Chapter Sixteen
Zhou Qinian's affair could not be concealed. The news media publicized it extensively, finally triggering the first man-made disaster after this natural calamity.
The next day at school, Zhou Mo was surrounded as soon as she sat down. The group of girls who had caused her trouble before were the ones leading the group. They looked down at Zhou Mo with their arms crossed and malicious intent. "Zhou Mo, your father is a scoundrel. He used the guise of helping students to make money."
One of the girls reached out and tugged at Zhou Mo's clothes, saying, "These clothes must have cost a lot of money. Your shameless father got them from the students' parents. How can you still have the nerve to wear them? Take them off and apologize to the students!"
Zhou Mo stumbled as she was pulled, managing to avoid falling by bracing herself against the desk with both hands.
Qi Xiao saw this scene as soon as she entered the classroom. She immediately picked up her schoolbag and threw it at the girl who was attacking Zhou Mo. The girl staggered from the impact of the schoolbag, and Qi Xiao took the opportunity to quickly walk to Zhou Mo's side and protect her behind her.
What are you doing?!
"What are we doing? We're just seeking justice for those poor students and their parents! Didn't you see them when you came? That group of parents holding banners outside the school, they're so pitiful, their children were almost ruined by that heartless teacher!"
Qi Xiao sneered: "I've never seen you treat poor students well before, but now you're here pretending to speak up for them. You know perfectly well whether you're genuinely standing up for the underdog or just using your position for personal gain!"
"The matter isn't settled yet. How is your treatment of Zhou Mo any different from what you call a beast in human form?! If you continue to treat her like this, I can call the police!"
Qi Xiao became more and more agitated as she spoke, and both of them seemed ready to fight. Zhou Mo reached out and grabbed Qi Xiao's wrist, pulling her behind her. Qi Xiao looked at Zhou Mo with concern.
Zhou Mo knew about this matter earlier than anyone else. Zhang Xing's phone call last night and Yu Xi's funny face were both about this.
Even though she had prepared herself mentally, Zhou Mo was still very upset to be insulted like that by someone pointing fingers at her and cursing her deceased father.
But now she is the head of the household, and the head of the household must have a mature demeanor.
She suppressed the urge to swing a chair at the girl and looked directly into her eyes. The girl was clearly still wary of the previous lamp incident. Seeing Zhou Mo looking at her like that, she subconsciously took a step back and swallowed before speaking, "Why are you looking at me like that? What I said was all written in the news!"
"Is everything written in the news necessarily true? Even the reference answers are sometimes printed incorrectly. My father wasn't that kind of person. When the truth comes out, will you change your attitude and go to my father's grave to kowtow and apologize?"
The girl stammered, "Why should I kowtow and apologize to your father?!"
"Then you have no right to speak for the others in this incident. If you can't treat everyone fairly, then shut your mouth. This is my only advice to you. If there's a next time..." Zhou Mo lowered her voice and leaned close to the girl's ear. To prevent the girl from backing away, she pressed down on the girl's shoulder. "I'll report your father for bribery and corruption. No news is too big or too small. They'll like it, won't they? After all, everything is in ruins, and they love digging for treasure in the ruins."
Zhou Mo patted the girl's shoulder, ignoring the surprised looks from the others, and sat back down in her chair. She took Qi Xiao's hand, whose palm was even colder than her own, and gently rubbed it. "I brought you some hot milk, go warm up."
"Momo, I'm fine. Let's have lunch together."
Qi Xiao nodded. "Okay."
Perhaps Zhou Mo's 'threatening' remarks had an effect, because no one bothered her anymore. Whether the matter was true or false was not important. As long as the point of the rumor could touch people's hearts, they would care more about venting their emotions than about the truth.
Zhou Mo gave a self-deprecating laugh to herself. She pulled the knife out of herself and stabbed someone else instead. There was no sense of relief, only endless emptiness.
Near the end of the afternoon, the homeroom teacher approached Zhou Mo. The new homeroom teacher was one of the volunteer teachers during the earthquake. After learning about Zhou Mo's family situation, she took good care of her and dealt with some of the rumors circulating in the class.
Zhou Mo knew that she had also spoken to those girls, but there was really only so much a teacher could do.
But Zhou Mo remembers this kindness; it comes from a good teacher, just like her father.
Besides her and the homeroom teacher, there was a strange couple and a boy with a defiant look on his face in the office.
“Zhou Mo, this is…”
Before the homeroom teacher could finish speaking, the woman from the couple stepped forward and slapped Zhou Mo across the face. The speed was so fast that no one present could react in time. After Zhou Mo reacted, she immediately slapped him back.
The woman stared at Zhou Mo in shock, seemingly about to raise her hand to strike again. Zhou Mo quickly took a step back, moving away from the attack zone. Seeing this, the homeroom teacher immediately stepped in front of Zhou Mo, saying, "Parent, this is a school. How can you hit a student?! If you continue like this, I have the right to end this meeting!"
The woman tried to rush forward again, but this time the man held her back. The woman struggled with the man for a long time, saying, "How old is she? How dare she hit me?! What kind of family can raise a girl like this? Zhou Qinian must be a bad person. He almost ruined my son's career, and now his grades have plummeted, while his daughter is in the best school and the best class. Why?!"
The homeroom teacher disliked this kind of shrewish behavior from women, but due to the need for negotiation, she only frowned slightly and patiently said, "Zhou Mo's academic performance has always been excellent. She deserves to be in a top class at a top school."
“Her father, Zhou Qinian, almost killed my son! And that scoundrel even threatened students to pay him money! We are all hardworking people, earning our money through hard work, and our children will need it for college entrance exams! How are we going to live?”
Zhou Mo finally understood: this group of people had come to ask for money.
Her cheeks were still burning, but the adrenaline masked the pain. Zhou Mo felt like her whole body was on fire. "First, your son isn't dead. Second, you said my father threatened you, where's the evidence? Third, your son is a liar, a bad person, and a bad brain. He even went to university. You should consider having him reborn. Oh, no, like father, like son. You two need to go back to school too."
The homeroom teacher tugged at Zhou Mo's sleeve, glared at her, and shielded her tightly just as the woman was about to lash out again.
"I told you, if you lay a hand on me again, I'm ending this meeting!"
The woman was furious, "What did she just say?! You teachers, instead of being considerate, you're protecting students like this! Did you take money from her parents?! You wouldn't be having an affair with her father, would you?!"
The homeroom teacher had never seen such an unreasonable person before. She immediately threw accusations at her, saying, "Madam, spreading rumors is a legal offense. I'm recording you on my phone now. Say what you just said again."
The homeroom teacher held up his phone. The woman glared at him hatefully and muttered curses under her breath, but didn't repeat what she had just said.
Zhou Mo's gaze shifted from the woman who had been baring her teeth and then given up to the expression of the boy behind her. Since she came in, the boy had only glanced at her once, and that glance was not as bitter and resentful as his mother's; it was more like the look he gave a stranger.
If her father had really done something to him, most people wouldn't be so calm.
Zhang Xing said that the turning point in the matter started with one person's testimony, and that person is most likely this boy.
Changing one's story suggests there's something they want to hide.
"You're the one who said my father embezzled and accepted bribes, threatened students, and even tried to trap you in the school building during the earthquake?"
Seeing that Zhou Mo's conversation had turned to her son, the woman immediately hugged the boy tightly like a mother hen protecting her chicks. "What do you want to do?! Are you going to harm my son again like your heartless father? He's in a daze right now, don't you feel even a little bit guilty?"
Feeling disoriented?
Zhou Mo didn't see any of it, but she did see the indifference and aloofness.
"As the daughter of the person involved, I have the right to know the whole story."
"The whole story is that your father wanted to kill my son."
Zhou Mo: "I don't agree with this. The person who died was my father, not him. He is the one who is alive, so he can say whatever he wants. I would also say that he deliberately blocked the road, causing my father to be trapped and die in the teaching building. Isn't that a more common sense outcome?"
“Zhou Qinian couldn’t escape because of his leg injury; he brought it on himself!” The man, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke.
“My father was a soldier. Even with a leg injury, wouldn’t it be easy for him to control a student? If he really wanted to kill someone, what chance would your son have of surviving?”
"That's because my son is incredibly lucky!"
The woman hugged the man even tighter, as if she were holding some precious treasure.
Zhou Mo was deeply hurt by this scene. If her parents were still alive, she wouldn't be the one standing here arguing for justice. She would be sheltered by her parents and wouldn't have to endure any pressure or hardship.
She closed her eyes to calm herself.
“You need to speak with evidence and logic. A simple ‘good fortune’ can’t cover up the twisted logic behind things.” Zhou Mo looked at the boy. “You’d better be able to come up with a lie that makes the logic work. I bet you’re already sixteen.”
The boy, who had seemed indifferent since entering, suddenly pursed his lips and showed a hint of annoyance on his face because of those words. Although it was subtle, Zhou Mo still noticed it.
She suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
The breakthrough has been found.
The homeroom teacher looked at her student, Zhou Mo. Although she was tall, she was still slender. She stood there tall and thin, which was pleasing to the eye. But what really shocked her was Zhou Mo’s tenacity. She was like a pine tree on a cliff, unmoved by the winds from all directions.
After the initial shock came an even deeper heartache.
Her students are "forced to mature" by life, and it is precisely because she has experienced life that she understands how painful and arduous this process is.
Zhou Mo felt a warm hand on her shoulder and looked up to meet her homeroom teacher's approving gaze.
"You're really amazing, Zhou Mo," a soft voice of affirmation came from beside me.
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