The next day, Hou Ranxi came to the school.
At this time, Chai Meicen's identity was a student, so she couldn't sit in for the whole time. She could only sit anxiously in the classroom and wait.
As soon as class was over, she dragged Zhou Rui to pace back and forth outside the office door.
Zhuo Wenqian liked gossip, so when she smelled something juicy, she quickly followed along and brought Yang Ming and Li Xiaonan with her.
The few of them waited outside the office door for a long time. They thought he wouldn't come out this time, but unexpectedly, Hou Ranxi pushed open the door and walked out.
At that time, Zhuo Wenqian happened to be looking down at the floor. She saw the tailored pants and leather shoes. His stride was powerful, just from his feet she could tell he had the aura of a domineering CEO.
She looked him up and down, and saw a tall, handsome man in a crisp suit walking towards them. He had a smile on his face, as gentle as the melted sun.
"I heard the bell and knew you would come here, so I came out specially to update you on the situation," Hou Ranxi stood in front of Chai Meicen, his eyes still holding a trace of a smile, and even a bit...doting.
"How did it go?"
"Come here, I'll tell you."
"Okay." Chai Meicen immediately followed Hou Ranxi to the floor-to-ceiling windows in an unoccupied area so he could tell her about the inside situation.
The other three only knew this was about helping Zhou Rui fight back and reverse his punishment, but didn't know anything about Tian Yueyi's situation.
So it was safer for Hou Ranxi to speak privately with Chai Meicen.
This wasn't Li Xiaonan's first time seeing Hou Ranxi. He had thought Hou Ranxi was Zhou Rui's relative before, and hadn't paid much attention.
But today he noticed that after Hou Ranxi came out, the first person he looked at was Chai Meicen. The way he looked at Chai Meicen seemed off, making Li Xiaonan think more about it.
He quickly wondered why Hou Ranxi was only speaking with Chai Meicen and not Zhou Rui.
Zhou Rui also didn't seem to mind.
"Oh my god...he's too handsome!" Zhuo Wenqian's eyes were about to pop out.
The instant Hou Ranxi came out, Zhuo Wenqian felt like the male lead of a CEO romance novel had walked out of a book. His image, temperament, looks, height - everything was outstanding.
Especially that figure peeking out from under the well-fitted suit. It was to die for.
Yet this CEO wasn't domineering at all. On the contrary, he was gentle to a fault. His eyes seemed to contain the entire sky, sparkling as if they could suck you in.
"Stop dreaming. He's not for you. This is my future dad," Zhou Rui said with a laugh, not bothered at all.
"Awesome!" Zhuo Wenqian sincerely exclaimed, "Finding a stepdad of this caliber, Auntie really won at life!"
Zhuo Wenqian smacked her lips. The gods were other people's.
Even the school tyrant who was her deskmate wasn't good enough for her, because she knew this school tyrant was a bit silly.
Li Xiaonan leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. He looked between Chai Meicen chatting with Hou Ranxi and Zhou Rui, thinking about what Zhou Rui had said, and couldn't help frowning.
Something wasn't right.
After receiving Chai Meicen's call, Hou Ranxi also felt quite angry about Zhou Rui's situation.
But first and foremost, he reassured Chai Meicen and said he would contact a lawyer to ask about the matter. Then he tried to get in touch with Tian Yueyi.
They still wanted to protect Tian Yueyi the most, so the evidence of Tian Yueyi's testimony was mainly in recordings. She also provided evidence.
For example, the package Chen's classmate mailed to her - she still had the packaging and the tracking number showed the date, sender as Chen's classmate, and Chen's classmate's phone number.
Other evidence included screenshot recordings of chat logs and recordings of Chen's classmate using a new phone to send Tian Yueyi text messages.
Hou Ranxi also went to the place where Zhou Rui got into the fight. Using some methods, he got security camera footage showing that it was indeed Chen's classmate who called a group of people to lie in wait for Zhou Rui alone.
The footage showed that it was Zhou Rui's imposing manner that scared off those people, leaving only Chen's classmate behind.
If Zhou Rui had an ounce of strength left, he would have gone to kick Chen's classmate a few more times. That was also why Chen's classmate was injured so severely.
Hou Ranxi also brought a lawyer who sat sternly by his side for the whole discussion, while the lawyer communicated with the school.
In fact, the main points of the discussion were just a few:
First: Zhou Rui was actually one of the victims. He was just defending himself, but did so a bit excessively.
Second: The school didn't punish the students who were truly at fault, yet wrongfully attributed the blame to Zhou Rui. Were they deliberately shielding students who committed sexual harassment?
Tian Yueyi's parents were also present indoors.
Tian Yueyi had told her parents about the incident. Her parents were extremely shocked. After arriving, Tian Yueyi's parents were furious.
Her mother sat crying on the sofa while her father, after hearing Hou Ranxi's analysis of the second point, hated that he couldn't fight the school leaders.
The school leaders suddenly had a huge headache.
How did a matter that was already resolved suddenly become like this?
But the school leaders still quickly contacted Chen's parents. Chen's parents didn't know what was going on at first. When they came in, Tian Yueyi's father almost beat them up.
After understanding the situation, they started to panic.
At first, they were very angry that the main point seemed to be they didn't want the medical fees anymore and hoped the matter could end there.
But Hou Ranxi and Tian Yueyi's parents had a firm stance and refused to let the matter go just like that.
Chen's parents even started scolding them, saying Hou Ranxi didn't know how to be human. They had reconciled for Zhou Rui's sake at the beginning. Now they were going back on it and refusing to let the matter drop.
They shouldn't have reconciled at the beginning.
However, one sentence from Hou Ranxi completely destroyed Chen's parents: "It doesn't matter about the medical fees. The injuries were indeed dealt by our child. What I want is an apology and fair treatment of Zhou Rui. Once I get a result, I won't have a reason to stay here. But for your child's psychological damage to this girl, can a simple apology make up for it? When he comes back to school after recovering, will the girl not feel afraid at school in the future?"
Hou Ranxi's words cleverly reminded Tian Yueyi's parents again. After that, without Hou Ranxi having to do anything, Tian Yueyi's parents would make a scene.
His words sounded easygoing, but were slyly provocative.
He claimed he was still there waiting for the results, but was actually interjecting at times when Tian Yueyi's parents were handling things poorly, instantly helping them turn the situation around.
Hou Ranxi went straight to the crux when he spoke, bringing up the most sensitive points for a fatal blow.
He spoke neither too lightly nor too heavily, but in a way that infuriated Chen's parents, though they couldn't pick out anything wrong with what he said.
"That Chen student should be expelled," Hou Ranxi said.
"He deserves it! Trash like him should be kept on a leash and observed at all times. Who knows if he'll commit some anti-human act in the future!"
"Don't get so angry, calm down." Hou Ranxi patted Chai Meicen's head.
Chai Meicen had her hands on her hips. After being angry for a while, she looked at Hou Ranxi and said, "You did great. I'll treat you to a meal later."
"I want to eat something you make yourself."
"Done. Braised pork, baby back ribs, spicy tofu, and kung pao chicken!" Chai Meicen started listing dishes.
"Add an extra cola chicken wing."
"Okay." Chai Meicen agreed outright with no haggling.
"Don't cry anymore in the future. Your eyes are swollen." Hou Ranxi moved closer to look at Chai Meicen's face. He understood her well. If she had cried, he could tell at a glance.
"Is it very obvious?" Chai Meicen held her face and asked. She was used to not looking in the mirror much.
"Yes, your original double eyelids have become triple eyelids now." Hou Ranxi raised his hand to gesture on his own face. "Pressing it like this can help a bit, and blink more."
"Oh, okay." She nodded.
The class bell rang and Chai Meicen hurried back. At the same time, she smiled at Hou Ranxi, "Let's eat lunch together later!"
"No, I have to go back to the company." Hou Ranxi replied.
Hou Ranxi originally had a very important meeting today. He had deliberately postponed it for the morning due to this matter, and still needed to return for meetings in the afternoon.
He could have just sent a lawyer over, but Hou Ranxi was always worried.
Mainly because he knew Chai Meicen would definitely be anxious. He had to explain things clearly to Chai Meicen first before he could relax without making Chai Meicen worry for several extra hours.
Chai Meicen came first.
The company came second.
He already had more than enough money to spend anyway.
This matter really took a reversal that surprised many people.
The school didn't publicize the details, also to protect Tian Yueyi.
But they did release a notice: After investigation, it was discovered Chen's student provoked first and looked for outsiders to harm our student Zhou Rui. Regarding the previous incorrect handling, we sincerely apologize to Zhou Rui.
Nothing more specific was said.
Zhou Rui actually didn't care much. Having an apology was quite satisfying to him.
Moreover, Chen's classmate was expelled before even returning to school, and could never come back. Zhou Rui felt the handling of this matter was very satisfactory.
There was also discussion about the incident on the school's forums.
Post: I heard Chen's student called 4 people, 5 people together still couldn't beat Zhou Rui alone.
2nd floor: Zhou Rui is awesome.
3rd floor: I thought the previous handling was because Chen's student was beaten half to death, and the school felt Zhou Rui bullied a student. Zhou Rui didn't defend himself either, didn't expect the final outcome to be this!
4th floor: This was Zhou Rui alone. If there was also a Li Xiaonan, more than 10 people would be no match.
5th floor: Isn't that exaggerating? Last time Zhou Rui was also heavily injured, it was just a desperate fight.
13th floor: You guys seem to have forgotten what kind of figure Li Xiaonan is.
15th floor: What, the 3rd Middle School tyrant came to Jiahua, and you don't see Li Xiaonan as a big shot anymore?
16th floor: Li Xiaonan and Zhou Rui have a brotherly bond from fighting together.
17th floor: I always thought Li Xiaonan was Zhou Rui's little follower.
18th floor: Li Xiaonan is just low-key, not as showy as Zhou Rui. Plus he only transferred to high school here, so that's why it seems like this.
35th floor: Didn't Li Xiaonan transfer here together with Zhou Rui in high school after growing up together since elementary?
36th floor: Zhou Rui and Li Xiaonan fought from elementary to middle school. Later Li Xiaonan was schemed against once, and Zhou Rui brought people to help. That's when they reconciled. Then Li Xiaonan tested into Jiahua and they are in the same class.
38th floor: These two are gay.
Comment #39: Wow, this is such a touching brotherhood!
Comment #40: A socialist brotherhood indeed.
Comment #57: I'm suddenly not surprised that Chai Meicen is chasing after Li Xiaonan.
Comment #58: Going off topic here - Zhao Bingqing's looks really put me off. Can we stop calling her the campus belle? I nominate Chai Meicen for campus belle!
Comment #59: History often rhymes - the transfer student suddenly became the campus belle, just like before.
Comment #60: Chai Meicen is the enduringly beautiful type, and she has a great personality too. Zhao Bingqing has a bit too much edge, her looks seem impatient, more suited to being an internet celebrity.
Comment #83: Remember Zhao Bingqing's blustering? I suddenly feel bad for her.
Comment #84: It was obvious long ago that she puts on an act in public versus private. Now her true colors are revealed! Serves her right for getting slapped by Chai Meicen.
