Chapter 25: Mutual Threats

Zuo Hongbin was going crazy with anger!

But right now, he really didn’t dare to chase after Su Chunfeng and beat him up.

Just now, the moment he swung his fist to hit Su Chunfeng, he was intimidated by a fierce, cold glint that suddenly flashed in Su Chunfeng’s eyes. A strange sense of fear arose inside him, frightening him into stopping his hand. Then, when Su Chunfeng spoke a few words, it gave him even more to worry about.

Staring blankly as Su Chunfeng disappeared through the arched gate leading from the playground to the classroom area, Zuo Hongbin couldn’t help but wonder in confusion, “Why was I afraid of Su Chunfeng’s look just now?”

At this moment, the male and female students of Class 14 were completely stunned.

They had watched Teacher Zuo Hongbin get angry and nearly beat up Su Chunfeng. Who would have thought that even after grabbing his collar and raising a fist, he actually didn’t dare to strike? Because they were far away, the students didn’t hear the words Su Chunfeng said softly to Zuo Hongbin, but they clearly saw Su Chunfeng say something. What kind of words could have scared Teacher Zuo Hongbin into not daring to hit him?

Wang Liqiu was the first to recover from the shock. In an attempt to salvage some of the dignity that should have been his, he immediately cursed loudly, “Crap!” Then he strode away.

But he only dared to scold indirectly.

Seeing this, Xu Zhijun also turned and left.

Damn it!

Both of them were filled with unwilling anger. On this perfectly normal P.E. class where they were supposed to shine, how did Su Chunfeng, that coward, end up stealing the show instead?

…

Before afternoon classes started.

In the office of Homeroom Teacher Li Jichun.

Li Jichun wore a stern face and asked seriously, “Su Chunfeng, why did you publicly defy Teacher Zuo Hongbin during P.E. class today?”

Zuo Hongbin stood nearby, grinding his teeth and saying, “A student like this should be expelled!”

“Teacher Zuo…” Li Jichun gave Zuo Hongbin a somewhat displeased look. Expelling a student wasn’t that simple, especially one who was an excellent, improving student liked by many teachers. Seeing Zuo Hongbin purse his lips and stop talking, Li Jichun then looked at Su Chunfeng.

Su Chunfeng hung his head with a wronged expression, his toes scuffing the red brick floor. He nervously began to explain in a small voice. Perhaps because he had truly suffered unfair and bullying treatment? As he talked, he grew angrier. He even raised his head, becoming emotionally worked up, gesturing animatedly with indignation. After finishing his account, he pointed at Zuo Hongbin with resentment and anger, saying, “Teacher Li, Zuo Hongbin is clearly holding a personal grudge against me! Someone so despicable and underhanded is completely unworthy of being a People’s Teacher!”

“Nonsense!” Zuo Hongbin roared, furious and flustered.

Su Chunfeng looked at Li Jichun with surprise, showing a helpless expression. His meaning was clear—just look, this is his character…

Li Jichun frowned and said, “Teacher Zuo, watch your attitude and your words. I hope you won’t hold a malicious attitude and always target a particular student in the future. In this matter, while Su Chunfeng was at fault, your way of handling it was also problematic. So I think we should just let this matter drop.”

“Let it drop?” Zuo Hongbin’s face showed disbelief.

“If you have any complaints…” Li Jichun waved his hand, making a gesture of dismissing him. “You can report it to the Academic Affairs Director or the Principal.”

“Fine, fine, fine…” Zuo Hongbin repeated “fine” several times in a row, then angrily walked out of the office. Unexpectedly, just outside the office, he ran into English teacher Xu Yunxia and the practice teacher, Xiao Qian, who had just been assigned to the school to replace her in teaching third-year English. Judging by their expressions, they seemed to have been standing outside the office door for a while and had heard the conversation inside. Zuo Hongbin immediately gave an awkward, embarrassed smile and put on a helpless expression. He proactively said, “Teacher Xu, Teacher Xiao, you see, students these days, really… sigh! Impossible to manage.”

With that, he turned and left, unabashedly glancing at Xiao Qian with admiration.

This Teacher Xiao Qian, who was rumored to have connections, allowing her to intern at a key county middle school right after university graduation, wore her glossy black hair in a ponytail. A white shirt was tucked into tight gray-blue jeans, and black mid-heel leather shoes complemented her tall, slender, and curvaceous figure, looking very stylish yet fresh and capable. However, her fair, beautiful face and those large, clear eyes still faintly held a trace of lingering youthful innocence.

When Xiao Qian first arrived at the school to report at the beginning of the summer semester, the moment Zuo Hongbin saw her, he felt this pretty girl was a gift from heaven!

Looking at the entire school, there were only three unmarried young male teachers.

Zuo Hongbin considered himself handsome and believed the other two male teachers were unqualified to compete with him.

Inside the office, seeing the two female teachers standing outside, Li Jichun said to Su Chunfeng with a stern face, “Write a self-criticism and hand it in to me. Go back to your class for now.”

“Yes,” Su Chunfeng replied obediently, turned, and walked out. At the office door, he very politely greeted the two female teachers, “Hello, Teacher Xu. Hello, Teacher Xiao.”

“Hmm,” Xu Yunxia smiled and nodded.

Xiao Qian, however, intentionally nodded with a serious expression. Her beautiful large eyes clearly showed some dissatisfaction with Su Chunfeng. From her new-teacher perspective, no matter what reasons Su Chunfeng had, daring to publicly defy a teacher meant he was not a good student!

“Xiao Xu, Xiao Xiao, is something the matter? Come on in…” Li Jichun said gently.

“Okay.”

The two female teachers walked in with smiles.

On the campus path leading to the classroom, Su Chunfeng walked along, somewhat gleefully recalling that in his memories from his past life, the conceited Zuo Hongbin had frantically pursued Xiao Qian for over half a year, making it known to the entire school. But who would have thought that Xiao Qian, who had some family background, never intended to stay long at this remote, backwater rural middle school, let alone consider dating Zuo Hongbin. Later, as she gradually learned about Zuo Hongbin’s character, she became extremely disgusted with this male teacher who pestered her like a fly all day. By the spring of 1996, not long after the semester started, Xiao Qian left Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School. At that time, rumors spread in the school: some said she couldn’t stand Zuo Hongbin’s pestering; others said Xiao Qian got into graduate school and went to the Capital City for further studies… But no one knew the real story.

And Zuo Hongbin, who was repeatedly rejected after multiple confessions, became a laughingstock and topic of gossip for the entire school’s teachers and students during their leisure time.

Happily thinking about this episode, Su Chunfeng had just reached the turn near the laboratory when a figure suddenly stepped out sideways, blocking his path.

Su Chunfeng looked at the furious-faced Zuo Hongbin with some surprise and asked, “What are you doing?”

Zuo Hongbin, filled with endless pent-up anger, couldn’t hold back and wanted to vent. That’s why he waited here to block Su Chunfeng, even if it was just to scare this student… He ground his teeth and threatened, “Su Chunfeng, I think you don’t want to study at Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School anymore!”

“I do want to!” Su Chunfeng looked at Zuo Hongbin as if he were an idiot, feeling a bit baffled.

Zuo Hongbin was so angry he nearly coughed up blood. He said viciously, “Then watch yourself from now on. If you dare disrespect me again, I’ll kill you!”

“I think you don’t want to teach here anymore?” Su Chunfeng casually walked past Zuo Hongbin.

“You…” Zuo Hongbin clenched his fists tightly but could do nothing.

Returning to the classroom, Su Chunfeng ignored the surprised looks his classmates gave him. Putting on the appearance of someone who had been scolded, looking worried and miserable, he sat back down at his desk and began writing his self-criticism.

Wang Haifei asked with concern in a low voice, “What happened?”

“The homeroom teacher asked me to write a self-criticism,” Su Chunfeng said with a grin.

“Oh, is that all?”

“That’s it…”

Wang Haifei and Zhang Lifei were both taken aback—just writing a self-criticism? Su Chunfeng’s behavior during morning P.E. class was publicly defying a teacher, a serious violation of school rules.

Seeing their somewhat disbelieving expressions, Su Chunfeng said softly, “Having right on your side lets you travel anywhere…”

“Pfft!” Zhang Lifei rolled her eyes.

“Really, no other trouble?” Wang Haifei’s beautiful eyes were full of deep concern.

Su Chunfeng’s mind drifted. He secretly reached out under the desk and grabbed Wang Haifei’s soft, boneless little hand. Gently, he said, “Don’t worry, it’s fine.”

“Ah…” Wang Haifei let out a soft gasp, hurriedly pulling her hand free from Su Chunfeng’s grasp. Blushing, she lowered her head and said “Oh.”

Zhang Lifei looked puzzled and asked curiously, “What’s wrong?”

Neither of them paid attention to her.

Seeing Wang Haifei’s face turn red to the tips of her ears, and noticing that her right hand, which had been under the desk, was now quickly placed on top of the desk, and recalling Su Chunfeng’s gentle tone when speaking to Wang Haifei earlier, the clever Zhang Lifei guessed something. She couldn’t help but get angry, “Su Chunfeng, what did you do to Haifei?”

“Huh?” Su Chunfeng clearly didn’t expect Zhang Lifei to get angry and quickly said, “I didn’t do anything.”

“N-Nothing…” Wang Haifei quickly explained.

Many nearby students were drawn by Zhang Lifei’s angry scolding and looked over at the three tablemates who had always been very close.

After her outburst, Zhang Lifei also felt ashamed of her seemingly inexplicable loss of composure. She glanced around, then stuck out her tongue with a mischievous, cute smile. Pretending it was a joke, she said softly with a grin, “Well, Su Chunfeng, did you just grab Haifei’s hand?”

Before Su Chunfeng could speak, Wang Haifei hurriedly said, “No, no!”

Zhang Lifei was about to say more when, just then, the class bell rang. She pouted at Su Chunfeng and gave an unhappy “hmph.”

Su Chunfeng felt puzzled—what was up with this little girl?

Tap, tap, tap…

The crisp sound of high heels stepping on the cement floor echoed in the classroom. The new third-year practice English teacher, Xiao Qian, walked up to the podium with easy, steady steps. Perhaps she was deliberately trying to hide her youthful inexperience? She had also put on a pair of black-framed glasses, and her beautiful face was intentionally tightened into a somewhat forced sternness and seriousness, giving her a slightly fierce look.