"Is something the matter?" he asked Xie Li, his expression perfectly feigned. "If there's nothing else, I'm going to sleep soon."
The boy had dark circles under his eyes, and his gaze was unfocused; he was clearly exhausted.
Xie Li stared at him quietly for a moment, then suddenly reached out and snatched his phone away.
Xie Zian was startled, but it was too late. Xie Li glanced at the lit-up phone screen and said calmly, "So it was you."
Turning on the speakerphone, Ding Huizhu on the other end noticed: "Xie Li! Who told you to disturb Zi'an so late? Don't you know he needs a quiet environment to study?"
She took the initiative, speaking in a serious tone.
Xie Li: "Oh, so you know that Zi'an needs a quiet environment to study? Please look at the time!"
Ding Huizhu was stunned for a moment, then looked at the time. She realized that it was already past 2 a.m. without her noticing.
She felt a pang of guilt; lately, she seemed to find herself chatting with Xie Zi'an until very late without even realizing it.
But then she was angered by the questioning tone in Xie Li's voice. What right did Xie Li have to question her?
"I'm his mother, can't I even have a video chat with him?"
Which child wouldn't be there for their parents whenever they need them? Besides, so many things have happened recently, if she doesn't tell Xie Zi'an, who else can she tell?
Isn't all of this Xie Li's fault?
Ding Huizhu grew angrier the more she thought about it. "On what grounds are you questioning me? Are you hoping I'm dead? Ziyuan and I have already fled to the capital, why won't you leave us alone?"
"Who gave you the audacity to criticize your grandmother?" Ding Huizhu was indeed very angry when she learned that Xie Li's disappearance was caused by Aunt Feng, a maid in the Ding family.
While she was angry, she also felt furious and heartbroken at Xie Li's act of pointing fingers at Old Mrs. Ding. "That's your grandmother, how could she possibly harm you! Do you have any conscience? How could you say such a rebellious thing?"
Xie Li was indeed ill-mannered and unruly; Ding Huizhu never expected her to be so ill-mannered.
"Furthermore, you fabricated a single sentence out of thin air, which made your grandfather and father suspect that Ziyuan stole the Xie family's inheritance. You must give me an explanation for this today!"
Xie Li didn't want to argue with her about these things. Anyway, Ding Huizhu had already condemned her in her heart, so saying anything would be futile.
Xie Li turned to Xie Zi'an and asked, "When did it start?"
Xie Zian was stunned for a moment, then remained silent.
Xie Li nodded: "Okay, even if you don't tell, your homeroom teacher knows, and Chen Yuanzhou knows!"
She showed Xie Zian the chat history on her phone. "Chen Yuanzhou said that you started to be distracted and sleepy during class half a month ago. Also, your homeroom teacher said that you have regressed a lot in the recent quizzes."
"You dropped a full thirty-eight places in this monthly exam! Your grades plummeted to the very bottom of the class! And your grade ranking dropped to around 150!"
Xie Zian's homeroom teacher had been paying close attention to Xie Zian's situation and attributed Xie Zian's decline to the recent turmoil in the Xie family.
The homeroom teacher specifically asked Xu Fengwei about Xie Li's recent grades. After learning that Xie Li still had a perfect score, Xu Fengwei became a little depressed. After that, Xu Fengwei earnestly pursued Xie Li, asking him to at least keep an eye on Xie Zi'an and take care of his younger brother.
It's unacceptable that she gets perfect scores every time while her younger brother Xie Zi'an's grades plummet. Who can she complain to about this?
Xie Zian was stunned for a moment. He knew he would regress in this monthly exam, but he didn't expect him to regress by such a large margin!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
