In the alley, inside the school’s iron fence, students were whispering to each other.

“…Wow, although I knew Su Qing was a love-struck fool, I didn’t expect her to be this bad. She actually rode an electric motorcycle out for a spin. Doesn’t she fear something bad happening? You can’t even dig that out of the ground if it gets stuck!” Zhao Xiaxia complained.

“She probably didn’t think about that at all. All she has in her mind is love.”

Jiang Yue sucked down her milk tea in a storm. After all, the police had already called the principal, so if she didn’t finish it now, they might end up in trouble if the principal still had time to deal with them.

—But there was no way they were going to stop gossiping and head back to the dorm. That was simply impossible!

They still wanted to see how it would unfold!

“By the way, what’s Ye Wangxing doing here? He doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Zhou Mu, right?” Zhao Xiaxia asked in confusion.

Zhang Le, sitting next to her, knew a bit about the situation. “It seems like he had an argument with Yan Yi and Nan Jiu. He was planning to go with Zhou Mu to the arcade to relax. Though, I think Zhou Mu is probably holding in some despicable intentions but hasn’t found a chance to tell him.”

Zhao Xiaxia and Jiang Yue immediately understood. The entire class knew about the argument between these three. Yan Yi and Nan Jiu’s emotions were off, and Ye Wangxing wasn’t in a good mood either.

It was easy to understand how they got the chance.

However…

Zhao Xiaxia and Jiang Yue looked at Ye Wangxing, who was sitting there like a poor puppy, his arms crossed and staring at the scene, feeling sorry for him.

But they didn’t pay him too much attention. They turned back to watch Zhou Mu and Su Qing.

—After all, those two were acting like they were performing on stage, calling each other’s names in the most miserable way possible.

If you didn’t know better, you’d think one of them had gotten caught by the police and was being pinned against the wall, still being defiant.

“By tomorrow, the whole school will be talking about them. The way they’re shouting each other’s names is like calling a soul,” Li Jun scratched his ear and said.

By the time Principal Zheng arrived after receiving the news, the alley had turned into something like a zoo.

Police officers, both young and old, eagerly watched the students they had apprehended. Some were even reminiscing, excitedly bragging about how their methods back in the day were much more effective than what the students were doing now.

“…Now, it’s really like every generation is worse than the last. Oh, here comes Zheng Jie.”

The most excited officer turned around and saw Principal Zheng appear at the entrance of the alley. He cheerfully greeted her and then lifted Zhou Mu, who was still struggling, in a Simba pose.

“Zheng Jie, look, it’s your student!”

Principal Zheng: “…”

Zhou Mu, who had been lifted up, stopped struggling and stopped calling Su Qing’s name.

He was so embarrassed he could die. Not only had he failed to escape, but now, being caught by the police and lifted like this—exposed in front of everyone—felt almost like a public execution.

From the student crowd further away, several people couldn’t help but laugh out loud, and some even started singing: “Hasten, ya, ma wa li ji wa wa.”

In the end, it was Principal Zheng who saved him.

“…Let him down for now. He’s still your junior after all.”

Principal Zheng spoke in a slightly affectionate tone.

The officer, still grinning, put Zhou Mu down and quickly grabbed him as he tried to escape, saying: “When I was skipping class, I never got caught.”

Principal Zheng sighed but didn’t say anything else. The other officers came up to greet her.

“Good evening, Principal Zheng, thank you for your hard work.”

Principal Zheng, with a tired face and disheveled clothes, clearly having rushed over from home, rubbed her forehead and said: “It’s you all who’ve worked hard. You finally get a little late-night snack, and you end up running into something like this.”

The officers were about to be polite when the first officer to greet her laughed and said: “Zheng Jie, it’s no big deal. Actually, it’s been a bit of a relief for us. We’ve been on overtime for three days, and our nerves are about to snap.”

The other officers nodded in agreement, chiming in with the deputy captain.

“That’s right, Principal. If you need anything, just call us. We’ve been bored out of our minds with all this overtime.”

Principal Zheng naturally wasn’t going to treat the police officers like laborers. After a bit of small talk, she finally got to the situation.

“…This kid wanted to apologize to his girlfriend, so he decided to take her for a ride on an electric motorcycle. And his girlfriend actually agreed.”

When the deputy captain said this, his tone was as calm as possible, but you could tell he was still somewhat incredulous.

No matter how long he’d dealt with these yellow-haired punks, he couldn’t understand their logic—let alone their girlfriends’ logic.

“His girlfriend? Who?” Principal Zheng frowned as she looked at Zhou Mu, who looked utterly defeated.

The female officer quickly pointed her out to her. “It’s that girl over there, the one who looks sweet and innocent.”

Principal Zheng didn’t know them well, but when the deputy captain mentioned they were from Class 2-3, she immediately recalled something.

Still, it wasn’t a deep impression. After all, every year had students like this.

“Such a young age, and already learning how to skip class. Go stand over there for now. We’ll deal with you in a bit.”

So she just furrowed her brow, her face showing a look of disappointment as she spoke, but didn’t treat her any differently. She just asked her to stand with the other students who had been caught, and they would be taken away later.

A reluctant and disheveled Su Qing walked over to where Zhou Mu and the others were standing.

It was the first time she was treated like a bad student, and even the teacher didn’t give her special treatment, which made Su Qing’s tears well up in her eyes.

She wanted Zhou Mu to comfort her, but at that moment, Zhou Mu was too caught up in his own mess to console anyone.

She could only think that it was normal for the principal not to recognize students and not to give special treatment, whether they were good students or bad students, they were all the same in Principal Zheng’s eyes, unless they were as strong as Yan Yi.

But before she could comfort herself further, she heard Principal Zheng’s incredulous voice.

“Ye Wangxing—! What are you doing here!”

Su Qing quickly looked up and happened to see Principal Zheng’s face full of heartache.

—A look that this model student couldn’t even get from Principal Zheng.

“Ye Wangxing, you’ve already caused trouble with my persimmon tree, and I’ve let it slide since you remembered to give me two of them. Now you’ve started skipping classes and going to the arcade? What are you planning to do next? Are you going to ride a motorbike too? I play traffic accident compilations for you every day, haven’t you paid attention?”

Principal Zheng was truly heartbroken.

Although Ye Wangxing’s academic performance wasn’t great—just average—he was good at interacting with others and had a healthy mindset. Heaven knew how rare students who were not anxious, not giving up on themselves, and full of energy and positivity were in the school.

Who wouldn’t like a student like that?

He wasn’t the kind of principal who only cared about academic success. After all, despite being in a key school, the suicide rate in their school was only half of that in another school.

And this student, who had a good relationship with the top student he had worked so hard to recruit—although accompanied by a troublemaker—had been much more energetic, and the troublemaker had mellowed out quite a bit. They didn’t even fight anymore. What more could he ask for?

But now…

Principal Zheng was truly heartbroken.

In the midst of misfortune, the good news was that Ye Wangxing had a good attitude when admitting his mistake—maybe because he had been deceived.

“I’m sorry, Principal Zheng. I’ve been feeling troubled lately and wanted to go to the arcade with them just to experience it. I didn’t expect them to plan to ride electric motorcycles.”

Ye Wangxing spoke in a pitiful tone, looking like a child who had been deceived halfway and met with an elder.

He admitted his mistake and regretted it.

For a moment, Principal Zheng wasn’t sure whether she should scold him or not, especially since the police had confirmed the facts.

Eventually, Principal Zheng sighed deeply and said: “Those who live off-campus should call their parents and have them pick you up. Those who live on-campus should wait until the others are picked up, and then I’ll take you back to the dorm. Your parents should come tomorrow afternoon.”

Zhou Mu and the others were already used to this. Their parents were used to it too, while Su Qing rarely had to be called in, as most of the time she was praised. Being called in like this made the tears that had been gathering in her eyes fall.

Principal Zheng sighed again. If she had known this would happen, why did she let things get this far?

If he hadn’t turned a blind eye to the students drinking milk tea, allowing the delivery to go smoothly in this alley, the police next door wouldn’t have seen them. They would have been riding motorbikes by now.

Who knows, they might have ended up as a bloody mess.

Principal Zheng rubbed his temples and was about to start letting the students make calls one by one when Ye Wangxing’s cousin came to pick him up. He wasn’t too worried about him—this kid’s wifi at home hadn’t even been disconnected since he came to school.

But before he could take the phone out of his pocket, the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the alley entrance.

Principal Zheng looked up and saw his usually calm top student, who was now showing an unusually uncontrolled expression, striding quickly toward them.

Yan Yi hurriedly nodded at Principal Zheng and then turned to walk toward Ye Wangxing. His voice soon reached them.

“What are you doing here?”

“You’ve been deceived!”

“None of your business!”

“We have problems to resolve…”

The teenager clearly resisted him, but Yan Yi didn’t care. He extended his long, strong arm and, like pulling a stubborn dog, forcibly dragged him to the alley entrance.

The previously clear voices became intermittent, and they could only vaguely see Ye Wangxing and Yan Yi arguing.

The usually unflappable Yan Yi was now showing a hint of anger.

Ye Wangxing, on the other hand, had a cold expression—his anger visibly increasing.

Zhao Xiaxia felt that now was a perfect time to play a song: All for love — what’s the result of tearing your heart for someone?

After some time, it seemed that Ye Wangxing had said something provoking, and Yan Yi’s face instantly turned cold.

His indifferent expression seemed to lower the temperature around them.

He stared at the teenager for a long while, until Ye Wangxing, uncomfortable, turned to walk away. But Yan Yi directly grabbed him and walked toward the Nun Jiu that had been parked at the intersection.

“Let go of me! Yan Yi!”

Ye Wangxing’s voice came from a distance, sounding like he was about to explode, but Yan Yi, as though he didn’t hear, forced Ye Wangxing into the car. Then, with his tall but not frail body, he pressed the struggling teenager into the seat, closed the door, and isolated the outside world.

The car started to move, and all that could be seen was the faint movement of the vehicle.

Soon after, an assistant in a crisp suit and shiny shoes, with impeccably combed hair, got out of the driver’s side of the Nun Jiu.

He said something to Ye Wangxing’s stunned cousin before also ushering him into the passenger seat.

However, the assistant did not get into the car immediately, but went over to Principal Zheng to wrap things up.

“Principal Zheng, Mr. Yan and his friend had a bit of a misunderstanding. Now the two of them were negotiating a solution. This is Mr. Yan’s excuse note, please don’t worry, this was not a kidnapping. We brought the other party’s parents and already called them,” the assistant said with a smile. The smile looked gentle, yet carried an aloofness that was hard to resist.

This professional demeanor left Principal Zheng and the nearby police dumbfounded. Only after the assistant drove away did they realize what had happened.

The students no longer marveled at Su Qing and Zhou Mu’s situation, but instead quietly discussed what exactly was going on between Ye Wangxing and Yan Yi.

Before they could come to any conclusion, hasty footsteps sounded at the door.

However, this time it was not Yan Yi who came in.

——The boy who walked in had a strong feral look in his eyes, frowned deeply as if his brows were tied in a knot, his body was slim but muscular, with the muscles prominent under a tight black T-shirt.

He gave off an aura of swagger and dominance, as if he could charge anywhere while everyone admired him.

As he walked in, the police immediately became alert, but he did not care. He looked around briefly, apparently not spotting his target, then turned to Principal Zheng.

“Principal, have you seen Ye Wangxing?”

Nan Jiu reluctantly nodded and asked about Ye Wangxing’s whereabouts.

Principal Zheng answered instinctively: “Yan Yi took him away. The two of them seem to have a misunderstanding to resolve.”

Nan Jiu’s expression briefly flickered with understanding. He snorted and said: “Heh, let him go first.”

His voice carried a hint of teeth-gritting intensity.

Then he turned and walked toward the alley entrance, where a Lexus had been parked at some point.

After Nan Jiu got in, the luxury car sped off immediately, leaving the scene completely silent.

Eventually, Principal Zheng spoke first, dazedly: “Nan Jiu’s excuse note… it seems I didn’t receive it…”

The deputy squad leader beside hi, gave him a look that spoke volumes.

Now was not the time to talk about this.

The other students stayed as quiet as chickens, but beneath the silence, currents of curiosity surged.

They no longer cared about Su Qing and Zhou Mu—they just wanted to know if Ye Wangxing would come to school tomorrow.

The next day.

Ye Wangxing arrived at school on time.

But…

Zhao Xiaxia pointed in shock at the dazed Ye Wangxing and asked Jiang Yue beside her: “How likely do you think the red marks on his neck are from insect bites?”

 

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