The moment Chen Yuanyuan spoke, Bai Fan’s heart skipped a beat, and his expression stiffened for an instant.
‘Has she already recognized me?’
‘No… I’m a boy now!’
“H-have we met? Maybe we’ve run into each other somewhere. I don’t really remember.”
“Is that so?” Chen Yuanyuan tilted her head thoughtfully.
“Then I must have been mistaken.”
Bai Fan breathed a sigh of relief.
But the next second, Chen Yuanyuan added, “Earlier when I saw you fighting, it felt really familiar. It’s a bit like a girl I saw last week. When you ran over just now, the moonlight was dim, and for a moment I even thought it was her.”
Bai Fan almost broke out in a cold sweat.
“R-really? What a coincidence, but I’m a guy, a bona fide guy.”
Chen Yuanyuan burst out laughing. “I know, you don’t have to keep emphasizing it.”
“Uh…” Bai Fan felt a bit embarrassed.
He scratched the back of his head, and after a moment of silence, suddenly said, “Anyway… I’m sorry.”
“Huh?” Chen Yuanyuan was stunned. “Why are you apologizing?”
Bai Fan opened his mouth.
‘I’m sorry, the person who knocked you out last time was me, the one who stole your identity was me, and the one who got you fired was me.’
“Nothing.” He looked away. “I just suddenly felt like saying sorry to you.”
Chen Yuanyuan gave him a strange look, clearly not understanding where the apology came from.
Bai Fan quickly changed the subject. “By the way, why were they bothering you like that?”
At this, the smile on Chen Yuanyuan’s face gradually faded.
“This… all started last week.”
She sighed softly. “I was knocked out by a girl on the street. She used my name to sneak into the club where I worked. Later, I heard the Public Security Bureau got involved and the whole club was shut down. In the end, I was implicated and lost my job.”
Bai Fan silently lowered his head, a cold sweat forming on his forehead. He apologized again in his heart.
“After that, to make a living, I had to take a temporary job as a waitress at a KTV. But the guests there were very rude, always getting handsy. I had a conflict with them and quit.”
She gave a bitter smile. “Unfortunately, those guys just now were the same guests. They wanted to drag me back to finish the ‘service’ they didn’t get last time.”
Bai Fan’s gaze gradually turned cold.
‘Looks like those guys deserved that beating. But in the end, Chen Yuanyuan’s situation is still my fault.’
Thinking this, Bai Fan said seriously, “Don’t worry, they won’t bother you again.”
But Chen Yuanyuan didn’t look relieved. Instead, she looked at him with concern.
“Do you know who that guy was? His name is Liao Zirong. He’s the son of the college’s Vice Dean.”
Bai Fan was startled for a moment, then waved his hand.
“So what if he’s the Vice Dean’s son? Even the Dean has to follow the rules. They threw the first punch.”
Even as he said this, Bai Fan thought to himself: ‘Besides, if this blows up, the ones who’ll be embarrassed are them—the Vice Dean’s son harassing girls at a KTV. No way that idiot would dare bring it into the open.’
—
Bai Fan’s thoughts were optimistic, but reality was harsh.
He had assumed that the dreadlock guy, after being beaten after trying to corner him with a few underlings last night, would keep it to himself. Who would brag about such a loss?
But the very next evening, the guy showed up at the door of the Social Work Class.
Standing outside the classroom, the dreadlock guy shouted, “That kid from last night! Get out here!”
His voice echoed down the entire hallway. Quite a few students poked their heads out, whispering and watching.
Bai Fan’s heart skipped a beat.
‘He’s here for me.’
He had been wondering if this guy was brain-damaged. Now it seemed that suspicion was confirmed.
He walked straight out of the classroom. “Looking for me? What’s up?”
“Fuck you! I’m here to settle the score!”
Bai Fan glanced behind him.
No underlings. Just him alone.
He casually flexed his fingers. “Want to fight? Let’s go to the field.”
The dreadlock guy’s face twitched. That punch from last night seemed to land on his stomach again, a dull ache returning.
“Who’s fighting you? You think everyone’s like you Social Work trash, always looking for a fight?”
Bai Fan: “?”
‘Who started the fight last night?’
The dreadlock guy suddenly turned and yelled to a man in a suit behind him, “Director Zhang, you saw that, right? This Social Work student! He beat me up last night! Not only that, he threatened to beat me every time he saw me! Look at his attitude today!”
Bai Fan almost laughed.
‘What is this? The thief crying ‘Stop thief’?’
“You threw the first punch last night.”
“Stop lying through your teeth.”
“Oh really?” The dreadlock guy sneered. “Got any proof? I wouldn’t even bother with you Social Work people on a normal day. Why would I start a fight with you?”
The veins on Bai Fan’s forehead pulsed slightly.
If it weren’t for all the eyes on them, he’d really want to give this guy another couple of punches.
Just then, the Dean of Students spoke up. “Young man, come with me to the Dean’s Office. This needs to be handled seriously. It could affect whether you can stay in this school.”
Bai Fan frowned. “He accuses me of hitting him, but he has no complete evidence. Why do you believe him?”
The Dean of Students said sternly, “First, he has a medical report showing minor injuries, while you have no injuries. Second, the surveillance footage shows you knocking him down.”
He snorted. “Furthermore, in every campus brawl we’ve had in the past, it’s always your Social Work Class that started it.”
Instantly, murmurs spread among the onlookers.
“What does that mean?”
“Isn’t that discrimination?”
“Can a school leader say something like that?”
Bai Fan’s face darkened.
‘This Dean of Students is clearly biased.’
“First, his injuries don’t mean he didn’t fight back—he just lost. Second, the surveillance footage must have been cut; I need to see the full video. Third—”
Bai Fan looked up. “Don’t just pin a label on an entire group.”
The Dean of Students remained expressionless. “Are you done? If you have no other evidence, come with me to the Dean’s Office now.”
He strode toward Bai Fan and reached out to grab him.
“Stop!”
A voice suddenly rang out.
“I can prove he’s innocent!”
A slender figure rushed over and stood in front of Bai Fan.
Bai Fan was startled.
It was Chen Yuanyuan, the girl he had saved last night.
She stood there, her body still tense, but her gaze was firm as she faced the Dean of Students.
“I was there last night. The surveillance must have caught me too. Why won’t you hear my testimony?”
The Dean of Students stiffened and instinctively glanced at the dreadlock guy, his eyes saying, ‘You didn’t tell me there was a witness.’
Chen Yuanyuan took a deep breath. Her voice was soft but unwavering. “I can testify that last night, Liao Zirong and his friends were harassing me, and Bai Fan only stepped in because he couldn’t stand by.”
She raised her hand and pointed directly at the dreadlock guy.
His face turned red. “You bitch! What are you talking about?”
Chen Yuanyuan didn’t back down. “If there’s surveillance, then let’s see the full video. Let’s see if you were harassing me last night or not.”
The dreadlock guy froze.
He never expected that the girl they had surrounded last night—too scared to even lift her head, so timid—would dare to stand up and accuse him today.
“You mother—” He reached out to grab Chen Yuanyuan.
But before his hand could reach her, Bai Fan caught it.
Crack.
His five fingers clamped down on the guy’s wrist like iron pincers.
The dreadlock guy’s expression changed drastically.
Bai Fan said nothing, just stared at him silently, but the pressure spread invisibly.
“What? Frustrated? What do you think you’re doing?”
The dreadlock guy struggled fiercely, but his wrist felt as if it were welded to a steel bar—completely immobile.
“Let go! With everyone watching, what are you doing?”
“I’m not doing anything,” Bai Fan said calmly. “Just trying to get to the bottom of this and see who’s really the one crying ‘Stop thief’.”
Panicked, the dreadlock guy shouted at the Dean of Students, “What are you waiting for? Help me!”
The Dean of Students stood frozen.
A pretty girl had come forward to testify, and the dreadlock guy was clearly furious and flustered.
Who was telling the truth was almost obvious.
While he hesitated, the dreadlock guy yelled again, “If you don’t, I’ll tell my dad!”
At this, the Dean of Students’s eyes cleared instantly.
“Let him go! Come to the Dean’s Office right now!”
He charged at Bai Fan to pull him away.
Bai Fan’s gaze hardened.
‘Should I fight? If I clash with the Dean of Students in public, even if I’m in the right, I’ll be in the wrong.’
Just then, another hand reached out and firmly grasped the Dean of Students’s wrist.
“Who gave you permission to touch a student from my class?”
The Dean of Students froze, then slowly looked up, his eyes widening.
“You… you’re the new teacher of the Social Work Class?”
Lin Xincheng glared at him coldly. “Anything involving the Social Work Class goes through me first.”
The Dean of Students stammered.
A student who had been watching from the sidelines stepped forward and briefly explained what had just happened.
After listening, Lin Xincheng simply said, “It’s simple. Go to the surveillance room and pull the full video. The truth will speak for itself.”
Bai Fan looked at his back, a hint of surprise showing on his face.
‘He came just in time. In this situation, no one is more suited to step in than the class advisor.’
The dreadlock guy looked grim, and the Dean of Students was sweating.
Just then, a loud voice rang out from beyond the crowd.
“What’s all this commotion? Causing trouble?”
The crowd parted, and a middle-aged man strode in.
“Everyone, move aside.”
The dreadlock guy’s eyes lit up, as if he had finally found his backing.
“Dad!”