Chapter 9 — The Day the Whole School Went Wild

It was as if none of this was their doing at all, but rather that my speaking out was what had turned a minor incident into a massive scandal. I turned my gaze directly to her and asked, "What if today I had been just an ordinary student?" Jia Yan froze in place.

"If there were no special fund, no grand conference, no school leaders, and no reporters sitting right here."

"Would you have apologized?"

She was completely struck dumb, unable to utter a single syllable. Cheng Hao stood off to the side, suddenly muttering under his breath, "Who could have known her family background was so powerful."

The auditorium fell into a profound silence once more. A cold laugh escaped my lips.

"So you aren't feeling remorseful because you bullied me."

"You are only regretting that you happened to bully the wrong person."

The color drained entirely from Cheng Hao's face. He opened his mouth to retort, but a sharp, warning glare from a nearby teacher silenced him instantly. Committee Leader Shao's pen slashed a heavy, resolute line across his notebook.

"Record that statement as well."

Panic finally set in for Cheng Hao. He realized, with a chilling clarity, that this was no longer a petty classroom dispute between classmates. It was no longer something that could be swept under the rug with a casual remark about not ruining the collective mood of the class. As the designated pause concluded, the emcee walked back onto the stage holding a newly printed script. The segment dedicated to sharing the achievements of the model class was abruptly canceled. The red silk sash was stripped from Jia Yan's chest by a staff member. She stood with her head bowed low, looking as though she had been publicly stripped bare before the entire assembly. The principal sat in the back row, his expression darkening to a terrifying shade. The formal signing ceremony was similarly modified. The emcee announced that the second phase of cooperative agreements with the Affiliated High School would be temporarily suspended, awaiting a thorough reassessment once the investigative results were finalized. A wave of murmurs rippled through the hall. I caught sight of Lan leaning heavily against the wall, her eyes tightly shut. At that exact moment, the heavy rear doors of the auditorium were forcefully pushed open. A woman dressed in a high-end designer pantsuit rushed frantically inside. Her eyes swept the room and instantly locked onto the trembling, tearful figure of Jia Yan standing near the edge of the stage, prompting a shrill, piercing shriek to leave her lips.

"Who on earth is bullying my daughter?"

The woman's voice was sharp and frantic, instantly cutting through the lingering whispers echoing across the hall. When Jia Yan looked up and caught sight of her, it was as if she had finally managed to grab hold of a floating lifeline.

"Mom!"

She sobbed hysterically as she ran down the steps toward the stage. The woman enveloped her in a protective embrace, her face contorted with fierce maternal anguish.

"Jia Yan, why are you crying like this?"

"Who has dared to wrong you?"

Jia Yan could only weep, unable to form any words. The more she cried, the more enraged the woman became. Her hostile gaze swept across the auditorium, rapidly locking onto me, as every eye in the room had naturally gravitated in my direction. She strode forward on the sharp heels of her designer shoes, her eyes as piercing as cold steel blades.

"Are you the one?"

My mother instantly stepped forward, putting herself between the woman and me.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The woman cast a disdainful look up and down at my mother before letting out a sharp, mocking scoff.

"I should be asking what the two of you think you're doing."

"A few children have a minor disagreement, and you've blown it all out of proportion, dragging school leaders into it, making a scene right here in the middle of a conference, and pushing my daughter to such extremes."

"How can people raise children with such vicious hearts?"

My mother's face turned pale with fury. Before she could utter a single word, I stepped past her.

"Madam, do you even know what your daughter has done?"

The woman didn't even bother to cast a glance in my direction.

"I know my own daughter better than anyone."

"She has been a class monitor since she was little, a model student every single year, cherished by all her teachers and peers."

"What could she possibly have done?"

As soon as those words left her mouth, the expressions on the faces of the surrounding teachers turned utterly bizarre. Head Teacher Song furrowed his brow deeply.

"Parent, please take the time to understand the situation first."

The woman snapped her head around toward Song.

"And who are you supposed to be?"

"What situation am I supposed to understand?"

"All I can see is my daughter being cornered here and interrogated by a bunch of adults."

Committee Leader Shao spoke up in a deep, authoritative tone. "Student Jia Yan is suspected of organizing her peers to ostracize, mock, and isolate student Nam Kieu, as well as deliberately withholding ticket purchases during a collective school activity." The woman paused for a brief second. Then, she burst out into an even louder, more derisive laugh.

"Is that seriously all this is about?"

"Just missing a single ticket, and you're making this massive, earth-shattering deal out of it?"

"Kids these days really are acting like fragile little hothouse flowers."

She turned her gaze back toward me.

"Didn't you just miss out on a field trip?"

"I can just pay you back for the ticket and be done with it, right?"

My mother's hands clenched tightly into fists at her sides. I reached out to steady her.

"This is not about money."

The woman immediately cut in, pressing her advantage.

"Oh, so you're looking for compensation instead?"

"Go ahead, name your price. How much do you need?"

A collective gasp of disbelief echoed quietly throughout the auditorium. The tears had not yet dried on Jia Yan's face, but she no longer dared to look in my direction. She clearly knew that every word her mother uttered was only making the situation worse. Yet she lacked the courage to stop her, likely because she had spent her entire life relying on this exact method to forcefully silence and sweep away every wrong she had ever committed. I stared unblinkingly at the woman.

"Your daughter deliberately crossed my name off the roster."

"She mocked me in the class group chat."

"She instructed the entire class to give her posts likes."

"And she colluded with her friends in advance to lie to everyone."

The woman waved a hand in the air with utter impatience.

"How old is she even?"

"A seventeen-year-old girl playing a little practical joke, what of it?"