Chapter 360: Humiliation
The moment Su Li started speaking, her classmates fell silent, staring at her, dumbfounded.
When Su Li finished, it was quiet for a moment until Qu An led the applause.
"Oh my god, Su Li, watching you feels like I’m watching a news broadcast. You’re amazing!"
Chang E said excitedly, voicing what everyone was thinking.
"Thank you for the compliment." Su Li was a little embarrassed.
’I practiced so much in my past life. Compared to my classmates, this is basically a form of cheating.’
Everyone was in agreement about Su Li—they had nothing but praise.
After Su Li, three or four other students presented. Though a bit nervous, their performances were all stunning.
The class activity came to a perfect end three hours later.
It finished just as class was about to end, and Su Li was eager to leave.
Today was Little Tang Mo’s birthday, and she had to get back to prepare his birthday dinner.
She had done a lot of prep work yesterday, but Little Tang Mo’s close friends were coming to celebrate, as were Wu Sheng and Wu Qihua. She still had a lot to do.
"Su Li, wait a second."
Su Li was about to leave when someone called out to her.
"Su Li, this song is for you."
Qu An’s face was beet red, but he looked at Su Li earnestly. After speaking, he sat on a stone bench and began to play his accordion.
He was playing a popular love song, and its meaning was self-evident.
A few girls surrounded Su Li, and her classmates gathered around them, clapping along to the music and smiling at her.
Mortified, Su Li was trapped. She forced herself to stand still. ’I’ll just wait for him to finish, then I can talk to him and turn him down in private.’
The long two minutes finally ended. Just as Su Li was about to breathe a sigh of relief, her eyes swept past Qu An and the other students and landed on a homeless man not far behind them.
He seemed to be checking to see if the students had left any drinks behind.
The moment she saw him, the color drained from Su Li’s face.
To this day, homeless men remained a source of terror for Su Li.
Every time she saw one, she felt sick.
Normally, she would go out of her way to avoid them, even from a distance.
It was no different now. Forgetting all about Qu An and her classmates, the instant she saw the homeless man, she turned to flee.
Qu An, too excited to notice anything was wrong, saw her trying to leave and quickly moved to block her path.
"Su Li, that song... it was how I feel."
"Let me through," Su Li said in a low voice, her eyes darting toward the homeless man.
Qu An finally sensed something was wrong. His expression changed the moment he heard her words.
The other students also sensed the shift in atmosphere. The clapping and cheering died down, replaced by awkward expressions.
Chang E was the only one who knew Su Li already liked someone. Seeing how tense the situation had become, she looked vexed.
Just as she was about to speak, Qu An asked.
"Why? Why are you rejecting me? What’s wrong with me?"
Qu An was genuinely hurt. On top of that, he had been humiliated in front of the entire class, and his pride couldn’t take it.
Yesterday, Su Li had agreed to go to the internship with him and had seemed too shy to look him in the eye. He’d thought he was finally winning her over, which was why he had planned this surprise public confession.
’All girls like this sort of thing, he knew it. But he never imagined Su Li would...’
Seeing Su Li’s pale face as she tried to walk past him, Qu An panicked and grabbed her hand.
"Su Li, I’m serious..."
He had just begun to speak when he was cut off by the sound of Su Li suddenly gagging.
With a "RETCH," Su Li threw up.
The sight of the homeless man had caused the terrible, disgusting memories to resurface, uncontrollably.
She wanted to escape, to run, but her path was blocked. Qu An reaching out and grabbing her was the final trigger, causing the memories to come flooding back in full.
Su Li couldn’t hold it back any longer and vomited.
Her classmates and Qu An didn’t know what was going on with her. Seeing her reaction, they assumed she had gotten sick and thrown up because Qu An had grabbed her.
Qu An’s face changed drastically, and the other students were stunned.
This changed everything. It was no longer just about Qu An being rejected and losing face.
This was a blatant, public humiliation.
’To get so disgusted you throw up just from being touched... What does that even mean?’
Qu An slammed the accordion hanging from his shoulders onto the ground. He shot Su Li a hateful glare, his face livid, and stormed off.
"Qu An."
"Class President."
The students hurried after him, leaving just a few behind to stare awkwardly at Su Li.
But Su Li was in no state to care about any of that. She was covered in a cold sweat, dizzy, and nauseous, feeling unbearably weak.
She finally managed to stop throwing up. All she wanted was to get away from this place, away from the homeless man.
Chang E patted Su Li’s back. Seeing the state she was in, she quickly helped her away from the edge of the lake.
By the time they got back to the main school grounds, far away from the homeless man, Su Li slowly began to recover.
"Su Li, are you still feeling sick?"
Chang E asked, her face full of concern, "What happened to you?"
"I’m fine," Su Li replied, trying to pull herself together. "Chang E, can you take me to wash my hands?"
Su Li found a faucet, washed her face, and then scrubbed her hands for a long time before she finally calmed down.
"Su Li, what is going on with you?"
Chang E had been watching her the whole time. Su Li scrubbed her hands for nearly five minutes, so forcefully and intently that it made Chang E’s own heart race with anxiety.
"It’s nothing. I’ll be fine in a little while."
Su Li found a chair and sat for a moment, finally feeling back to normal.
"Alright, Chang E, thank you. I’m okay now. I’m heading home."
Chang E still looked worried, so Su Li gave her a hug. "Really, I’m fine now."
’As for Qu An... I’ll just have to explain it to him later.’
Su Li checked the time, patted her cheeks to steel herself, and headed to Little Tang Mo’s school. She arrived just as school was letting out.
When Little Tang Mo saw her, he ran over with a smile.
Su Li knelt and hugged him tightly. After a moment, breathing in the faint scent of milk candy on him, she finally felt completely grounded again, as if she had regained her strength.
"Let’s go," Su Li said, taking Little Tang Mo’s hand as they headed home.
"Mom, I arranged to meet them at the entrance to our complex at seven."
Little Tang Mo was talking about his friends from school.
Su Li nodded. "Okay."
Su Li and Little Tang Mo got busy as soon as they got home. They were about halfway through their preparations when Wu Sheng and Wu Qihua arrived together.
"I could smell something delicious from the doorway!"
The moment Su Li opened the door, Wu Qihua started sniffing the air. "It smells so good! I’m in for a real treat today."
"Grandma Wu, Uncle," Little Tang Mo greeted them.
"Hello, Little Mo." Wu Qihua patted Little Tang Mo’s head. "Grandma Wu bought you a big cake."
Wu Qihua had come straight from work at the school and was still in her smart professional clothes. She had bought the biggest cake she could find, and the one tasked with the hard labor of carrying it was, of course, her son, Wu Sheng.
Wu Sheng dutifully presented the cake. "Here it is."
"Thank you, Grandma Wu! Thank you, Uncle!"
Little Tang Mo quickly stepped aside to let them in.
"Su Li, Little Mo, I have an announcement to make! As of today, I’m Wu Sheng’s older sister."
Wu Qihua announced impatiently the moment she stepped inside.
Su Li and Little Tang Mo blinked in confusion.
"So, Su Li, you’ll have to call me ’Big Sister.’ And Little Mo, you can’t call me ’Grandma’ anymore. You have to call me ’Auntie.’"
Wu Qihua tossed her hair. "Got it?"
Su Li and Little Tang Mo nodded eagerly.
"Big Sister."
"Auntie."
The two of them said it without missing a beat.
Wu Sheng: "..."
’What have I done to deserve this?’