Yu Jiajia sat on a stone bench in the garden of the residential complex with a dazed look on her face.
There were bitterness, grievance and anger in her heart.
She was angry with Chen Xiaolian for acting in such a ruthless manner. However, she was also angry with herself. Although Chen Xiaolian’s words made her angry, there was truth in his words.
Had she gotten accustomed to having things her way just by pointing her fingers? Or did she herself unknowingly became addicted to the feeling of having people flatter her all the time? No matter what she did or say, those around her would only obey her…
Take today for example. Her actions had indeed been overboard.
However…
He had spoken against her in such a ruthless manner and embarrassed her like that. That was simply too, too…
Honestly speaking, Yu Jiajia did not have an arrogant character like those Young Misses from wealthy families. Most of the time, she would treat others kindly. However, now that she thought about it in detail, there might have been some moments when she would act out involuntarily…
But, but I had travelled so far to meet him. Even if he is angry at my methods, how could he scold me before so many people? Can he not give me some face? Even if he really had to let it out, couldn’t he do so when there is no one around?
Reaching that line of thought, Yu Jiajia’s mind became a mess, alternating between anger and regret.
She had both her hands holding onto her chin as she gazed into the distance, the tears on her face had dried. She suddenly noticed a pair of legs walking over on the ground to stop before her.
She raised her head to see Chen Xiaolian looking down at her with a calm look.
“You, why did you come here?” Yu Jiajia bit her lips.
Chen Xiaolian answered coolly, “Checking up on you. I saw that you haven’t left from upstairs, so I came down to see you.”
“This, this is not your home! Me sitting here… is that also an act of obstruction?” Yu Jiajia grunted.
Chen Xiaolian sighed. Then, he slowly sat down beside Yu Jiajia.
Yu Jiajia who was still feeling angry moved herself to the side to distance herself as far as possible from Chen Xiaolian.
“Move any further and you’ll fall,” Chen Xiaolian said coolly.
“I… this place I’m sitting at is not your living room. Or could it be that this entire residential complex belongs to you?” Yu Jiajia gritted her teeth.
Chen Xiaolian turned his head to look at Yu Jiajia. He frowned before saying, “How about this? You answer some of my questions.”
“… what?”
Chen Xiaolian shook his head and continued, “Today, you had picked the lock of my home door, right?”
“So, so what? Just now, you’ve already scolded me. My debts are cleared.”
Chen Xiaolian coldly said, “I did speak up against you a little. However, I don’t see anything wrong with what I said. You and your Young Miss temperament, the moment you feel that my words are hard to swallow, you ran away without caring about anything else. Honestly speaking, do you think this way of concluding is appropriate?”
“… what is inappropriate about it?”
Chen Xiaolian replied coolly, “Normally, if someone picks a person’s door lock, that someone would have been thrown into the police station long ago.”
“You… you can go ahead and toss me into the police station, I am not afraid.”
“Of course you are not afraid.” Chen Xiaolian snorted. “Because you are rich and powerful. Even if you get thrown into the police station, someone will come over to bail you out… that is why you have nothing to fear, isn’t that right? However, have you ever considered it? Whose power is it that you are depending on? If we are to take that away and there is you and only you alone, after you’ve committed a mistake, what would happen then?”
Yu Jiajia was left speechless.
Chen Xiaolian looked into the distance and said calmly, “When I was young, my parents had taught me how to live as a person. In this world, after having committed a mistake, one must admit it. There will be a beating and punishment, but still one must admit to it. There are consequences and responsibilities to bear. If one commits a mistake and then relies on someone else’s power to deal with it, then that is not being amazing. Neither can it be considered a form of ability. Only those arrogant prodigal scions would do something like that.”
“Did you come down here only to scold me?” Yu Jiajia asked with a cold face.
“No.” Chen Xiaolian stood up and turned to look at Yu Jiajia. Then, he said coolly, “Just now, I saw from upstairs that you are sitting here. So, I thought to myself that maybe you had run all the way here to find me because something urgent had happened. After considering it, I decided to come down.
“To my disappointment, even though I am standing in front of you, whenever you open your mouth, you would be angry at everything. See? Just now when I was standing before you, your first set of words was ‘Why did you come here?’. Your second set of words was ‘This is not your home! Me sitting here… is that also an act of obstruction?’, isn’t that right?”
“… … …” Yu Jiajia’s face turned red somewhat.
“Today, you had picked open my door lock. You are the one who disrespected me in your actions. However, I had chosen to come down and meet up with you. But what about you? Not only did you not apologize sincerely, your words were only about taking care about your reputation, your face… even though it was clear as day that the one to commit a mistake was you, the one thing you would exert your all to do is to maintain your reputation.
“In your mind, are the matters of black and white more important, or is your face more important?”
Yu Jiajia bit her lips and asked, “You, just what do you want from me?”
Chen Xiaolian lowered his head to look at her. “It’s very simple… could it be no one had taught you before? After making a mistake, you must apologize. It is such a simple truth that I had understood back when I was in kindergarten. I was only four years old then.
“We had gotten to know each other before. Thus, we can be considered as acquaintances. Today, you had picked open my door lock. Even between friends, this is something that should not be done. You have committed a mistake, regardless of emotions or logic, don’t you think you should at least apologize to me?”
“I…” Yu Jiajia halted.
Since she was young, she had indeed rarely said sorry. Even if she had done something wrong, who beside her would dare have her say sorry? When she was in school, the people around her were all there to flatter her. Even if she had done something wrong, she would rarely say sorry to anyone.
Over time, she naturally adopted this haughty attitude.
“If you cannot even do something so ordinary in life, then I will be heading back. Young Miss Yu, just assume that we’ve never met each other. I am just an ordinary person, I cannot afford having a ‘friend’ like you.”
After saying that, Chen Xiaolian turned around and walked away without showing any hesitation!
After Chen Xiaolian had taken several steps, Yu Jiajia who was behind him was unable to restrain herself from shouting, “You, wait a minute!”
Chen Xiaolian stopped and turned his head to look at Yu Jiajia.
Yu Jiajia’s face was a mask of red. She squirmed for a moment before standing up. Then, she took a deep breath, took several steps forward and said in a hushed tone, “It, it’s my fault. I had gone overboard today by picking your door lock, please accept my apology. I am sorry!”
A smile broke out on Chen Xiaolian’s face and he said to Yu Jiajia, “Mm, this is more like it. This is how things should be between people.”
Yu Jiajia gave a harrumph and said, “And you call yourself a man. You are so calculating, to be so calculative with a female like me, you don’t have the slightest demeanour of a man.”
Chen Xiaolian revealed a faint smile and said, “I am not someone who likes your money nor am I someone who wants to soak in your beauty, why should I be so courteous toward you? Young Miss Yu Jiajia, allow me to tell you about a truth of this world, if someone is very tolerant of you or if someone could still smile after you slapped them and choose to offer up their other cheek for you to slap, you would do well to be wary of what this person is hatching in his or her mind.”
Yu Jiajia stared at Chen Xiaolian. After pondering it for a moment, she gave a bitter smile and said, “Whatever, there is truth in your words. There is no way for me to win against you… mm, right, don’t you owe me an apology as well?”
“Oh?”
“You lied to me back then when you said your name is Roddy. That is a fake name. This is not the way to make friends, am I right?”
Chen Xiaolian thought about it for a moment before nodding. He said solemnly, “Mm, it is indeed wrong of me to do so. My apologies. I do have my own issues on my end, however… let’s not talk about that. Mm, Yu Jiajia, I am sorry.”
“So, what is your real name?”
“Chen Xiaolian.”
A peculiar look flashed across Yu Jiajia’s face. However, she was quick to lower her head. After that, she raised her head once more and said, “Then, about what happened earlier, can I assume we can now put it behind us?”
“Mm, yes.” Chen Xiaolian looked at her. “You ran all the way here from Hangzhou to find me. Why?”
There was a troubled look on Yu Jiajia’s face as she said, “I, I wanted to ask you for a little help.”
“Tell me what is it. I’ll need to know if I can help.” Chen Xiaolian answered coolly.
“… eh?” Yu Jiajia was surprised.
“What?”
“You, you need to know first?” Yu Jiajia frowned.
Chen Xiaolian smiled and said, “What were you expecting? Could it be, when you usually go find someone for help, they would immediately promise to help you without listening to the details first? Would they ignore the possibility that you would ask them to go through a mountain of blades and a sea of fire? Yu Jiajia, we could be considered as acquaintances and something like friends. However, it is not up to the point where I could go die for you. Since you came to me who is only barely a friend for help, I would have to ask what is it about. If I can help, I will help. If I can’t, I can only say sorry – isn’t that normal?”
Yu Jiajia was shocked.
Normally, regardless of where she was, be it in school or some other place, the boys around her who were of the same age as her would enthusiastically jump forward without a single question to help her if she asked for help.
Would they ever… give excuses like this fellow?
“You’ve lived the life of a princess for too long. But I am just an ordinary human of this world. If you want to ask me for help, you’ll need to do so like an ordinary person.” Chen Xiaolian spread out both his arms and continued, “Are you going to say it? If you aren’t then I am going to go up to eat.”
“Wait!” Yu Jiajia stamped her feet. “Of course I will say it, but…”
“No buts, I will not promise you anything first. You need to tell me what is it first, and I will see if I can do it or not. If I can, I will promise to help you,” Chen Xiaolian said calmly.
Yu Jiajia sighed and said in a whisper, “I, I want to hide here for a few days.”
“Mm, go on.”
“That’s it.”
“That’s it?” Chen Xiaolian was left speechless. Then, he gestured with his hand and said, “Then this is goodbye. My home is neither a hotel nor a refuge. You are being too sneaky, I can’t help you.”
Seeing that Chen Xiaolian was about to walk away, Yu Jiajia finally became exasperated and she shouted, “Wait!”