Han Jingchen stopped the car not far from the school to drop off his daughter.
Xinyan waved at Han Jingchen, lifting the thermos bottle he had prepared for her from the car: "Dad, drive slowly. Iâm heading back to school."
Han Jingchen nodded at his daughter: "Remember to call Dad if anything comes up."
Xinyan nodded back at him and turned to walk toward the school.
Watching his daughter enter the school gate, Han Jingchen drove off.
Xinyan timed her arrival; she planned to return to the dormitory to get her books before heading to class. However, as soon as she went upstairs, she heard a noisy commotion: "These shoes are brand new. I just got them and now youâve ruined them. I donât care, you have to pay for them."
Looking ahead, she saw a crowd gathered in front of dormitory room 307.0. Hearing the voice, she thought, luckily that troublemaker was now out of room 306, or else room 306 would still be in constant chaos.
Thinking of this, she couldnât help but thank Jiang Peiqin. It seemed her family background was quite extraordinary, which was evident from Li Yutongâs attitude yesterday and today.
As she got closer, she saw Zhang Zhaodi on her tiptoes watching the commotion: "Zhaodi, whatâs going on here?"
Zhang Zhaodi, seeing it was Xinyan, whispered: "Iâm not too clear on the details. It seems that Shen Xiaoyu from the German class accidentally spilled ink into Li Yutongâs new shoes while handing someone else the ink, staining them."
Knowing the ins and outs of the situation, Xinyan first returned to her dormitory, packed her books for the afternoon classes, filled a cup with water for herself, and then prepared to go to the classroom.
However, just as she left the dormitory, Zhang Zhaodi pulled her aside: "Xinyan, Shen Xiaoyu is quite pitiful. Is there any way to help her?"
She had heard clearly earlier that Shen Xiaoyu had been helping someone else pass the ink when another student bumped into her, causing the ink to spill directly into Li Yutongâs shoes by pure coincidence.
But how could this situation be helped? Li Yutong was still fuming, and anyone daring to intervene might face harsh words. Besides, after being upset in room 306 yesterday, thereâs no way sheâd listen to advice now.
Xinyan glanced at Zhang Zhaodi: "Itâs better to let things be for a while. Wait until Li Yutong calms down. If we try to intervene now, things could get messy without resolving anything."
Shen Xiaoyu, like her, was from Sichuan. Zhang Zhaodi wanted to help her, but after hearing Xinyanâs reasoning, she found it made sense. Anyway, class was about to start, and this matter definitely wasnât going to be resolved immediately.
Just then, someone shouted: "Itâs getting late, time to go to class."
The crowd quickly dispersed, each person returning to their dormitory to grab books before heading to the classroom.
Li Yutong had more than one pair of shoes, and though she wanted to resolve the matter, it was time for class. She couldnât skip the first official day of class.
Her father had warned her, causing trouble again would mean no more school for her.
Knowing her fatherâs temper, if she truly disappointed him, he might actually keep her from coming back to school. However, thinking about the afternoon classes worried her even more.
She had already planned to ask her family to help transfer her department when she went home over the weekend. She really wasnât cut out for studying English; she didnât understand a word. Just thinking about attending those classes made her uneasy.
Due to yesterdayâs incident, Li Yutong had been warned by her family not to cause any more trouble, so she didnât dare make a scene: "Shen Xiaoyu, you canât escape responsibility for this, no matter what, you have to pay for these shoes."
After saying that, she also left the dormitory for the classroom.
Xia Ruhui, following behind her: "Yutong, Shen Xiaoyu doesnât even have a decent set of clothes. She probably canât afford to compensate you. If this blows up to the dorm managers, we might get into more trouble. No one else can see inside the shoes anyway, so maybe just let it go for now, what do you think?"
Upon hearing Xia Ruhuiâs suggestion, Li Yutong became angry immediately: "Itâs easy for you to say that because it wasnât your shoes that got ruined. Once the ink dries, itâll still stain my socks every time I wear them. I wonât be able to wear them again. If you want to be the nice person, donât treat me like a fool."
Afraid of upsetting Li Yutong, Xia Ruhui quickly explained: "I didnât mean it that way. Iâm just worried that if things escalate and we alarm Uncle Li, our families wonât let us off the hook."