Chapter 114 Faced with He Zhao's words, Cui Zhe remained silent. He had been the same way before at the police station…
Faced with He Zhao's words, Cui Zhe remained silent, just as he had done at the police station. His teacher stood up for him, apologizing to Zhang Shuyao and her daughter while trying to deflect blame, repeatedly assuring him that he would never do such a thing and that there must be some misunderstanding.
His teacher was a good person and a dedicated homeroom teacher, but unfortunately, he was a little blind. However, his teacher wasn't around right now, so Cui Zhe's current state was completely useless.
He Zhao even snorted coldly: "Your silence means you agree, huh? You're such a bad kid. That father selflessly donated money to send you to school, and you turn around and bully his daughter. If your teachers, your classmates, and your grandmother found out, wouldn't they be very disappointed in you and stop liking you?"
He Zhao shifted her posture. She had been leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed, but now she leaned forward a little, resting her elbows on the table and interlacing her fingers so that her chin could rest on it. A meaningful smile appeared on her lips.
This posture was aggressive and intimidating, inadvertently compressing the space between the two, which made Cui Zhe subconsciously feel uncomfortable. Moreover, Wang Yu and Qiao Yanyu sat on either side of He Zhao, like her guards, which also contributed to Cui Zhe's discomfort.
In this situation, Choi Cheol would instinctively want to run away.
He jumped to his feet, the chair sliding loudly on the floor. Standing up broke the tense atmosphere, making him feel slightly better: "I really don't know what you're talking about! If that's all you're saying, I don't want to talk to you anymore!" He threw down this sentence and tried to run away.
Cui Zhe also made a move to run away. He turned and walked towards the door, grabbing the doorknob, but he couldn't push it down. The doorknob, which should have been easily pushed down, remained motionless despite Cui Zhe's efforts.
Cui Zhe grew anxious and his movements became more hurried. He repeatedly pressed the doorknob, even pulling it backward, but no matter what he did, he couldn't open the door. At this moment, Cui Zhe realized that the three people behind him must have tampered with the door.
He turned his head, his voice rising: "What you're doing is illegal! I'm a minor, you can't treat me like this!"
His voice was quite loud, seemingly trying to attract attention, but He Zhao picked at his ear and looked at Qiao Yanyu. Qiao Yanyu nodded, indicating that she had already prevented the sound from carrying outside the room. Meanwhile, Wang Yu on the other side was also excited: "I can execute memory operations! Boss, you go ahead! Whatever it is, I can handle the after-sales service!"
The way Wang Yu said it made it sound like they were some kind of criminal organization.
He Zhao glanced at Wang Yu: "Why are you saying that? Don't scare the kids later."
"?" Wang Yu was confused: "No, aren't we going to beat him up?"
He Zhao glanced at Wang Yu again, his expression clearly saying: Are you sick?
She wouldn't actually do something like hitting a minor, even though Cui Zhe in front of her was definitely asking for it. But this matter definitely had more to do with Cui Zhe. Cui Zhe's family background was simple and straightforward, and the tall guy had always been anonymous when he provided financial assistance, so Cui Zhe probably wouldn't be able to find out who the real benefactor was.
In other words, someone else with ulterior motives told Cui Zhe about this, which led to Cui Zhe bullying Zhang Shuyao at school.
But their conversation, completely oblivious to everyone else, including things like "manipulating memories" and "beating him up," terrified Cui Zhe. After all, he was just a middle school student and had never experienced anything like this before.
Cui Zhe was truly desperate, and he shouted at the outside, "Help me! There are bad people here! Is anyone there?! Help me!"
Strangely, despite the service center being bustling with people and staff still on duty, not a single person heard Cui Zhe's cries for help or came to his rescue. He even looked at the mechanical watch he had picked up from the trash heap, checked the time—it was only a little past four o'clock, they weren't off work yet! Why wasn't anyone coming to save him?
"Stop shouting, the people outside can't hear you. You can see we're not ordinary people. Answer our questions honestly, and we'll let you go."
He Zhao really felt like a bad guy when he said those words.
Cui Zhe was at a loss. After trying his best to remain calm, he sat back down in his seat. However, judging from his body language, he was even more cautious than before, shrinking back in his chair. He Zhao didn't beat around the bush, and didn't even ask why he had bullied Zhang Shuyao—after all, everyone knew exactly why.
She spoke first, asking, "Do you know that Zhang Shuyao's father stopped donating to you because he has passed away?"
"Huh?" Cui Zhe's expression was completely blank. He didn't seem to be faking it, and He Zhao and Qiao Yanyu both understood that he had no idea what had happened to the tall man. After his initial blankness, Cui Zhe's expression quickly turned to fear, and a moment later, it transformed into guilt and regret.
"I...I don't know...I really don't know..."
From this point on, everything Cui Zhe said before became untenable. In fact, he harbored resentment because the tall guy stopped donating money to him, and then, after learning that Zhang Shuyao was the tall guy's daughter, he chose to bully her. He even gathered a few others to engage in school bullying.
"It's truly pathetic." He Zhao looked at him and suddenly said, "He scrimped and saved to support you all while he was alive, even his wife and daughter had to cut back on their own meals. And now, after he died from overwork because of you people, his daughter is being bullied by you. If he had known this would happen, would he still have donated to you?"
He Zhao didn't know the answer either. If it were her, she would definitely be filled with remorse. She wasn't such a selfless person to begin with. She would rather feed that money to the dogs than give it to them. Moreover, if she had a wife and daughters, she wouldn't give a single penny to anyone other than them.
She couldn't understand the tall man, and even if she admired him, she could never emulate him. Besides, years of donations had led to this result; the tall man would probably be furious if he heard about it.
As He Zhao spoke, Cui Zhe's composure crumbled, and he suddenly burst into tears: "No, I really didn't know! I thought he didn't want to donate to me anymore! He had never mentioned it before, and then he suddenly stopped. Because of this, my grandma has been spending more time collecting garbage every day! That's why I hate him and dislike his daughter!"
“I really don’t know! I just felt he shouldn’t have done that! Later they told me his daughter was in the class next to mine, and I saw her so happy every day, I really… I don’t know! I didn’t know he was dead!”
As he spoke, he started crying, looking as if he was extremely regretful. Unfortunately, his act had no effect whatsoever on He Zhao and Qiao Yanyu. He Zhao even seized on the key phrase, "They told me."
He Zhao's eyes flickered, and he asked, "Who are they?"
Cui Zhe cried for a while, and He Zhao finally calmed down. After he had calmed down a bit, He Zhao continued to ask, "Tell me, who are they?"
Cui Zhe choked up, pursed his lips. In the hearts of children this age, loyalty and the principle of not betraying their companions are extremely important. However, He Zhao really didn't consider him a companion.
"You still won't tell? Then I'll post everything you did, and everything about Zhang Shuyao's dad, on your school's bulletin board, and I'll also post it all on your school's confession wall!" Actually, He Zhao didn't know if there was a confession wall in junior high school, because in her mind, such things only existed in college.
However, students these days know a lot, so maybe even junior high schools will have confession walls.
For students, having their confession posted on the confession wall is tantamount to social humiliation, which is probably the most unacceptable thing for them. Moreover, Cui Zhe genuinely didn't want his image to be ruined among his classmates.
High school students are also very pragmatic; a hierarchy of discrimination will form no matter where they are. Generally speaking, students' family background, intelligence, and personality will lead them to stick together. If they are boarding students, those in the same dormitory will naturally tend to gather together, although there are also cases of division within the dormitory.
Cui Zhe was the kind of person who was naturally prone to isolation. Because he lived with his grandmother, he had to commute to school and go home every day, which prevented him from joining groups with the boarding students. Given his family background, it was difficult for him to associate with children from wealthier families. Some classmates would accept him out of pity, because of his seemingly good character, hard work, and respect for the elderly.
But if all his seemingly good character is fake and exposed, even the students who previously rallied around him and stood up for him against Zhang Shuyao will gradually drift away from him.
For Cui Zhe, He Zhao's threat hit the nail on the head. After hesitating for a moment, Cui Zhe still revealed the name "them." Although Wang Yu was unreliable, she still had good work skills. The moment Cui Zhe gave his name, she took out her phone and began to record and search.
After Cui Zhe finished announcing his name, Wang Yu finished compiling the list and simply handed it to He Zhao to show her.
Those names were all on the tall guy's sponsor list. Just as Qiao Yanyu had said, because so many people hated and loathed the tall guy, he became a ghost. And just as He Zhao thought, Cui Zhe alone couldn't find out who was behind the anonymous person.
Logically speaking, the tall man's donations should have come from families with limited means, so there's no way to find out.
But what if too many people ask? The organization's leader is facing a group of pitiful children, and the donors have really suddenly lost contact. In this situation, what if someone takes pity and actually tells these children?
Even though the rules and regulations do not allow the disclosure of anonymous users' real information, there will always be loopholes if there is any human intervention.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com