That Friday afternoon, Jiang Cheng and Chen Ting left the classroom under the envious gazes of the entire class, backpacks slung over their shoulders.
Wang Yu, standing in the corner hugging a tennis racket, still shouted at Jiang Cheng.
There was a red scratch on one side of his face, and the bruises at the corner of his mouth made him look rather comical.
“Sister Chengzi, can’t you bring me along?”
Jiang Cheng was in a hurry to meet at the school gate and pretended not to hear, dragging Chen Ting by the arm as they ran toward the stairwell.
“You should take a look at the homework you’ve been doing lately, and you still want to go out and play?”
Teacher Ma’s face suddenly popped out from the window, startling him into standing straight.
“I told you to stand as punishment, yet you’re still playing with that racket. What am I going to do with you… sigh.”
Teacher Ma stood with hands on hips, frowning, having wasted who-knows-how-much saliva on words like these.
“Everyone else, start self-study. Wang Yu, come with me to the office.”
“Oh…”
Wang Yu had just gotten into a fight that afternoon.
Although the reason sounded righteous—he had beaten up a senior who was bullying a girl in their class—Teacher Ma still somewhat admired Wang Yu’s personality, but now the other party’s parents had come to the school demanding an explanation.
Wang Yu put down the racket and trudged behind Teacher Ma.
“Your father will be here soon. Originally, your mother was coming too, but it seems your father persuaded her not to.”
Wang Yu let out a breath of relief.
If his mother found out he’d been fighting at school, she’d probably start hitting him right there in the office.
“Just stand back here for now.”
Teacher Ma also had a headache.
She had just met the other party’s parent at the moral education director’s office—a difficult woman who kept saying she wanted Wang Yu to suffer.
Even she, as the teacher, hadn’t been spared the dirty looks, but she could only endure it and wait until both sets of parents arrived before dealing with the matter.
“Teacher Ma… I really don’t think I did anything wrong today. When a classmate is being bullied, how could I just stand there and watch? That guy is no good; he’s bullied plenty of first- and second-years before. He just pretends to be decent.”
“Telling me is useless. If you can persuade the other parent and convince the moral education director and the principal to side with you, then of course I’ll fully support you.”
Teacher Ma took a sip of hot tea, soothing her tense throat.
“Fine, then I’ll just suffer a bit and endure it.”
“You fought on school grounds, my dear classmate Wang.”
Teacher Ma was so exasperated she almost laughed.
“No matter the reason, it’s not an excuse to resort to violence.”
“Yes, yes…”
Wang Yu did feel a little regretful.
When that girl cried for help, he had rushed forward like a hot-blooded youth and thrown punches without thinking about the consequences.
The other boy was still in the infirmary; he didn’t know how bad it was.
“Little Yu.”
Wang Ziyang knocked on the office door.
Dressed in a sharp suit and standing at the doorway, silver-rimmed glasses framing his refined and elegant face, he carried a briefcase—he must have come straight from the university.
It wasn’t Teacher Ma’s first time seeing Wang Ziyang.
Every time she saw him, she couldn’t help but sigh—the father and son really only resembled each other in looks.
“Father of Wang Yu.”
“Teacher Ma, hello.”
After greeting each other, Wang Ziyang walked over to his son and examined his injuries.
They were all just superficial wounds.
“What, you couldn’t control your temper even at school?”
His voice was warm and gentle, but the tone carried a stern anger.
Wang Ziyang rarely lost his temper.
This time he had persuaded his wife not to come, but his current demeanor made it obvious to Wang Yu that he was angry.
“I…” Wang Yu knew when to judge the situation and obediently shut his mouth.
“Father of Wang Yu, actually… Wang Yu acted out of a sense of justice.”
“Oh? What exactly happened?”
Wang Ziyang followed Teacher Ma’s lead and asked.
Before coming, he had already guessed that Wang Yu probably fought for some special reason.
He knew his own child well.
But the mistake was that he shouldn’t have solved the problem this way; now the situation had become very passive.
Teacher Ma explained the whole story, and Wang Ziyang kept frowning as he listened.
The matter was more complicated than he had imagined.
“Although Dad doesn’t support your method, you did it out of a sense of justice, and Dad can understand that.”
He patted his son’s shoulder, and Wang Yu breathed a sigh of relief.
As expected, at critical moments he still had to rely on Teacher Ma.
If he explained it himself, the effect would have been greatly reduced.
Now it was clear Dad was treating the matter lightly.
He winked at Teacher Ma, thanking her for the help.
Teacher Ma gave a helpless smile.
Footsteps sounded in the corridor.
The bullied boy’s homeroom teacher walked in front, followed by the parent and the moral education director.
In the middle was the injured boy, looking utterly wronged.
“You’re the one who hit my son, right?!”
The parent charged forward in a single stride, trying to hit Wang Yu.
Without thinking, Wang Yu blocked with his arm.
The parent lost balance and fell to the ground.
She became even more furious and simply threw a tantrum on the floor, making the scene chaotic for a while.
Wang Ziyue had just stepped out of her office.
She had moved the afternoon meeting to next week and was now preparing to go watch the performance.
She had just gotten into the car when she received a call from her older brother.
“Hello?”
Wang Ziyue connected the Bluetooth, fastened her seatbelt, and started the engine.
“Ziyue, it’s your big brother. I just wanted to ask if you know the boss of Rongfa.”
“Oh… I think we’ve had dinner a few times.”
There were only a few large-scale real estate companies in the city.
They competed, but also cooperated quite a bit.
It was too difficult for a single company to swallow the entire development of the southern city alone.
Wang Ziyue had contacted many investors.
President Wu of Rongfa was one of them.
Later, Wang Ziyue had her secretary follow up; it was still only in the negotiation stage.
“Well… Little Yu got into a fight with someone today, and that person seems to be the son of Rongfa’s boss. I don’t know if it will cause trouble for you.”
“Oh, what was the fight about?” Wang Ziyue didn’t drive off immediately.
After listening to her brother’s recounting, Wang Ziyue laughed.
“Little Yu did nothing wrong. If you ask me, he should have beaten that kid a few more times.”
“Don’t make things worse. Right now his mother is making a scene in the office, saying she wants the principal to expel Little Yu.”
“Hey, it’s fine. I’ll make a call in a bit. By the way… is Little Yu injured?”
“He’s got some scratches on his face—just superficial wounds.”
“Scratches on the face are the most serious! What if it leaves a scar? No, we have to reason with that mother.”
“Hey, hey, hey, you want to fight too?! Let me tell you, your son is no good either. The way you’re protecting him, I don’t think you’re any better!”
Wang Yu got anxious and his voice grew louder.
“How dare they try to hit Little Yu? Big brother, you have to protect your own this time. An adult bullying a minor—what’s that about?”
“I’m watching. Alright, I won’t disturb you. I’ll handle this first.”
Wang Ziyang hung up the phone.
Wang Ziyue sat in the car and thought for a moment, then dialed another number. The call was quickly answered.
The argument between Wang Yu and the boy’s parent had reached a fever pitch.
“Of course I know my own son! Don’t slander him—he’s clearly such an obedient child.”
“Then ask him why he was bullying the girls in our class!”
“He was just talking to them, is that not allowed?!”
“Enough, enough, quiet down!”
The principal had somehow appeared from outside.
He shooed away the students who had gathered to watch the excitement and glared at the moral education director.
The moral education director felt wronged—he hadn’t expected things to blow up like this either.
Neither set of parents was easy to deal with.
Although Wang Ziyang stood there quietly, he privately knew the man’s identity.
And the parent throwing a tantrum—her husband also held some social status.
No matter how the school handled this, they would probably be criticized.
He couldn’t deal with it, so he simply kicked the ball to Principal Zhou.
Principal Zhou shot him a glare.
He had just received a call from Wang Ziyue and originally thought it was just a fight, but it turned out to be deeply entangled.
Conflicts between students should be resolved among students.
He was also angry looking at the parent throwing a tantrum.
But he still kept his tone calm when speaking.
“The matter is still under investigation. I’ve already sent the director of teaching affairs to the infirmary. We’ll know exactly what happened soon.”
The injured boy’s face didn’t look good.
He hadn’t wanted to make such a big deal either, but the moment his mother saw his injuries, she demanded the school give an explanation.
He had stammered and tried to brush it off, but his mother took it as him being bullied.
After entering the office, he felt even more guilty, only wanting to finish this quickly, but his wish clearly wasn’t going to be granted.
The two sides stood separated by a wide distance, everyone waiting for the results from the director of teaching affairs.
But the person who appeared at the door surprised everyone.
Wang Ziyue removed her sunglasses and walked in gracefully.
“Auntie!”
Even Wang Yu hadn’t expected her to come.
Wang Ziyang was even more stunned.
Before Wang Ziyue could speak, the director of teaching affairs followed her in and went straight to the principal’s side to report what he had learned.
“This… there was indeed harassment, but the girl was mainly coerced into doing other things… and it also involves a classmate from their class, Jiang Cheng.”
“What did you say?”
Wang Ziyue was standing close and heard everything clearly.
Her face darkened.