Chapter 18 Falling into the Lake (3/4)

"Hmm." Su Wantang nodded. "I witnessed this scene when I was passing by... How are you feeling now? Are you alright?"

Wei Juan nodded. "I'm fine, thank you, pretty sister."

Her first reaction upon falling into the lake was to struggle for survival, but gradually she stopped wanting to struggle.

She felt that dying like this would be fine.

After all, living is much more painful than dying.

But in the moment of her near death, the dream she had pulled him back to reality and awakened her.

Mom is right.

She cannot die; she must live.

"You're welcome," Su Wantang said with a light laugh. "It's good that you're alright."

Su Wantang reached out and pulled the girl sitting on the ground up.

"I just saw another girl push you down. Is there some kind of conflict between you two?" Su Wantang asked.

Wei Juan lowered her eyes, biting her pale lips tightly, and remained silent.

“Even if you two had a conflict, she shouldn’t have pushed you into the lake. Didn’t she know that doing that could kill someone?” Su Wantang frowned. She could tell that the girl in front of her was the weak and honest type, and probably had been bullied a lot. As she spoke, she took the girl’s hand. “She clearly wanted to kill you. If I hadn’t saved you in time, you would be dead by now. I’ll go with you to report it to the police.”

As she spoke, Su Wantang took her hand and turned to leave.

“No…we can’t report it to the police…” Wei Juan shook her head, her face pale.

"Why not?" Su Wantang looked at her, puzzled.

Wei Juan bit her lip, "Because...because she's my sister..."

"Your sister?" Su Wantang frowned, looking at her in astonishment. "Since she's your sister, you shouldn't have been so rough with her..."

“She’s not my biological sister; she’s my stepmother’s daughter.” Wei Juan looked up at Su Wantang with some embarrassment. “My mother was in poor health and passed away. Not long after, my father brought my stepmother and my sister into the family. My sister was two months older than me at the time…”

"In other words... your stepsister actually existed before your mother even gave birth to you. To be precise, your father had already cheated on you and had an illegitimate daughter." Su Wantang frowned, looking at her with some sympathy.

Wei Juan's fingers twirled the wet hem of her skirt. She nodded. "Ever since my stepmother and sister moved in, my dad has treated me worse and worse... He only likes my stepmother and sister. I have no status in this family... I'm often bullied by my sister."

“Even if we call the police, my dad will just say it's the two kids playing around, and Wei Lili won't get the punishment she deserves... On the contrary, because of calling the police, my dad will think I'm causing him trouble, and he'll treat me even worse in the future. And Wei Lili and her mother will treat me even worse…”

Su Wantang looked at the girl in front of her with sympathy, "So you're just going to let them bully you like this from now on?"

"This Wei Lili you're talking about can bully you once, and she'll do it again. If she doesn't fight back when she sees you, she'll bully you more and more... You weren't killed by her this time, but what about next time, and the time after that?"

"You won't always be so lucky as to have someone come to your rescue."

"But what could I do..." Wei Juan lowered her eyes, large tears streaming down her pale face and dripping onto the ground. "My status in this family is even lower than a dog's. I can only live a life of passive acceptance every day... I've really had enough of this kind of life..."