Chapter 24: People Should Be Reasonable

After summer break, Su Chunfeng entered ninth grade.

School life went on as usual. For him, it just meant studying hard and always trying to improve. In his free time, he continued chatting with Wang Haifei to strengthen their bond—he didn’t crave the physical aspects of a relationship, but simply enjoyed this pure, faint, almost love-like feeling.

Also, with a hint of self-blame, he wanted to make up for the regrets and the guilt he felt toward Wang Haifei from his past life.

However, whenever he remembered his past life, where he had started learning the Esoteric Arts under Wang Qimin in the first semester of ninth grade, Su Chunfeng couldn’t help but worry: “When Wang Qimin shows me those mysterious Esoteric Techniques to tempt and persuade me to learn the Esoteric Arts, how should I refuse him?”

After all, he was just a fifteen-year-old kid.

And faced with the mystery and power of such techniques, a boy his age would definitely be fascinated and willing to become a disciple.

So, no matter what reason he gave for refusing, it would surely raise Wang Qimin’s suspicions.

The intense summer heat faded early this year. By mid-September, there was already a hint of crisp, clear autumn weather.

At ten-thirty in the morning on this day, the students of Class 14, ninth grade, were training on the playground of Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School. Under the guidance of their P.E. teacher, Zuo Hongbin, they lined up separately by gender.

The girls’ exercise was sit-ups, and the boys’ was pull-ups. P.E. class back then was far less complicated than the lesson plans suggested. It was simple: just the three events tested in the High School Entrance Examination—standing long jump, pull-ups for boys (sit-ups for girls), and long-distance running.

When it was Su Chunfeng’s turn, he walked to the pull-up bar, jumped up, and easily did ten proper pull-ups in a row. He hopped down, calmly walked to the back of the line.

Zuo Hongbin, who was instructing the girls not far away, saw this and gritted his teeth in annoyance.

Ever since Class 14 and Class 15 officially became the ninth-grade classes at the start of the semester, Zuo Hongbin, the P.E. teacher for the ninth grade, had paid extra attention to Su Chunfeng during Class 14’s P.E. periods. He hoped this kid would fail or perform poorly in some aspect, giving him a chance for revenge… But to his dismay, whether it was long-distance running, pull-ups, or standing long jump, Su Chunfeng always easily scored full marks without intentionally trying to excel. And having learned his lesson from last time, Zuo Hongbin didn’t dare to unfairly punish Su Chunfeng without a good reason.

The students lined up in an orderly fashion, taking turns training, chatting and laughing among themselves in a cheerful atmosphere.

However, right then, Wang Liqiu and Xu Zhijun, for some unknown reason, suddenly started fighting in the line, throwing the whole group into chaos.

“Screw your mom!”

“I’ll kill you today!”

…

Seeing this, Zuo Hongbin quickly ran over and shouted, “What are you doing? Stop it!”

The two boys completely ignored his scolding, already locked in a fierce struggle. They rolled on the ground, then jumped up pulling hair, punching and kicking, shouting at the top of their lungs as if they wanted the entire school to know they were fighting.

Wang Liqiu and Xu Zhijun were currently the most aggressive and brawling students in the class.

Now, both the boys and girls of Class 14 had stopped training to watch the two tangled in the fight.

In fact, in the two weeks since school started, there had already been several fights in the school, and Wang Liqiu had been directly involved in at least half of them.

This was normal.

Because the previous ninth graders had graduated, and the universally acknowledged School Bully King, Dong Chuliang, was gone. Among the new ninth-grade classes, the eighth graders, and even the new seventh graders who had just entered school, those aggressive types were eager to show off their dominance, hoping to become the new School Bully King after Dong Chuliang’s departure.

It was just like a troop of monkeys without a king; they always had to fight to produce a new one.

Fortunately, the movie “Young and Dangerous” hadn’t come out yet. Young students hadn’t been corrupted to the point of casually using knives.

For this kind of pointless, hot-headed brawling, the mature-minded Su Chunfeng had no interest at all. Since training had stopped due to the sudden fight, he slowly walked over to the parallel bars. With one strong pull and leap, he lightly sat on them, resting his feet on one side, bending his legs, crossing his arms over his knees, and resting his chin on his arms. He looked toward the girls not far away, who were watching the fight.

Over there, standing in the messy line, Wang Haifei blushed, pursed her lips, lowered her head with a shy smile—she was already used to Su Chunfeng often staring at her intently.

Seeing this, Zhang Lifei, standing next to Wang Haifei, couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit jealous and resentful, as usual. She stuck her tongue out at Su Chunfeng and used her index finger to stroke her own cheek: “Shameless!” Since school started, she had often deliberately interrupted Su Chunfeng and Wang Haifei’s conversations, or used words or gestures to draw Su Chunfeng’s gaze away from Wang Haifei. Although she knew Wang Haifei liked Su Chunfeng too, and that doing this was clearly unfair to her friend… Zhang Lifei just couldn’t help the urge.

As for Zhang Lifei’s behavior, Su Chunfeng didn’t think much of it. He always considered her just a mischievous, cute little girl.

Seeing Zhang Lifei being mischievous again, Su Chunfeng smiled and shifted his gaze to the clear blue sky in the distance.

The fight between Wang Liqiu and Xu Zhijun finally stopped under Zuo Hongbin’s forceful intervention. Both had bruised faces but wore fierce, defiant expressions. Even in front of the teacher, they cursed and made threats like “You just wait!” and “This isn’t over!”

A draw!

To become the so-called School Bully King, besides being aggressive and good at fighting, another thing was essential—fearing no teacher!

And when it came to such students…

Most teachers felt quite helpless.

In those days, under the social conditions of rural villages, schools would absolutely not expel a student lightly. Doing so could lead to many unexpected troubles—like parents causing endless disturbances and seeking revenge, or even these hot-blooded young students daring to commit outrageous acts.

After stopping the two fighting students, Zuo Hongbin tried his best to maintain the image of a strict teacher. He angrily punished Wang Liqiu and Xu Zhijun by making them stand separately at the edge of the playground.

Students who didn’t fear teachers didn’t necessarily mean they could do whatever they wanted.

Because a certain inherent, instinctive fear of teachers and school rules existed in virtually every student… So quite naturally, the two fighting students each put on fierce, menacing expressions. Standing a dozen meters apart by the wall, they stuck their hands in their pockets, leaning casually to show their contempt for the teacher and dismissal of the punishment.

This attitude naturally infuriated Zuo Hongbin. His dignity as a teacher was trampled; it felt like he had been publicly slapped twice. Helpless and furious, he turned away, refusing to look at these two troublemakers. His gaze happened to fall on Su Chunfeng, who was sitting on the parallel bars, staring blankly at the sky.

He looked very relaxed and carefree.

This stoked the smoldering anger in Zuo Hongbin, multiplying his dislike for Su Chunfeng. He strode over and vented his full fury: “Su Chunfeng, what are you doing on the parallel bars?”

“Huh?” Su Chunfeng snapped out of it and quickly jumped down from the bars, forcing an awkward smile.

Zuo Hongbin grabbed Su Chunfeng’s collar, yanking him out from between the bars, and yelled, “Who said you could get on the bars? Run ten laps around the playground!”

Su Chunfeng stumbled two steps from the pull. He couldn’t help feeling both angry and baffled.

Just then, the bell signaling the end of class rang.

“Teacher Zuo, class is over…” Su Chunfeng said with a slight smile.

“So what if class is over?” Zuo Hongbin glared, eyes wide. “Didn’t you hear me? Run ten laps around the playground, now…” As he spoke, he yanked Su Chunfeng’s collar, pulling him toward the playground, and lifted his leg to kick Su Chunfeng hard on the backside as he stumbled.

Su Chunfeng instinctively sidestepped to avoid it, his anger flaring even more.

If he hadn’t dodged that kick, he would definitely have fought back immediately.

But since he had avoided it, the mature and steady Su Chunfeng naturally wouldn’t commit the terrible act of hitting a teacher. Besides, he wasn’t fully confident that his smaller frame could defeat Zuo Hongbin, who was big, strong, and a military academy graduate trained in sanda. However, Su Chunfeng couldn’t just swallow such an almost inexplicable punishment, scolding, and even public humiliation that involved physical contact. He looked coldly at Zuo Hongbin and said, slowly and clearly, “Zuo Hongbin, did you ever say we couldn’t get on the parallel bars? And I’m not running those ten laps!”

With that, Su Chunfeng turned and walked away.

All the classmates stared in shock at Su Chunfeng—he hadn’t called him “Teacher Zuo,” but… Zuo Hongbin!

He used his direct name!

Even Wang Liqiu and Xu Zhijun, standing there, were somewhat stunned—Wang Liqiu had once chased a teacher with a brick, but that was a female teacher, and it was mostly for show. Facing a teacher like Zuo Hongbin, who was tall, strong, a military academy graduate, and professionally trained in sanda, neither he nor Xu Zhijun would dare to directly defy him and refuse punishment by simply walking away.

But Su Chunfeng had done just that. With an incredibly tough attitude, he showed the whole class what arrogance meant, what truly fearless was!

Zuo Hongbin was only twenty-four, in the prime of his youth and pride. How could he tolerate a fourteen or fifteen-year-old student humiliating him like this in public? Flaring with rage, he strode after Su Chunfeng, grabbed his collar, and pulled him back, roaring, “Su Chunfeng, you stop right there!”

Su Chunfeng was tugged backward but turned his head with a look of disdain at Zuo Hongbin, saying coldly, “What? You dare hit me?”

“You…” Zuo Hongbin raised his fist.

In a flash, Su Chunfeng focused his thoughts, silently recited a Spell Incantation, and stepped into a formation pattern with his feet. Without fear, he looked at Zuo Hongbin, raised his hand, and gently pushed aside the fist Zuo Hongbin had raised but hadn’t yet brought down. He smiled and said softly, “Zuo Hongbin, people should be reasonable! Especially you, as a teacher… If you’re not convinced, let’s go to the principal and argue our case!” With that, he slapped Zuo Hongbin’s hand off his collar, turned around calmly, and walked away.