CHAPTER 575: CHAPTER 575: TROUBLEMAKER

"Why did you leave? Are you still mad at me and won’t forgive me?" The girl tugged at the hem of Xu Ke’s shirt, looking pitiful as she spoke.

Xu Ke looked down at the girl with tear-filled eyes, feeling no emotion, and even a little amused. For a split second, he thought absentmindedly of Yu Xia, who clung to Lin Mengyao like a little shadow at home every day.

Perhaps he’d seen too much of Yu Xia’s tear-streaked face, but Xu Ke felt no sympathy for the girl’s pitiful look and even wanted to critique her way of crying.

Xu Ke’s prolonged silence prompted the surrounding onlookers, ever eager to involve themselves, to speak up, pressing Xu Ke, "Look, the poor girl is about to cry with urgency. Can’t you just forgive her already?"

"Really can’t appreciate a pretty face at all."

"What kind of man argues with a young girl? Shameless, with such a narrow mind. I wonder which family’s poor girl would marry a man like you."

Listening to their words, Xu Ke couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

"Before judging others, take a good look at yourselves," Xu Ke turned back to the people still discussing.

"Because you’re a girl, I won’t argue too much, but you’d better know when enough is enough. Otherwise, I won’t mind taking action to make sure you remember. And by the way, you look awful crying. Your makeup is all messed up." Xu Ke turned to the girl and said.

With Xu Ke’s words, he immediately sparked public outrage, the onlookers directed hostile glances at him, and the girl’s face froze. If not for the crowd’s scrutiny, she would have already pulled out a mirror from her bag to check her appearance and fix her makeup if it looked bad for her image.

Uncertain of her appearance, the girl didn’t dare make too many expressions, worried that looking too ugly might cause those on her side to abandon her.

Standing there felt like a huge, bolded "awkward" for the woman.

"Baby, I’ve finished looking around here. Let’s go to the next spot." Ariel burst through the crowd, jumping into Xu Ke’s arms as she spoke.

"Okay." The frostiness on Xu Ke’s face melted away instantly, like the warmth of spring, inviting but not scorching.

Those just about to mock Xu Ke for marrying an ugly woman awkwardly closed their mouths but couldn’t resist glancing between Ariel and the girl’s faces.

The girl was a mixed-race beauty, with deep features yet still retaining Asian traits, whereas Ariel was a genuine foreigner. Her Western features had a hint of rare fleshy softness, which didn’t diminish her Western charm but rather endowed her with youthful innocence, making her appear even more approachable and friendly, with a deer-like, naive expression.

In terms of features and looks, Ariel not only didn’t lose to the girl but was even superior, causing envy to rise in those who’d planned to take a stand against Xu Ke.

Why is the world so unfair? Giving this pretty boy a face to live off wasn’t enough, heaven also gave him such a beautiful wife, making his luck the stuff of jealousy.

"You’re his wife?" The girl’s eyes bore into Ariel’s face, as if wishing to strip it away and paste it onto her own.

All her life, she had been the most beautiful among those around her, and her heterochromatic eyes enthralled many suitors. She’d always gotten what she wanted, yet today, the man she fancied not only ignored her, but even had a more beautiful wife than her! How could he have someone prettier than her for a wife!

While Ariel was somewhat surprised by the girl’s question, she didn’t refute it, allowing the girl to scrutinize her, her openness making the already envious people empathizing with Xu Ke even more sour.

"What do you want? Baby, who is this person?" Ariel addressed the girl in her first question, then turned to ask Xu Ke.

"I don’t know. A stranger who came up to me out of nowhere. I ignored her, so she threw my book on the ground and cried while talking to me, and everyone around sided with her against me." Xu Ke, standing behind Ariel, recounted expressionlessly, clearly signaling for Ariel to take his side.

This move of Xu Ke’s left not just the onlookers at a loss for words, but also the other party involved and Ariel herself.

Ariel glanced back at Xu Ke in surprise, seeing his righteous demeanor and nearly burst into laughter, but she knew to maintain Xu Ke’s dignity in public, so she quickly suppressed her budding smile.

Turning back to the girl, Ariel said, "The baby I love would never lie to me like this, so it must be true that you did what he said. I want to ask what was your intention? Seeing my baby is good-looking, did you want to catch his attention, flirt with him? No need to explain; I’ve met too many girls like you, I’m quite used to it." Ariel skillfully interrupted just as the girl tried to speak.

"I understand your appreciation for beauty; after all, everyone has a love for pretty things. But that doesn’t give you the right to use tricks and schemes on my baby. I hope you apologize because your actions have significantly traumatized my baby, making him reflexively recall today’s wrongful accusations when meeting the opposite sex in the future. For the sake of his mental health, I hope you’ll sincerely apologize for your misdeeds." Ariel sheltered Xu Ke behind her as she said this.

"I didn’t, I wasn’t, you’re spreading lies and slandering me. What he said isn’t true. I didn’t bully him; I was just honest and sincerely apologized. I don’t know why he misunderstood me and said such harsh things to hurt me. You can’t outnumber someone and bully them like this," the girl said, full of grievance.

Her eyes quickly reddened, filling with tears. But just when they were about to fall, her crying movements suddenly halted. She remembered Xu Ke saying her makeup was ruined, and she instinctively reined in her tears.

"Weren’t you going to cry? Why aren’t you crying now? Can’t anymore?" Ariel asked, looking at the girl’s expression.

"You must have just used that trick to gain sympathy, right? People, without seeing the whole picture, instinctively choose to believe the weaker party’s words, and you used your tears to paint yourself as the victim, making people believe you’re the bullied one, using their sympathy to turn them against my baby, isn’t that so?"