BDBE 43
Chapter 43 Protecting the Child
In the conference room.
Lu Niannian and Fang Chi brought Chen Zhenhe there; they wanted to come in and listen in, but Yang Liu sent them back to the classroom.
Chen Zhenhe was nonchalant; after entering the room, he looked around at everyone present, and without waiting for the grade director or teacher to speak, he sat down in the nearest chair.
He was a well-known bottom-of-the-class student, and often caused trouble, so his name was always on the grade director’s radar.
Now, seeing him so nonchalant, the director immediately became furious.
The usually talkative man lowered his voice, and asked with a touch of authority, “Chen Zhenhe, I’m asking you, are the injuries on Ning Beilei’s face your doing?”
“Me?” Chen Zhenhe feigned surprise. “I don’t know anything! I was in class when I was suddenly called over!”
He glanced at Zhou Mingchen. “Could someone else have done it? You know, Zhou Mingchen even injured me last time. He has violent tendencies.”
“Chen Zhenhe, you…”
Zhou Mingchen was about to explode when his father suddenly held him down.
Zhou Hui looked at Chen Zhenhe and warned calmly, “I was there last time, I know the whole story. Student Chen, don’t talk nonsense.”
Chen Zhenhe didn’t dare argue with Zhou Hui, and reluctantly shut his mouth.
Since Chen Zhenhe entered, Ning Beilei had become unusually silent. She sat close to her mother with her head down, and didn’t dare to look at anyone present.
Yang Liu didn’t notice anything amiss. Seeing that she had stopped crying, she gently asked, “Ning Beilei, have you calmed down? If you’ve calmed down, tell us what happened. Your teacher is here, and your mother is here too. Don’t be afraid.”
Ning’s mother also whispered to her daughter, “Yes, Beilei, don’t be afraid. Mom will protect you. You must bravely tell who bullied you so that Mom can get justice for you.”
Ning Beilei raised her head, glanced at Zhou Mingchen, and unexpectedly met his gaze. She quickly lowered her head again.
Ning’s mother immediately interpreted this as an accusation and stood up: “So that’s how it is! You two, father and son, are shameless liars; I almost believed you were innocent!”
She then looked at the grade director: “Director, how does the school plan to deal with this student? Let me make this clear: after you handle it, I will still call the police; I will pursue this to the end!”
Just as Ning’s mother finished speaking, she felt a tug on her sleeve. She turned around, and saw her daughter shaking her head at her.
Before she could understand what her daughter meant, the conference room door opened again.
Chen Zhenhe, who had been watching this extraordinary spectacle with a smile, froze upon seeing the person entering. He immediately sat upright.
Chen Yu, already in his fifties and having held a high position for many years, exuded a powerful aura even without speaking.
His entrance caused even the grade director, who was about his age, to stand up.
Yang Liu naturally followed the head and stood up to greet Chen Yu, a well-known local entrepreneur who occasionally appeared in the news.
Only Zhou Hui remained calm. He wasn’t courteous to Chen Yu despite Chen Yu being more than ten years his senior.
Chen Yu glanced at his youngest son, nodded to the director and Yang Liu, and then spoke with an air of superiority, his first words to Zhou Hui since entering the room:
“Zhou-ge, your spouse just called me, saying my child and yours had a minor disagreement. I dropped everything and hurried over, but where is he now?”
Zhou Mingchen was surprised and looked at his father.
Zhou Hui smiled slightly: “My partner is still abroad. I couldn’t make a phone call earlier, so I asked him to contact you for me. Please, just let me handle this.”
Zhou Mingchen felt a little strange. He hadn’t expected his dad to know about this so quickly and even offer help.
But this wasn’t exactly a good thing. Zhou Mingchen felt slightly embarrassed, but couldn’t help thinking, “My dad still cares about me?”
The grade director and Yang Liu suddenly realized what was going on. They had been wondering why Chen Yu had come when Chen Zhenhe’s parents hadn’t been notified; it turned out Zhou Hui had informed him.
The grade director felt immense pressure.
The Zhou couple had even called Chen Yu. That meant they wouldn’t let the matter rest, and Ning Beilei’s mother was also determined to pursue it to the end.
This matter wouldn’t be easily resolved.
Chen Yu had brought an assistant, who pulled out a chair for him. He slowly sat down and said to Chen Zhenhe, “You brat, stand up.”
Chen Zhenhe jumped to his feet.
“Tell me what happened, and whether it has anything to do with you,” Chen Yu said.
Chen Zhenhe took a breath; he first looked at Zhou Hui, then at Ning Beilei, the head, and Yang Liu, and finally at Liu Xingrui, who immediately tensed up under his daze.
After looking around, Chen Zhenhe said, “I don’t know anything, Dad. I was in class today and they called me over. They insist that I hit that classmate. How could I hit a girl? That’s too low.”
“Yes…yes,” Liu Xingrui chimed in, “I…I saw it with my own eyes yesterday afternoon. Zhou Mingchen stopped Ning Beilei and said a lot of hurtful things to her. Ning Beilei rejected him, and he got angry and hit her. Ning Beilei is pretty, and many Alphas like her…so…so Zhou Mingchen must have been angry and embarrassed after being rejected…”
“Is that so?” Zhou Hui suddenly looked up at him. “Then can you recount exactly what hurtful things Zhou Mingchen said to Ning Beilei?”
Liu Xingrui was startled: “He…he said…he said some really hurtful things, I can’t bring myself to say them!”
Zhou Hui continued to press, “Since you said you could hear their conversation clearly, you must have been very close when it happened, right? Can you tell me exactly where this happened?”
“It’s…it’s…” Liu Xingrui couldn’t help but glance at Chen Zhenhe, “Outside of the school.”
“Where outside of the school?” Zhou Hui asked immediately.
“Outside…” Liu Xingrui swallowed nervously, “In the alley behind Huihui Hair Salon.”
“Very good.” Zhou Hui looked at the grade head, “Just call the police and get the surveillance footage.”
“There are no surveillance cameras there!” Liu Xingrui blurted out.
Zhou Hui turned back, and stared at him with dark, and cold eyes: “How do you know there are no surveillance cameras there?”
Liu Xingrui realized he had misspoke and panicked: “I, I…” Anyone present who wasn’t stupid could tell something was wrong with hm.
Chen Zhenhe also secretly rolled his eyes and cursed him for being so easily swayed by a few words.
Just then, Ning’s mother couldn’t help but ask, “Since you were so close at the time, why didn’t you help Leilei when it happened?”
“I…I…” Liu Xingrui trembled, unable to say a single word.
Chen Yu was shrewd and he knew his son, so he quickly guessed the truth and gave Chen Zhenhe a meaningful glance.
Chen Zhenhe immediately transformed into a meek little quail.
To Chen Yu, it didn’t matter what trouble Chen Zhenhe caused outside, as long as he could handle it and it didn’t ultimately affect the company’s image.
He didn’t care about Ning Beilei and her mother, who had no one to rely on, in today’s events. What he cared about was avoiding involvement with Zhou Hui’s son.
Zhou Hui was not someone to be trifled with, and his spouse was even more formidable. If the two of them joined forces to protect their son, it would definitely bring him enormous trouble.
Finally, Chen Yu abandoned his arrogant demeanor, and said to Zhou Hui,
“I think this matter has nothing to do with your son or my brat. It’s probably this classmate framing them. Otherwise, how would he know there were no security cameras where it happened? It can only mean that he’s the one who bullied the classmate, scouted the place beforehand, and was therefore able to frame someone else with impunity.”
“No!”
Liu Xingrui hurriedly tried to deny it, but when he looked up and met Chen Yu’s icy gaze, he was struck dumb and dared not continue.
“Since it has nothing to do with our two families, we don’t need to waste any more time getting involved.” Chen Yu only looked directly at Zhou Hui the whole time. “Let’s leave it to the school. I’m sure the school will handle it properly.”
Zhou Hui said sarcastically, “Mr. Chen, you have a very good plan.”
Ning’s mother sensed something was wrong and gritted her teeth as she questioned Chen Yu, “What do you mean? Oh, I see now, your two families are powerful and influential, so you want to cover it up peacefully, right? Let me tell you, don’t even think about it! This isn’t the old society anymore. You…you don’t think you can really cover up everything!”
The grade director quickly advised, “Ms. Ning, please don’t get agitated…”
“Ms. Ning is right. This is a society ruled by law. No matter who you are, you have to abide by the law.”
The meeting room door was pushed open for who knows how many times today. Shen Wanchao had a slightly immature face, but his aura was no less than that of Chen Yu, who had just walked in.
Everyone present felt overwhelmed under his gaze; it felt like this person shouldn’t be a high school student…
Chen Yu also glanced at Shen Wanchao a few more times. He was clearly meeting this person for the first time today, yet the aura emanating from him reminded him of a troublesome individual.
Behind Shen Wanchao were Han Zhen and two strangers in uniform. After saying his first words upon entering, he instantly reverted to his innocent high school student appearance and returned to the empty seat next to Zhou Hui.
One of the tall women who entered with him took out a work ID from the pocket of her uniform jacket, held it up, and circled it around for display.
She then formally introduced herself: “I am Wu Yi, an investigator from the Omega Rights Protection Bureau. This is my colleague. We received a report of bullying against underage Omegas here, and the Bureau is now officially investigating.”
The grade director’s eyes went black upon hearing Wu Yi’s introduction; he never expected the matter to have alarmed the Bureau.
They had no intention of protecting or condoning the bullies, but they also didn’t want things to escalate. Now that the social security bureau had arrived, they would inevitably face a mountain of investigations and have to write dozens, even hundreds, of pages of reports after the matter was resolved.
Haa!
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