Chapter 21: The School Bully Challenges the Head Teacher

“We’ve already been punished by having to stand, what more do you want? Do you only feel satisfied if we’re sent to stand in the principal’s office?”

Yan Chang had been holding back his anger toward Jiang Changyuan for a long time, just as Jiang had been tolerating him. Since arriving a month ago, every time Yan Chang taught Chinese, he made it a point to question Jiang and his friends. Whenever they failed to answer or recite properly, they were promptly punished by standing up. It was obvious to any observer that Yan was settling personal scores under the guise of discipline.

Previously, Jiang had been too stunned by his own villainous fate to pay attention to Yan. But now that he controlled the direction of his destiny, he intended to get even.

“As a student, you refuse to obey the rules, and as the head teacher, I have every right to discipline you,” Yan declared fiercely. “Even if the principal came today, you’d still have to stand!”

Jiang Changyuan, who had arrived late, had unwittingly handed Yan a golden opportunity.

“You have every right to manage your students as their head teacher, but may I ask what wrong we just committed?”

“If everyone is in class, and you’re outside talking and disturbing others, that’s wrong!”

“Jiang, why don’t we just stand further away?” The chubby boy tugged at Jiang’s sleeve, knowing that they never came out of encounters with Yan unscathed, so his first instinct was to avoid confrontation.

Jiang shrugged off the sleeve and shot him a sharp glare. This traitor always poked his nose in where it wasn’t needed, but bailed when it mattered.

“Why should we stand further away? This isn’t his private school.”

“If we stand further away on our own accord, that petty little man will accuse us of leaving without permission and find some new way to punish us.”

His sarcastic remark struck a nerve with Yan, who snapped back, “Being punished for standing and still disturbing other students during class, and now you’re disrespecting your teacher after being reprimanded!”

“If you don’t bring your parents here today, expect a formal demerit!”

Jiang had been called to bring his parents before, but never did; he even filled in his own number on the enrollment form. Yan was certain he wouldn’t call his parents, so a demerit was inevitable. Today, Yan wanted to make it clear: in this class, he was always in charge.

“Don’t point your finger at me,” Jiang said coldly, prying Yan’s hand away.

Coincidentally, Jiang wanted Yan to understand that this school bully wasn’t just unchallenged in Class One, but no one in the whole school dared to defy him.

“You…” Yan was about to retort.

“Others sit to study, but if we stand, does that mean we aren’t learning?” Jiang fired back.

“Yes, we were late, and that’s our fault, but we have apologized. Being late by half a second shouldn’t mean we have to stand.”

Before Yan could even open his mouth, Jiang launched a rapid-fire barrage of words.

“I know you can’t stand us, but we want to study and not hold the class back. Have you given us a chance?”

“Tomorrow, no secrets — as a teacher…”

From professional ethics to personal character and behavior, Jiang quoted with quick, reasoned statements, each sentence perfectly logical.

The chubby boy’s face was full of shock. Jiang had been secretly studying again?

Meanwhile, classmates peeked and whispered, and Gu Qing curiously glanced through the window at Jiang, who had his back turned.

Something seemed different.

Su Yingying lowered her eyes to her text but listened intently to the voices outside, feeling uplifted. She thought Jiang’s arguments were reasonable, and that the head teacher was making a mountain out of a molehill.

At the same time, the dispute distracted students in Classes Two and Three; Class Two was in the middle of a math lesson.

“Quiet, pay attention!” Zhou Caiyi tapped the lectern. Outside, Yan finally spoke up, refusing to admit fault.

“Fine, if you think you’re right, let’s go to the principal and settle this. Dare to go?”

“For a small matter like this, you think the principal is as free as you?”

“If you’re scared, just say so. You’re a middle-aged man, a head teacher, and you can’t even tell right from wrong?”

“You…” Yan was about to press on Jiang’s mistakes to suppress him, but Zhou Caiyi couldn’t take it anymore.

“Teacher Yan, if you need to discipline the students, please do it after class in the office. Don’t disturb other classes, okay?”

“Sorry for interrupting Teacher Zhou’s lesson.”

Faced with Zhou Caiyi, Yan immediately shifted into a well-behaved guise, a stark contrast to his earlier attitude toward Jiang.

Jiang’s eyes flicked, and suddenly he bent down, pressing the chubby boy’s head.

“Sorry, Teacher Zhou. It’s all because of Lu Hai and me that you couldn’t teach properly. We apologize to you and Class Two.”

“Ah? Teacher Zhou, sorry…”

The chubby boy was dumbfounded; politeness didn’t fit his school bully image.

Zhou Caiyi, who had been about to return to class, relaxed her brow.

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault.”

Her subconscious blamed Yan, right?

Yan’s eyes darkened with displeasure. He was educating his own students; what did it have to do with Zhou Caiyi?

“Teacher Zhou, you were about to—”

“Teacher Yan, don’t blame me for speaking out. This was just a small matter about their being late.”

“Standing for one lesson is enough. Making a big fuss would only make the kids feel wronged. Besides, Jiang and Lu Hai have been studying hard recently.”

Zhou Caiyi originally didn’t want to interfere further—after all, Yan was the head teacher and had more authority. But seeing Jiang so polite and remembering his recent enthusiasm in math class, she couldn’t help but support him.

Unlike Yan, who only cared about his own interests, she wanted to help any student who still showed hope.

“They…”

“Teacher Zhou is right. Recently, Jiang and the others have been performing well. They actively raise their hands in my class too,” chimed in the history teacher from Class Three standing at the door.

“Thank you, Teacher Zhou and Teacher Li. But whatever punishment the head teacher imposes, we are students and will obey,” Jiang said, blowing out a breath of green tea from 1982.

Yan clenched his teeth; Jiang had said everything—was he just making trouble for no reason?

“Teachers, please return to class. I assure you they won’t disrupt your lessons anymore.”

With that, Zhou Caiyi and Teacher Li silently returned to their classrooms.

Speaking well of Jiang was the most they could do without causing a rift with Yan.

“You two stand at the corner. Don’t return to the classroom until after morning dismissal!”

Yan’s gaze darkened, his face clouded with fury he had no outlet for.

His anger wasn’t that he hadn’t taken the chance to properly discipline Jiang, but that Jiang’s words had been heard by others, humiliating him.

A “bad student” taking the initiative to study?

He didn’t believe such nonsense for a second!

The next lesson was math, coincidentally the mock exam. Zhou Caiyi used this as an excuse to bring the two in.

“Damn it, Yan’s always targeting us. Even in Class Two he makes me stand at the back every day.”

“Today, he openly tormented Jiang. Jiang, shall we teach him a lesson?”

In the cafeteria, a group of Jiang’s followers were riled up, clamoring to vent their anger on his behalf.

But no one noticed the person sitting beside them, who was quietly listening in.