Chapter 1: In a cliche angst novel (1)
SMACK!
Lin Xi smacked across the face.
“How are you so sinister at such a young age?
“She’s your sister and you tried to set her up? You can’t bully her at home so you bully her at school?”
Xu Jiaofeng held onto Lin Xi’s arm with one hand and smacked her with her the other.
“She fell into the lake by herself. It had nothing to do with me!” Lin Xi fought the pain and denied any wrongdoings.
Xu Jiaofeng got angrier. “How would Xinxin fall into the lake if you didn’t do anything to her?”
“I don’t know how she fell in there but it had nothing to do with me. There were others there and also surveillance video. You can go look into it if you don’t believe me.”
“You are still denying it?!”
“Like I said, I have done nothing.”
Lin Xi looked at Lin Anxin who was standing behind Xu Jiaofeng.
Lin Anxin had already changed out of her wet clothes by now. She was wrapped in a blanket and Song Kexin with her arms around her. She was slipping the ginger soup that Song Kexin was feeding to her.
The incident started near the end of the school day – this afternoon, when Lin Xi walked out of the library, she saw many running toward the artificial lake and also heard that Lin Anxin got into a spat with someone and had fallen into the lake.
By the time Lin Xi got over there, Lin Anxin was struggling in the artificial lake that was barely the height of one person. The teachers were not there yet and nobody dared to interfere.
Lin Xi had no sympathy for her but, after some pondering, fished her out of the lake anyway and carried her over to the car that was there to pick them up.
Low and behold, the moment they arrived home Lin Anxin quickly dashed from Lin Xi with a fearful look and threw herself at Xu Jiaofeng and Song Kexin. She merely mumbled when asked what had happened.
With Lin Anxin behaving the way that she was plus the confusing description from the chauffeur who was responsible for dropping them off to and from school, it was only natural for Xu Jiaofeng to assume that Lin Xi was the one who pushed Lin Anxin into the lake.
Lin Xi stared angrily at Lin Anxin and, enunciating one word at a time, said, “Lin Anxin, you tell them, did I push you into the lake?”
Meeting Lin Xi’s eyes, Lin Anxin acted as though she was fearful. She retracted more into Song Kexin’s arms and started sniffling. “Mom, I’m so scared. Sniffle. I thought I was going to die and that I will not see you and Dad again, or my grandmothers.”
Her wronged look made Song Kexin and Xu Jiaofeng’s hearts ached.
“What is this now? Are you trying to intimidate her some more?” Xu Jiaofeng pulled Lin Xi away from Lin Anxin.
Lin Xi gritted her teeth and cussed in her mind: Pretentious *.
Who’d drown in an artificial lake that was less than a meter deep?
Lin Xi thought with contempt to herself before turning to look at Song Kexin, her own mother.
Nevertheless, when their eyes met, Lin Xi could only see difference in her eyes, along with a hint of blame and resentment.
“Apologize for your sister,” said Song Kexin coldly.
Lin Xi wanted to bust out laughing when she heard that.
What had she expected? It had always been like this. Whenever there were conflicts between Lin Anxin and herself, she was always the one who was yelled at. Even the servants at home would say that she was envious of Lin Anxin.
Lin Xi fought back her tears and wouldn’t let them roll down her cheeks. Looking at Song Kexin, she asked, “Whatever that Lin Anxin does are always right and whatever I said are always wrong?”
Lin Xi’s question only brought about Song Kexin’s silence.
“I am not going to apologize,” said Lin Xi as she tightened her fists. “Let the person who lied today die a horrible death. She will choke herself to death when she drinks, be smashed by the roof when she sleeps, or hit by a car when she walks out of this door!”