The teaching director of the high school department knew that these students were difficult to handle, so he looked for Han Laos.h.i.+, s.h.i.+ Yan's ex-form teacher, and called him out from cla.s.s while he was teaching. Han Laos.h.i.+ had taught s.h.i.+ Yan for three years. You could say that he didn't take s.h.i.+ Yan's background into consideration when he treated him well, and he did like s.h.i.+ Yan quite a bit. After s.h.i.+ Yan graduated, he had even given s.h.i.+ Yan a call. Thus, s.h.i.+ Yan was quite respectful towards him. When he saw Han Laos.h.i.+ walk over, s.h.i.+ Yan jumped off the windowsill to greet him. Han Laos.h.i.+ patted s.h.i.+ Yan affectionately, "You rascal, why didn't you look for me after you came back? Let's go to my office."

How could they be willing to leave? That grandson would escape if they did. So s.h.i.+ Yan smiled as he told his teacher that he would definitely go see him, but he didn't want to disturb him during his working hours. Han Laos.h.i.+ also knew his reasons, "If you have anything you want to talk about, let's do so in my office. Or is it that after you graduated, Laos.h.i.+ can't even invite you to my office anymore? Laos.h.i.+ will have to start arresting people in that case."

In the end, only s.h.i.+ Yan and w.a.n.g Feng — who were his direct disciples — went to his office. He was still a form teacher for the third years. Han Laos.h.i.+ asked about their life in college before diving straight into the point about the dispute they were here for. He first talked about how Zhao Laos.h.i.+ had crossed the line with his words, but he also explained in Zhao Laos.h.i.+'s defence that he was usually a cra.s.s person in his daily life who never pays much attention to what he says.

s.h.i.+ Yan didn't argue with his teacher either, because there was no need to. Han Laos.h.i.+ looked at w.a.n.g Feng helplessly, who just shrugged, "Laos.h.i.+, don't involve yourself in this mess. Did that teaching director fox look for you? He's in hiding himself, and yet he pushed you out here for this."

Han Laos.h.i.+ laughed, "So you guys know that I'm in a difficult spot too? This is a task a.s.signed to me by my superior. You guys…Zhao Laos.h.i.+ was wrong, but can you forgive him this once? I believe that he won't do that ever again. Although teachers might scold and shout at students sometimes, they all have good intentions. Aren't they just doing it for the sake of their students?"

"Which word did that b.a.s.t.a.r.d say for He Nuo's sake?" s.h.i.+ Yan asked.

"He has probably never spoken like a human should before." w.a.n.g Feng answered, "If it had been me, I would've beaten him up in cla.s.s until he had to look for his teeth on the floor. Laos.h.i.+, you've taught He Nuo for two years too, is he the kind of ignorant guy who would cause trouble for his teacher during cla.s.s? That d.a.m.n sn.o.b just looks down on him and probably thought that He Nuo was someone he could bully. If s.h.i.+ Yan was the one who was late, I don't believe that grandson would even dare let out a single fart."

Han Laos.h.i.+ had also been questioned until he couldn't come up with anymore excuses. Zhou Xiaodong suddenly opened the door without knocking, "s.h.i.+ Yan, He Nuo's form teacher brought He Nuo to that grandson's office."

s.h.i.+ Yan jumped straight up and ran towards the fourth floor. Han Laos.h.i.+ shouted at him as he tried to follow along. s.h.i.+ Yan had long legs and huge strides, and when he reached the staircase he slid down on its handrails before jumping right over the last flew flights of steps. His other buddies were still standing in front of the window as they pointed at the closed office door. s.h.i.+ Yan walked over and kicked it open while everyone else dodged — there were only three people inside: He Nuo, his form teacher and that d.a.m.n grandson.

The three of them were all seated. He Nuo immediately stood up, and his form teacher reacted swiftly, "Everything's alright, we're just talking. It'll be fine once we talk it out." That guy whose name had already been replaced with the word 'grandson' was so frightened that he avoided s.h.i.+ Yan's murderous gaze.

"Come here!" s.h.i.+ Yan said to He Nuo.

When He Nuo got close enough to s.h.i.+ Yan that they could almost touch, he was harshly yanked over by s.h.i.+ Yan and was glared at for a second, then s.h.i.+ Yan faced the other two as he sneered, "You want to talk about it? Hng, it's too late for that. Even if he allows it, I won't!"

"s.h.i.+ Yan!" He Nuo had just called out when s.h.i.+ Yan's gaze that was as sharp as a knife landed on him. He Nuo stopped talking, though he was reluctant to do so.

Han Laos.h.i.+ was already at the door. He pulled s.h.i.+ Yan and He Nuo over, "Okay, okay. Let's all go back to Laos.h.i.+'s office."

After they entered Han Laos.h.i.+'s office, s.h.i.+ Yan asked, "Who asked you to talk to that grandson? What's there to talk about?"

"s.h.i.+ Yan, if you force him to apologise in front of the whole school, then how would he be able to come to school in the future? Would he still be able to teach? As long as we both admit our fault then we can just let this matter go ba."

When he saw that s.h.i.+ Yan wasn't talking, He Nuo continued, "When I was at the office, my form teacher told me that Zhao Laos.h.i.+ didn't pa.s.s his Professional t.i.tle examination again, so it seems like he'll have to face a lot of trouble in the future. That was why he was in such a bad mood."

s.h.i.+ Yan and He Nuo didn't really understand what a Profession t.i.tle examination was, but Han Laos.h.i.+ seemed to awake from a dream, "O, I understand now. No wonder he vented his frustrations on his students again. You guys aren't working yet so you don't know, Han Laos.h.i.+ is a worker-peasant-soldier student1, and he's on recommendation, so he has a weaker literary foundation than the rest. This wasn't much of a problem in the past, but after batches of professional model teachers came, we began to feel the pressure. Now we're also particular about improving the quality of high school teachers, so we can't teach if we don't have a certain professional t.i.tle, but Zhao Laos.h.i.+ could never pa.s.s that exam. I don't know if he'll still be able to teach next year."

After He Nuo heard his detailed explanation, he didn't want to pursue the matter any further. At first he only thought that it was wrong for his teacher to insult his parents, and didn't care about anything else anyway. Moreover, he had already talked to Zhao Laos.h.i.+ just now. As soon as he heard that s.h.i.+ Yan's condition was for him to apologise in front of the entire school, he objected to it. He knew that s.h.i.+ Yan wanted to stand up for him, but all he needed was fairness. He didn't want to subdue another person with force. How could he not leave some leeway for the other party?

"I don't need Laos.h.i.+'s apology anymore, we've already talked it out just now. Han Laos.h.i.+, you don't need to worry about it any longer."

"Actually those worker-peasant-worker students are quite pitiful. If they had undergone professional training2, then they wouldn't even need to take the examination before they can change their professional t.i.tle. This is equivalent to not recognising their academic qualifications. He's already this old before his qualifications weren't recognised, and it's too late for him to re-educate himself. He is quite pitiful, so don't argue with him too much."

"Laos.h.i.+, everything's over, there's nothing to argue about."

Han Laos.h.i.+ looked at s.h.i.+ Yan. He was waiting for his promise before he could be at ease, "s.h.i.+ Yan, give Laos.h.i.+ some face and let this incident go, okay?"

s.h.i.+ Yan leaned on the window to look out at the students on the field who had gym.

"s.h.i.+ Yan, you're not allowed to do anything else!" He Nuo walked up to him.

"Laozi will do whatever I want." He maintained a stern face.

"You can't do it even if you want to. You even threw knives at their door! All the teachers have been frightened away by you guys, are you trying to be a local hoodlum? I won't allow you to be a bully."

He Nuo angrily thought of the knives on the door. When he saw those knives, he was so surprised that his eyes had widened considerably. He really didn't know how s.h.i.+ Yan came up with that idea, he's practically on par with a loan shark who was trying to collect a debt that was owed.

He heard a sn.i.g.g.e.r. s.h.i.+ Yan laughed with a teasing gaze, "But I like being a bully, and I really like being a Hoodlum Tyc.o.o.n."

The meaning behind his last two words was only understood by He Nuo, so a rosy flush immediately appeared on his face.

His goal had been achieved. s.h.i.+ Yan never wanted to blow this matter up, so of course he didn't actually want that grandson to apologise to He Nuo in front of the entire school. If he did so, then wouldn't He Nuo become a mini malefic in his teachers' eyes?

"Okay, since you won't let me take care of this, then I'll go home now okay? Young Master!" He whispered to He Nuo before looking up and said in a loud voice to his teacher, "Since Laos.h.i.+ has already spoken, how could I not give you face?"

Han Laos.h.i.+ was very surprised, he didn't expect s.h.i.+ Yan to give in so easily, so he repeated, "Good, good, good. That's right, you're all grown up now and can even empathise with people. Laos.h.i.+'s really happy that you're doing me this honour."

1. Worker-Peasant-Soldier students (simplified Chinese: traditional ChinesepinyinCultural RevolutionFive Red Categories

2. The raws used a term that can be roughly translated as 'professional training cla.s.s/school/inst.i.tution', but this term isn't referring to where someone had graduated from. Rather, it refers to those who had undergone formal training and got to where they are through self-study↩

T/N: Guyssss do y'all still remember the Hoodlum Tyc.o.o.n joke they shared around chap 30+? Jaklsndfjkns I was dying when I read this chap, the way they bicker is so cute