Now that things had come this far, it was more or less time to bring them to a close.

The principal asked Wang Ping a few more questions. Once he confirmed that, according to Wang Ping, Zhou Heng was to blame, the decision was easy to make.

“Zhou Heng…”

The principal turned his gaze toward Zhou Heng and saw a face flushed red from holding everything in. Honestly, he had to admire Zhou Heng a little. He could tell Zhou Heng had been furious for a while now, red as a balloon—but he just kept it all bottled up instead of bursting.

That alone had earned Zhou Heng a sliver of the principal’s goodwill.

But goodwill couldn’t change reality.

“Bring your parents in tomorrow. I want to have a proper talk with your family about this.”

After saying that, the principal turned to Wang Yang and Xu Jin.

“I’ll have to ask you two to come back tomorrow as well. I’ll give you a solution you’ll be satisfied with.”

Xu Jin, who’d been sitting in a chair ever since Wang Ping came in, burst out laughing. He even raised a hand and contemptuously pointed a thumbs-down at Zhou Heng, speaking with a mocking edge.

“Gotta call your parents, huh? Gotta call your parents! Don’t go crying when your mom and dad beat you, kid.”

Wang Yang turned around too and glared viciously at Zhou Heng.

Ever since Zhou Heng had knocked him down with one punch yesterday, Wang Yang had been waiting for a chance to get back at the young man. He hadn’t expected payback to come so soon. The wounds Zhou Heng had given him hadn’t even healed yet, and now the young man who’d beaten him had fallen right into his hands.

Wang Yang had no interest in saying much. He glanced at his buddy Xu Jin, and the two thugs said their goodbyes to the principal and left.

Wang Ping bowed to the principal, then followed them out.

After the three had left, Zhou Heng’s homeroom teacher, Zhang Zhu, tugged at his sleeve and jerked his chin toward the door.

Still looking unhappy, Zhou Heng followed Zhang Zhu outside.

After they’d walked some distance from the principal’s office, Zhang Zhu suddenly spoke.

“Zhou Heng, do you know why the principal’s waiting until tomorrow to decide what to do about you?”

Zhou Heng stayed silent. Zhang Zhu pressed a hand to his forehead.

“You just sit there fuming, thinking the world revolves around you because you won’t open your mouth. You young people are all the same. You get into fights, hurt people, do something wrong, and then act like you’re right and nobody understands you. But you want us to understand you—who’s going to understand us? Zhou Heng, don’t act innocent in front of me, and don’t start telling me how this or that happened to you. Everyone has their own grievances. Let me make this clear: neither the principal nor I wants to dig into what happened between you and Wang Ping. We certainly don’t want to call the police and make this blow up.”

“The principal’s given you one day so you can settle this privately.”

That was an interesting way to put it. Zhou Heng stared at him in disbelief.

“Settle this… privately?”

Zhang Zhu spoke coldly.

“That’s right. If you’d beaten up students from this school, you’d definitely be getting a disciplinary record. But those guys are just no-good drifters with no shame. They only came here for money. Zhou Heng, talk it over with your parents and scrape together a few tens of thousands. Then the principal can talk to the two thugs, while I work on Wang Ping and try to put this whole thing to rest. If possible, I’ll also see if I can keep a disciplinary record off your student file.”

Zhou Heng stared at him, stunned.

This whole approach—ignoring right and wrong and just smoothing things over—really did have an adult-world feel to it.

When Zhou Heng just stood there dumbly without saying a word, Zhang Zhu grew irritated and raised his voice.

“What are you staring at? Did you understand what I said?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I understand.”

Only then did Zhang Zhu snort and walk past Zhou Heng toward his office.

Once Zhang Zhu was well out of earshot and there were hardly any people around, Zhou Heng pulled his phone from his uniform pants pocket and sent a message to his two best friends.

“I’m in trouble. Meet me at the usual spot.”

The usual spot was a tree by the athletic field, so wide that it would take four people holding hands to circle its trunk.

Zhou Heng had first met Lu Yile and Zhang Xuan beneath that tree. The three of them had become friends there, too, so it naturally became their usual meeting place. Whenever something came up, they’d meet under that tree.

Zhou Heng got there first. A few minutes later, Lu Yile and Zhang Xuan arrived one after the other.

Zhou Heng didn’t waste time. He told the two of them everything that had just happened in the principal’s office.

When he finished, Zhou Heng spread his hands and asked his two friends,

“That’s pretty much the whole story. What do you think I should do?”

Zhang Xuan clicked his tongue twice, wearing an expression that said he’d seen this coming.

He’d thought for a long time that Zhou Heng’s way of living was too direct. Even when he was trying to do the right thing, he’d end up offending people without realizing it. Worried about Zhou Heng, Zhang Xuan had warned him plenty of times: What did other people’s lives or deaths have to do with him? He shouldn’t get involved every time he saw something he didn’t like, or he might not even know what killed him when the time came.

Well, now the payback had come.

Zhang Xuan teased him.

“Zhou Heng, I told you it’s hard to be a good guy. You can’t take everything on yourself. You didn’t believe me back then, but now you know your old pal Zhang always knows what he’s talking about. It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“Though I am surprised. I figured the teachers saw you as the poster boy for troublemakers. But from what the principal and Zhang Zhu said, they’re trying to protect you.”

Zhou Heng laughed.

“If they really wanted to protect me, they’d let me call the police and get to the bottom of this before deciding who was right and who was wrong.”

Lu Yile patted Zhou Heng on the shoulder.

“Look, Zhou Heng, even if the police came, they’d just smooth things over too. And if the fight between you and those thugs got out, our school would come under huge public pressure. We might end up making the whole thing even bigger before we’d figured out what really happened. Then the principal might try to quiet everyone down by giving you a disciplinary action that forces you to withdraw. That’d be a real problem.”

Zhou Heng sighed, his spirits flagging.

“I know what you’re saying. But I’ve been wronged, and the people handling this still expect me to bow my head and admit I’m at fault. It really doesn’t sit right with me.”

“I’m Zhou Heng. How can I let someone shove my head down and make me bow like this?”

Zhou Heng’s eyes burned with resolve.

“I’m going to get revenge.”

Zhang Xuan shuddered and hurriedly said,

“Zhou Heng, don’t go crazy! Wang Ping’s a witness now. If you go after him, you’re finished.”

Zhou Heng rolled his eyes at Zhang Xuan.

“Wang Ping’s a spineless, shameless turncoat. I’m not going to ruin my own life over a backstabber like him.”

“If I’m getting revenge, I’m going after the real culprit—the one who did this to me.”

Lu Yile slapped his thigh and said excitedly,

“Zhou Heng, you mean those two thugs?”