Absurdity

The club activity ended at 5:40 PM. After cleaning up the clubroom, it was almost time to leave.

"So happy," Tang Keke said, looking at the contact information of Zhi Xia and the others on her phone, delighted at making new friends.

Then she hugged Bai Yuyou's arm and said cheerfully, "Yuyou, I’ll come to the club to hang out with you every day from now on!"

"Mm, okay..." Bai Yuyou seemed happy hearing this, and the stray hair on her head even perked up a little.

At that moment, Ye Shuang patted his pockets as if realizing something.

"I left my room key in the infirmary. I’ll go back and get it," Ye Shuang said. Besides, he usually didn’t walk home with Yuyou and the others after school—he drove to buy groceries while the two girls walked back.

"Brother, I want to come over for dinner tonight," Keke said, no longer as shy as before now that they were closer.

"Sure."

After Ye Shuang left, Tang Keke and Bai Yuyou headed downstairs toward the school gate.

"Yuyou, isn’t our school’s anniversary coming up?" Keke said as they walked down the stairs.

"Mm."

"I heard from other students that on the last day of the anniversary every year, the success rate of confessing your feelings face-to-face is 100%!" Tang Keke began to flex her skills as a self-proclaimed "love strategist." "When the time comes, I’ll teach you what to do so you can win Brother over!"

Bai Yuyou tilted her head, seemingly confused. "After confessing... what can we do?"

"What can you do after confessing?" This question stumped Tang Keke. She hesitated for a moment before saying, "You can kiss and hug!"

Bai Yuyou thought for a bit, then said, "We’ve already kissed."

"Uh..." Tang Keke racked her brain, drawing from years of shoujo manga experience, and finally said, "You can sleep together!"

Bai Yuyou looked even more puzzled. "We already sleep together... every night."

"No!" Tang Keke waved her finger side to side. "This kind of sleeping is different—it’s the kind that can make babies!"

Bai Yuyou replied, "Ye Shuang doesn’t want to..."

"Exactly! That’s why after confessing successfully, you can do the baby-making kind of sleeping! Brother will agree then!" Tang Keke said excitedly, patting Bai Yuyou’s back with a look that said, "Finally, you get it."

Bai Yuyou seemed to half-understand but nodded anyway.

"Leave it to me! Our Plan B will definitely succeed!" Tang Keke brimmed with confidence. Beside her, Bai Yuyou clapped encouragingly, even though she didn’t fully grasp the situation.

Just as the two chatted and reached the school gate—

A middle-aged woman with a fierce expression suddenly rushed over and grabbed Bai Yuyou’s arm.

"Yes, it’s you! I finally caught you!"

"You’re the one who hit my son and called the police, aren’t you?!" the woman shouted angrily, tightening her grip. Next to her stood a girl who looked no older than twenty, also glaring furiously.

Bai Yuyou was momentarily confused—she didn’t recognize these two people. All she felt was the sharp pain where her arm was being grabbed. She tried to pull free, but the woman held on tightly.

"It’s all your fault! Now my son’s in jail, and our family’s only source of income is gone! You have to pay us back—compensate us for our losses!" the woman yelled.

Tang Keke moved to shield Bai Yuyou, but the woman glared at her so fiercely that Keke, who was naturally timid, felt her heart pounding.

Still, for her friend’s sake, she stammered, "Um, Auntie, maybe there’s some misunderstanding here?"

"None of your business!"

"B-but if you don’t explain, we won’t know how to fix things..."

"She threw something at my son and hurt him!" the woman snapped.

Tang Keke froze, then turned to Bai Yuyou. "Yuyou, did something like that really happen?"

Bai Yuyou thought for a moment and remembered the incident with Xu Huan.

"Auntie, your son tried to stab Ye Shuang... that’s why I hit him," Bai Yuyou explained. "Your son is a bad person... he should be in jail..."

At that moment, Tang Keke realized—this woman was the mother of that would-be murderer!

Seriously, how dare she come here demanding compensation?!

Keke cursed inwardly but suddenly recalled a news story: a thief broke into someone’s house, died under unclear circumstances, and the court still ordered the homeowner to compensate the thief’s family.

There was also another case where a stolen e-bike battery spontaneously combusted, killing the thief, and the original owner had to pay compensation.

Tang Keke suddenly felt the world was absurd. Were these two here with the same twisted logic?

"What did you just say?!" The woman flew into a rage upon hearing Bai Yuyou calmly call her son a bad person. "He was tricked by that slut!"

She raised her hand to slap Bai Yuyou.

Tang Keke reacted quickly and blocked it, but the slap landed hard on her arm, leaving a bright red mark.

"Ow!" Keke cried out in pain.

"Keke..." Seeing her friend’s pained expression, Bai Yuyou grew angry. "You... are bad people too."

The woman sneered. "Go ahead, hit me! I’ll drop to the ground the second you do!"

Slap!

Bai Yuyou slapped the woman across the face.

Ye Shuang had taught her—when dealing with bullies, sometimes action speaks louder than words.

She even reached for her pepper spray.

The woman froze, clutching her cheek, then immediately collapsed to the ground, wailing dramatically.

"Outrageous! She hit me! Someone call the police! This little witch ruined my son’s life and now she’s attacking me! I’m dying!"

As the woman made a scene, the girl with her pulled out her phone and started recording, narrating loudly:

"Everyone, look at this! This girl got my brother arrested and now she’s hitting my mom!"

"What’s wrong with the world? Where’s the justice?!"

The commotion drew a crowd of students at the school gate, eager to see what was happening.

No one knew the full story, but it seemed like the woman had been struck.

"What’s going on?"

"Dunno, looks like a student hit someone?"

"That woman seems like a troublemaker. I doubt it’s that simple."

"Who knows."

Meanwhile, Tang Keke sent a message to Ye Shuang.

Near the school gate, a white sports car pulled out from the parking lot.