If she didn’t know you, would she help you like this?

During the second class’s extended break, the Class 1 homeroom teacher absolutely refused to let Jiang Xizhi participate in the running exercises, instructing her to rest on her desk for a while.

Jiang Xizhi’s mind was still muddled, still wondering why Zhou Yining hadn’t told her about this matter, her eyes were red-rimmed, and just thinking about it made her feel even worse.

Meanwhile, on Zhou Yining’s side, after finishing the running exercises, she hurried back to the classroom to get the gift she had prepared.

Although time was tight yesterday, fortunately, she had allocated her time reasonably and prepared the gift for Jiang Xizhi.

Zhou Yining carried the gift and walked towards the third floor.

As she reached the entrance of Class 1, she saw several Class 1 students coming out.

Zhou Yining quickly stopped one of them, asking them to help call Jiang Xizhi.

The student readily agreed and shouted into the classroom, “Jiang Xizhi, someone’s looking for you.”

Jiang Xizhi raised her head, her eyes still red.

She got up and walked out of the classroom, and then she saw Zhou Yining in the hallway.

Zhou Yining’s face originally held a smile, but when she saw Jiang Xizhi’s red eyes, the smile immediately vanished.

Zhou Yining quickly walked up to Jiang Xizhi, reached out and grabbed her wrist, asking,

“What’s wrong? Why are your eyes so red? Have you been crying?”

Jiang Xizhi shook off Zhou Yining’s hand, refusing to let her hold it.

She looked at Zhou Yining, tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to spill over.

“Let’s talk somewhere else.”

Jiang Xizhi’s voice was a little hoarse, and her tone was clearly tearful.

Zhou Yining also felt that the hallway wasn’t a good place to talk, so she and Jiang Xizhi walked towards the open-air corridor where they had previously discussed problems.

A few minutes later, Zhou Yining stopped.

There were few people here at this time, perfect for them to talk.

She took a step forward, leaned in closer, and said softly, “What exactly is wrong? What happened?”

Jiang Xizhi looked at Zhou Yining and couldn’t hold back; tears still streamed down her face.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that? You were subjected to school bullying?”

Zhou Yining was taken aback for a moment, but considering that students at school loved to gossip, it wasn’t surprising that other classes knew about this.

Zhou Yining quickly explained, “Actually, it was something that happened a year ago, but I only recently collected all the evidence, and then I called the police and had those three beasts, Lin Shaohui, arrested.

The judicial process is underway, but my chain of evidence is very complete, and they can’t escape.”

As she spoke, Zhou Yining quickly took another step forward to comfort her,

“I’m really okay. The reason I didn’t tell you was because I didn’t want you to worry about this.

Today is your birthday, and I wanted you to have a happy birthday. Don’t cry, okay?”

Zhou Yining took out a tissue from her pocket, stepped forward, and wanted to reach out to help Jiang Xizhi wipe away her tears, but Jiang Xizhi took a step back to avoid her.

“I’m your friend, but I only found out about this from someone else. If I hadn’t asked you, were you not planning to tell me?”

Jiang Xizhi sniffled, crying even harder.

“No, no, I didn’t want to hide it from you. It’s just that things happened to coincide and all came together.

I wanted to wait until your birthday was over and tell you next week. I really didn’t plan to hide it from you.

Don’t cry. When you cry, my heart aches too.”

Zhou Yining coaxed softly, tentatively reaching out again to wipe away Jiang Xizhi’s tears.

Jiang Xizhi snorted coldly at her, but didn’t dodge this time.

Zhou Yining breathed a slight sigh of relief and quickly reached out to gently wipe away Jiang Xizhi’s tears.

“Don’t be angry. I haven’t even wished my little birthday star a happy birthday yet. Don’t cry; birthdays should be happy.”

Jiang Xizhi’s tightly pursed lips unconsciously curved upwards, but she quickly pursed them again to suppress it.

She couldn’t be coaxed so easily, or Zhou Yining would hide things from her in the future.

Seeing that she didn’t speak, but her attitude was clearly softening, Zhou Yining quickly leaned in a little closer, reaching out and wrapping her arm around Jiang Xizhi’s lower back.

Jiang Xizhi struggled symbolically a couple of times, but ultimately didn’t push Zhou Yining away.

Zhou Yining’s lips curved into a smile, one arm around Jiang Xizhi’s waist, the other gently wiping away the tears on her cheeks.

“Look, your eyes are all swollen from crying. Does it hurt?”

Jiang Xizhi pursed her lips and shook her head.

After a long while, she finally said, “So, what exactly happened? Can you tell me?”

Zhou Yining heard that her voice still had a sob in it and immediately coaxed,

“Of course I can. Wasn’t there a sports meeting at school a year ago?

I and a few other female students were changing clothes in the locker room, and Lin Shaohui’s accomplice wore a wig, dressed up as a female student, and sneaked in to take videos of us changing.

Later, they used the videos to threaten us, but it’s all over now. I personally sent them in.”

Zhou Yining didn’t want to mention the details in between, including the fact that the original Zhou Yining had almost jumped off a building.

Zhou Yining didn’t want Jiang Xizhi to worry too much.

“They’re too much. This won’t do. I still have to call home.

These people should be severely punished, and the school must expel them all.” Jiang Xizhi said.

Zhou Yining quickly stopped her, explaining,

“No need. Chen-laoshi helped me find a lawyer, and the school should also impose a severe punishment.”

Hearing that Chen-laoshi had helped, Jiang Xizhi felt a slight pang of sourness in her heart, but it was still within an acceptable range.

After all, Chen-laoshi was Zhou Yining’s homeroom teacher.

However, when she heard the next sentence about Zhong Yumeng, Jiang Xizhi completely broke down.

“What? Zhong Yumeng knows about this?”

Tears fell again.

“How many things are you still hiding from me? If you weren’t familiar with her, would she help you like that?”

Zhou Yining was startled.

She had just managed to coax her, how could she suddenly…?

“No, let me explain.”

Zhou Yining said quickly.

Jiang Xizhi simply pushed away her arms, refusing to let her hug her again.

“Explain, then. Why did you ask Zhong Yumeng for help? Why didn’t you ask me? My family is no less powerful than hers.

Why didn’t you ask me? Do you think you’re closer to her, that your relationship is better?”

The more Jiang Xizhi spoke, the more heartbroken she became.

Turns out, it was all just her wishful thinking.

Zhou Yining didn’t think she was special at all.

When something happened, she didn’t think of her first.

“No, I didn’t ask you because I didn’t want our relationship to be mixed with other things.

I know your family has power and influence, but I don’t want to use your family’s power to help me achieve some goal.

Otherwise, our friendship wouldn’t be so pure. Zhong Yumeng is different.

She helped me with this favor, and in return, I’ll tutor her in math for a year to help her improve her grades.

So, it’s essentially an exchange of benefits.”

Seeing that Jiang Xizhi was still crying, Zhou Yining quickly continued,

“I don’t want anything to interfere with our relationship. Zhizhi, you’re very special to me. I care about you a lot.”

Jiang Xizhi’s tears fell drop by drop.

She shook her head and took a step back.

She didn’t hear a word of Zhou Yining’s explanations.

Her mind was filled with the thought that she had lost to Zhong Yumeng.

Zhou Yining trusted Zhong Yumeng more; she wasn’t Zhou Yining’s first choice.

Seeing Jiang Xizhi crying even harder, Zhou Yining quickly said,

“I really care about you. Look, before calling the police yesterday, I spent half a day preparing a birthday gift for you.

It’s a little fox that I made myself. I hope you like it.”

As she spoke, Zhou Yining took two steps forward and handed over the gift bag in her hand, but Jiang Xizhi pushed it away.

Her mind was a mess, her chest felt blocked and uncomfortable, and her heart was aching fiercely.

“I don’t want it. I don’t want your gift. You don’t care about me anyway. You can give it to Zhong Yumeng.”

Saying that, Jiang Xizhi didn’t even look at Zhou Yining, turning around and running towards the teaching building.

Zhou Yining stared blankly at the gift box in her hand that had been pushed away.

She quickly chased after her, “Zhizhi, wait for me. Let me explain.”

Hearing Zhou Yining’s words, Jiang Xizhi ran even faster.

Seeing that she was emotionally agitated, Zhou Yining didn’t dare to chase after her, afraid that Jiang Xizhi would fall.

She looked at the little fox in her hand and sighed.

She didn’t expect Jiang Xizhi to cry so badly.

She should have explained earlier.

Zhou Yining sighed and followed Jiang Xizhi from afar, watching her enter Class 1 before Zhou Yining left.

Meanwhile, Jiang Xizhi entered Class 1 while wiping away her tears.

After returning to the classroom, she buried her face in her arms, crying even harder than before.

Meng Yuanyuan and Si Yaqing exchanged a look, then walked over.

“Zhizhi, what’s wrong? Did someone bully you? We’ll go find them and get revenge for you.” Meng Yuanyuan said.

Si Yaqing quickly chimed in, “Yeah, don’t just cry by yourself. What happened?”

Jiang Xizhi lay on the desk and shook her head.

Her mind was a mess right now, her chest was aching, and she just wanted to cry.

She didn’t want to think about anything else.

Jiang Xizhi didn’t know what was wrong with her.

She had been uncomfortable when Zhong Yumeng and Zhang Ye had been close before, but she hadn’t felt as bad as she did now.

She felt like she couldn’t breathe.

Seeing that the situation wasn’t right, Meng Yuanyuan quickly took out her phone and went outside to make a call.

She quickly dialed a phone number, and the call was answered shortly after.

“Jiang Zong, it’s me, Meng Yuanyuan. Zhizhi, I don’t know what’s wrong. She’s lying on her desk and crying.

We asked her what’s wrong, but she won’t say. Should you come and pick her up and take her home?”

Jiang Yueyi frowned tightly, asking anxiously, “What exactly happened? Who dares to bully someone from our Jiang family?”

“I don’t know, Jiang Zong. She was fine when she came this morning, but she started acting strangely after the second class. Maybe she’s not feeling well.

Anyway, you should come and take a look. Si Yaqing and I have been trying to comfort her for a long time, but she’s ignoring us.”

“Okay, I’ll be there soon. Watch over Zhizhi for me. Don’t let anything happen to her.”

Jiang Yueyi quickly got up, grabbed her car keys, and headed out.

“Okay, Jiang Zong.” Meng Yuanyuan replied immediately.

As soon as Jiang Yueyi left the office, her secretary chased after her.

“Jiang Zong, you have two meetings coming up.”

“Cancel them all. Something happened at my house. We can discuss everything later.” Jiang Yueyi said as she hurried into the elevator.