Chapter 4: Don’t be afraid. Let’s go Home.
Chapter 4
Shen Yue was currently studying at a nationally renowned private school with top domestic and foreign teachers. Of course, the tuition was also extremely expensive, and only rich or influential students could study here.
At the same time, classes existed in this school. Students with certain family backgrounds would, under the guidance of adults at home before enrolling, comb through the school's power structure to know who they cannot offend, who they can befriend, and who they must appease. They were clear about this and considered first class.
Those with weaker family ties could purchase information through money to know the identities of those they absolutely could not provoke. They were second class.
Those who purely got in by throwing money around and had to blindly figure out other people's identities were third class.
And scholarship students were a special class.
This private school was a school in name but was actually a small society composed of heirs from major financial groups, political factions, families, and their relatives. It was very influential.
Students from ordinary families who mostly relied on the school's scholarships to study here often needed the school's protection to survive.
The school needed these enrolled top students to improve its reputation and competence. Thus, special class students generally did not interact with other types of students.
Speaking of which, Shen Yue's status should not have fallen to this level. After all, under her eldest brother's management, the Shen family had already become the undisputed leader in the business circle.
And her third brother had firmly established his foothold in the military in recent years thanks to his fearless spirit, directly elevating the entire Shen family by a level.
With the buffs from these two people to the Shen family, Shen Yue having some sway in school should not be a problem.
It was just that the Shen family's motto was to maintain a low profile in life and accomplish matters in a high-profile manner.
Not just Shen Yue, other Shen family members also could not show off their identities and be exceptional. Thus, Shen Yue's background was thoroughly concealed. Apart from the school authorities, no one else knew.
Even Shang Junyu only knew that Shen Yue was a daughter of elders who were good friends of his family, and he needed to take good care of Shen Yue. Of course, he was very unhappy about this order.
He wanted to be nice to whoever he wished, protect whoever he wanted, so why should he be told to look after Shen Yue?
But Shang Junyu had a very special status in the Shang family. He did not have the power to directly defy the Shang elders. He could only vent his displeasure on Shen Yue.
Just like today, he clearly sensed something off about Shen Yue's condition and the atmosphere in class, but he deliberately ignored it.
This was his stubborn defiance. As for what harm this defiance would bring to Shen Yue, he did not care one bit.
Not long after, the teacher came in as well. He scanned the class, briefly pausing at Zhang Peng's face and Shen Yue's desk, but ultimately said nothing.
He just walked numbly to the podium, took out his textbook, and started calling out to the listless students, "Everyone take out your textbooks. Let's start morning reading..."
The truest relationships in this school were the relationships between students. Those who got along well definitely came from good families, while those who did poorly definitely came from poor families. The only rule for survival in this school was to never help bullied students.
Otherwise, they would lose a respectable job due to retaliation from students.
This had happened more than once, and many teachers had become numb to it.
He stood at the podium leading everyone in reading. Suddenly, Lin Yanxin stood up and said, "Teacher, Shen Yue threw her desk at me."
Upon hearing this, the previously indifferent teacher immediately rushed to Lin Yanxin's side, as if his own son was in trouble, and cried out, "Are you hurt?!"
Hearing this, someone immediately chimed in, "Teacher, that was dangerous just now. Shen Yue suddenly attacked for no reason!"
Upon hearing this, the teacher seemed to understand something but did not inquire further. He immediately reprimanded Shen Yue, "Shen Yue, apologize to Lin Yanxin right away!"
Everyone's expressions instantly turned schadenfreude. With the teacher treating Shen Yue like this, it meant Shen Yue really had no background.
Teachers in school were the most realistic. They would protect students from better families and now the teacher was siding with Lin Yanxin, which meant Shen Yue's family was definitely not on Shang Junyu's level.
Unbeknownst to them, while the teacher was judging the student, the students were also judging the teacher. They thus missed the chance to uncover the truth.
Shen Yue looked at the teacher expressionlessly. She had no qualms and directly said, "Teacher, won't you ask what happened?"
Upon hearing this, the teacher did not reply. With an extremely nasty tone, he said to Shen Yue, "What happened? I don't care what method you used. I only know you hurt Lin Yanxin! You're a bad student! Shen Yue, how much do your parents make in a month? Don't blame me for looking down on you. Lin Yanxin's parents make more in a month than your parents will make in their lifetime. Are your qualities the same? Can you be the same? Reflect on your own parents. No matter what, bring your family here now to apologize to Lin Yanxin!"
Sporadic laughter arose. If it wasn't Shen Yue standing here but a real student from an ordinary family, it was hard to imagine what their life would suffer.
The students' malice and the teacher's malice could crush a growing child.
Shen Yue was about to say something, but upon seeing the approaching figure outside, she closed her mouth.
Thus, Shen Yue obediently stood there with her head down, allowing the teacher to reprimand her word for word. She looked utterly pitiful.
"Bring your family here immediately! You must apologize to Lin Yanxin in person!"
"I'm Shen Yue's brother. May I ask what she did to anger you so?" Shen Yichen's cold voice came from the doorway. It wasn't loud but the oppressiveness was immense. The undisguised laughter instantly died down.
And the previously arrogant teacher's complexion froze instantly upon turning around.
The man claiming to be Shen Yue's brother was standing at the classroom entrance in a well-tailored suit. He wore a branded watch that looked expensive at a glance. His temperament was restrained yet dangerous. At the moment, he was expressionlessly surveying the classroom before his gaze eventually landed on the lowering-her-head Shen Yue.
Behind him were the school's major shareholders and the principal. No matter if they were shareholders or the principal, their current expressions were very ugly.
"Principal Li, perhaps you should come take a look first before explaining," said Shen Yichen coldly to the outside.
Principal Li kept bowing and nodding while walking to Shen Yue's side with an apologetic smile.
Upon seeing the scene before him, Principal Li's eyes rolled back and he almost fainted from lack of air. At this moment, he only hoped he could instantly leave this beautiful world for another planet.
He was already this old. It was time to enjoy his blessings built up over the years. Why did he have to encounter something like this!
She was the Shen family's treasure. The Shen family! How dare these brats bully the Shen family's treasure!
Yes, he had not informed the teachers and students of Shen Yue's identity, but couldn't they discern from Shen Yue's speech and conduct, what she wore and used, that she was someone they could not afford to offend?!
These brats!
At this time, every strand of the principal's hair was filled with anger. He didn't dare to look at Shen Yichen, let alone Shen Yue. He could only yell at the teacher, who was still in shock from the sudden turn of events, "Are you blind?! You didn't punish the perpetrator who caused this terrible incident in your own class. Instead, you yelled at the victim. Is this how you teach?!"
The teacher was a little flustered at this point, but he still tried to defend himself subconsciously, "Principal, it's not like that. The students in this class are all good kids. They wouldn't randomly bully others. And Shen Yue threw the desk at Lin Yanxin for no reason..."
Shen Yichen sneered, interrupting the teacher's words, "So you mean it's her own fault that our child was bullied?"
The teacher was startled by Shen Yichen's momentum. He stammered, "That's not what I meant..."
"Then what do you mean? Just now I heard the teacher say that Yueyue's parents should reflect. Well, I'm here now. Please tell me what you think I should reflect on?"
Upon hearing this, the principal quickly said, "Mr. Shen! Look at you! Some of our teachers spoke rashly. Don't take it seriously. You don't need to reflect on anything. The one who needs reflection is someone else."
He glared fiercely at the frightened teacher. He didn't deal with him for the time being, but yelled at the students who were as quiet as chickens wishing they could burrow into the ground, "Who did this? Stand up!"
Of course, everyone remained silent and no one answered the principal's question.
"If you don't speak up, you'll all be punished together. Let me remind you that this matter cannot be resolved easily. It may even affect your parents! Think about it for yourselves, like you often do."
With these words, the principal had grabbed the vital point of these children.
Every student present was very clear that the arrogance they relied on came from the power behind their families. If this matter affected their homes, their parents would definitely not let them off easily. At worst, they would also become humiliated existences.
However, they still had doubts in their minds. Was the matter really so serious that bullying Shen Yue could affect their families? Was Shen Yue's family that powerful? Weren't her parents both unemployed and couldn't even afford breakfast?
At this point, all the students had actually felt something was wrong, but human consciousness tends to automatically avoid adverse situations. So they still didn't want to admit it and struggled with themselves internally.
The principal was also anxious. The Shen family was powerful, and there were also quite powerful families among the students present, although not as powerful as the Shen family. Still, he didn't want to offend them either. He could only imply that Shen Yue's family background was unusual, hoping some of the brats would get the hint.
Although the bullying incident seemed very serious now, everyone was still young. As long as they recognized their mistakes and took the initiative to admit them, the Shen family would most likely go easy on them considering reputation. The thunder would be loud but the rain would be small. As long as they promised not to make the same mistake again, the matter would be over.
But the precondition was that they had to show a good attitude of admitting their mistakes. Only then could the school step in to mediate. He just hoped some of them understood his implication.
However, the fact was that the students did understand, but they didn't want to apologize. If someone had to be wrong, it would be Zhang Peng's fault. If Zhang Peng hadn't brought the wrong information that Shen Yue was poor, they wouldn't have laid hands on her.
If anyone was to admit their mistakes, it should be Zhang Peng. They didn't do anything wrong. They had just done what they always did.
"It was Zhang Peng who did it."
After the first voice spoke up, the rest seemed to have found direction and echoed in succession.
"Right, it was Zhang Peng."
"Zhang Peng said early in the morning that Shen Yue was a liar and slandered her."
"It was all Zhang Peng."
"I can testify it was Zhang Peng."
The principal's eyes flashed coldly, relieved that these brats weren't stupid. It seemed that the one they singled out as a scapegoat for this incident was someone named Zhang Peng.
Compared to punishing a whole class and offending over twenty families, he'd much rather only punish one.
"Zhang Peng, huh? Call your parents here immediately!" The principal's voice had become cheerful. Having Zhang Peng's family bear all of the Shen family's anger would ease things for him as well.
But Shen Yichen didn't buy it. He flatly said, "Not just him."
The principal's body stiffened. He turned to look at Shen Yichen, "Mr. Shen, why not give our school some time? We will definitely give you a satisfactory answer."
Shen Yichen ignored the principal. He only rested his hand on Shen Yue's shoulder, seemingly comforting her while unabashedly saying, "After observing your approach just now, I suddenly understood why this school would become like this. It's also the Shen family's negligence to have sent Yueyue to a place like this."
"What?" The principal was confused.
At this time, Shen Yichen noticed Shen Yue's clothes that had been torn by the strong glue. His expression unreadable, he casually ordered the assistant beside him, "Convene the board of directors within today to replace the principal and dismiss all teachers guilty of misconduct. All losses incurred will be borne by the Shen family."
"Yes!"
"Stop all cooperation with enterprises related to the students in this class. Send word to their parents that until the real culprit is found, the Shen family will do its utmost to suppress them."
At this time, Shen Yue was standing beside Shen Yichen. On one hand, she felt her big brother was so reliable and powerful. On the other hand, she was afraid that her act of hitting someone would be discovered.
If it was discovered, she wouldn't be able to use fear as an excuse to avoid going to school anymore.
God! Please protect me!
Seeing that Shen Yue seemed a little afraid, Shen Yichen said in a low voice, "Don't be afraid, we'll go home."