Chapter 6: Li Tiegun’s Regret

Silence descended upon the teachers' office.

Everyone knew, however, that this was the calm before the storm. Once a student decides they are no longer going to listen to their teacher, before the parents arrive, it doesn't matter if you have Li "Iron Rod" or Li "Thousand-Jun Cudgel"—none of it is of any use.

After all, who isn't a "Monkey King" destined for greatness these days? Who doesn't have an Ruyi Golden Cudgel of their own? And who isn't capable of swinging a thousand-jun cudgel when pushed?

Some of the other teachers in the office felt a secret thrill. Li "Iron Rod," while a teacher, acted like a minor official; she was always arrogant and known for her hardline stance. Many had tried to persuade her to be more tactful, but she had always brushed them off with high-minded rhetoric. Now that she had met someone even harder than herself, she could finally experience what everyone else had been feeling all along.

Only Pan Shuai, the sycophant, felt genuine heartache for his goddess. He worried that she wouldn't be able to back down or swallow her pride. Seeing He Chen, who looked completely relaxed and acted as if the recent incident meant nothing, only deepened his anxiety.

Time ticked by. The first to arrive in a rush were a pair of middle-aged women. After introducing themselves at the door, they apologized repeatedly to Li. One was Ji Yangyang’s mother, whose tone was gentle. The other was Fang Yifan’s mother; her temper seemed fiery, and after barely finishing her apologies to the teacher, she turned to glare at her son, even rolling up her sleeves as if to strike him before the other teachers intervened to quell her rage.

Once the situation was explained, Ji Yangyang’s mother’s expression shifted. She reached out to check on her son, but Ji Yangyang pulled away uncomfortably. When her gaze fell on He Chen standing by the door, it was filled with displeasure.

Every mother dotes on her own child. Even if she usually maintained a facade of being virtuous and down-to-earth to support her husband’s image, she could have been understanding and objective if the conflict had been with someone else. But that was under the condition that her son wasn't left screaming and crying in pain. That changed the nature of the situation entirely.

"I warned him repeatedly beforehand, but he wouldn't listen and insisted on attacking me. Just because he’s the young master of the district head’s family, am I supposed to do as Teacher Li taught, lower my head like a security guard just trying to make a living, take a beating from the young master, and then wait for you all to 'uphold justice' by letting your son off with a reprimand and a slap on the wrist?"

He Chen’s words caused the elegant, noble posture of Ji’s mother to crumble, made Li’s face turn darker by the second, and forced a bitter smile onto the sycophant Pan Shuai’s lips. It was never going to end, he thought—oh, Goddess, why did you have to provoke a student like this?

"What’s with that sarcastic tone!" Li, unable to hold back, snapped, "Who said anything about a slap on the wrist?"

"What else can you do if you don't?" He Chen sneered. "Are you actually going to do something to your precious son? Besides, could you even manage him? If you could, there wouldn't be so many kids who are nothing but a disappointment to their parents!"

He Chen turned to look at Ji Yangyang, whose face was flushed with fresh anger. "Oh, right. He’s so noble, so extraordinary—he claims he doesn't rely on his father, the district head. But a high schooler driving a three-million-yuan Ferrari is only able to do so because of his incredibly wealthy uncle! And he proudly says his wealthy uncle didn't make his fortune through his father, the district head! Well, the sister of that wealthy uncle is here now. Could you answer my question? Why are the relatives of those in power always so wealthy? Is it really that they are all so talented, and thus so wealthy? Or are they so wealthy, and thus so talented? To put it politely, 'Are kings and nobles born with a higher status?' To put it bluntly, 'Like father, like son; like mouse, like hole.' But then, how do we explain the saying 'like father, no son,' or the idea of children who ruin their families? So, what is really going on here? I am truly confused."

"We are talking about your fight, stop trying to deflect!" Fang Yifan’s mother, who had been observing from the sidelines, finally understood the situation and stepped in to support Ji’s mother, who had been left speechless.

"Am I deflecting?" He Chen looked at her familiar face and mocked, "Your attire screams 'social elite,' so don't play dumb! Don't you realize that what I'm saying is the true deciding factor in how this will end? The truth, the logic—that doesn't matter. Might makes right."

"You are too extreme and cynical," Ji’s mother frowned.

"Am I?" He Chen laughed. "Both of your sons are the type to throw punches the moment they are displeased. Teacher Li says that a child’s first teacher is their parents, and that parents shape their children. So, she doesn't bother with logic or the truth; she insists on calling the parents. Isn't that just to see whose 'fists' are harder? Once that's settled, the 'problem' will naturally be solved, won't it? If you truly think I am being cynical and that 'might makes right' is too extreme, then why do your children and their teacher all believe that might is the only truth?"

The two mothers fell silent. Ji’s mother couldn't explain that she and her husband had left the child with his grandparents since he was young for the sake of their careers, and that his uncle had attended most of his parent-teacher meetings; they had failed to provide the parental guidance they were now being held accountable for. As for Fang’s mother, she had nothing to say because she was hot-tempered at home and prone to hitting things herself—she had almost struck her son just upon arrival.

According to He Chen’s logic, the root of the boys' fighting lay with them, a bitter truth they didn't want to accept but couldn't refute. It seemed his words, while harsh, were not without merit.

Li’s face turned livid; she was infuriated by He Chen’s constant, stinging sarcasm. Yet, could she call him a liar? In her own frustration earlier, she had indeed said things like, "Professor Ruan is a prestigious professor, how could she have adopted someone like you?" By He Chen’s logic, that could certainly be interpreted as her agreeing with the idea that parents shape their children. While that wasn't exactly what she meant, the implication was there. But when had she ever said she wanted the parents to compete on whose "fists" were harder? Even if it looked that way, she hadn't meant it!

This boy was more than just extreme; he was vindictive. If she had known he was like this, she perhaps shouldn't have… she quickly cut off the thought. How could she lower her head to an extreme, troublesome student? Especially when she was in the right! The mere thought that she had been pushed into such a state of mind filled her with shame and indignation, making her expression even uglier. Pan Shuai felt a pang of heartache for her.

"Professor Ruan!"

Just as the scene remained locked in a dead silence caused by the "genius of awkward silences" He Chen, the cheerful voice of his second-grade homeroom teacher sounded from the hallway.

"Professor Ruan is here!"

As a middle-aged woman with a classical, graceful air and a gentle, refined expression walked in, the office erupted in a stir. Everyone rushed to greet her. Ji’s mother and Fang’s mother were considered somewhat attractive, especially Fang’s mother, who was fashionably dressed and carried a designer bag worth seventy thousand yuan, doing her best to maximize her presence. She had succeeded in making people take notice.

But compared to Professor Ruan, it immediately became clear that the ancient scholars’ comparisons—"surpassing one by ten or a hundred times," "a scrub horse compared to a kylin, a crow to a phoenix, a star to the moon"—were not merely exaggerations, but actual reflections of reality.