<h4>Chapter 372 – ss Leader’s Empathy</h4>


    At first, the ss leader kept her vignce and didn’t want to walk side by side with me. Instead, she chose to walk a meter behind me. And anytime someone looked at us, she would increase the distance between us.


    “ss leader, aren’t you tired?” I asked, “Are you afraid of people misunderstanding? Do you also do this when youe and shop with Shu Zhe?”


    “People can instantly tell we’re siblings if it’s Xiao Zhe. But if it’s you...”


    “What about me?” I was curious, “What do you think others will think of us as?”


    “Older sister.” The little girl who asked the ss leader to help us get some dog food passed by us again with her mother. She grabbed onto the sides of the ss leader’s dress and said yfully: “Your boyfriend’s so tall!”


    The ss leader’s face turned red and she quickly denied it.


    “He’s not my boyfriend. We’re just regr ssmates.”


    “Miao Miao, stop messing around.” The girl’s mother called her to go back, “Let’s not interrupt them shopping for their dinner.”


    Huh, the mother was even worse than the little girl. The little girl at most thought we were dating, but in the mother’s eyes, we were already living together. Even my face turned a bit redder.


    But I was a bit pleased. I actually dressed up today to visit my dad and used sunsses to cover my eyes.


    Now I can even be mistaken as the ss leader’s partner.


    The ss leader got a bit upset after she saw my pleased expression.


    “Give my stuff back.” The ss leader grabbed the cart, “I don’t want to share a cart with you anymore.”


    “Ah~ the young couple is fighting.”


    The young mother covered herugh and left with her daughter.


    I gripped the cart handles tightly to prevent the ss leader from stopping the cart, “Stop messing around. If you make a scene, then everyone would think you have a rtionship with me. I’ll just keep pushing the cart quietly and you can pretend I’m your brother.”


    “I don’t want a brother who’s as out of norm as you.”


    “Hey, I didn’t even say anything yet. I think you’re an out of norm sister.”


    The ss leader stopped.


    “What, how am I out of the norm?”


    She cast an angry look at me.


    “Do you think I’m too tall?”


    Huh, most people would think it’s better taller. And you’re already the tallest girl in ss 2-3. But you haven’t yet reached the status of joining the female basketball team. The main reason is because you have a well-proportioned body, and you don’t feel like a giant woman, unlike Yao Ming’s wife, Ye Li. The main reason people fear you is due to your Justice Devil aura and not your body size.


    “I guess you’re considered tallpared with your brother. But you’re only average in front of me. But Xiao Qin, on the other hand, only reaches my shoulders and it feels awkward when we walk next to each other.”


    I then realized I was implying I didn’t feel awkward when walking with the ss leader and I didn’t want to talk anymore.


    We then had another hard to bear period of silence.


    At this point, we unintentionally passed the female underwear section. Based on the ss leader’s expression, it seems she’s remembering the time I gave the bikini. If I don’t give her a convincing reason, she’ll think I’m trying to something perverted again.


    “Ahem.” I cleared my throat, “Actually, yesterday was a misunderstanding.”


    “What was?” She asked knowingly.


    “Uh, how I identally put the underwear along with the Qing Zi Academy uniform...”


    “.....”


    I resolved myself and admitted to the ss leader:


    “ss leader, there’s actually one thing I’ve been too embarrassed to tell you.”


    The ss leader was scared and moved back a step. She put her hands out in front of her as a defense mechanism.


    “What is it? Why do you have to say it in the supermarket...”


    “Actually... actually my family runs an online store.”


    The ss leader breathed a sigh of relief, but also seemed a bit disappointed.


    “Sigh, I already know your family runs an online store. I heard you guys sell toys for children?”


    No, they are all adult toys, not toys for children. It’s because those grown ups can’t find partners to make babies with, so they can only y with toys all day.


    “Actually... it’s not toys for children. My dad sells something pretty embarrassing...”


    “It’s not embarrassing if it’s legal work.” the ss leader said righteously, “You shouldn’t look down on your parents’ work or it would make them sad.”


    “Actually, my family sells women’s underwear...”


    The ss leader’s face turned red.


    Good thing I didn’t tell her the whole truth about how my adult goods store is ranked pretty high and even employs her brother as a rope model. But we do indeed sell women’s underwear, so it’s not aplete lie.


    “That bikini underwear was something I was packing for my dad and identally dropped in the bag before I left in the morning... it definitely wasn’t a gift for you...”


    “It’s because my mother was an terrible person. She ran away with another dude right when I was born. My dad suffered arge enough shock that he quit his job as a university professor and began holed at home selling women’s underwear. He would frequently get dead drunk and I would have to run the business...”


    “I originally never liked my dad’s store, but I don’t really have a choice... I even identally showed you one of our store’s embarrassing goods yesterday, can you forgive me...”


    I followed Shu Zhe’s advice of acting more submissive and sneaked nces at her reaction.


    Huh, her eyes are filled with empathy. Does she feel empathetic because she’s also a left behind child without parents? And my situation is worse than them, because their parents are a loving couple who’s working their hardest to bring their kids with them to Shanghai.


    “So what you’re saying is that you’ve never had motherly love?” the ss leader asked with a bit of hesitation.


    It looks like we’repletely past the underwear issue. It seems Shu Zhe was right and to deal with his sister, we have to make her empathetic.


    “I mean it’s not entirely correct.” Iughed, “My father acted as both my mom and dad and raised me since a baby... other than the fact his job is a bit embarrassing, he treats me pretty well...”


    The ss leader held her hand under her nose with slightly red eyes. It was obvious she thought I was forcing myself to smile and be a good person.


    “Ye Lin... do you get into fights because your mother abandoned you?”


    No, I only trained to be a Spartan to take revenge on Xiao Qin for beating me up every day. It has nothing to do with Ai ShuQiao.


    But based on the current situation, the best thing to do is nod.


    The ss leader sighed after my tacit approval as if my words resolved a lot of her suspicions.


    “It’s not embarrassing even if Uncle Ye sells women’s underwear. It’s not like our parents are inplete control of their own jobs...”


    She seemed to be a bit sad, maybe she was thinking about her own parents who were currently thousands of miles away.


    “But you can’t give up on yourself even if you’recking motherly love. Do you know how scared I was when you almost pulled out their eyes in the fight you had back in the alley.”


    “Scared?” I was a bit puzzled, “Even if I poked their eyes out, I would be the only one going to a juvenile detention center. It has nothing to do with your or are you afraid of being called as a witness?”


    The ss leader’s right hand twitched as if she wanted to p me, but she held herself back in the end.


    “Anyway... I won’t allow anyone from ss 2-3 to enter juvy.”


    “Also, I won’t allow you to lose hope in humanity. You may not have received motherly love, but... eventually there will be someone who will treat you well...”


    I frowned, “Who’s going to treat me well?”


    The ss leader hesitated a bit, then said after biting her lips:


    “Doesn’t Xiao Qin like you? She’s already told us many times before you’re the only person she will marry. Although it’s not okay for middle schoolers to date so early, but you guys are childhood friends, so it’s not weird to get together...”


    What, why do I have topensate for myck of motherly love from Xiao Qin? Stop joking, I’ve never felt inferior for being a child of a single parent family as a child. But I have felt inferior for being beaten up by the Little Tyrant everyday. If I had a time machine, the first thing I do wouldn’t be to go back to the time when Ai ShuQiao abandoned me, but find the Little Tyrant and threaten her and say if she keeps bullying me, I would expose the fact she’s a girl.


    I chuckled and left the ss leader baffled.


    “Don’t believe Xiao Qin’s nonsense. I can end up with anyone except Xiao Qin.”


    “Is it because she lost your little brother?” The ss leader still stood on Xiao Qin’s side.


    “No, didn’t I already say I don’t have a brother. My mom abandoned us right when I was born, so where would I get a younger brother? Do you think my brother was sent to us in the mail or something? Why would my dad even raise a child of unknown origins?”


    “Then... the photo by Xiao Qin’s bed...”


    “That’s not my brother, it’s me. If you don’t believe me, I can show you old pictures of me and my dad.”


    “Impossible.” The ss leader shook her head, “That’s a photo of a cute boy...”


    So it can’t be me because he’s cute? It still hurts me even if it’s understandable.


    “It’s me. I looked good when I was a kid, but my face grew deformed, it’s as simple as that. If Harry Potter can grow up deformed, then why can’t I?”


    The ss leader analyzed my words and began to think it’s possible I didn’t have a younger brother.


    “Why did Xiao Qin lie?”


    “Because she’s moronic.”


    “That means your kids won’t be ugly either.”


    Huh, why are you talking about my kids?


    The ss leader also realized there was something wrong with her statement, so she changed the topic.


    “Since you never had a younger brother, then that means Xiao Qin didn’t lose your brother. Then why can’t you ept her?”


    “There’s not really any good reason, it’s just... because we’re too familiar with each other. We even know how many times we wet the bed as kids. I can’t really date her, but only treat her as a sister.”


    Actually, she’s the only one who knew how many times I wet the bed. The Little Tyrant even stuck a note on my back that said ‘bet wetter’.


    “Then does Xiao Qin know you don’t want to progress as lovers?”


    The ss leader asked cautiously.


    “She does.” I lied to the ss leader, “But what can I do if she’s moronic and refuses to give up.”


    The ss leader brushed a loft of hair behind her ear and it seemed she was in deep thought.


    “Turn left here.”


    The ss leader, who had been following behind me and going with the flow, gave out her first orders and brought us to the kitchen and bath area she was interested in.