Chapter 73: Postgraduate Study Ruined (6)
6
It was a little dark in the private room. Xia Shu stood in the brightly lit corridor, clenching her fists tightly and trembling all over.
He knew that there was a problem between him and Zhou Ziqian, and he also knew that Zhou Ziqian was hiding something from him.
He thought that Zhou Ziqian was too busy with work recently, or that Zhou Ziqian had met someone.
It doesn't matter, if there is a problem, just solve it. They can either talk about it openly or break up directly.
These are all solutions to the problem, but at least they are trying to solve it instead of putting it off.
He was trying hard to find a way out for their relationship, and even when he came here, he was still worried that the waiter who was being bullied was Zhou Ziqian.
But he could never have imagined that Zhou Ziqian was not the waiter who was being bullied.
Zhou Ziqian is the one who makes things difficult for others.
They all called him "Mr. Zhou" and said that he had several boyfriends, and one named Xia Shu was the cheapest. He got her without spending a penny.
so……
It turned out that Zhou Ziqian lied to him about this matter.
Xia Shu stood at the door of the private room like a wooden stake.
The waiter manager kindly helped him up and said, "Hello, sir. You must be a guest of Teacher Zhu in the opposite bakery. Your private room is over here. I'll take you back."
Xia Shu was shaking all over, but he tried his best to calm down: "Thank you, I..."
He didn't know what excuse to make, and as soon as he opened his mouth, his eyes turned red.
At this time, Zhou Ziqian in the private room said calmly: "You go down first, we are all classmates."
"...Okay." The supervisor failed to take Xia Shu away and had to leave by himself. Before leaving, he looked back worriedly.
Xia Shu looked at Zhou Ziqian. Zhou Ziqian was sitting on the sofa, looking different than he had ever seen him before.
Zhou Ziqian's group of friends were also good at changing their attitudes according to the situation. Seeing that Zhou Ziqian was sitting steadily, and even propped up one leg, they didn't even make a move to get up and comfort him.
So they all felt relieved.
Zhou Ziqian doesn't care about Xia Shu at all.
Xia Shu looked at Zhou Ziqian with red eyes: "You lied to me."
All doubts were resolved at this moment.
Xia Shu looked at Zhou Ziqian steadily and figured out all the truth.
"Your family is very rich and you can go to such high-end places at will. From the beginning, you pretended to be poor and worked in a cafe. In fact, you were just playing a game to see if you could get a poor student without spending a penny, right?"
Zhou Ziqian choked and his expression became obviously unnatural.
He could do that, but when Xia Shu said it like that, he actually felt uncomfortable.
He tried to stop it: "Okay, stop talking."
Xia Shu naturally refused to stop talking, but in the process of guessing the facts, he slowly calmed down.
"It turns out that you can, and you don't have to spend a penny more on me, a poor student."
"At the beginning of this semester, you got tired of playing and told me that you wanted to work part-time somewhere else."
"From the beginning to the end, you have never worked part-time. Every day you told me that you worked part-time, you were here, or somewhere similar, laughing with your friends at how stupid I was."
"As long as you bring me some leftovers, I'll be grateful. The meals from the past few days were packed from here, right? The leftovers you had?"
Zhou Ziqian looked a little embarrassed: "What did you say? Although I lied to you, the things I brought you that day were all new."
"That's right." His friends also spoke up for him, "Xia Shu, don't be so ungrateful for what you have."
"You got a rich boyfriend for free, so just be happy about it. Why are you talking so much? You don't really want a poor boyfriend, do you? Don't act so noble."
Xia Shu looked at them in disbelief: "According to what you said, I should forget about this matter immediately, pretend nothing happened, and continue to date a liar?"
"Xia Shu, how can you talk like that? Are you still unclear about the identity of our Master Zhou?"
Zhou Ziqian's friend stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, opened the curtains, and pointed at the tall buildings outside the window.
In the night, the four big words "Zhou Group" emitted red light on the top of the tall building.
It almost hurt Xia Shu's eyes.
"Did you see it? This is our property, Mr. Zhou."
Zhou Ziqian sat on the sofa confidently. He also thought that as long as Xia Shu knew his identity, she would not make trouble.
After all, in the past twenty years, he had been successful in everything he did thanks to his identity.
But Xia Shu did not waver. He looked at Zhou Ziqian steadily and said, "That's what you think, right? It doesn't matter if you lie to me. I'm so poor anyway, so I will definitely pretend that nothing is wrong and continue to cling to you."
"How disgusting." Xia Shu said to them without hesitation, "You are all disgusting!"
Everyone's expression changed: "What are you talking about? Keep your mouth shut."
Xia Shu looked back and saw that the door of the opposite room was also open. Teacher Zhu was standing at the door, looking at him worriedly.
Teacher Zhu was still waiting for him, and the other students were there too.
Xia Shu turned back, looked at Zhou Ziqian, and said only one sentence: "Let's break up."
After saying this, Xia Shu turned and left.
There was a loud noise behind him, as if Zhou Ziqian had overturned the coffee table and several friends were trying to persuade him.
"Mr. Zhou, it's not worth it. Didn't you want to break up in the first place?"
Zhou Ziqian... Zhou Ziqian didn't want to break up, but this wasn't the way to break up. Anyway...
He looked at Xia Shu's back as she left, and suddenly felt as if he was losing something.
This feeling of being out of control left him at a loss.
Xia Shu ignored him and strode outside.
When he returned to the private room, Zhu Qingchen was standing at the door waiting for him.
He believed that Xia Shu would make his own choice, so it would not be a good idea for him to bring other students over to watch. He just stood at the door so that if a fight broke out, he could immediately bring people over.
Xia Shu wiped his eyes casually and walked to Zhu Qingchen: "Teacher."
Zhu Qingchen didn't ask him what happened, but just stepped aside and let him in: "Some more dishes have been served, come in and eat them quickly, otherwise they will eat them all."
"Okay." Xia Shu calmed down and followed Zhu Qingchen in.
I don’t know if some of the classmates really didn’t see it, or if they pretended not to see it to take care of his feelings, and waved at him: “Xia Shu, come and eat, I saved it for you.”
Xia Shu returned to her seat and saw the bowl piled full of food. She couldn't help but shed tears again.
He was busy studying and working every day, and kept to himself. He only met these classmates during class and was not very familiar with them.
But even these unfamiliar classmates knew to be honest with him and saved food for him.
Xia Shu lowered his head and ate his food in small bites.
The system said to Zhu Qingchen, "Isn't that a bit radical? He seems unable to accept the truth when it's revealed to him all of a sudden."
Zhu Qingchen said calmly: "A short pain is worse than a long one."
If this drags on, Xia Shu and Zhou Ziqian will have a deeper relationship and will be deceived more seriously. The deeper they fall, the more difficult it will be to deal with the situation.
It's better to just suffer for a while now. *
After dinner, the group prepared to leave and, under the guidance of the waiter, came to the elevator.
As luck would have it, Zhou Ziqian and his group were also waiting for the elevator.
Zhou Ziqian's face turned pale, he folded his hands and said nothing.
His friends are still trying to persuade him.
"Don't be angry, Mr. Zhou. He's just a poor student. It's fine if we split up."
"Yeah, you've been fed up with it for a long time and want to break up. Now's the perfect time."
"In the past, Master Zhou would give people branded gifts even if he played for just one day. Now this guy has played for a whole year and hasn't given anything away. Isn't that a profit? It's a waste of a year's play."
They talked about this matter as if no one was around, without any scruples.
Although the students didn't know what had happened, they looked at each other and felt that what these people said was disgusting.
Xia Shu's face wasn't looking good either. She stood aside, not wanting to argue with them, and didn't say anything.
At this time, Zhu Qingchen called out calmly: "Zhou Ziqian?"
Zhou Ziqian turned around with a bad expression.
He looked Zhu Qingchen up and down and vaguely remembered.
This was Xia Shu’s teacher, his surname seemed to be Zhu, and he had taught him a lesson in class.
Zhu Qingchen looked at him, then at the others: "Are you all from wealthy families? Are all your family members prominent figures?"
Zhou Ziqian cleared his throat: "What does Teacher Zhu want to say?"
"No, I just think that a family like yours should pay more attention to the upbringing of their children, right?"
"Teacher Zhu, what does this mean?"
"Since you know it's embarrassing, then control yourself."
Xia Shu has already seen Zhou Ziqian's true face, so Zhu Qingchen doesn't have to worry so much.
"If a student has corrupt morals and makes inappropriate remarks in public places, the school has the right to notify the parents or even expel the student."
Just as the group was about to speak, Zhu Qingchen raised the phone in his hand.
Obviously, he must have videotaped or recorded it.
Zhou Ziqian was furious and was about to step forward to snatch his phone, but Xia Shu reacted quickly and stood in front of Zhu Qingchen.
He looked at Zhou Ziqian steadily: "Let's keep each other's dignity. If we tear each other apart, I will make this matter public and you won't get any good results."
Zhou Ziqian's friends became a little anxious.
"Mr. Zhou, are you just going to listen to him threatening you like this?"
"I can't listen to it anymore." Xia Shu said to Zhou Ziqian: "I told you to take care of your friends."
Zhou Ziqian's face darkened, and several students also protected Zhu Qingchen.
"What?"
The two sides were on the verge of fighting.
Just at this moment, the elevator arrived with a "ding dong" sound.
The elevator door opened and a man in a suit stood in the elevator.
Zhu Qingchen was about to say hello to him, but the man shook his head at him.
Zhu Qingchen withdrew his hand, and Huo Jun glanced at Zhou Ziqian: "Ziqian, do you want to eat here?"
Zhou Ziqian ignored him and went straight into the elevator.
Huo Jun was not angry and walked out of the elevator.
Zhou Ziqian's friend pressed the floor button and the elevator door slowly closed.
Huo Jun turned around and nodded to Zhu Qingchen: "Teacher Zhu."
Zhu Qingchen smiled and said, "Boss Huo."
Huo Jun glanced at him and said, "I have another social engagement, so I'll leave first."
"Okay, goodbye, Mr. Huo."
Under the guidance of the waiter, Huo Jun came to the private room.
As a result, there was no one in the private room except him.
Well, he was just worried that Zhu Qingqing was being bullied, so he came up to take a look.
*
On the other side, Zhu Qingchen took the students downstairs in the elevator.
Although several students were very curious about Zhou Ziqian's affairs and vaguely guessed that it seemed to be related to Xia Shu, they still suppressed their curiosity and did not ask.
After walking out of Zhongming Restaurant, Xia Shu finally realized, "Oh no! I haven't told my dad to come pick us up yet. Wait a minute, I'll send him a message right away."
Several classmates waved their hands: "No, no, we can take a taxi back by ourselves."
But at this moment, a taxi not far away saw them coming out and drove forward quickly.
Father Xia lowered the car window and took out a few cups of tightly packed sour plum soup from the passenger seat: "Come on, get in the car. You are all full, right? Auntie made you some sour plum soup to help digestion. Drink some, and Teacher Zhu should have some too. Xiaoshu, come and share with your teacher and classmates."
Father Xia estimated that the time was about right, so he drove over without waiting for Xia Shu to send him a message and waited here.
Xia Shu is a sensible child. Although his family does not restrict him in any way, he seldom goes out to play and has few friends.
It was a rare occasion for him to have dinner with his classmates, and his family was very happy. Father Xia would rather have fewer guests at night, and Mother Xia also got off work early and made iced sour plum soup, just to let Xia Shu and his friends have more fun.
Xia Shu took the sour plum soup and shared it with her classmates. Suddenly, her nose felt sore and she almost cried.
He didn't cry much when he saw Zhou Ziqian, but when he saw his father, he couldn't help but shed tears.
He tried to wipe his tears with the back of his hand, but his tears were nowhere to be wiped away. He could only turn his back to his father to prevent him from noticing his tears.
Zhu Qingchen noticed that something was wrong with him, patted his shoulder, stood in front of him, and said to Xia's father: "Uncle, the car can't fit so many people, please help send these students back first. There is still a problem with Xia Shu's thesis, I need to talk to him again."
Father Xia smiled naively and said, "Thank you, Mr. Zhu, for helping our Xia Shu read his paper at this late hour."
"You're welcome. Xia Shu and I will walk back slowly. You can send these students to school and then come back to pick us up. Is that okay?"
"Yes, yes, of course. Thank you so much, Mr. Zhu."
"You're welcome."
Zhu Qingchen sent a few students to the car and let them go first.
Only Xia Shu was left.
Xia Shu's eyes were red as she looked at Zhu Qingchen: "Thank you, Mr. Zhu."
"You're welcome. Come on, let's walk slowly for a while."
"Um."
At this time, it was already dark.
The traffic is endless and the tall buildings are as bright as day.
In the city, it never gets dark.
Xia Shu and Zhu Qingchen walked side by side on the sidewalk, neither of them spoke.
Xia Shu asked, "Can I tell Teacher Zhu about some bad things?"
He really couldn't find anyone to talk to.
Zhu Qingchen nodded: "Sure, you can say whatever you want."
But Xia Shu hesitated for a moment and finally didn't say it.
After walking for a while, Xia Shu suddenly spoke up: "Zhou Ziqian and I met when we were freshmen. At that time, I was working in a coffee shop, and he was also working in a coffee shop, and that's how we got to know each other."
"He told me in person that he and I were the same person, that his family was also very poor and that he had to work outside to earn money. I thought he and I were the same. Then we got together, and it has been almost a year now."
"But just now, I found out that he was lying to me." Xia Shu took a deep breath: "He lied to me on purpose. His family is very rich. He pretended to be poor and came to work in the coffee shop. In fact, he was making fun of me."
"Every time he goes out, he eats, drinks and has fun in high-end places like this, and when he comes back, he brings me something."
Xia Shu whispered, "Teacher, actually I don't like foie gras at all. My father took my family to eat it, but I didn't think it tasted good."
"When he brought me the foie gras, I thought, this is something he specially left for me, I must show my support and not make him feel bad."
"But what about him? When he saw my exaggerated performance, he must have thought that this country bumpkin had never even tasted foie gras and would go back and tell a joke to my friends."
"How could he do that? From the beginning, I was a joke among them. They laughed at me for a whole year!"
Xia Shu couldn't control herself, her voice became louder and louder, until she finally couldn't bear it anymore, she squatted down on the sidewalk, and broke down crying.
"Teacher Zhu, how could he do this to me? How could he do this?"
"I was worried that he would be bullied, so I ran over to see him, but he was laughing at me with his friends. Why could he do this to me?"
Xia Shu squatted on the ground, crying bitterly, muttering "why".
Zhu Qingchen wanted to help him, but found that he was limp and fell to the ground, unable to get up.
After a while, Xia Shu's hands and feet began to tremble, his breathing became rapid, and his heart beat very fast. He covered his chest with his hands and his face turned pale.
Zhu Qingchen patted his back gently: "Breathe slowly, not too fast, take your time."
Zhu Qingchen looked around and said, "There's a bench over there. Let's sit over there and talk slowly, okay?"
Zhu Qingchen supported him, let him sit on the bench, took out a tissue to wipe his face, and continued to pat his back.
Xia Shu was still crying and almost couldn't breathe. "How could he do this? How could he do this? I'm not a cat or a dog. How could he treat me like a joke?"
"I didn't borrow money from him, and I didn't want his money. Why did he lie to me like this? I didn't lie to him, and I didn't pretend to be rich. Why did he lie to me? What did I do wrong?"
"I was worried that he would be bullied and feel uncomfortable. I never lied to him. Why did he treat me like this?"
Zhu Qingchen put his arm around his shoulders, rubbed his arms, and said softly: "Don't look for the reason in yourself. He lied to you because he is morally corrupt, not because of anything else you have done."
Xia Shu raised her head with tears on her face, looked at Zhu Qingchen as if she understood, and moved her lips: "Teacher Zhu..."
He is not very worldly-wise, his family members are very kind, and he has never had any conflicts with anyone.
So when he encounters something, his first reaction is——
Did I do something wrong? Did I offend the other person?
But he doesn't know that not everyone is moral and reasonable.
There is a large proportion of people in the world who do bad things for no reason at all.
The only reason is that they are morally corrupt.
Zhu Qingchen said sternly: "They did bad things because they are morally corrupt, not you. Even if you do everything perfectly, they will not let you go."
"Now that you have discovered the truth, you should be thankful that you discovered it early and cut ties with them so that you won't be ridiculed or insulted again, instead of looking for the reasons in yourself."
Xia Shu panted and slowly calmed down.
"Besides, since Zhou Ziqian's motives for approaching you were not proper in the beginning, why do you care about his opinion? Isn't it a lucky thing to not be liked or recognized by bad people?"
"Think carefully, when you were with him, did he do anything for you?"
Xia Shu wiped away her tears: "He...he taught me how to make coffee at first, and he also took classes with me."
Zhu Qingchen smiled and took out another tissue and gave it to him: "This is not for you, this is for himself. He just doesn't want to lose face in front of his friends. What happened next? How did he treat you?"
"Over the past year, he had so many opportunities to confess to you and so many opportunities to stop his friends from insulting you, but he never took any action. Even when you were about to discover the truth, he accused you of being unreasonable."
Yes, when Xia Shu got close to the truth yesterday, he turned the tables and said that it was Xia Shu who was suspicious and unreasonable.
Xia Shu tried to analyze it like Zhu Qingchen did: "In fact, I just almost exposed his lie, so he was angry and said that to me."
"In fact, I am not like that at all. I have my own things to do. I study and work hard every day. I don't keep pestering him."
Zhu Qingchen nodded: "That's right."
Xia Shu looked at Zhu Qingchen and repeated seriously: "It's not my fault, it's their fault."
Zhu Qingchen answered him with the same firmness: "Yes. There is nothing wrong with giving sincere feelings in love. This is a manifestation of sincerity and courage. The one who is wrong is the one who plays with feelings. You are not wrong."
"Since you didn't do anything wrong, there's no need to blame yourself. You can't ask the other person to repay the feelings you've already given them, but you can choose not to invest anymore and not waste your feelings."
Xia Shu lowered his head, and his hands on his knees slowly clenched and became firmer.
After a long while, Xia Shu raised her head and said to Zhu Qingchen: "Teacher Zhu, thank you."
"You're welcome." Zhu Qingchen handed him another tissue and said, "Wipe your tears. Your father will be back to pick you up soon."
"Okay." Xia Shu nodded.
Xia Shu wiped her tears and slowly calmed down.
"Teacher Zhu, you already knew Zhou Ziqian's identity, right?"
"Ah?" Zhu Qingchen turned and looked at him.
"Teacher Zhu knew his identity and wanted to remind me, but he was afraid that I wouldn't believe it, so he brought us here to eat and let me see him here."
"Yeah." Zhu Qingchen touched the tip of his nose and was discovered.
Xia Shu looked at him seriously and said, "Thank you, Mr. Zhu. I understand your good intentions."
Zhu Qingchen patted his shoulder, feeling very pleased.
Xia Shu sniffed, his expression firm.
He was just stuck in a rut for a moment, but after Zhu Qingchen gave him some advice, he finally understood.
Xia Shu finally said: "I have broken up with him. If he wants to cause trouble for me again in the future, I will not let him bully me."
Xia Shu suddenly remembered something and quickly took out his cell phone.
He wants to export the chat history quickly.
If he was deleted by Zhou Ziqian, the chat history would be gone.
He and Zhou Ziqian had been in a relationship for almost a year, and Zhou Ziqian had been lying to him throughout the entire year.
He had to keep the only evidence, so that he could deal with it if Zhou Ziqian turned the tables and blamed him.
Zhu Qingchen was relieved to see that he had cheered up and had started thinking about how to deal with Zhou Ziqian in the future.
Zhu Qingchen asked casually: "As for your brother...are you going to tell him about this?"
"I..." Xia Shu hesitated, "I don't know."
Xia Chi knew Zhou Ziqian, but...
He was worried that his brother would be upset, but he was also afraid that if he kept it a secret from his brother, something might happen in the future.
Seeing his hesitation, Zhu Qingchen said, "I think you should tell him."
"But Xiaochi can't stand the stimulation, what if..."
"You tell him slowly, it's better than one day when he walks down the street and runs into Zhou Ziqian and his group of cronies and gets provoked by them."
Xia Shu thought about it and it seemed to be the case.
"If you can, it's best to tell your parents about it, because for adults, these things are not a big deal at all."
In the original book, after Xia Chi died, Xia Shu always felt guilty, thinking that she had killed her brother, and she did not dare to tell her parents about it.
He kept things to himself and had no one to talk to. Eventually he developed depression and had to drop out of school.
Zhu Qingchen thought that if he told his parents about it, they would never blame him. Any adult with the ability to think would seriously tell him that it was not his fault, but Zhou Ziqian's fault.
It’s a pity that he missed this opportunity because of his boundless guilt.
After his brother's death, Xia Shu had no friends around him. Maybe this was the reason why Zhou Ziqian was able to take advantage of the situation in the end.
Xia Shu nodded: "Well, I understand. Thank you, teacher. I will tell him and also tell his parents about this matter."
“That’s good.”
Not long after, a familiar taxi came over with its lights flashing not far away.
Xia Shu stood up and waved to his father: "Dad, here!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com