I Can't Fall for My Own Wife Again After Reincarnation, Right? (GL) - Chapter 16

Li Yuwen led Xu Yingran out of the classroom and, before entering the office, gave her a deep, lingering look that made Xu Yingran feel extremely uncomfortable.

She couldn’t understand, why had she suddenly been called to the office out of the blue?

But when she followed Li Yuwen inside, she saw two people sitting beside the homeroom teacher’s desk, a man and a woman. The woman was dressed in bright, flashy clothes, sporting the trendiest permed curls of the time, with bold red lips. The man, on the other hand, looked somewhat disheveled, his clothes not particularly neat.

Just as Xu Yingran was wondering who these two were, Li Yuwen spoke up. “This is Xu Yingran.”

The woman glanced up at her, impatience clear in her eyes, then nudged the listless man beside her and said, “She’s here. You talk to her.”

The man remained silent, staring at Xu Yingran for a long while without managing to say anything. In the end, it was Li Yuwen who broke the silence.

“These are Chen Yu’s parents,” she told Xu Yingran. “Last night, Chen Yu confessed to me how she bullied you. Early this morning, her parents came to seek your forgiveness.”

Xu Yingran understood. Chen Yu must have been so terrified yesterday that she ran home trembling, probably struggling for a long time before finally calling the homeroom teacher. This morning, she didn’t even have the courage to come to school, sending her parents in her place instead.

She calmly observed the couple before her, their starkly contrasting personalities making it easy to see why Chen Yu had turned out so extreme.

The father was meek and hesitant to speak, while the mother was flamboyant and restless, this family was a recipe for disaster.

“Look, kid, this isn’t such a big deal,” Chen Yu’s mother said. “Why don’t we just settle this quietly? We can compensate you with some money. There’s no need for a formal reprimand or probation, right?”

Xu Yingran stayed silent, but Li Yuwen spoke up again.

“Mrs. Chen, this is no small matter,” she said. “Chen Yu has been a problem student since her first year of high school. I didn’t discipline her too harshly because she’s a girl, and you, as her parents, never paid any attention. That’s why she ended up doing something like this.”

“Oh, come on, how bad could it be?” Chen Yu’s mother scoffed. “Kids roughhouse all the time. Why make such a big fuss?”

“She cornered someone in a school alley. If no one had stepped in, Chen Yu might already be in police custody by now.” Li Yuwen couldn’t hide her frustration with such unreasonable parents and frowned. “Chen Yu is 18, an adult. She has to face the consequences for breaking the law.”

Chen Yu’s mother bristled. “Breaking the law? Did my daughter murder someone? How can you, a teacher, say such things?”

Li Yuwen’s patience wore thin. “Mrs. Chen, this isn’t about arguing with me. The most important thing is to seek the victim’s forgiveness.”

Chen Yu’s mother rolled her eyes. “We’re talking to the kid right now. If you’d stop interrupting, we’d be done by now.”

The sheer arrogance in her tone was uncannily similar to Chen Yu’s. Even the homeroom teacher was left speechless. Finally, she turned to Xu Yingran and asked, “What do you think?”

Instead of answering, Xu Yingran asked in return, “Did Chen Yu not come to school today?”

“Our Chen Yu is sick and can’t get out of bed,” Chen Yu’s mother said. “Let’s discuss this matter reasonably, student. After all, you’re classmates, and it’s already senior year. Having Chen Yu receive a major demerit and probation won’t benefit you either, will it?”

“How wouldn’t it benefit me?” Xu Yingran replied. “At least she wouldn’t be able to act so recklessly in school every day, and our class’s learning environment would improve.”

Chen Yu’s mother’s expression darkened. “You’re classmates, is this really necessary? How about we compensate you with a few thousand yuan for emotional distress? What do you think?”

A few thousand yuan was just one or two months’ salary for an average family, but Chen Yu’s mother thought a high school senior wouldn’t know better and might be easily fooled.

Little did she expect Xu Yingran wouldn’t fall for it.

“Yesterday, Chen Yu told me that besides reporting this to the school’s teachers and principal, she would also write a written self-criticism to read aloud in front of the entire school,” Xu Yingran said, pretending to think. “How could she go back on her word now?”

At this, Chen Yu’s mother couldn’t stay seated any longer. She shot up, furious, and snapped at Xu Yingran, “We’re trying to talk to you nicely, how can you say such things?”

“Our Chen Yu never went back on her word! Instead of making this a lose-lose situation, why don’t we sit down and talk properly? Just tell us how much money you want,” Chen Yu’s mother said. “Why must you be so aggressive?”

Xu Yingran was truly witnessing the diversity of human behavior. From the moment she entered, she had only spoken two or three sentences, while this woman had been firing off words like a machine gun. And yet, in the end, Xu Yingran was the one being labeled as “aggressive.”

She found it almost amusing.

Li Yuwen couldn’t stand it either. She had never seen such a shameless parent before. Slamming her hand on the table, she said sharply, “Do you think this is a marketplace? What’s with all this shouting?”

Chen Yu’s mother pointed at Xu Yingran’s nose. “Teacher Li, look at the kind of student your class has raised, so brazen and unyielding! You have to stand up for our Chen Yu!”

The commotion in Li Yuwen’s office had grown so loud that other teachers turned to look, gathering in small groups to watch.

Chen Yu’s mother seemed to be the type who thrived on attention. The more people stared, the more dramatic she became, raising her voice even louder. Before Li Yuwen could respond, the quiet man who had been sitting nearby finally lost his patience.

“Will you shut up?!” the man roared at Chen Yu’s mother. “This is a school, why are you shouting like this? Can’t you talk to the child properly instead of acting like a shrew?”

“A shrew?” Chen Yu’s mother gasped in disbelief. “Old Chen, I’m fighting for our daughter’s sake! Instead of helping me, you’re siding with others?”

Chen Yu’s father flushed red, stammering, “Y-you’re embarrassing us!”

“Embarrassing?” Her voice shot up. “I’m not ashamed of your pathetic self, and you dare call me embarrassing?! If it weren’t for our child, do you think I’d even bother coming here with you?!”

As the two continued arguing nonstop, Xu Yingran stood by with arms crossed, watching the commotion. But before she could enjoy the spectacle for long, the stern-faced principal walked in.

“What’s all this shouting about?” the principal said with displeasure, his expression severe. “If you don’t want to discuss things properly, then leave immediately. Our school doesn’t welcome this kind of behavior.”