nie Qiu looked at the indifferent expressions of everyone in the classroom as they watched Chen Li’s retreating figure and knew that Chen Li didn’t have good popularity in class. She sighed, hoping Chen Li could figure things out on her own. First, she needed to change her personality to make friends she could get along with.
People who associate for personal gain can never be called true friends. True friends are those who would go through fire and water for their friends, who show their true feelings in times of hardship, not those who run far away at the first sign of trouble.
This class was English, but surprisingly, the English teacher, instead of his usual habit of reading a book during class, held his textbook and stood at the lectern, beginning to lecture.
Halfway through, he even smiled and said to Nie Qiu, “Nie Qiu, come up and solve a problem.”
Nie Qiu listened attentively and, upon hearing the English teacher’s words, didn’t react immediately.
The English teacher said it again, “Nie Qiu, come up and solve a problem.” Only then did Nie Qiu snap back to reality, realizing the English teacher was calling on students to solve problems. She looked at the question on the blackboard and stood up with a smile.
The English teacher then looked at Li Kai, who was playing with his mobile phone, and said with a smile, “Li Kai, you come up and try too!”
Li Kai raised an eyebrow, placed his mobile phone on his desk, walked to the lectern, took the chalk from the English teacher, and began writing and drawing on the exercises on the blackboard.
Nie Qiu finished answering her question and returned to her seat. Seeing Li Kai also put down the chalk and walk down, Nie Qiu stared at the blackboard, her face suddenly filled with surprise. No, it wasn’t because Li Kai had answered the question, but because Li Kai had used chalk to draw the English teacher on it – a lifelike sketch.
Not only Nie Qiu, but even the English teacher stood there in astonishment, staring at what Li Kai had drawn. It was full of humor, as the male teacher had a flower on his head.
The students, who had been occupied with their own activities, burst into laughter upon seeing it, pointing at the drawing on the blackboard and discussing it with amusement. Even Nie Qiu couldn’t help but laugh.
Li Kai returned to his seat, patted his pants pocket, and then searched his desk. He couldn’t find his mobile phone. He frowned and looked at Nie Qiu, “Nie Qiu, have you seen my phone?”
Nie Qiu shook her head. “No, where did you put your phone just now?”
Zhang Haiyang, sitting in the front row, turned his head, looked at Nie Qiu, and said to Li Kai, “A Kai, I just saw Nie Qiu take your phone.”
Li Kai looked at Nie Qiu with suspicion, frowning, “Nie Qiu, did you take it?”
Seeing the expressions of the people around her, Nie Qiu slammed the table and stood up, saying to Zhang Haiyang, “You’re lying, why would I take his phone?”
Zhang Haiyang pouted. “How would I know why you’d take A Kai’s phone? Someone like you, who hasn’t even touched a phone, would naturally want A Kai’s phone.”
The commotion here attracted everyone in the class, including the English teacher standing at the lectern. Some students even ignored the English teacher and gathered around.
“I didn’t take the phone,” Nie Qiu stood up straight. “If you don’t believe me, you can search me.”
“Fine! Then search me!” Wang Chao Lei stepped forward, yanked Nie Qiu’s schoolbag out from under her desk, and with a ‘rip,’ the strap broke, scattering books all over the floor. A black Wei Tu mobile phone fell out.
Li Kai squatted down, picked up the phone from the ground, and approached Nie Qiu, “Nie Qiu, how do you explain this?”
Nie Qiu looked at the surrounding classmates. These people were all watching the show with amusement. The English teacher, standing to the side, also looked at Nie Qiu with disbelief.
Nie Qiu curled her lips into a smile. “What a clever tactic!”
Li Kai was stunned for a moment, then saw Nie Qiu turn around. “There are witnesses all around, yet no one dares to stand up and speak for me. In that case… I’ll have to speak for myself.”
Nie Qiu snorted coldly. “The person sitting in front of me is Zhang Haiyang, right? It seems you’re Li Kai’s good friend, aren’t you? Humph, how funny. You claim to have seen me steal Li Kai’s things, yet you don’t stop me. What kind of friend are you?”
“No need to say, the one who ripped my schoolbag is called Wang Chao Lei, right?” Nie Qiu smiled even more disdainfully. “What a hopeless bunch of people, did you feed your brains to the dogs? If I had stolen Li Kai’s phone, and if I had hidden the phone in my schoolbag, would I have let you search me so easily? Would I have given you the chance to get my schoolbag? Do you think I’m as foolish as you are?”
Nie Qiu squatted down, picked up the scattered books, and put them on her back. Then she looked at the shocked crowd and the teacher, who had a look of sudden realization. “Wait a moment, I will call the police. Regardless, this phone is a Wei Tu, with a market value of at least over one hundred thousand yuan. Therefore, I will wait for the police to handle this matter.”
Saying this, Nie Qiu looked at the English teacher and bowed. “Teacher, I’m not feeling well today. Please tell the homeroom teacher for me, I’m leaving now.” With that, she left the classroom and the school without looking back.
