Just as Tong Yao was trying to think of a topic to ease the tense atmosphere, Si Chen suddenly stood up and calmly got off the bed. He put down a medical book on the table and turned off the lamp. "Go to sleep early."
Tong Yao: "..."
Although she was sleepy earlier, she suddenly found herself wide-awake.
Tonight was moonless, making the room pitch black. Tong Yao quietly turned her head to look at Si Chen, only to see darkness. He seemed to have blended in with the night. Disappointed, Tong Yao turned back around. The very next second, Si Chen’s voice sounded in her ear.
"Can’t sleep?"
Tong Yao was startled and widened her eyes in curiosity, asking, "How did you know I wasn’t sleeping?"
She had been moving very silently just now. Si Chen shouldn’t have noticed.
Si Chen, "My eyesight is a little better than the average person."
Tong Yao’s face turned red, not giving up, she asked, "Can you see me?"
"Hmm." Si Chen casually replied, "I can see a silhouette."
Bang!!!
Tong Yao was flabbergasted!
Did that mean he knew she had been sneaking glances at him?
This was so embarrassing that she shouldn’t have done what she did.
What could she say now to redeem herself?
Forget it, just pretend to sleep!
In order to make it seem more real, Tong Yao intentionally slowed down her breathing. Gradually, she began to feel sleepy. But just as she was about to doze off, Si Chen suddenly spoke.
"Don’t fight with Chen Yanmei, you won’t be able to beat her."
Chen Yanmei is taller than Tong Yao, almost 1.7m in height, and her weight was half more than Tong Yao’s. If they fought, Tong Yao would surely lose.
Upon hearing this, Tong Yao completely lost the urge to sleep, and defensively argued, "We were just quarrelling today, we didn’t intend to fight."
Si Chen ruthlessly exposed her, "I saw you wanting to hit her today." If he hadn’t shown up when he did, the two of them might have gotten into a fight.
Tong Yao: "..."
Did he have a camera installed in his eyes or what?
He had seen everything in great detail.
She puffed up her cheeks and said angrily, "Who told her to frame me."
"Chen Yanmei is just verbally aggressive, as long as you don’t start a physical quarrel, she won’t hit you first. You are good at arguing, there’s no need to use violence and put yourself in a passive position." Si Chen, being in the hospital for more than a year, did not participate or inquire about these matters, but inevitably heard some news from others, so he had some idea about Chen Yanmei’s character.
After all, Chen Yanmei was the wife of the deputy director. For the sake of the deputy director’s reputation, she wouldn’t casually resort to physical assault.
Tong Yao pondered for a moment, "That seems to make sense."
But as she pondered over Si Chen’s words, she felt something was amiss. What did he mean when he said she was good at arguing?
She turned to face Si Chen, "Are you saying I’m more of a shrew than Chen Yanmei?"
Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and she could faintly see the contours of Si Chen. Right now he was lying flat, his hands resting on his abdomen, a very standard sleeping position. He wouldn’t move all night. Tong Yao admitted she couldn’t do that. Her sleeping habits were restless, reminiscent of a rolling donkey. When she was a child and shared a bed with her cousin, she once kicked her cousin off the bed.
"No." Si Chen seriously answered, "You just have a quick wit, and can argue logically. Chen Yanmei only knows how to quarrel irrationally."
It wasn’t Si Chen looking down upon her, but Chen Yanmei was indeed that type of person.
Tong Yao happily hummed, "Alright! I’ll believe you for now. I’ll avoid fighting with her from now on."
"Hmm." Si Chen’s voice was indifferent, and he suddenly said, "This is just temporary, you have to put up with it for some time. We won’t always be living here."
His voice wasn’t loud, and Tong Yao was slightly drowsy, so she didn’t hear him clearly. His voice sounded a bit hoarse, different from his usual tone. Overcome by sleepiness, she murmured a vague response and fell asleep.
The next morning when Tong Yao woke up, Si Chen had already gone to work. He had left her breakfast from the canteen on the table.
The weather outside was pleasant. Tong Yao thought it was going to be another day full of gains as the recent ones. But to her surprise, just before she reached the school gate, she saw a group of men standing where she had set up her stall. One of them pointed in her direction, and whatever he said made the others turn and look, clearly looking to start trouble.
This was the first time He Fang had seen such a situation. She was a little scared and hesitated to move forward. "Sister, what do these guys want?"
Tong Yao didn’t know what was going on either. Judging from the current situation, it definitely didn’t seem good. If they were trying to create trouble and Niuniu got scared, that wouldn’t be good.
With that thought, she said, "Sister Fang, you guys wait here. I’ll go and check it out."
He Fang’s voice trembled as she admonished, "Sister, be careful! Don’t confront them head-on, you’re just a young girl, you’ll be at a disadvantage."
The men all looked sturdy and strong. Tong Yao wouldn’t be able to take them on alone, let alone three or four of them. She would certainly lose.
Tong Yao nodded and walked towards the men. When she was still a few meters away, a man in his thirties, and with a burly physique, asked gruffly, "Are you the one who’s selling milk tea here?"
"Yes, that’s me." Tong Yao stopped, looked at the men without any expression, and showed no signs of fear. After all, it was broad daylight, and they were at the school gate. The man wouldn’t dare to do anything to her.
The man sized Tong Yao up and down, impressed that a girl of her young age had the business savvy to run a stand and wasn’t panicked when faced with a few grown men. His tone softened slightly.
"Don’t set up a stand here from now on, stalls aren’t allowed at the school gate."
Tong Yao questioned, "Are you a school leader?"
The man choked and warned, "It doesn’t matter who I am, there’s no stall allowed at the school gate, don’t come back."
Tong Yao was certain this man had nothing to do with the school. Her confidence immediately rose slightly. "You’re not a school leader, so you don’t have the authority to say."
Although she had only been here for two or three minutes, she had already sized up the men from head to toe. The man seemed strong and sturdy, but his face didn’t look like a bad guy. The other three men appeared to be in their twenties, with honest and simple faces. They looked like farmers.
As long as they weren’t petty gangsters, she wasn’t scared.
On hearing Tong Yao’s confident reply, the man blurted out, "How do you know I’m not a school leader?"
Realising he had spoken out of turn, he quickly tried to cover up, "I am a school leader."
"The school teachers have come to buy milk tea from this stand, and I asked them. The school doesn’t object to me setting up a stand here." Tong Yao directly exposed the man’s lie and continued to argue logically, "And what’s more, my stand is on the roadside. The road belongs to the state. I’m not doing anything that affects the students’ studies, so the school has no right to kick me out."
Initially, they thought to intimidate a young, weak-looking girl and she’d be scared off easily. But not only was she not scared, she logically spoke to them. With a few sentences, she left the man speechless.
Thinking of the commitment he made to his relatives, the man’s face darkened. He put on a fierce expression and threatened, "If you continue to set up a stand here, each time you do, I will destroy it once."