Chapter 67 — Shall I Transfer You to Another Class? (Third Update, Please Vote, Bookmark, and Give Me All Kinds of Support)

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"Boss, you all right?" Kang Xiaofeng had been in a state of high excitement all morning; these past two days had been the most manly days of his life. He had once read a post online listing the things a man ought to do before turning thirty, and one of them was getting into a fight. He had assumed he would never manage that particular item, never imagining that it would happen, of all times, on the eve of the college entrance exams.

During the recess exercises, Kang Xiaofeng was so wound up that he nearly followed Wei Zhao to the police station, and only the look in Wei Zhao's eyes stopped him in time. Wei Zhao himself did not much care - after all, he had come here on a mission from the old man, though the mission was somewhat baffling and he still had not spotted anything particularly unusual about it. Schoolwork was secondary; but Kang Xiaofeng was another matter. If this incident left a stain on his permanent record, it would follow him for the rest of his life.

"It's fine. The police sorted it out quickly enough - it was Black Panther who rounded up those thugs and stirred up trouble on campus." As Wei Zhao spoke, he noticed Zhong Yongliang pricking up his ears not far away, and he nearly laughed. The kid was probably afraid Black Panther would sell him out, wasn't he?

"That's good to hear," Kang Xiaofeng said with a sigh of relief. He had not gone to the police station with Wei Zhao that morning out of fear that Wei Zhao would think him disloyal; now that Wei Zhao was in the clear, he was naturally delighted. "Boss, let me treat you to something after school, to help you get over the scare?"

"After school? We'll see when the time comes." Wei Zhao glanced at Gu Mengyao ahead of him and thought to himself that after school he would have to go back with them - he had no say in the matter.

The first class of the afternoon was homeroom teacher Mr. Liu's. Clearly Mr. Liu suspected the morning's business had something to do with Zhong Yongliang, but he did not dwell on it. After all, the fewer ripples such matters made, the better; he did not want the other students affected.

"The monthly exam is almost upon us, so today we'll start with a short quiz." Mr. Liu split the test papers into stacks and handed them to the students in the front row of each group, who then passed them back.

In the final year of high school, there was basically a small test every two days and a major exam every week; most students had long since grown used to it. The morning's incident had stirred a ripple in the dull, monotonous routine of study, but for senior-year students, every inch of time was worth its weight in gold - there was no spare moment to think about anything unrelated to their studies.

Though the morning's affair had left the freshmen and sophomores utterly stunned, for the hardworking seniors it was no more than a brief interlude in the grind of their studies. The handful of campus bullies who never studied, of course, were another story.

What reached Wei Zhao was an English test paper. English was his strong suit - he was not only fluent in English but proficient in the languages of many countries around the world, all studied for the sake of his missions.

Wei Zhao had no wish to stand out too much. In a key class at a key high school, merely keeping to the middle of the pack was enough to get into a decent university, so there was no need for him to make his grades too good.

He was here to keep Gu Mengyao company in her studies anyway; how long that would last was anyone's guess.

So when Wei Zhao answered the questions, he deliberately got a portion of them wrong, and when class ended he had Kang Xiaofeng hand the paper in along with his own.

"Boss, how'd you do? This test was pretty hard - lots of vocabulary I'd never seen before." Kang Xiaofeng's grades were not the top-tier sort either; he was merely average.

"So-so," Wei Zhao said with a smile. "Not too great."

"Education in the city is bound to be a bit better than out in the countryside where you're from, and the test questions are bound to be harder too." Kang Xiaofeng assumed Wei Zhao simply had not adjusted yet, and consoled him: "You'll get used to it soon enough."

"Mm." Wei Zhao nodded, unable to explain things more fully to Kang Xiaofeng. He thought Kang Xiaofeng a fine friend, but his own affairs were not something he could share with him.

Because they were simply people from two different worlds.

During the second class of the afternoon, an administrator from the discipline office came by with a notice: Director Wang Zhifeng wanted to speak with Wei Zhao, along with Zhong Yongliang, Gao Xiaofu, and Zhang Naipao.

Wei Zhao said nothing and rose directly to head out of the classroom. Kang Xiaofeng, however, was somewhat worried the school might punish Wei Zhao over this - after all, to have a disciplinary mark on one's record right before graduating from senior year would hardly be worth the cost.

But Wei Zhao had no such concerns. For one thing, he held something over Wang Zhifeng's head; for another, he was merely here to keep the princess company in her studies, and his records were all fabricated anyway. Let them mark his file however they pleased.

Zhong Yongliang, by contrast, changed color. He hesitated a moment before rising to his feet, and when Gao Xiaofu and Zhang Naipao saw him get up, they followed him out of the classroom.

At the doorway, Zhong Yongliang stopped in his tracks and said to Gao Xiaofu and Zhang Naipao: "When Wang Zhifeng asks about this morning later, we all say we don't know anything. We say Black Panther had some personal grudge with Wei Zhao that we know nothing about, that we only know Black Panther, that he asked us which one was Wei Zhao and we simply pointed him out - and beyond that, none of it has anything to do with us."

Gao Xiaofu and Zhang Naipao had been worried the school would punish them over this business; after all, neither of their families had the clout of Zhong Yongliang's. Zhong Yongliang might come out unscathed, but the two of them could well end up as scapegoats.

At Zhong Yongliang's instruction, he nodded at once and agreed.

Watching Wei Zhao's receding figure not far ahead, Zhong Yongliang clenched his fists in bitter hatred. Today's affair had cost him face badly, and all of it was thanks to this transfer student.

He had not expected Wei Zhao to be so formidable in a fight. It seemed his habitual way of settling things with his fists was no longer of much use.

When they reached Wang Zhifeng, and Wang Zhifeng had heard the accounts of Zhong Yongliang and the others, he naturally knew they were making it all up. Word had already come from the police station: that Black Panther was the chief of security at Zhong Yongliang's father's nightclub. Why would a chief of security come to a school for no reason to make trouble for Wei Zhao?

If anyone tried to tell Wang Zhifeng that this business had nothing to do with Zhong Yongliang, he would not believe it for a word. Still, Wang Zhifeng had previously sought instructions from the principal, and out of deference to Zhong Yongliang's family background, the matter could only be handled quietly. As for the police station, Black Panther had already taken the whole thing upon himself, so there was no need for Wang Zhifeng to offend anyone further over it.

So he gave Zhong Yongliang and the others a few words of reprimand and sent them back.

When only Wei Zhao remained, Wang Zhifeng did not ask much about the morning's events. It was plain that the morning's affair had little to do with Wei Zhao, so there was no need for Wang Zhifeng to ask.

He had kept Wei Zhao behind alone to sound out his opinion: "Wei Zhao, those lads Zhong Yongliang and the rest are no good, but because of his family connections the school cannot do much about them. How about I move you to another class?"