ATIBESLM 33

“Principal, you must punish Ye Lingwei and Fei Lan from Class 1. Third High has never had students who dare to get physical with a teacher!” As one of the school’s excellent teachers, Zhang Xian knew that in a place like No. 3 High where grades are everything, the scrutiny wasn’t just on students, but also on teachers. If a teacher’s teaching ability was poor, it was considered an original sin.

This was also the reason why Zhang Xian and Li Lan could practically walk sideways¹An idiom referring to crabs, which walk sideways. When applied to people, it means they act tyrannically, arrogantly, or do whatever they want without fear of consequences because they have power or backing. in the school. The classes they led had the best grades and the highest college acceptance rates, giving them the confidence to make demands of the principal—even if the principal found those demands unreasonable.

The principal rubbed his already bald head. “Oh, Teacher Zhang, as teachers, we can’t be too harsh on the students. Don’t you think I’m right? Besides, for the sake of the contributions they’ve made to the school, just turn a blind eye. Just chalk it up to them being immature. You’re an adult, why hold a grudge against children?”

The principal never wanted to experience Ye Cen’s icy gaze ever again. In the past, regarding Zhang Xian’s harshness toward Ye Lingwei, he had turned a blind eye. After all, student Ye Lingwei had indeed dragged down No. 3 High’s average. Although Teacher Zhang’s behavior was indeed a bit extreme at times, her intentions were good.

Zhang Xian was in disbelief. “Teacher²Zhang Xian addresses the Principal as “Teacher.” In China, it is common to address principals or mentors as “Teacher” as a sign of respect, or he may have literally been her mentor in the past., you taught me that everything is determined by student grades…”

The principal was once her head teacher too. Back then, the principal was just as strict and harsh with her. Why is it not okay now?

The principal, no longer possessing the imposing bearing of his prime, laughed awkwardly a couple of times and explained, “Back then I wasn’t the principal; I was just a head teacher, just like you are now. My eyes saw only my students’ grades, because back then, everything else was being handled by the principal.”

Zhang Xian seemed to understand somewhat. She understood why the principal had started to compromise, why he stayed silent regarding Li Lan’s punishment without a single word of rebuttal, tacitly consented to Teacher Li currently being on paid leave at home to rest.

Because his status is different now, and his responsibilities have changed.

He has to be responsible for all the current students of No. 3 High, so even if it’s just a one-in-a-thousand risk, he dares not take it.

Zhang Xian opened her mouth but failed to produce a sound. She cleared her throat and said, “So we just let it go?”

The principal took a sip of his precious tea and glanced at her. “What else then? You just manage your own class well. Don’t meddle in other classes’ business.”

“Besides…” The principal paused. “I actually feel that these two students aren’t as terrible as you make them out to be.”

Zhang Xian couldn’t quite believe it. “Teacher, how can you say that?”

“It seems that, teacher, you really have gotten old.” Zhang Xian dropped this sentence and stormed out, slamming the door behind her, disregarding her teacher who sat on the sofa behind her with a look of shock on his face.

“Look at that, look at that! Does she still treat me as her teacher?” The principal rolled his eyes in anger and slammed the teacup heavily onto the coffee table, his chest feeling tight.

When he was young, he was just like Zhang Xian. Later, after becoming principal and seeing too many students with poor grades who still managed to carve out a world of their own, he realized that grades are actually not the thing that determines everything; they merely give the future you more opportunities to choose, that’s all.

However, while he had understood this truth, the student he had originally valued the most had not yet figured it out.

Zhang Xian was younger than Li Lan, in her thirties. Key kindergarten, key elementary school, key middle school, key high school, key university, and she even went abroad for studies after graduation. In her life, grades represented everything. This was what her most respected teacher had taught her, and throughout her entire academic career, she had always believed in this.

Yet now, that teacher who taught her was telling her that this was wrong.

How could it be wrong?

—

“She’s out, she’s out!” Gao Linhao, who had been leaning on the windowsill, saw Zhang Xian walk out of that independent office building with a look of blank confusion. He went back to his seat and sat down, overjoyed. “She definitely failed to file her complaint. I have experience, and success doesn’t look like that expression. If she had succeeded, she would be coming up right now.”

Ye Lingwei finished the exam paper. He capped his pen and asked, “You have a lot of experience?”

Gao Linhao swept back his hair and raised his chin, looking incredibly proud. “You bet. The teachers who have filed complaints against me—if there haven’t been ten, there have been eight. Every time they come out, they are beaming with joy and then I’m the one out of luck.”

Ye Lingwei looked at him for a moment and couldn’t help laughing out loud.

After finishing his talk with Ye Lingwei, Gao Linhao leaned in close to Fei Lan’s shoulder and asked, “Lan-ge, will you score a bit higher this time? Let’s see if Zhang Xian can still smile then!”

Ye Lingwei’s attention was also drawn away by this question. He also wanted to know what Fei Lan would do.

Fei Lan was playing on his phone and didn’t even look up. “I can’t.”

“You can’t what?” Gao Linhao didn’t react immediately.

“The questions are too hard.” Fei Lan sighed with feigned affectation. “I don’t know how to do them.”

Ye Lingwei: “…”

Gao Linhao froze completely. Once he digested the meaning behind Fei Lan’s words, he clutched his hair and wailed. “I don’t believe it! I don’t believe it! Lan-ge, you wouldn’t be this cruel, right? I’ll definitely be able to see your name turn stamped gold, right?”

Fei Lan didn’t answer.

Gao Linhao looked at Ye Lingwei. “Ye Lingwei, you can too, right?”

“I…” Ye Lingwei blinked, looking a bit at a loss. “I’ll give it a try.”

“Give it a try? What do you mean give it a try? Your names had better both become stamped gold—so we can see how smug that hag can be then!” Gao Linhao gnashed his teeth in hatred.

“What about you?” Fei Lan looked at Gao Linhao with a meaningful look.

“Me? Me what?” Gao Linhao was puzzled for a moment. Finding that both Fei Lan and Ye Lingwei were looking at him, he finally realized. He instantly went from a fighter jet to a commercial airliner, waving his hand in embarrassment. “Forget about me. If I can turn red, I’ll be thanking heaven, thanking earth, and thanking my ancestors going back eighteen generations.”

He was thick-skinned by now anyway, he didn’t care.

Compared to himself, he minded it much more that Fei Lan and Ye Lingwei were being looked down upon by a teacher like Zhang Xian. It made him feel incredibly stifled.

—

“Young master…”

Fei Lan nodded to the driver and got into the car. The low-profile business van turned at the school gate and left, merging into the sea of traffic on the road.

The man sitting in the back seat had his eyes closed. A while after Fei Lan got in, he slowly opened his eyes. Through the rearview mirror, he saw Fei Lan looking out the window expressionlessly, treating the space beside him as if it were empty.

“You got physical with a teacher at school?”

Fei Lan looked at Fei Qiang and chuckled. “So you know?”

Fei Qiang showed no reaction. Obviously, that wasn’t what he wanted to press him about right now.

“You and Ye San… are you close?” A faint smile surfaced on Fei Qiang’s face. “You’re that protective of that child?”

Hearing Fei Qiang mention Ye Lingwei, Fei Lan frowned slightly but didn’t say anything. When they were young, Fei Qiang had treated the Ye family children quite well. Asking a question like that now fell within the normal scope of an elder caring about a junior.

“He’s my friend.” Fei Lan said, “He has called me ‘Gege’.”

Fei Lan had naturally marked Ye Lingwei as being within his territory, yet he had absolutely no improper thoughts, even though he was such a beautiful boy.

“Does he not hate you?”

Fei Lan looked out the window and said indifferently, “That has nothing to do with you.”

Fei Qiang’s expression betrayed neither happiness nor unhappiness. His fingers tapped idly against his knee. “You can’t protect him.”

“Or rather, you don’t have the right.” Fei Qiang’s tone was mechanical and icy. It wasn’t the tone of a father speaking to his son at all. Instead, it was like speaking to a subordinate—or, to be more accurate, a business partner.

Fei Qiang cruelly tore the current Fei Lan apart, ripping him open until he was bloody and raw. He watched with indifference as the boy’s face darkened, yet he continued to state the facts directly.

“Fei Lan, just wait and see. Ye San will meet someone who can completely shelter him.” Fei Qiang unhurriedly said, “You are just a temporary stopover.”

That youth sitting on the flowerbed, beautiful as a deity—he will encounter more and more dangers and challenges in the future. His arrogance and haughtiness are already written on his face. He will attract more and more trouble.

And his son was merely a city wall that could be breached at will.

Fei Lan’s fingers clenched tight on his knees. After a long silence, he slowly relaxed them. He turned his head to look at Fei Qiang, smiled, and said, “Perhaps you don’t understand Ye San very well. He isn’t as fragile as you imagine.”

Fei Qiang raised his hand. “Who cares whether he’s fragile or not?”

“The point is, do you think he is fragile?” Fei Qiang spread his hands. “Of course, that’s up to you. I’m just reminding you, that’s all.”

If Fei Lan turned out to be a disappointment, he wouldn’t mind taking Ye San and raising him under his own name.

Fei Lan returned home, ignoring the hand the housekeeper reached out to take his schoolbag. He went straight up the stairs into his own room.

The housekeeper looked upstairs in confusion. Fei Qiang followed him in, placed his jacket gently onto the housekeeper’s hand, and smiled. “Rebellious phase, please bear with him.”

“…”

—

Fei Lan’s room was a suite complete with a living area and a bathroom. Beside the living area, there was a small empty space. On a white cabinet sat a photo of a beautiful woman. If you looked closely, her brows and eyes bore a resemblance to Fei Lan. Fresh white chrysanthemums were placed on both sides of the frame, and the incense was changed daily, with white smoke curling upwards.

The boy knelt before the photo and, without a word, kowtowed three times.

Fei Lan didn’t look at the smiling Ai Shu in the photo. He kept his head down, his eyelashes lowered, a shadow extending from the corner of his eye to his temple like a patch of dark cloud.

“Ms. Ai, I think I’ve found someone I want to protect.” Fei Lan said in a low voice, “But the way I am now… it doesn’t seem like I can…”

Fei Lan gave a soft chuckle and slowly said, “He’s too beautiful—so beautiful that he attracts a lot of trouble. His temper isn’t good either, he stirs up trouble every other day. However, he calls me gege so I can’t just leave him be.”

The faint scent of chrysanthemums drifted through the room, and the curtains swayed quietly. After a long while, the boy’s somewhat hoarse voice rang out with absolute resolve in the dim room.

“I want to look after him.”

“I will look after him.”

• 1
  An idiom referring to crabs, which walk sideways. When applied to people, it means they act tyrannically, arrogantly, or do whatever they want without fear of consequences because they have power or backing.
• 2
  Zhang Xian addresses the Principal as “Teacher.” In China, it is common to address principals or mentors as “Teacher” as a sign of respect, or he may have literally been her mentor in the past.