Chapter 130: Wanting to Go Back and Kiss Her Right Now

Meng Shirui was struck hard across the face the moment she returned home. Her cheek swelled up rapidly.

Mother Meng hurriedly shielded her. "Why are you hitting our daughter? She didn't know anything! If you want to blame someone, blame that Tang Yu. She's so young yet so malicious, actually recording everything in secret and posting it online!"

"Our daughter is being cyberbullied now, with so many people watching us from the outside. What if our home address gets leaked? You need to find a way to take it down immediately! How is our Shirui supposed to face people in the future..."

The socialite friends who used to join her for tea and beauty treatments now looked at her with strange eyes. Some even used snide, passive-aggressive remarks to her face, saying they wouldn't dare let their children be near Shirui anymore for fear of being beaten. Mother Meng had lost her temper and gotten into a fight with one of them. She had returned home full of rage, only to be berated by her husband for failing to raise their child properly.

Father Meng pointed at the mother and daughter, momentarily choked with anger and unable to speak. "What do you expect me to do? The topic is trending so high; do you think it's something I can just make disappear? If she hadn't been acting out recklessly, no one would have had any leverage against her!"

Meng Shirui clutched her swollen cheek, a flash of cold, sinister hatred in her eyes. Tang Yu—it was her again! She had been wondering where those recordings came from, given that the school didn't have that much surveillance. So, every time she had beaten her, Tang Yu had been secretly recording it! Damn it, if she had known, she should have searched her every single time!

Meng Shirui felt not a shred of remorse; she only regretted not being more thorough.

"Everything is being discussed online right now. Don't go out for a while. I'll figure something out once the heat dies down," Father Meng said, his head throbbing with a splitting pain, his eyes filled with stifled resentment.

It wasn't just the two women; even he couldn't leave the house now. Someone had dug up Meng Shirui's family background and exposed his car and company. Every time he stepped out, he felt like he was being watched by countless eyes.

Mother Meng panicked. "We can't just hide forever." She grew resentful toward Tang Yu again. "It's all that brat's fault. She clearly promised us a settlement, yet she still stirred up such a huge mess!"

She seemed to have forgotten that those recordings documented a full year of violence Tang Yu had endured—violence she had completely ignored.

Meng Shirui gritted her teeth. "After this blows over, I'll deal with her!"

Father Meng was furious. "You're still thinking about things like that at a time like this!" His heart gave a painful twitch, and he nearly gasped for breath. "Do you have any idea how many business partners have shelved their contracts because of you? Do you know how much money this family has lost?"

Meng Shirui pouted. "That's only because of Tang Yu's recordings."

Mother Meng quickly chimed in, "It'll be fine once the public opinion passes. Even though Shirui hit someone, she was still a minor at the time, and it didn't cause any major injury. Even if the police got involved or it went to court, at most we'd just pay some money."

"Mom, this won't affect my university admission, will it?" Meng Shirui was more worried about that.

Father Meng said coldly, "Don't even dream about university. The school we were in contact with has already reached out to me to reject your application. Forget five million; I doubt they'd dare take you even for ten million!"

Meng Shirui grew anxious. "Then what should I do? I have to go to university in the Imperial Capital!"

Father Meng wanted to lash out but held it back; it was useless to be angry now. He stopped wasting words. "Stay at home for this period. Once the public outcry settles, we'll find a way to send you abroad."

With that, he went upstairs, his face ghastly. Mother Meng comforted her, "Shirui, just listen to your father and stay home for a while to avoid the spotlight."

Meng Shirui was fuming, but she had no other choice.

***

Tang Yu scrolled through the Weibo posts; the matter had already blown wide open. She sat on a stool, her back against the wall, her body bathed in sunlight, yet she still felt a chill. Her grandparents had cried for a long time and were now asleep.

She stared blankly at the swaying leaves, feeling as if everything were a dream. She was terrified that she would suddenly wake up and find herself back at the moment she first met Bian Yang. If Bian Yang hadn't been there back then, would everything be different now?

After a moment, Tang Yu looked down at her phone, her fingertips hovering over her chat history with Bian Yang. A moment later, she couldn't help but call him.

He answered almost immediately. "Xiao Yu."

Hearing his voice, all the grievances and worries came flooding out. Tang Yu's eyes stung for no reason. She blinked hard before speaking softly, "Bian Yang, have you seen Weibo? I posted all those recordings."

"Yeah." His voice was a bit hoarse, as if he were suppressing something. When speaking to her, he deliberately softened his tone. "You did great, baby. You are very brave."

The terrible weight in her chest dissipated with his voice, though her voice still carried a slight nasal tone. "I feel so relieved now. A kind of relief I've never felt before."

"Yeah," he murmured in agreement.

"I was thinking, what would I have done if I hadn't met you? I'm so lucky."

Bian Yang whispered, "Even if you hadn't met me, Tang Xiao Yu would still have kept going. Even if the path were difficult, Tang Xiao Yu would have walked it without hesitation."

She sniffled and pressed her lips together. "Can I really?"

"You can," he said. "Because the Tang Xiao Yu I know is exactly that brave and strong. No matter how much misfortune you encounter, you will crawl out of it time and time again, and then continue to walk forward fearlessly."

"Also, are those people online saying bad things? Why isn't anyone as good at cursing as I am?" He pulled her out of her bad mood with just a few words, saying lazily, "I'll go online and write a template for cursing later so they can learn a thing or two."

Tang Yu couldn't help but laugh at that, asking softly, "Are you still at your friend's place?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I can go back tomorrow."

Then he asked in his usual cocky tone, "What, missed me after just one day?"

Tang Yu gave a soft "yeah" and nodded earnestly. "I did."

Bian Yang paused, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly. "Then I'll come back tonight."

"No, no, take care of your own business first!" she said quickly.

Bian Yang said huskily, "I'll be back as soon as I finish talking to them. It won't delay anything."

Tang Yu asked softly, "Is the friend you went to see Qin Mingyu?" He was the only one she knew.

"No."

"Then... is it a boy or a girl?"

He had left so quickly and in such a hurry that day that Tang Yu vaguely felt he was meeting someone important.

Bian Yang chuckled softly, then said nonchalantly, "What if it's a girl?"

This time it was her turn to be stunned. After a few seconds of silence, she muttered, "Then you should hurry back..."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "What, you don't want me to be alone with girls?"

Tang Yu nodded honestly. "I don't." Bian Yang was too good; he might get taken away.

Bian Yang's heart felt a mix of ache and tenderness. Damn it, he wanted to go back and kiss her right now.

"Well, that's true. I'm so handsome that it's normal for you to feel a sense of crisis," he laughed, his tone lazy and mischievous. "But if you have a request, I can fulfill it. Just act like a spoiled brat and say, 'Brother, please don't spend time alone with girls anymore, okay?' Just like that, and I'll listen to you."

Tang Yu was taken aback. Acting spoiled was a bit difficult for her... she had never tried it.

Bian Yang had originally just been teasing her. Who knew the young girl would soften her voice and actually mimic his words: "Brother."

The moment those two words came out, he couldn't handle it.

"In the future... please don't spend time alone with girls, okay?" She seemed a bit unnatural, stumbling over her words.

But that didn't prevent her voice from being impossibly soft and warm, like a ripe, sweet berry, drilling into his pores and filling his body with sweetness.

"However, you can bring me along. I promise