Chapter 21: The Ice Queen’s Fierce Love(The Cold School Beauty’s Fierce Love)
The culprit likely hadn’t anticipated that, despite his precautions, he would be caught. He had covered his face throughout the entire act, only to slip up on his way back to the locker room.
The high-definition camera had captured every detail, even the moles on his face.
The disciplinary head, taking a photo with his phone, asked, “Which class is he in? Tall fellow. Knew enough to wear a hat.”
The other two teachers, both from the disciplinary office, didn’t recognize him. They shook their heads.
Tao Ning, glancing at the security guard, whose face had paled considerably, turned to Xu Qiuyi. “Do you know him?”
Xu Qiuyi frowned, then said, “I think I’ve seen him somewhere, but I don’t know him. Is he in our year?”
“I think so,” Tao Ning replied.
The disciplinary head said, “I’ve sent the photo to the teachers’ group chat. Someone will recognize him.”
The security guard shifted in his chair. “I need to use the restroom…”
Tao Ning, however, stopped him. “No need to trouble yourself, Mr… Cheng. I’m sure our security guard here can identify him much faster.”
The teachers looked at the guard, who had started to rise from his chair.
“You know this student?” Mr. Cheng asked.
“I don’t,” the guard replied.
Tao Ning and Xu Qiuyi said simultaneously, “Of course, he does.”
The guard glared at Tao Ning, his face reddening. “What proof do you have that I’m protecting him? Even if you’re the chairman’s daughter, you can’t just accuse people without evidence. I’m off duty. What’s the point of this?”
Tao Ning looked at him, feigning surprise. “You two look like you could be twins. It’s a perfectly reasonable assumption. When did I accuse you of protecting him? And if you don’t know him, why are you so nervous? You’re sweating buckets in here, with the AC on full blast.”
520, intrigued, asked, [Is he really sweating?]
Tao Ning replied, “I don’t know. Just a bluff. But he can’t leave now.”
Now that Tao Ning had mentioned it, everyone noticed the sweat stains on the back of his shirt. He was clutching something in his fist, his phone lying untouched on the desk.
He wasn’t overweight, and the room was cool. There was no reason for him to be sweating so profusely.
The guard, exasperated, said, “I told you I need to use the restroom! Don’t you people have anything better to do?”
Xu Qiuyi, suddenly understanding, said, “There’s a saying: ‘Like nephew, like uncle.’”
Tao Ning looked at Xu Qiuyi with an expression of pure gratitude. Having a teammate who understood your tactics was a blessing.
The resemblance between the guard and the student in the photo wasn’t that striking, but Tao Ning’s suggestion had planted the seed of doubt. Whether they were related or not, the guard’s reaction was suspicious.
“Stay here. We need your cooperation,” the disciplinary head said. His phone buzzed, and he looked down at the message. “It’s Wu Zhilin from Class F. His homeroom teacher is at the hospital with his elderly mother, waiting for her surgery. We have a parent’s phone number.”
The disciplinary head tried the number, but it went unanswered.
Another message appeared in the group chat, providing a different number. Clearly, the homeroom teacher had also tried the first number and, in desperation, had contacted a student for a personal number.
The disciplinary head tried the new number. This time, it was answered, the faint sound of traffic audible in the background.
Tao Ning, pushing her rolling chair, nudged the security guard forward. “Speak.”
The guard, his lower back hitting the edge of the desk, stumbled forward, grabbing his back and turning around angrily. “What are you doing?!”
A young male voice on the phone asked, “Uncle? Did you get a new number?”
Voices were often distorted over the phone, but recognizing someone based solely on their voice required familiarity.
The teachers exchanged glances, their expressions serious. The disciplinary head identified himself and instructed the person on the other end to come to the school immediately, with a parent.
As the room quieted, Tao Ning turned to Xu Qiuyi. “Do you remember how many times your photos on the honor roll were defaced?”
The teachers looked at Xu Qiuyi.
Xu Qiuyi, after a moment of thought, replied softly, “Six.”
Tao Ning repeated, “Six.” And this was the first time anyone had bothered to investigate.
It wasn’t that no one had noticed before; it was that no one had made a fuss.
Half an hour later, Wu Zhilin arrived alone, claiming his parents were out of town on business.
Tao Ning said, “Not quite. Isn’t your uncle right here?”
Both Wu Zhilin and the security guard’s faces darkened. Wu Zhilin had been deliberately ignoring the guard since he entered, pretending not to know him.
Glancing at Xu Qiuyi, he asked accusingly, “You reported me, didn’t you?”
He knew Xu Qiuyi had seen him addressing the guard as “uncle” outside the school, while she was handing out flyers for one of her part-time jobs.
Tao Ning spoke up. “I did. Problem?”
Wu Zhilin, seeing who it was, fell silent.
Students were inherently intimidated by teachers, and under the disciplinary head’s questioning, he confessed.
The female teacher repeated his words, incredulous. “You vandalized her photos six times just because you lost a competition spot?” The extent of the damage suggested a deep-seated grudge.
“When did this happen?” the disciplinary head asked.
“Freshman year,” Wu Zhilin mumbled.
Both teachers exclaimed, “Freshman year?!”
Xu Qiuyi said calmly, “I remember now. There were three spots available for that competition. I was first in the qualifying round. You were fourth.” His resentment seemed misplaced.
Wu Zhilin blurted out, “You were the teacher’s assistant! You were close to her! Who knows if she gave you the questions beforehand!”
Xu Qiuyi countered, “And what about the actual competition? Was I also close to the organizers? Did the judges give me the answers so I could win the gold medal?”
Wu Zhilin was speechless, but he still muttered stubbornly, “Who knows…”
“How many times did you do this?” the disciplinary head asked.
Facing the disciplinary head, Wu Zhilin finally showed some restraint. He thought for a moment, then said, “Five or six times. Whenever I was feeling… upset. I know I was wrong. I’ll write an apology. Give me a demerit. I’ll even read it over the school’s PA system.”
He thought he was being cooperative. Most Mingrui students came from privileged backgrounds. While his family wasn’t exceptionally wealthy, they were comfortable. He had never heard of anyone having to read an apology over the PA system.
The female teacher still couldn’t understand. “You vandalized her photos for two years just because you lost one competition spot? Really?”
Wu Zhilin muttered, “You don’t understand! I worked so hard for that competition! And because of that, I ended up in Class F! My parents have been nagging me about it for two years! No one understands!”
Xu Qiuyi, her voice calm, pointed out, “That’s why you started in your sophomore year. So no one would suspect you.”
Or perhaps he had always planned it, and the schedule change in his sophomore year had simply made it more convenient.
He couldn’t accept his own shortcomings, blaming others for his failures, convinced he had tried his best.
Tao Ning, who had been quietly sipping her tea, finally spoke. “Who cares about your apology?”
Setting down her teacup, she said, “In any other school, this kind of bullying would result in suspension, even expulsion. An apology is the bare minimum. Xu Qiuyi has been too kind to bother with you. But you’ve tarnished Mingrui’s reputation. In this digital age, one video, and the entire school’s image could be ruined. Do you think the school board members are going to let this slide? You’re eighteen, aren’t you? Time to act like an adult.”
Wu Zhilin’s face flushed crimson. “You… you’re just using your family’s influence to bully me!”
“Bully you?” Tao Ning smiled. “This isn’t bullying. Let me show you what real bullying looks like.”
She took a step closer, lowering her voice, and whispered something in his ear. Wu Zhilin’s eyes widened, his initial defiance quickly replaced by fear.
He had only heard about the Tao family’s power from his parents, but he had never truly understood it, never felt the fear they expressed, even dismissing it as exaggeration.
It was like an ant trying to comprehend the vastness of a whale. The sheer scale of it, the distance, prevented any real sense of awe or fear.
Until now. Tao Ning’s words, though not entirely clear, filled him with a primal dread.
Tao Ning, her eyes smiling, said, “Don’t let me find out you’ve been careless. Hide your tracks well.”
Wu Zhilin stood frozen, speechless.
Xu Qiuyi, who had never seen this side of Tao Ning, looked at her with a mixture of awe and fascination.
The male teacher, feeling a pang of sympathy, said, “Isn’t this a bit… excessive?”
Tao Ning turned to him, her voice gentle. “I’m sorry, Mr. … but six times, and no one noticed? The seventh time, I’m making a fuss. Just because a wound heals doesn’t mean the pain disappears. Emotional scars are the deepest, often lasting a lifetime. I’m sure you, as an educator, understand the complexities of adolescent psychology.”
Mr. Cheng, a veteran administrator at Mingrui, a master of conflict resolution, waited until Wu Zhilin’s parents landed before calling to inform them that their son had been expelled.
The news sent the already stressed parents into a tailspin.
And that wasn’t the end of it. Mrs. Wu also learned that her half-brother, the security guard, was being investigated for secretly recording students, his memory card containing footage dating back to his first year on the job. The evidence had been handed over to the police, and the school would be pursuing legal action.
Mr. Wu, ignoring his wife’s near-fainting spell, frantically called his superiors, hoping to arrange a meeting with the Tao family to apologize.
Expulsion was a minor inconvenience compared to offending the Tao family’s only daughter.
His superiors, however, were also facing their own problems. Mr. Wu’s niece had been involved in a… uniform-related incident, and the Wu family was facing consequences, albeit minor ones, but enough to create significant tension.
After hanging up, Mr. Wu, his face ashen, shook his head at his wife’s hopeful expression. Their hopes for a reprieve were dashed.
Night had fallen, the stars twinkling in the sky.
Tao Ning, having driven Xu Qiuyi and her bicycle back to Xiao’an Village, stopped at the familiar intersection. This time, Uncle Liu had managed to navigate the narrow streets without incident.
Tao Ning, standing beside the car, asked, “Do you think… I went too far today?”
Xu Qiuyi, her hands gripping the handlebars of her bicycle, had noticed Tao Ning’s tendency to seek her approval. She smiled. “I think you did the right thing. I’d like to… treat you to dinner sometime, to thank you.”
Tao Ning, who had been desperately trying to figure out how to spend the seven-day holiday with Xu Qiuyi, immediately agreed. “Sure! It’s a date! I’ll bring my homework too. I’m more productive when I study with you.”
520, listening to her seamless lies, wanted to roll its non-existent eyes. Who was the person who had efficiently completed her homework alone in her study, then immediately contacted Assistant Zhou for a progress report on her plan?
They said their goodbyes, and Xu Qiuyi, pushing her bicycle, started walking home.
After a short distance, she turned back. The car was still there, the girl in the school uniform standing under the streetlight, waving, urging her to go home.
Xu Qiuyi’s heart skipped a beat, and in that moment, she realized: this was what it felt like to have a crush.
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