Chapter 13. Something Happened. Xia Chan…something happened.

News of today's impromptu test for Class 1 had been circulating since this morning.

In the morning, a boy from Class 1, after being scolded by the principal, returned home and, as if discovering a secret, gathered his classmates together. "Hey, let me tell you! I saw a stack of science exam papers on Lao Niu's desk, newly printed! I reckon we might have a science exam in chemistry class this afternoon!"

The news spread quickly, and many students began cramming at the last minute, frantically reviewing their science study materials.

The subsequent Chinese and English classes turned into a secret extravaganza for combined science subjects.

Xia Chan had already heard the news when class ended, but she didn't pay much attention to it. However, after returning to "Du" for lunch at noon, she couldn't help but tease Shen Zhou Du Youyou.

"Hey, good student, do well on the exam! If your grades, which are top-notch like a national treasure, drop, I'll really be the culprit in Lao Liu and Lao Niu's eyes, and you'll have to 'verify' my identity!"

Chen Zhoudu couldn't help but chuckle and said to her, "You too, keep it up."

In the afternoon chemistry class, Vice Principal Liu, who was teaching the class, indeed put a stack of test papers on the podium and announced that there would be a surprise inspection of the science subjects today.

The students below made symbolic groans, exchanging glances and barely managing to suppress their true feelings.

Then, some people moved tables, others turned off their phones, and all the seats were moved to single seats. People lined up and handed in their phones one by one.

Xia Chan also put her phone on silent and went through all the messages before handing it in.

After confirming that everything was alright, I simply tossed it into the box.

After Chen Zhoudu turned off his phone and put it in the storage box, no one noticed that Xia Chan's phone screen lit up when she turned around; it was a call from Huang Mao.

Fat Tiger actually handed in his phone, but no one knew he had another spare phone, which contained the formulas he hadn't had time to memorize that day.

The classroom was quiet during the exam; the only sounds were the swishing of pens on paper and the chirping of cicadas in the trees outside the window.

Fat Tiger was secretly checking formulas downstairs, sweating profusely with nervousness, and kept glancing at Vice Principal Liu who was pacing back and forth.

For a moment, he seemed to freeze as if he had suddenly seen something.

Then, in surprise, he looked up at Xia Chan to his left.

He seemed to want to call her, but calling her in this setting would be too obvious.

Looking at the clock on the blackboard again, there was still more than an hour to go, which was too long... He was at a loss, hesitant, and sweating profusely.

Vice Principal Liu noticed his strange expression in a casual glance and immediately scolded, "Chao Tianhu! What are you doing! Do your own test paper!"

Some classmates glanced at him, and Xia Chan casually turned around and glanced at him.

Amidst this subtle movement, Fatty Tiger suddenly made a decision. He gripped his phone tightly, trembling as he stood up and called to Xia Chan:

"Xia Chan...something has happened."

All the students looked over in surprise for a moment. Even Chen Zhoudu, who was usually undisturbed, paused and looked up.

He immediately handed her his phone, and Xia Chan glanced at it and her expression suddenly changed.

She suddenly stood up and ran out of the classroom!

The whole class suddenly erupted in a clamor! Chen Zhoudu also stood up instantly.

"Xia Chan!" Vice Principal Liu exclaimed in surprise, not knowing what she was going to do.

Shen Zhoudu had already walked up to Pang Hu and asked, "What's wrong?"

Fat Tiger showed him his phone as well. After reading it, Shen Zhoudu's expression changed slightly, and then he turned around and ran out immediately.

The classroom immediately erupted in an uproar again. Everyone forgot about the exam and started asking Fat Tiger what had happened.

"A sunken boat crossing—?!"

Vice Principal Liu chased after him to the classroom door and called out into the corridor several times. Seeing that he couldn't get him to come back, he returned and vented all his anger on Fatty Tiger, scolding him, "Chao Tianhu! What exactly is going on with you?! I told you to hand in your phones, what are those! Give them to me and explain yourself!"

Fat Tiger hesitated, clutching his phone, sweating profusely. Since things had already come to this... he figured staying here wouldn't end well. He licked his lips, steeled himself, and ran out after them!

"Chao Tianhu—!!!"

The entire classroom erupted into chaos. Lala stared dumbfounded at his retreating figure, and while the class was in complete disarray, she secretly slipped out the back door.

"Xia Chan!"

At the school gate, Chen Zhoudu hurriedly caught up with Xia Chan and stopped beside her, panting heavily.

Xia Chan had already informed the gatekeeper and was hailing a taxi at the school gate when she turned her head and saw him, so she couldn't help but frown and say, "What are you doing here? Go back to take your exam!"

"Do you think I can still pass the exam if I go back now?" Chen Zhoudu looked at her intently.

Xia Chan pursed her lips and remained silent. She could easily guess how chaotic the classroom must be right now, and she tacitly agreed to let him follow.

It wasn't until a taxi stopped beside them and they were about to get in that Xia Chan suddenly remembered that their phones were still in the classroom and that neither of them had any cash on them.

The taxi driver honked his horn, urging them to hurry up and leave. Luckily, Fatty Tiger and Spicy Tiger arrived late, holding up their phones to tell them to get in the car quickly.

The county hospital directly under Qingshui Town is not particularly far, but it still takes almost forty minutes to drive there.

The four hurriedly paid and got out of the car. Xia Chan, familiar with the area, headed straight for the emergency room.

There was a large crowd gathered outside the emergency room.

Huang Mao, Grandma, Uncle Chao, Aunt Chao, several students wearing Qingshui Junior High School uniforms, two policemen, and a group of strangers... were arguing about something.

Aunt Chao stood with her hands on her hips, displaying an air of indomitable spirit. "You're just bullying us young girls because we're orphans! Let me tell you, we're all family to us. If you want to bully us, you'd better see if we're easy to mess with! This isn't over!"

"Who bullied her! Who bullied her!" A middle-aged man, dressed smartly, retorted to her, "It's just kids playing around, who knew she was sick! If she's sick, it's your responsibility as parents to send her to a normal school! Besides, look how you beat our child... I'm going to settle accounts with you! And you're trying to extort money from me first?"

"You're the one who's sick! Your whole family is sick! What do you mean by 'playing around'? It's clearly school bullying! And they beat you up like that? You're lucky they didn't kill you! You have such thick skin, like a thousand layers of shoe soles!"

“You &￥%#@**…”

A young woman who looked like a teacher pleaded with him, "Siyi's parents, Guan Pengfei's parents, please stop arguing... let's wait for what the doctor says about Siyi..."

Huang Mao and his grandmother did not participate in the verbal fight. Huang Mao was squatting in the corner under the watchful eyes of two policemen, his face still bearing bruises as if he had been in a fight.

Next to him squatted two boys in junior high school uniforms, looking even more miserable, with bruises and tear stains all over their faces. One of the boys was clutching two knocked-out teeth in his hand, and at first glance, blood was seeping from his mouth, which was quite gruesome.

When Huang Mao looked up and saw Xia Chan arrive, his eyes lit up.

He quickly fell into a deep gloom, feeling guilty and burying his head.

Grandma was talking to the police when she saw Xia Chan and suddenly felt like she had a pillar of support. She reached out and called to her, "Chan Chan..."

Xia Chan immediately went over and grabbed her hand, "How is Siyi?"

"They are still trying to save him."

Xia Chan fell silent, looking up at the light above the emergency room door with a somber expression. Chen Zhoudu also pursed his lips and looked up.

Amidst Aunt Chao's back-and-forth arguing, the group quickly understood what was going on.

Siyi never attends PE class or participates in the running during breaks. A few domineering boys and girls in her class disapproved of this and finally stopped Siyi in a corner during PE class this afternoon.

Siyi's application to skip PE class was approved by the teacher, but they didn't believe it and thought she was faking it.

They insisted she do a hundred squats today, otherwise she'd cause trouble at their stall tonight.

Siyi was sometimes seen by her classmates setting up a stall at the Tianhe Night Market, and was even ridiculed for it. Forced into a corner, and worried that they might actually cause trouble at her stall, Siyi reluctantly did squats under the scorching sun, only to faint after just a few.

To Shen Zhoudu's surprise, Si Yi actually had congenital heart disease.

And it has reached a point of imminent urgency.

In my memory, she was gentle and delicate, and seemed to be a little younger than other fifteen-year-old girls of the same age.

She loved to laugh and play, always giving off a warm and energetic vibe. Now that I think about it, Huang Mao did seem to be controlling her to slow down whenever they were chasing each other; he would always grab her and stop her when she got too fast.

After the incident, Siyi's homeroom teacher immediately called an ambulance to take Siyi to the county hospital. Huang Mao also rushed over as soon as he learned what had happened and beat up two of the boys.

He was beating him almost to death, knocking out two of his teeth.

This infuriated the parents of the delinquent girls, who grabbed the blond-haired boy and demanded an explanation. The parents of the boy with the missing tooth even called the police on the spot, threatening to put him in jail.

After hearing the whole story, Xia Chan's face darkened even more, and she coldly swept her gaze over the boys and girls.

The two girls, protected by their parents, were unharmed and stood with their legs askew, playing with their hair.

Seeing Xia Chan looking over, a girl couldn't help but sized her up and down with an unfriendly gaze.

The other girl kept glancing at Chen Zhoudu. Chen Zhoudu, on the other hand, kept her eyes fixed on Xia Chan, but thankfully she only gave them a cold glare and didn't come forward.

The argument at Aunt Chao's side got even louder. The parents insisted that it was just kids playing around, and that since she was sick, who else could she blame but herself? They also claimed that Huang Mao had hit their child and should pay compensation.

Aunt Chao was so disgusted by their shamelessness that she wanted to roll up her sleeves and beat the parents up. "Playing around? Playing around can land you in the emergency room? I'll beat you until you have cerebral palsy and then tell you it was a joke, see if that's funny! Are your kids the only ones who are children? Aren't our kids kids too? The Qing Dynasty is over, even if you're surnamed Aisin Gioro, you're not this noble!"

"Hey, you can't say that! Who told her to be sick! If she's sick, she should stay home and recover, or be sent to a special school. Sending her to a regular school is your own responsibility! You're harming yourself and others! Just because of a joke, she needs to be rushed to the emergency room. Who would dare play with her? She's probably just waiting for some sucker to run into her and try to extort money from her..."

"What nonsense are you spouting! Say it again! You..."

Xia Chan's eyes suddenly turned cold, and her hands clenched into fists at her sides, her hands turning white.

They argued and shouted incessantly, and even the police and nurses came up several times to warn them to stop, but to no avail.

Xia Chan suddenly stepped forward with a cold expression, raised her leg, and kicked a steel trash can next to the parents hard.

"Bang!"

The trash can tipped over with a loud bang, startling everyone who looked at her in astonishment.

The trash that had been dumped from the trash can landed right at the girl's feet, causing her to scream.

Chen Zhoudu's brow twitched, and he quickly and quietly went to her side, afraid that she would act impulsively.

Xia Chan's face was taut, her dark eyes filled with gloom, as if suppressing an uncontainable violence, or as if frozen with ice blades, completely no longer restraining the gloomy arrogance in her bones.

"Shut up, all of you!"

Several parents fell silent when they met her gaze, but one of the men, a burly man, seemed unable to bear it and came forward with an angry face, as if to teach her a lesson.

Xia Chan, without fear, rushed towards him as if to strike first.

A hand then gently gripped her wrist, preventing her from going over.

Xia Chan paused slightly and turned her head, only to see Chen Zhoudu shaking his head very lightly at her.

She tensed her fists for a moment, wanting to push him away, but for some reason she held back. Her fists were clenched so tightly that her lips turned white as a straight line.

Chen Zhoudu silently stepped in front of her and said in a deep voice to the parents:

"Whose responsibility it is will be determined after the police finish their record. We will also hand over all subsequent matters to our lawyers for prosecution. We will be responsible for any compensation that requires our liability, but don't even think about denying the responsibility that you are responsible for. From now on, please shut up!"

He was composed and spoke in a very low voice. The overly upright and aloof young man had an inexplicable aura of coldness. Several parents, for a moment, kept their eyes down and their minds at ease, and upon hearing about the lawsuit, they all cautiously shut up.

At that moment, the lights in the emergency room went out, and a woman who looked like a nurse came out. "What's all the noise about! We could almost hear you arguing in there. Is this a vegetable market?!"

She immediately looked down at the file in her hand, "Where are Zheng Siyi's family members?"

A note from the author:

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Next update time: Tomorrow night at 9 PM, I'll be updating consecutively from now on! [Sprinkling flowers] See you all then!