Chapter 12: Ruthless Measures

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After half a day without a response, Lu Qin thought Yang Tang had swallowed his anger; she breathed a sigh of relief, but felt a faint disappointment, ending with a slight sigh as if pitying him.

A few minutes passed, and Yang Tang, seemingly unaffected, scribbled away at his desk. The chatter in the classroom grew, but soon everyone shifted their focus back to their papers.

Half a class period slipped by, when Yang Tang suddenly whispered to Lu Qin, “Class leader, I need to go to the restroom!”

“Go ahead,” Lu Qin replied crisply, though a hint of disgust flickered in her eyes.

Yang Tang paid no attention to Lu Qin’s expression or thoughts, and slipped out of the classroom, feigning exhaustion. He vaguely heard laughter from several boys, with Gu Yongli laughing the loudest.

Outside the classroom building, Yang Tang searched around and finally found a broken table leg. He carried it back to the classroom, sneaking in through the back door, quietly approaching, and brought it down fiercely on Gu Yongli’s left hand as Gu was reaching for something at the neighboring desk.

“Ah!!”

The burly Gu Yongli cried out in pain.

Before Gu could grasp what was happening, Yang Tang, expressionless, struck several more blows, until Gu Yongli’s left hand showed obvious deformity. Then Yang Tang raised the table leg and swung it at Gu’s face as he turned to look.

One blow sent the tiger-headed, bear-backed Gu Yongli’s head slamming backward, his half-risen body collapsing back onto his seat.

“The mountain is still the mountain—see chapter 006, damn it!”

Yang Tang, having stunned Gu Yongli, showed no intention of stopping. He cursed, raised the table leg, and brought it down hard on Gu’s forehead.

At that moment, a student rushed over, trying to grab Yang Tang’s arm with the table leg. Yang Tang slipped away as if guided by instinct, his eyes cold, and struck the student’s face with the table leg, sending his glasses flying. He shouted, “Feng Junling, you want to break up the fight? Whoever tries, I’ll beat them too!” He then struck Feng’s knee twice, knocking him to the floor.

At that, the other boys who had been eager to intervene quickly retreated, afraid Yang Tang would attack them as well.

In truth, Yang Tang was anything but crazed—he was clear-headed. This wasn’t the first time Gu Yongli had made trouble for him over a test swap. Back in their sophomore year, Gu had picked fights twice, though Yang Tang hadn’t known it was Feng Junling orchestrating things behind the scenes.

In his previous life, after graduating college, Yang Tang learned at a reunion that Gu Yongli was Feng’s stooge—a secret that came too late for revenge.

But things were different now. Having decided to “see the mountain as a mountain,” Yang Tang planned to portray the impulsive fervor and cunning of a high schooler convincingly. When it came to fighting, he believed: either don’t do it, or do it so the opponent is truly afraid. Humans are odd creatures—like crickets; once beaten into submission, they rarely challenge their conqueror again.

“Stop, stop right now!” Lu Qin shouted from outside the circle, trying to squeeze in.

Yang Tang ignored her, continuing to swing the table leg, beating Gu Yongli and Feng Junling as they rolled on the floor. Several classmates who’d once clashed with Yang Tang swallowed nervously as they watched.

Eventually, a girl couldn’t bear it anymore and slipped out to report to the grade director.

Jia Lishi, Jia Li’s father, happened to be free in his office and, hearing the report from a female student in Yang Tang’s class, hurried over.

By then, Yang Tang had returned to his seat, calmly flipping through his English textbook, the broken table leg leaning against his desk, untouched by anyone.

Faced with a “hot-blooded” Yang Tang, Jia Lishi was no fool. Who knew if the student, still in the heat of the moment, might hit him with the club? So he called out from a safe distance, “Yang Tang, did you beat these two classmates?”

Yang Tang ignored him, continuing to read.

“Yang Tang, if you refuse to answer, I’ll call school security!”

Jia Lishi’s threat hit Yang Tang’s weak spot. He was only one person; though he’d gained the upper hand with “weapons” and surprise, he’d stirred up real trouble. Now it depended on whether he could withstand pressure from the school and the parents of Gu and Feng.

“Director Jia, so what if I beat them? It’s just a fight between classmates—why trouble yourself over such matters?”

“You admit it, good!” Jia Lishi wasted no more words, since he was the only teacher present. He pulled out his phone and made several calls. “What are you students standing around for? Take both of them downstairs—I’ve already called an ambulance!”

Jia Li, Xie Yihan, and other boys volunteered, awkwardly carrying Gu and Feng out of the classroom. If the two hadn’t mostly suffered blunt trauma, the classmates’ haphazard handling might have worsened their injuries.

Soon, six school security guards arrived and, under Jia Lishi’s orders, escorted Yang Tang out of the classroom.

The moment he left, the classroom turned into a marketplace, buzzing with every kind of discussion.

Yang Tang, in the corridor, felt a bit relieved; at least Jia Lishi hadn’t immediately called the police, giving him more room to maneuver.

Grade Director’s Office.

“Bang!” Jia Lishi slammed the table. “Yang Tang, do you realize how vile your actions were today?”

Yang Tang lounged lazily, hands in his pockets. “Director Jia, isn’t this a bit prejudiced?”

“Do you look like someone who’s wronged?” Jia Lishi sneered. “What else should I ask?”

Yang Tang retorted glibly, “I’ve suffered internal injury and psychological trauma. Not only can’t you see it—even the best doctors might not!”

“Enough! If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll call your classmates to confront you!” Jia Lishi sipped his tea, continuing to threaten, “You assaulted classmates in public. What do you think the consequences will be?”

“I don’t know,” Yang Tang shook his head.

“At minimum, you’ll be placed on probation!”

Yang Tang stood there, wooden.

“What’s wrong? Too harsh? Regret won’t help you now. The school might even order you to withdraw.”

“So light?”

“What did you say?” Jia Lishi thought he’d misheard.

“I mean, if the school wants to handle it discreetly, I’ll go beat Jia Li until he looks like Gu Yongli, then you can punish us together!”

“You dare?” Jia Lishi, hearing Yang Tang threaten to beat his own son, was almost beside himself. “Don’t make me call the police to have you detained!”

Yang Tang quickly stood at attention, saluted mockingly. “Report, Director—I’m not yet eighteen, and it’s just a fight between classmates. As long as they’re not disabled, the police won’t get involved, right?”

“You think fighting is just fighting? I think you intended serious harm!”

“Director, you mean I deliberately attacked two classmates? Neither of them is weaker than me—it doesn’t make logical sense!”

“Just because you say it’s illogical doesn’t mean it is! The law isn’t made by your family. Enough—call your parents!” Jia Lishi revealed what he thought was his trump card. “Otherwise, I’ll report this to the school leaders, and you might be expelled at tomorrow’s assembly.”

“Fine, call my parents. Do you have a phone?”

“I’ll lend you mine,” Jia Lishi replied.

Meanwhile, Yang Jixue, just off the plane, was excitedly heading home by taxi.

His phone rang unexpectedly.

Yang Jixue glanced at the unfamiliar caller ID, hesitated for a few seconds, and answered, “Hello, who is this?”

“Dad, it’s me!”

“Xiao Hong? Aren’t you in school? How do you have a phone?”

“This is our grade director’s phone. I have something to tell you.”

“I’ve got good news for you—the sponsorship deal went through!”

“Really? That’s wonderful!” Yang Tang glanced at Jia Lishi out of the corner of his eye. “But Dad, things aren’t so good on my end. A classmate insisted on swapping his torn test paper with mine. I got angry and hit him.”

“You hit him? Good! Giving you a ruined test paper only hinders your studies. Worse, it jeopardizes your future. Beating him is the least you could do. The school wants you to call me?”

“Yes, that’s the idea.”

“Alright, I’ll come to your school.”

“Don’t rush—better wait until tomorrow,” Yang Tang stopped him. “The other parents haven’t arrived yet. If you come now, you’ll just be waiting—why waste time?”

“Alright, I’ll take the chance to contact some old friends. If the other parents act tough, we’ll be prepared!”

Yang Tang felt a warm glow in his heart as he hung up, handed the phone back to Jia Lishi, and said, “Director, thank you for your phone. My dad can’t come this afternoon, but he’ll be here tomorrow.”

“You’d better have him ready. I meant what I said.”

“Really?” Yang Tang paid no heed to Jia Lishi’s veiled threat, and instead asked, “Director Jia, have you ever seen a once-popular TV drama called ‘Conquest’?”

“‘Conquest’? Popular? I’ve never even heard of it—so what?”

Hearing Jia Lishi’s reply, Yang Tang felt a bit dazed. Could it be that ‘Conquest’ didn’t exist in this world? He quickly returned to the point: “In ‘Conquest,’ the younger brother was badly wounded. The older brother returned from out of town, couldn’t find the assailant in his rage, so he devised a crazy revenge plan.”

“What plan?” Jia Lishi asked.

“Since he couldn’t find the culprit, he decided to eliminate everyone who’d ever had a conflict with the brothers—leave none alive!”

Jia Lishi, who had been interested, suddenly felt his scalp tingle. “Why are you telling me this?”

“No reason, just chatting. I’m an exemplary student—don’t you think so, Director Jia?”

Based on the merit obtained in Chapter 005, the merit values for Chapter 011 have been adjusted.

Below are the merit and sin figures for Chapter 005, with brief explanations.

Ten merit points obtained! > Merit for preventing a woman’s suicide. Yang Tang neither caught the thief nor retrieved her wallet, so there were no other merits.

One hundred ninety-six and a half merit points obtained! > The woman’s son’s secondary merit.

One hundred one point seven sin points obtained! > The woman’s son’s secondary sin.