Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Everyone at school was gossiping about Zhang Fei, as well as Shao Dong and Shao Xi’s application to skip a grade.
Mu Xue felt that everyone had been looking at her strangely in the past two days. It was even more obvious when she returned to school.
She had never thought that her good intentions would harm Shao Dong and Shao Xi, so she was troubled and sad.
After hesitating the entire morning, Mu Xue made a decision. She followed Little Bei and her siblings back and volunteered to tutor them to make up for it.
“I can teach you guys at any time except during class hours.”
She felt much better after saying that. She didn’t expect to be rejected.
“Thank you, Teacher Mu, but we can learn by ourselves. We have Auntie Mu teaching us, so we shan’t trouble you.”
Shao Xi politely declined, acting as his siblings’ representative.
Mu Xue didn’t believe a single word he said. Did Mu Jingzhe have what it took to teach them?
Not everyone could be a teacher.
She felt that Shao Dong and Shao Xi still blamed her, so they’d randomly found an excuse.
Mu Xue lowered her head and left the Shao Family. She was very upset. When she returned home and saw Old Madam Mu, she poured out her troubles to her with red eyes.
“I didn’t mean to,” she said. “But I think they blame me. I know it’s normal for them to blame me, but I just want to make up for it.”
Old Madam Mu didn’t like the children, but her heart ached for her granddaughter. “If they blame you for this, you don’t have to care about them. You didn’t do anything wrong. You were just too kind.”
After cursing Mu Jingzhe for a while, she wanted to call for Li Zhaodi and Mu Teng to scold them, but when she turned around, they were nowhere to be seen.
The couple had gone to sell buns.
Ever since the two of them had started to sell buns, Old Madam Mu could no longer control them.
Mu Xue was listless for two days. Tang Moling coaxed her during those two days, but she was still sad. In the end, he had no choice but to look for the Shao Family.
This was Tang Moling’s first time at the Shao Family’s home. When he entered and saw the clean yet dilapidated courtyard, after comparing it to the house next door, he couldn’t help but raise his brows.
As if he had entered his own home, he walked in slowly. “How are your lessons coming along? Can you understand what you’re reading?”
Shao Dong nodded. Shao Xi asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Why didn’t you accept Teacher Mu Xue’s tutoring offer? She’s very upset now.” Tang Moling got straight to the point. “I hope you can accept her help.”
Shao Xi pursed his lips. “But we really don’t need it.”
“You’re clearly still blaming her.” Tang Moling was amused. “Don’t be stubborn. It wasn’t easy for me to convince myself to let her help you guys. Don’t be ungrateful.”
“We really don’t blame her, but it’s true that we don’t need her help. We’re doing fine with Auntie Mu’s help,” Shao Xi replied.
Tang Moling frowned. “Why are you so insensible?”
He raised his hand and rapped Shao Xi’s head, causing the latter to cry out in pain.
Why did it hurt? It was because he had hit his head this morning.
He had been through a lot recently.
Shao Xi had always been a person amenable to coaxing but not coercion. He didn’t like Tang Moling’s attitude at all, and the pain he felt on his head made him furious.
“Move aside!”
He slapped Tang Moling’s hand away.
Now, Tang Moling was also in pain after being slapped. “What’s wrong with you?”
As he spoke, he grabbed Shao Xi’s hand.
“Let go!”
Shao Dong quickly went to stop him.
Mu Jingzhe, who had just come back and was holding Shao Zhong’s hand, saw Tang Moling bullying the two children.
How could she allow this?
“Stop!”
Tang Moling was skilled, but Mu Jingzhe wasn’t inferior either. Besides, given her strength, she easily subdued Tang Moling.
“Let go of me!” Tang Moling’s face was red from anger.
“No.” Just as Mu Jingzhe was about to ask why he had attacked the two children, she heard a short scream.
She turned around and saw Mu Xue standing at the door. The things in her hands fell to the ground as she glared at Mu Jingzhe and Tang Moling. With eyes filled with disappointment and anger, she stomped her feet and ran out as she started to cry.
Mu Jingzhe: “Huh???”
Puzzled, she lowered her head to look at Tang Moling. “What happened to her? Did she start crying because I hit you? Why didn’t she come to help?”
She remembered that there was a plot in the book about Tang Moling being in danger and Mu Xue risking her life to block a knife for him. It was touching.
Why would she turn around and run away? Or was she running away in tears?
Was she that scary?
She couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard she thought about it. Tang Moling gritted his teeth. “Look at your posture!”
“What posture?” Mu Jingzhe frowned. His words made one’s imagination run wild.
As she was complaining, she lowered her head and was left speechless.
“…”
Upon looking at Tang Moling, who was pinned under her with his limbs firmly held in place, Mu Jingzhe finally realized what was going on.
This posture indeed didn’t seem so innocent.
“It’s all because you kept struggling.”
Mu Jingzhe let go of Tang Moling’s hands and stood up.
The children were around, so it hadn’t seemed appropriate for her to use moves such as shoulder throws, which required great movement. She had been afraid of hurting the children, so she could only suppress him on the spot.
She had only remembered to move the children to the side to avoid accidentally injuring them, so she hadn’t paid attention to her posture.
Tang Moling got up and looked at his red wrist, his face switching color from white to green.
He was furious about being held down by a woman, and he was also ashamed of the compromising position they had been in.
Damn, their roles had been reversed. It shouldn’t have been like this.
He should have been the one holding Mu Jingzhe down. He should have been up there… Wait, what was he thinking?
Tang Moling’s face exploded from redness.
These were conservative times. Although he was close to proposing marriage to Mu Xue, other than holding hands twice with her, they had done nothing else.
But today, Mu Jingzhe had pinned him underneath her.
He flew into a rage out of humiliation. “Are you still a woman? I even helped you before. Is this how you repay me?”
Mu Jingzhe was speechless for a moment. “Didn’t you say the debt was written off with those buns? Besides, I saw you hitting those two kids.”
“Who hit the children? They’re the ones who hit me.” Tang Moling was even angrier when he saw Little Bei.
“If I hadn’t lent you my car, you would probably still have been god-knows-where. To think you even bit me!”
This little girl had taken advantage of the chaos to bite him. If he hadn’t dodged, his thigh would have been bitten as well.
“You were bullying my brothers.” With Mu Jingzhe around, Little Bei wasn’t afraid at all.
Tang Moling wanted to say something else, but he felt extremely uncomfortable around Mu Jingzhe. His heart flew to Mu Xue, who had run away, and he could only chase after her.
“Mu Jingzhe, if Xiao Xue misunderstands, I will never forgive you.”
Mu Jingzhe paused. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”
In any case, she decided to ask why he had come first.
When she realized that Tang Moling had come because of Mu Xue, it seemed like it had been a misunderstanding and she shouldn’t have hit him. Feeling helpless, she followed him.
Mu Xue was so angry that she was crying in her room and didn’t even open the door when Tang Moling came.
Finally, Mu Jingzhe arrived.
Seeing how anxious Tang Moling was, as though he was afraid that Mu Xue might do something foolish in there, Mu Jingzhe felt that she ought to do something.
“I’ll help you knock down the door.”
Tang Moling: “???”
His face was full of question marks.
Mu Jingzhe was already preparing. “Mu Xue, move aside. Don’t stand behind the door. I’m about to knock it down…”
Before Mu Jingzhe could destroy the door, Mu Xue opened it.
Tears welled up in her red eyes, making her look pitiful.
Tang Moling’s heart ached, but Mu Xue ignored him and only looked at Mu Jingzhe.
“When I was young, you used to steal all my clothes and shoes. Not only did you steal Shao Qihai, but you’re even trying to snatch Tang Moling. Do you want to snatch everything that belongs to me?”
Mu Jingzhe paused. “No, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not trying to snatch him away from you. It was a misunderstanding. I…”
“Misunderstanding? I saw it with my own eyes. You even did it in front of the children. You simply…”
She couldn’t bring herself to say that she had forced herself on him, but the scene had been extremely stimulating.
It could be said that it had shocked her soul and turned her world upside down.
She felt that Mu Jingzhe had already laid her hands on Tang Moling.
They had only held hands, yet Mu Jingzhe had already touched him.
She glanced at Tang Moling and felt that he was… dirty.