Chapter 14

Choosing was still choosing, and not choosing was also choosing. Where exactly had Zhao Mingyue given him a choice?

When Zhou Bowen first heard Zhao Mingyue mention the first option, he had still been rather unconcerned. It was not like he had hit Cui Xuan. He had only snatched some snacks, given Cui Xuan a few nicknames, and made a few sarcastic remarks. Even if he was sued, he definitely would not be sentenced.

Zhao Mingyue had also admitted that he would not be sentenced, but paying compensation, being detained, getting a record… Zhao Mingyue’s family had money. If she hired a good lawyer, she probably really could make that happen.

If this really blew up, word would definitely spread all over the school. There were students here who were his neighbors’ or relatives’ children. Once they went home and talked about it, everyone who knew him would know…

Forget being sued, detained, made to pay compensation, and left with a record. Even if the school only issued a public criticism, gave him a disciplinary punishment, and called his parents, once his parents found out, they would beat him half to death.

But if he apologized, where would his face go? Anyone could guess that the classmates would definitely laugh at him and spread this matter around. How was he supposed to keep hanging around school after that?

Amid his anger, Zhou Bowen felt more regret than anything. His tone inevitably weakened. “I was just joking around with her… I only took the snacks to tease her. How can that count as bullying? I’ll give the snacks back to her. At worst, I’ll compensate her one hundred yuan. We’re all classmates. There’s no need to make things so…”

Zhao Mingyue picked at her ear. “So you’re resisting to the end, right? Then—”

“Wait!” Zhou Bowen hurriedly spoke. Facing all the different gazes around him, he nearly ground his molars to pieces before finally forcing out a few words. “I’ll… apologize…”

Zhou Bowen clenched his fists and finished speaking as if bearing humiliation for a greater cause, but Zhao Mingyue did not respond. Instead, the surrounding murmurs rushed into his ears.

“See? It really is an apology! I guessed right!”

“He’s just stupid and bad, but he’s not an idiot. Detention and a record, a disciplinary punishment and public criticism, versus an apology—put them together, and isn’t it obvious which one to choose?”

“He deserves it. He’s usually so arrogant and always likes snatching other people’s things, then says he’s just joking around. Who wants to joke around with him? He finally kicked an iron plate this time…”

Some people also felt that Zhou Bowen’s crime did not warrant this, and that Zhao Mingyue was the one being too aggressive. But with Zhao Mingyue still standing right there, no one dared say that to her face, afraid that if she heard, they would become the next Zhou Bowen.

Zhou Bowen… Zhou Bowen himself felt like his head was about to explode.

He had only heard the nearby words of mockery and sarcasm, but he could already imagine how much discussion would follow once this matter fermented.

Apologize? Did he really have to apologize? Rationally, he knew there was still quite a while before class started, but he could not help hoping that if he could drag things out until the bell rang…

Zhao Mingyue was a student from another class. Surely she could not stay in their classroom after the class bell rang, right? unauthorized copy When the time came, even if she did not want to leave, she would have to leave. After enough time passed, who would still care about this?

Never had there been a moment when he longed so much for the class bell to ring!

But Zhao Mingyue did not give him that chance.

“No one can possibly have to teach you how to apologize.” Zhao Mingyue rubbed her chin, then suddenly snapped her fingers as if she had realized something. “I know! You must think that starting your apology like this isn’t formal enough, right? You need a stage too.”

Before Zhou Bowen could speak, Zhao Mingyue had already started moving.

The classroom was only so big. With something like this happening, the whole class was paying attention. Zhao Mingyue clapped her hands and made the whole class quiet down, successfully drawing everyone’s gaze.

She cleared her throat. “This criminal suspect… no, this Bully Bro… Wait, that’s not right either. This, hm, cowardly responsibility-dodging man who doesn’t really want to take responsibility for his actions! He is preparing to apologize to the victim!”

“Although he is unwilling and has no real sincerity, even so, he still wants a formal process, a broad stage, to perform his apology for his bullying behavior—uh, to make his apology!”

Zhou Bowen’s vision went black over and over as he listened. He wished he could rush up and cover Zhao Mingyue’s ruthless, cutting mouth.

But he did not dare.

Forget it. Since things were already like this, the longer he dragged it out, the more people would arrive in class. Better to finish speaking early and leave early. Even if Zhao Mingyue did not leave, he could leave!

Just as he was about to speak, Zhao Mingyue suddenly interrupted him.

“Hey, do you understand procedure or not? Pick the things up first.”

The veins on Zhou Bowen’s forehead jumped. Holding back his anger, he bent down to pick up the snacks.

“Classmates, make way for him. Be careful that he might suddenly turn violent out of resentment. It wouldn’t be good if he stepped on you, kicked you, or bumped into you…”

Zhou Bowen had just picked up a Want Want snow cracker when he heard Zhao Mingyue say that. When he went to pick up the second thin cracker that had fallen in front of the watching classmates, everyone around him backed up several steps, as if he really might suddenly attack.

Classmates! His own classmates! They actually believed Zhao Mingyue, an outsider, instead of trusting his character!

Zhou Bowen lifted his head and glared furiously!

“Back up!” Someone Read on BaiLianTales among the surrounding classmates suddenly shouted. “He’s about to attack!”

The crowd immediately scattered in all directions.

Zhou Bowen stared blankly at the path before him that had suddenly emptied. After a few seconds of silence, he resentfully picked up the cracker with force.

Zhao Mingyue spoke again at a leisurely pace. “If you deliberately crush it, that’s adding another crime.”

Zhou Bowen’s fingers, which had not yet tightened, quickly loosened their force.

After quickly picking everything up, Zhou Bowen wanted to throw the snacks onto Cui Xuan’s desk. But afraid Zhao Mingyue would seize on his attitude and make an issue out of it, he could only place them back properly. Before he could put them down, Zhao Mingyue interrupted again.

“You threw someone else’s snacks onto the floor. You should at least wipe them clean before giving them back.”

She even pushed her demands further. “Oh, right, don’t use your clothes. They’ll only get dirtier. Use tissues!”

Zhou Bowen: …

A little impatience could ruin great plans!

A great man knew when to bend and when to stand tall!

He endured!

Afraid she would find fault again, Zhou Bowen wiped them quite carefully. After wiping them clean, he put them back and was just about to apologize to Cui Xuan when Zhao Mingyue’s haunting voice sounded again.

“You kicked someone’s desk just now too. Remember to wipe that clean as well.”

Zhou Bowen flew into a rage. “Zhao Mingyue! Are you ever going to—” stop!

Before he finished, he saw Zhao Mingyue calm and composed, even still in the mood to smile. Zhou Bowen’s anger-filled brain cleared once again, and his extraordinary intelligence once more occupied the high ground!

No, no, this was wrong. He could not fall for it!

Zhao Mingyue was definitely trying to deliberately provoke him so that he could not even complete the apology. Then she could naturally bring the matter before the teacher and the school… Zhao Mingyue’s family had money and influence. With a few connections at school, she could make them punish him more severely. He absolutely could not fall for it!

He swallowed it down again and voluntarily took tissues to wipe the desk he had kicked. But the more he wiped, the more wronged he felt inside.

“It’s not like I’m the only one who’s done this. Why do you have to keep targeting me!”

“Oh?” Zhao Mingyue leaned against the desk, the fingertips resting on her arm tapping lightly as she dragged out her tone. “Then tell us—who else is there?”

Of course there were others in class too, but Zhou Bowen considered himself a loyal, righteous guy who would never sell out his brothers. He was just about to name a few people from other classes when he was interrupted before he could even speak.

This time, the one who interrupted him was not Zhao Mingyue.

It was the brothers he had wanted to protect!

“Who else could it be besides you? Who’s bored enough to go bully other people?”

“Exactly, exactly. Don’t drag unrelated people into this. Hurry up and apologize!”

“Don’t be too vicious, Zhou Bowen. You bullied someone yourself and don’t want to apologize, so now you’re making things up to slander others?”

Backstabbed, Zhou Bowen’s eyes widened. His grief and fury reached their peak at this moment, making him so angry he could not even [Read on BaiLianTales]speak properly. “You… you guys…”

“Zhou Bowen, be a person! A person can’t be too Zhou Bowen…”

“It was clearly you guys! You guys have snatched Cui Xuan’s things too, and now you actually, actually turn around and blame me! You dare do it but don’t dare admit it! You bunch of bastards—”

Zhao Mingyue quickly covered Cui Xuan’s ears. It was really not good for so many dirty words to be beeped back and forth in a high school classroom. It would dirty her Cui Xuan’s ears.

Besides, she was also afraid Zhou Bowen would curse to his heart’s content and vent the anger he had been holding in earlier. That would be terrible!

So she cheerfully added fuel to the fire. “All right, all right. So many people are saying you’re dragging others in at random. They can’t all be wronging you, right? Stop biting people randomly and hurry up with the apology.”

Zhou Bowen was so angry his vision kept going black. It was as if a boiling kettle had been stuffed into his chest, the lid clattering up and down while steam hissed through his ribcage.

He was wronged! He was aggrieved! What he said was the truth! That bunch of idiots were the ones lying through their teeth!

“That’s about enough.” Zhao Mingyue continued fanning the flames. “They’re not even arguing with you anymore. Stop making trouble and hurry up and apologize.”

At that moment, Zhou Bowen’s hatred toward his brothers for backstabbing him even surpassed his hatred toward Zhao Mingyue!

He endured the humiliation, trampled his precious dignity and face beneath his feet, and apologized in a low, submissive voice, while his eyes glared viciously at the brothers who had stabbed him twice.

Zhao Mingyue did not listen carefully to Zhou Bowen’s apology. The purpose of this performance had already been achieved. As for the content of the apology… since it was not sincere anyway, whether the words were heartfelt or not was not worth mentioning. She was only listening for the sound.

Cui Xuan was not listening either.

After drinking the medicine, she had gone to wash the cup. After washing it clean, she had refilled it completely with water. It was just that she had added a little too much hot water, and the fingers holding the cup were burned until they itched.

What itched even more were the ears Zhao Mingyue had covered.

Shrinking her neck to avoid Zhao Mingyue’s hands, Cui Xuan lowered her head and hugged the cup.

Zhao Mingyue was amazing. No matter how many times Cui Xuan said it, she could not get her things back. But Zhao Mingyue had easily talked Zhou Bowen into being unable to speak, making him return the things, wipe the desk, and apologize to her in front of so many people…

Such an amazing Zhao Mingyue. Why was she so good to her?

Always helping her, always helping someone like her, who was covered in trouble. Why exactly?

Was it because she pitied her? Was it because she felt sorry for her? Or was it because Zhao Mingyue was a good person and simply liked helping others?

Cui Xuan could not understand.

Although neither of the two main targets of the apology was listening, Zhou Bowen’s apology still reached its end. After finishing, he wanted to leave but did not dare, so he looked eagerly at Zhao Mingyue and Cui Xuan.

Before Zhao Mingyue could speak, a cold voice suddenly came from behind him.

“A good dog doesn’t block the road.”

The veins on Zhou Bowen’s forehead jumped. He turned back angrily and saw Cui Xuan’s deskmate, Lin Yiheng.

He very much wanted to bump into Lin Yiheng, or throw something, or kick a desk to express his anger and save his precarious face. But he was also afraid Zhao Mingyue would seize the excuse and take the opportunity to retaliate, so he could only swallow this resentment for now and impatiently moved two steps to the side.

Just as Lin Yiheng was about to walk past, she suddenly stopped. Her brows and eyes lifted slightly, sweeping him up and down, and she said, “Good dog.”

Her tone carried no emotion, but the content was praise.

Unfortunately, Zhou Bowen did not appreciate it very much. He was so angry his vision went black, his fists clenched tight. His arm had already lifted when his gaze suddenly caught Zhao Mingyue raising a brow at him.

He could not fall for it!

Endure!

He turned around hard, strode out with heavy steps, stomped out of the classroom, and finally slammed the door.

The classmate who had just been about to enter the classroom was bumped by him, then had the wind from the violently shutting door sweep across his face. He pushed the door open while cursing.

“What kind of swine fever has Zhou Bowen caught?”

“Be understanding. He’s lost a ton of face this time. He’s probably so angry he wants to die.”

“What happened?”

Someone immediately looked excited and waved enthusiastically. “Come here! Come, come, come, I’ll tell you…”

Zhao Mingyue rubbed her chin and felt that from now on, Zhou Bowen would probably take the long way around whenever he saw Cui Xuan. Besides, after this incident, there should be no one in class who dared bully Cui Xuan anymore.

The only pity was that she could not drag out all the others who had bullied Cui Xuan too. First, one person’s testimony alone would not accomplish much. Second, if she dragged out too many people, they would inevitably unite against a common enemy. In places she could not see, perhaps they would vent their resentment on Cui Xuan.

Forget anything else. Just deliberately hitting her with a ball during PE class would be enough for Cui Xuan to suffer. When the time came, they could just make up an excuse that it was an accident. What could Cui Xuan do?

For now, she could only first divide them internally, then catch one of them and deal with them harshly to make an example out of them. With this warning before their eyes, once the reward and the price to be paid no longer matched, no one would be bored enough to bully Cui Xuan.

After all, many people who kept saying things like they did not know it was illegal, it was not that serious, and it was only joking around were not truly unaware that what they were doing violated the law.

When those “little things” that were called jokes but were actually bullying required a price to be paid, when every action had consequences and was no longer some light, fluttering emotional venting, they would suddenly become smart. Suddenly know whether that was a small matter or not. Suddenly understand what should be done and what should not be done.

The desktop was suddenly tapped twice. The vibration passed through Zhao Mingyue’s arm, cutting off her thoughts.