FY - 7

After leaving the billiards hall, Zhou Yan went to the hospital.

Zhou Siyuan’s test results were out, and she needed to go.

Standing at the clinic door, she took a breath, a small movement, but it was still clear she was nervous.

Entering the room, the doctor, holding Zhou Siyuan’s medical record, smiled when he saw Zhou Yan, easing her tension: “The situation is quite good. All complications are under control.”

Zhou Yan exhaled half of the breath she had been holding.

When Zhou Siyuan was born, he contracted gonorrhea from his mother. At first, Shen Yudie didn’t understand, which delayed treatment and led to multiple complications.

After Zhou Yan started taking care of Zhou Siyuan, she took him to see a doctor every week, for four years, day in and day out. Today, his condition was finally under control. In this regard, she could finally rest assured.

But: “What about the drug addiction?”

As she asked these three words, the doctor’s previously calm expression tightened a little. He said, “I won’t hide it from you. It’s already very difficult for Siyuan to have lived this long in his condition, and I can imagine how much you’ve sacrificed for him...”

This feeling of being given a sweet date and then a slap was too difficult to bear, Zhou Yan couldn’t accept it: “What do you mean?”

The doctor put down the medical record, stacking his hands on the table, “Last month, I also received a case of neonatal abstinence syndrome, slightly better than Siyuan’s. Mainly, it was discovered early, treatment started early, and there was no further drug intake during growth.”

“This kind has a high probability of preserving brain development.”

“But Siyuan continued to use drugs after birth, and the drugs damaged his brain nerves. As I just said, it’s already very difficult that in his condition, he only has intellectual developmental delays and his life isn’t endangered.”

Zhou Yan didn’t want to hear any of this. She just wanted to know: “Can it be cured? Money is not an issue.”

The doctor was also helpless: “I can only say we’ll do our best.”

Zhou Yan clenched her teeth.

That evening, Zhou Siyuan didn’t go to his tutoring class again.

Zhou Yan patiently asked him: “Did they say something to you again?”

Zhou Siyuan pursed his lips, not speaking.

Zhou Yan took his hand; it was thin, with no flesh.

Because he was a drug baby, he had been unhealthy since birth. At fifth grade, he was still as tall as a first grader, but his head was larger than his peers, yet its internal structure was less complete.

But Zhou Yan had never made him feel different from others, so when others mocked him, he didn’t understand.

Zhou Yan asked again, and he slowly said: “They said I was dirty, and they said big sister was dirty.”

Zhou Yan closed her eyes. After a moment, she said: “It’s okay, big sister will find you another tutoring class.”

Zhou Siyuan shook his head: “I don’t want to go to tutoring class anymore. If I don’t understand something, I’ll just write the method down more times.”

Zhou Yan got angry. She knew Zhou Siyuan was very wronged, but he couldn’t say he wouldn’t go to school. Her situation couldn’t give him a good education; she could only rely on famous schools and famous teachers, and he didn’t want to go...

She pulled him over, took a clothes hanger from the balcony, and made a move to hit him.

Zhou Siyuan didn’t dodge or beg for mercy.

Zhou Yan, frustrated, hit him on the butt, making his body tremble.

She then felt something was wrong. How could her strength cause such a reaction? She lifted his clothes, and his back was covered in bruises. An instinct made her pull up his pant leg, and his legs were also covered in large patches of injuries, making her scalp tingle.

She asked him loudly: “Who did this!”

Zhou Siyuan finally burst into tears, throwing himself into Zhou Yan’s arms: “Big sister, I don’t want to go to school anymore...”

Zhou Yan’s heart shattered.

The next day, the sun shone brightly. Zhou Yan took out the birthday gift she had originally bought for Zhou Siyuan, unwrapped it for him: “Put on this new set of clothes. Big sister will wait for you outside.”

Zhou Siyuan was the most obedient, dutifully changing his clothes.

Coming out of the room, Zhou Yan straightened his collar and led him out.

The car slowly moved along the school district road, finally stopping at a breakfast shop.

Zhou Yan bought Zhou Siyuan a basket of steamed buns and a cup of soy milk, watching him finish eating.

Zhou Siyuan glanced at the school not far away: “Big sister doesn’t need to walk me anymore, I can go by myself.”

Zhou Yan didn’t speak. She helped him put on his backpack and walked with him to the school. She didn’t stop at the gate but led him inside.

They walked all the way to their classroom, as students gradually came in.

Zhou Yan stood at the door with Zhou Siyuan, expressionless, not saying what she was doing, like a door god, making people feel eerie.

The first preparatory bell rang, and all the students in the class were present.

Zhou Yan squatted down and asked Zhou Siyuan: “Siyuan, point out to big sister which classmates bullied you.”

Zhou Siyuan froze, not speaking for a long time.

Zhou Yan asked again: “Who is it? Tell big sister.”

Zhou Siyuan suddenly snapped back to reality, as if a broken body had suddenly been injected with a vivid soul, allowing his originally thin hands to pick up and put on armor. He pointed to two boys in the back row and a girl by the wall on the left.

Zhou Yan followed his指direction, locking onto them.

Turning back, she said the last words to Zhou Siyuan: “Siyuan, you must remember, we don’t bully others, but we don’t let ourselves be bullied either.”

Before Zhou Siyuan could nod, Zhou Yan had already walked to the back of the classroom, picked out the one closest to her among the three, grabbed his collar, and slapped him across the face.

The boy froze, then burst into a heart-wrenching cry.

All the students in the class were terrified, screams erupted, even causing the entire floor to fall into chaos.

Zhou Yan didn’t stop, slapping the boy’s face repeatedly.

The other two who participated in the bullying tried to run away, but she grabbed their arms, pulled them back, and gave them a beating on their butts and faces.

The teacher and the dean arrived together, only seeing the end of this revenge, but it was enough to scare them. Having been in the education industry for so many years, they had never seen a student’s parent come to school and assault students.

The dean couldn’t handle it and directly called the police.

They were also afraid that the parents of the three beaten children wouldn’t let it go; having the police present would make it easier to control.

Zhou Yan finished what she believed she had to do, and was ready to face the consequences. After seeing Zhou Siyuan seated, she followed the dean and the homeroom teacher to the office, waiting for the three students’ parents and the police to arrive.

Not long after, one of the student’s parents arrived. Before seeing her, her curses were heard, and she rushed in, ready to attack Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan grabbed her arm, and relying on her height advantage, pushed her back, causing her to fall against the wall.

She immediately quieted down a bit, turning to ask the homeroom teacher: “What’s going on? I just saw my son in the infirmary next door, how could he be beaten like this? Is this a school? Is this something that should happen in a school?”

The homeroom teacher poured her a glass of water: “Please calm down first. Our school will definitely take responsibility for this matter.”

The dean gave her a look, and the homeroom teacher immediately understood, shifting the blame to Zhou Yan: “Our school will definitely make Ms. Zhou Yan responsible. But now, the most important thing is to clarify the whole story.”

The parent clearly wasn’t listening to her. She glanced at Zhou Yan: “Then tell me why!”

The homeroom teacher turned to Zhou Yan: “So, Ms. Zhou, what happened that made you come to our school and cause such a commotion?”

Zhou Yan originally had many questions for the school, such as why school bullying occurred, why Zhou Siyuan, who was clearly an above-average student and never caused trouble, was always placed in the back row of the classroom.

But now she didn’t want to ask anything. From the moment that bejeweled woman entered the door, and in the unnatural way the dean and homeroom teacher tried to hide their fawning, she understood everything.

She simply stated: “My child was beaten, covered in injuries. I saw that the school had no intention of dealing with it, so I handled it myself.”

The aristocratic parent didn’t like what she heard. She slammed the table: “What do you mean, parent? If our child really did something to your child, wouldn’t the school find out? Do you think this is your village’s elementary school? This is Experimental Middle School!”

After saying that, she probably felt it wasn’t strong enough, so she added: “To be frank with you, my husband is on his way, and his temper is not as good as mine!”

Her words didn’t scare Zhou Yan, but they scared the dean and the homeroom teacher.

The dean quickly interjected: “The school will not allow school bullying incidents. There must be some misunderstanding here.”

The homeroom teacher echoed: “That’s right, why don’t we first let Ms. Zhou explain how she discovered Zhou Siyuan was being bullied?”

Zhou Yan showed them the photos she took last night of Zhou Siyuan’s injuries: “Do you think I wasted a day coming to school because I had nothing better to do? The school needs to ask the parent when they discovered if a student was being bullied? How ridiculous.”

The homeroom teacher looked at the photos in the album, exchanged glances with the dean, and discussed their strategy.

The aristocratic parent just glanced casually, and her sharp, sarcastic mouth started again: “Then how can you say it was our child who hit him? What evidence do you have? Did you check the surveillance or is there a witness? If not, how can you hit someone?”

Zhou Yan directly went out and dragged the child she had slapped back in, asking him: “Did you hit Zhou Siyuan?”

His face was still swollen, tears still hanging, and he trembled, not daring to lie: “I did...”

The aristocratic parent immediately stood up: “Isn’t this forced confession? He’s been beaten like this by you, can he tell the truth?”

Zhou Yan ignored her and continued to ask: “When did you hit him, where, how many times, did you ever steal his money, did you make him lick your shoes, did you force him to eat shit...”

By the end, Zhou Yan’s hands were trembling.

She had clenched her teeth yesterday when Zhou Siyuan told her these things, just to keep from going after them that very night.

The boy cried even harder, not daring to hide anything: “I hit him yesterday, yesterday noon, in, in the toilet. I didn’t steal his money yesterday, Yang Tianliang did. Eating shit was Fang Min’s idea. I just hit him a few times, really just a few times.”

Zhou Yan asked again: “Did you hit him before! How long has this been going on!”

The boy shivered, startled by her sudden increase in volume, and said: “I hit him before, for a year, a year already.”

Zhou Yan almost choked up, her voice tinged with tears: “Why did you hit him?”

The boy had never seen Zhou Yan’s eyes like this. He was so scared, he leaned back: “Because the teacher, and classmates don’t like him.”

The homeroom teacher immediately denied: “What nonsense! I have always treated everyone equally!”

The boy’s mother was also enraged, rushing over and giving him two slaps: “What are you talking nonsense about? Why are you admitting to things you didn’t do!”

For a moment, the office was filled only with curses, shouts, and wailing.

Zhou Yan glared at the dean: “You heard it. If they didn’t do it, why could they describe the details so clearly? I never said who among them did these things.”

The dean was in a difficult position. Clearly, she was right, but he couldn’t allow parents to hit students. If he allowed it, the principal wouldn’t either.

The homeroom teacher saw him weighing his options and quickly tried to smooth things over: “Even if this is true, your coming to school and causing such a scene will not only give Zhou Siyuan a bad impression among teachers and students but also cast a shadow on other students. Besides, children fighting among themselves, with that little strength, won’t cause serious harm. But for you to lay hands on them, that’s simply inappropriate, and there are no such rules.”

The dean came back to his senses and added: “That’s right, they’re still young, bumps and scrapes are inevitable, and it’s lucky they’re still young, a little scuffle won’t hurt much. Didn’t we also get into fights every now and then when we were young? And we still grew up fine?”

Zhou Yan’s gaze sharpened: “Are you speaking human language? I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand.”

The homeroom teacher was about to repeat herself, but Zhou Yan didn’t let her finish. She walked over and slapped her, making her see stars.

Everyone in the office was stunned; they hadn’t even seen how Zhou Yan walked over.

The homeroom teacher reacted after a while, screaming: “Why did you hit me!?”

Zhou Yan told her: “We’re just women fighting among ourselves. This little bit of strength won’t cause serious harm. So what if I hit you?”

The homeroom teacher was full of grievances, but hearing Zhou Yan’s words, she didn’t know how to defend herself.

The dean subconsciously pursed his lips, trying to pretend he hadn’t just echoed her words.

But he was really overthinking it. Zhou Yan wasn’t there to lecture them; making an example was enough. She said: “Just because Siyuan is different from other students in various aspects, you constantly put him in the back, give him dirty looks, making his classmates feel that he deserves to be disliked and bullied. Now you’re talking about impressions? Your face, covered in too much talcum powder, really has the nerve to show itself!”

“School bullying, this should originally be something your school prevents, yet you make a parent come here to protect my child. You don’t feel ashamed, and you still have the audacity to say I’ve affected you? I just want to know, are right and wrong determined by your lips touching? Then what kind of school are you running? You should be running a damn court!”

“I came here to tell you, you can be as snobbish as you want, you can grovel and fawn as much as you want, all I want is for Zhou Siyuan to have a healthy learning environment. This request is not excessive, but if you can’t do it, next time, I won’t be as lenient as this time.”

“Anyway, I only have one life, at worst, I’ll give it up!”

The entire office, except for Zhou Yan, was silent as cicadas, not daring to even breathe loudly.

It had been many years since someone so desperate had appeared. Ever since society progressed, dirty things had been hidden by people with various methods, and they had forgotten that tragedies had not actually decreased; people just didn’t dare to mention them anymore.

So when someone like Zhou Yan reappeared, they felt such intense shock and fear.

Zhou Siyuan didn’t know when he had stood at the door, softly calling out: “Big sister.”

Zhou Yan turned her head and saw the thin figure. She clenched her fists. She walked over and squatted down: “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Siyuan tugged at Zhou Yan’s clothes: “Big sister, go home.”

Zhou Yan smoothed his hair: “Big sister will go back soon.”

Zhou Siyuan shook his head, insisting that she leave now.

Zhou Yan didn’t understand: “Why do you want me to go back now?”

Zhou Siyuan lowered his head, his voice very small: “They will think big sister is fierce and won’t want to talk to me anymore.”

Zhou Yan was startled, then gently stroked the back of his head: “No matter how fierce big sister is, those who like you will always like you. Those who don’t like you won’t like you just because you have a gentle big sister.”

“Siyuan, you have to live for yourself.”

“If they ignore you, just be proud and brilliant by yourself.”