Disgusting (Yuck~)

Tang Manman pointed at the bandage on Lin Yu's head and asked cautiously, "Does it hurt?"

"No," Lin Yu replied with his usual impatience.

"Then... is it from an old injury that hasn't healed yet?"

Remembering her mother's earlier speculation, Tang Manman felt a mix of guilt and anxiety.

"What's it to you?"

"Stay away from me!"

"If you keep sticking around, don’t blame me for what happens next!"

Lin Yu raised his hands to shoulder height, palms facing Tang Manman, his fingers curling and uncurling in a universally recognized vulgar gesture.

Tang Manman flinched at first, instinctively covering her chest with her hands. But then, recalling the humiliation she’d endured under the willow tree and in Lin Yu’s room, her expression hardened with resolve. Straightening her back like a gambler going all-in, she defiantly lifted her chin.

"Stop trying to scare me."

"You’re not that kind of person!"

Her sudden defiance caught Lin Yu off guard. His fierce expression faltered for a split second before turning even more aggressive, as if to mask some fragile emotion beneath.

"I am that kind of person!"

"If I didn’t have other things to deal with today—"

"You... you..."

"You’d be on tomorrow’s crime news!"

With a final glare, Lin Yu turned and stormed off, his hurried footsteps almost as if he were fleeing some monstrous beast.

Tang Manman watched his retreating figure, a sour ache of grievance swelling in her chest.

Why did he always treat her so harshly?

She had never done anything to provoke him.

Returning to the bus stop in a daze, Tang Manman stood silently by the sign, replaying every interaction to figure out what she might have done to deserve this.

Lost in thought, she didn’t notice Yu Kai beside her, his face darkening to an almost purple shade of fury.

"Manman, stay away from people like him. He’s clearly no good!"

After holding back for so long, he finally snapped, his voice thick with barely contained anger.

Tang Manman frowned and turned to him, her tone firm.

"Yu Kai, Lin Yu is a good person. You can’t judge someone just by their appearance."

"Don’t you remember?"

"He helped me before!"

Hearing her defend that troublemaker only fueled Yu Kai’s rage. In his anger, he began slinging baseless accusations.

"Helped you? Ha!"

"I wouldn’t be surprised if he staged the whole thing—hired people to bully you just so he could swoop in and play the hero."

"Otherwise, how could he show up twice exactly when you were in trouble?"

"Can’t you see how suspicious that is?"

Yu Kai put on a knowing look, speaking as if he’d uncovered some grand conspiracy.

Tang Manman was too stunned to even feel angry at first. The idea was absurd.

Lin Yu hiring people to bully her?

For what?

So he could beat them up and get them expelled?

Or just so he could snap at her occasionally and use her as an emotional punching bag?

There was no logic to it!

She glared at Yu Kai, baffled by how easily he could smear someone he didn’t even know.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she was about to defend Lin Yu when something in Yu Kai’s words caught her attention.

"Twice?"

"What do you mean, twice?"

"Besides that morning in the hallway when I was bullied, when else did you know about?"

"Were you just hiding in the shadows again, watching like last time?"

Her eyes reddened as she confronted him, suddenly realizing how cowardly and unfamiliar this person beside her had become.

Not only had he done nothing while his friend was bullied, but now he was slandering the one who’d actually stepped in to help.

When had he turned into someone so despicable?