He Jing paused, hearing footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw He Ning standing behind her. His eyes were downcast, making his expression unreadable, but a melancholy aura surrounded him.
He Jing immediately understood his thoughts—
He missed Cheng Yi.
He must have hoped that the call was from Cheng Yi.
Unfortunately, that's unlikely.
After calming herself down, He Jing dialed the number.
beep--
beep--
It's connected.
He Ning reached out and pressed the speakerphone button on the landline.
He Jing softly called into the microphone, "Hello?"
There was a three-second pause on the other end of the microphone, followed by a volcanic eruption of a high-pitched, shrill female voice, so loud it almost blew the roof off: "You, He Jing, how dare you bully Xiao Yi at school! I didn't expel you from Yin Gao only because of our years of mother-daughter relationship. How dare you bully my own daughter when I wasn't looking!"
He Jing had never imagined that an old-fashioned telephone could have a speaker-like function. She quickly covered the receiver with a "snap" to reduce noise pollution, listening to the chaotic scene on the other end:
"The matter hasn't been clarified yet, Shuping, please don't say anything too harsh."
“Xiaoyi came back crying like that, and you still spoke up for a fake daughter, Cheng Yue, do you have a heart?”
"But Xiaoyi also said it has nothing to do with Jingjing, so let's not misunderstand Jingjing."
"Besides her, who else would dare to bully the Cheng family's daughter? You actually believe that Xiaoyi is kind and only made excuses for us because she was afraid of hurting us!"
...
Silence fell over the microphone.
Then, the middle-aged man's voice rose slightly: "Hey, Jingjing."
He Jing then removed her hand from the receiver, picked up the phone, and held it to her ear, replying, "Uncle Cheng."
On the other end, adoptive father Cheng Yue said with a hint of heartache, "Jingjing, your father has loved you for so many years, spoiling you into a pampered child, and I've never really regretted it. I've always thought that even though you're spoiled, you're still sensible and can tell right from wrong. I think you're not a bad person at heart, except for being a little willful sometimes. But this time... you've disappointed me so much. Xiaoyi cried so hard when she came back..."
Even though she was crying so hard, she kept making excuses for her, saying that her targeting of her must have been unintentional.
No matter how angry He Jing was that they sent Cheng Yi back to the Cheng family, she shouldn't take it out on Cheng Yi. She's suffered enough over the years.
He Jing was amused and even laughed out loud. She asked directly, "What did Cheng Yi tell you?"
Ye Shuping snatched the microphone and said sternly into it, "Xiaoyi didn't say a bad word about you, so don't try to shift the blame onto her."
He Jing said, "Then why don't we call her over for a face-to-face confrontation?"
Ye Shuping said coldly, "Xiaoyi cried herself to sleep and didn't do her homework today. No matter what the truth is, I'm warning you to stop bullying Xiaoyi at school, or I'll have Yin Gao expel you."
After saying that, the phone slammed down, leaving only a busy tone.
He Jing put down the phone and turned around. She saw He Ning looking indifferent. He Sui, who had just found clothes in the room to take a shower, was standing at the door with a bad look on his face. Even He Xiaoguo, who was eating snacks, stopped eating, pulled her sucking fingers out of her mouth, and scrunched up her chubby face.
Her heart sank, and she calmly and slowly rose from her squatting position.
He Sui stared at her and coldly questioned, "What did you do to Xiaoyi?"
The warmth of the walk home from school vanished in an instant.
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