Chapter 129: The Essential Fourth Player, No Exceptions 22

Since it has come to this, one must learn to find peace in it.

Xia Yu wiped away her tears, dragged a chair from the corner without a word, and sat listlessly by the round table.

"Why did you borrow so much money?" Shi Xianyu asked her.

Xia Yu spoke in a low voice, "The year I entered middle school, my family went bankrupt. While we weren't exactly destitute, our living expenses were significantly reduced." She offered a bitter smile and continued, "I used to be a wealthy girl, accustomed to buying designer bags and wearing luxury clothes, so I borrowed quite a bit from Bai Yuxi. I thought, given our friendship, borrowing some money wasn't a big deal. But later, as the frequency increased, Du Xiaoling found out. She felt it was unfair to Bai Yuxi and insisted that I shouldn't be allowed to borrow money without limits, demanding that I write IOUs."

"Is that why you and Du Xiaoling had a falling out?" Shi Xianyu asked.

Xia Yu shook her head feebly. "It was more than that... I think that was just the trigger. Looking back now, Du Xiaoling’s actions weren't entirely unreasonable; she was looking out for Yuxi. But at the time... I only felt humiliated. I didn't understand why an outsider needed to interfere in matters between Yuxi and me. Besides, there were records of the transfers on our phones; why did she have to make me handwrite IOUs? But when I was desperate for money, I had no choice. I wrote one after another—tens of thousands, thousands, even just a few hundred—I had to write an IOU. The feeling was agonizing. Later, I never borrowed money from Yuxi again. Du Xiaoling had achieved her goal, but I never expected Yuxi to hand those IOUs over to her for safekeeping."

Xia Yu and Bai Yuxi had known each other since childhood, while Du Xiaoling only met Bai Yuxi in high school. It was understandable that Xia Yu felt a sense of imbalance because of this.

Shi Xianyu pondered, "Your conflict with Du Xiaoling was about borrowing money from Bai Yuxi, and the conflict between Wan Qianqian and Du Xiaoling stemmed from those indecent photos. What about Bai Yuxi? Did she ever have conflicts with Du Xiaoling?"

"The two of them... their relationship was always good." Xia Yu lowered her eyes, recalling the past. "If I had to name a conflict, it would be that one time... Yuxi had a crush on a top student at school, but Du Xiaoling liked him too. They seemed to have had a brief flirtation. The boy was caught between two girls and was likely hesitant, but eventually, Du Xiaoling stopped associating with him and convinced Yuxi that she wasn't allowed to see him either."

"Why?" Shi Xianyu asked, puzzled. "What was the reason?"

Xia Yu replied, "Because Du Xiaoling discovered the boy was from a rural background and had three older sisters. She said he was a 'phoenix man'—a man from a humble background who uses his wife's family to support his own—and that any girl who ended up with him would be bled dry by his family for the rest of her life."

Shi Xianyu was stunned. "While such stories do exist in the news, isn't it incredibly hurtful to say that to someone's face?"

"Exactly," Xia Yu gave a cold, hollow smile. "That’s just Du Xiaoling’s personality. She is helpful, righteous, and loves to stand up for others, but she is also fiercely controlling and cannot tolerate a single grain of sand in her eyes. When Wan Qianqian suffered a grievance, she wanted to let it slide, but Du Xiaoling insisted on taking it to court. When I borrowed money from Yuxi too often, she forced me to write IOUs. And then there was Wang Aiguo’s girlfriend, who tried to join our 'Sisterhood Group' by sucking up to Yuxi; Du Xiaoling couldn't stand her fakeness and labeled her a 'sugar bitch'."

Shi Xianyu was lost in thought. "If the Sisterhood Group was the trendsetter of the school back then, then the labels you spread—'sugar bitch,' 'phoenix man'—must have made those people targets for the entire student body, right?"

Xia Yu nodded slightly. "Yes, that's right. Honestly, looking back, I regret it deeply. We just never considered the impact those labels would have on the individuals involved. That 'sugar bitch'... Xie Ting, I think her name was. I still have a vivid memory of her because she was ostracized by the whole school. In the end, she threatened suicide during a livestream, but everyone in the comments section was just jeering and mocking her, asking when she would finally do it. I don't know what happened to her after that... As for that 'phoenix man,' Ye Hui, he was a top student on a scholarship, but his grades plummeted. He lost his scholarship and failed the national entrance exam. His teachers urged him to repeat the year, but he..."

Xia Yu paused and looked out the window. "It was that building... he jumped from there."

Shi Xianyu was slightly shocked and remained silent for a moment.

Xia Yu offered a bitter smile as she looked at her. "Unexpected, isn't it? The 'Sisterhood Group' that was worshiped by the whole school was actually just another form of a bullying gang. But at the time, we were naive enough to think we were acting in the name of justice. 'Phoenix man,' 'sugar bitch'—how disgusting they were! Shouldn't they be ostracized? Shouldn't they be suppressed?"

Xia Yu lowered her eyes, her gaze fixed on the round table, which was covered in dense, frantic scribbles of labels. She gave a miserable laugh and whispered, "Now we are getting our karma. We have been labeled too. Wan Qianqian is a 'public bus' because of those photos; I am a 'green tea bitch'; and Yuxi... the 'Sisterhood Group' she spearheaded has become a group of 'plastic sisters'... This is retribution. It is our retribution."

Shi Xianyu remembered her few conversations with Wan Qianqian. Because of the subtle scheming in her words, she had formed a poor impression of her at the time. But now, she thought: Why shouldn't a woman be calculating?

When men play games and use schemes, people often praise them for being strategic and shrewd. But when a woman is calculating, why is she branded a "scheming bitch" or "insidious"? Why?

Conflicts between men are seen as struggles for power and profit, but conflicts between women are dismissed as petty infighting, "female competition," and misogyny! By what right?!

To take a step back, even if Wan Qianqian used certain hints for her own benefit, does that mean she deserves to be branded for life, never able to redeem herself?

Shi Xianyu couldn't help but wonder if, by stirring the pot in this mess, she had also been labeled by someone—how would they see her? "Green tea"? "Saintly white lotus"? "Mother Teresa"?

No matter how they saw her, they were wrong, because Shi Xianyu knew she was a living, breathing human being—she was not a label!

She looked at the dense, chaotic handwriting on the round table, and her mind gradually cleared, her heart slowly calming.

"I’ve always found it strange: if Du Xiaoling wanted revenge, why didn't she just grab her enemies and bring them here? Instead, she trapped so many innocent bystanders. It seems now that you weren't brought here for Du Xiaoling’s revenge at all. The person behind the scenes wants to destroy your sisterhood. This person wants everyone who once looked up to your group to reject you, despise you, and tear you apart."

Xia Yu seemed to sense it too, but one thing eluded her: Why?

"Why would he do this? We have no grudges against him..."

Shi Xianyu asked, "Think carefully: among those you labeled back then, is there anyone who could be connected to him?"