Just as Gu Junxing was about to speak, another woman rushed in from behind.
"Who dares to bully my daughter?!" she shouted.
"Mom!"
"Sweetie, who bullied you?" The woman embraced Hao Leyun tightly, her eyes sweeping fiercely across the room.
"It was him, he scolded me!" Hao Leyun pointed at Wang Jiayao's father. She then began to fake cry, "Mom, I'm so scared, wah wah wah."
"Don't be afraid, sweetie. Mom will take care of him!"
Nian Suian noticed Gu Junxing standing dumbfounded at the door and tapped Gu Zhijing to signal that his father had arrived. Unexpectedly, Gu Zhijing misunderstood her intention.
He mimicked Hao Leyun's behavior, rushing over to hug his father and started wailing, even louder than Hao Leyun.
"Waaah waaah waaah, Dad, you're finally here! Your son is being bullied to death!" While buried in his father's embrace, he still managed to point at Wang Jiayao's father, "It's him, it's him who scolded me, Dad. He not only scolded me, but he also insulted you and Mom, waaah waaah ooooh!"
Not to be outdone, Hao Leyun raised her voice too. The principal's office had turned into a stage for their shouting match.
"Waaah waaah waaah, Mommy!!!"
"Daddy, ahhh! Waaah waaah!!!"
"You two little brats, I'll *&@***!!!"
As the noise grew louder, people from neighboring offices came to see what was happening. Principal Ge couldn't take it anymore.
"Everyone! Shut up!" he yelled. "What's all this howling about?! The school won't wrong you!"
The three of them immediately fell silent, as if their throats had been pinched like ducks. The office suddenly became quiet. Gu Zhijing sheepishly let go of his father and retreated behind Nian Suian.
Gu Junxing walked in, nodded to the teachers and the principal, then asked Nian Suian, "Are you okay?"
Nian Suian shook her head and held up the phone she had used to hit someone earlier, "I'm fine, but it's not."
Three minutes later.
"Hao Leyun, you speak first." At times like this, academic performance still mattered. Hao Leyun had ranked first in the district during the high school entrance exams, and she usually behaved well and was polite. Principal Ge didn't believe she would get into a fight.
"This afternoon, I went to feed the stray cats behind the teaching building. Then I heard Wang Jiayao talking to Li Yaxin. Wang Jiayao was asking Li Yaxin to go to a KTV with him after school, but Li Yaxin didn't want to go. He was even getting physical, so I went to help. But I was alone, and Wang Jiayao wouldn't listen to me, so I decided to get help from our class. Li Yaxin is our classmate, and I'm the class monitor. I couldn't let her be bullied!" Hao Leyun held her head high, feeling she had done nothing wrong. "Then I saw Gu Zhijing at the bottom of the teaching building, so I asked him to come with me."
Wang Jiayao's father tried to interrupt Hao Leyun several times but was restrained by Hao Leyun's mother, who kept a firm hand on his shoulder.
Gu Zhijing took this moment to explain to Gu Junxing and Nian Suian why Hao Leyun's mother could subdue Wang Jiayao's aggressive father.
"Hao Leyun once mentioned that her grandparents run a martial arts school."
Nian Suian immediately felt a surge of respect.
Principal Ge then asked Gu Zhijing, "Zhijing, is what Hao Leyun said true?"
"Yes, it's true. At noon, I was coming back from the school store when Hao Leyun called me to help. When I got there, they were still talking. We wanted to take Li Yaxin back to the classroom, but Wang Jiayao wasn't happy about it. He said I was meddling and tried to hit me. That bruise on his face isn't from me hitting him. He tried to punch me, I dodged, and he fell on his own."
"Wang Jiayao, is this how it happened?" Principal Ge asked.
Wang Jiayao hemmed and hawed for a while before saying, "I wasn't bullying Li Yaxin. We're friends. They're the ones who butted in and came at me to fight."
"You hear that? My son was just making friends. What's wrong with that? Does your school forbid friendships?" Wang Jiayao's father finally found a chance to speak.
"Li Yaxin, did Wang Jiayao bully you? It's okay, you don't need to be afraid here." Li Yaxin hadn't been involved in the fight and might have been the victim, so Principal Ge spoke to her gently.
"I... I... I don't know." Everyone in the office - teachers and parents alike - looked at Li Yaxin, hoping she would reveal what really happened. But Li Yaxin couldn't get any words out.
"Just say it! Didn't Wang Jiayao ask you to go to KTV and you said you didn't want to?" Hao Leyun was impatient and wanted Li Yaxin to quickly tell the truth.
"Please don't ask me..." Instead of speaking, Li Yaxin burst into tears.
"Why are you crying?" Hao Leyun stomped her foot in frustration.
"I didn't bully her. Hao Leyun misheard and is falsely accusing me," Wang Jiayao said, growing bolder as Li Yaxin remained silent.
For the next while, Principal Ge and Cen Xi tried to coax Li Yaxin into speaking, but she just silently wiped her tears, saying nothing.
Cen Xi even suggested, "Yaxin, would you like to speak with the teacher privately?"
But it was no use.
"I wish I hadn't helped you!" Hao Leyun said angrily.
"Leyun! Don't say things like that," Hao Leyun's mother admonished her daughter.
With Li Yaxin refusing to speak and both sides of the fight sticking to their stories - not to mention that the area was a blind spot for surveillance cameras - no one could determine exactly what had happened. When they were caught and reported to the teachers, Li Yaxin had been crying on the side while Hao Leyun and Gu Zhijing were arguing with Wang Jiayao.
The situation had reached an impasse. Principal Ge, having no better solution, said, "Well, Wang Jiayao's injuries don't seem too severe. Why don't you all apologize to each other and we'll consider this matter settled? You're all classmates, you should get along."
"Who says it's not severe?! Look at my son's swollen face! What if it leaves a scar? How will you compensate for that?!" Wang Jiayao's father yelled.
"Then let's get a medical examination," Gu Junxing, who had been quiet until now, spoke up. "A medical exam should be able to determine whether the injury was caused by another person or from falling. If we're responsible, we won't shirk our duty. But if he fell on his own, there's no need to falsely accuse anyone."
Hao Leyun's mother scoffed, "There's no need for an exam. I can tell at a glance that his injury is from falling. I grew up in a martial arts school - I know what injuries from fighting look like."
"I fell on my own!" Wang Jiayao lowered his head. "I accidentally fell. Teacher, can we just drop this matter?"
"Hey! You stupid kid, what do you mean 'drop it'? Would you have fallen if it weren't for those two?" his father interjected.
"Then what happened between you and Li Yaxin? Is what Hao Leyun said true?" Principal Ge pressed.
"Teacher, I did invite Li Yaxin to hang out, but I didn't bully her," Wang Jiayao insisted.
Hao Leyun, a girl with a strong sense of justice, immediately retorted, "Li Yaxin already said she didn't want to go!"
"Don't you understand flirting? Haven't you ever been in a relationship?" Wang Jiayao directed these words at Hao Leyun, but his eyes were fixed on Li Yaxin.