CHAPTER 74: CHAPTER 64 KNEEL!

Nearly six feet tall, he executed a fluid over-the-shoulder throw, crashing down on top of four or five people—graceful, decisive, a masterstroke!

The entire scene was shocked.

Sui Yi pulled a wallet from her school uniform pocket, took out a few bills featuring elderly men and placed them on Zhang Yang’s body, "The competition is in seven days. I hope this won’t affect your performance... But"

She looked up at Han Yuanchong, "Your family has suffered a huge misfortune, yet you haven’t grown at all. Instead, you’ve bribed others to post misleading photos online, then sprinkled a few rumors in group chats. Are such tactics interesting to you?"

Han Yuanchong’s face changed colors, and he wanted to say something...

"I’ve always been without a family, free to come and go as I please. The rumors of others have no effect on me, unless you have the ability to influence the school to expel me. Perhaps then I would consider fighting you..."

Sui Yi’s eyes dimmed slightly, as fleeting lights and shadows played across her vision, with a subtle fragrance wafting in the air.

"However, the fact is you don’t have that capability, and clearly, neither does your cousin,"

"Otherwise, your father would have already been bailed out..."

Qian Nong spoke a few measured words, and Sui Yi, along with Yhan Qingwu, walked past the gap and left with ease.

Behind them were cousins with uniformly ashen faces.

And a high school entrance that was now incredibly quiet.

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"Is there something urgent?" Yhan Qingwu asked Sui Yi in the parking lot, and although Sui Yi had just behaved very calmly and composedly, the furrow in her brow when she answered the phone betrayed a moment of worry.

"There’s...a bit of trouble,"

Sui Yi nodded, "You can go back... Be careful on the road."

She had already seen a sedan waiting around the corner.

It seems that in these unsettling times at Second High School, Tang Hanyan had arranged for a driver to pick her up and drop her off.

Indeed a cautious person.

Watching Zuo Wei ride away on his bicycle, Yhan Qingwu got into the car and lowered her gaze, "Uncle Wang, help me investigate Han Yuanchong’s family background, especially about his cousin..."

"Yes."

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The phone number Sui Yi had received earlier belonged to Auntie Wang. Initially thinking it might be an issue in the village, she didn’t expect the first words to come out of the other party’s mouth to be tearful: "Ah Yi, Auntie begs you, please save my life..."

Save a life?

The only thing that could make Auntie Wang cry out for help in desparation would be something concerning her only son.

Wang Pu had run into trouble.

------

No.1 High School and Second High School were decent schools in this small town, and each year the number of students who made it into key universities or first-tier universities were too numerous to count on two hands. In contrast, Third High School was neither here nor there, with very low acceptance rate to second-tier universities. In this school, there were plenty of affluent students attending with the help of sponsorship fees. Dating was common, fights even more so, and the school was seemingly helpless to do anything about it.

Each year, the number of girls having abortions was unknowable.

In such an environment, the fact that Wang Pu had grown up straight and not twisted was something Sui Yi thought attributed to the strong Feng Shui of his family’s home.

But the honest are easily bullied.

And now, it seemed the bullying was quite severe.

------

In front of Third High School’s gate, the tire of Sui Yi’s bicycle scraped against the ground, drawing the attention of many, due to the different school uniform. It was still school leaving time, but there didn’t seem to be many people exiting. Sui Yi casually grabbed someone and asked, and was directed to the Academic Affairs Office...

The Academic Affairs Office was filled with commotion at that moment.

Wang Pu, his face bruised and swollen, was holding his mother back from kneeling to that group of people, furiously saying, "Mother, don’t do it, it’s not my fault, you don’t need to apologize..."

Auntie Wang knew all too well that it wasn’t her son’s fault but...

Who’s right and who’s wrong—does it matter?

Before her, stood a group of people dressed in fine clothes, speaking arrogantly, even the Principal of the school seemed to take their side...

If she didn’t beg, would her son be expelled from school?

"It’s our fault... Son, quickly apologize..."

Seeing his mother, usually so assertive and efficient in their village, now panic-stricken and about to kneel, Wang Pu felt an aching bitterness deep in his heart.

It was a bitterness that reached deep into his heart, yet he couldn’t cry. All he had was an overwhelming feeling, not unlike the dry, cracked, yellow earth of their village, ever-splitting, with ever-widening cracks, through which a chilly wind hissed.

It was irrepairable.

"Mother? What century is this that you still speak like that, just a villager... You know, Principal Zhang, my son was beaten by this uncultured brat... Oh my, look at the swelling. You must expel this troublemaker from school!"

The woman clad in gold and silver clutched her son’s hand, a look of disdain on her face, pointing imperiously at Wang Pu and his mother.

Such a bumpkin mother and son she thought, she didn’t believe that expulsion wouldn’t make the two of them bow their heads to her... especially that boy who kept shouting that it wasn’t his fault!

On hearing this, the Principal of Third High School darkened his face and glared at Wang Pu, his voice cold, "Wang Pu, your character is too loathsome! Absolutely incorrigible, where is your apology?"

Apologize...

Wang Pu gritted his teeth, and listened to the noise of the students outside the window, peeping in...

In their eyes, was he and his mother just a joke? Was his mother’s kneeling something expected?

Just because they were poor, just because they were villagers...

He now suddenly felt relieved that his father had not come, otherwise...

Wang Pu suddenly mustered a tremendous strength and grabbed his mother’s arm, "Mother, get up—it’s my turn to kneel."

Auntie Wang was stunned,

The youth Zhang Yang, with a swollen red patch on his face, sneered, "Then let him kneel!"

"Son... you mustn’t kneel, let me..."

It was too late. Wang Pu had already bent his knees. At that moment, he thought that it wasn’t just his knees bending, but his entire life.

A life filled with the scent of yellow earth.

Kneeling before someone he once thought would be a good brother...

His nostrils filled with the scent of dust and sour sweat from his father and mother returning at dusk.

Kneel then.

Slap!

The sound of his knee hitting the marble was neither light nor heavy, and Auntie Wang’s body went limp...

Her son had kneeled to others...

If his father knew, would he be so angry he’d spit blood?

Creak, the door was pushed open.

A crack appeared in the door, growing wider until it swung fully open, and there stood Sui Yi.

Behind her, the quiet and crowded students were all stunned.

Someone was kneeling on the ground.

They had grown accustomed to seeing students’ parents kneeling to beg teachers and school principals, but they had never seen a student kneel before...

And it was the honest yet proud Wang Pu.

Sui Yi took in everything before her, and her hand holding the door handle tightened slightly.

"Ah Yi..." Auntie Wang’s body finally went limp, but she still threw herself toward Sui Yi. Meanwhile, Wang Pu, still kneeling on the ground, mumbled dully with an extremely ugly look on his face,

"Sister Sui Yi... why are you here!"

Meeting Sui Yi’s indifferent gaze, Wang Pu felt incredibly ashamed, not wanting her to see him in such a sorry state.

Yet his legs felt as though they weighed a thousand pounds; he couldn’t lift them at all.

"Who are you, which school’s student? Why did you come here!" It was not good for the students to witness such a scene, especially since this girl didn’t seem to belong to their school...

Principal Zhang’s face twitched with anger, and he moved to push Sui Yi out.

But Sui Yi had already sidestepped him and walked in, approaching the noblewoman and her son.

The youth’s expression was erratic, and uncertain.

"Can we leave now?"

She asked.

The noblewoman, upon seeing Sui Yi barge in, scrutinized Sui Yi’s uniform and then her, frowning, Who is this girl? But since it was just a girl, there was nothing to be afraid of, so she shrieked, "Just kneeling and that’s it? You think it’s that cheap? Expel him!"

That was when Auntie Wang also became angry, rushing over and furiously shouting, "What’s wrong with you, woman! How has my son offended you... He was beaten by your son to this state... has already knelt, yet you still... I’ll fight you!"

"Ah!!"

"Someone’s hitting someone!!!"

The noblewoman was no match for Auntie Wang, who was used to rough labor and full of ferocity; in no time, she was slapped several times, resulting in chaos and screams.

Principal Zhang was stunned, thinking, Is this a slaughterhouse now?!

"Stop, stop it!"

He tried to pull Auntie Wang away but was blocked by the resigned and desperate Wang Pu!

The young man wanted to rush over to help his mother, but he dared not move, because Sui Yi was standing in front of him.

Having witnessed Sui Yi’s prowess and how the most ferocious people are wary of her, the youth truly felt a chill...

"I remember you’re called Zhang Yang."

Sui Yi’s cool voice quieted the messy scuffling in the office instantly. Outside, the students all widened their eyes in shock, especially Zhao Yue and the others, who took a deep breath.

They still remembered the last time she spoke in that tone; several strong men had their limbs broken...

"Yes... yes," Zhang Yang stammered.

"You took my picture, didn’t you?"

"..." Zhang Yang’s face changed, suddenly recalling something that gave him a bit of courage, and said, "Taking your picture... that’s my freedom, it’s not illegal..."

The noblewoman seemed to understand something and rushed over, bellowing, "What’s wrong with my son taking your picture, you little hussy..."

Sui Yi shot a bone-chilling glance that made the noblewoman shiver. Zhang Yang quickly covered his mother’s mouth.

"I’m not a celebrity, so infringement of portrait rights isn’t a big crime, but you sold those pictures to people like Han Yuanchong for money, and now those photos are posted on the public internet, causing me a lot of harm. Your school’s political science classes should have taught you that," Sui Yi said.

Zhang Yang’s face turned ashen, his heart growing cold. He wanted to deny it, but under the icy glare of Sui Yi’s eyes, he trembled with fear, "I... I didn’t know what they were going to do with it—I just sold them to them, those things, they have nothing to do with me!"

Zhao Yue and the others were also taken aback, What? Sell photos?

Those pictures...(to be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)