Chapter 17: What Is Going On Here?

"I already suspected you weren't a good student," Vice Principal Ma said coldly. "But I never imagined you could be this shockingly corrupt! Defying, threatening, even hurting teachers… Do you think what you've done is befitting of a student? This is practically a crime! That's enough. You don't need to fill out these forms anymore. Scum like you have no right to study at my school!" With that, she reached out and snatched the paperwork from Li Sicheng's hands, tearing it to shreds.

Li Sicheng, unfazed by being expelled before even enrolling, seemed more curious about something else. "As far as I know, the owner of Nanshan High School isn't you. How did it become your school?"

Vice Principal Ma flushed with embarrassment at his remark, her brows knitting together as she barked, "Stop with the nonsense and get out of here!"

"No, we can't just let him walk away like that," Ma Kang suddenly said, moving to block the office door. "My head still hurts, and who knows if I've got a concussion or something. He can't leave until he pays for my medical bills, lost wages, nutrition expenses, and mental distress!"

"Come on, your head was clearly hit by a ball. I never touched you at all," Li Sicheng replied, stunned by Ma Kang's shamelessness.

"If it weren't for you, how would I have been hit by those balls? My injury is your fault! If you don't pay, I'm calling the police to have them teach you a lesson!" Ma Kang insisted.

"That's right! You must take responsibility for my brother's injury!" Vice Principal Ma echoed sternly.

"I've seen shameless people, but never anyone quite as shameless as the two of you," Li Sicheng remarked, half amused, half exasperated.

Just then, a melodious electronic ringtone sounded from his pocket. He pulled out his cheap knockoff cellphone—a model he’d bought for two or three hundred—and saw that the caller was none other than Lin Muxue.

At that moment, Lin Muxue was attending an extremely important meeting, but she hadn’t forgotten about Li Sicheng’s matters and called to check in on him.

As soon as the call connected, Lin Muxue greeted him with a cheerful laugh, "How did it go, Sicheng? Have you completed your enrollment procedures?"

"Not yet," Li Sicheng answered honestly. "Principal Zhao is in a meeting, so Vice Principal Ma was handling it. But according to her, I’m scum and unworthy of entering Nanshan High. Oh, and she’s threatening to call the police on me too..."

"Wha—what?!" Lin Muxue was stunned by this unexpected turn, her previously smiling face darkening instantly.

"Is Vice Principal Ma there with you? Hand her the phone," she instructed.

Lin Muxue had absolute trust in Li Sicheng. She didn’t even bother to ask what had happened. In her heart, he simply couldn’t be at fault. Her only intention was to protect him, whatever it took.

Li Sicheng obliged, handing his phone to Vice Principal Ma. "The school chairwoman wants to speak with you."

"Xiao Dong? I don’t know any Xiao Dong!" Vice Principal Ma waved her hand dismissively. "Your behavior needs to be dealt with seriously. Don’t think you can call in favors. If you dare to harm teachers at your age, what crimes will you commit as an adult? Society doesn’t need people like you!"

Li Sicheng clarified, "The call is from Lin Muxue, your chairwoman."

"What? Chairwoman Lin?" Vice Principal Ma was taken aback, but then sneered. "Oh, please. Someone like you, knowing Chairwoman Lin? I know exactly what you're up to—trying to fool me with someone pretending to be her. If that’s really her, then I’m her mother!"

Li Sicheng’s phone wasn’t on speaker, but Vice Principal Ma’s loud voice carried clearly enough for Lin Muxue to hear every word.

"Bastard!" Lin Muxue fumed, nearly stomping her feet. The thing she hated most was people making jokes about her late parents—let alone someone targeting Li Sicheng.

After several deep breaths, she regained her composure. "Sicheng, don’t worry—I’ll have someone deal with this immediately." Her words were calm, but her tone was icy, brimming with a murderous edge. There was no mistaking it: Lin Muxue was truly furious now.

After hanging up, she immediately called Principal Zhao at Nanshan High. Without preamble, she unleashed a storm. "Principal Zhao, I entrusted this school to you—is this how you manage it? Look at the people you’ve hired! My brother came to register and a vice principal calls him scum, threatens him with the police! I call, and she refuses to answer and claims to be my mother. So apparently, my mother’s not dead after all..."

Principal Zhao had been in a meeting, but hearing Lin Muxue’s tirade sent cold sweat streaming down his back. He leapt to his feet and rushed for the door, groveling into the phone. "Chairwoman Lin, please don’t be angry. There must be some misunderstanding. I’ll head back to school and handle this at once!"

"I’m telling you now—if this isn’t resolved to my satisfaction, and to my brother’s, you can forget about being principal any longer!" Lin Muxue snapped, not waiting for his explanations before hanging up.

His secretary hurried after him. "Principal, what’s wrong? The meeting isn’t over yet. Where are you going?"

"What’s the point of a meeting if my job’s on the line? Damn that Ma Lijuan—of all people to offend, she had to pick Chairwoman Lin and her brother. Does she really think she can cross them?" Principal Zhao gritted his teeth, wishing he could tear his two troublesome subordinates to pieces.

He sped back to Nanshan High as fast as possible, arriving more than half an hour later. Breathless, he dashed into the vice principal’s office, only to find Ma Lijuan and Ma Kang lounging at their computers, watching a Korean drama. Li Sicheng was nowhere in sight.

"Where is he? Where did he go?" Principal Zhao demanded, too anxious to even wipe the sweat from his brow.

"Hey, Principal, weren’t you supposed to be back this afternoon? The meeting’s over already?" Ma Lijuan stammered as she hurriedly switched off the monitor—though the speakers still played the sounds of the drama.

But Principal Zhao couldn’t care less about that. "Where’s Li Sicheng? The transfer student who just arrived today!"

"Oh, that kid? I locked him in the security office, waiting for him to call his parents to pay compensation," Ma Kang answered casually.

The words made Principal Zhao’s head spin. "You idiot!"

He lunged forward and slapped Ma Kang hard across the face.

The slap was thunderous—Ma Kang was knocked flat to the ground, a trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth.

"Wha—what’s happening?!" Ma Lijuan was stunned speechless by the sudden outburst.

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