CHAPTER 179: 178: EVALUATION (SECOND UPDATE)

Wan Li was taken aback when she heard her friend say that.

"You don’t have to be so surprised; you never really think about these things, so naturally you can’t see it. Ye Ling has always been wary of others, so she’s polite to everyone. It was fine at first, but later, when the dorm was divided into different cliques, she distanced herself from us," Shao Guangli said, feeling an inexplicable pang of jealousy.

There’s nothing special about Ye Ling, so why do people like Zhang Linong always take her seriously? Although she was jealous, Shao Guangli didn’t show it and never said anything bad about Ye Ling because of it—she just stayed away from her.

Wan Li thought for a long while, "I think you’re overthinking this. Ye Ling doesn’t have a bias against you. As you mentioned, after the dorm split into cliques, we also distanced ourselves from her and the others. If that’s the case, why should she be close to us? I think that’s normal. She is totally focused on her studies and placed first in the year-end exams again. No wonder she scored first in the city and got into a good high school. Someone who studies so hard can’t do poorly."

"It’s not like we’re not studying," Shao Guangli couldn’t stand to hear Wan Li praise Ye Ling, "I think she has her study tricks, but she never told us. Otherwise, who knows, we might have done well too."

"Tricks are something you figure out yourself. Who would tell others and let them compete for ranks with you?" Wan Li didn’t think it was such a big deal and felt her friend was acting strange today. But knowing that her friend usually stayed away from Ye Ling, she didn’t think too deeply about it. "If you think it’s not worth mentioning, then let it be. We’ll study more in the future. Like Ye Ling, as long as we have time, we can read more; we can’t fall behind."

Shao Guangli laughed, "Let’s go. Although studying is important, we can’t be like Ye Ling, eating steamed buns every day. Her younger sister looks well-dressed when she visits, but Ye Ling chooses to live so poorly at school, as if her family treats her badly."

Dragging her friend along, Shao Guangli couldn’t help but mock a little.

Wan Li stayed silent, but she didn’t like how her friend targeted Ye Ling. It seemed like whenever she said something good about Ye Ling, her friend found reasons to argue. Not wanting their friendship to be affected by an outsider, Wan Li just thought she’d secretly befriend Ye Ling later.

Ye Ling lay on her bed, took a few bites of the bun, and then picked up a book. However, having been on the train all night, she was tired. Eventually, she set the bun aside, lowered the bed curtain, and pulled up her quilt to sleep. Wan Li and Shao Guangli returned without waking her.

There were three days until school started again. The next morning, students began to return to school one after another, and the dormitory became lively. When Zhao Guodong and his friends invited Ye Ling out to eat, they bumped into Si Daochen and Zhang Zhenlian, who had come to school together. Zhao Guodong stopped and called out to Si Daochen.

"Pretty boy, weren’t you quite something at home? Getting a woman to fight your battles—come over here, let’s talk," Zhao Guodong said with a hooligan air.

The color drained from Zhang Zhenlian’s face. "Ye Ling, I’m sure Si Daochen didn’t say anything. I heard from Wang Shumei about the incident. She went on her own to find out, having heard some things about the school from me, which led to a misunderstanding. It had nothing to do with Si Daochen."

Ye Ling hadn’t planned on getting involved, but when Zhang Zhenlian’s words implicated her, she felt a surge of anger. She glanced dismissively at Zhang Zhenlian before turning to Si Daochen, "Zhao Guodong calling you a pretty boy isn’t wrong. Relying on women whenever there’s a problem is really contemptible."

Si Daochen hadn’t planned to pay any attention to Zhao Guodong. On one hand, he looked down on Zhao Guodong’s behavior, and on the other, he was somewhat afraid of him. He knew Zhao Guodong was the type to resort to violence at the drop of a hat, so he chose not to respond. Seeing Zhang Zhenlian step in to take the blame warmed his heart, but before he could feel too pleased, Ye Ling’s words left him feeling like he’d been punched in the gut.

But Si Daochen always considered himself a gentleman. Even when angry, he refrained from bickering like a shrew. He said gently, "Ye Ling, you’re a good kid. Being around them all the time isn’t good for you. For your own sake, you should choose your friends wisely to avoid future trouble."

"Pretty boy, who are you calling not good people? Even if I’m not a good person, I don’t rely on women to back me up. Don’t start thinking you’re someone special just because we say a few words to you. Who do you think you’re lecturing?" Zhao Guodong retorted.

Ye Ling couldn’t help but laugh, mocking Si Daochen, "Pedant."

With just those two words, she grabbed Zhao Guodong. "Let’s go. Arguing with people like this lowers our standards."

Zhao Guodong chuckled, tilting his chin up, "That’s right. We don’t play the pretty boy."

The group left swaggeringly, and after hearing Ye Ling’s words, Zhang Zhenlian dared not speak again, knowing how much Si Daochen cherished his reputation. He’d surely harbor resentment towards her because of this incident. Having just started to grow closer to Si Daochen, Zhang Zhenlian felt like Ye Ling’s words had ruined everything.

Just as expected, after the others left, Si Daochen said coldly, "You should go too. Being seen together would cause misunderstandings. It’s not good."

Hurt that Si Daochen didn’t care about her feelings at all, Zhang Zhenlian knew that further explanation would only make him more annoyed. She forced a bitter smile, "I’m really sorry. I just wanted to clear up the misunderstanding because Wang Shumei heard about some school matters from me and then went to Ye Ling. I always felt it was my fault that Zhao Guodong and the others misunderstood you, so I wanted to step up and clarify. I didn’t expect Zhao Guodong and his friends to misunderstand, making things worse."

Zhang Zhenlian admitted her fault and explained her reasons.

This made Si Daochen feel that Zhang Zhenlian wasn’t defending him, and therefore he wasn’t truly a pretty boy who relied on a woman; his expression softened slightly. "They’re just like that. Arguing with them only lowers one’s own standards."

As soon as he said that, Si Daochen’s face grew grimmer, realizing he’d unknowingly echoed Ye Ling’s words, especially in front of someone else, making him feel quite embarrassed.

Zhang Zhenlian, observing the situation, said, "Exactly, lowering one’s standards. Since we’re at school, I’ll head back to the dorm first."

Noticing Si Daochen’s expression soften a bit, she picked up her belongings and headed to the women’s dormitory.

Si Daochen felt Zhang Zhenlian had a knack for navigating social cues; her words always seemed to resonate with others. When others were facing awkward moments, she would thoughtfully help to ease the discomfort. He hadn’t noticed this when they were in the village but paid attention to it now.

At the noodle shop, Zhao Guodong was cheerfully boasting, "My dad found out I made twenty bucks selling food vouchers. Instead of scolding me, he praised me and told me to do the same every year." (To be continued. If you like this story, feel free to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is the greatest motivation for me. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)