Chapter 17: A Case Of Bullying

Chapter 17: Chapter 17: A Case Of Bullying

The moment he was out of sight, Shi Qing could no longer contain his curiosity. He immediately grabbed Sui Sui by the shoulders and gave him another enthusiastic shake.

"Sui-ge, isn’t that your precious Senior Brother? How come you’ve only been gone for less than a month, and you’re already close enough for him to personally escort you here?"

"We’re not close at all." Sui Sui nearly facepalmed. "And don’t ever bring up the things I did in the past, okay?"

Just thinking about it made him want to crawl into a hole.

In the novel, the little fool Bai Sui Sui had truly done countless shameless things in pursuit of Yizhou. There were simply too many embarrassing incidents to count. For example, he had secretly climbed the walls surrounding the inner disciples’ residences just to catch a glimpse of Yizhou, sneaked into the bathhouse in hopes of running into him, and even pretended to perform dangerous stunts, all for the sake of attracting Yizhou’s attention.

Every memory that surfaced made Sui Sui’s scalp tingle with embarrassment. At first, he had found those scenes hilarious while reading the novel, laughing at the original Bai Sui Sui’s hopeless infatuation alongside countless readers. But now that he had transmigrated into the very body of that "little fool," every one of those black history moments had become his black history.

If anyone were to bring them up, he would have no way to defend himself.

After briefly explaining his memory loss, Shi Qing’s initial surprise quickly faded. Instead of pressing him with endless questions, he patiently filled in the gaps, telling Sui Sui about the things he had forgotten. Thanks to him, Sui Sui finally gained a clearer understanding of how his life in Wenjian Sect had been before his transmigration.

From Shi Qing’s words, it seemed that Sui Sui’s life in the Wenjian Sect had been far from easy.

Although Bai Suichen would visit whenever he had the time, he was still an inner disciple with his own cultivation and sect duties to attend to. The living quarters of the probationary disciples were also some distance away from those of the inner disciples, so there was only so much he could do. At most, he could check on Sui Sui a few times each day, but it was impossible for him to remain by his side at all times.

Whenever Bai Suichen was absent, Sui Sui was left to fend for himself.

At first, his fellow probationary disciples simply ostracized him because he had entered the sect through his family’s connections. While everyone else had struggled to earn their place in Wenjian Sect, Sui Sui had been accepted with little effort in their eyes. As if that wasn’t enough, someone eventually revealed that he was nothing more than a cultivation waste. From then on, whatever little goodwill remained quickly disappeared.

Most of the disciples no longer bothered interacting with him, treating him as though he didn’t exist.

To be fair, Sui Sui could understand where they were coming from. If he weren’t the one living in this body, he might have thought the same thing. After all, from an outsider’s perspective, the situation did seem unfair.

Fortunately, things weren’t too bad in the beginning. Being ignored wasn’t something the original Bai Sui Sui particularly minded. He rarely interacted with others anyway, and with his attention completely occupied by Yizhou, he hardly cared about what his fellow disciples thought of him.

Unfortunately, that fragile peace didn’t last.

Once word of Bai Sui Sui’s shameless pursuit of Yizhou spread throughout the sect, the attitudes of those around him began to change. Many disciples admired Yizhou and felt that Bai Sui Sui’s actions were tarnishing his reputation. What had once been silent ostracism gradually escalated into outright bullying.

At first, they played petty pranks on him, deliberately tripping him whenever he walked past or lying that Yizhou was waiting for him somewhere, leaving him to wait for hours only to realize he had been deceived.

But as time went on, their actions became increasingly malicious.They no longer stopped at humiliation and they began hurting him intentionally.

Sui Sui frowned.

"Is this true?" he asked again, wanting to make sure he hadn’t misheard.

Shi Qing lowered his head guiltily.

"...Yes." After a brief silence, he spoke again in a quiet voice. "I’m sorry, Sui-ge. I couldn’t stand up for you." He clenched his fists against his robes. "You know how scary Young Miss Chu is. I... I couldn’t afford to go against her."

Sui Sui didn’t blame him.

Shi Qing might have been the young master of the wealthy Shi family, but compared to one of the Ten Great Families, the Shi family simply wasn’t on the same level. Their family had only managed to secure Shi Qing’s place in Wenjian Sect through years of maintaining a close relationship with the Yuan family which was also part of the Ten Great Families. Even then, provoking the Chu family over someone else was a risk neither Shi Qing nor his family could bear.

According to Shi Qing, the reason Bai Sui Sui had fallen into the water and suffered the high fever that nearly claimed his life was because he had been deliberately lured there before being pushed in by Young Miss Chu Ran.

The moment he heard that name, Sui Sui immediately recognized it.

Chu Ran, the young miss of the powerful Chu family, one of the Ten Great Families.

Just like the original Bai Sui Sui, she had once been deeply infatuated with Yizhou.

Truthfully, Sui Sui had never liked her character, even back when he was reading the novel. Although she always claimed to love Yizhou, that affection proved to be painfully shallow. The moment she discovered that he carried demon blood, her attitude changed completely.

The woman who had once pursued him without hesitation became one of the first to look at him with disgust. When the cultivation world condemned Yizhou, she didn’t remain silent either. Instead, she claimed that she must have been bewitched by his demonic powers, adding yet another accusation to the countless crimes pinned against him.

At the time, Sui Sui had merely disliked her hypocrisy.

Now, after learning that Chu Ran had done far more than what the novel had described, that dislike had completely transformed into disgust.

In the first place, what had the original Bai Sui Sui ever done to her?

Yes, his pursuit of Yizhou had been embarrassing, but that was a matter between him and Yizhou. In the novel before Yizhou blackened, it clearly said that Yizhou didn’t mind the pestering at all and found it just an antics of a younger brother, If even Yizhou himself had never driven Bai Sui Sui away, what right did Chu Ran have to interfere?

Aside from entering the sect through family connections, Bai Sui Sui had never done anything to deserve such treatment. He wasn’t competing with anyone for cultivation resources, nor had he bullied others with his status. If anything, he was known for generously sharing his belongings whenever someone asked.

Besides, it wasn’t as though Bai Sui Sui was the only disciple who had entered Wenjian Sect through family connections, Chu Ran also entered through a recommendation

So why was he the one everyone targeted?

Was it simply because he was a fool and easy to bully?

The thought left a sour feeling in Sui Sui’s chest.

No matter what, he would make sure the original Bai Sui Sui received the justice he deserved.