Guide to Raising a Supporting Male Lead

Chapter 77: Three men make a tiger

Lin Xin did not know what was going on with him. He was hiding from her as if she were a plague.

She pretended to be offended and glared at him viciously.

Seeing how angry she’d gotten. Lin Xinyu scooted closer to her. He was still terrified of being too close to her, so he stopped a foot away and timidly said, “I seem to have a cold. I didn’t want to infect you.”

Heh, did he think he could trick her as smoothly as he did Cheng Qingrong? She wasn’t easily fooled. This child had been sneaky since this morning. He must be hiding something from her.

She poked his waist with her finger. “Spill! What is it? Don’t try to hide it from me.”

Lin Xinyu froze. What could he say? That he dreamt about her last night for the first time? That when she touched him, he couldn’t help but remember that dream? And then, and then…

Lin Xinyu clamped his legs tight, blocking that important part of his lower body. He weakly answered, “It’s nothing. It’s really nothing.”

Lin Xin still wouldn’t believe him and started to tickle Lin Xinyu, “If you don’t say it now, I’ll tickle you to death!”

Lin Xinyu held back his tears and anxiously blurted, “Don’t touch me!”

Lin Xin stilled her hand, scooted away from him, and moved towards the window. Just like a mother who got rejected by her child for the first time, she felt so sad that she didn’t want to say a word.

Cheng Qingrong, who was driving in front, spoke, “Xiao Xin, stop bullying Xiao Yu.”

Anger boiled in Lin Xin’s heart and she shouted, “He was the one who bullied me! Just ask him!”

Lin Xinyu quickly stepped in and said, “Dad, I was the one who started it. Don’t scold her. It was all my fault. If you must, scold me!”

It was a voice lost between sounding boyish and mature. Soft, carrying with it a certain charm, begging but complaining.
 

Lin Xin realized how petty she’d become.

Why did she have to quarrel with a child over such a small thing? Boys grow up to have their own thoughts. Besides, who grew up without a few little secrets? If he didn’t like it when she touched him, then so be it. Such a small matter was not worth getting angry about.

Thinking this way, Lin Xi’s mood suddenly brightened. She smiled at Lin Xinyu and said, “Okay, I won’t touch you, promise.”

Hearing this, Lin Xinyu secretly glanced at Lin Xin and felt a pang of regret. She said she wouldn’t touch him… Wasn’t that the same as her saying she wouldn’t want him anymore? Suddenly, he felt empty, as if he had lost everything.

The car soon halted in front of the school. Before Cheng Qingrong let them go, he repeatedly reminded Lin Xin to behave and not to cause trouble with her teachers, telling Lin Xinyu to look after her. Only after he had repeatedly nagged did he feel at ease and drove away.

It was time for the morning self-study session and most teachers weren’t in yet, so everyone was reading and reviewing yesterday’s lessons.

“Where did you go yesterday?” Lin Xin’s seatmate, Ai Mei Zhen, was insistent to know, but she kept mum.

Lin Xin didn’t want to talk about yesterday’s matter, so she politely replied, “I had things to do at home.”

“Honestly, there’s something I wanted to ask you. Is your brother gay?” Ai Mei Zhen casually steered the conversation to another topic.
 

Lin Xin stared at Amy with her eyes wide open. How could this little girl have so many random thoughts?

“Don’t be mad. I was just asking. I’d been observing your brother these past few days. He was so beautiful, he could make people drool just by looking at him. But recently, I noticed he only looked at women as if they were ordinary objects. He didn’t seem to feel any love for them. You know, that kind of love men should have for women.”

“He’s older than you, right? At his age, he should be at the peak of puberty. All the girls chasing after Lin Xinyu were pretty, yet they lined up for him, like crucian carps crossing a river.”

“There must be at least someone who could move his heart. But have you ever heard him talk to anyone? No! Not a single one. Say, if he’s not gay, then what is he?”

Lin Xin looked at Amy as if she was a lunatic. Just by looking at his eyes and adding up the fact that he didn’t have a girlfriend, this girl could already conjure the idea that Lin Xinyu must have liked boys in a romantic way. Whoa! It’d be a pity for her to not be an entertainment journalist.

However, the rumor about Lin Xinyu being gay still needed to be clarified.

“My brother is quite normal. He only wants to wholeheartedly study, you don’t need to worry yourself over it. What you said was merely your deduction, having nothing to do with the truth. Ever heard the idiom three men make a tiger? Evidence is everything, especially when spreading news. Those like you who bark up the wrong tree, making groundless accusations, go to jail.”

Ai Mei Zhen paused for a moment and, hearing Lin Xin say the word ‘jail’, she did not dare open her mouth again. After the second class, however, Ai Mei Zhen spoke again, “You’re right. Everything should be based on evidence. I’ll definitely find it for you.”
 

Lin Xin thought, has she teased a monkey? Is this classmate a psychopath? But she couldn’t help finding Amy’s stubborn, silly look adorable.

Lin Xin patted her shoulder and said, “Good luck! I support you.”

At lunchtime, Lin Xinyu came to find Lin Xin to go with her to see his homeroom teacher. This morning after class, Lin Xinyu did not come to find her. Lin Xin thought about what happened this morning and believed he must be in that stage of his life where he had secrets he didn’t want her to know. He would naturally be keeping her at an arm’s length from now. This was part of growing up, so she didn’t take this matter to heart.

After their meal, the two of them went to see the teacher. At the teacher’s office, she saw two people standing in front of Lin Xinyu’s homeroom teacher’s desk. There was a tall, slim woman in a black dress and a short one in a mint green dress. Both women had their backs to the door, so their faces could not be seen.

Standing by the door, they heard Lin Xinyu’s homeroom teacher say, “The transfer procedures are now complete. Go to the Education Bureau to get a set of school uniforms and report to Year 1 – Class 3 tomorrow.

The girl obviously transferred to Lin Xinyu’s class. It had nothing to do with them. Lin Xin thought about how she still hadn’t eaten enough, so she took the medical card and handed it to Lin Xinyu’s homeroom teacher and said, “We skipped school yesterday because I was sick. This is the medical card.”

Cheng Qingrong had already informed the two homeroom teachers, so this was just a formality.

“Put it here.”

Lin Xin put down her medical card and was about to leave when a crisp voice called out to her.

“Lin Xin?!”