Chapter 21
During this class, Jiang Yu’s head was like a spinning top, constantly twisting backward. The frequency was annoying even the most easy-going physics teacher.
“Jiang Yu, why don’t you switch seats with Lin Xiu? I see you keep turning around; it must be tiring.”
Chi Abei was studying Lin Xiu’s exercise book and didn’t notice Jiang Yu constantly looking back at him. Hearing the laughter, he didn’t realize why Jiang Yu was turning around and raised his head to laugh along with everyone.
Lin Xiu glanced at him: “Do you know what’s going on before joining the fun?”
Lin Xiu was referring to the present, and also the past. Having lived a second life, he naturally knew the relationship between Jiang Yu and Jiang Wenyu. Their conflict was their own business. The little fool didn’t know anything and interfered, which was meddling.
Chi Abei thought Lin Xiu was referring to the present. He shook his head: “I don’t know.”
Lin Xiu: “Then don’t meddle.”
Chi Abei didn’t quite understand. He just smiled. How was he meddling?
When the bell rang, Chen Jiang called Chi Abei and Jiang Yu to the teacher’s office.
In the corridor, Jiang Yu finally found a chance to ask Chi Abei: “Why did you lie?”
Chi Abei thought, Why else? Of course, to prevent you from being heartless and hurting my precious gege in the future!
He glanced at the class teacher walking in front and whispered: “To help you get revenge.”
Jiang Yu, who had suffered so much injustice in the Jiang family, knew for the first time what it felt like to have someone on his side. He suppressed the sourness in his nose: “Aren’t you afraid of being exposed?”
Chi Abei said proudly: “Don’t worry. I grew up eating lies. No one can expose me. Besides, I’m a fool. Would your family’s fool lie?”
Jiang Yu: “…” My family doesn’t have one, but our class does.
Near the teacher’s office, Jiang Yu suddenly remembered: “How should I cooperate with you later?”
Chi Abei, who never needed anyone’s cooperation for his jokes, was stunned. He looked at Jiang Yu: “Can you cry?”
Jiang Yu, who had almost cried from emotion earlier: “…Wh-what?”
Chi Abei: “Cry.”
Jiang Yu couldn’t possibly admit he could cry. He turned his head: “I can’t.”
“Forget it.” Chi Abei expected as much: “You don’t need to say anything. Just watch my performance.”
Chi Wendong and Jiang Yu’s father had been there for a while, exchanging pleasantries. The older one looked noticeably humble.
The Jiang family and the Chi family had similar status in Dongcheng, but since Chi Wendong joined the company, the Chi family had visibly surpassed several companies that were previously on par with them.
Now, Jiang Fu was seeking a partnership with the Chi family. He and Chi Wendong had met several times for this matter, and unexpectedly, thanks to his son, they met again here.
Jiang Fu turned and glared fiercely at Jiang Wenyu.
Jiang Wenyu had been standing there for almost half a class. Since Chi Abei and Jiang Yu were in Class 1, the top students’ classes came first; even if both parents were present, they would have to wait until the class was over. Jiang Wenyu was in Class 8, with the lowest grades; whether he attended class or not didn’t matter much.
Jiang Wenyu had just been kicked by Jiang Fu and stood for a long time; his legs were numb. Just as he was about to secretly tap his legs, a figure flashed in…
“Ge,” Chi Abei rushed in, hugging Chi Wendong’s arm, and raised his head aggrievedly: “Someone hit me.”
Jiang Wenyu: “…” He’s here! He’s actually here again!
Jiang Wenyu couldn’t take it anymore. He pointed at Chi Abei: “Don’t play the victim! You and Jiang Yu are clearly in cahoots!” Jiang Wenyu explained angrily: “You’ve all been tricked by him! He’s not stupid at all!”
Hearing the first half, Chi Abei momentarily thought about how to deny that he and Jiang Yu weren’t in cahoots. But hearing the second half… Chi Abei raised an eyebrow.
Right, I’m not stupid, but you are!
Everyone at school knew Chi Abei was a fool, even Jiang Fu knew the Chi family had two sons, one adopted and one a fool.
Jiang Wen Shi, who was standing at the entrance of the teacher’s office, thinking of pleading with Jiang Wenyu if the situation was bad, rolled his eyes helplessly—What a damn idiot!
Chi Wendong, however, was slightly touched by Jiang Wenyu’s words. He looked at Chi Abei: “What’s going on?”
Chi Abei didn’t need to draft a response; he immediately said: “When I was washing my hands, I accidentally splashed water on him. He said I did it on purpose and hit me. He also insulted our class monitor, calling him a lowly child of a mistress. Ge, what’s a mistress?”
Jiang Wenyu’s face changed: “…” Damn it, you don’t even know what a mistress is, yet you remember so clearly!
Jiang Yu didn’t expect Chi Abei to mention this. For so many years, he didn’t care what others said about him, but Jiang Fu did. He cared about his reputation and face. Even Jiang Mu, who had always disliked him, had to treat him like a biological son in public; only at home would she drop the pretense.
Hearing Chi Abei’s words, Jiang Yu looked at Chi Fu’s reaction. As he expected, a slap landed, “slap,” and the teacher’s office was silent for a few seconds.
Jiang Wen Shi rushed in: “Father!”
Jiang Fu, having lost face and his temper rising, didn’t give Jiang Wen Shi a chance to plead: “Get out!”
Jiang Wen Shi closed his mouth, his eyes widening as he glared at Jiang Yu, who hadn’t said a word since entering.
Jiang Yu looked at Jiang Wenyu, who had been slapped, his face expressionless.
Jiang Wenyu had been arrogant and domineering since childhood. No matter what he did wrong, Jiang Mu would protect him. As he grew older, he became even more reckless, always doing things that angered Jiang Fu and Jiang Mu, then shifting the blame to Jiang Yu, making his already cautious life even more precarious.
As for Jiang Wen Shi, he hadn’t done anything wrong, but he had watched all this coldly over the years, knowing that Jiang Yu had been framed by Jiang Wenyu but never saying a word. To Jiang Yu, there was no difference between the two brothers.
Chen Jiang, hearing that his student had been insulted, was displeased: “Mr. Jiang, your son, Jiang Wenyu, is too much! What kind of upbringing allows him to say such things?”
Jiang Fu, still angry, felt even more humiliated. He grabbed a nearby chair and slammed it onto Jiang Wenyu. Jiang Wenyu, as if expecting it, instinctively turned around and covered his head. The metal folding chair “bang”-ed onto his back.
Chi Abei was startled. The novel didn’t mention Jiang Fu being so violent. When the chair landed, he flinched and quickly hid behind Chi Wendong.
He glanced at Jiang Yu, thinking he might have made things a little too big. However, seeing Jiang Yu’s calm, unsurprised expression, Chi Abei suddenly understood why Jiang Yu would pull out his father’s oxygen tube in the future… He must have been beaten like this many times.
Jiang Fu dropped the chair, turned around, and straightened his collar as if nothing had happened: “Excuse me, teacher. I apologize for the disturbance. Wenyu and Jiang Yu are brothers; they were just playing around.”
Chen Jiang was quite frightened by Jiang Fu, afraid he would pick up the chair again. Hearing this, Chen Jiang was stunned: “Br-brothers?”
Chen Jiang remembered that a rather plump woman always came to Jiang Yu’s parent-teacher meetings. He had never seen Jiang Yu’s father. Thinking that both Jiang Yu and Jiang Wenyu had the surname Jiang, Chen Jiang suddenly understood something and turned to look at Jiang Yu.
Jiang Fu was also looking at Jiang Yu, warning him with his eyes to quickly end this: “Speak!”
Jiang Yu would rather admit he was an illegitimate child than admit publicly that he and Jiang Wenyu were brothers, but he also knew that if he didn’t follow Jiang Fu’s lead, he would be the one beaten at home.
Seeing Jiang Yu’s hand clenching tighter, Chi Abei couldn’t stand it anymore: “I don’t believe it! They don’t even look alike! My brother and I, that’s what real brothers look like!”
Jiang Wenyu and Jiang Yu indeed didn’t look alike, but… Jiang Fu looked at Chi Wendong and Chi Abei, Do you two look alike? At least Jiang Wenyu and Jiang Yu share his blood; you two don’t even have the same bloodline!
Jiang Fu only dared to think this, not dare to say it to Chi Wendong’s face, especially after seeing Chi Wendong’s weary expression soften slightly upon hearing Chi Abei say they were “brothers”. Jiang Fu choked back his words, not daring to offend him.
Lin Xiu wanted to see what else the little fool could do and followed. He had seen Jiang Fu’s violence, and now seeing Chi Wendong looking at Chi Abei with love, he couldn’t help but admire the little fool’s ability.
He even achieved two goals with one arrow. With such a sweet mouth, no wonder Chi Wendong would protect his brother no matter what.
Chi Abei knew that Chi Wendong never wanted the Chi family’s property but the warmth of family. Unfortunately, Chi Fu and Chi Mu never treated him as family.
He was locked up by his adoptive mother the second year after he was adopted for saying the wrong thing. At that time, the little fool, who had just learned to walk, stumbled into his room, called him “brother,” and took out two leftover biscuits from his small pocket.
From then on, Chi Wendong took on the responsibility of taking care of his younger brother. Unfortunately, the little fool became increasingly distant from him, even afraid of him, but even so, Chi Wendong didn’t betray his promise and still took the little fool back from He Chenjiang.
Now, Chi Abei’s words “real brothers” touched Chi Wendong again. Looking at the arm Chi Abei was tightly hugging, he didn’t pull away this time. Instead, he turned to Jiang Fu and said: “Mr. Jiang, discipline your son at home. You scared my brother.”
Jiang Fu: “…”
Chi Wendong asked Chi Abei: “How do you want to solve this?”
Chi Abei didn’t intend to pursue it further; he had already said what he needed to. His goal was to let Jiang Fu know how Jiang Wenyu behaved at school. A beating would make him remember not to provoke Jiang Yu, lest Jiang Yu become ruthless and heartless.
Chi Abei said: “Apologize. To me, and to the class monitor.”
Bullying someone should result in an apology, but Chi Wendong felt that just an apology wasn’t enough. He looked at Jiang Fu: “The fault lies with the father for not properly teaching his child, Mr. Jiang. Please apologize to my brother with your son.”
Jiang Fu: “…”
Chi Abei didn’t expect this. He looked at Chi Wendong with admiration.
Chi Wendong automatically interpreted his gaze as reliance on his “brother” and felt even better. He ruffled Chi Abei’s hair.
This scene of brotherly affection made Jiang Fu’s eyelids twitch. He slapped Jiang Wenyu on the back of the head: “Apologize! Didn’t you hear?”
Jiang Wenyu was sore all over. He was still trembling; this slap made him so aggrieved he almost cried. But he knew that even if he cried, it would be seen as crocodile tears. He looked at Chi Abei resentfully, gritting his teeth: “I’m… sorry!”
Jiang Fu also said “sorry,” then kicked Jiang Wenyu towards Jiang Yu.
Jiang Yu didn’t want to hear his apology. Before Jiang Wenyu could speak, he said: “Forget it.”
This “forget it” gave Jiang Fu a way out, but Jiang Wenyu felt even more humiliated.
Why did he say “forget it”? He’s the child of a mistress!