Chapter 20: Whatever You Do, Don't Act Arrogant!

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“Professor Ruan, are you really going to say nothing and just let him use these twisted arguments to mock people?”

Unable to outargue He Chen, Fang Yifan’s mother could only raise her voice and challenge Ruan Lu, who stood behind He Chen.

“They’re both grown now, and they each have minds of their own.” Ruan Lu gently tugged at He Chen, who was blocking her, signaling him to move aside. Then she looked back at Fang Yifan’s mother.

“Instead of blaming others, perhaps you should reflect on yourselves. He Chen’s tone was a little harsh, but what young person isn’t hot-blooded? At the very least, he has never been the one to start a fight whenever someone disagrees with him.

“You say he’s being excessive, but if a person has done nothing wrong and hasn’t broken the law, what is there to fear?

“His words may sound unpleasant at first, but if you think them over carefully, they aren’t entirely without reason.

“If we adults can’t even refute words that contain some truth, then what exactly are we arguing about?

“Why don’t we all go our separate ways and get on with our own business? Go home and think carefully about how we ought to set a good example for the younger generation.

“Teacher Li, what do you think?”

“…”

This was already the second time in twenty-four hours that Li Tiegen had spoken with Professor Ruan, but Ruan Lu’s attitude finally showed her where He Chen got the confidence to act so recklessly.

She was clearly indulging him.

Before this, Li Tiegen had wondered how a distinguished university professor like Professor Ruan could possibly have adopted someone like He Chen. Now it seemed obvious: they shared the same foul disposition, which was why Professor Ruan had adopted him and spoiled him so shamelessly.

Although the thought gave her a genuine flicker of fear toward He Chen, Ruan Lu had opened the subject herself, and so many people were watching. Unable to suppress her frustration, she spoke up.

“What He Chen’s guardian said does contain some truth, but you can’t only point fingers at others without examining yourselves.

“He Chen claims that Fang Yifan became the way he is because of his parents’ personalities and habits.

“Then where did He Chen’s own aggressiveness come from?

“And He Chen says that if Fang Yifan keeps behaving this way, he’ll suffer badly sooner or later. What about He Chen himself?

“Mr. He, I hope you’ll think carefully about these matters when you go home.

“You’re a professor at a prestigious university. Surely you’re better at reflecting on such principles than the rest of us.

“Professor Ruan, don’t you agree?”

“Teacher Li, you’re right.” Ruan Lu held back the obviously indignant He Chen and nodded in agreement.

Seeing that Aunt Ruan would not let him continue, He Chen thought it over and decided to listen to her.

First, he wanted to show Aunt Ruan some respect. Second, he couldn’t keep arguing forever. If he completely wore Li Tiegen down, raising her threshold for resistance, it would become much harder to achieve a tenfold or hundredfold revenge.

This was only the first twenty-four hours. He still had an entire year ahead of him.

Given Li Tiegen’s utterly infuriating way of doing things—straight out of some melodramatic television series—there would be countless opportunities to argue with her in the future.

Letting her recover a little was merely a way of storing up emotional energy for the next, even fiercer confrontation.

As for the fact that he always seemed to be arguing and appeared overly aggressive—

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There was nothing he could do about it.

The characters and values in all those melodramatic domestic television dramas were wrong in every possible way. A moment’s thought was enough to reveal how grotesquely distorted they were, filled with the arrogance of wealthy Westerners who wanted to do whatever they pleased while believing themselves unquestionably correct—and expecting everyone else to accept that from the bottom of their hearts.

Lighthearted comedies were the lighthearted comedies of the rich, much like those experts who claimed that anyone could rent a place, drive a taxi, and turn their life around.

He was absolutely certain that even if Fang Yifan’s father were sent to prison this time through entirely reasonable and lawful means, leaving him with a criminal record and costing him his job, it would not have much real impact on the Fang family.

Unlike ordinary people, wealthy families had resources. Given Fang Yifan’s father’s inability to pass the bar examination even in middle age, he would probably end up starring in one of those absurd stories where a man drives a taxi or delivers takeout, encounters a series of miraculous opportunities, and somehow turns his life around.

If ordinary people believed such stories, felt they could identify with them, and thought they could succeed simply by trying, then the poison in that motivational syrup would eventually leave them suffering miserably. Their lives would not become effortless, nor would they receive a heartwarming happy ending. More likely, one day they would suddenly drop dead in some forgotten corner, leaving people to sigh before the story simply ended.

The seemingly casual details in those melodramatic dramas—their easy happiness and perfect reunions, the unintentional glimpses they offered into the philosophy of the wealthy and their attitude toward the true masses—were the real picture of society.

One could say that the will of Heaven governing the entire world had been twisted. Anyone possessing even a remotely normal set of values, along with enough backbone and temper, would be abnormal if they did not lash out at Heaven, Earth, and even the empty air around them.

He Chen was already being restrained. He hardly deserved the nickname “Argumentative He.”

Apart from the favored protagonists of that distorted fate—and those who truly had serious flaws, were accustomed to throwing their weight around, and deliberately came looking for trouble—whom had he actually provoked among ordinary people?

The two policemen in peaked caps had remained silent background figures while He Chen and the others argued. Now that the dust had settled and there was no way to smooth things over with a vague compromise, they could only follow procedure and take Fang Yifan’s father to the station to give a statement.

“Mr. Fang, confessing brings leniency; resisting brings severity. You work in legal affairs, so you should understand that perfectly. Don’t waste police resources. Give your statement properly and tell us the truth, exactly as it happened.

“Otherwise, once the forensic results come out, a false statement will only add to your charges!”

He then turned to the two policemen.

“Officers, that saying about confession bringing leniency but still landing you in prison, while resistance bringing severity but sending you home for the New Year—that’s just a rumor, right?”

“Of course!” The two officers twitched at the corners of their mouths before solemnly clarifying the principles and policies they were required to uphold.

This left the Fang family utterly devastated.

If they confessed, everything would be confirmed, leaving them no time to pull strings.

If they refused to confess, the statement being taken now would become part of the official record. With He Chen watching them so closely, there was a real possibility that the charges would become even more severe.

On top of that, Fang Yifan’s father worked in legal affairs. Knowingly breaking the law could mean not an ordinary suspended sentence, but actual detention.

The two officers led Fang Yifan’s father away. His mother gave the red-eyed Fang Yifan a few hurried instructions, asked Li Tiegen to keep an eye on him, and then hurried after them.

Once they reached a deserted area, Fang Yifan’s mother immediately stopped the three men.

“Officer, I’d just like to say a few words to him.”

Then, turning to her husband, who was forcing a smile and trying to reassure her, she said, “Don’t worry. You didn’t do it deliberately, and you shouldn’t be treated like this. It’s all because that little bastard insisted on making trouble. I’m going to find your old schoolmate Ji Shengli right now. He’s the district chief here. He won’t let you be wronged!”

As she spoke, she kept glancing at the two officers.

The policemen exchanged a look.

They both understood that those words were meant not only for her husband, but also for them.

Ji Shengli, the newly appointed deputy district chief, was indeed someone whose old friends had to be treated with caution.

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Reading their expressions, Fang Yifan’s mother saw that her words seemed to have had an effect. After giving her husband two more instructions, she hurried back toward the college entrance examination consultation fair.

She did not have Ji Shengli’s phone number. All she could do was pray that he had not left yet and that she would manage to intercept him. Otherwise, she would have no idea where to look for him.

The principal’s office.

Fang Yifan’s mother first searched the consultation fair but found no sign of him. Then she remembered that the principal had previously taken Ji Shengli and the others to the school archives to view the school’s history, so she rushed there.

But they were already gone.

In her desperation, she went straight to the principal’s office and knocked on the door. The moment she saw the principal, she anxiously asked where Ji Shengli had gone.

One look at her expression was enough for the principal to understand what had happened. He immediately told her that Deputy District Chief Ji was a very busy man and had already left the school.

Privately, he could not help grumbling to himself. If he had been given the choice, did he not want to keep the district chief around a little longer?

The truth was that there was simply no reason for him to stay.

Their only connection, Ji Yangyang—the eldest son of the Ji family—was still indulging in his rebellious phase. He had not attended the college entrance examination consultation fair, let alone the balloon-release ceremony. He had simply slipped away.

With the actual person concerned absent, Deputy District Chief Ji had already shown considerable goodwill by staying as long as he did and taking a brief tour of the school.

Fang Yifan’s mother begged the principal to give her Ji Shengli’s phone number. But the principal had already seen that Ji Shengli had been merely exchanging polite courtesies with them. Now that he knew the district chief had not even given them his private number, he was even less willing to agree and politely refused.

Elsewhere.

Ji Yangyang’s parents had just left the school in an official car.

Sitting in the back seat, Ji Shengli folded his arms and continued reminiscing.

“Today I ran into an old friend from my youth. He got into the University of Political Science and Law before I did, while I failed the entrance exam. I was devastated, so I decided that I had to get into the same university. I repeated a year of school and studied day and night. In the end, I made it.

“He studied law, while I studied public administration. We weren’t even in the same year, so we gradually lost touch.”

“No wonder. I thought you seemed rather cold toward him,” Ji Shengli’s wife, Liu Jing, teased. “You even called him by his childhood nickname. I bet you’d forgotten his surname entirely. At your age, and still pretending to be so familiar!”

“He was called… Fang Yuan, yes, Fang Yuan!” Ji Shengli finally recalled the name of Fang Yifan’s father after thinking for a while. “He was quite handsome when he was young, and talented in many ways. He was one of the school’s leading performers. We all admired him back then.”

“Ah, and you didn’t exchange contact information. If you run into him again, you must take the initiative and ask for his number. We can’t let ourselves seem distant, unenthusiastic, or disconnected from the people, can we?”

The moment she finished speaking, Liu Jing’s phone rang. She answered it and listened for a while, then gave her husband a strange look.

They had been married for many years. One glance was enough for each of them to understand the other.

Ji Shengli was instantly stunned.

Only moments earlier, he had been speaking down to everyone in the usual official clichés, and now the people were about to become intimately connected with him—through precisely the sort of connection he wanted least…

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