Chapter 28 — Shen Yushu's Soldier Brother
The Blossom Guardian Page 1 of 2
……………………
Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu hadn't gone out either. Instead, the two were squeezed together, watching an MP4 player that was playing the cartoon Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf — a cartoon that seemed terribly childish to Wei Zhao, yet the two of them watched it with great relish, bursting into peals of laughter from time to time.
Of course, the boys in the class who were studying didn't find their laughter the least bit annoying. On the contrary, they felt that the girls' laughter was a sound like music from heaven, lending a breath of fresh color to their dull academic life.
But the girls didn't see it that way. Some were jealous, some contemptuous, some merely dismissive — though of course there were those who didn't care one way or the other. Still, no matter their attitude, the remarkable bearing of Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu was envied by the majority.
Wei Zhao returned to his seat. Along the way, Shen Yushu, who had been watching the MP4, glanced up at Wei Zhao, then lowered her head and resumed watching the cartoon.
Kang Xiaofeng also settled down quietly to work on his exercises, while Wei Zhao, somewhat bored, flipped through the textbooks for the final year of high school.
Before the first class of the afternoon began, Zhong Yongliang came back in a change of clothes, accompanied by Gao Xiaofu and Zhang Naipao. They had all changed their clothes as well, their hair still not quite dry — clearly they had just taken showers.
As he entered the classroom, Zhong Yongliang shot a venomous glance in Wei Zhao's direction but said nothing, heading straight back to his own seat.
Today Zhong Yongliang had truly lost every shred of face, and what made it worse was that it had happened right in front of the girl he cherished most. This was the greatest humiliation he had ever suffered in his life, and he would never let Wei Zhao off — he swore it silently.
The fact that he hadn't made a move against Wei Zhao now wasn't because he possessed any great patience; rather, there were only ten-odd minutes before class started, and the first period was their homeroom teacher's — Teacher Liu's. He didn't want to cause trouble at this moment. He planned to find Wei Zhao's trouble again during the self-study period.
The moment she saw Zhong Yongliang, Shen Yushu couldn't help but recall the scene of Wei Zhao dousing him head to head with urine. She couldn't suppress a soft snicker, though the memory of Wei Zhao relieving himself made her blush slightly.
Zhong Yongliang naturally heard Shen Yushu's mocking laugh, and his heart immediately soured. Had it been anyone else, he would have slapped them across the face on the spot. But with Shen Yushu, he didn't dare.
Others might not know, but Zhong Yongliang knew full well Shen Yushu's background. He knew Wu Xiaocan, the tyrant from the previous year's senior class. Back when school had just started in their first year, Wu Xiaocan had begun pursuing Shen Yushu. After being rejected several times, Wu Xiaocan's intentions began to take a darker turn.
During one school-organized movie screening, Wu Xiaocan took the opportunity to sit beside Shen Yushu, hoping to grope her — but he didn't succeed, and instead received two resounding slaps across the face from Shen Yushu.
Afterwards, Wu Xiaocan publicly spread the word around school that Shen Yushu had been dumped by him — that he'd grown tired of her and tossed her aside. He even said truly vile things, claiming that Shen Yushu had once had an abortion for him.
Of course, most people understood that Wu Xiaocan was merely sour grapes. They listened to his claims without believing them. Still, even though no one believed what Wu Xiaocan said, it thrust Shen Yushu into the eye of the storm all the same.
Shen Yushu wasn't one to swallow that kind of insult. She went to confront Wu Xiaocan, even slapping him across the face in public. Wu Xiaocan then put out a vicious threat, telling Shen Yushu to watch her step after school — he was going to have a gang of men take turns on her.
This matter eventually came to the attention of Shen Yushu's brother, Chen Yuming. It was a winter afternoon. Zhong Yongliang could never forget the scene from that day.
A Land Rover pulled up at the school gate. A tall, broad-shouldered young man stepped out of the vehicle and went straight to Wu Xiaocan, who was kicking a ball around on the sports field.
Wu Xiaocan, not yet grasping the situation, put on his usual arrogant air and said to Chen Yuming: "Whoever you send, it won't work. Who do you think you are? Just some stinking soldier? Who do you think you're scaring? Let me tell you — no matter how good a fighter you are, we're a whole bunch of guys. We'll beat you to a pulp."
Chen Yuming said only one thing: "Go to the school broadcasting station and apologize to Shen Yushu. Then this is over."
Wu Xiaocan laughed — a wild, arrogant laugh. He had never heard such a ridiculous joke in his life. His band of lackeys around him erupted in laughter as well.
Chen Yuming frowned, then drove his foot into Wu Xiaocan's lower abdomen, sending him toppling over with a single kick. He then raised his fist and hammered it into Wu Xiaocan's body, and the sound of cracking bones rang out at once.
Wu Xiaocan's lackeys were stunned speechless on the spot. Though they had fought plenty of brawls in their time, they had never seen anyone who came at a person with such intent to shatter bones right from the very first blow. This was on an entirely different level from anything they had ever encountered.
Chen Yuming was truly enraged. Shen Yushu had been the apple of his eye since childhood; he had never once let her suffer the slightest hardship. And now this Wu Xiaocan had not only laid hands on his little sister but had spread rumors to humiliate her, even threatening her. Chen Yuming had truly reached the end of his patience.
Zhong Yongliang had been one of Wu Xiaocan's henchmen back then. He was standing right there in the middle of that crowd, watching Wu Xiaocan shriek like a stuck pig, and it shook him to the core. The wretchedness of that scene was such that for days afterward he kept starting awake from nightmares.
The Wu family was of course no pushover either; otherwise Wu Xiaocan could never have put on such airs. But the moment they learned that the man who had beaten him was a major general in the army, they wilted.
However formidable you may be in your own corner of the world, you still have no say in what goes on in the army. They did make their complaint to Chen Yuming's unit, and Chen Yuming did receive a disciplinary slap on the wrist, but not a bone of him was actually broken.
And that was only Chen Yuming's own background. Later the Wu family learned about Shen Yushu, about Chen Yuming's parents, and about Old Master Chen away off in the capital.
At once they were scared half out of their wits. Come to think of it, their son's conduct might have looked like mere foolishness, but put seriously, it already amounted to intimidation, insult, and defamation; taken a step further, it could even be counted as molesting and indecently assaulting a young girl. If the Chen family had truly set its mind to ruining them, Wu Xiaocan would have been finished for life.
Fortunately Chen Yuming was a magnanimous sort. After the Wu family came to his door weighed down with gifts large and small to apologize, Chen Yuming let it be known that he would not pursue the matter any further; but at the same time he let it be known that Wu Xiaocan's continued presence at the school was none too good for the young lady's health, body and mind alike.
The Wu family was not stupid either, and they caught Chen Yuming's meaning at once. The very next day they completed the transfer paperwork for Wu Xiaocan, and with that the whole storm blew over.