In the heavy silence between them, the phone inside Zong Chi’s bag kept ringing.
He Dongli knew without looking that it was his family trying to reach him.
He acted as if he hadn’t heard, grabbed a bottle of water, tilted his head back, and gulped it down. Unable to finish, he splashed some onto his head and face as well.
Only after calming himself did he grow impatient at the presence beside him and ask, “You brought what you wanted to say, so why aren’t you leaving yet?”
He Dongli felt pushed away, so she turned her back on him naturally.
From behind, Zong Chi warned, “Don’t say too much once you’re out. I have my own legs; I’ll go back whenever I want.”
He Dongli felt as if stung, decisively turning around, “Zong Chi, I’m telling you again, it’s not me who spread your family’s gossip.”
“I’m telling you again, I never said you did.”
Before she could continue, Zong Chi cut her off, “I’m just asking if you ever mentioned it to anyone. Mentioning it doesn’t mean you deliberately spread rumors.”
Her whole body tingled with exhaustion.
She could have just told Zong Chi who said it —
Xu Xilin.
That night, Xu Xilin and some classmates overheard their conversation.
Xu Xilin even admitted it, not that she intentionally spread it, but at most she didn’t stop it immediately.
She said she hated how Zong Chi always seemed to have his eyes on top of his head; seeing him lose face was pure satisfaction.
Losing a spoiled rich kid from Yizhong was a blessing for all of them.
Too bad, when someone’s left isolated, someone else loses support.
“He Dongli, don’t deny it—you’re just like your mother.”
“Relying on your grades, relying on your looks, you hooked Zong Chi, and whenever trouble comes, he always steps up for you. You and your mother really can’t live without a man.”
He Dongli shot back, “Who stepped up for me? When? And is it me and my mom who can’t live without a man, or is it you and Xu Xize who can’t live without your hatred for me?”
Xu Xize stood silently by the side, cold and indifferent to their usual quarrels.
Xu Xilin kept bringing up her mother, saying she would never forgive the man who betrayed her mom and would always despise women who cling to men.
She mocked He Dongli, “Isn’t it true? Your mom’s just a kind of parasitic flower. Otherwise, why would she agree to be with Xu Maosen?”
Her late husband—
He Dongli’s father—was a technical backbone sent on assignment abroad.
Officially, he was sent to a branch factory; in reality, perhaps he and her mother had long worn tattered green hats over each other’s heads.
He Dongli’s anger surged so fiercely that she nearly struck Xu Xilin.
Xu Xize grabbed her wrist from behind to stop her.
She cried, “No, Dad and Mom were close before he got sick.”
Overpowered by Xu Xize, she finally collapsed to the ground in frustration.
He still didn’t let go of her.
Summoning all her strength, she elbowed him in the chest and then slapped him hard in the face.
Standing up with a decisive air, she told the siblings firmly, “I won’t take a single cent from the Xu family. But if you’re trying to shame me to get my mother to leave your father, forget it. Whoever’s mess this is, you clean it up yourselves.”
Xu Xilin trembled with fury, her eyes almost bursting with rage.
She cursed He Dongli for being shameless, saying, “Like mother, like daughter. You’re basically admitting your mother’s a homewrecker!”
He Dongli argued, “I’m telling you again, she’s not. When she returned to Jiangnan, she was widowed. Your father was too. If you’re going to throw accusations, you should provide evidence. Xu Xilin, you’d rather slander your father and your family than admit that you’re just helplessly protecting your family interests. You say my mother can’t live without a man; why can’t your father live without my mom?”
Before she could finish, Xu Xilin lost control and shoved her.
He Dongli fell backward down the stairs near the landing.
Xu Xize shouted, losing control, “I’m coming!”
But Xu Xilin grabbed him, yelling, “If you help her up, I’ll never show myself to you again!”
Seven or eight steps down, Lu Ayi, hearing the commotion, rushed upstairs.
Seeing what happened, she cried out in alarm and helped He Dongli up, checking her head and feet.
Only a small abrasion on her spine was visible.
Lu Ayi knew well the tensions in this blended family.
She helped impartially, unable to change the younger ones, she targeted the eldest.
“Xi Ze, you’re the older brother, a boy. How can you just stand by and let these two sisters fight like this? It was your father who wanted to be with Yu Ayi. If there’s anger, direct it at your father. Don’t you know his temper? If this keeps up, no one will end well. If someone dies, let me see how big your father’s influence really is to cover this up.”
He Dongli stood up from the carpet.
Lu Ayi anxiously lifted her clothes to check the wound, not avoiding Xu Xize standing at the stairs.
He Dongli raised her eyes, her gaze quiet for a moment.
Xu Xilin looked down scornfully at the two at the stairway and sneered, “Good, even a housekeeper’s been bought over by this so-called lady of the house.”
“He Dongli, you’re shameless, saying a woman can’t live without a man. If that’s what you think, how could you let Zong Chi go? You should have held onto him tightly. Or maybe you know, a child from Zong Chi’s family will leave sooner or later. Your mother fooled Xu Maosen, let’s see if her daughter can inherit that skill. I’ll tell you, in Zong Chi’s mother’s eyes, you’re not even worth tying his shoe.”
He Dongli smiled faintly, unbothered and slightly mocking, though the pain in her side from the wound tugged sharply.
Pain kept her clear-headed.
Clear-headed enough to see through right and wrong. Life was more about desire than justice.
She somewhat understood now.
Like Xu Xilin always stood up for her mother, and He Dongli stood up for her father, it was really all for themselves.
This fight, seemingly about their parents or factions, was still about personal gain.
“Xu Xilin, why do you care so much if Zong Chi stays or leaves?”
The person upstairs suddenly moved as if about to walk down, but her brother stopped her.
He Dongli shrugged off Lu Ayi’s hand, told her she was fine, and asked her to tell her mother that she had come back.
She had some things to handle but would stay in Tongcheng for now.
Before leaving, He Dongli glanced upstairs twice — one look full of resentment, the other merciless.
She never told Zong Chi who spread the rumors, nor did she say that Xu Xilin seemed reluctant to see him leave.
He Dongli was lost in thought for so long that Zong Chi’s patience ran out.
He threw down the towel, approached her shirtless, as if from another season, and asked, “Did you come today to clear your name or your honor?”
“Neither. When someone has an ulterior motive to misunderstand you, no explanation is enough.”
“Then why come at all?”
“Your father’s secretary is looking for you.”
“Whether they look for me or not is none of your business.”
He Dongli turned away and looked at the rippling pool water, stirred by the breeze, subtle and faint.
She couldn’t tell if it was the wind moving or her heart.
“Before you leave, I came to congratulate you on winning the Silver Award.”
Zong Chi tilted his head, exhaling sharply through his nose.
He didn’t know if he was mocking himself or her.
“Congratulations or mockery? What’s there to celebrate about a Silver Award?”
“Why isn’t the Silver Award worth celebrating?”
He Dongli said seriously.
To be polite, it was pure merit, but she knew Zong Chi called her a bookworm behind her back.
Zong Chi met her gaze steadily.
After a moment, He Dongli spoke plainly, “I don’t even know how to swim. Winning a silver medal at the provincial competition means you’re among the best — no, the best of the best.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
Zong Chi suddenly asked, catching her off guard.
He Dongli almost instinctively shook her head.
With parting moments approaching, she thought she should make peace with this classmate and schoolmate she’d known for years, despite him having few friends and many enemies at school.
“Nothing much, just came to congratulate you and say goodbye.”
That day, she was almost at the exit, fifty meters away, when Zong Chi called out to her, “He Dongli, want me to teach you how to swim?”
“A grown-up like you doesn’t know how to swim? How did you pass the middle school physical exam?”
In the silence, his voice came closer and finally stopped in front of her.
“I didn’t choose swimming for the exam.”
“Cut the nonsense. I’ll teach you to swim if you tutor me in the Four Minor Subjects. I’m not afraid to tell you, I don’t want my dad to arrange for me to study with the Zong family people. I don’t like them, don’t like my parents, don’t like their plans, don’t like the results of my hard work. But because it’s a Silver Award, they think throwing a celebration would be too showy. If they do, I won’t go, because it’s not for me, it’s for Zong Jingzhou’s son.”
It was the first time He Dongli heard Zong Chi speak so much — no arrogance, no brutal attitude of the school’s feared troublemaker.
Only awkwardness and frustration.
“You said your parents are loving?”
“Just because they love each other doesn’t mean they love me.”
He Dongli didn’t understand.
Zong Chi opened his mouth but only said, “You wouldn’t get it if I told you.”
She nodded, letting it go.
Thinking she was angry and trying to protect him from further exposure, Zong Chi blurted, “Couples can fight and make up, but parent and child? My dad knows how to coax my mom, but with me, he only goes all out.”
He Dongli half-understood and concluded that Zong Chi inherited his father’s bad temper.
They talked for a long time.
He Dongli still wore her sweater over her school uniform, and the guy who got out of the pool hadn’t returned to shower.
She pointed at the goosebumps on his skin, “Go shower and change.”
“How’s your decision?”
Zong Chi asked, ignoring her words.
“What?”
“I teach you to swim, you help me with tutoring.”
“Four As, then I can stay for high school until the final exams.”
“You want to stay for the final exams?”
“That depends on you.”
Zong Chi was stunned.
Then he slowly said, “You help me get four As.”
“I can’t help you. This isn’t some magical technique you can just pass on. I can barely tell my ABCDs apart on exams.”
“He Dongli!”
“That’s just how it is.”
“Not ‘just’! You think I can’t get four As? I just don’t want to go there. Anyway, if I stay, I’ll prove I can get the scores my dad demands.”
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