Sure enough, when he saw Lin Xi, Zhang Cui adjusted his expression and smiled.
He added another piece of fatty meat to Lin Xi's plate.
"You child, why are you only focused on eating and eating meat?"
After a pause, Zhang Cui continued, "I'm preparing to go back to my hometown. Xiao Xi, you haven't been there yet, right? This time, you can come back with me and take a look. You can even stay there for a while."
'Here it comes.'
Lin Xi thought to himself as he quietly took a bite of his rice. He looked at Zhang Cui and purposely revealed a puzzled expression as he asked, "Why do you want me to go back to my hometown for no reason?"
"Aren't you fine now?"
Lin Xi shook her head. "I don't want to go."
Seeing Lin Xi's firm tone, Zhang Cui knew that it was useless to say that. He pretended to sigh and told the 'truth'. "Actually, this is for your own good. Now that something like this happened to you and Xinxin at school, when you go back to school, your classmates will definitely criticize you. The school might even punish you. What if they make you write a reflection letter or give you a demerit?"
"So, you and Grandma will go live in the countryside for a while. We'll come back once this matter has calmed down."
'As if I'd believe you.'
Lin Xi cursed in her heart.
And Lin Anxin, don't you know how you fell into the lake? She even nodded in agreement with Zhang Cui's words and looked at her worriedly.
At this moment, even Song Kexin, who rarely spoke to Lin Xi, said, "Grandma is doing this for your own good."
Zhang Cui quickly nodded. "Yes, the conditions in our hometown are not bad. Besides, we're only going to live there for a while. It's not like we're going to stay there forever."
Lin Xi still refused. "Then what about my classes?"
"You don't have to worry about that. It's not like the village doesn't have a school." After a pause, Zhang Cui added, "Your mother graduated from there."
Seeing that Lin Xi didn't say anything else and lowered her head as if she had agreed, the smile on Zhang Cui's face widened. He put on a kind expression and said, "Then it's settled. After dinner, pack up and we'll set off."
Xu Jiaofeng took a sip of the soup and said, "Uncle Li will send you there later."
"Okay, thank you for your help." Zhang Cui smiled gratefully at Xu Jiaofeng.
Lin Xi watched their interaction and sneered in her heart. Since they've already made up their minds, why are they still asking me symbolically?
Lin Xi had known that her objection would be futile, so she wouldn't have bothered to struggle.
Lin Xi poked at the rice with her chopsticks. She hesitated for a moment and said, "I still have a few notebooks with my classmates. If we're leaving, I have to go to the school to get them."
Xu Jiaofeng was a little unhappy and said with dissatisfaction, "What's the point of bringing a few lousy notebooks? What can you not buy when you go there?"
"I've taken notes on them."
Xu Jiaofeng still wanted to say something, but when he saw Song Kexin giving him a meaningful look, he unhappily kept his mouth shut. He was a little dissatisfied. Isn't it just sending a child away? Is there a need to go through so much trouble?
They looked at each other. Xu Jiaofeng said, "Okay then, we'll leave tomorrow."
"But we have to leave early in the morning tomorrow. We can't delay, or else we'll delay your grandma's matters."
Xu Jiaofeng looked down on Zhang Cui. Why would he be so considerate of her? He obviously wanted her to leave as soon as possible.
Lin Xi wanted to laugh in her heart, but she didn't say anything else. She buried her face in the bowl and nodded. In her heart, she was making her own plans.
— —
Because they had to go to school to pack their books, Lin Xi and Lin Anxin took the car to school after breakfast.
In the car, Lin Anxin looked at Lin Xi. She hesitated for a moment before saying softly, "Sister, I'm sorry. It was too messy yesterday. I don't know how I fell into the water. I told Grandma and Mom, but they didn't believe me."
Lin Xi turned her head to the side. She couldn't be bothered with Lin Anxin.
Seeing this, Lin Anxin's eyes flashed with a trace of dissatisfaction and hatred. She thought for a moment and continued, "I didn't expect Grandma to bring you back to her hometown. I heard that the conditions there are very poor. Why don't you tell Grandma that you don't want to go?"
Lin Anxin was deliberately provoking Lin Xi. However, her words were like punching cotton. Lin Xi didn't react at all.
Lin Anxin was a little defeated. She looked away with a disappointed expression.
The two didn't talk to each other on the way.
When they arrived at school, they got out of the car and went to their respective classrooms.
Because of the incident the day before, Lin Anxin brought two bodyguards into school. Thanks to Lin Anxin, Lin Xi also had a bodyguard behind her.
However, the bodyguard's job wasn't to protect her, but to monitor her.
— —
Lin Xi started to pack her things when she arrived at the classroom. She put away the test papers on her desk and the textbooks in the locker behind her.
"Hey, did you guys hear about what happened to Lin Anxin?"
Lin Xi's hands paused for a second when she heard a familiar name. Then, she heard a few girls in the corner talking about what happened to Lin Anxin yesterday.
"Lin Anxin? Who's that? The prettiest girl in the first grade? "
"Yes, yes, that's her."
"What happened to her?" a girl asked curiously.
"You don't know? She was blocked by Yan Xueqi and her people at the artificial lake two days ago. Then, she fell into the lake. There were a lot of people watching."
"Was it that interesting?" the girl who didn't understand asked in surprise, "What happened? How did she provoke Yan Xueqi and her people? "
"Yeah, that Lin Anxin must have taken things too hard, to actually go and provoke Yan Xueqi." Another girl also said in astonishment.
Yan Xueqi and a few of her followers were a group of bad students in school. It was said that their family background wasn't small. Under normal circumstances, people wouldn't take the initiative to provoke them.
"You guys know Wang Yukai from Class C, right?"
"Yes, he's Yan Xueqi's childhood friend. It can't be a love triangle, right? "
"It's much more interesting than that." After a pause, the girl said, "That Lin Anxin probably doesn't like Wang Yukai, but when Wang Yukai confessed to her and gave her a gift, she didn't reject him. However, when she left him her WeChat, she deliberately left her best friend's WeChat with Wang Yukai and even lied to her friend that Wang Yukai liked her."
“woc！ There's this kind of manipulation. So, her best friend always thought that Wang Yukai was pursuing her, but Wang Yukai always thought that he was pursuing Lin Anxin? This is really flirtatious. What is she trying to do? Is the Sea King hiring employees? "
"I haven't finished yet. Lin Anxin accepted Wang Yukai's gift and immediately gave it to her best friend. She even said that Wang Yukai asked her to help pass it to her. Guess what happened in the end? Yan Xueqi actually caught her red-handed. "
"What a big melon. No wonder Yan Xueqi wanted to cause trouble for her. But how did you know? "
"Don't you look at the forum? Yan Xueqi posted on the forum."
"Let me see." That person took out his phone and quickly browsed the forum. "No, it seems like the tables have turned."
"Really?"
"Take a look for yourselves. It's a post from one of Lin Anxin's friends. She said that she had asked Lin Anxin about it, and that Lin Anxin herself was also dumbfounded. She had always thought that the person Wang Yukai liked was her good friend, and that he was only looking for her to pass on a message.
"No way, making friends out of nothing? There are people who believe this kind of explanation? "
"The problem is that there are people who believe it. Look, there are many people who support Lin Anxin. Here, here, there. There are even people who say that Lin Anxin is cute."
…
So that's how it is.
Hearing their conversation, the corner of Lin Xi's mouth twitched. While she was amazed by Lin Anxin's actions, she finally understood the cause of the incident the day before yesterday. She was a little speechless.
The whole incident had spread like wildfire in the school. Xu Jiaofeng and the others only had to casually come to the school to find out that Lin Anxin falling into the water had nothing to do with her. However, they still firmly chose to believe Lin Anxin's nonsense. Perhaps they didn't believe it, but deliberately chose to side with her.
—
On the other side, the girls were still complaining. At this moment, one of the girls seemed to have noticed Lin Xi's presence. She pursed her lips and called out to her classmate who was about to speak.
"Let's talk somewhere else." As she whispered, the girl pointed in Lin Xi's direction to the others.
When they saw Lin Xi, their expressions were the same as the girl from before.
"Let's go, let's talk over there." The few of them quickly walked away as if Lin Xi was some kind of virus.
Lin Xi was already numb to this kind of situation.
When Lin Xi first entered the school, he got along well with everyone and had a good relationship with his friends. However, since the beginning of last semester, many malicious rumors about Lin Xi began to appear on the school forum. They said that she was a child who had sent samples to someone else's house, that she was the child of an SR criminal, that she was the child of an JJ criminal, that she had cheated on her exam results, and even more ridiculous rumors said that she had an improper relationship with the 50-year-old boss of the school's printing room. That was why she could get the test papers in advance and do so well every time …
These rumors were obviously extremely ridiculous, but there were people who believed them.
Her good friends gradually distanced themselves from her, and the people around her also avoided her like the plague.
Although the school later confirmed that the rumors were false and removed all the evidence, the impact of the rumors could not be erased.
The funny thing was that the day before, the school had clearly said that they would find the students who started the rumors and deal with them seriously. However, the next day, the school seemed to have forgotten about this matter and did not mention it again.
Lin Xi took a deep breath and speeded up to put the books into his schoolbag.
— —
After leaving the classroom, Lin Xi went to the laboratory again.
Outside the laboratory, Lin Xi said to the laboratory manager, "Teacher, I left some stationery in the laboratory."
The teacher never doubted the words of a good student. He opened the door and let Lin Xi in.
Lin Xi walked to her laboratory table and opened the drawer. There were indeed a few spare pens in it. Lin Xi quickly put the pens in her bag. At the same time, she grabbed a few small circuit components and experimental wires that she had taken from the drawer.
Almost every drawer of the laboratory table had spare parts for these consumables, but Lin Xi did not need too many.
After leaving the laboratory, Lin Xi went to the Academic Affairs Office again.
Song Kexin and the others had called the school in advance to apply for a long leave for Lin Xi. Therefore, Lin Xi only had to inform the school and the school let her go in advance.
— —
When the car passed by a shop, Lin Xi stopped the driver.
"Miss, what's the matter?"
"I'm going to buy some things for the trip."
The driver thought about it and stopped the car. Lin Xi went into the shop to buy the things she needed. She also took some snacks and some food that could fill her stomach before returning to the car.
— —
When she got home, Song Kexin called the bodyguard in front of him and asked, "I called a long time ago. Why did it take so long to come back from school?"
Song Kexin was worried that Lin Xi would notice something was wrong and suddenly change her mind.
"Madam, Miss stopped in the middle and went to the mall to buy some things."
"What did she buy?"
"Power banks, electric fans, some skincare products, some potato chips and other snacks. In addition, I also bought some insect repellent, cold medicine, and antiseptic. And … and a few stuffed animals. "
Hearing the bodyguard's words, Song Kexin's eyes moved slightly. Buying these things, it seemed that Lin Xi was indeed prepared to go to her hometown in the countryside.
Song Kexin was relieved.
"Okay, I understand. You can go now."
"Yes."
— —
On the other side, after Lin Xi returned to her room, she did not come out again.
Lin Xi, who had been staying in her room the whole time, did not arouse anyone's suspicion.
In the room, Lin Xi placed a simple reflux device made from bottles and jars she found in the kitchen in front of her. After carefully confirming that there were no mistakes, Lin Xi added the chili powder and alcohol and connected it to the heater.
The solvent soon began to boil, and the cycle of evaporation and solidification continued.
This was a very long waiting process.
Lin Xi held her chin and stared for a while. Then she looked away and took out the power bank she bought today, as well as some circuit components and wires hidden in her bag.
She used a screwdriver and a utility knife to take apart the power bank. The internal structure was simpler than Lin Xi had imagined.
After studying the circuit, Lin Xi quickly found the safety current-limiting device. She cut off the safety control circuit and Lin Xi removed the power bank's output.
Lin Xi took apart a few stuffed toys that could make sounds. Sure enough, she found the magnets she wanted in the speaker.
According to the number of magnets she calculated, Lin Xi circled the short wires around the magnets and connected them.
Soon, a small transformer was completed.
Lin Xi placed one end of the small transformer on the power bank's output and hid the other two wires on the left and right sides of the USB port.
After doing all this, Lin Xi restored the power bank to its original state.
She pressed the power bank's switch, and the wires on both sides of the USB port instantly connected with a visible electric light.
This kind of electric shock would not kill, but it was enough to electrocute an adult.
Lin Xi smiled with satisfaction as she held the self-made 'electric shock baton'.
Then she turned her gaze to the simple reflux device.
Lin Xi replaced the already warm Icesnow Jade with a can of iced Coke, added some alcohol, and continued to repeat the previous "operation".
After repeating the process four times, Lin Xi finally obtained a small bottle of capsaicin solution. Although it was not as clear as she had imagined and there were still impurities in it, this was the best she could do.
Lin Xi removed the cumbersome bottles and took a sniff of the bottle. A pungent and irritating smell rushed to her head.
"This should be enough."
Lin Xi wiped the tears from her face. She waited for the solution to cool down before carefully pouring it into the pressurized water spray bottle she had bought at the store.
After looking around, Lin Xi stuck the 'toner' label on it.
Perfect!
Lin Xi packed the things into her luggage.
After hesitating for a moment, she took out the utility knife and scissors.
She then cut a small hole in the inconspicuous seam of the backpack and stuffed the few cash notes she had into it.
She checked it several times to make sure she did not miss anything.
— —
By the time she was done, it was almost midnight.
Lin Xi was so sleepy that she crawled into bed and fell asleep.
After an unknown amount of time, some fragmented images appeared in Lin Xi's mind.
In the dream, she seemed to be in a dark alley. She was running for her life, and there was a lot of noise behind her.
Her vision turned black and she was caught.
Lin Xi fell to the ground and desperately retreated, but she was still surrounded by a group of people in front of her and forced into a corner.
Lin Xi could not see their faces clearly, but she felt that each of their expressions was terrifying.
They approached her and grabbed her limbs. Someone kicked her in the stomach a few times. Someone pulled her hair and slammed her head against the wall. It was so painful that she trembled.
— — No! Help!
Lin Xi wanted to scream, but she could not make a sound.
Countless hands reached out to her.
…
The dream came to an abrupt end at this moment.
"No — —!"
Lin Xi screamed and woke up from the nightmare.
Lin Xi curled herself up in the quilt. Her whole body was trembling, and her numb hands were tightly gripping the quilt.
At this time, Lin Xi's face was deathly pale. Her back and forehead were covered in cold sweat. Her pair of tea-colored eyes were filled with an intense fear that couldn't be calmed down for a long time. Her mind was still replaying the last terrifying scene. That scene was too real, so real that it didn't even feel like a dream.
Bang, bang, bang. The sound of knocking on the door brought Lin Xi back to her senses.
Nanny Li's voice came from outside the room. "Miss, are you awake? We're leaving soon. Old Madam wants you to go downstairs when you're ready. "
"Okay."
— —
Twenty minutes later, Lin Xi finished packing and went downstairs with her luggage.
Seeing the huge luggage behind Lin Xi, Zhang Cui said in surprise, "Why are you carrying such a big bag? How much stuff are you carrying? "
"Didn't you say that you were going to stay in your hometown for a few days?" Lin Xi asked.
Zhang Cui immediately reacted and nodded in agreement. "Okay, okay, I'll bring as much as I can. Otherwise, there might be something missing."
According to their plan, Lin Xi would not stay in the countryside for a few days. She would stay there for at least a few years. It was fine to bring more stuff.
Song Kexin looked at Lin Xi's backpack. She didn't know where the uneasiness came from, so she ordered the servant on the side, "Nanny Li, go and help him take a look, lest he missed anything."
Nanny Li responded and went forward to take Lin Xi's backpack. She opened it and checked it.
Most of the backpack was filled with clothes, textbooks, and some snacks. The rest were a few bottles of toiletries and skincare products. There was also a power bank. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the backpack. Furthermore, the backpack was fully equipped for traveling with peace of mind.
"Young Madam, Miss has brought everything."
Song Kexin nodded and looked at the backpack. Only then did he suppress the uneasiness in his heart.
"Since you've brought everything, let's go."
Zhang Cui led Lin Xi and prepared to set off.
At this moment, Lin Yize came down from upstairs.
The moment she saw Lin Yize, Lin Xi's expression changed drastically. She took a few steps back and fell onto the sofa.
"Xiao Xi, what's wrong?" Several people's gazes gathered on Lin Xi. Even Lin Yize looked at Lin Xi coldly.
"I … I'm so hungry that I'm a little dizzy. Maybe it's low blood sugar," Lin Xi explained with a pale face.
"It's not a big deal if you're hungry and dizzy. I brought some snacks here. You can eat them in the car later." Zhang Cui said and looked at the time. "We can't delay any longer. We don't know if there's a traffic jam. Let's go."
Lin Xi nodded and followed Zhang Cui to Uncle Li's car.
Taking advantage of the fact that Lin Xi had gotten into the car and he hadn't gotten in yet, Zhang Cui patted Song Kexin's hand. "What's wrong? Can't bear to part with her?"
Song Kexin shook his head and expressed his concerns. "Mom, what if Lin Xi realizes that something is wrong and runs out of the village?"
Zhang Cui wasn't worried. "Don't worry. She doesn't have any money on her and doesn't know the way. How can she run? Besides, you know that our village is more than ten kilometers away from the nearest suburban bus station. She can't walk. When she finds out, she'll at most make a fuss for a while. I've already told Zhang Qiang to keep an eye on her. After some time, she'll settle down. "
Zhang Cui saw that his words of comfort were effective and didn't delay any longer. He got into the car.
"Goodbye, Mom. Goodbye, Xiao Xi." Song Kexin waved at the two people in the car.
Lin Xi turned her head stiffly and tried her best to maintain a normal expression. She waved at the people outside the car and said goodbye. However, she didn't dare to look at Lin Yize.
Knowing that the car was far away, Lin Xi let out a sigh of relief.
The dream from last night reappeared in Lin Xi's mind.
Just before the dream ended, through the shadows, she saw the face of the person standing not far behind the group of people.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
