Seeing Jiang Yi about to continue, Jiang Sixian ran towards her.
Reaching Jiang Yi’s side, she grabbed her hand, looked at the groaning students scattered on the floor, and shook her head. “Jiang Yi, stop! Look what you’ve done to them…”
Fighting at school was a serious offense. Jiang Yi could be expelled.
Jiang Yi hadn’t expected Jiang Sixian to intervene. Looking at the moaning figures, she took a deep breath, winced at the throbbing pain in her cheek, and shot Jiang Sixian a sarcastic look. “What? Are you here to defend them?”
Seeing Jiang Sixian, Jiang Yi suddenly realized her current appearance was the epitome of a delinquent school bully! Someone like Jiang Sixian—top of the year, the aloof school beauty—would surely disapprove of her bullying tactics and become disgusted with her.
Seizing this opportunity, Jiang Yi continued her self-sabotaging campaign.
Jiang Sixian simply stared at her intently, saying nothing.
Jiang Yi yanked her hand free, saying dismissively, “Whatever. I’ve had enough.” She glared at the sobbing ringleader on the floor and snarled, “Next time you mess with me, I’ll be waiting at the school gate every day to stuff you in a sack!”
She was genuinely menacing when angered. The ringleader flinched under her glare, but still muttered resentfully through gritted teeth, “You little bit—”
“Hmm?” Jiang Yi narrowed her eyes, a dangerous glint in them.
The ringleader glared back. “Just you wait…I’ll tell my mother…you hit me, you’ll go to jail!”
Jiang Yi stood up, cradling her throbbing cheek. “Go ahead, try and get me locked up! I’ll just come out and beat you again!”
Going to jail might actually be a good thing in this situation. A few years inside, until she was past twenty, might circumvent her early demise.
Jiang Yi wasn’t scared. Remembering the girl’s earlier insults about her being a bastard, her eyes reddened again. She raised her foot as if to kick her again. “I’ll beat you to death! And even if I do, it’s only twenty years! Who’s afraid of who?!”
Jiang Sixian watched, horrified. Seeing Jiang Yi about to kick the girl again, she grabbed her and pulled her back. “Jiang Yi!”
Jiang Yi turned, her eyes red-rimmed. “Mind your own business! Do we even know each other that well?!”
Jiang Sixian paled slightly, but maintained her grip, shaking her head. “This isn’t worth it.”
Jiang Yi glanced at her and finally refrained from kicking the girl again. She simply shrugged off Jiang Sixian’s hand, picked up her tray, and walked away.
“Excuse me!” Jiang Yi, tray in hand, pushed through the crowd like a victorious yet desolate lone wolf.
Jiang Sixian watched her go, her gaze lingering on Jiang Yi’s bloody lip, reddened eyes, and bruised face… unsure what to feel.
She should be afraid of this kind of person. But facing Jiang Yi, she felt no fear.
Perhaps…because the girls Jiang Yi beat were themselves bullies? So, it didn’t make her seem unpleasant? This was undoubtedly a double standard.
Jiang Sixian sighed, watching the girls struggle to their feet, a strange feeling in her chest.
Just then, Tang Qing arrived with a teacher.
The notoriously strict disciplinary director, upon seeing the bruised and battered students, was enraged. “Unbelievable! Fighting in the cafeteria! Do you have any sense of decency?! In fifteen years, I’ve never seen anything so appalling! Who did this?! Who?!”
The culprit had already left, but the ringleader remained. Clutching her bruised forehead, she burst into tears. “Teacher! It was Jiang Yi! Jiang Yi from Class B! She beat us…she bullied us…”
The director shrieked, “Who is Jiang Yi?!”
Jiang Sixian sighed internally and stepped forward, speaking softly. “Teacher, Jiang Yi is injured. She’s probably at the infirmary now. I just inquired, and it seems both sides were at fault. It wasn’t entirely Jiang Yi’s doing…”
After all, Jiang Yi had said the other girl provoked her. Jiang Sixian glanced at Song Yi—the ringleader. This girl was notorious for her foul mouth and leading a group of underachievers to bully others. She was a known troublemaker.
Jiang Sixian recalled the restroom incident and felt Song Yi’s potential retaliation against Jiang Yi was understandable.
Song Yi, bruised and battered, glared at Jiang Sixian for speaking up for Jiang Yi.
Jiang Sixian ignored her, continuing, “Teacher, the important thing now is to get these students to the infirmary.”
Looking at the injured students, the director waved the other students back to their classrooms and then herded the injured group towards the infirmary.
After leaving the cafeteria, Jiang Yi went straight to the infirmary to tend to her own wounds.
The same doctor from before was on duty. Seeing Jiang Yi’s bruised and battered face, she was shocked.
She quickly pulled Jiang Yi inside, examining her injuries with concern. “What happened? Who did this to you? It’s so severe! I need to inform your homeroom teacher.”
While the school generally had a good atmosphere, minor bullying incidents were inevitable. But those incidents never resulted in physical harm or escalated to brawls. The school doctor had never seen a case this severe.
She couldn’t ignore such a serious situation.
Jiang Yi winced as she spoke, tugging at the corner of her bruised lip. “No need, no need…my homeroom teacher will find out soon enough… I wasn’t bullied. I actually won the fight.”
The doctor was stunned. “A fight?”
Jiang Yi sat down, her bruised face turned up towards the doctor, a strained smile on her lips. “You could say that…but my wounds really hurt, could you please treat them?”
The doctor sighed, retrieved her medical supplies, and began tending to Jiang Yi’s injuries.
As she applied the medicine, Jiang Yi hissed in pain. The doctor muttered, “Why fight? Look at your pretty face, all bruised…how unsightly.”
Jiang Yi chuckled. “It’s fine, these won’t scar.”
The doctor retorted, “Maybe not, but you’ll have to endure these unsightly bruises for days. You seem like a kind child, not a troublemaker. Why resort to violence?”
Jiang Yi offered a brief explanation. “They started it.”
Three or four of them had ganged up on her. The fight escalated quickly, and no one really came out on top.
As the doctor was applying medicine, the disciplinary director arrived with a group of students.
Song Yi, bruised and swollen, pointed at Jiang Yi. “It was her! She beat us!”
The director, pushing up her glasses, realized she had all parties involved.
She had the doctor treat everyone’s injuries. As the treatment concluded and the bell rang, the director shooed them back to their classrooms. “After school, all of you report to my office! I’ll be contacting your parents, not one of you is getting away with this!”
Jiang Yi objected, glancing at the group surrounding Song Yi. “Shouldn’t you question us now? What if they collude and change their stories later?”
After all, such things weren’t unheard of.
The director glared at her. “There are security cameras in the cafeteria. If anyone lies, they’ll be expelled!”
Pointing to the door, the director’s expression darkened. “Now, all of you get back to class!”
Her raised voice sent the students scurrying back to their classrooms.
Jiang Yi left with them. As they walked out of the director’s sight, Song Yi and her group brushed past Jiang Yi, deliberately bumping into her.
Jiang Yi thought she was an idiot—asking for another beating. She glanced coldly at Song Yi, then swiftly kicked her in the backside.
Song Yi, caught off guard, nearly fell flat on her face.
She glared back at Jiang Yi and, along with her group, surrounded her again.
This girl was truly asking for it.
Just as Jiang Yi was about to lose her temper, the disciplinary director, emerging from the infirmary, saw them gathered together and yelled, “What are you doing! Get to class!”
Hearing this, Song Yi pointed at Jiang Yi, spitting out a threat. “Just you wait!”
Jiang Yi was utterly speechless. This girl couldn’t even fight her, so why was she so persistent?
She felt like even acknowledging her would be a loss. Ignoring Song Yi, Jiang Yi headed straight for the teaching building.
As she approached her classroom, she overheard her name being mentioned inside. Listening closely, she realized they were gossiping about the fight and her mother.
“So Jiang Yi really is a bastard? From which family? The Jiangs?”
“Jiang Sixian even defended her in the cafeteria. Could she be the illegitimate child of Jiang Sixian’s father…?”
Jiang Yi thought humans were inherently gossipy. She’d heard the “bastard” comments countless times since childhood.
It was truly ridiculous. Just because she came from a single-parent family, why did everyone love to gossip about her?
Jiang Yi’s face darkened. Arms crossed, she leaned against the doorframe, staring coldly at the gossiping group. “Since you’re so curious about my affairs, why not ask me directly?”
Her voice was like a bomb, silencing the chattering classroom.
