Just like that, the first morning class ended with the entire class in an emotional state.
Li Yanqiu didn’t say anything; she simply sighed to herself.
She was well aware of what had happened yesterday, but she had been unable to stop it at the time.
After all, it was difficult to oppose the collective anger of the masses.
Her biggest concern was the consequences Tang Ziya might face, so she had specifically gone to inquire about the situation today.
The school’s high-level administration hadn’t shown any clear stance, nor had they even hinted at anything to her.
This wasn’t because those people were being kindhearted; rather, they were preparing to take action personally to make Tang Ziya pay a heavy price.
It was not impossible that they were looking for an excuse to expel her!
This kind of silence before the storm was the most terrifying thing.
That was why she had thought of taking the initiative to disrupt their plans.
She couldn’t even explain this clearly to Tang Ziya, fearing the girl might let something slip and arouse the school’s suspicion, which would lead to the opposite of the intended effect.
Only the most genuine reaction would leave no room for doubt.
Even if she had to force her, she had to make Tang Ziya write a self-reflection paper.
That was the only way she would be safe in the future.
‘You must understand,’ Li Yanqiu thought, glancing at the class monitor out of the corner of her eye before silently leaving the room.
Once she was gone, Tang Ziya’s emotions finally snapped.
She slumped onto her desk and sobbed, her heart heavy with misery.
Wang Meng immediately stepped forward to comfort her, feeling deeply pained by her situation.
Others followed suit, offering words of encouragement and stating they would support the class monitor and never bow down to evil forces.
“What are you crying for? It’s just a self-reflection paper. You’re acting like it’s the end of the world,” Gu Chen said, leaning against the podium with a smirk on his face.
“Gu Chen, please stop talking like that, okay?”
Wang Meng said, showing a rare flash of anger as she tried to restrain herself.
As for the rest of the students, they naturally looked at him with even more hostility.
If they hadn’t been unable to beat him in a fight, they would have long ago gone up to deal with this guy who kicked people while they were down!
“What did I say?”
Gu Chen tilted his head and continued, “You can’t even handle this little bit of grievance? Your endurance is pathetic. I feel like the position of class monitor would be more suitable for me.”
“You!!”
“Gu Chen, don’t go too far,” Tang Ziya finally couldn’t take it anymore.
She raised her head and glared at him in warning.
He had just cooperated with the homeroom teacher to bully her, and now he was here making snide remarks.
The small amount of respect she had managed to find for him recently had completely vanished.
“What’s wrong? Hit me if you’ve got the guts.”
Gu Chen maintained his gloating attitude, spreading his arms wide in mockery.
“You bastard! I’ll kill you!”
Tang Ziya snapped completely.
Her grievances and anger were vented directly toward Gu Chen.
This time, she didn’t even remember to grab a broom; she just rushed at him desperately.
*Holy crap!*
Although the plan had succeeded, Gu Chen was still startled.
He quickly turned and ran out of the room.
Tang Ziya chased after him like she was possessed, looking like she wanted to tear him to pieces.
The others couldn’t react in time before the two had already sprinted out of the classroom.
Gu Chen adjusted his speed, making sure she could just barely keep up.
In this manner, one chasing the other, they ran all the way to the entrance of the rooftop before stopping.
“Gu Chen!!”
Tang Ziya saw him stop, her rage unabated.
“Stop!!!”
Gu Chen yelled, quickly putting up a hand.
“Calm down. I lured you here on purpose.”
He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that no one had followed them.
However, she wasn’t listening at all and continued to charge toward him.
“If you dare take another step, my Dragon Claw Hand won’t be merciful,” Gu Chen said, having no other choice.
He held out both hands as a warning, his gaze directed toward her chest.
“Ah!!”
Tang Ziya stopped abruptly, covering her chest and backing away.
“Pervert! Don’t you dare try anything!” she cried out in horror.
*I wouldn’t freaking try anything in the school building!*
“Tang Ziya, Teacher Li was trying to protect you just now. How can you not understand that?”
Gu Chen felt like he was about to blow a fuse from frustration.
“What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think I’d believe such a lie?”
Clearly, in her current state of anger, she was even less likely to understand.
“I’m saying, when are you going to change that binary way of thinking? You caused such a huge scene yesterday that you made all the school leaders lose face. Do you think they’ll just endure that? Teacher Li punished you proactively because she didn’t want them to find an excuse to mess with you. Otherwise, why would she do something that would offend her students?”
Gu Chen spat out the explanation all at once, fearing she wouldn’t understand.
“What?”
Tang Ziya’s pupils drifted.
“How… why would you say that?”
She felt a sudden sense of realization.
From a logical standpoint, it did make sense.
However, she remained skeptical, considering the words were coming from Gu Chen’s mouth.
“Is there nothing in your head besides studying? First, you didn’t drag me down with you by saying it was my idea earlier; I’ll give you credit for having a bit of a conscience. Second, this is Teacher Li’s painstaking effort, and I just don’t want to see it go to waste. Do you know why I haven’t wanted to fight you these past two years? It’s because our homeroom teacher hoped we could be friends and stop having so many conflicts. Otherwise, do you really think I’m afraid of you?”
“Even an ‘evil person’ who does bad things like me can understand the teacher’s good intentions. And you, the model student, didn’t understand. Don’t you feel ashamed?”
Faced with these questions, Tang Ziya felt like she had been struck by lightning, standing there at a loss.
Every word rang true.
If it were before, she definitely wouldn’t have believed him.
But she had personally seen Gu Chen take on three burly men last time; his moves were ruthless and fast.
If he had used that kind of skill on her, she wouldn’t have been able to stand it at all.
It was also because of that incident that Tang Ziya’s stereotypical view of Gu Chen had been shaken.
Someone who could risk danger and injury to save her wasn’t someone who could be truly wicked.
More importantly, if the homeroom teacher really thought that way, then she truly had failed to appreciate the woman’s efforts.
“Anyway, believe it or not, it’s up to you. Once you’ve thought it through, do as Director An said. Don’t make things difficult for Teacher Li. Here’s another piece of advice: if you can’t bring yourself to write it, just use an AI-generated one. It’s just a formality anyway.”
Gu Chen didn’t want to waste any more words.
He had done all he could.
If she was still that stubborn, he couldn’t blame anyone else.
“Wait!”
Tang Ziya was silent for a moment before suddenly calling out.
“What? Do you have to punch me once to get it out of your system?”
Gu Chen rubbed his temples.
“That… you lured me out here and made the whole class hate you even more. Why did you do that?”
“Whatever. I’m already a bad person in your eyes. Does one more thing really make a difference?”
Gu Chen replied nonchalantly.
He had done everything he could for the homeroom teacher; the rest was up to fate.
After this talk, Tang Ziya was much calmer when she returned.
She didn’t have any more hysterical outbursts.
However, she didn’t write the self-reflection paper either; she was likely still struggling with it.
During the lunch break, after eating, Gu Chen went to his secret base to rest as usual.
—