Chapter 51: Cousins

Chapter 51: Cousins

Song Jiaren looked Xia Xibei from head to toe with a calculating glance, seeing no signs of anger in her.
“You really aren’t mad?”
If someone had said things like that about her, she would have beaten them to death by now!
“I’m really not,” Xia Xibei’s eyes gleamed with a smile. “Their opinions are... irrelevant.”
Compared to being abused by netizens in her past life and the misery of being cursed and boycotted, their words were a piece of cake to deal with.
Song Jiaren looked at her with a frown, seemingly exasperated by her indifference. “You will be bullied to death if you continue this way!”
“Right! If you weren’t there with me today, I would have been bullied,” Xia Xibei looked at her with a smile, her eyes shimmering brightly.
Song Jiaren’s face turned red under the stare Xia Xibei was giving her.
She averted her eyes in embarrassment and coughed softly. “It’s just because you are an easy target for bullies!”
“That is why I have to thank you!” Xia Xibei said sincerely, her smile wide.
Although Song Jiaren didn’t have a good reputation at school, she was a very adorable little girl indeed. A nice girl like her shouldn’t be deceived by Yang Xuan anymore!
“Actually, Liu Zhijing has a reason to dislike me,” Xia Xibei remarked suddenly.
“Oh? What’s her reason?”
“Yang Xuan is her cousin.”
“What?!” exclaimed in Song Jiaren shock, “Cousins?!”
“Yes. Their mothers are cousins, so they get along very well.”
Xia Xibei didn’t know either until recently. Only then did she begin to understand why Yang Xuan would even bother to pursue the introverted, quiet girl that she had once been.
In fact, if they were to be precise, Liu Zhijing and Xia Xibei were cousins too, although very distant ones at that.
Liu Zhijing’s aunt didn’t like Xia Xibei, who was her stepdaughter. Even though they had no direct interactions and seldom met each other, Xia Xibei’s existence was still an eyesore to her.
Knowing this, Liu Zhijing bullied Xia Xibei to gain her aunt’s favor. The more miserable Xia Xibei’s life was, the happier they were!
“They are cousins?!” Song Jiaren was still taken aback by the matter. “You are kidding, right?”
“What’s the point of telling you such a joke?” Xia Xibei raised her brows. “I suppose Liu Zhijing got to know about what happened to Yang Xuan’s family. That’s why she had so much hostility towards me.”
In fact, Liu Zhijing and her mates didn’t know about it at all. They had come out right after classes ended and didn’t get to witness the drama in time. Liu Zhijing’s hostility toward Xia Xibei was long-standing, although they didn’t have much opportunity for interaction.
“They were too much, weren’t they?” Song Jiaren asked indignantly. “It was all Yang Xuan’s family’s fault! How dare she find a reason to blame you! Moreover, Yang Xuan isn’t even a good person! Not only did he not return the money he had borrowed, he even had several girlfriends at once! A real scumbag, indeed!” As she spoke, Song Jiaren got angrier and angrier.
Her relationship with Yang Xuan had begun not long ago, so she was still far from having profound feelings for him. That was why she could quickly untangle herself from the relationship, right after the incident happened.
If they had been together for a year or two, Yang Xuan would certainly deceive a naive little girl like Song Jiaren with his scheming tactics, tricking her into thinking that she couldn’t live without him.
“Yes, Yang Xuan is a scumbag! Besides, those relatives of his are also no good!” Xia Xibei nodded in agreement. “A family like that could never raise a good child.”
“You’re right!” Song Jiaren agreed vehemently.
“But Jiaren, you are different,” Xia Xibei said, changing the subject swiftly, “Your parents must be very good people!”