The Male Lead Who Doesn't Like to Eat (19)

The atmosphere suddenly turned chilly. Li Ying shot a look at Lin Yang, who had no choice but to turn away and try to comfort Xu Weilai.

“Why are you here? The smell of oil and smoke is strong—it always bothers you.”

As he turned, Li Ying swiftly pinched Si Jiu’s arm hard and gave it a twist.

Si Jiu cried out, “Ow… ow, that hurts…”

Damn it, what the hell is your problem?

Li Ying, startled, froze in place. Noticing Lin Yang turning back, hearing the commotion, she hurriedly withdrew her hand. “What’s wrong with you all of a sudden? Did the chili get to you? Here, let me do the washing.”

Lin Yang saw Si Jiu clutching her arm as if in great pain, her eyes brimming with tears.

He had barely taken a step when he felt a weight on his arm—Xu Weilai had hooked her arm through his. “You’re not going over there.” She spoke loudly for the sake of appearances, but the tension in her voice was unmistakable.

“I wasn’t stung by chili. It was you who pinched me so hard you made me cry.”

Si Jiu wasn’t following Li Ying’s script. She rolled up her sleeve in a flash.

Her skin was pale, but the spot where she’d been pinched was flushed bright red, with even the imprint of a fingernail, a clear sign of how hard the pinch had been.

“You wanted the apartment, and I gave it to you. Now you’re asking for a car too—where am I supposed to get that kind of money?” Si Jiu’s voice trembled with tears.

Li Ying was at a loss. What car? When did she ever ask for that?

“I have to give you and Dad money every month, pay the mortgage, and cover my own expenses. I’m out of work now—I really can’t afford to buy my sister a car as part of her dowry.”

Lin Yang’s expression changed; he forced himself to take two steps toward the kitchen. “What apartment? What car? Dowry—what’s going on?”

Li Ying forced a smile. “Yang, don’t listen to her nonsense. None of that is true.”

If Lin Yang weren’t present, Li Ying would have slapped her across the face.

“I—I’m not lying,” Si Jiu sobbed.

Xu Weilai interjected, “Sister, you’re doing it again. Either you give me and Mom and Dad attitude, or you say these ridiculous things. I told you not to be like this anymore.

If you hadn’t been this way back then, Brother Lin Yang wouldn’t have been worn down to the point where all his feelings were gone, leaving him utterly disappointed.

Why can’t you change?”

The system chimed in: “Damn, what a fake white lotus, always playing the victim. So she’s saying she never seduced her brother-in-law, Lin Yang isn’t a cheating jerk, it’s all your fault for making trouble? Host, put her in her place.”

Si Jiu stopped hanging her head and sobbing, as if she had been pushed to the limit. Even a cornered rabbit will bite.

She stared at Xu Weilai, as if gathering her final courage. “I have proof. All those messages you sent me—if you keep this up, I’ll show them to Lin Yang.”

Xu Weilai’s face went rigid. How dare she!

“I mean it. From now on, none of you will bully me again.”

After delivering her threat, she ignored the looks on everyone’s faces, covered her face with her hands, and burst out sobbing as she fled the apartment, not even changing her shoes, dashing through the living room and out of Mr. and Mrs. Xu’s home.

“Wanwan…”

“Brother Lin Yang, you’re not allowed to go after her.” Xu Weilai clung to Lin Yang’s arm, holding him tightly.

Lin Yang couldn’t do anything drastic to her, so he stopped, afraid she’d fall if he shook her off. But his expression was grim. “Was what Wanwan said just now true?”

“What was true? I never asked her to buy a car for Guai Guai,” Li Ying said quickly.

Xu Weilai tried to signal her to stop, but it was too late.

“So the rest is true? You wanted Wanwan’s apartment?”

Lin Yang’s face darkened further.

He genuinely hadn’t known about any of this.

“No, it’s a misunderstanding. Brother Lin Yang, my sister misunderstood me—don’t you know me by now? I’m not that kind of person.”

“Just now, Mom pinched Wanwan. Has she done that before?”

“That wasn’t… I just reached out without thinking…”

What a mess. Xu Weilai shot Li Ying a sharp look.

What do you mean, ‘without thinking’? Are you admitting you’re used to pinching her? That you’ve done it before?

“My mom’s just like that—when I misbehave, she pinches me, too. She didn’t use much force; my sister’s skin is just sensitive, so it looks worse than it is.”

“And those times Wanwan called you, cursing you out and telling you to ask me to give her back the buns—was that true?”

Xu Weilai’s smile froze. She lost her temper as well. “Lin Yang, what do you mean? Are you just blindly defending my sister now, blaming everything on me?”

Lin Yang frowned, looking deeply into Xu Weilai’s eyes.