By the time Xiang Shenglong arrived at the dormitory, there was practically nothing left for him to deal with. Li Rui and the others all kept their heads lowered and admitted their mistakes. They neither argued nor made excuses, openly confessing to having given Chen Mo trouble.
As for Chen Mo, the fact that he had gotten physical was already established.
As a result, someone who loved stirring up trouble posted the incident on the school forum, even describing the brawl in exaggerated detail.
The title read: “School Bully Cowers Like a Dog! Digging Deep to Find Out Who Today’s Real Daddy Is!”
The name Chen Mo had appeared on the school forum quite a few times lately.
Most of the posts had mentioned another person with the surname Yang. From the two of them having been switched at birth to their backgrounds, personalities, and even their everyday outfits, everything had been dragged out for all sorts of speculation and comparisons.
The conclusion was always more or less the same.
Chen Mo was supposedly imitating the other guy because he was genuinely jealous of him.
Now that this post had appeared, the original poster analyzed Chen Mo from every possible angle, drawing on all sorts of rumors and inside information.
The poster boldly declared:
【This guy isn’t just the real deal by blood. In every other way, he’s your daddy, too. According to an anonymous former classmate from the high school he used to attend, he’s a genuine top student. No inspirational backstory needed—he’s simply got a good brain. He skips class all the time (supposedly to take jobs outside), and he used to rule the three streets surrounding their high school. An eyewitness even claimed that he once beat a middle-aged man until he looked like a dead dog and left him in an alley (the police later confirmed that the man was his adoptive father. This detail is unverified).】
【Next, he’s been at our No. 1 High School for almost a month. The Yang family has been promoting him publicly as a “model student.” At first glance, that seemed accurate enough. He kept his head down and focused on studying, paying no attention to anything else. Even when Li Rui’s gang secretly gave him trouble, he didn’t react. He certainly seemed like the type of good student who knew how to keep his head down and endure. But considering the fact that Yang Shule still shares in the family’s wealth and glory, as well as the Yang family’s business troubles some time ago, I think that whole situation deserves a closer look.】
【And now! Here’s the important part!】
【Whether he voluntarily toned himself down because he wanted to compete with a certain fake young master, or whether he was forced by the Yang family’s circumstances to play along with the model-student image, one thing is clear: this guy seems to have finally reached his limit. According to incomplete statistics, since last week, he’s already cracked the school bully’s head, publicly humiliated the fake young master’s classmates at their class reunion, and today, he took on four opponents with just his two fists and became famous overnight. From this, it’s obvious that something extraordinary must have happened last week.】
【Finally, tremble, everyone! The school bully has a new successor. A new week, a new life!】
The replies were all over the place. In a short time, the thread had piled up over a hundred floors, showing just how unreliable the school’s supposedly strict ban on cell phones really was.
【Who exactly is the original poster talking about? If someone really got beaten up that badly, the school would’ve stepped in ages ago. How come I haven’t heard anything?】
【I’m in the boys’ dormitory in Area A, fifth floor. I can confirm this is true. But I have to say, the original poster’s ability to make things up is impressive. I almost believed it.】
【In one sentence: The original poster is nuts!】
【Hahaha, where did the original poster get all this chuunibyou energy? “Tremble, everyone”? What, do you think Li Rui is the Wolf King, and whoever wants to take his place has to defeat him first? To put it bluntly, Li Rui is just a pathetic rich kid. I’ve never understood why he went out of his way to target Chen Mo in the first place.】
【I think Li Rui once tried sucking up to Yang Shule. Damn, I’m about to put on my conspiracy-theory hat.】
【Li Rui and Yang Shule? I can’t imagine those two having anything to do with each other.】
【Does the person above not know? Yang Shule’s popularity is no joke (sarcasm). From the rich kids at school to the poor students from the shantytowns, he treats everyone exactly the same—equally well. So sometimes I think this guy is genuinely fake. And now, looking at things, wow, isn’t he just a fake through and through!】
No one would have imagined that the study committee member of the second-year experimental class would pull out her phone from her desk during break and start furiously posting on the forum.
Qi Lin walked over to her and asked, “What are you looking at?”
“None of your damn business!” Sun Xiaoya was in a foul mood. After a second, she added, “I’m watching a show.”
Qi Lin got an earful and looked at her innocently, but still asked, “Watching a show? Forget it, I was just asking. Are Old Yan and the others still in Old Xiang’s office?”
“Still there.” Sun Xiaoya glanced toward the back at the few empty seats, then looked at Yang Shule, who was sitting in the middle, seemingly distracted by something he’d either seen or heard. Her tone unconsciously carried a hint of gloating. “Someone posted about this on the forum. There’s no way to suppress it now.”
Qi Lin was speechless. “You’re actually happy about this?”
“If someone isn’t happy, then I’m happy.”
Sun Xiaoya lowered her head and looked at her phone again.
By this point, the thread had already climbed to nearly three hundred floors.
The people who posted afterward had shifted their attention back to the incident itself.
【This whole thing happened without anyone hearing a peep. What’s the point of us talking about it here? We don’t even know whether it’s true or not.】
【Of course it’s true. Everyone involved is in the academic affairs building right now.】
【Li Rui’s family has quite a bit of influence, doesn’t it? He’s caused so much trouble before, and nothing much ever happened to him.】
【Influence? That’s hilarious. There’s someone surnamed Xi in the academic affairs office.】
【Uh, don’t tell me he’s also the top student in the grade…】
In summary:
【Li Rui is finished.】
【He’s as good as ashes scattered to the wind.】
【Yeah, agreed. The Xi family may be low-key, but they’re not dead.】
Someone who saw this seemed to find it unbelievable and immediately complained:
【Can some of you stop being so ridiculous? Are we acting in a TV drama or something? Chen Mo was the one who fought, okay? Besides, if Xi Siyen really loved meddling in other people’s business so much that he’d even drag the Xi family into it, could someone like that still be ranked first? Wake up, everyone. Just because we all go to the same school doesn’t mean we’re all the same kind of people. With the Xi family’s background, no matter how low-key they are, they could never become ordinary people.】
【Isn’t the person above exaggerating a little…?】
【Exactly. Hasn’t Yang Shule told plenty of people that he and Xi Siyen became acquainted because of their families? Since they have a good relationship, it wouldn’t be strange for him to help out. And Chen Mo is the Yang family’s biological son, after all.】
The person who had just posted quickly replied:
【Heh. To be honest, that Yang Shule, who has always claimed to be Xi Siyen’s childhood sweetheart, probably hasn’t even caught his attention.】
【Got it. The person above is jealous of the rich.】
【Or do you have a grudge against Chen Mo? Are you jealous that he’s been taken back in by a wealthy family and hoping he’ll get expelled?】
The previous poster immediately lost his cool.
【Stop making things up. I’m not jealous of the rich. My family has a few assets of its own. I just can’t stand people like you who go around preaching world peace while being unable to hide the fact that you’re obsessed with power and status and only care about personal gain. Chen Mo is nothing more than an unwanted son of the Yang family. Anyone with a bit of real background wouldn’t even take him seriously. The Yang family today isn’t even worthy of getting a foot in the door of the Xi family, let alone Chen Mo. What the hell? Me, jealous?】
Those words immediately provoked everyone’s anger.
Not because of Chen Mo, but because the arrogance and superiority dripping from every line of that person’s post were practically slapping everyone in the face. They had attacked people indiscriminately.
With this person showing up, quite a few spectators genuinely began hoping that the incident would quietly blow over.
Preferably, Li Rui would be packed off home, while Chen Mo got off without any trouble.
In fact, half an hour later…
The campus broadcast suddenly came on.
—We have an announcement. At noon today, a serious incident involving fighting and brawling occurred among the second-year students. The impact has been extremely negative. The disciplinary decisions are as follows.
—Chen Mo of Class One, Second Year: Considering that his violation was relatively minor and that he was not the instigator of the incident, he will receive a school-wide public reprimand and must deliver a five-hundred-word oral and written self-criticism at next Monday’s flag-raising ceremony. Li Rui of Class Nine, Second Year: Due to repeated violations of school rules and regulations and the serious nature of his misconduct, he will receive a major demerit and be suspended from classes for one week, during which he must return home with his parents for discipline. Huang Sheng of Class Six, Second Year, Ma Xiong of Class Seven… will each receive a warning and must submit a thousand-word written self-criticism… The school is not a place for you to break the law and violate regulations. We will neither protect nor tolerate any misconduct. We hope all students will take this as a warning and devote themselves to their studies. This concludes the announcement.
The various theories on the forum about how people were fighting to the death based on family background and connections were instantly brought back down to earth.
The announcement might as well have been saying: What on earth are you all imagining? Their parents have been called in!
Not long after the announcement ended, someone noticed that the forum thread had already been deleted.
In the academic affairs office.
Xiang Shenglong asked the student standing in front of him, “Do you have any objections to this outcome?”
Chen Mo nodded. “It’s pretty good. Quite fair.”
“As for Li Rui’s dormitory, I’ll coordinate with the school. You can settle in without worrying.”
“Mhm, mhm.”
“Next time you run into something like this, don’t… Even if you have to fight, you need to consider the circumstances. Do you think you’re that good at fighting?”
“Mhm, mhm.”
“What is the most important thing in the experimental class? It’s studying hard. It’s…”
“Mhm, mhm.”
“What are you looking at?”
Chen Mo was leaning against the corridor railing. The afternoon sun made him feel languid.
As it happened, someone downstairs with his hands in his pockets also happened to look up.
Xiang Shenglong followed his gaze. Seemingly remembering something, he narrowed his eyes slightly behind his glasses and asked, “Before I got here, did that guy surnamed Xi really not do anything?”
Chen Mo looked back at him. “What would he do?”
“Good. He’d better not have.” Xiang Shenglong dropped the subject, leaving only a vague remark behind. “That kid Li Rui was almost carried out on a stretcher. Do you think I’m blind?”
Chen Mo acted as though he hadn’t heard him.
As he went downstairs, Xiang Shenglong called loudly from behind, “Don’t get into any more fights, understand?!”
Chen Mo turned back at the stairwell, looking helpless. “I’m actually someone who really doesn’t like getting physical. Seriously.”
Unfortunately, he just couldn’t learn Xi Siyen’s knack for putting people in their place without so much as batting an eye, leaving them speechless.
After going downstairs, Chen Mo approached the few students from the experimental class.
“Are you okay?”
“Did Old Xiang scold you?”
“You should’ve given that Li Rui another good beating.”
Gou Yiyang draped an arm over his shoulder and took the initiative to start a conversation. After this incident, Chen Mo seemed to have grown a little closer to the class. The faces of the people around him were beginning to become distinct and familiar. They were passionate and straightforward, with genuine feelings.
Chen Mo chatted with them for a few moments, then glanced at someone walking a little behind the others.
“Thanks,” Chen Mo called. “Class monitor.”
Xi Siyen’s gaze passed through the group and met his. In a calm tone, he said, “Save your thanks for Director Lai. He was the one who stood his ground against everyone’s objections and protected you.”
Chen Mo shrugged. “I know. I’m just thanking you for stepping in when you saw injustice.”
Xi Siyen looked at him and tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Your mouth is busted, and you still have plenty to say.”
Chen Mo instinctively pressed his tongue against the corner of his mouth.
His brows immediately knitted together from the pain.
That evening, the atmosphere in Room 613 could only be described as grim.
The person who had made the rounds on the forum and been labeled the new school bully had scared the two good students in the dormitory so badly that they hardly dared breathe. Even when washing up, they moved with the utmost care.
Before Chen Mo arrived, there had actually only been three people living in the dormitory, including Li Rui.
Of the other two, one was Sun Qi, who looked timid by nature, while the other was Tang Suishan, a slow-to-react student from the liberal arts class who wore glasses with an 800-degree prescription.
That evening, Chen Mo sat by his desk, scrolling through his phone.
Yang Zhi somehow found out about what had happened at school and messaged him, asking whether he’d gotten into trouble.
Chen Mo didn’t reply. When he tossed his phone down, the loud thud startled Sun Qi, who had been sitting on the opposite bed. He suddenly jumped to his feet.
“M-Mo… Brother Mo.” The other boy asked nervously, “S-Should I get you some water for your foot bath?”
Chen Mo was genuinely stunned for a few seconds. “Did Li Rui used to make you get his foot bath ready?”
Sun Qi nodded and answered quietly, “Yes.”
“Tell him to get lost.”
“Huh?”
“From now on, whoever asks you to prepare their foot bath, tell them to get lost.”
Ten minutes later, Sun Qi stared at the basin of yellowish-black water Chen Mo had soaked his feet in. Then he looked at the person leaning against the desk with his eyes closed, his face faintly flushed from the fumes.
Summoning his courage, he asked, “Brother Mo, what did you soak your feet in?”
“Hm?” The person in question lazily looked over. His eyes were slightly hazy, as though he’d just dozed off. Only then did he seem to process the question. “Oh. Chinese herbal medicine.”
Sun Qi silently withdrew his gaze.
Well… Why was this school bully so different from the rumors?