I Really Hate You

True freedom isn't about doing whatever you want.

It's about being able to curse whoever you want!

Lin Mo was practically pointing his finger at Xia Shunlin and Xia Yusheng's noses and cursing them.

Xia Yusheng hurriedly looked up at his father, Xia Shunlin. "Dad, they are not my friends."

Xia Shunlin, of course, had already figured that out. It was unlikely anyone in this world would refer to their friend's father as an "old bastard."

But Xia Shunlin did not fly into a rage. In his eyes, someone of his status could not possibly engage in a red-faced, heated argument, let alone cause a noisy scene in public.

He forcefully suppressed the fire in his heart, maintaining his last shred of dignity, his voice cold as ice.

"Truly gutter trash. A dog's mouth can't spit out ivory."

"Oh?" Lin Mo raised an eyebrow, amused. "How strange, then. How come your mouth is spitting out dog's teeth? Did you forget to brush before leaving the house? Your mouth spews nothing but filth. Did you gargle in a cesspool last night?"

Lin Mo always followed one principle: the simplest, most direct insults provided the most exquisite enjoyment.

Lin Mo was a master of this art.

Words like these would always break the other person's defenses.

Sure enough.

The next second, Xia Shunlin was like a hermit crab moving house—he couldn't hold it in anymore.

The carefully maintained mask of stern composure on Xia Shunlin's face cracked, piece by piece.

An uncontrollable fury shot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head, making his blood boil.

Having lived a life of privilege for over a decade, when had he ever suffered such a direct, nose-pointing humiliation!

"You..."

Xia Shunlin's raised arm trembled slightly as he pointed at the tip of Lin Mo's nose. "What do you think you are, daring to speak to me like that!"

Lin Mo gave him a lazy once-over, his gaze like that of someone inspecting a crab waving its claws menacingly but posing no real threat.

He let out a scornful laugh.

"I talk to Jiang Chengshan the same way. So who the hell do you think you are?"

A plain statement, devoid of any emotion.

Yet, upon hearing this, it was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped directly onto the raging flames of Xia Shunlin's anger.

He doesn't even show deference to Jiang Chengshan?

Xia Shunlin's movement, the expression on his face, the thoughts in his mind—everything came to a screeching halt at that moment.

He stiffly lowered his head to look at his son, Xia Yusheng.

His eyes held confusion, a need for verification, and a trace of fear he himself hadn't even noticed.

"Stop looking."

Lin Mo's voice sounded again, tinged with the leisure of someone watching a good show. "Your son was out of the game a long time ago."

"With his pathetic, underhanded little tricks, like running off to tattle, Jiang Chengshan wouldn't give him a second glance."

"You!"

Xia Shunlin jerked his head up. This time, his face had truly turned ashen.

He had schemed and plotted for so long, all to get his son close to that young lady from the Jiang family.

Even after Jiang Yunlu moved away later, he had never given up.

That's why he had made Xia Yusheng take up badminton, participate in all sorts of badminton competitions—just to find opportunities to get close to Jiang Yunlu.

But now, it seemed likely that...

He glared furiously at Xia Yusheng.

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Dad, let me explain."

Xie Yuling and Chu Miaomiao exchanged a glance, the confusion in their eyes clear to each other.

They remained silent, but Xie Yuling quietly unlocked her phone, opened their three-person alliance chat group, and precisely @-ed Jiang Yunlu.

"What's your connection to that 'Xia bastard'?"

Jiang Yunlu had just finished her one-on-one tutoring session and was rubbing her sore neck when her phone screen lit up with this abrupt, context-less message.

"Xia bastard?! Who's that?"

Her brain short-circuited for a second; she almost replied, "Which hospital's?"

After a moment's thought, she suddenly remembered Xia Yusheng.

For Xie Yuling to use that kind of nickname and specifically ask her about it...

Jiang Yunlu instantly guessed about seventy or eighty percent of the situation. Xie Yuling was probably with Lin Mo and had run into Xia Yusheng.

Her fingers hovered over the screen for a moment before she typed back.

"Xia Yusheng? Did he go cause trouble for Lin Mo?"

On the other side, Xia Yusheng was still desperately trying to salvage his dignity. He pointed at Lin Mo, his voice turning shrill.

"Dad, don't listen to his nonsense! Yunlu couldn't possibly hate me. It's him!" He shifted his target, fixing a venomous stare on Lin Mo. "Uncle Jiang looks down on people like him the most! A dead-broke pauper trying to climb the social ladder—Uncle Jiang would never choose him."

Hearing his son's incoherent rambling, Xia Shunlin's mind finally caught up.

Right. Calling Jiang Chengshan by his full name so casually actually indicated a distant, possibly even bad, relationship.

What kind of person was Jiang Chengshan? Someone standing at the very pinnacle of the pyramid. Such powerful figures detested nothing more than others challenging their authority.

Thinking this, the sliver of fear in his heart instantly evaporated, replaced by a sense of smug composure, ready to watch the show.

He even cast a leisurely, sidelong glance at Lin Mo, his eyes as if looking at a clown about to meet a terrible fate.

Just then, a sudden ringtone cut through the tense atmosphere.

Lin Mo raised an eyebrow, pulled out his phone, and saw the name "Jiang Yunlu" cheerfully flashing on the screen.

He answered the call.

"Hey, what's up?"

The voice on the other end sounded urgent. "Lin Mo, put me on speakerphone."

"Huh? Okay!" Though puzzled, Lin Mo complied without hesitation, as he had already guessed some of it.

He tapped the speakerphone icon. The next second, Jiang Yunlu's clear, furious voice erupted from the phone like a thunderclap, filling the entire space.

"Xia Yusheng! Let me tell you, my father has personally praised Lin Mo in front of me more times than I can count!"

"And another thing! You are no longer the 'Brother Yusheng' I once knew. I dislike you now! I dislike you intensely!"

As soon as she finished speaking, without waiting for any reaction from Xia Yusheng, the call ended abruptly.

Probably because Jiang Yunlu had to get back to her tutoring session.

Dead silence.

The entire space plunged into utter silence.

The smugness and spite on Xia Yusheng's face instantly froze, then shattered piece by piece, leaving behind only pallor and humiliation. His mouth hung open, but no words came out.

Xia Shunlin's expression was even more spectacular. The composure and mockery from a second ago still lingered at the corner of his mouth, only to freeze there the next instant. The color drained rapidly from his face, leaving it as white as a sheet of paper.

They understood perfectly well now whose family was truly trying to climb the social ladder. It was just a pity that all of it had been shattered.

Lin Mo put his phone away and turned to look at Xie Yuling, who wore an innocent expression.

Xie Yuling gave him a playful shrug and lowered her voice to a volume only the three of them could hear:

"I just pressed the voice message button and let Jiang Yunlu hear all that talk clearly."

She also secretly let Jiang Yunlu know that she, Xie Yuling, had dirt on her!

Of course, no matter what, when facing this kind of active provocation, they would always choose to present a united front first.

Later, Jiang Yunlu told Xie Yuling she had to go to class and asked Xie Yuling to tell her what had happened today.

Looking at the incoming message, Xie Yuling pursed her lips and didn't reply.