Chapter 3: The Bully's Two Faces (3/5)

Bullying only ever comes in two forms: zero times, or countless times. Ever since Dong Qian had tested the waters with Ren Jingting, she seemed to have become certain that Ren Jingting was a pushover who wouldn't fight back or curse back. After that, Dong Qian kept picking on and bullying Ren Jingting. Whenever the two of them crossed paths, Dong Qian would never let her go. Poor Ren Jingting, alone and powerless, could only swallow her anger and endure it in silence at every turn, which of course only made Dong Qian more unbridled and more excessive by the day.

Once again, before class started, Song Jialei and Zhou Yingying, following Dong Qian's orders, grabbed hold of Ren Jingting. Then Dong Qian sauntered over lazily and slapped Ren Jingting across the face. None of their classmates dared step forward to stop it—some could only watch anxiously, others simply lowered their heads and played with their phones, pretending not to see, because everyone knew who Dong Qian was, and none of them had a status greater than hers. Not until the homeroom teacher, Li Enliang, arrived and, seeing the scene, immediately shouted, "Stop!"

Song Jialei and Zhou Yingying were naturally afraid of the homeroom teacher and immediately let go of Ren Jingting, but Dong Qian still looked at him with a face full of arrogance.

Li Enliang scolded her, "Dong Qian, this is a school, a place for people to study, not a place for hooligans and thugs to gang up and bully people. If you want to do this kind of thing, don't stay in this school."

"Fine," Dong Qian said, grabbing a fistful of Ren Jingting's hair, making her cry out in pain, "then I'll take this bitch outside the school. That should be fine, right?"

"Let go of her right now!" Li Enliang immediately stepped forward and pried Dong Qian's hand away, shielding Ren Jingting behind him. Her face was swollen from being hit, burning with pain, and she couldn't help but start crying.

"If you don't want to attend class, go wherever you please and fool around, but don't cause trouble here. No one deserves to be bullied by you. If you keep behaving like this, you won't be staying in this class—whichever class will have you, go there."

"Hey, Teacher Li, do you honestly think I care whether this class wants me or not? My dad is the principal, the leader of every single one of you. I can come to this school whenever I want and leave whenever I want. It's all the same no matter which class I'm in."

"I don't care who you are. If I find out you're bullying people again, you get out of this class—don't you dare go crazy in front of me!"

"Tch." Dong Qian took an unhurried puff of her e-cigarette and blew the smoke straight at Ren Jingting's face, past Teacher Li. Seeing this, Li slapped the e-cigarette right out of her hand and said, "No smoking in the classroom!"

Dong Qian ignored him, instead looking at Ren Jingting and saying, "Ren Jingting, quit putting on that pitiful act for me. Who exactly are you performing for? How many men have you sold yourself to, huh? I've got plenty of videos on my phone of you with all sorts of men. Want to take a look?"

"You're slandering me with lies!" Ren Jingting cried out, her voice choked with tears. "I've never done anything like that!"

"Never? Then are you a virgin?" Dong Qian stepped forward, reaching to pull down Ren Jingting's pants, saying with a smirk, "Let me check then, see if you've still got your hymen."

Terrified, Ren Jingting quickly grabbed at her pants to protect them, and Li Enliang shoved Dong Qian away. Dong Qian was small, and the shove sent her stumbling far back. Ren Jingting, looking at the eyes of the entire class on her, could bear it no longer and turned to run.

"Go on and run," Dong Qian said, still relentless. "If you dare run, I'll share these masterpieces of yours with the whole school to see. If you don't want that, then be good and take off your pants and let me look."

Ren Jingting didn't listen to her—she bolted straight out the door. Dong Qian watched her figure go, laughing loudly. Teacher Li, furious, pointed at her and said, "Dong Qian, you're a girl too. How can you trample on another girl's dignity like this?"

"Dignity? What dignity does a whore need? Do you want to see what she's been up to?"

"Dong Qian," Su Shengcheng's voice suddenly rang out. She stood up from the corner and said sternly, "I'd advise you not to do this. Ren Jingting attends class during the day and studies in the evenings—I see her often. Stop using synthesized videos to smear her. Whether or not Ren Jingting did those things, if you spread videos like that around, that's distributing obscene material and defamation—it's illegal. If it's serious enough, even your father won't be able to protect you."

Dong Qian turned around and glared viciously at Su Shengcheng, saying, "Su Shengcheng, what business is it of yours? Mind your own damn business."

"Dong Qian!" Teacher Li barked at her. "Do you actually want to attend class properly or not? If you don't want to, get out right now—everyone else still needs to study."

"Tch, go ahead and have your class then, all of you waiting to become pillars of the nation." Dong Qian, apparently bored of it all, swaggered out, slamming the door on her way. Only then did Li Enliang's furrowed brow relax slightly. Remembering that Ren Jingting had run out and not yet returned, he told the class monitor to go find her.

Ren Jingting didn't slow her pace until she reached the flower garden, where she sat down on a stone bench, lowered her head, and continued sobbing. This kind of torment and humiliation would only go on and on, and so her tears fell like a string of beads with no end, never stopping. Not until someone gently patted her shoulder did she look up—it was Mu Ningxiang, looking at her with concern, asking, "Are you... Ren Jingting?"

"Mm." She nodded, still keeping her head down.

"What's wrong? What's got you so upset?"

She looked at Mu Ningxiang, choking on her words, unable to speak. Mu Ningxiang could only press on, "Did someone bully you? Tell me about it—maybe I can help you deal with her."

"It's no use. Don't get dragged into this mess."

Mu Ningxiang didn't press further, and instead pulled Ren Jingting into her arms, letting her sobs gradually settle in her embrace.

"Jingting, I'm guessing something very unfair happened to you. As your friend, I can't bear to see you bullied either. Though I don't have much power, if you tell me, I'll do everything I can to help you."

Ren Jingting didn't answer, only reached out and hugged her back, her crying gradually softening, until finally she said, "Thank you."

Mu Ningxiang said nothing more, just silently held Ren Jingting, gently stroking her hair, and once her crying had quieted down, she said, "Why don't we go out for a bit? Maybe it'll lift your spirits."

"Thank you, but I still have class right now. It'll have to wait until evening."

"That's fine. I don't have class tonight either, as it happens. Let's go out together."

"Okay."

"Let's exchange contact info then, and we'll be in touch later." Mu Ningxiang opened her phone, the screen lit up, and held it out to Ren Jingting.

Ren Jingting opened her own phone too.

Mu Ningxiang's username was "Sugar-Frosted Bunny Ears"—a cute, silly little name, just like the girl in front of her, adorably silly.

Afterward, Mu Ningxiang walked Ren Jingting back to class. They said their goodbyes at the steps in front of the classroom. The class monitor had searched all over but hadn't found her, so he had to go back to the classroom and report to the teacher. Just as Li Enliang was starting to worry, he saw Ren Jingting standing at the classroom door, the tear stains on her face already dried, though her eyes were still somewhat red and swollen, downcast, not looking at anyone.

"You're back," Li Enliang said with a sigh of relief. "Hurry and take your seat, let's continue the class. Don't be upset, student. At least while I'm here, I won't let Dong Qian bully you. Look, Dong Qian isn't even in the classroom now. Just focus on your studies."

Ren Jingting looked at Li Enliang's face, tinged with guilt, and only nodded, said a word of thanks, and walked back to her seat to sit down. Su Shengcheng was also quietly watching from the corner. Song Jialei and Zhou Yingying didn't dare look up at Ren Jingting even once—it wasn't hard to guess why—but even so, she couldn't help feeling sympathy for Ren Jingting, silently praying in her heart that she would soon be free of this suffering.