LWDC Chapter 89

Chapter 89 – Lessons from the Past

Chapter 89 – Lessons from the Past

Chapter 89 – Lessons from the Past

Duan Yunhong’s car, complete with a driver, began picking up Ning Fei and Lin Shengjia every day, leading to questions from teachers at Ning Fei’s school and classmates on Lin Shengjia’s side.

However, Ning Fei simply said it was a friend’s car, and Lin Shengjia claimed he was just getting a ride. Neither offered the complete truth. This charade didn’t last long before strange rumors started circulating around the school.

The rumor was that Ning Fei was gay and involved with a wealthy man, with the “involvement” heavily implying a “financial transaction.” The car picking him up was, of course, his boyfriend’s, or rather, the sugar daddy who was supporting him. As for Lin Shengjia, he was just shamelessly hitching a ride because he lived close to Ning Fei. Some even claimed that Lin Shengjia was also involved in “that kind of business.” He and Ning Fei were doing a “2-on-1” deal, which was why he was also receiving preferential treatment.

These fabrications spread surprisingly quickly, but the two at the center of the gossip seemed unfazed, continuing to attend school and work as usual. But while they weren’t worried, someone else was.

Ji Xingzhe was worried.

This time, he genuinely wasn’t the one stirring things up. He immediately recognized Duan Yunhong’s car. Duan Yunhong had just “officially announced” his relationship with Ning Fei to the Ji family and warned him not to touch Ning Fei. Why would he jump out at this moment and anger Duan Yunhong? He wasn’t crazy enough to seek death prematurely.

He hurriedly sought out the person spreading the rumors to “negotiate.” Yes, he not only knew who it was but also felt he had to stop them. Otherwise, when Duan Yunhong found out, he would definitely think he was the one causing trouble again, and he wouldn’t be able to explain himself no matter what he said.

“So, what do you want from me?”

Behind the teaching building, Zhu Yueting approached Ji Xingzhe with an impatient expression. “Couldn’t you have said whatever it is in class? Didn’t we break up? We don’t have anything to talk about in private, do we?”

Ji Xingzhe didn’t bother with pleasantries and went straight to the point. “Are you the one spreading gossip about Ning-laoshi and Lin Shengjia?”

“…Why are you interrogating me like this right off the bat? Do you have any evidence?” Zhu Yueting glared. “Besides, what right do you have to ask me? Just because Ning Fei is riding in your uncle’s car?”

“You’re spreading rumors to so many people, and you’re asking me if I have evidence?” Ji Xingzhe frowned. “You definitely knew he was with my uncle, yet you still spread that kind of nonsense. What are you trying to do?”

“Oh, so now you’re using that trick against me? Getting others to talk behind my back and tattle on me?” Zhu Yueting became even more displeased. “And I only said that those two guys were hooking up. Isn’t that the truth? If they’re brave enough to do it, why are they afraid of others talking about it? As for what others randomly spread, how am I responsible?”

“Their business is their business. What does it have to do with you? You’re spreading rumors all over school, aren’t you just trying to attract attention and get everyone to spread rumors about them, about the Ji family?” Faced with Zhu Yueting’s machine gun-like rebuttal and oppressive stance, Ji Xingzhe’s tone also rose. He usually seemed gentle, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t argue. “Yueting, you’re angry at me and want to get back at me, but don’t talk about my uncle in school like this. If he finds out, the consequences will be severe. Do your parents know you’re acting like this in school?”

“Don’t you dare threaten me with my parents! And who are you calling ‘Yueting’? We’re not friends anymore. Stop pretending we have a good relationship, it’s disgusting!” Zhu Yueting couldn’t help but use harsh words. “I’m doing this to get back at you? You’re too full of yourself. Besides, weren’t you the one targeting Ning Fei and Lin Shengjia before? Egging me on to report them for cheating, while you hid behind the scenes and watched the show. In the end, I was criticized for spreading false rumors, while you acted like nothing happened and even broke up with me while pretending to be a good kid? You’re trying to scare me by saying your uncle will be angry, but do you know that my parents have also seen through you and told me to stay away from someone like you who is so scheming, or I’ll be taken advantage of even worse!”

“Oh, right, now that you’re afraid your uncle will find out about the rumors at school, are you afraid I’ll tell your uncle that you were the one who encouraged me to report them in the first place? And about Qin Ran’s matter, you must have done something, right? Otherwise, someone like him wouldn’t risk doing something like that in his final year of high school! Do you know that because he was implicated in the case, his father was so angry that he sent him abroad to study? You were the mastermind, why should you stay out of it?!”

“Don’t make baseless accusations without evidence. I only told everyone that Ning-laoshi was tutoring Lin Shengjia. Qin Ran said they might be cheating, and then you decided to report them yourself! Isn’t it a bit much to blame me?” Ji Xingzhe had long ago sorted out the logic of this matter and immediately retorted. “Besides, I’m talking about the current rumors. Stop talking about Ning-laoshi and Lin Shengjia like this. If they investigate and find out it was you, you could really face disciplinary action!”

“Do you need to pretend to be a good person? You’re secretly happy about their misfortune, aren’t you? Stop spouting nonsense so hypocritically!” Zhu Yueting said sharply. “I see now, you’re the kind of scheming dog I hate the most! I should beat you up for that attitude, and yet you dare to question me. You’re the last person who has the right to question me. I’m warning you, stay away from me and don’t bother me again!”

With that, Zhu Yueting turned and left.

Ji Xingzhe stared at her back until she completely disappeared. He stood there in a daze for a few more minutes, his mind in turmoil, before finally walking out of the rarely visited back of the teaching building with an ambiguous expression.

He hadn’t taken more than a few steps when he happened to run into Ning Fei, who was coming downstairs. As soon as they met, Ji Xingzhe felt a chill from Ning Fei’s seemingly calm gaze, and his feet uncontrollably moved towards the other person.

“Um…” The young man’s mouth opened faster than his brain, and he then stuttered, “This time, it wasn’t me. I didn’t know anything…I also tried to persuade others not to spread it!”

Ning Fei had heard Duan Yunhong describe Ji Xingzhe’s flustered behavior several times, but this was the first time he had seen it with his own eyes. He had to admit, it was quite different from when they first met.

“‘This time’? What thing?” Ning Fei asked deliberately. “Who did you persuade not to spread it?”

“It’s just, what the students are spreading… In short, I know you and Uncle are not that kind of relationship, and I’ve never mentioned it at school. It really wasn’t me!” Ji Xingzhe hesitated for two seconds, then added, “I also persuaded Yueting not to say it. She doesn’t understand the whole picture and is easily misinterpreting things!”

Ning Fei: This kid betrays people so readily.

This was the third time Ning Fei had directly witnessed him selling out a “teammate” – although Zhu Yueting couldn’t be considered Ji Xingzhe’s teammate this time – but the fact once again proved that Ji Xingzhe was completely willing to betray others to protect himself.

However, judging from the kid’s flustered and eager appearance, it probably wasn’t him this time, so his testimony was credible. Zhu Yueting would do something like this probably for several reasons: first, she was the kind of person who would kick someone when they were down and maliciously spread rumors; second, she had unilaterally formed a grudge against Ning Fei and Lin Shengjia because of the “false accusation” earlier; and third, she also wanted to disgust Ji Xingzhe, with whom she had already broken up, by spreading this kind of rumor.

Ning Fei was actually a bit too lazy to deal with the spread of these rumors. Anyway, the people spreading the rumors wouldn’t dare to act in front of them. When the director of academic affairs asked a few questions, Ning Fei said with a non-smiling expression, “Then I’ll call Duan Yunhong and you can ask him yourself,” and the director of academic affairs immediately backed down. As long as the school didn’t take it seriously, nothing could really affect Ning Fei.

He also told Lin Shengjia not to pay too much attention to it. Lin Shengjia originally thought that the other students were all childish kids and didn’t have many acquaintances. He was a loner, so no one would ask him anything to his face, and he wouldn’t lose anything from being gossiped about behind his back. Ning Fei also told him to tell him if he was being bullied on campus, and he would find a way to deal with it. As a result, Lin Shengjia also soberly stated that as long as the students didn’t physically attack him, he didn’t care what nonsense they said.

Oh right, Lin Shengjia already knew that he was the main reason for the “arranged transportation.” This arrangement was to prevent Ji Xingzhe or Tang Huilan from taking excessive actions. In this day and age, what was there to complain about when you could ride in a car to and from school, with comfort and safety? Let others be suspicious if they wanted to be. Anyway, Lin Shengjia had never enjoyed this kind of transportation in his previous life, and he would never object to it in this life.

But then again, Ji Xingzhe was so anxious that he personally “sent intelligence” to Ning Fei. Ning Fei thought that he might as well cooperate with him to deal with it, which would be considered a slight appeasement to this impatient imposter. Stabilizing him for a period of time would also increase Lin Shengjia’s safety factor.

So, after chatting briefly with Ji Xingzhe, Ning Fei turned around and called Duan Yunhong.

Duan Yunhong was even more ruthless and directly called Zhu Yueting’s father. The Zhu family had originally wanted to follow in the Ji family’s footsteps and develop some businesses in Shenzhen. Duan Yunhong had pretended not to see it, since it wasn’t his problem to deal with industry competition in the future. But now he openly instigated the local authorities to block the Zhu family’s project cooperation. And Duan Yunhong also generously admitted to the head of the Zhu family on the phone that it was he who did it. Because Zhu Yueting was spreading rumors about him behind his back, causing damage to his image, he also wanted to inflict some losses on the Zhu family.

The head of the Zhu family sought out Ji Zhenwei to mediate, but Ji Zhenwei spread his hands and said he couldn’t manage things in Shenzhen. The matter of reporting cheating, the matter of exposing Ji Zhenwei’s Xiangcheng tabloid affair at school, and this time, the matter of publicizing Duan Yunhong’s “playing with men”; all of them were Zhu Yueting causing trouble. Ji Zhenwei would be crazy to help the Zhu family.

So it was Zhu Yueting’s turn to be confined at home for a week. It was announced to the public that she was sick and on leave, but in reality, she was being locked up at home to reflect. Zhu Yueting was so angry that she threw things out of the window upstairs. Fortunately, her family lived in a detached villa, otherwise, if a high-altitude object fell and injured someone, Zhu Yueting would have to suffer another stain on her life like Qin Ran.

After this incident, Ji Xingzhe completely gave up. When he saw Duan Yunhong dealing with the Zhu family, Ji Zhenwei didn’t say a word, fearing that this kind of ruthlessness would fall on him. He felt that this day would eventually come, and could only hope that it would come later, the later the better.

At the same time, when the final exams of the first semester of senior year ended, Lin Shengjia finally entered the top 50 in the grade.

——————–

This volume is coming to an end!