On the way to the office building, Song Fu ran into Lu Qunwen, who was heading to the same destination.
Lu Qunwen had a dark expression on his face, and his steps were quick. When he noticed Song Fu, he paused slightly. “I already said.” He had said that Ci Ye’s change was just a flash in the pan, and his true nature was still that of a hopeless case that couldn’t be helped up the wall.
Song Fu understood the implication. She could say that even if Ci Ye had really hit someone, he must have had a reason, but there was no point in letting Lu Qunwen hear it. He would only think she was being stubborn to the end.
So she just shook her head and said nothing.
Lu Qunwen clenched his fists.
When they arrived at the office, it was in complete chaos inside. The homeroom teachers from both classes and the grade director all looked troubled. An unfamiliar man’s voice boomed thunderously as he pointed a finger almost at Ci Ye’s forehead:
“This is the fine student you all taught! I sent my good child to your school to study, not to get beaten by someone.” From his words, the unfamiliar man was undoubtedly the father of the student who got beaten. “His mom’s with him in the hospital right now. I’m here to have a proper talk with you all—how exactly does your school teach students?!”
As the unfamiliar man spoke, he raised his hand toward Ci Ye.
Ci Ye, who had been standing against the wall with an expressionless face, finally lifted his eyelashes and let out a scoff. “You think you’re so good at teaching your son?”
The man flew into a rage at once. Faced with someone who wouldn’t even show a shred of remorse, he couldn’t give him any good look. The raised hand was about to come down.
But Class A’s homeroom teacher blocked it. “Let’s talk this out properly…” He forced a smile, then turned serious toward Ci Ye. “In the end, why did you hit someone? Apologize properly! What’s with that attitude of yours?”
The man’s hand was stopped from hitting, and he gave a fake smile. “When my child got beaten, none of you teachers were watching. Now that I want to discipline him, you block me quick enough. Let me tell you, I absolutely won’t accept any apology.”
The homeroom teacher urged Ci Ye to show a better attitude.
Ci Ye lowered his eyelashes, pretending to think seriously. “I just didn’t like the look of him. Hearing him talk made me sick. Does that count as a reason?”
The man trembled with anger and finally realized he was dealing with an unreasonable punk. He slammed the table heavily. “Where are his parents? I want to talk to his parents.”
Ci Ye seemed to find it boring, even yawning as he turned his head to the side. Then—
He spotted Song Fu standing at the door.
He froze, immediately showing a bit of panic. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he just closed it again.
But clearly, it wasn’t the same indifferent attitude from before.
The man saw this expression and thought his demand to see the parents had worked, so he started lecturing again. Lu Qunwen, standing next to Song Fu, knew it wasn’t the case and felt a wave of disgust at Ci Ye’s putting on an act.
So Lu Qunwen finally stepped forward. He said, “He should be expelled, right?”
He looked at the man and called out, “Uncle Chen,” then turned to Ci Ye. “He doesn’t show any remorse at all. He’s done this before, hitting people—it’s not his first time. What’s the point of keeping someone like this in school? I think expulsion is the most appropriate.”
Class B’s homeroom teacher saw her own student adding fuel to the fire and felt her head swell. “Lu Qunwen, it’s class time. What are you doing here? Go back now.”
Lu Qunwen was pushed but stood firm without moving. “Ci Ye got into our school because of a donation. He shouldn’t be here in the first place. Last time he hit someone, did he donate again, so nothing happened? This time, Ci Ye, how much is your family planning to pay?”
“What kind of talk is that? Ci Ye got in on his own merits. He wasn’t at fault in the previous fight. If you don’t know the real situation, don’t spout off here.” Both homeroom teachers furrowed their brows.
The man seemed to catch on to something, sizing Ci Ye up and down. He did look like a rich young master. The man pondered. “I’ll talk compensation with his parents.” He looked at the teacher in charge. “Where are his parents?”
They were probably on a business trip. Even if someone came, it would only be an assistant, Song Fu knew.
She walked in, placed her homework on the office desk, couldn’t help but sigh, and lifted her eyes to find Ci Ye staring at her. Their gazes met, and he hurriedly looked away in panic.
Feeling guilty now?
Why didn’t he think it through properly when he hit someone?
Having understood the situation, Song Fu didn’t linger in the office.
Given the man’s willingness to discuss compensation, Ci Ye probably wouldn’t actually get expelled.
“Ding ling ling.”
A cheerful bell rang. Under everyone’s gaze, the man answered the phone and walked out of the office. “Yeah, I am at the school right now. Our son got beaten; the school has to give some explanation, right? …What do you mean let it go? What do you mean they’ve already paid? They haven’t? If they haven’t, why let it go?” The man’s anger flared up again as he spoke. “It’s not like their family lacks money.”
Song Fu overheard the gist from the stairwell corner, frowning. She felt something was subtly off.
Was there a scene like this in the plotline?
She didn’t remember one.
The matter didn’t really concern Song Fu much, but she still couldn’t relax. Even back in the classroom, she felt restless.
At that moment, the System finally gave her the data from her previous inquiry. [The male and female leads’ current emotional data shows they are not in love. The female lead did experience emotional fluctuations during the hero-saving-beauty moment, but it didn’t develop toward romance. Right now, both think the other is a nice person.]
Just to that extent?
“Song Fu, are you okay?” her deskmate asked cautiously with concern.
Song Fu shook her head. “I’m fine.”
At lunchtime in the afternoon, Song Fu had no appetite and didn’t plan to go to the cafeteria. She thought she’d just make do with some snacks. Those snacks were the ones she had bought with Ci Ye before—a few cases of them stashed there. But eating too much made her tired of them.
“Um, Song Fu, can I talk to you?” A girl suddenly appeared at the door, knocked, and bit her lip nervously after speaking. Her face looked somewhat unfamiliar.
Her deskmate, who was also staying in the classroom to eat snacks, silently shook her head and whispered, “This seems to be the class committee member’s girlfriend from next door. She’s not here to settle scores with you, Ci Ye’s fiancée, is she?”
Song Fu didn’t think so. The girl’s eyes were red-rimmed, as if she had cried, and she was completely distracted even now. Thinking of this, she stood up. “Sure, come in.”
The girl stood at the door without moving, glancing at the few people left in the classroom. “Can we go to the sports field?”
So the two of them went to the sports field. The sun was setting in the west, dyeing half the sky in rosy hues.
They sat on a viewing stand with few people around. Song Fu broke the silence first. “Are you here about Chen Yu getting beaten?”
The girl shook her head first, then nodded, twisting her fingers anxiously. “I was there at the time, it’s just…” She trailed off midway, tears rolling down from her red eyes first. “Actually, it was because of me.”
…
The incident happened during the first afternoon class.
Class B had PE that period, but there were often people in their class who skipped to study more, faking sick to stay in the classroom. The girl and Chen Yu were two of them.
But they didn’t stay in the classroom the whole time. The two in love went near the grove. “After he kissed me a couple times, he wanted me to take off my clothes and even took out his phone.” The girl said this in front of Song Fu, so ashamed her head nearly buried into her legs. “I didn’t dare, I was scared, and then he started arguing with me.”
The girl was a bit incoherent. “He kept cursing me, said he’d already shared the video he took before, and then Ci Ye appeared, snatched his phone and gave it to me, then beat Chen Yu.”
Song Fu got the gist and caught the key point. “What video was Chen Yu talking about?”
Tears streamed nonstop from the girl’s eyes. It took her a long time to answer. “…On the bed.” Her whole body shook; she didn’t even dare look at Song Fu’s eyes. After all, sleeping with someone in high school, in an environment where even puppy love wasn’t allowed, was a very serious matter. “Before, he asked me out on the weekend. I thought we were just playing. He said he liked me, liked me a lot, said we’d never break up, we’d always be together, so it was fine.”
Looking back now, it was all lies.
“He said he wanted to record it to watch himself.” For the first time, she hated her own weakness and lack of resolve so much; she couldn’t even say words of refusal.
As the girl spoke, she kept her head down the whole time, her mind flashing with many thoughts, afraid to see disdain in the eyes of the person beside her.
The beautiful Song Fu was like a doll meant only for display in a case. The first time she saw her in the cafeteria, she had been stunned, thinking such a pretty face really existed in real life, and silently got in line behind.
Later, she learned from friends by chance that not only was Song Fu pretty, her grades were top-notch too. Someone like that was the moon high in the sky, while she might not even count as a star. Would she be looked down on for saying these things now?
She wanted to run away so badly.
“Don’t cry.” Song Fu couldn’t stand seeing people cry. Seeing her cry so miserably left her at a loss. She gently hugged the girl. “Ci Ye didn’t say why he hit Chen Yu.”
The girl breathed a sigh of relief. “If the teachers found out, they’d tell my parents for sure, and my mom and dad would kill me.” Her parents were extremely conservative and believed in using the rod for discipline. From childhood to now, she’d been beaten so many times she couldn’t count them on one hand. That’s why she liked gentle people, the gentle Chen Yu who wove beautiful dreams of the future for her.
His true face was disgusting.
The girl cried until she was dry-heaving.
Song Fu wiped her tears with tissue. “Did Chen Yu report it to the teachers?”
The girl shook her head. “Someone saw them fighting.”
Song Fu figured the guilty Chen Yu wouldn’t want things to blow up. The call his father received was probably from him, just wanting to settle it quickly.
The girl asked, “Will Ci Ye get punished?”
Song Fu shook her head. “Chen Yu’s dad is in the office right now, but his attitude isn’t particularly aggressive. Chen Yu’s side is definitely scared of his dirty deeds getting exposed too, so it’ll pass lightly. It won’t have a big impact on Ci Ye—at least, he won’t get expelled.”
The girl breathed a sigh of relief.
Song Fu pressed, “But what about you?”
The girl froze. “What?”
“Those videos of you— are you sure they’ve all been deleted? Chen Yu doesn’t have backups?” Song Fu pursed her lips; she really couldn’t relax. “He said he shared them—shared where? What if he keeps threatening you with them later? Getting beaten once won’t stop him; he’ll be back at school sooner or later.”
This wasn’t something that could be brushed off easily.