He Nuo glared at his teacher, “Is that something a teacher should say? You don’t deserve to stand there just because of what you had just said. I resumed cla.s.ses because I didn’t study well, it wasn’t my parents’ fault. You can scold me, but you have no right to scold my parents. Don’t tell me your parents were the ones who taught you how to say the words you did today? Then, I can say that you have your parents to give birth to you, but no parents to guide you.”

His teacher had been angered to the point of madness by He Nuo’s crystal clear voice. When he saw how upright he stood and his cold eyes that were filled with disdain and contempt, his teacher lost his marbles and shouted, “Get out of here right now, get out!”

“I’m sorry, I’ve already paid my fees to attend school, so I have the right to remain here and listen to my cla.s.ses. Meanwhile, your wages come from the fees that us students have to pay, so you have no right to ask me to get out.” He Nuo sat down peacefully and opened up his book.

His teacher rushed over, picked his book up and flung it onto the floor. He Nuo looked up at him, “Pick it up.”

His teacher acted like he didn’t hear him, “Get out.”

“Please pick my book up for me.”

“Get out of here right now.”

“I’m telling you this for the last time, pick it up.” He Nuo’s voice contained a boundless amount of pressure that brought with it the advent of a huge storm.

His teacher cowered in fear for a moment and the words ‘get lost’ that he had almost blurted out didn’t dare to escape his mouth. Instead, he shouted, “Monitor, monitor! Commissary of studies, cla.s.s cadre, are you all dead?!”

When he heard the desks behind him move, He Nuo turned around. A few of his cla.s.s cadres had already stood up. He Nuo’s clear and frosty gaze swept over them, while a hint of a smile hung on his lips, “What if your parents were the ones who were humiliated?”

All of them froze up. The commissary of studies was the first one to sit back down, then the others followed along as they sat down too and buried their heads in their books. Their cla.s.sroom was really so silent that you could hear a pin drop. He Nuo said to his deskmate, “Stand up, please.”

His male deskmate stood up in a hurry. He Nuo kicked his chair away and walked out. He walked over to his teacher, and his teacher immediately ran to the monitor who was sitting in the row beside him, “Monitor, you’re not going to care about this?!”

He Nuo stopped. He lifted his chin slightly, “You, pick up my book!”

His teacher felt suppressed by his unyielding posture and shouted for a.s.sistance, “Monitor, Are you going to care or not?!”

The cla.s.s monitor walked over helplessly, “He Nuo, let’s go out and talk.”

He Nuo looked at the monitor who was holding his hand, “Let go.” Then he looked up at his teacher, “I said, pick. Up. My. Book!”

When the monitor had seen how his teacher was acting just now, he had scorned him for uttering such vicious words in his heart, but it’s not like he could blame him for it. The most important thing was that he felt like He Nuo wouldn’t have an easy time after offending him, so he dragged He Nuo out, “Don’t be angry, let’s go out and talk.”

He Nuo refused to leave with him of course. The cla.s.s monitor called a few people — they were all his friends from just now, and these few guys forcibly dragged He Nuo out. When they reached the field, they all condemned the insulting words that were uttered just now, then urged He Nuo to let it go. What they said was the truth, if the teacher took this matter up to the school, most of the time it would still be the students who would suffer. He Nuo sat by himself at a side in silence. He already knew that there were some teachers who looked down on students who had to resume cla.s.ses, and He Nuo was already very happy to be able to return to school so he didn’t care about other people’s discrimination. But the words ‘only has a father but no mother to guide you’ had really hurt him.

The cold wind chilled them to their bones. He Nuo asked them to return to cla.s.s first, there was no need for his cla.s.smates to endure the cold with him because everyone hadn’t put on their outerwear in their haste to get away. But he wasn’t willing to go back. He didn’t want to see that disgusting man, or hear his disgusting voice. Tomorrow, that guy would definitely look for his parents — a teacher’s ace in the hole. The cla.s.s monitor asked the rest to go back, but he accompanied He Nuo as they stood among the night winds. A short while later, a girl shouted, “He Nuo, He Nuo.”

When He Nuo heard the voice of his cla.s.s’ commissary of studies, he didn’t move. But the cla.s.s monitor suddenly tugged his arm, “Look who’s here.” He looked up, then He Nuo’s lips parted but he couldn’t make a sound. His heart felt like a wave had just crashed upon his sh.o.r.e; Shi Yan stood smiling as he held He Nuo’s coat.

Shi Yan walked over to wrap He Nuo in his coat and hugged him tight, then said to the rest, “You guys can go back first, thank you.” He said to the monitor, “Please take He Nuo’s bag down for me.”

All his cla.s.smates left. Shi Yan held He Nuo’s hands, “It’s so cold, how much of a fool must you be to stand here and endure the cold winds? Even if you’re angry, you shouldn’t freeze yourself.”

“You know about everything?”

“Un. If it were me, I would have already beaten that grandson up.” Shi Yan nodded and unfolded his coat, “Wear it. But you can’t, you’ve never fought before, so you’ll definitely lose out if you do.”

Shi Yan held He Nuo’s hand and walked towards the teaching building. He Nuo stopped, “What are you going to do?” He Nuo was afraid that Shi Yan was going to look for his teacher.

“Take your bag. Don’t attend self-study today.”

As he spoke, the cla.s.s monitor had delivered He Nuo’s bag to them. Shi Yan patted his shoulder, “Thanks, and thank you for bringing him down.”

Shi Yan was extremely famous. The monitor was so flattered that he kept waving his hands and told Shi Yan not to thank him. When Shi Yan saw the little girl who was the commissary of studies watch from a side, he nodded and smiled at her too.

When Shi Yan was about to ride his bike, He Nuo asked him why he came over. Shi Yan told him not to talk and to just sit down, then brought him to his dad’s office — he was afraid that the winter cold would trigger his coughs again. Once they entered the building, Shi Yan told him that w.a.n.g Feng’s father had gone to the US on a business trip. Before he went to the airport, he went to their college to see w.a.n.g Feng and brought their whole gang out for a meal. Afterwards, they decided that they might as well all go to the airport to send Uncle w.a.n.g off, and might as well return home as well.

As soon as they had arrived at w.a.n.g Feng’s house, Shi Yan rode his bike out to look for He Nuo. He didn’t have the patience to wait for He Nuo to finish cla.s.s, so he went straight to his cla.s.sroom and knocked on the door. In the end, that teacher actually ran away, and after they heard the knock, all the students in the cla.s.sroom looked at one another. Eventually, Shi Yan was the one who opened the door by himself because he didn’t get an answer. His gaze swept over the cla.s.sroom but he couldn’t find He Nuo, and he didn’t even need to ask before everyone knew that he was there to look for He Nuo. The commissary of studies stood up and told him that He Nuo wasn’t around. Shi Yan was baffled, if he wasn’t in his cla.s.sroom during self-study period, then where was he?

The commissary of studies had a favourable impression of this senior, which was why she was so proactive. As they walked along the corridor, she narrated the conflict between He Nuo and their teacher to Shi Yan. She even repeated every single hurtful and discriminatory word that was uttered as long as she could bear to say it. She said that the words she couldn’t say were too unpleasant, so she couldn’t repeat it for him. Shi Yan’s face grew darker and darker as he listened, and towards the end, a ferocious glint could be seen in his eyes. At this moment, the others had returned, and when they saw Shi Yan they quickly told him that He Nuo was at the field. When he saw that they weren’t wearing their coats, Shi Yan asked if He Nuo wasn’t wearing his coat either, so he took He Nuo’s coat before he rushed over.

When Shi Yan wrapped the coat around He Nuo in a hug, the other guys did feel something, but the one who had been shocked the most should be the commissary who had been following Shi Yan. She had personally seen Shi Yan’s fury, and had personally experienced the murderous intent that seeped out of Shi Yan’s bones. On the way to their field, this person emitted a frosty air which made all the other students cautious of their own breathing. But the moment this person saw He Nuo, he actually wore such a warm smile on his face as he hugged him gently, as if he was providing a safe harbour for his injured friend. As she left, she often looked back. Some words suddenly emerged from the bottom of her heart, “To have just one friend like him would be enough for a lifetime.”