After Becoming the Abused Heroine in a Campus Story - Chapter 36: There Was Big Gossip at School

Chapter 36: There Was Big Gossip at School

It was almost eight o’clock in the evening. The police station prepared to notify Li Yuting and two others the next morning. They also asked their parents to come along.

This case was a relatively serious school bullying incident. If the other three were confirmed to have been bullied, Lin Shaohui and the others’ crimes would be even more severe.

Chen Yitong worried about Zhou Yining going home alone so late. She insisted on driving Zhou Yining home. She parked the car at Zhou Yining’s doorstep. Suddenly, she didn’t want Zhou Yining to get out.

“Are you okay? How about not going back tonight?” Chen Yitong asked.

Chen Yitong sighed and continued, “To be honest, I’m really an unfit class teacher. Your family is in such a situation. I’m sorry, I truly didn’t know.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about, Teacher. There are so many students in the class. You can’t take care of everyone. Besides, many people have problems with their original families. It’s not a rare thing. It’s getting late, Teacher. I’ll go back now,” Zhou Yining said. She tried to get out of the car, but the door lock wasn’t open. Zhou Yining pulled the door. It didn’t move.

“Are you really okay? I’m worried about your dad… How about you move to my place for a while? After this matter passes, you can go back home. I live alone anyway. You can keep me company,” Chen Yitong said. She recalled Zhou Yining’s father’s behavior earlier. She really didn’t want Zhou Yining to go back.

“It’s fine, Teacher. He’s all talk and no action. I’m not afraid of him. Today’s matter has troubled you enough. Go back and rest early,” Zhou Yining said. She looked at Chen Yitong calmly.

Chen Yitong saw no change in her expression. She still cautioned, “If anything happens, remember to call me.”

“Got it. Thank you,” Zhou Yining said. She thanked her, got out of Chen Yitong’s car, and walked into the neighborhood. She still carried the gift box in her hand. Inside was the little fox she made herself.

Zhou Yining rubbed her forehead. These matters took so much effort for her to handle. It must have been even harder for the original self.

After a whole day of hassle, Zhou Yining was truly tired. She went upstairs and opened the door to Room 501. It was only eight-thirty. The Zhou family was still in the living room.

The living room TV wasn’t on. Zhou Yuanfei and the others seemed to be discussing something. When Zhou Yining returned, all three fell silent.

Zhou Yining didn’t bother to look at them. She changed her shoes and headed to the dining room. Then Zhao Xiuna called out to her.

“Yining, how did things go? Are you tired? Mother will cook dumplings for you,” Zhao Xiuna said. She smiled at Zhou Yining and got up to go to the kitchen.

Zhou Yining looked at her coldly. “If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t act,” she said.

Zhao Xiuna’s smile froze instantly. Zhou Yuanfei frowned slightly. He seemed to recall something but held back. “How can you talk like that, child? Your mother cares about you. You must be tired after today. Sit down and rest,” he said.

Zhou Yining looked at Zhou Yuanfei. Her lips curved into a cold smirk. “Stop acting. I said I won’t sign the letter of understanding,” she said.

“Tch, why are you so disobedient now, child? I know you suffered a little grievance. They just filmed a video of you. It’s not like you lost a piece of flesh. Instead of sending him to jail, it’s better to take the ten thousand yuan compensation,” Zhou Yuanfei said. He still thought about the ten thousand yuan. That’s why he softened his attitude tonight.

Seeing Zhou Yining didn’t speak, he continued, “You know the family’s situation. The whole family relies on my salary. Your mother is a housewife. You and your little brother are still studying. Our family isn’t rich. Don’t look down on that ten thousand yuan. Once we get it, it’s enough to improve our living conditions for a while.”

Zhou Yining smiled at Zhou Yuanfei. She truly found such people pathetic and laughable. At the same time, she genuinely felt bad for the original self. The original self suffered school bullying. But when she got home, her parents didn’t say a single word of concern. Instead, they only thought about the ten thousand yuan.

Zhou Yuanfei felt uneasy from Zhou Yining’s smile. “What are you laughing at?” he asked.

“You’re really laughable. You talk about drinking your own daughter’s bl00d so elegantly. It’s truly disgusting,” Zhou Yining said. Moreover, Zhou Yuanfei, this idiot, truly had no brains. He eagerly wanted to accept just ten thousand yuan in compensation. But if they sued, Lin Shaohui and the others would have to pay much more. Of course, Zhou Yining wouldn’t tell him that.

Zhou Jiaming saw Zhou Yining wouldn’t budge. He chimed in, “Zhou Yining, do you have the nerve to keep spending Mother and Father’s money? Now there’s finally a chance to earn money for the family, and you’re acting all high and mighty?” he said.

“Zhou Jiaming, do you have the nerve to spend the family’s money? A loser like you has the nerve. Why wouldn’t I? Besides, even if I got the compensation, that money is mine alone. I won’t give you a single cent,” Zhou Yining said.

After speaking, Zhou Yining went straight to the small dining room.

“Rebellious, rebellious! Zhou Yining, I demand a straight answer today. Will you sign the letter of understanding or not?” Zhou Yuanfei said. He stopped pretending and stood up to call out to Zhou Yining.

Zhou Yining turned around coldly and looked at him. “I won’t sign. Also, you’d better behave. My situation can’t get any worse than it is now. If you keep pushing, I don’t mind suing you too. I’ll also report to your company leaders. I’ll let your colleagues know how you drink your daughter’s bl00d,” she said.

“Zhou Yining!” Zhou Yuanfei was furious. The veins on his forehead bulged. But recalling Zhou Yining’s behavior at the police station, he backed down.

His daughter was too headstrong now. She dared to report to the police alone. He feared Zhou Yining would break down completely and cause a scene at his workplace. Then he’d truly lose face.

“Fine, do whatever you want. I don’t care about you anymore. Just don’t ask the family for money. I won’t pay for your lawyer fees,” Zhou Yuanfei said. He slammed the door and went into the bedroom.

Zhou Jiaming saw Zhou Yuanfei leave. He couldn’t outtalk Zhou Yining alone. He slunk back to his room. Originally, he thought he could get some money from Zhou Yining. Now he got nothing but a stomach full of anger.

Zhao Xiuna was at a loss. After a while, she went to the kitchen to cook the dumplings. Then she came to call Zhou Yining. “Yining, don’t be angry. Come eat first. You stayed at the police station so long. You must be hungry, right?” she said.

Zhou Yining was indeed hungry. She hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

Zhou Yining didn’t wrong her stomach. She went straight to the dining table in the living room and sat down. Then she started eating.

Zhao Xiuna looked at Zhou Yining and asked, “I never heard you mention being bullied. Your father said you almost jumped off a building because of this. Why didn’t you tell Mother?” she said.

Zhou Yining ate a couple of bites. She looked up coldly at Zhao Xiuna. “Would telling you help? Would you report to the police for me? Would you hire a lawyer for me? Or would you go to the school leaders? You’d probably just think I wasn’t studying well at school, got mixed up with bad people, and deserved to be filmed,” she said.

Shock filled Zhao Xiuna’s expression. After a long pause, she looked at Zhou Yining with red eyes. “Yining, is that how you see me?” she asked.

“You know in your heart what you think,” Zhou Yining said. She stopped paying attention to Zhao Xiuna and ate her food.

With Zhao Xiuna’s personality, even if the original self told her about this, she wouldn’t report to the police or make a fuss at school. Most likely, she’d blame the original self.

Zhou Yining finished the dumplings. She washed the pots and bowls in the kitchen. Then she took her pajamas to shower. Throughout, she ignored Zhao Xiuna.

This family of bloodsuckers truly disgusted her.

After showering, she checked her phone. She saw Zhong Yumeng had sent her a message.

Zhong Yumeng: [How’s it going? Is everything settled?]

Zhou Yining: [Not yet. Lin Shaohui’s side will probably go to court. But Teacher Chen found me a lawyer. The evidence chain is complete. I should win the case.]

Zhong Yumeng: [Why didn’t you say earlier? My family has a law firm we work with regularly. They can help you with the lawsuit.]

Zhou Yining: [You’ve already helped me a lot. Thank you so much for this time.]

Zhong Yumeng: [No need to thank me. Don’t worry about the school side. My dad called the education bureau. They’ll definitely punish those three properly.]

Zhou Yining: [Hmm, thank you. (Doggy kneeling jpg)]

Zhou Yining sighed. If Zhong Yumeng hadn’t helped this time, it would have taken her a lot of effort. The results wouldn’t have been as good. Just getting the diagnosis certificate would have been hard for her. Having connections was indeed important.

If it were just her, she could only report to the police and leak it to the media. That would hurt the enemy a thousand but damage herself eight hundred. Since they didn’t cause her substantial harm, the matter might be treated lightly.

That was reality. Having connections made things much easier.

After Zhou Yining dried her hair, she lay down early. She ran around all day and was truly tired. Soon, she fell asleep. With so many things weighing on her mind, Zhou Yining even forgot to send Jiang Xianzhi a birthday wish at midnight.

Jiang Xianzhi didn’t sleep early. She didn’t know about the school incident. She only heard police cars came to the school, and some students were taken away. But she didn’t know why they were taken.

After returning home, she did math papers for a while, then showered. By the time she finished, it was already eleven-thirty.

Jiang Xianzhi didn’t message Zhou Yining. She wanted to see if Zhou Yining would be the first to send her a birthday wish.

Jiang Xianzhi lay on her soft bed. Her beautiful fox eyes stared at the phone screen.

At midnight, people started sending her birthday wishes one after another. Jiang Xianzhi smiled slightly. She opened WeChat and replied to those who sent her blessings.

But until twelve-thirty, she didn’t receive Zhou Yining’s wish.

Jiang Xianzhi’s beautiful fox eyes dimmed. She hugged her blanket and rolled around. She felt a bit sad. Wasn’t she special to Zhou Yining? Why didn’t Zhou Yining send a timely wish? Or did Zhou Yining generally not care about sending birthday wishes on time?

Jiang Xianzhi pursed her lips and rolled on the bed twice more. She comforted herself that Zhou Yining was probably too tired and had fallen asleep. Tomorrow morning, she would probably send a wish.

After comforting herself for a while, Jiang Xianzhi felt a bit better. She put down her phone and went to sleep.

The next morning, Zhou Yining ate breakfast at home. The dining table was deadly quiet. Zhou Yuanfei glared at Zhou Yining occasionally. Zhou Yining didn’t care much.

People needed to learn to regulate their emotions. For unimportant people, don’t give them too much attention. As for the original self’s three family members, honestly, they didn’t count as family.

They wouldn’t stand by you when you were hurt. They’d even stab you again when you were most upset, making you feel worse. Why bother with such family?

She finished breakfast and left the house. Since the police came to arrest people yesterday afternoon, the matter hadn’t spread widely at school yet. But some people were starting to hear about it.

After Zhou Yining entered Class 19, a few classmates discussing it immediately shut up. They glanced at Zhou Yining, then at each other. None dared to ask her if it was true.

During morning reading, the class teacher wasn’t there. The class monitor led everyone in reciting poetry.

In the small meeting room, Chen Yitong, the Class 9 teacher, the grade leader Luo Mei, and the dean were present.

Soon, the principal arrived. He looked at everyone and said, “I called you here about yesterday’s matter. It was too late yesterday, and I was busy. I didn’t get to ask in detail. Is it confirmed that Zhou Yining and the other three were bullied?”

Chen Yitong said, “Hmm, Zhou Yining’s evidence is sufficient. There’s not only the video Lin Shaohui and others secretly filmed but also multiple audio recordings. Plus, she has a diagnosis of moderate depression. This evidence is enough.”

The principal sighed. “Someone from above called yesterday. Our school must take a stance on this. We need to issue a school-wide notice. The three boys broke the law. The school will expel them directly. The academic affairs office can handle the procedures today. Also, notify the three boys’ parents that they’ve been expelled.”

“Okay,” the dean quickly nodded and said.

The principal sighed again and looked at the Class 9 teacher. “Your class had such a big incident, and you, as the class teacher, knew nothing. The school must punish you. For now, we’ll deduct three months of your performance pay.”

“I’m sorry, Principal. This was indeed my failure. I’ll manage my class better in the future,” the Class 9 teacher hurriedly said.

“Well, here’s what we’ll do. The academic affairs office will notify all classes. The last class this morning won’t be for lessons. Change it to a class meeting. Educate students on the dangers and consequences of school bullying. I don’t want to see anything like this happen again. Otherwise, I’ll have no face as principal,” the principal said.

The principal was furious. This matter had been reported to higher authorities.

“I’ll notify the teachers right away,” the dean said immediately.

The principal looked at Chen Yitong again. “Go back and comfort Zhou Yining well. Tell her to feel at ease. If anything happens in the future, she can communicate with the school first. If that doesn’t work, then consider other ways. Otherwise, it catches us off guard, and that’s not good,” he said.

“Okay, Principal. I’ll talk to her properly,” Chen Yitong said. But she thought to herself, luckily Zhou Yining reported to the police. Otherwise, the school would likely minimize the matter, at most expelling the three.

The first class started soon. Teacher Zhang was teaching. Most teachers knew about yesterday’s incident. During class, Teacher Zhang couldn’t help but glance at Zhou Yining a few times. She worried that such a good student might be affected by these awful matters.

But fortunately, Zhou Yining’s expression was fine. She didn’t seem affected at all.

The first class ended soon. A few boys close to Zhang Ye gathered around him.

“Brother Ye, there’s big gossip at school!” they said.

Zhang Ye frowned. “Not interested. In your mouths, even small things are big gossip,” he said.

“No, really, it’s a big deal this time. They say Lin Shaohui from Class 9 and others were taken by the police,” they said.

“Those guys? That’s not surprising. They’re not good people anyway,” Zhang Ye said lazily, leaning on his chair.

“No, Brother Ye, I haven’t gotten to the point yet,” they said.

“Tch, then hurry up and say it. So much nonsense,” Zhang Ye said. He didn’t want to listen. Last night, he sent Jiang Xianzhi a birthday wish on time. In the past, Jiang Xianzhi would happily send him lots of messages. But last night, she only replied with two words—thank you—without even an emoji.

He was feeling annoyed. Though he didn’t have feelings for Jiang Xianzhi, someone who used to chase after him suddenly became cold. It left him with a sense of loss.

Seeing his impatience, the boy quickly said, “I heard Lin Shaohui from Class 9 and two other boys bullied Zhou Yining and a few other girls. They even filmed videos. Zhou Yining reported to the police. That’s why the police came to arrest them yesterday.”

“What? Zhou Yining?” Zhang Ye was stunned.

“Yeah, Zhou Yining. My friend from Class 9 said yesterday afternoon, during class, the police came and took them away. Lin Shaohui even argued, asking if Zhou Yining reported them,” the boy said.

“That’s tough for Zhou Yining. What happened next? How was it handled?” Zhang Ye asked.

“Don’t know. My friend said Lin Shaohui and the others didn’t come to school today. Not sure how Zhou Yining is doing,” the boy said.

Jiang Xianzhi had been distracted all morning. At breakfast, she kept staring at her phone, afraid of missing Zhou Yining’s message. But all morning, she received nothing.

She vaguely heard Zhang Ye and the boys talking about Zhou Yining. Did something happen?

Jiang Xianzhi stood up abruptly from her seat, startling the boy behind her.

“Big sister, don’t scare me like that, okay? You woke me up!” he said.

Jiang Xianzhi couldn’t care less. She rushed to Zhang Ye’s group in a few steps.

“What were you just talking about? What happened to Zhou Yining?” Jiang Xianzhi asked, her face pale.

Zhang Ye looked at her, finding her reaction odd. “Aren’t you close with Zhou Yining? Didn’t she tell you?” he said.

That comment hit her hard. Jiang Xianzhi’s eyes reddened slightly. “Does it concern you? What exactly happened to her?” she asked.

Seeing Jiang Xianzhi’s urgency, the boy next to Zhang Ye said, “I heard from my friend in Class 9. Zhou Yining and a few other girls were bullied by Lin Shaohui from Class 9. There were videos or something. I’m not too clear. That’s what my friend said.”

Jiang Xianzhi’s eyes grew redder. She started to walk out of the classroom, but the bell rang, and the class teacher came in.

Jiang Xianzhi bit her lip and returned to her seat. With red eyes, she sent Zhou Yining a WeChat message under the desk.

Jiang Xianzhi’s hands trembled as she typed. Zhou Yining was bullied at school, and she only learned about it from others.

Jiang Xianzhi: [How are you? Where are you now? I’ll find a lawyer to help you. Right, the police station. My family knows people there. After class, I’ll call home.]

Zhou Yining wasn’t in the mood to write outlines today. She was busy all day yesterday and needed to take it easy. During class, she sat at her desk, zoning out.

Seeing a new message on her phone, Zhou Yining opened it and saw Jiang Xianzhi’s message. She quickly replied.

Zhou Yining: [No need. Everything’s handled. I’ve got a lawyer. I’m fine, attending class. Don’t worry.]

Zhou Yining: [By the way, I prepared a birthday gift for you. I’ll find you after class. (Petting cat jpg)]

Seeing that Zhou Yining prepared a birthday gift, Jiang Xianzhi couldn’t feel happy. She stared at her phone, tears unknowingly falling.

Because of the Lin Shaohui incident, the grade leader had just scolded the class teachers. They were now watching the students closely. Seeing Jiang Xianzhi cry, the class teacher hurried over.

“What’s wrong? Feeling unwell? Should I have someone take you to the school clinic?” the teacher asked.

Jiang Xianzhi sniffed, her voice muffled. “No need, Teacher. I’m a bit dizzy. I’ll be fine after resting a bit,” she said.

“Are you sure? Should I call your family?” the teacher asked.

“No need, Teacher. I’m really fine. I’ll be okay after resting,” Jiang Xianzhi continued.

“Alright, tell me if you feel unwell. Don’t tough it out,” the teacher said.

The class teacher went to the podium. He didn’t start the lesson. Instead, he said, “The fourth period today will be a class meeting instead. You’ve probably heard about yesterday’s incident. But don’t go prying. This involves several students’ privacy. We’ll discuss school bullying in the class meeting. For now, no discussing. Attend class properly.”

Hearing the teacher, Jiang Xianzhi’s tears fell more. The boys’ talk might have been rumors, but now the teacher confirmed it. Zhou Yining must have been badly bullied. Yet Jiang Xianzhi knew nothing about it.

Jiang Xianzhi’s heart ached and soured. Wasn’t she Zhou Yining’s best friend? Why didn’t Zhou Yining ask for her help or even tell her about this?