Chapter 52: Vilification

Everyone sat together in the living room and Qiao Lan counted sixteen candles and lit them one by one.

Qiao Lan turned his head to look at Tan Mo, the candlelight dappled on the boy's delicate face, his light brown eyes shining like amber.

Pretty enough to leave Qiao Lan slightly stunned.

Uncle Chan smilingly urged Tan Mo to blow out the candles, Qiao Lan then came back and hurriedly stopped, "Wait a minute, make a wish first, you can keep it to yourself."

Tan Mo watched Qiao Lan close his eyes after a moment of silence, and then opened them a long time later and said, "All right."

The birthday cake was handmade by Aunt Chan herself.

Tan Mo had a sweet tooth, but she hadn't eaten much today, and Qiao Lan could see that Tan Mo wasn't in a very good mood. She thought for a long time, from this morning until now, about what could have made Tan Mo feel so bad, but she couldn't think of anything.

Qiao Lan sighed and grabbed the pillow next to him and reported it over in his arms, resting his chin on it with a shallow sigh.

Tan Mo emerged from the bedroom, his eyes falling on Qiao Lan who was wondering what was going on.

It was getting cooler outside, but the house was warm, and the young girl had just come out of the shower, wearing a comfortable beige dress and her long, half-wet hair draped over her thin shoulders. She sat curled up on the sofa with a fluffy pillow in her arms, her slim white legs and bare feet showing beneath her beige dress.

Tan Mo averted his eyes, his gaze mechanically falling on the arm of the sofa next to Qiao Lan, "It's late, why aren't you asleep?"

Qiao Lan looked back at him and smiled, "Right back to sleep."

"Yes," Tan Mo nodded and turned to leave when Qiao Lan called out to him, "Tan Mo, have you... have you met something lately."

Qiao Lan has just had a long look back and Tan Mo is not unhappy today, such unusual emotions have actually been going on for a long time.

Tan Mo asked her after a moment's silence, "Why do you ask."

"Because you're not in a very good mood these days."

She's really smart and sensitive, Tan Mo thought, even Uncle Chan didn't notice, but Qiao Lan did.

He shook his head that he was fine and waited for Qiao Lan to go back to bed but then sat for a long time in the dark, looking out the window at the moon, at the spot where Qiao Lan had just sat and at the pillow Qiao Lan had just held in her arms.

He stared at the pillow for a long time, then carefully brought it over to him and hesitantly but silently held it in his arms.

On Sunday, Qiao Lan was going to take the bus back to school as usual, after all, she had to study on Sunday night, but it was drizzling outside.

Uncle Chan looked outside and turned his head to Qiao Lan, " LanLan, don't rush off today, I'll take you to school later, don't put it off, it's raining so hard outside, it's not a bother to take you there."

After thanking Uncle Chan, Qiao Lan stayed until almost four o'clock and followed him out the door with his school bag.

When Qiao Lan got off the bus and entered the school, some girls from a class in the distance hesitantly said, "Was that Qiao Lan just now?"

"Yeah, right," a few girls looked at each other; there really weren't many people in the whole school now who didn't know Qiao Lan.

"Did she just...get out of that car?"

The girl spoke uncertainly, "That car seems to be the one that picks up Tan Mo every day, I think it's been posted on the school before, and the price is above eight figures..."

A few girls who hadn't been following this were first shocked by the eight figures before they found the point.

"So the car that picks up Tan Mo every day is bringing Qiao Lan here today?"

The crowd was silent.

They were not in Class 18, but because of the big deal about Hao Ying's pursuit of Qiao Lan, the non-gossips knew a lot about it, and the gossips even picked up on the boys Qiao Lan was close to, including Tan Mo.

It is said that Qiao Lan's senior classmates said that Qiao Lan and Tan Mo were at the same table in senior year and Tan Mo did not care about anyone but Qiao Lan.

There is nothing wrong with a good relationship, but today, coincidentally, I saw Uncle Chan sending Qiao Lan over, so there is something indescribably ambiguous and intimate about it.

And indescribably odd.

A guy who only talks to one girl, and who gives this girl daily lectures and even delivers breakfast, and now even a special car to pick her up, would have been almost certain that there was something fishy between these two if it were anyone else.

But when it's Tan Mo, people don't think it should be.

It's not supposed to be like this, but it's overly ambiguous, so it feels even more indescribably weird and awkward.

"I heard from my friend that she and Qiao Lan's housemate were very close, and Qiao Lan's housemate said that Qiao Lan's family was in a particularly bad situation, so Qiao Lan deliberately hooked up with Tan Mo, who was very rich after all."

"No, I don't think Qiao Lan is that kind of person, otherwise why didn't she say yes when Hao Ying was after her?

"Then why has she been so nice to Tan Mo and is now coming to school in Tan Mo's family car?"

Qiao Lan didn't know what was going on and when she was halfway through the evening study session, Bai Yu poked her with a slightly unpleasant look on her face and asked Qiao Lan in a small voice, " LanLan, what brought you to school today?"

Qiao Lan hadn't told anyone that she usually went to Tan Mo's house on weekends, and she subconsciously tried to pass it off as something else, but suddenly she realised something was wrong, "What's wrong?"

"Someone on the posting board caught you getting out of Tan Mo's car, and now a lot of people in my circle of friends are talking about it."

Qiao Lan was stunned and took Bai Yu's phone to see that someone had put up a picture of her getting out of Uncle Chan's car today, saying that there was no mistaking the car.

Whenever the names Qiao Lan, Hao Ying, Chen Yaoyang, etc. are mentioned, all the gossip seems to explode instantly, and some people deliberately draw attention to the fact that the school girl turned down Hao Ying's roses, but not Tan Mo's luxury car.

A seemingly joking remark, but one that did not hide the irony of Qiao Lan, was followed by someone from work who said that they had heard that Qiao Lan had approached Tan Mo at first because his family was rich.

Qiao Lan is becoming more and more popular, and there are more and more people who don't like her and don't like her, especially girls, even though many of them don't even know Qiao Lan.

Now these people are saying that they are insulting Hao Ying by comparing her to a disabled person.

Qiao Lan's face was as ugly as it had ever been.

She wondered if it was just herself and Tan Mo, or the fact that this novel set up the students of this school to be so offensive all the time, and she couldn't figure out why so many people liked to judge a stranger with such a gloating, yet condescending and disgusting attitude.

What benefit will this give them?

Psychological comfort?

Qiao Lan couldn't figure it out and didn't want to think about it. Her first thought was that she didn't want Tan Mo to see these messy things. Qiao Lan gave the phone back to Bai Yu and then said to Bai Yu, "Don't let Tan Mo see these things, and don't mention them when Tan Mo is around."

But what Qiao Lan forgets is that Tan Mo is many times more sensitive than she is to the unusual things around her.

He did not know what was happening, but could feel the scowling eyes cast on him by people who clearly did not know him.

But there was no one around to tell him what had happened.

It was another week of PE and everyone had left the classroom. Tan Mo sat in the classroom reading a book while the girls outside, who didn't want to be in the sun, ran to the shade of the building to hide and chat.

Tan Mo never dared to let Qiao Lan, or anyone else, know what was on his mind. He was afraid that his broken body would bring gossip to Qiao Lan, but Tan Mo never imagined that gossip would leap into his ears in a different way that was even more unacceptable to him.

"That's Qiao Lan in the distance, isn't it? Do you think she's really approaching Tan Mo on purpose because Tan Mo's family is rich, like everyone says?"

"I don't think so," someone said, "I think Qiao Lan is really good for Tan Mo."

"I really don't get it, Tan Mo is no match for Hao Ying, is Qiao Lan blind?"

Tan Mo hadn't yet managed to grasp the meaning of the words, when the next sentence suddenly brought his sanity full circle.

"That you do not understand," the girl laughed for a long time, "there is a word you have not heard."

"What?"

"O Mu Ru."