Chapter 57 — Shen Yushu's Glorious History

She was simply bored out of her mind, so she told Zhong Yongliang that Gu Mengyao wanted to hear firecrackers and enjoy a bit of festive noise. As a result, Zhong Yongliang took Gao Xiaofu and Zhang Naibiao to the fireworks market, and half an hour later he returned to school with several migrant workers hauling a five-million-cracker Great Deity Cannon.

And so the once tranquil schoolyard seemed to explode like a thunderclap, with bang-bang-banging that would not stop. Classes could not go on; the teachers said something, but the students simply could not hear a word. They all clustered by the windows, watching Zhong Yongliang and the others standing proudly near the firecrackers on the playground, grinning smugly, grinning smugly...

Five million crackers, mind you... the firecrackers actually kept going all morning without finishing. The school's teachers, awed by the sheer might of the Great Deity Cannon, dared not approach. Ding Binggong, with no other recourse, had to beg help from the fire brigade. The fire brigade drove up a fire engine and used high-pressure water hoses to douse the banging Great Deity Cannon, and only then was this farce put to rest.

The negative fallout from this affair was not great, after all. No real damage had been done to the school, and no students were hurt, so Ding Binggong quickly covered it up, and it never drew the board's attention.

But you cannot keep doing this over and over again, can you? This time Ding Binggong was truly furious. He rose to his feet, walked to the window, pulled open the blinds, and looked out at the playground — and was instantly stunned by what he saw.

On a vast playground like that, it was normally not so easy to spot anything out of the ordinary, but at this moment no one was doing the school's morning exercises. The students had spread out in a circle, and at the center of that circle Ding Binggong saw several burly men from the underworld, along with Zhong Yongliang and a few others, and one student in school uniform...

Ding Binggong's face twitched, and he nearly failed to hold on to the windowsill and toppled right out of the building.

That was no firecracker noise — it was gunshots. Seeing what was in Brother Black Panther's hand, Ding Binggong's heart nearly leaped out of his chest. Only after looking closely and confirming that the injured party was not a student of the school did he let out a breath of relief. He no longer bothered to think anything through, grabbed the phone from his desk, and bolted out of the office...

Underworld figures carrying guns and causing trouble in the school — once a thing like that blew up, it was certainly not something he could take responsibility for. Never mind applying for demonstration high school status; even Ding Binggong himself would have to pack up and clear out.

Fortunately, though, no one appeared to be hurt or killed, which put Ding Binggong slightly more at ease. On his way downstairs, he happened to run into Wang Zhifeng, who came rushing up: "Principal, it's bad — something terrible has happened..."

"I have already seen it. What is the situation now?" Ding Binggong waved his hand, cutting off Wang Zhifeng's pointless chatter and telling him to get straight to the facts.

"It seems like it is people from the streets that Zhong Yongliang brought in, come to school to make trouble for a student named Wei Zhao, but Wei Zhao beat them to the ground. He himself is fine," Wang Zhifeng summarized concisely.

"Wei Zhao?" Ding Binggong found the name somewhat familiar.

"He is the student that Board Member Chu introduced..." Wang Zhifeng prompted.

"Ah, him." Ding Binggong was startled. He thought to himself that it was fortunate Wei Zhao was all right; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Hearing Wang Zhifeng's explanation, Ding Binggong grew less anxious — the street thugs deserved to be beaten to death, and so long as the students were fine, that was all that mattered.

The two hurried out onto the playground, only to see Qiu Lingshan escorting Wei Zhao into a police car. A man of Ding Binggong's standing naturally knew Qiu Lingshan as well, and he hurried forward with a smile: "Captain Song, why are you taking my student away?"

Ding Binggong was not afraid of Qiu Lingshan, but once Wei Zhao was taken away, the impact on the school would be enormous — which was why he wore such a smile. Wei Zhao was, in particular, someone Gu Pengzhan had introduced, so Ding Binggong had all the more reason to be cautious.

"Principal Ding, he is suspected of involvement in a violent brawl. We are taking him back to assist with the investigation," Qiu Lingshan said coldly.

Seeing that Qiu Lingshan gave him no face at all, Ding Binggong's expression darkened as well: "Captain Song, I am quite close with your Captain Yang. Shall I give him a call?"

"Go ahead. But Captain Yang is on a plane right now, so he probably will not be able to take your call." Qiu Lingshan pushed Wei Zhao into the police car, and the whole squad tore off with a wail of sirens.

Ding Binggong was beside himself with rage. In Songshan he was a man of status and standing; quite apart from Qiu Lingshan, he had dealt with plenty of high officials. Whose family did not have a child in school? His First Senior High in particular was a private school, outside the city's jurisdiction and answering directly to the board of directors, so people of every stripe came to Ding Binggong for favors. And yet he had never expected that this Qiu Lingshan would deny him so thoroughly.

Ding Binggong dialed Yang Huaijun's number directly, but what came from the other end was the cold tone of a switched-off phone. It seemed Qiu Lingshan had not lied to him; Yang Huaijun would only shut off his phone when he had no other choice — under ordinary circumstances, his line was open twenty-four hours a day.

Yang Huaijun had boarded a flight back to Songshan early that morning. A friend in police circles had invited him over to help crack a case, but he had never expected that barely a day after he left, a major bank robbery would break out in Songshan. He had no choice but to book a morning ticket and rush back to Songshan without a moment's pause.

Two of Brother Black Panther's underlings were hauled into the police car as well. Zhong Yongliang and the others had naturally fled long since, while Brother Black Panther was sent straight to the hospital.

"Wei Zhao, you are quite the capable one, aren't you? Took a bullet just yesterday, and today you are mixed up in an underworld shootout?" Qiu Lingshan was irritated just looking at Wei Zhao's indifferent expression. Most people, once put in a police car, would be thoroughly downcast — but this Wei Zhao alone wore a look of utter unconcern.

Wei Zhao rolled his eyes, glanced at Qiu Lingshan, then looked away again... There was no denying it: she was beautiful, especially in uniform, beautiful enough to set Wei Zhao's imagination running.

"What kind of attitude is that? I am talking to you!" Qiu Lingshan grew even angrier when she saw that Wei Zhao was actually ignoring her.

"People used to say that women with big breasts have no brains, and I never believed it. But now I do." Wei Zhao lifted his head and let his eyes sweep a few times over Qiu Lingshan's figure.

"What do you mean by that? You had better make yourself clear." Wei Zhao's gaze made Qiu Lingshan thoroughly uncomfortable. "Who are you calling big-breasted and brainless?"

"Whoever it fits knows who it is." Wei Zhao curled his lip. "Anyone with a bit of intelligence can see that those people ran into the school to make trouble, and that I was acting in lawful self-defense, bravely doing what was right. And you? You arrested me."