Chapter 44: Whisper

Lin Xiaomei turned around slowly and saw the person she least expected and least wanted to see at this moment.
Ling Yicai.
She approached slowly, wearing a top student uniform that was always clean and tidy.
Her gaze first calmly swept over Lin Xiaomei’s lipstick-stained fingers, and then fell on Wen Xuelan, who was lying on the ground in tattered clothes and with marks of humiliation on her face.
Lin Xiaomei looked at her, and the despair and pain on her face were instantly replaced by a mask full of hostility.
“At this point,” she sneered and took the initiative to attack, “shouldn’t you be going to that cram school of yours?”
Ling Yicai was not angered by her provocation.
“I just came over there and saw a few girls running away in a panic, muttering ‘There’s something wrong with Lin Xiaomei.’”
She answered calmly, giving a reasonable explanation for her presence there.
“I was a little worried, so I came to take a look.”
After saying that, she ignored Lin Xiaomei and walked straight to Wen Xuelan and squatted down.
She took off her thin coat and gently draped it over Wen Xuelan’s T-shirt with the neckline torn, covering her exposed skin.
Then, she took out a clean handkerchief from her pocket, dipped it in the clean water from her kettle, and helped Wen Xuelan wipe off the clown-like lipstick marks and dirt on her face bit by bit.
Throughout the whole process, she was like a true “Madonna,” full of tenderness and compassion.
She helped Wen Xuelan stand up:
“I’ll take you back to the dormitory first.”
After experiencing all this, Wen Xuelan was in a state of numbness and trance.
She slowly raised her head and took in the person in front of her.
Then, in her eyes, which had regained a bit of clarity, a hint of confusion and subtle disgust flashed through.
“…Why is it you…?”
Ling Yicai held her hand, and her body stiffened for a moment.
The gentle expression on her face did not change at all, but a hint of pain flashed deep in her eyes.
Wen Xuelan pushed away Ling Yicai’s supporting hand without waiting for her response.
“No need… I can walk on my own.”
She silently took off the coat that was draped over her, folded it carefully, and placed it on a stone beside her.
Then she bent down and picked up the empty schoolbag from the ground, and picked up the half-torn, muddy skirt.
She staggered away, holding the pile of junk.
When she passed by Lin Xiaomei, she stopped.
She didn’t look at Lin Xiaomei, but just lowered her head, looking at the half-ripped skirt in her arms, and whispered in a voice that was so calm that it was creepy, which only the two of them could hear:
“…You broke it.”
After saying this, she did not stop and disappeared at the end of the path without looking back, like a lonely ghost.
Lin Xiaomei looked at her departing back, her body trembling slightly uncontrollably.
Wen Xuelan’s reaction—no crying, no begging, just a calm statement—made her feel more uncomfortable than any hysterical accusation.
As if to cover up her own loss of composure, she growled in a cowardly voice toward the end of the deserted path:
“…Who allowed you to leave? I haven’t let you go yet!”
But the only answer she got was the lonely sound of the wind on the riverbank in the evening.
A feeling of anger and frustration that had nowhere to vent was stuck in Lin Xiaomei’s chest.
She whirled around and pointed her finger at the only person left on the scene.
“Have you seen enough?!” She growled viciously at Ling Yicai, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Do you think I look like a clown?!”
Ling Yicai looked at her furious expression, and there was no fear in her eyes, but instead a hint of condescending pity.
“I was just wondering,” she walked forward slowly, picked up her coat left by Wen Xuelan, dusted it off gracefully, and put it back on, “How did we… get to this point today?”
Lin Xiaomei was stunned by her sudden question.
“You, me, Wen Xuelan… even Xiao Ming himself.”
Ling Yicai looked at Lin Xiaomei, with a natural smile on her face, a mixture of fatigue and self-mockery.
“Aren’t we all involved in this?”
“Shut up!” Lin Xiaomei seemed to have been touched in a sore spot. “What do you, a young lady, know about me?”
“Really?” Ling Yicai’s smile was tinged with bitterness. “Then do you think it’s a happy thing to watch the person most important to you being completely devoured bit by bit by a monster that appeared out of nowhere?”
That name, those words, instantly pierced Lin Xiaomei’s softest and most painful spot.
All her aggressiveness was like a popped balloon, deflated in an instant.
“What do you want to say?” she asked in a hoarse voice.
Ling Yicai looked at her, who had finally stopped showing her fangs and claws, and knew that the time was ripe, so she slowly spoke:
“I’m thinking that the person who really caused all of us to be in this state is now enjoying this ridiculous farce of ours.”
“We were all robbed of something very important, weren’t we?” She paused, then added meaningfully, “by the same person who didn’t belong here at all.”
Lin Xiaomei’s pupils suddenly contracted.
“To be honest, I envy you sometimes, Lin Xiaomei.”
“You are braver than me,” Ling Yicai looked into her eyes, her tone becoming more sincere, “You dare to do things I dare not do, and you dare to say things I dare not say.”
Ling Yicai leaned close to Lin Xiaomei’s ear and whispered:
“But you used the knife in the wrong place.”
“You stab a piece of cotton with a knife and get nothing but your hands dirty.”
“What really needs to be scratched is that face that never seems to care and is always high and mighty, isn’t it?”
She didn’t say whose face it was, but they both knew.
“Tomorrow at noon, the student union will have an impromptu meeting regarding the school anniversary.”
Ling Yicai stood up straight and resumed her perfect top student demeanor, as if the whisper just now had never happened.
“I might… ask Xiao Ming to help as well. After all, she seems to be too idle lately.”
Lin Xiaomei was deeply shocked when she saw Ling Yicai, who revealed her true face to her for the first time.
She discovered that this “good girl” whom she had always looked down upon might be even darker and more cruel than herself.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You don’t need to believe me.”
Ling Yicai took one last look at Lin Xiaomei and that sweet smile returned to her face.
“Okay, I should go back now. You should go home early too, Xiaomei.”
After saying that, she didn’t stay for another second, turned around, and left the dirty riverbank gracefully.
Lin Xiaomei was left alone, standing there, with Wen Xuelan’s calmness and Ling Yicai’s temptation echoing in her mind.
The two voices intertwined, and finally, her eyes became extremely sinister and determined.