Chapter 20 Part 3/3
Jiang Siyi’s fighting skills were honed from a young age.
As a child, she was often bullied, called a wild child, a kid with no one to care for her.
At first, Little Jiang would remain silent, ignoring the insults. But when she got angry, she would pick up pebbles and throw them.
After pretending for so long, she eventually started fighting for real.
But Little Jiang was kind. Under normal circumstances, she would only use her words, unless she encountered a particularly nasty person, like this bull.
Only then would she raise her precious hand—
“Holy crap, Jiang Siyi, are you trying to kill him!?”
A backpack flew through the air, hitting Tieniu squarely on the head. He stumbled, about to retaliate, when Jiang Siyi grabbed him by the neck, pinned him to the ground, and slapped him several times.
“What else?” The girl sneered. “With your scrawny body, you dare to challenge me?”
Although Tieniu’s name sounded tough, he was as thin as a rail and shorter than Jiang Siyi. His face flushed red with anger, his head ringing from the slaps.
“Stop, stop, stop!”
He tasted blood in his throat and, feeling scared, quickly surrendered.
“I was wrong, okay! Stop hitting me!”
The girl punched him in the chin one more time before releasing him, looking down at him condescendingly. “Didn’t you say you wanted to fight me?”
“Is that all you’ve got?”
Tieniu hadn’t expected her to be so strong and agile, like a leopard.
He shakily stood up, his hands scraped from the track.
Seeing him lower his head, not daring to speak, Jiang Siyi didn’t bother talking to him either. She picked up her backpack, dusted it off, and walked back to the classroom building.
The first class was history. Figuring she had missed most of it, she went to the bathroom to wash her hands.
After washing them four times, she finally dried her hands and opened her backpack for a tissue.
Then she saw that the fruit and snacks Shen Shiwu had packed for her were a mess.
She must have lost control during the fight.
Jiang Siyi frowned, took out the crushed strawberries and cherries from the bottom of her bag, rinsed them, and put them back in the lidless container, pressing them down.
As for the cookies… seeing how crumbled they were, she went outside and ate them.
Damn Tieniu.
You better not mess with me again, or I’ll put you in the ICU for a few days!
Little Jiang fumed, crunching on the matcha-flavored cookies, not noticing someone approaching from behind.
A classic replay.
“Eating something so delicious? Share some with your teacher?”
No way, this is the food my girlfriend packed for me. I don’t even want to share it with myself.
Jiang Siyi almost blurted it out, then realized her mistake and quickly turned around. Seeing who it was, she sighed inwardly—
Little Jiang, you’re doomed again.
It was break time, and many teachers, finding it too cold to go outside, were staying in the office, grading papers and gossiping.
“Teacher, she beat me up!” Wang Tieniu wailed, tears and snot streaming down his face. Fu Jing clicked her tongue and tossed him some tissues. “Stop crying!”
Jiang Siyi stood beside them, bored to the point of almost bouncing on her feet.
“Come on, Jiang Siyi, tell me what happened.”
“Teacher, I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!”
“You shut up. All you do is cry and whine, it’s annoying.”
Tieniu pouted and said, “Okay.”
“He challenged me to a fight, and I taught him a lesson.” Jiang Siyi’s explanation was concise, not wanting to waste any words.
She appeared nonchalant, as if she didn’t care about the punishment, but her hands, clasped behind her back, were discreetly massaging several bruises.
She had always been ruthless with herself.
“So the root cause is that Wang Tieniu challenged Jiang Siyi to a fight, right!?” Fu Jing rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. “Fighting in your senior year, I’m speechless.”
After sighing, she found it rather amusing and said to the boy, “So you challenged someone to a fight, lost, and then ran to tell the teacher?”
Wang Tieniu, simple-minded, couldn’t understand and still felt foolishly confident. He thought that with his injuries, his bruised and swollen face and the slap marks, the teacher would feel sorry for him!
And then she would take his side!
He pointed at his face. “Because I’m much more injured than her.”
Everyone present was speechless at his logic: “…”
“What can you do if you’re weak? Can’t even play fair, and then you run to tell the teacher.” Jiang Siyi rolled her eyes, thinking how wonderful it would be if all the other college entrance exam candidates were as “smart” as him.
“You asked for it, what else can I say? It’s your own fault.” Fu Jing didn’t want to deal with this anymore. She had wanted them to apologize to each other and be done with it, as she still had to prepare for her lessons.
But Wang Tieniu insisted on getting justice. “I called my mom. She’s on her way.”
Jiang Siyi was speechless, feeling utterly exhausted.
Her anger flared, and she was about to unleash a torrent of curses, but then she remembered Shen Shiwu’s words about behaving herself at school and paying attention in class.
She swallowed her words.
Tieniu’s mother arrived twenty minutes later, her hair permed, large round earrings dangling from her ears, sparkling.
She barged into the office. “Tieniu, what happened? Did someone beat you up?”
Fu Jing pulled over a chair for her to sit down and explained the situation.
The woman was silent for a moment, then grabbed Wang Tieniu’s ear and started scolding him. “Why did you go around picking fights? Don’t you have anything better to do, like practice problems?”
Tieniu hadn’t expected this.
He yelled, “Mom, that hurts! You’re pulling on my wounds!”
The woman finally examined his face.
At the same time, the office door opened again. Jiang Siyi, enjoying the show, didn’t bother turning around, thinking it was a student coming to correct their homework.
Until her head was patted.
Jiang Siyi froze, turned around, and saw Shen Shiwu standing behind her.
The woman must have just come from a meeting, as she was still wearing her silver-rimmed glasses, which accentuated her bright red lips.
Tieniu was still being scolded, the noise making Shen Shiwu frown, her mood seemingly sour.
She caressed Jiang Siyi’s face. “I’m here, don’t be afraid.”
Little Jiang, a seasoned fighter, wasn’t afraid of a little brawl. But now, her voice softened inexplicably.
She sniffed and mumbled in response.
“Shen Shiwu,”
“Someone bullied me.”
With so many people in the office, Shen Shiwu suppressed her urge to do something. She said softly, “Go back to your classroom, okay?”
Jiang Siyi tugged on her sleeve. “Why?”
Shen Shiwu wouldn’t say it was because she was afraid of scaring Tieniu’s mother.
She gently scratched the girl’s nose. “I have your schedule. It’s math class now.”
Jiang Siyi, acutely aware of the pressure of senior year, didn’t hesitate any longer. She glanced back at the scene and left the office.
The moment the door closed, Wang Tieniu yelled, “Why did she get to leave!?”
Shen Shiwu’s expression turned icy as she walked towards him, her voice sharp. “Now, let’s talk about your expulsion.”
Never provoke the Shen family.
This was a long-standing saying in Qinan City.
When Wang Tieniu walked out of the office, his eyes were vacant, his lips trembling. His legs gave way, and he almost knelt down.
He had been expelled.
Without even needing the principal’s approval.
Just like that.
His mother was still yelling in the office, saying how could they find a new school for her son with only a few months left until the college entrance exam!
Shen Shiwu sat calmly in her chair and said slowly, “My child was bullied like this. Expelling your son is already lenient.”
“Your sister wasn’t even injured!”
“And I already scolded Tieniu. He was clearly in the wrong…”
Only three people remained in the office now; the other teachers had discreetly left, afraid of getting involved and losing their jobs.
“Isn’t that enough?”
Shen Shiwu glanced at her. “There are consequences for one’s actions. It’s a simple principle.”
Fu Jing wanted to say something, but didn’t dare, screaming inwardly—
No one told her that Jiang Siyi’s guardian was the Shen heiress!
Remembering how she had scolded Jiang Siyi almost every day, her heart pounded, and she remained silent.
…
After the matter was resolved, Shen Shiwu didn’t leave immediately, but waited outside the classroom for Jiang Siyi.
Seeing the girl rush out, she instinctively wanted to pull her into a hug.
But they were at school, so she had to maintain a distance, at least not be too obvious.
“You haven’t left yet?” Jiang Siyi asked, bouncing on her toes, clearly in a good mood.
Shen Shiwu was about to speak when her gaze fell on the girl’s right hand.
Her voice was low. “What happened to your hand?”
Jiang Siyi quickly shoved her hand into her pocket and shook her head. “Nothing.”
Seeing the change in Shen Shiwu’s expression, she had no choice but to show her hand.
The girl’s skin was fair and smooth, making the bruise on her hand even more prominent.
Actually, I did it to myself.
Jiang Siyi thought, but didn’t say it out loud.
She looked into Shen Shiwu’s eyes, seeing a mix of emotions she couldn’t decipher, and thought silently—
Are you…feeling heartsore for me?
Are you going to comfort me and coax me now?
Little Jiang felt smug, thinking that hurting herself had been worth it.
It was break time, and students were passing by in the hallway. Shen Shiwu’s black coat stood out among the sea of school uniforms.
The woman held the girl’s hand for a moment before letting go.
Her eyes were deep and unreadable, and Jiang Siyi felt a sense of unease, as if shrouded in fog.
The girl looked away, but Shen Shiwu continued to watch her.
After a long moment, Jiang Siyi’s wrist was grasped, and she was led to a secluded corner at the stairwell.
Making sure no one was around and that they were in a blind spot for the security cameras, Shen Shiwu gently kissed her hair.
“You were bullied. Why didn’t you come to me immediately?”
Jiang Siyi thought, I wasn’t really bullied, it was all an act.
But she changed her words. “Because I didn’t want to trouble you.”
Shen Shiwu seemed to sigh and then pinched her earlobe. “So, from now on, if you need to use the bathroom, are you also going to be afraid of troubling me and just hold it in?”
Jiang Siyi’s mind went blank.
Completely short-circuited.
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