‘What on earth is this guy up to?’
Su Yuqing’s gaze was fixed on Gu Chen, who sat not far away.
Ever since last night, she had found it nearly impossible to remain calm.
She had even been plagued by nightmares in her sleep.
She never expected that when she was called to the police station for questioning yesterday, she would run into him there.
Even worse, he had discovered her secret—that she was an author of smutty books!
She could already imagine it: Gu Chen revealing her secret to the public, and the cold, elegant school beauty would be transformed into a perverted girl who wrote erotica.
Countless classmates would call her a fraud, and her true identity would be exposed to everyone.
After spending one night on edge, she found that nothing had happened.
However, this didn’t put Su Yuqing at ease. Instead, she grew even more worried.
After all, her secret was in someone else’s hands; whether it was exposed or not depended entirely on Gu Chen’s whim.
‘Could it be? Is he plotting something even bigger?’
‘Like using this secret to force me into doing something unspeakable with him?!’
After thinking it over, Su Yuqing couldn’t figure out what Gu Chen was planning.
Or perhaps he was intentionally stringing her along, waiting for her psychological pressure to become unbearable before he made his move to extract the maximum benefit!
‘No, I can’t let him keep the upper hand!’
Su Yuqing clenched her fists and muttered to herself.
If Gu Chen knew what she was thinking, he would likely be caught between laughter and tears, because he had absolutely no intention of telling anyone.
She was simply exhausting herself by fighting a battle of wits against thin air.
After arriving in the classroom, Gu Chen scanned the room.
It seemed there was no sign of another strike today, so he would have to settle in for class.
Soon, Teacher Li Yanqiu walked into the room.
“Stand up!!”
Tang Ziya shouted.
The class performed their daily greeting to the teacher in a singsong voice.
“Good mor—ning, Teach—er—”
“Hello, class. Please sit down,” the homeroom teacher said, nodding.
As soon as she finished speaking, her gaze shifted to the class president.
In a stern voice, she said, “Tang Ziya, stand up.”
“Huh?”
Tang Ziya didn’t expect to be called out so suddenly.
She was a bit dazed, but she stood up immediately.
She felt at a loss, especially since she realized the teacher’s tone was off.
The other students looked at one another in confusion.
Usually, Li Yanqiu called her “Class President” and rarely addressed her by her full name, let alone with such an attitude.
It was like that terrifying feeling when your mother suddenly calls you by your full name; you just knew something big was about to happen!
“Teacher, what is it?”
“Yesterday, you organized the school-wide student strike and protest, right?” Li Yanqiu asked.
Nearly everyone in the school knew about it, so it felt like the teacher was asking something she already knew.
“Yes, I did it,” Tang Ziya replied truthfully, though she didn’t understand why it was being brought up now.
“Do you have any idea how much of an impact this had on the school? Suspending classes for an entire day and coercing the school leadership… Is this what a student should be doing?”
Li Yanqiu’s voice grew louder, startling many of the students.
They had clearly never seen her lose her temper like this before.
“What?”
Tang Ziya stammered.
“But… there’s a reason for this! Many girls have been victimized near the artificial lake. The school hasn’t increased patrols, and they refuse to even install cameras. If this continues, something terrible will happen sooner or later. I only organized the strike for the safety of the girls in this school…”
This was the first time Tang Ziya had ever been so severely scolded by her homeroom teacher.
A look of grievance appeared on her face as she explained the situation.
Logically, the teacher should have been well aware of the circumstances.
“Setting aside the lack of patrols and camera installations, are you saying you’ve done nothing wrong? The school isn’t forbidding petitions; you just had to follow the normal application process. By insisting on doing things this way, you’ve already violated school rules. Do you still not realize the problem?”
Li Yanqiu continued to reprimand her as if she hadn’t heard the explanation at all.
Her words were becoming hard for the other students to listen to.
Many frowned and began to whisper among themselves.
‘This teacher must have read too many smutty books last night. She’s actually using that “setting aside the facts” logic…’
“…”
Tang Ziya opened her mouth, but she didn’t know how to respond.
When someone was looking for trouble on purpose, explanations were useless.
The teacher waved her hand and made a direct decision.
“In view of Tang Ziya’s egregious behavior, I hereby announce that she must submit a 3,000-word reflection paper by the end of the day. She needs to deeply reflect on her mistakes. Furthermore, it will be posted on the school’s weekly report for one week as a warning to others!”
“What!?”
The class erupted in an uproar again.
Tang Ziya had clearly helped all the girls in the school get cameras installed and had protected many people.
To not reward her was one thing, but to treat a hero with such a humiliating punishment was truly unbearable!
“Teacher, I’m not wrong! Why should I have to write a reflection paper!?”
Tang Ziya couldn’t stand being treated this way.
Her eyes turned red, and her voice cracked with a sob.
“Exactly! The class president did it for everyone’s sake. Teacher Li, you’re being too much.”
“I support the class president! She absolutely shouldn’t write it, and she definitely shouldn’t admit to any wrongdoing!”
Students who supported her raised their hands in protest, and for a moment, the room was filled with indignation.
No one expected their usually gentle and kind homeroom teacher to become a lackey for the school leaders.
It felt like they had been blind to her true nature.
*Bang!*
Just as the situation was about to spiral out of control, Gu Chen slammed his hand against his desk.
“ALL OF YOU, SHUT UP!” he shouted.
“Tang Ziya, if the teacher tells you to write a reflection, then just write it. Don’t try to negotiate. Do you understand?”
“What does this have to do with you!”
Tang Ziya looked over at him with resentment, feeling even more hurt.
“If you don’t write it, then take a leave of absence and go home to reflect properly. Think it over. Now, let’s continue with the lesson!”
Li Yanqiu looked at Gu Chen with a hint of surprise in her eyes.
Taking a hard stance that brook no argument, she began the lecture.
The entire class was shrouded in a heavy atmosphere.
Even the usual whispering was absent, leaving the room incredibly stifling.
Gu Chen sighed and shook his head.
At the moment, he was the only one who understood why Li Yanqiu was doing this.
On the surface, she was punishing Tang Ziya, but secretly, she was protecting her.
The reasoning was simple: by organizing a student strike yesterday, Tang Ziya had definitely infuriated a large number of leaders, headed by the vice principal.
Even if they couldn’t punish every participant, Tang Ziya, the one who had stuck her neck out, would definitely not get away.
Given the chance, they would certainly deal a heavy blow to her.
The only way to avoid that was for her homeroom teacher to punish her first, keeping the matter within a controllable range.
Once she was punished, the school could no longer use the incident to cause trouble for her, since the leaders had to maintain a facade of fairness.
Being humiliated by a public reflection paper only meant losing face for a few days; after a while, no one would remember it.
It satisfied the school leadership while protecting Tang Ziya.
It was indeed the most appropriate method.
Unfortunately, those involved were too blinded by their emotions.
Everyone else thought the teacher had been ordered to humiliate the class president and couldn’t see the logic behind it.
‘This Tang Ziya actually didn’t sell me out. She has some loyalty,’ Gu Chen thought, looking back.
The idea for the strike had come from him.
Given their relationship, it wouldn’t have been surprising if Tang Ziya had dragged Gu Chen down with her.
The fact that she took the entire burden upon herself earned her a bit of his respect.