“Old Wu, you’ve got to help me out. If I can’t get any eggs, there’s no way the factory can fulfill this month’s orders. I know it’s asking a lot, but please, think of something. All right… okay, I’ll wait for your news.”
Wang Mingsheng hung up the phone.
He looked up at the group of kids standing before him. Every one of them was bruised, with swollen faces covered in blue and purple marks.
“Oh? Got into a fight, did you? So? Did you win or lose?”
“Uncle!”
Liu Changyun walked over with a shameless grin.
“You little rascal. You came to ask me to plead with your father, didn’t you?” Wang Mingsheng looked at his nephew, and the worried expression on his face immediately turned into a smile.
“Come on, Uncle. I just missed you, so I came by to see you.”
“I’ll invite your dad out for drinks tonight.”
Wang Mingsheng knew his nephew all too well. Whenever the boy got himself into trouble, he always came looking for help.
“Hehe… You’re so wise.”
“Uncle Wang.”
Zhou Yuwei stepped forward.
“And this is…?”
He looked at his nephew with an unmistakable expression.
So this is your girlfriend? Pretty girl.
“N-No!” Liu Changyun hurriedly explained. “She lives in our courtyard. Zhou Kun’s younger daughter. We all live in the same courtyard.”
If his father heard some twisted rumor about this, he’d probably do more than just beat him up—he might actually break his legs.
“You’re old enough to date. There’s nothing embarrassing about it.”
“That’d require her to actually like me.”
Liu Changyun laughed awkwardly.
“Besides, I didn’t know before. Now I do. She’s terrifying.”
He had absolutely no desire to marry someone like Zhou Yuwei.
If they actually got married one day, he’d probably end up serving her hand and foot like a grandson.
Forget it.
Looking was enough.
She was beautiful, sure—but with fighting skills like that?
He’d rather admire from afar.
He refused to spend the first eighteen years of his life getting beaten by his father, only to spend the next eighty getting beaten by his wife.
“Uncle Wang, how many eggs does your factory need?” Zhou Yuwei ignored their banter and got straight to the point.
Wasn’t her father worrying about what to do next?
Well, hadn’t an opportunity to make money just fallen into their laps?
“You have a way to get them?”
For the first time, Wang Mingsheng looked at the girl seriously.
Right now, anyone who could secure eggs would be doing the factory an enormous favor.
“I can. How many do you need this time?”
“Fifty thousand.”
“That’s only for this month’s demand.”
“Give me three days. I’ll deliver them.”
“Deal.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“As long as you get the eggs here, everything else is negotiable.”
“The transportation costs are covered too?”
“Included.”
“Perfect. Then wait for my good news. Uncle Wang, here’s to a successful partnership.”
Zhou Yuwei extended her hand.
The man chuckled as he shook it.
“You little girl sure know how to handle business.”
“I’ll give you three days.”
“Deal.”
…
After they left the factory, the others still looked completely bewildered.
“Where are you going to find that many eggs?” Liu Changyun asked.
“We’ll buy them from the countryside,” Zhou Yuwei explained.
“What?”
“You mean… you’re taking us in on this?”
“What else?”
“We came here together. If there’s money to be made, of course we make it together.”
After all, this business opportunity had only come because of Liu Changyun.
She couldn’t keep all the profits for herself.
Besides, fifty thousand eggs was no small amount. The more people helping collect them, the faster the job would get done.
“But where do we even collect eggs?”
They were born-and-raised Beijingers.
None of them had ever lived in the countryside.
Fortunately, their families weren’t large, and their parents all had decent jobs, so none of them had ever been sent down to the countryside.
“We need to go find someone first.”
“Who?”
“My older sister.”
“Your sister? Why?”
“None of us knows how to deal with villagers.”
“My sister does.”
“With her there, things will be much easier.”
“That’s right.”
Xu Zitao nodded.
“Older Sister Yulan spent three or four years in the countryside. She should know how everything works. Let’s head back first.”
“…We’re really going back now?”
The moment Liu Changyun thought about his father—the school’s dean of academic affairs—his legs felt weak.
“What else are we supposed to do?”
“We’re all starving.”
Without eggs, the bakery couldn’t make bread.
Which meant they hadn’t managed to get so much as a bite to eat.
…
When they returned to the courtyard…
Liu Changyun’s father, Comrade Liu Aihua, was already standing at the entrance holding a broom.
“So, you finally decided to come home?”
“Dad… hehe…”
“What are you doing out here? Waiting for me?”
“I sure am.”
Liu Aihua raised the broom and smacked it hard across Liu Changyun’s backside.
“All of you, get inside.”
“And explain exactly why you got into a fight today.”
“Dad! Easy! Easy!”
Liu Changyun sprinted around the courtyard with his father chasing after him.
Having just been in a fight and gone without food, he had no strength left.
He didn’t get very far before Liu Aihua caught him.
The broom came down again and again.
“What are you doing?”
“Why are you beating the child?”
Grandma Xu came out.
She was the oldest resident in the courtyard, and everyone respected her.
She snatched the broom away.
“You can’t beat children like this.”
“They’re all grown up now.”
“If there’s a problem, sit down and talk it through.”
“Old Madam, you’ve got to help me.”
“My dad doesn’t hold back.”
“It hurts!”
Liu Changyun hurried behind her for protection.
“Look!”
“It’s all red.”
He rolled up his sleeve for her to inspect.
Actually, his backside hurt much worse.
But he couldn’t exactly drop his pants in front of everyone.
“You’re right.”
“It is red.”
“Aihua, what’s gotten into you?”
“You’re getting worse with age.”
“Trying to imitate those people who used to wear armbands?”
“Old Madam, you don’t know what happened.”
“These kids got into a fight outside.”
“Fine, they fought.”
“But they even dragged the Zhou family’s little girl into it.”
Grandma Xu turned toward Zhou Yuwei.
“You fought too, child?”
“Mm.”
“They were bullying Changyun and the others, so I…”
“Oh.”
“Then that’s different.”
She tapped the ground with her cane.
“We should never bully others.”
“But we also shouldn’t let others bully us.”
Just then, Wang Yun returned home from work.
Seeing her son hopping around the courtyard, she couldn’t help laughing.
That brat got himself into trouble with his father again.
Serves him right.
He’s always asking for it.
“So.”
“You got into a fight?”
Mother Cao carefully checked Cao Bingkun from head to toe.
Then she raised her hand.
Cao Bingkun instinctively flinched.
After watching Liu Changyun get beaten so badly, he was genuinely frightened.
“Does it hurt?”
Cao Bingkun shook his head.
“Zitao, are you all right?”
Grandma Xu also came outside.
“I’m fine, Grandma.”
Xu Zitao immediately walked over to support her.
His parents were both serving in the military, and most of his family had joined the army as well.
He had insisted on staying behind to live with his grandmother.
She refused to leave this place.
She was still waiting for his grandfather to come home.
Grandpa had gone across to the other side with those people back then. Decades had passed, and there was still no news of him.
“Alright, let’s all go home and eat,” Uncle Hu said. “Aihua, the kids are fine. You’ve already scolded them and given them a beating. They know they were wrong now, don’t you?”
The group nodded immediately like obedient little quails.
“That’s right. Hurry home and feed the children. They must be starving. Just look at the state they’re in. Go wash up.”
They were all children from the same residential courtyard compound. Everyone had watched them grow up. They all knew these kids had good character.
Normally, they were all well-behaved children. None of them would ever do anything seriously wrong.
The group nodded again and headed home.
“Yuwei, are you alright?” Lin Hongmei had just gotten off work. When the neighbors told her that Yuwei had gotten into a fight, she was surprised, but she still trusted her daughter.
“I’m fine. I just couldn’t stand by and watch. There were so many of them bullying the three of us. They couldn’t win.”
Lin Hongmei nodded.
“I used to tell you to endure things because I was afraid my identity would bring trouble to you. That’s why you couldn’t make mistakes or get too close to other people. But now your grandfather’s side of the family is safe, and we can finally live normal lives again.”
She looked seriously at her daughter.
“Yuwei, if anyone bullies you from now on, hit them back. That’s the whole reason your grandfather had you learn martial arts from Brother Chen and the others.”
Both of her daughters were beautiful.
But sometimes, beauty only brought unnecessary trouble.
Yuwei looked at her mother.
Suddenly, she missed her grandmother.
She remembered an incident from her previous life.
Once, she’d gotten into a fight with one of her classmates after the girl called her a wild child—an unwanted bastard abandoned by her parents.
Yuwei had pinned the girl to the ground and beaten her until her face swelled so badly it looked like a pig’s head.
By the end, even the girl’s own parents could barely recognize her.
Later, the girl’s parents came to demand an apology.
Yuwei refused to say a single word.
“Hmph. Figures. A child with no parents to teach her has no manners at all,” the girl’s mother cursed angrily.
“No wonder her parents didn’t want her.”
Smack!
An elderly woman rushed over and slapped the woman across the face.
“You foul-mouthed woman! I’ll teach you a lesson! Our Yuwei is loved by plenty of people. As long as I’m here, my granddaughter will never be unwanted!”
“Your granddaughter beat my son into this state, and we’re not even allowed to say a few words?” the other mother protested, clutching her cheek.
“What’s wrong with you?” the boy’s father said angrily. “Your granddaughter was clearly the one in the wrong. Instead of teaching your child, you’re hitting people?”
Seeing she was an elderly woman, he held himself back from retaliating.
“Grandma Yuwei… this time, Yuwei really did throw the first punch,” homeroom teacher Ms. Li said gently from the side.
She had a headache over the whole situation.
Yuwei rarely spoke in class, but she was one of the top students academically.
She had never expected the quiet girl to hit someone.
Unfortunately, the injured student’s parents had connections with the school’s leadership.
All they wanted, they claimed, was for Yuwei to apologize, and the matter would be over.
Who would’ve thought the girl would be this stubborn?
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I won’t apologize. And if he says those things about me again, I’ll beat him again.”
Yuwei hadn’t wanted to speak.
But when she looked at her grandmother, anxiety filled her heart.
She’d made Grandma worry again.
Would Grandma think she was just a troublemaker?
Grandma Zhou gently stroked her head.
“Our Yuwei didn’t do anything wrong. If someone bullies us, we fight back. There’s no need to apologize.”
“But—”
“If the school won’t handle this fairly, then we’ll call the police!” the other mother shouted. “I refuse to believe there’s no justice!”
“Grandma Yuwei, you’re making this very difficult for us.” Teacher Yang stepped forward impatiently. “If you insist on behaving this way, the school will have no choice but to discipline Student Zhou Yuwei accordingly.”
“We didn’t do anything wrong. Why should we apologize? They’re the ones who should apologize.”
Teacher Yang’s expression darkened.
“If that’s your attitude, then Zhou Yuwei will be made into a public example and criticized before the entire school.”
The threat in her voice was unmistakable.
Grandma Zhou snorted.
“I’ve lived long enough that I won’t swallow this kind of injustice. At worst, we’ll just transfer schools.”
She took Yuwei’s hand.
“I’m afraid if my granddaughter keeps studying under a teacher who can’t even tell right from wrong, she’ll end up learning your bad habits.”
“What a rotten school.”
“I’m going to the television station and report every one of you.”
“Just you wait.”
She paused, then shook her head.
“No… that’s not enough.”
She picked up the phone and dialed a number.
“Zhou Yuansheng! Are you dead or what? Your daughter is being bullied at school, and you’re not saying a single word?”
…
Inside the president’s office of Yuanwei Group, Zhou Yuansheng received the call from his mother-in-law.
“What did you say? Yuwei is being bullied at school?”
His face immediately darkened.
His daughter wasn’t someone just anyone could bully.
“Yes! You’re busy with your business every single day. What’s the point of making all that money if you can’t even protect your own daughter? She’s being called an unwanted bastard with no parents!”
The moment Zhou Yuansheng heard those words, he exploded.
“Mom, where are you? I’m coming over right now.”
“Huatian Middle School.”
Grandma Zhou still wasn’t satisfied.
Fine.
So they wanted to compare backgrounds and connections?
Then today, they’d see whose backing was stronger.
“Yuwei, don’t worry.”
She squeezed her granddaughter’s hand.
“Grandma won’t let you suffer any injustice today. We don’t go looking for trouble—but we’re never afraid of it either.”
She swept her gaze across the crowd before making another phone call.
“Jiang Hai.”
The moment that name was spoken, several people’s expressions changed.
The name sounded awfully familiar.
Then they heard what Grandma Zhou said next.
“You’re the director of the Bureau of Education. Are you going to deal with the fact that my granddaughter is being bullied at school or not? If you won’t, then I’ll have your father come deal with you.”
“Aunt Bai! Your granddaughter is being bullied? I’ll be there immediately.”
Some of the teachers realized things were spiraling out of control and hurried off to notify the school leadership.
But Grandma Zhou wasn’t finished.
The instant she ended one call, she dialed another.
“Bai Yuanqing. I’ll give you one hour. Gather every reporter in Haishi and send them to Huatian Middle School.”
“This old lady is going to hold a press conference right here.”
“Understood, Mom.”
The school administrators who had rushed over heard those words.
Their hearts skipped a beat.
Something crashed to the floor.
Huatian Middle School was one of the city’s most prestigious private schools.
Most of the students who attended came from influential families.
Yuwei had been admitted purely because of her outstanding academic performance.
Since she’d always lived with her grandmother, they had assumed she was just a pitiful girl with no family background.
Who could have imagined…
Teacher Yang was on the verge of tears.
The methods she’d always used had finally backfired.
This time, she’d kicked an iron plate.
In the end, the outcome was naturally favorable for Yuwei.
After all, she hadn’t been the one at fault.
As the incident unfolded, many similar cases at the school were exposed.
Eventually, the government stepped in.
Those who deserved dismissal were dismissed.
Those who deserved punishment were punished.
Originally, the authorities had intended to shut the school down entirely.
However, because it had so many students—including many seniors preparing for graduation—the government instead took it over and converted it into a publicly managed, semi-private school.
From top to bottom, the entire institution underwent a thorough restructuring.
For a brief moment, the figure of the woman before her overlapped with the image of her grandmother.
Grrr…
A loud rumble came from Yuwei’s stomach.
“Hungry?” Lin Hongmei smiled gently. “I’ll make you a bowl of noodles.”
“Okay.”
Warmth spread through Zhou Yuwei’s heart.