Chapter 20

“Professor Ruan, are you really going to say nothing and let him use these twisted arguments to mock people?”

Fang Yifan’s mother, seeing she couldn’t outargue He Chen, could only loudly question Ruan Lu, who was standing behind He Chen.

“They’re all grown up now, with their own opinions.” Ruan Lu gently tugged at He Chen, who stood in front of her, urging him to step aside, then met Fang Yifan’s mother’s gaze.

“Instead of blaming others, reflect on yourself! He Chen’s tone was a bit harsh, but young people are naturally fiery—least of all does he ever start a fight over a disagreement.”

“And if everyone says he’s overreacting, what’s there to worry about if he’s not acting unjustly—or worse, breaking the law?”

“What he said may sound unpleasant at first, but upon closer thought, it’s not entirely without merit.”

“If we adults can’t even refute these reasonable points, what right do we have to speak at all?”

“Let’s all go our separate ways, get back to what we need to do, and think carefully about how to set a proper example for the young.”

“Teacher Li, what do you think?”

“...” This was the second time in twenty-four hours she’d spoken with Professor Ruan, and Ruan Lu’s attitude made Li Tiegun understand exactly where He Chen’s reckless confidence came from.

It was clearly Ruan Lu’s indulgence.

She’d once thought, “How could a prestigious professor like Ruan Lu possibly adopt someone like He Chen?”—now she saw it was because they were cut from the same cloth; that’s why Ruan Lu had taken him in and spoiled him so badly!

Thinking of this, though she now felt a flicker of genuine fear toward He Chen, she couldn’t suppress her frustration—Ruan Lu had opened the topic, and with so many people watching—so she spoke up: “He Chen’s parent is right to a point, but you can’t only see others and ignore yourselves.”

“He Chen says Fang Yifan became this way because of his parents’ personalities and habits.”

“Then where did He Chen’s own extremism come from?”

“And when He Chen says Fang Yifan will suffer serious consequences if he keeps going like this—what about He Chen himself?”

“Mr. and Mrs. He, I hope you’ll go home and think deeply about these things.”

“You’re a professor at a top university—you should reflect on these truths better than any of us!”

“Professor Ruan, what do you say?”

“Teacher Li, you’re absolutely right!” Ruan Lu held back He Chen, who clearly wanted to retort again, and nodded in agreement.

Seeing his Aunt Ruan wouldn’t let him speak further, He Chen thought for a moment and decided to obey her.

First, to give Aunt Ruan face; second, he couldn’t keep going like this—otherwise he’d blunt Li Tiegun so much that her threshold for outrage would rise, making it harder to achieve tenfold or even a hundredfold revenge.

It had only been twenty-four hours—there was still a whole year ahead!

With Li Tiegun’s ridiculous, laughably inept style of handling things, like something out of a trashy TV drama, there’d be plenty more chances to strike later!

Letting her calm down for now was just to build up even fiercer emotional energy for the next round!

As for why he always seems to be lashing out, overly aggressive?

There’s no choice!

The character archetypes and values in every Chinese trash TV drama are all wrong, wrong, wrong—just think for a second and you’ll see they’re grotesquely twisted, full of Western-style rich-people arrogance: they want to do whatever they please, yet believe they’re always right, and demand everyone else unquestioningly accept their superiority from the bottom of their hearts!

These so-called light comedies are the light comedies of the rich—just like experts saying renting a house or driving for Uber will inevitably reverse your fate.

He was certain that even if he legally and reasonably got Fang Yifan’s father arrested this time, with a criminal record and losing his job, it wouldn’t truly hurt Fang Yifan’s family.

Rich families are different from poor ones. With Fang Yifan’s father’s inability to pass the bar exam even in middle age, he’d likely end up driving for Didi or delivering food, and still somehow pull off some miraculous comeback story.

If ordinary people believe these stories, feel a sense of identification, and think, “I could do it too,” they’ll be poisoned by this toxic chicken soup until they’re utterly broken—there’ll be no lightness, no happy ending, just a sudden death in some dark alley, a sigh, and then nothing.

The trivial details of these trashy TV dramas’ happy endings casually reveal the rich’s philosophy of life and their true attitude toward the common people—that’s the real reality!

You could say the entire world’s Dao-consciousness is twisted; anyone with even a shred of normal values, some backbone, and a temper would be abnormal if they didn’t rail against heaven, earth, and the air itself.

He Chen has already been restrained—he’s not even a “He-Du-Du!”

Aside from the protagonist group favored by the twisted Dao, or those with serious flaws who are already arrogant and deliberately provoke him, who else has he ever lashed out at?

The two officers had been silent background figures throughout the argument, but now that the dust had settled and no more smoothing-over was possible, they could only handle things officially: they took Fang Yifan’s father to the police station for a statement.

“Mr. Fang, confessing leads to leniency, resistance leads to harsher punishment—you work in legal affairs, you know this well. Don’t waste police resources; give a full, honest statement.”

“Otherwise, once the forensic results come in, a false statement will only add to your charges!”

Here, he turned to the two officers: “Officers, that saying—‘Confess and get leniency, sit in prison for life; resist and get harshness, go home for the New Year’—is just rumor, right?”

“Of course!” The two officers smirked slightly, then solemnly affirmed their official principles and policies.

This made Fang Yifan’s family even more devastated.

Confess, and it’s officially confirmed—no time left to maneuver.

Don’t confess, but still give a statement now, and it’s recorded—under He Chen’s watchful eyes, he might actually get harsher punishment.

And since he’s in legal affairs, knowingly breaking the law means he’s unlikely to get probation—he’ll probably actually go to jail.

The two officers led Fang Yifan’s father away. Fang Yifan’s mother gave a few instructions to Fang Yifan, whose eyes were already red, asked Teacher Li to watch over him, then hurriedly followed them out.

Once they reached a secluded spot, Fang Yifan’s mother immediately blocked the three of them and said to the two officers: “Officers, I just need to speak a few words with him.”

Then, forcing a smile to comfort her husband, she said: “Don’t worry—you didn’t mean it, you don’t deserve this treatment. It’s all because of that little brat stirring up trouble. I’m going straight to find your childhood friend Ji Shengli—he’s now the district chief here, he won’t let you suffer injustice!”

As she spoke, she kept glancing at the two officers.

The two officers exchanged a look.

Both knew this was meant not just for her husband, but for them.

Ji Shengli’s childhood friend—newly appointed Deputy District Chief Ji—was someone they had to handle carefully.

Observing their reactions, Fang Yifan’s mother saw her words had taken effect, gave her husband a few more instructions, then hurried off toward the college counseling event.

She didn’t have Ji Shengli’s number—she could only pray he hadn’t left yet, that she could catch him, or else she’d never find him.

Principal’s office.

Fang Yifan’s mother first went to the college counseling event but couldn’t find him. Then she remembered the principal had earlier taken Ji Shengli and others to the school archive room to tour the school’s history, so she rushed over there.

But no one was there.

Frustrated, she went straight to the principal’s office, knocked, and upon seeing him, urgently asked about Ji Shengli’s whereabouts.

The principal immediately understood and bluntly told her that District Chief Ji, busy with state affairs, had already left the school.

He couldn’t help internally grumbling: if he could, wouldn’t he want to keep the district chief around longer?

But he simply couldn’t hold him back.

The only connection—District Chief Ji’s eldest son, Ji Yangyang—was still playing the rebellious card; he hadn’t even shown up for the college counseling event, let alone the balloon-launching ceremony—he’d just slipped away.

With the main person absent, District Chief Ji staying even briefly to tour the school was already being very generous.

Fang Yifan’s mother begged the principal to give her Ji Shengli’s phone number, but the principal, already sensing Ji Shengli had only been polite with them, saw they didn’t even have his personal contact—he had no reason to comply and politely refused.

Over there.

Ji Yangyang’s parents had just left the school in their private car.

Sitting in the back seat, Ji Shengli still mused, arms crossed: “Today I met an old friend from childhood—he got into China University of Political Science and Law first, I didn’t. I was heartbroken, so I decided I had to get in too. I spent a year retaking the exam—hung my hair from the beam, pricked my thigh with a needle—finally got in. He studied law, I studied public administration; we weren’t even in the same year, so we drifted apart.”

“No wonder! I always thought you weren’t very warm toward him,” Ji Shengli’s wife Liu Jing teased. “You even called him by his childhood nickname—I bet you’ve forgotten his surname. At your age, still pretending to be close!”

“He was called… Fang Yuan, yes, Fang Yuan! Back then he was handsome and talented, a cultural backbone of the school—we all admired him.” Ji Shengli thought for a while before remembering Fang Yifan’s father’s name, sighing at the memories of youth.

“Ah, we never exchanged contact info back then! Next time I see him, I should proactively ask for it—can’t seem uninterested, unenthusiastic, or out of touch with the masses, right?”

No sooner had she finished speaking than Liu Jing’s phone rang. After listening for a moment, she gave her husband a strange look.

They’d been married so long, one glance told them everything.

Ji Shengli froze in shock.

He’d just spoken lofty official platitudes—and now the masses wanted to connect with him… in the exact way he didn’t want.