Give Me Another Smile

Two years quickly passed amidst Tang Yu's daily regrets and Yin Zhao-an's gradual rise to becoming the military compound's king of children. Throughout these two years, Tang Yu also grew more and more uncommunicative.

However, in the eyes of children, being uncommunicative was equivalent to being an introvert, and being an introvert meant being an easy target for bullying. Meanwhile, being an easy target for bullying meant...

...

Tang Yu's eyelashes trembled slightly as she stood in her noisy classroom, the shadow cast by her eyelashes covering the storm that was brewing in her dark eyes.

The desk in front of her was colored into a mess with oil pastels, words such as "ugly" and "mute" mixed among the colorful lines and patterns. Her schoolbag in her drawer had also gone missing. If it weren't for the malicious graffiti, she would have assumed she had misplaced her schoolbag, but…

They're only children… They're only children who don't know any better… Tang Yu mentally reminded herself as she walked to the dustbin at the back of the classroom. This wasn't the first time she had experienced such a situation, so she didn't hesitate in selecting her destination. Then, after arriving at the dustbin, she picked up her pink schoolbag. Only, the schoolbag wasn't exactly pink now since shoeprints densely decorated it.

The books and pencils that should have been in the schoolbag were also scattered in the dustbin as if they were abandoned orphans.

When Tang Yu quietly bent down to recover her books and stationery, the sound of jeering came from her surroundings.

"Quick, look! The little mute is picking up trash!"

"Yuck! How dirty! I can't believe she's digging through the dustbin!"

"Hey, are you a beggar?"

Nevermind, nevermind. Stay calm, Tang Yu mentally consoled herself.

"Hey, we're talking about you here! Don't tell me you're deaf as well?"

Don't get angry… Don't get angry…

"Could your mother be—"

That's it!

Tang Yu slammed the book in her hand into the face of the boy trying to insult her mother. In response, the boy groaned in pain before angrily shoving Tang Yu to the ground.

Tang Yu could see an obvious red mark on the boy's face. However, she didn't feel guilty in the slightest. Do you think you're the only one who's a child? Do you think only you brats are allowed to bully me?!

The several people gathered around Tang Yu had obviously come prepared to teach her a lesson. Despite their young age, every one of them had the look of a bully.

However, Tang Yu wasn't afraid of them. After all, her mental age was over 20 years old, so it was a piece of cake for her to take care of a few pesky brats.

Just when Tang Yu was about to start a fight with them, someone pulled her up from the ground and shielded her with their body. When Tang Yu saw the tall and large body in front of her, she couldn't help but experience a sense of déjà vu.

"What? You guys want to fight?" Yin Zhao-an asked menacingly, the fierce look in her eyes causing the several children, who were shorter than her, to take a few steps back out of fear.

"L-Let's just forget about this," one of the more timid children said to the other children.

After the first person caved, the others naturally caved as well, none daring to take the initiative to suffer Yin Zhao-an's wrath.

"We never wanted a fight. We were just fooling around."

After the children said so, they quickly ran out of the classroom, going who knows where.

"Are you alright, Tang-Tang?" Yin Zhao-an immediately turned around to check Tang Yu's condition.

When Tang Yu looked at Yin Zhao-an's tall frame, she couldn't help but wonder what the other party ate to get so big. Even though she was a few months older than Yin Zhao-an, the latter had outgrown her significantly these past two years...

As for Yin Zhao-an's question, Tang Yu simply stayed quiet and shook her head.

Yin Zhao-an's mouth twitched at Tang Yu's response. However, she already knew she wouldn't get a verbal answer from Tang Yu, so she didn't delve too deeply into the matter. Instead, she crouched down and helped Tang Yu pick up her scattered books. Then, she asked, "Where's your seat, Tang-Tang?"

Tang Yu blinked a few times before snapping out of her daze. Then, she pointed to her seat, completely forgetting what kind of torture her desk had been subjected to.

When Yin Zhao-an arrived in front of Tang Yu's desk, her body trembled slightly with anger, and her hands holding Tang Yu's books clenched up tightly. Her eyes also turned bloodshot, looking as if they were trying to stare a hole through the desk.

Tang Yu quickly realized she had messed up when she saw Yin Zhao-an's abnormal behavior. Sure enough, Yin Zhao-an strode to her in the next second with a distressed look on her face. Then, Yin Zhao-an grabbed her shoulders and demanded, "How long?"

"..." Tang Yu had trouble answering Yin Zhao-an's question, but if she had to hazard a guess, the bullying had probably started as soon as the two of them were assigned to different classes? After all, the bullying had started at a mild level and ramped up gradually, so she didn't really notice she was getting bullied until it started to affect her directly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Yin Zhao-an grew furious when she saw Tang Yu's dazed and ignorant appearance. Although she liked the silly temperament Tang Yu would occasionally show, that didn't mean she wanted her Tang-Tang to be silly to the point of staying silent about getting bullied!

What other reason could there be? Isn't it because I don't want to get involved with you? Tang Yu looked away and pulled Yin Zhao-an's hands off her shoulders. Then, she walked around Yin Zhao-an, pulled out a tissue and a thermos from her schoolbag, and started cleaning up the mess on her table.

Yin Zhao-an reluctantly took a few deep breaths. Then, she snatched the wet tissue out of Tang Yu's hand, pulled Tang Yu aside, and resignedly wiped the graffiti on Tang Yu's desk.

Tang Yu fell into a daze when she saw Yin Zhao-an's actions. If she didn't reincarnate with regrets, she wouldn't have hesitated to fall for such a Yin Zhao-an again...