Doing It Over Again

When the two involved students arrived, other homeroom teachers in the office pretended to be focused on their work, but their attention was actually on Shen Shao. After all, Li Lu had managed to get the top student in the grade into his class, so naturally they were curious when this top student was called to the office due to conflicts with a classmate.

Although teachers are gardeners nurturing young minds, they too have the right to be curious about gossip.

"Shen Shao, I heard you had some conflict with Shen Zhengyang from Class 5. What happened?" Li Lu trusted his student, so after sitting down behind his desk with his tea cup, he asked in a gentle tone, "You're all students from the same school, it's not good to let conflicts affect your studies. Teacher Mao, don't you agree?"

Teacher Mao was the homeroom teacher of Class 5. He nodded and said, "Li Lu is right. Shen Zhengyang, why don't you tell us what happened?" This seemingly neutral attitude was actually protecting his own student, because if Shen Zhengyang told the story, it would naturally include his own subjective perspective. The other teachers in the office would likely end up sympathizing with Shen Zhengyang after hearing his version.

Shen Zhengyang couldn't appreciate his teacher's good intentions. Instead, he felt that his teacher was afraid of the advanced class's teacher and deliberately making him speak up to embarrass himself. As one of the top students in his class who was favored by teachers and spoiled by his family, he felt wronged and didn't want to speak, so he just kept his head down in silence.

The atmosphere instantly became awkward. Teacher Mao felt like he was losing face and his expression turned unpleasant. If it weren't for Shen Zhengyang's good grades, he might have been criticized already.

"Teacher Li, Teacher Mao, Shen Zhengyang and I are from the same village. During PE class this afternoon, we didn't say much, just had a small argument about some family relatives," Shen Shao scratched his head, looking somewhat embarrassed. "We used to argue back in the village too, so during PE class, we weren't being very mindful."

Shen Zhengyang felt relieved after hearing these words, thankful that Shen Shao hadn't mentioned anything about Zhao Xiaoxue. If the teachers found out about his puppy love, they would definitely call his parents.

However, the teachers in the office had their own thoughts about this. They all knew about Shen Shao's family situation, and when he mentioned "relatives" in his explanation, these adults could easily guess what Shen Zhengyang must have said.

Li Lu became displeased. How could he be happy when his top student was being bullied by a student from another class? He put down his large tea cup on the desk and said in a joking tone, "Teacher Mao, how do you think we should handle this?"

What else could Teacher Mao do? He had to criticize Shen Zhengyang in front of Shen Shao and force him to apologize before letting both students leave the office.

Shen Zhengyang felt very unhappy and couldn't understand why the teachers had criticized him without even asking who was right or wrong. Was it just because Shen Shao had better grades? Just because he was in the advanced class while Shen Zhengyang was in the regular class?

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Feeling increasingly indignant, Shen Zhengyang glared at Shen Shao. When they reached the corner of the hallway, he couldn't resist trying to kick Shen Shao who was walking ahead. However, as if Shen Shao had eyes in the back of his head, he suddenly shifted his body just as Shen Zhengyang extended his foot. Instead of kicking Shen Shao, Shen Zhengyang twisted his own ankle and limped back to his classroom in anger.

Shen Shao watched Shen Zhengyang's defeated figure with a smile. Having been on his own since he was fifteen, without money or connections, he had seen all kinds of troublemakers. To him, Shen Zhengyang was just a kid with negative fighting capability.

When Shen Shao returned to Class 1, his classmates gathered around asking what had happened. Upon learning that Shen Zhengyang had been criticized by the teachers and forced to apologize to Shen Shao, they felt vindicated and said, "Serves him right!"

As for Shen Shao, he didn't say anything more about it. With his polite smile, he once again became the innocent victim in his classmates' eyes.

The matter should have ended there, but the next day, Shen Zhengyang's parents came to the experimental middle school, claiming their son had been bullied by another student and demanding the teachers to settle the matter.

In recent years, Shen Fudong had made some money and even bought a house in the city. He was respected as a wealthy man in the village. When he heard his son had been bullied by Shen Shao, who had a father but no mother to care for him, he couldn't sit still. Early the next morning, he drove his newly bought car to school and sat in the teachers' office, determined not to leave until the matter was resolved to his satisfaction.

The teachers at the experimental middle school had dealt with all kinds of parents, and while parents like Shen Fudong and Zhang Chunlan were rare, they weren't unheard of. The Dean of Discipline first tried to reason with them gently, but when that didn't work, he had to speak more sternly: "If you feel our school is being unfair, you can arrange for your child to transfer to another school. We support parents' freedom of choice."

Zhang Chunlan became nervous upon hearing this. She looked anxiously at her husband, worried that if they made too much trouble, the school might really make their son transfer. They had put in a lot of effort to get Zhengyang into this experimental middle school, and now that he was in his final year of junior high, transferring would definitely affect his studies.

Shen Fudong, having more experience in the outside world, had better composure than Zhang Chunlan. His tone softened as he said, "Dean, we don't have any issues with the school. It's just that as parents, who doesn't care about their child? We can't just ignore it when our child has been wronged, right?" He then took out a cigarette pack from his pocket and offered one to the Dean. "Here, have a cigarette."

The Dean noticed the "Furong Wang" brand on the cigarette pack, and although he didn't smoke, he knew these cigarettes weren't cheap. He thought to himself, no wonder they're so aggressive, they've got some money. But their school had plenty of students from well-off families, even the Education Bureau Director's child attended their school, yet none of them put on such airs. Was their child precious while others were worthless? Weren't they just bullying Shen Shao because he was poor and had no mother?

"I'm sorry, I don't smoke," the Dean adjusted his expression and declined the expensive cigarette. Then he said, "Mr. Shen, this was just a small conflict between two children. When the teachers handled the situation, both students were present. There was no favoritism involved, as both students are excellent pupils whom we teachers are reluctant to criticize. However, when children make mistakes, they need to be corrected - that's our responsibility as teachers. Don't you agree?"

Before Shen Fudong could respond, the Dean continued, "We educators don't have it easy. If we discipline the children, parents say we're too strict. If we don't, parents say we're not teaching them properly. Fortunately, most parents support our work, and cultured, worldly parents like yourselves surely understand our difficulties." He finished with a slight sigh.

Perhaps flattered by being called "cultured and worldly," Shen Fudong's attitude improved further, and in the end, he only requested to have both children come and explain what had happened.

The Dean, after confirming that Shen Fudong's expression no longer suggested he would cause trouble, sent someone to call the students. After all, with parents coming to school to complain, they needed to show some response to maintain the school's reputation.

Shen Fudong and Zhang Chunlan had expected to see a child in old clothes, dirty from head to toe, so when Shen Shao appeared in the office, they didn't recognize him at first.

Shen Shao wore a simple plaid shirt and jeans. Being tall with long legs and good manners, when he walked in, Shen Fudong thought he was some wealthy family's child.

Only when Shen Shao actively addressed him as "Uncle Shen Er" did they realize who he was. Shen Fudong was the second eldest in his family, one generation above Shen Shao, so it was proper for Shen Shao to address him as Uncle Shen Er.

However, when the Dean of Discipline heard this greeting, he felt even more disdainful of Shen Fudong's family. It was touching that an orphaned child would call him "Second Uncle," yet they chose to bully such a child - weren't they afraid the boy's mother would rise from her grave to seek revenge?

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"Oh, Shen Shao," Shen Fudong's tone was peculiar as he looked Shen Shao over several times before continuing, "Your uncle mentioned you the other day, saying you haven't been home for quite a while. He's very worried about you."

Shen Shao seemed oblivious to Shen Fudong's deliberate attempt to make him look bad in front of the Dean of Discipline: "Since the high school entrance exams are coming up in a few months, I only get one day off per month now. To focus on my studies, I've been staying in my room reading."

"It's good that you're studying hard." Shen Fudong was disappointed that Shen Shao hadn't fallen for his trap, and reflected on how Shen Shao's mother had been kind enough to remember to leave her saved money to her son before she died. With these thoughts, he lost interest in the matter. Seeing his own son standing there with his head hung low, he realized that things probably weren't as his son had claimed at home about being bullied by Shen Shao - it was more likely that his own son had been the troublemaker.

Zhang Chunlan wanted to make a scene, but seeing her husband's unusual tone, she had to suppress her dissatisfaction. Still, she thought to herself, surely they could handle a motherless child?

At this point, the Dean of Discipline knew there was nothing more to be said. He called Shen Zhengyang and Shen Shao to the front, gave them a brief lecture about studying hard, and dismissed them.

Then, noticing that Shen Fudong and Zhang Chunlan seemed to have more to say but couldn't express it, he simply smiled and personally escorted them out. Just as they reached the outdoor balcony, they witnessed Shen Shao falling down the stairs at the bottom floor, while Shen Zhengyang stood at the top of the steps.

This was the classroom and office building, and several teachers standing on the second and third-floor balconies who witnessed the scene furrowed their brows.

The Dean of Discipline looked at Shen Fudong and Zhang Chunlan without saying a word.

As for Shen Fudong and Zhang Chunlan, they were utterly mortified. In their minds, they were screaming: Son, even if you can't stand Shen Shao, you shouldn't act out here!

How are we supposed to deal with you when you put your parents in such a difficult position?!