Chapter 199: My Name Is Xiao Ran
My name is Xiao Ran.
I lied.
Why would I actually wait around with some kid for their parents? What the hell am I, an idiot?
But so what?
Let me ask you—what if I did lie?
How interesting. Is there really anyone in this world who's never lied...
When you're facing a bunch of vicious strangers, the weirdest thing you can do is bare your heart and soul to them.
I'm not stupid. I know exactly what to do.
When I was in my third year of junior high, a group of my girlfriends and I were "welcoming" a new girl who had transferred in from out of town in the restroom. We had stripped her clothes off and were about to press a cigarette butt into her arm when she suddenly lunged at me and tackled me to the ground.
I had never been so scared in my entire life.
A girl who just transferred from somewhere else—how dare she lay a hand on me?
When I saw how fiercely she was attacking me, none of the girls around me dared to step in. My heart went cold.
That "welcome" ended badly.
In the following days, things took a strange turn.
I noticed that the out-of-town girl wasn't being ostracized. Gradually, many of the other girls became friends with her, and instead, no one paid any attention to me.
How was that fair?
What about our sisterhood?
After thinking all night, I finally figured it out.
Whoever is tougher gets friends.
But how could I become tougher?
The next day, I got on Brother Qu's motorcycle.
Brother Qu was a big shot near the school gate.
He was always hanging around there with a bunch of his lackeys, parking their motorcycles and smoking. Brother Qu's bulky build and wrinkled bald head made him stand out in any crowd.
I remembered how they'd sometimes ask passing students for money.
In the entire school, no one—neither teachers nor students—dared to mess with him.
Wasn't he the perfect target?
When I sat on Brother Qu's motorcycle, I saw the students at the school gate staring at me.
They were envious.
I could make friends with people from the underworld, but they couldn't.
I'm too smart. I figured it out right away.
That night we had a great time. Brother Qu called a bunch of his buddies to drink with me, and I drank a lot—without spending a single cent. It seemed Brother Qu really treated me like a little sister.
Brother Qu asked me to sleep with him, and I agreed without a second thought.
The process was uncomfortable. I'd rather not revisit it.
The next day, Brother Qu and his crew helped me get my revenge.
That out-of-town girl, those so-called friends of mine—under the iron bars and fists, they all started calling me "Sister."
Brother Qu once said sleeping with him would feel good, but the feeling I had then was ten thousand times better.
Seeing that Brother Qu and his gang weren't satisfied after beating them up, I figured out what they wanted.
I stepped forward and tore off those bitches' school uniforms, letting everyone take photos freely. Then I carefully picked a few and posted them on the school forum.
Now you're stars. That's what happens when you mess with me, Xiao Ran.
From that day on, I became the "Queen" of the school. No one dared to cross me, and no one dared to disobey me.
That was what I wanted.
But of course, happy times never last.
When I saw my high school entrance exam score—182 points—I knew my junior high days were over.
That day I went home. The old man and old woman, who usually fought every day, both sat there looking gloomy.
I didn't get it. It was just an exam, wasn't it?
182 points—I'd done well enough. What more did they want?
I'd gotten even lower scores than 182 before. I wasn't worried—why were they?
"Xiao Ran... what are you going to do with your life?" the old woman said through tears. "You can't even get into high school. What are you going to do?"
"What's wrong with not getting into high school?" I snapped back. "I don't want to study anymore anyway. I'm going to do business with Brother Qu."
When the old man heard that, he slammed the table hard.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" he snarled at me. "I told you long ago to stay away from Qu Qiang! Is he any kind of decent person? You're only fifteen! He can't even support himself—how could he take you into business?"
"None of your business!" I glared back at him angrily. "Brother Qu is way better than you two. What use are you except for fighting at home?"
"You... you...!" He pointed a trembling finger at me.
I ignored him, slammed the door, and left.
I decided I wasn't going home anymore. I'd live with Brother Qu.
That summer, I stayed with Brother Qu every day. I ate his food, used his stuff, spent his money—he never complained, he just wanted to sleep with me.
Wasn't that great?
I didn't have to give anything, and I got a lot in return.
I thought that ten-square-meter rental room would be my whole life from then on.
But I was wrong again.
When I had my third abortion, Brother Qu got arrested.
He was sentenced to six years for intentional injury and robbery.
I stayed in that rental for another two weeks, until the landlord came to collect rent. That's when I realized I had no money at all.
My happy life was over.
I couldn't live on the street, so I had to go back home.
The old woman didn't blame me. She just sat there crying.
She said they'd borrowed a lot of money to pull strings and get me into a vocational high school in town.
She said from now on, I'd have to depend on myself.
She said I had to learn a trade so I wouldn't starve in the future.
She said this and that until it drove me crazy.
Hadn't I made it clear? I didn't want to go to school anymore!
What was the point of studying?
But I had nowhere else to go.
Brother Qu's men had scattered like birds and beasts—I couldn't reach any of them. I had no money, no place to stay, no one to protect me.
On the first day of school, I still went.
Because the old woman said she'd only give me money if I attended school.
My major was early childhood education.
Those three years were pure torture.
After entering vocational high school, everything seemed to change. The girls didn't compete over who had more connections or who knew more people on the streets—they only compared who had the more expensive phone, whose makeup was better.
I had none of those things. My broken phone was four years old.
"What's your name?" asked the girl sitting next to me.
"Xiao Ran."
"I'm Chen Ting." She smiled. "Do you like kids too?"
"Like... kids?"
What a weird question. How could I like kids?
I'd already had three abortions. Kids were the last thing I wanted.
"I guess so." I nodded with a fake smile.
"Kids are so cute. I've wanted to be a kindergarten teacher ever since I was little. I think this job suits me."
Chen Ting looked happy, but she disgusted me.
What was she pretending to be, some goody-goody?
Soon she pulled out her phone to show me pictures of her little brother, going on and on about how cute he was. That's when I understood her real intention.
She was showing off her phone.
I'm so smart—I can always see right through things.
I pretended to play along for a few words. During the break, while Chen Ting went to the bathroom, I knocked her phone off the desk onto the floor, then lay down on the desk pretending to sleep.
Sure enough, expensive phones are fragile. When Chen Ting saw the cracked screen, she was heartbroken.
I comforted her while smiling inside.
Serves you right. Who told you to show off in front of me?