Chapter 46 – She’s Under My Protection, Got It?

Lin Xi tearing up the Discipline Committee’s notebook didn’t just stun Chu Wenmu and the other two Discipline Committee members. It also made the handful of students still in the classroom watching the drama blurt out, “Holy crap-“

Shi Yu gave Lin Xi a wicked grin and a thumbs-up.

Lin Xi: “…”

Spectators never minded making a scene bigger. Some truths really were eternal.

“You, you, you!-” Chu Wenmu’s face flushed red with anger. She pointed at Lin Xi, her finger trembling slightly.

“Miss Lin Xi! You have no respect for school rules! You’re completely lawless!-“

Lin Xi gave a faint, mocking smile. “Senior, there you go slapping labels on me again.”

Chu Wenmu: “…”

She had come here to lecture someone, so why did it feel like she was the one being lectured instead?

Chu Wenmu raised her voice. “Students who ignore school rules never come to a good end! I’ve already committed your words and actions to memory, and I will report them to the school’s discipline teacher immediately!”

“Um, quick question. Once the teacher finds out, how will I be punished?”

“At best, you’ll be kept under observation. At worst, you’ll be expelled on the spot!”

“Expelled?” Lin Xi cried out bitterly. “Wouldn’t that make me more wronged than Dou E1?”

“Just you wait-” Lin Xi swiftly pulled out her phone.

Time to call for backup!

“Heh.” Chu Wenmu smiled faintly. “Now you know you’re in trouble? Too late! Even if your parents are on the school board, they won’t be able to save you!”

“Who said I was going to use school board connections?” Lin Xi had no such connections at all. “I’m calling Xia Xun directly!”

“What???!!!” Chu Wenmu was once again utterly shocked. “You… you actually have Miss Xia Xun’s contact information?!”

“Liar!”

“You’re just bluffing, aren’t you?!”

“How could you possibly have Miss Xia Xun’s contact information? Even I don’t have her contact-“

Only when Lin Xi’s call connected did Chu Wenmu finally shut up.

What? She really had Xia Xun’s contact information!!!

“Hello?” Lin Xi said urgently. “Xia Xun, sorry to bother you, but there’s something I need you to help explain to Senior Wenmu.”

“Senior Wenmu doesn’t believe me. If you don’t help me out, I’m probably going to get expelled.”

The call, however, was disconnected.

Chu Wenmu burst out laughing. “Miss Lin Xi, are you putting on a show here? That wasn’t Xia Xun, was it? She didn’t want to play along, so she just hung up?”

“No.” Lin Xi let out a long breath. “Xia Xun said to wait a moment. She’s coming at top speed.”

“Huh?!” Chu Wenmu was just about to say something when she suddenly felt a chill run down her back.

“Lin Xi! I’m here! Who’s trying to expel you?!” Xia Xun slid down from an ice path suspended in midair.

After receiving Lin Xi’s call and hearing that she was about to be expelled, Xia Xun had immediately put down her bowl and chopsticks, frozen the water vapor in the air, and made an ice path from the cafeteria to Lin Xi’s classroom, sliding over at lightning speed.

Lin Xi pointed at Chu Wenmu. “Senior Wenmu said I might be expelled.”

Chu Wenmu: “…”

“Is that so?” Xia Xun looked at Chu Wenmu. “Senior Wenmu, please tell me exactly what’s going on.”

“I, um…” Chu Wenmu’s face went pale as she stammered. “Miss Xia Xun, that photo… did you really pull Miss Lin Xi into taking it?”

“Yes,” Xia Xun admitted without hesitation. “We took that photo to promote that movie and posted it on social media. Is there a problem?”

“No… no problem! No problem at all!” Chu Wenmu said with an indescribable expression. “It seems the Discipline Committee and Miss Lin Xi had a small misunderstanding.”

“A small misunderstanding?” Lin Xi shook her head. “It wasn’t small.”

“I was almost made out to be a criminal against the school and all of Z City.”

The moment Xia Xun heard that, her expression changed drastically. “Lin Xi, tell me exactly what happened.”

Lin Xi told the truth, and the more Xia Xun listened, the uglier her expression became.

“I’m sorry, Lin Xi. I’m so, so sorry,” Xia Xun said as soon as she finished listening, immediately apologizing to Lin Xi. “I never thought that photo would cause you so much trouble.”

“If I’d known, I never would’ve taken-“

“No, no, no,” Lin Xi said. “This isn’t my fault, and it isn’t yours either. It’s certain people’s fault.”

“And as for who those certain people are, I won’t name names.”

Chu Wenmu was sweating bullets.

With a dark expression, Xia Xun said to Chu Wenmu, “Senior Wenmu, were you really doing this to stand up for me? To solve my problems?”

“You deliberately picked a fight with Lin Xi, and that is what troubles me!”

Chu Wenmu and her two assistants were so frightened that they stood there as silent as cicadas in winter.

Xia Xun pointed at Lin Xi and said loudly, “She’s under my protection. Got it?”

Chu Wenmu and her assistants nodded furiously.

“Miss Xia Xun, I was wrong! We were wrong!” The three of them lowered their heads together and admitted their mistake.

Xia Xun said, “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”

Chu Wenmu turned to Lin Xi and apologized solemnly. “Miss Lin Xi, we were wrong!”

“Just saying ‘we were wrong’ isn’t very sincere,” Lin Xi said.

“Then what do you want me to do? As long as it’s within my power, I’ll do everything I can to make up for my mistake!”

Seeing that Chu Wenmu’s attitude was quite sincere, Lin Xi didn’t intend to make things too hard for her.

“At the very least, treat Xia Xun and me to a meal?”

“You kept me blocked in the classroom for so long that I’m about to starve to death.”

“Xia Xun rushed over before she even finished eating. Asking you to treat us isn’t too much, is it?”

“I’ll treat you! Right now!” Chu Wenmu said. “Let’s go eat outside. Order whatever you want.”

Lin Xi: “…”

Why did Chu Wenmu look kind of happy about this???

When they went out to eat together, Lin Xi finally understood why Chu Wenmu was so happy even though she was being punished by having to pay.

Because she got to treat Xia Xun to a meal!

Lin Xi pressed further. “Senior, why were you targeting me like this?”

“I, I…” Chu Wenmu stammered. “At our school, the president of Xia Xun’s Fan Club is me.”

Lin Xi: “…”

Xia Xun: “…”

No one could have imagined that the strictest member of the Discipline Committee on campus was actually the fan club president!

Chu Wenmu had come looking for trouble because she was envious and jealous that Lin Xi got to watch a movie with Xia Xun and even take a photo together.

“Senior!” Lin Xi said. “So it turns out you’re the one with no respect for school rules, running completely wild!”

“Coming to my class to corner me, even trying to get me expelled-you were totally abusing public authority for personal gain!”

Chu Wenmu was so thoroughly lectured by Lin Xi that she couldn’t even raise her head.

“I was wrong!”

“Miss Lin Xi, I’m sorry!”

“This week-no, this month-I’ll cover your lunches. Please forgive me, okay?”

Once her weakness was exposed, even this black-haired, straight-haired, domineering beauty couldn’t withstand Lin Xi’s “firepower.” She broke on the spot and raised the white flag in surrender.

She had to properly get a handle on this haughty big-sister type… Lin Xi shook her head at Chu Wenmu’s proposal.

“Not enough?” Chu Wenmu raised the offer. “Do I have to treat you for an entire semester? I… I don’t have that much money…”

“No, Senior, just treat me for one week,” Lin Xi said. “But if I accidentally violate a school rule in the future, could you maybe turn a blind eye?”

“Deal!” Chu Wenmu agreed at once.

“Then about that mark you recorded against me today for sleeping in class…”

“Once I get back, I’ll erase it immediately!”

Lin Xi felt much better. “Then thank you, impartial and selfless Senior Wenmu.”

Footnote:

1. Dou E(窦娥): The protagonist of the famous Yuan Dynasty play The Injustice to Dou E. She was a young woman who was wrongly accused of a crime and executed. Her name has since become a cultural shorthand for someone who has suffered a severe injustice or been falsely accused.