Chapter 21 — A Failed Show of Force
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Still, the fact that Wei Zhao had said as much meant he had no intention of poking his nose into other people's business, and Wang Zhifeng relaxed a little. If word of this ever reached the principal and the board, his tenure as dean of students would be finished.
"Heh heh." Wang Zhifeng gave a dry laugh. "Wei Zhao, if you run into any trouble at school from now on, come to me anytime. Here, write down my cell number."
"Then thank you, Director Wang," Wei Zhao said, hastily putting on an air of flattered deference. He knew his own position was a peculiar one: he had come to school chiefly for Gu Mengyao's sake, and he was bound to do a few outrageous things while he was here. He could hardly go running to Gu Pengzhan and Uncle Qing every time something happened; better to seize this occasion to get on good terms with Wang Zhifeng.
And now it seemed he had gotten exactly what he wanted. So long as he did not go too far, Wang Zhifeng would smooth things over for him.
Wei Zhao followed Wang Zhifeng to the door of the Senior Three, Class Five classroom. Wang Zhifeng pushed the door open and walked straight in, then beckoned to the class's homeroom teacher. "This is Wei Zhao, a new transfer student. Find him a seat."
The instant Zhong Yongliang laid eyes on Wei Zhao, his eyes went wide. That was him, all right — the brat who had kicked him yesterday. He and Gao Xiaofu and Zhang Naipao had chased the little bastard half the morning without catching him, and now here he was, delivering himself right to their door.
"My name is Wei Zhao — Zhao, as in the 'zhao' of 'graceful and unrestrained.'" After this brief self-introduction, the homeroom teacher seated him at a single desk at the very back of the room.
There was no help for it. The homeroom teacher understood that Wei Zhao was someone with connections, but the seats had been assigned at the start of term and were now fixed; he could not reshuffle them at will. Wei Zhao would have to make do at the back for the time being, and they would see about it later.
Wei Zhao, however, was not particular about where he sat. He nodded cheerfully and headed for the last row.
While Wei Zhao was introducing himself, Gu Mengyao kept her head bowed low, but Shen Yushu blinked her big eyes and stared at him like some curious little child, which gave Wei Zhao a creepy feeling all over. This little Miss Chen was even more of a handful than Miss Chu.
Zhong Yongliang shot Zhang Naipao a look, because Wei Zhao would have to pass Zhang Naipao's desk to reach his own. Zhang Naipao flashed him an "OK" sign to show there was no problem.
The moment he entered the classroom, Wei Zhao had noticed that Zhong Yongliang was also a student in Senior Three, Class Five, and so he had paid him particular attention; naturally, none of the little byplay that followed escaped his eyes.
As Wei Zhao passed Zhang Naipao's desk, Zhang Naipao suddenly shot out his right foot, hoping to trip him. Wei Zhao smiled scornfully and made to kick back — but a kick from him would have broken Zhang Naipao's bones. It was his first day of school and he did not want any trouble, so instead he simply brought his foot down hard on the instep of Zhang Naipao's, and Zhang Naipao let out a yelp of pain.
"Huh? What's this?" Wei Zhao looked at Zhang Naipao with an air of complete innocence. "Sorry about that — I didn't mean to step on your foot."
"Zhang Naipao, is there a problem?" Teacher Liu, the homeroom teacher, knew exactly what Zhang Naipao was like, but the boy's family had some influence and he ran around with Zhong Yongliang, so there was not much Teacher Liu could say.
"N-no... nothing..." Zhang Naipao's face was red with pain, and he shook his head, forcing down the numbness in his foot. He would never tell the teacher what Wei Zhao had done — that would be far too humiliating.