Chapter 14
At 6:30 in the morning, Wu Ye stood at the door, tying his shoelaces, his fingers trembling slightly. Li Ruiyuan poked his head out of the kitchen and handed him a carton of milk.
"Go to class as normal." He said calmly, "Just pretend nothing happened."
Wu Ye took the milk, his fingertips cold: "If they..."
"There are no ifs." Li Ruiyuan interrupted him, his eyes sharp as a knife, "Walk in with your head held high. There's nothing to be afraid of."
The school gate was bustling with people. Li Ruiyuan watched Wu Ye's back disappear into the teaching building, then turned and walked towards the convenience store on the corner.
Lin Lixin was already waiting at the door, cigarette between her fingers: "Are you really going to do this?"
"What else?" Li Ruiyuan took out two cans of Red Bull from the freezer. "I'll treat you."
During the third class break in the morning, the announcement suddenly rang out: "Class 1 students Chen Hao, Lin Wei, Zhang Rui, and Zhao Yu, please go to the Academic Affairs Office meeting room immediately."
The air conditioning in the conference room was cranked up high. The four students were still laughing when they entered until they saw Li Ruiyuan and Lin Lixin sitting at the end of the conference table.
"Brother Yuan?" Chen Hao was the first to react, "Why..."
Li Ruiyuan said nothing, but slowly pulled out his chair and stood up. He was wearing a black vest today, and the scars on his arms were completely exposed. Lin Lixin leaned aside, twirling the car keys with her fingertips.
"To make a long story short," Li Ruiyuan said, his voice as cold as ice. "If anyone touches Wu Ye again..."
He suddenly slammed his fist on the conference table, and the loud noise made the four students tremble at the same time.
"Whoever this hand will touch will be hit back." Li Ruiyuan leaned forward, his eyes sweeping across everyone's face, his voice cold, "Do you understand?"
Lin Wei's face turned pale: "Brother Yuan, is there any misunderstanding..."
"Misunderstanding?" Lin Lixin suddenly found it funny. The rooftop surveillance screenshot appeared on her phone. "Do you want me to enlarge it?"
In the dead silence, Li Ruiyuan walked up to Chen Hao. He was half a head taller than the high school student, and his shadow completely enveloped him.
"I heard your dad works in the Education Bureau?" he asked softly. Chen Hao nodded stiffly.
Li Ruiyuan suddenly smiled, revealing his white teeth. "What a coincidence! I just happen to know a few friends at the newspaper." He patted Chen Hao's face. "Want to see who's faster?"
The bell suddenly rang, and the corridor was filled with noisy voices. But in the conference room, time seemed to stand still.
"Now," Li Ruiyuan stood up, "go wait at the door of Class 1."
The four students stood there in a daze.
"Wait until Wu Ye finishes class." He said word by word, "Apologize."
The hallway of the teaching building was packed with students. When Wu Ye walked out of the classroom, he saw this scene: Chen Hao and the other three stood neatly by the wall, bowing 90 degrees.
"Yes, I'm sorry, please forgive us..."
The entire corridor fell silent. All the students stared at this bizarre scene in amazement.
Wu Ye froze in his tracks, his gaze piercing the crowd as he spotted the figure leaning against the wall at the entrance to the stairs. Li Ruiyuan nodded gently.
At this moment, the Dean of the Academic Affairs Office came running over breathlessly: "What are you doing! What are you doing!"
Li Ruiyuan walked over slowly: "The little misunderstanding between classmates has been resolved."
The director's face turned pale: "Dear parents! This is a school! Not a place for you to mess around!"
"Nonsense?" Li Ruiyuan suddenly raised his voice. "I'm fucking mad at you, where's your mother? Four students bullying their classmates for a long time is called nonsense? Or is it nonsense when the school protects and condones them?"
The students in the entire corridor gasped.
"You...you are slandering me!" The director was shaking with anger.
"I have evidence here." Lin Lixin smiled and waved her phone. "Surveillance footage, medical report, witness testimony..."
The director's face turned pale. Li Ruiyuan took a step closer and lowered his voice:
"Director Wang, for the two hundred thousand yuan we collected last year...how many years of sentence would that entail?"
This sentence was like a heavy blow. The director took a half step back, his lips trembling and unable to speak.
Li Ruiyuan turned to face all the students, and his voice echoed through the corridor: "From now on, anyone who bullies Wu Ye will be bullying me." He scanned every face and said, "If you have any objections, stand up now."
The corridor was dead silent, with only the chirping of cicadas outside the window ripping through the tense atmosphere.
Suddenly, Wu Ye gently pulled the corner of his clothes: "Brother Yuan...that's enough."
Li Ruiyuan looked down at him. There was no fear in the boy's eyes, only a complex emotion. He took a deep breath and glared at the four students.
"roll."
After the crowd dispersed, the corridor was eerily empty. Li Ruiyuan looked at Wu Ye and said, "Go back to the classroom first."
"Where are you going?"
"Do something."
In the principal's office, Principal Wang was making tea. Seeing Li Ruiyuan come in, he smiled and said, "Xiao Li, we just got some new Longjing tea..."
Li Ruiyuan kicked over the coffee table. The purple clay teapot exploded, and hot water and tea leaves splashed all over the floor.
"Fuck you, you idiot, and drink, drink, drink."
"Three hundred thousand." He grabbed the principal by the collar, his eyes fierce. "Just to buy a package to cover up bullying?"
The principal turned pale with fear: "Calm down! Calm down! I will deal with this matter seriously!"
"Deal with it?" Li Ruiyuan pressed him against the wall. "Then you must immediately convene a meeting for the entire school to rectify the teachers' ethics."
“This…this requires a process…”
"What's the procedure?" Li Ruiyuan took out his phone. "Do you want me to go through the reporting process first?"
…………
Half an hour later, the announcement sounded again: "All teachers, please go to the auditorium for a meeting immediately."
Li Ruiyuan stood backstage in the auditorium, watching the teachers whispering to each other through the gap in the curtain. Wu Ye was standing beside him without him noticing.
"Let's go back," Li Ruiyuan said. "There's nothing to see." Wu Ye shook his head and gently held his wrist. There was a fresh scratch there, left by smashing the coffee table.
As the lights flickered in the auditorium, the principal's trembling, hoarse voice carried through the microphone to every corner: "Starting today... we will launch a special campaign to combat bullying on campus..."
The echo reverberated in the empty auditorium like a belated judgment.
When school was over, all the students were whispering. Wu Ye walked out of the school gate and saw Li Ruiyuan waiting for him by the motorcycle. The setting sun stretched his figure very long, like an ancestor being worshipped.
"Is it solved?" Wu Ye asked softly.
"Yes." Li Ruiyuan handed him the helmet, "Get in the car."
As the motorcycle crossed the Pearl River, the evening breeze blew in his face. Wu Ye suddenly said, "There's no need to make such a big fuss..."
"Shut up." Li Ruiyuan didn't even turn his head. "You are so awesome, you like being bullied so much? I am helping you vent your anger, and you think I am going too far."
Neon lights lit up one after another, and Guangzhou's night was as dazzling as ever. But some things had changed from the root.
In the next room, Li Ruiyuan was deleting all the contact information of the "good students" on his phone. The last message was from Chen Hao: "Brother Yuan, I know I was wrong. Can you..."
He blocked it without finishing reading it.
Moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the tea stain on the floor.
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