“Hello, everybody.” Zheng BuLu stepped forward and greeted all the students.

  The group who had been reviewing their papers looked up and saw Zheng PingQing’s dad. Though things were currently a little awkward, everyone still had to be polite. They all nodded their head in greeting. “Hello, Uncle.”


  Zheng BuLu walked over and looked at all the textbooks and exercise books scattered in their desks. He said in a remorseful tone: “I’m sorry about what happened just now. I hope you don’t mind.”


  He YiJun also came over and stood next to Zheng BuLu. She apologized and said: “Truthfully, we love to have PingQing’s friends over. We really are delighted that so many of his friends are visiting……”


  She paused, then reluctantly continued: “I sadly heard some words from your school teacher and misunderstood your intentions. Please forgive me.”


  Guo DangLi and Li Gao looked at each other after hearing her words. They all felt a little guilty.

  Lin Qian was the only one who looked at He YiJun with a puzzled expression on his face. “What did our teacher say that caused Auntie to have such a huge misunderstanding?”


  Naturally, it was impossible for He YiJun to repeat those words. Especially now that she was very unsure about the validity of the things she heard. If she said those things and made an even worse impression on Zheng PingQing’s friends……

  So He YiJun could only smile apologetically and vaguely say: “I think your teacher didn’t do it intentionally. You senior students are under a lot of pressure, and all the teachers probably take your grades a little too seriously. As long as a student’s grades drop a bit, a teacher will inevitably complain a few times. After gossip passes through several people, misunderstandings will naturally occur.”


  Her words were quite clever. She didn’t say anything specific, but neither did she implicate herself. She simply pushed all the responsibility towards the unnamed teacher without outright blaming them.

  “Really?” Lin Qian’s expression grew even more confused. He placed a hand on the table and gently tapped on its surface with a finger. “My dad is one of Zheng PingQing’s teachers. How come I’ve never heard him, or any other teacher, complain?”


  He YiJun: “.……” I was too careless! Why is there a wild teacher’s son here?!

  Lin Qian continued his mental torture of her: “Which teacher complained? I’ll go back and tell my dad about this irresponsible teacher.”


  Xu Yao angrily followed up with: “It’s too much. It’s already bad enough that this teacher doesn’t reflect on their actions, but now they’re flinging baseless accusations on innocent students?!”


  Zheng Pingqing glanced at Xu Yao. He was pretty sure that his brother-in-law didn’t actually understand this showdown between Lin Qian and He YiJun. Xu Yao was just fighting for everyone from the bottom of his heart.

  Ever since Xu Yao had started tutoring the underachievers, Xu Yao had begun to feel protective of them. He wouldn’t allow any baseless slander to hurt these students.

  What an innocent and adorable assist from brother-in-law, ah.

  Of course, He YuJin had just wanted to find a justifiable reason to keep her reputation clean. She hadn’t expected these students to be so serious regarding the matter. Xu Yao’s passionate speech gave her no other choice but to respond. Fortunately, she was a woman who had rich experience in manipulative spiels. In a slightly admonishing tone, she said: “I think it’s better if I keep quiet. I don’t want to worsen your relationship with this particular teacher as it might affect your studies.”


  She looked so sincere that it made some students speechless. It was as if she genuinely was doing it for their sakes.

  “Uh……” Lin Qian looked at her oddly. “But then things are quite baffling to me, ah. You were the one who mentioned that teacher in the first place. If you were afraid of this affecting our relationship with this teacher, then why……”


  Lin Qian seemed very confused. “I don’t know if you do want to tell us, or if you don’t……”


  He YiJun: “.……”


  While He YiJun was in a daze, another male student suddenly spoke up. Lou XingGuang pointed to the idioms written in his exercise book and, like an eager child, asked his tutor Tang WanQi: “Teacher WanQi, would the idiom ‘Retreat to advance’ describe the situation better, or does ‘In order to capture, one must let loose’ fit more?”


  Tang WanQi took a moment to think about it seriously, then answered: “I think ‘behaving ridiculous’ would be more appropriate.”


  He YiJun: “.……” These students……I guess students who make friends with Zheng PingQing aren’t earnest students after all!

  Who the hell are you mocking!

  Zheng BuLu’s expression began to darken again as he turned to He YiJun. “Why are you hesitating to answer? That student is right. This kind of irresponsible teacher should be called out. Otherwise, more students will end up getting harmed in the future!”


  Honestly, He YiJun didn’t want to bring up the teacher again, but she had wanted to show that she was concerned about the wellbeing of these children. But who knew that this handsome boy’s brain was weird? All his words made her look like a hypocrite.

  Phrases like ‘Retreat to advance’ and ‘In order to capture, one must let loose,’ and even ‘behaving ridiculous’ all sounded like barbs particularly targeted towards her!

  Fortunately, she really did hear those bad comments from someone else. She smiled at Zheng BuLu and reached out to stroke his arm. “Well, don’t you remember last semster, when PingQing got into a little argument with his math teacher? I dealt with it personally. That’s when the math teacher said……”


  He YiJun sighed. “I think that math teacher just said those things in a temporary fit of anger.”


  Truthfully, He YiJun hadn’t actually met this ‘math teacher.’ The news about Zheng PingQing’s fight came from the Principal of No.12. However, she was being questioned heavily right now, and she urgently needed to restore Zheng BuLu’s confidence in her. So in the end, she placed all the blame on this math teacher.

  In any case, that argument between Zheng PingQing and the math teacher was real. Zheng BuLu was even informed of the matter.

  As expected, Zheng BuLu’s expression lightened a little after he heard He YiJun’s words. He YiJun’s words made sense. After all, he could still remember that particular incident quite clearly. It seems that the math teacher had a lasting grudge against Zheng PingQing and had tried to make trouble for his son.

  Zheng BuLu’s eyes held a trace of anger as he said: “That teacher……”


  But he hadn’t even finished when the handsome student spoke up again. “Auntie, why are you talking nonsense again?”


  He YiJun was stunned. She realized that the atmosphere had subtly shifted, and all the student’s faces were now showing angry expressions.

  A completely clueless He YiJun: ????

  He YiJun decided to bite the bullet and jokingly asked: “Do you doubt this auntie’s words?”


  “I do.” Lin Qian raised a brow, his eyes gentle but firm as he said: “Zheng PingQing’s math teacher is my dad.”


  He YiJun: ??!!!

  While the other students looked at her with contempt, Xu Yao became even more furious. “Thankfully, you said those pleasant words; otherwise, we might’ve taken you seriously!”


  Dong MingEn also said: “I know this must be a bit embarrassing for you, but we all have a good relationship with Teacher Lin. Every day, Teacher Lin would stay in school for an extra half hour just to help us study.”


  Although the rest of the group didn’t open their mouths, the scowls on their faces said it all.

  The students of Class 7 were especially angry. Teacher Lin was their Boss’s father and was, in a sense, their grandfather. Now, this random auntie dared to badmouth their grandfather? How can these wannabe old-school gangsters take such an insult?

  He YiJun didn’t dare look at Zheng BuLu. She could already feel his cold aura, making her shiver.

  “YiJun, when you told me about that incident, I don’t think you explained the situation properly?” Zheng BuLu’s voice was calm, but after more than a decade of working for this man, He YiJun knew that the calmer he sounded, the more dangerous the situation was.

  “Well, well……” He YiJun desperately wanted to defend herself, but she just couldn’t find a way out. This was the fault of her cleverness and bad luck. Now, even if she says that it was another teacher, Zheng BuLu wouldn’t believe her.

  He YiJun wanted to cry, but had no tears.

  During this critical moment, her brother, He Fei, came back.

  “Brother Zheng, Sister, I bought some snacks.” He Fei ran upstairs with two huge plastic bags and an accomplished smile on his face. “I specifically drove further out to order from RongJia. They’ll be delivered here later. I bought these first so the students will have something to eat while they wait.”


  RongJia was the most high-end, large-scale local eatery in the area. It was a little far, but the quality of their dishes was superb.

  When He YiJun sent him off to buy some food, there was a trace of madness in her tone. He Fei wasn’t stupid. He decided to take the effort to go to the best eatery in the area so that Zheng BuLu wouldn’t be able to find fault in him this time.

  When he ran to the second floor, He Fei just wanted to drop the bags off to the students, but when he arrived, he noticed that the atmosphere in the room wasn’t quite right. All the students looked at him when he entered, but they all stared at him coldly, without a trace of joy.

  He Fei slowly turned towards Zheng BuLu and saw that the man’s expression was even worse than the students. A rigid He Fei and an indifferent Zheng BuLu stared at each other for a while. Then Zheng BuLu suddenly said: “Do you know how long you’ve been out? Do you want Zheng PingQing’s classmates to starve to death?”


  He Fei: “.……??”


  He’d only been out for less than an hour. Can’t these students live off some snacks for another half hour?

  He Fei once again turned to his sister. This time, He YiJun didn’t pretend not to notice his gaze. Instead, she actually helped Zheng BuLu scold him: “Little Fei, are you always this slow?! Apologize to these kids!”


  He Fei: “.……?????” Wasn’t this what she hinted at him before?

  He Fei didn’t know, but He YiJun was currently feeling just as bitter as he was. She really can’t help it, ah. Wouldn’t it be better if Zheng BuLu focused all his anger towards He Fei and forgot about her?

  He YiJun really couldn’t figure out how things ended this way. Just a few days ago, she was like a fish back in water. Yet now, she was experiencing several setbacks all at once?

  And she was utterly helpless because it was a situation of her own making……

  Zheng BuLu had always focused on his work more than anything else. He was used to solving problems not related to his work by throwing money at it. He neither had the time, desire, or energy to understand situations outside his company.

  It was He YiJun, a relative of Chen ShiYi, who helped him keep his work in order before the divorce. And after the divorce, it was He YiJun who helped take care of his family. She was intelligent, capable, and, most of all, after all these years of service to Zheng BuLu’s company, trustworthy. Therefore, Zheng BuLu hadn’t kept an eye on her. He always listened to her advice and honestly hadn’t thought deeply about her actions.

  However, after what happened today, with his son’s obvious abnormal actions, He YiJun’s twisting words……Zheng BuLu felt that he had to reexamine certain things.

  Zheng BuLu was a smart man. He couldn’t have accomplished so much in life otherwise. It was just that he hadn’t thought about his personal life too deeply. But now that he seriously thought about it, some seemingly hidden clues began to unravel.

  All of a sudden, a hunch came to Zheng BuLu. But he didn’t dare make such conclusions so quickly.

  “PingQing, come here. Dad wants to talk to you.” Before he did anything, he had to talk to his son.

  Although Zheng BuLu had been negligent with his family relationships, how can he not know his own son’s personality?

  The father-son pair went to the study. Zheng BuLu stood around, thinking about how to start the conversation. In the end, Zheng PingQing spoke first: “Dad, did you want to ask me if I deliberately targeted He YiJun?”


  Just like Zheng BuLu, Zheng PingQing knew his father. In fact, he knew his father far better than Zheng BuLu knew his son. After all, Zheng PingQing had ten extra years to understand him.

  He knew that his dissatisfaction with He YiJun couldn’t be concealed from Zheng BuLu, and honestly, Zheng PingQing didn’t want to hide it.

  Zheng BuLu was stunned at Zheng PingQing’s straightforwardness. His son was unexpectedly sharp. Zheng BuLu asked: “Did you?”


  “I did.” Zheng PingQing nodded with an uncaring expression. “I was so obvious, couldn’t you tell?”


  Zheng PingQing clicked his tongue and scornfully added: “I don’t believe it.”


  Zheng BuLu: “.……” It seems that his acting skills had become more refined.

  But Zheng BuLu didn’t get angry. Instead, he talked with Zheng PingQing a bit more, and afterward, he was led to the answer he had already long suspected. Zheng BuLu sighed. “I got it.”


  Zheng PingQing raised a brow. “Do you really? You don’t need me to dumb it down for you?”


  Zheng BuLu: “.……” Ah, this familiar feeling. His son was back to dragging people’s pride through the mud and down the ocean trench.

  Zheng BuLu replied: “I’ll think about it a little more.”


  He YiJun had followed him for so many years. She had been his most powerful right-hand man. He even let her brother into his company. So many revelations happened in such a small window that Zheng BuLu needed time to digest.

  Zheng PingQing understood. The adult world was filled with self-interest, half-truths, and unclear disputes. All in all, Zheng PingQing didn’t care anymore. Whatever Zheng BuLu intends to do has nothing to do with him. What’s more important to him was strength.

  Zheng PingQing wanted to be strong.

  Strong enough to shelter the people around him from the wind and rain.

  Zheng PingQing gave his father a fist pump. “Then think about it, then get back to me. Be brave and courageously join my team!”


  Zheng BuLu: “.……” What his son said wasn’t wrong, but why is it that he couldn’t help but feel that something was amiss!

  “I’m going back to study.” Zheng PingQing finished, then ambled out of the study.

  “Wait.” Zheng BuLu called out.

  Zheng PingQing looked back. “Ah?”


  With a deadpan expression on his face, Zheng BuLu said: “Call He Fei over, I want to yell at him some more.”


  The author has something to say:

  He Fei: I don’t think the script is right.

  Zheng BuLu: What’s wrong with it? I scold you on the surface, but in fact……well, I scold you some more!

  He Fei: ????