Going home for Chinese New Year, I squeezed onto a bus with three energetic young women.

Zhang Yan's eyes widened, filled with terror.

How could Bai Li, a decent person, know this secret?

You should know that she kept even a somewhat shady character like Zhao Gang completely in the dark.

"You... how could you..." Zhang Yan's voice trembled, her previous arrogance completely extinguished.

Bai Li didn't even need to look at her face; just by listening to her changed tone, he knew she had already broken down.

"If you don't want people to know, then don't do it in the first place." Bai Li straightened up, a hint of pity in his eyes as he looked at Zhao Gang.

This silly boy is still stubbornly trying to stand up for Zhang Yan.

Little did they know that a vast grassland, the Hulunbuir Grassland, had already grown on their heads, and it was laced with deadly poison.

"Bai Li, why did you hit my baby!" Zhao Gang was about to rush forward, but Bai Li glared at him and stopped him.

"Zhao Gang, I advise you to shut up now," Bai Li said coldly. "You'll embarrass yourself later."

Zhao Gang stood there, stunned, unable to understand Bai Li's attitude for a moment.

"Do you want me to keep this from everyone else?"

Zhang Yan's pupils suddenly contracted, and her head bobbed frantically as if she were pounding garlic.

Of course she wants to!

She hasn't received Zhao Gang's money yet!

My name isn't on the property deed yet!

She even wanted to take half of Zhao Gang's fortune and then run away to a distant place!

How could she possibly collapse here? She can't afford to fall!

If Zhao Gang found out now, she would not only have cheated on him,

His victims were a group of homeless people sleeping under bridges, and he even contracted a disease that he could never get rid of...

Zhao Gang could beat her so badly she couldn't urinate; he might even kill her...

"I want to...I want to!"

Zhang Yan ignored her still-bleeding nose; she didn't even dare to wipe it, only pleading with Bai Li with eyes so humble they seemed to beg for mercy.

"Bai Li...please, I'll do anything you want, just please don't tell anyone..."

Bai Li looked at her disheveled appearance and took two steps back in disgust.

Bai Li stayed away from her, because people with venomous diseases also have toxic blood.

"Anything is fine with me?"

Bai Li turned around and patted Zhang Qian on the shoulder:

"Zhang Qian, come here."

Zhang Qian's body trembled slightly.

She looked at Zhang Yan, whose face was covered in blood, and then at her older brother, who stood there calmly.

These few meters were once an insurmountable barrier in her eyes.

That is the class difference between bullies and victims that can never be bridged.

But now, her older brother is asking her to go there.

Zhang Qian took a deep breath, lifted her skirt, and her high heels made a dull sound on the carpet.

One step, two steps.

Until she stood in front of Zhang Yan.

The once arrogant and domineering boss who used to trample her underfoot is now looking at her with fawning eyes, like a little puppy.

"You two speak."

Bai Li pulled the curious Li Mengmeng back a step, giving the two space to communicate.

He never intended to ask Zhang Yan to apologize to Zhang Qian himself; the one who tied the knot must untie it.

He only needs to create such opportunities.

Zhang Qian stared intently at Zhang Yan.

So many years have passed, those nightmarish days and nights, those cold nights of being stripped naked and locked in the toilet, those suffocating nights of being forced to drink chalk dust water...

All of this surged up at this moment.

Do you hate it?

Of course I hate it.

I wish I could eat her flesh and drink her blood.

But when Zhang Qian actually stood in front of this woman and saw her blood-covered, gruesome state,

The hatred in my heart did not erupt like a volcano, but rather brought sorrow and confusion.

She asked the question that had been lingering in her mind for a long time:

"Why?" Zhang Qian's voice was very soft, so soft that Bai Li could hardly hear it.

"Why me? Why did you bully me?"

This was a problem that plagued her throughout her adolescence.

Did she do something wrong?

Upon hearing this question, Zhang Yan instinctively tried to make up some excuse, her eyes darting towards Zhao Gang.

Don't lie to me.

Zhang Qian suddenly raised her voice, which became shrill and slightly distorted, carrying the ruthlessness of someone who had long been involved in the underworld:

"If you dare utter a single lie, I'll tell everyone about your shameful secret right now!"

"Even if I don't wear this dress, even if I lose my respectable status, I'll still make you die here!"

Even a rabbit will bite when cornered, let alone a spirited young woman who has struggled in the lower rungs of society.

Zhang Yan was stunned by the shout.

She shuddered, looking into Zhang Qian's bloodshot eyes, and finally understood that the girl in front of her was no longer the little lamb who would only cry and beg for mercy back then.

"I...I'll talk."

Zhang Yan bit her lip, her voice barely audible, like a mosquito's buzz:

"Back then... you were so sunny."

"What?" Zhang Qian didn't understand.

"That was when I had just started school." Zhang Yan didn't dare look Zhang Qian in the eye, staring down at the stains on the ground:

"You wore your white school uniform, and your smile was especially sweet. The teachers liked you, and the boys around you would secretly look at you too."

Everyone says you have a good temper and are a good girl...

"Just because of that?" Zhang Qian found it absurd, so absurd that she wanted to laugh.

"Yes, that's why." Zhang Yan's voice was filled with twisted jealousy:

"I just don't like looking at you. Why should everyone like you?"

"I just want to get your white school uniform dirty, I want to see you rolling around in the mud, I want to see you cry, I want to see you beg for mercy... Only then will I feel balanced."

Bai Li couldn't help but clench his fists, suppressing the urge to punch Zhang Yan to death.

That reason is absolutely insane.

"And then what happened?" Zhang Qian took a step closer, tears welling up in her eyes, but stubbornly refusing to fall.

"After that, everyone avoided me, everyone despised me. You've already trampled me into the mud, why won't you leave me alone?"

"Why did you grab my hair and slap me in the bathroom? I even knelt down and begged you to let me go... Why?!"

By the end, Zhang Qian was practically screaming.

The despair of those years was like a bloodstained hacksaw, tearing at her heart.

Zhang Yan shrank back, her voice even softer:

"Because...because I've realized that no matter how much I bully you, no one will come to your aid."

"Your parents don't care about you, and your teachers just try to smooth things over. The more you give in, the more I want to test your limits. And..."

Zhang Yan raised her head, revealing an expression more painful than tears, her eyes filled with stupidity and cruelty:

"And if I bully you, the other classmates will be afraid of me."

"They call me Sister Yan, buy me water, and that feeling of being fawned over... it's addictive."

"I was immature back then...really, I know I was wrong now."

As if grasping at a straw, Zhang Yan lunged forward, trying to grab Zhang Qian's hand:

"Qianqian, we're old classmates. I was a jerk before, I was a terrible person."

"I'll apologize to you now. You can hit me, you can yell at me, just please let me go... Please don't tell Zhao Gang..."