In the office, Teacher Gao glared at Li Tao and Yu Shulin with a dark expression, slamming the table angrily, "You're in your third year of high school! Do you understand what that represents? This year is crucial! Extremely important! What, do you think the college entrance exam is easy? That a good university will just be waiting for you without settling down to study? Dream on! Let me tell you, aiming too high is useless; being down-to-earth is what matters! Your most important identity right now is students, and a student's primary task is to study. Stop messing around with all that nonsense all day long!"
Yu Shulin listened with his head bowed, feeling more and more that the reprimand wasn't really directed at him and Li Tao. He glanced sideways at Liu Fen standing by the neighboring teacher's desk and understood—Teacher Gao was venting his anger on their behalf.
Teacher Tian's face flushed and paled by turns from Teacher Gao's words. Even her usually gentle temper couldn't help but flare up a bit. However, the two students from Class Two really weren't at fault. She was in the wrong and couldn't refute Teacher Gao, so her anger could only be directed at Liu Fen.
"Liu Fen," she frowned, her always gentle and soft voice lowering with displeasure, "Since the summer remedial classes started, classmates have been reporting various issues about you to me—disrupting class harmony, damaging the learning atmosphere, encouraging some students to participate in that... what's it called... talent show. I thought you'd settle down after summer break, but now, you're getting more and more out of line! As the class study committee member, is this how you set an example? You're already a senior. Can't you understand what's important?"
As she spoke, she grew genuinely angry. She pulled the newly posted ranking list from her drawer, slammed it on the desk, and pointed at it forcefully, "Look at your placement exam results. Are they worthy of your position as study committee member? I've always trusted you, thinking that although your mind was a bit flighty, you still had some sense of propriety. But look at this... see for yourself!"
"Teacher..." Seeing her usually mild homeroom teacher lose her temper, Liu Fen grew even more guilty, her tone softening. Hearing her mention her grades, she hurriedly and carefully picked up the ranking list to look.
Teacher Tian sighed, shaking her head. Her anger came quickly but faded fast too. She sighed, "I won't be able to keep you in the advanced class for senior year. After you move to a regular class, work hard on your own. Remember to focus on your studies. If you have any difficulties, you can come to me."
"Teacher, what are you saying? What regular class? And, my grade? Why isn't it on this ranking list?" Liu Fen's face went pale, filled with panic.
"Look further down," Teacher Tian said, feeling somewhat weary, then fell silent. Her personality was too soft; managing a class was a lot of pressure for her. With Liu Fen causing trouble again and again, she could no longer handle it.
Liu Fen's hands trembled at these words. Her face pale, she scanned line by line, finally finding her name after the 150th place.
"One hundred and fifty-three... No, how could this be..." She was bewildered. It shouldn't be like this. She felt she had performed well on the placement exam, so why had her ranking dropped so much? After two years as study committee member, her ranking had never fallen out of the top fifty in the grade! The girls all curried favor with her, the boys all admired her. How could she fall out of the advanced class? No, this was impossible!
Seeing her like this, Teacher Tian's heart softened a little. She advised, "If you had only dropped to around one hundred, I might have been able to find a way to keep you in the advanced class. But now... Classes Three, Five, and Eleven all have decent overall grades. Think about it, and I'll try to arrange a better one for you."
Each advanced class had fifty students, ranked separately for arts and sciences. She had dropped to over 150th place; the teacher really couldn't help her... But go to a regular class? No, her pride wouldn't allow it!
Seeing her clutching the ranking list without speaking, Teacher Tian glanced at Li Tao and Yu Shulin and changed the subject. "Liu Fen, this incident of you attacking Class One's Yu Shulin had a very negative impact, and the damaged item is excessively valuable. Please have your parents come to the school later."
Parents... Liu Fen shuddered, finally snapping out of the shock of her plummeting grades. She pleaded urgently, "Teacher, please, don't call my parents. My mom will beat me to death! She definitely will! And about the regular class, teacher, I'll definitely do better on the next exam. Please don't make me go to a regular class, okay? I don't want to go to a regular class."
"Beating a child is wrong. I'll explain for you. I've met your mother; she's a reasonable person. You don't need to panic like this. I won't let her hit you," Teacher Tian comforted her a few words, then turned to Teacher Gao. "Teacher Gao, do you think this is an appropriate way to resolve the matter?"
"Hmm, the damaged item is indeed excessively valuable. It's better to have the parents come," Teacher Gao nodded in satisfaction.
Yu Shulin, however, felt a bit conflicted and spoke up, "Teacher, the watch that was smashed was a gift from someone. My brother said it's only worth a little over ten thousand, not a hundred thousand." If Liu Fen really compensated him based on a hundred thousand and the price didn't match, what if he got accused of extortion later?
Liu Fen whipped her head around to look at Yu Shulin, her eyes instantly lighting up, then filled with resentment as she glared at Li Tao. "Li Tao, why did you lie to me! A watch worth just over ten thousand, and you said it was a hundred thousand! Just over ten thousand, I, Liu Fen, can afford to pay that myself!" She then turned to Teacher Tian, her face full of hope. "Teacher, I can afford to pay it myself, so we don't need to call my parents, right? Please..."
Teacher Tian hesitated, swayed by her pleading.
"It is a hundred thousand," Li Tao said, taking the watch off his own wrist and placing it next to the broken one on Teacher Gao's desk. "The teachers can see. My watch is the same brand and model as Yu Shulin's, just a different color. I still have the receipt. The unified retail price, domestically and internationally, is a hundred thousand."
"This..." Teacher Gao was stunned by these two extravagantly wealthy students. He knew that Liang Zhou had money and spoiled his brother, but how come Li Tao, usually so quiet, was also this outrageously lavish?
"No, Yu Shulin's watch might not be real! Unless he produces the receipt, that watch is fake!" Liu Fen seemed to have found a lifeline, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the watch as genuine.
"Shulin, do you have the receipt?" Teacher Gao frowned, asking.
The watch was a gift from Ling Chun. When he received it, it was just in a box. A receipt... Yu Shulin shook his head. "No."
Liu Fen let out a sigh of relief, her expression relaxing considerably.
"The receipt isn't necessary to prove the watch's value," Li Tao interjected calmly. He picked up the broken watch, turned it over, and pointed to a string of numbers and letters on the case back. "Watches of this brand are all limited edition. For after-sales convenience, the factory code on each watch is unique. A phone call can verify it." After saying this, he directly took out his phone, searched for the after-sales number, and began dialing.
The after-sales service of the international brand was quite efficient. After Li Tao reported the approximate time of purchase and the factory code on the case, they quickly located the specific time and place of sale.
The customer service representative inquired in detail about the extent of the damage. Upon learning that the watch face was completely shattered and the hands were also damaged, she hesitantly stated that repairing the watch would be quite troublesome and expensive—not worth it. It would be better to just buy a new one.
"Thank you." Li Tao hung up the phone and looked at Teacher Gao. "As you can see, Yu Shulin's watch is genuine."
The room fell silent.
Li Tao looked at Liu Fen. "Please have your parents come to compensate for the watch."
He then turned to Yu Shulin. "Congratulations on being first in the placement exam again."
Liu Fen's hand, clutching the ranking sheet, trembled slightly.
Yu Shulin: "...Thank you."
The watch incident escalated into a white-hot stage after Liu Fen's mother stormed into the office in a rage.
Teacher Gao asked Yu Shulin if he wanted to call Liang Zhou over to handle this, but Yu Shulin shook his head and declined the suggestion.
After a round of shouting, scolding, and screaming, following negotiations and mediation between the teachers and Liu's mother, Yu Shulin received sixty thousand yuan in compensation. Liu Fen was forced by her mother to come and apologize, then gathered her things and was led away by her loudly scolding mother to transfer to a regular class.
When Wang Zhi learned about Liu Fen's results, he said it served her right. After his moment of glee, he sighed with some regret, shaking his head. "You reap what you sow. A regular class, ah..."
"You can still get into a good university from a regular class. Why are you sighing?" Yu Shulin patted his shoulder, amused. "It's not like we don't have friends in regular classes. Do you think they can't get into good universities?"
Remembering his large group of friends in regular classes who had pretty good grades, Wang Zhi perked up again. He slapped Yu Shulin's shoulder back enthusiastically and declared loudly, "Right, you're absolutely correct! A top university is waiting for us!"
Liu Fen quieted down, but her fans were still hopping around everywhere, persistently smearing Yu Shulin.
Wang Zhi, being the gossip king, naturally kept a close eye on the antics of Liu Fen's bunch of crazy fans. As soon as he saw them starting to act up again, he immediately posted the gossip he had gathered onto that fan club forum.
It was full of news about Liu Fen's grades slipping, being kicked out of the advanced class, being disliked by classmates, and being disapproved of by teachers. Of course, it also included vindication for the top-ranked student, truly presenting a well-reasoned and evidence-based restoration of the truth.
The fans were furious. The forum moderator directly deleted his post!
Wang Zhi, full of fighting spirit, thought: you delete, I'll repost! Let's see who outlasts who!
The feud escalated into a white-hot stage. Unfortunately, as a student, Wang Zhi didn't have much time to spar with the fans. Just as he was gradually finding himself outnumbered, a super powerful helper descended from the heavens, directly hacked the fan forum, pinned his post to the top, highlighted it, and made it incredibly eye-catching!
The fans tried every method but couldn't get that post taken down.
Wang Zhi was astonished, then smug. After mentally cheering for this master hacker, he rolled up his sleeves and began writing extensively in the post!
You say Liu Fen has good grades? Here's the placement exam transcript for you to see; You say Liu Fen is beloved by her classmates? Here are the coded chat logs of Liu Fen arguing with various classmates in group chats and on QQ; You say she's pretty, has a good personality, and is very nice? That's a matter of opinion. Go ask around at City No.2 High School yourself and see how many people like her; And the top student pestering her? Aren't you afraid of karma for telling such lies? Who was pestering whom back then? Parents were even called in, okay? It almost amounted to reporting her for harassment, okay?
The fans were stunned by this barrage of revelations. Some fans, recognizing Liu Fen's true colors, indignantly left the fandom. Others stubbornly refused to believe and battled fiercely with Wang Zhi, inadvertently pushing the post to the hottest spot.
In short, Wang Zhi won this feud beautifully!
Yu Shulin looked up from his test papers and glanced at Liang Zhou, who was typing happily on the computer across from him, puzzled. "Brother, what are you busy with? You've been tapping away at the computer for ages." He usually preferred flipping through documents and disliked working on the computer.
Liang Zhou's typing hand paused. He nonchalantly closed the pink webpage on the desktop, shut the laptop, and reached for the documents tossed aside, saying, "Some urgent company matter. It's taken care of now. Was I disturbing you?"
"No." Yu Shulin shook his head and lowered his head again to work on the test papers.
Liang Zhou breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, by the way, brother, that Yan Kaiwen called me." Yu Shulin finished solving the last problem on the test paper, put down his pen, and started packing up his textbooks, dropping this bombshell without looking up.
"What?" Liang Zhou frowned, his face darkening. "How did he get your number?"
"Don't know. He said he wanted to treat me to a meal and even invited me to a movie next weekend." Yu Shulin finished packing his books and looked at Liang Zhou, full of confusion. "Brother, has he contacted you recently? It's so strange; when he called me, he didn't even mention you. I thought he'd be sticking to you."
Liang Zhou tightened his grip on the documents, thought for a moment, and stood up. "Don't pay any attention to him. I'll handle this. You keep doing your homework. I'm going to make a call, I'll be right back."
Yu Shulin glanced at his already finished homework, silently picked up a textbook, and nodded obediently.
The living room was quiet. Liang Zhou walked to the window, dragged Yan Kaiwen's number out of the blacklist, and dialed.
The call connected quickly. Yan Kaiwen's tone was light, as if he was in a pretty good mood, speaking a bit fast. "Liang Zhou? You finally took me out of the blacklist. Have you thought it over and decided to see me? You name the place, I'm fine with anything. If you think it's troublesome, I can come to your place or your company to see you."
Contrary to his lighthearted happiness, Liang Zhou's tone was heavy, getting straight to the point. "Why are you contacting Shulin? I've said it, I have no connection with the Yan family. I don't want excessive contact with you."
"You called about this? I mean no harm to Shulin. I just couldn't reach you, so I thought I could learn more about you through him." The lighthearted happiness disappeared from Yan Kaiwen's voice as he sighed. "Liang Zhou, Uncle just wants to see you. For the sake of the father-son relationship you once had, just see him once."
"My surname is Liang, not Yan. Please get that straight." Liang Zhou tightened his grip on the phone, his tone turning cold. "I hope something like this doesn't happen a second time. The Liang family today is not as easy to bully as it was back then."
"Don't, don't be like that. I didn't come back this time to cause trouble for you... I know it was Uncle and Aunt who were in the wrong back then. We came to find you with apologies and sincerity..." Yan Kaiwen grew anxious.
"Apologies and sincerity?" Liang Zhou's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Yan Weilian doesn't even dare to go kneel before my mother's grave and beg for forgiveness, and he dares to claim he has apologies and sincerity?"
Yan Kaiwen was speechless. His uncle was indeed in the wrong; he had no defense. But regarding Liang Zhou... He paced around the room in distress, wanting to explain further, but when he picked up the phone to look, the call had already been disconnected. Dialing again yielded a disconnected number.
"!" He irritably threw the phone back onto the bed, feeling somewhat defeated. After a long while, he sighed, picked the phone back up, and dialed his father's number.
Liang Zhou stood by the window, feeling somewhat agitated. He hadn't expected Yan Kaiwen to bypass him and contact Shulin. That was his oversight. The conversation just now had brought back some unpleasant memories. No, Shulin was still waiting for him. He needed to calm down.
"Ge." Yu Shulin walked over and hugged him from behind, nuzzling against his back. Since they had confirmed their relationship, he had performed many intimate gestures with Liang Zhou, yet in his heart, he always felt he was interacting with his "brother." But just a moment ago, seeing Liang Zhou standing alone by the window, looking slightly irritated and helpless with his phone, he suddenly felt a pang of heartache. This person wasn't invincible; he wanted to protect him too. This person was not only his brother but also the one he had decided to spend his life with.
"Liang Zhou." He tightened his arms, calling his name for the first time, and whispered, "It's all in the past. I'm here with you. I'll grow up quickly." Although he had lived two lifetimes, no matter how you looked at it, he was still too immature—Liang Zhou was far stronger than him.
Before, he wanted to grow up quickly to experience a future completely different from his previous life.
Now he wanted to grow up to become strong enough to protect this person.
He had always known Liang Zhou wasn't omnipotent, yet he couldn't help at all. He had been enjoying the other's care, but aside from giving gifts, it seemed he had done nothing for him.
...How pathetic.
The longer he spent with Liang Zhou as a couple, the more he felt his own inadequacy.
He wasn't a qualified lover.
Liang Zhou was momentarily stunned by his call. He looked down, took his hand, let out a long sigh, and curled his lips. The inexplicable irritation instantly faded, leaving only joy.
"Finished your homework?" He turned around, pulling him into his arms and nuzzling his hair. A thousand emotions welled up in his heart, but the words that came out held a hint of teasing: "You really do need to grow up fast. I can hardly hold back anymore." As he spoke, his fingers traced suggestively around his waist, drifting lower.
The warmth and emotion in Yu Shulin's heart were instantly scattered. He hurriedly broke free from the embrace, flustered and annoyed: "You promised not to grope! And, that's not what I meant just now... I mean, remember what Brother Zhang and Big Brother Ling said? You need to restrain yourself, restrain!" As he said this, a sudden sense of guilt rose in his heart.
Being underage was a lock for Liang Zhou, and also a kind of □□ for himself. His mindset hadn't completely shifted yet. Kissing and holding hands with his brother was fine, but anything further... He knew what parts were involved in a physical relationship between men, and precisely because he knew, he felt awkward. His brother clearly wasn't the bottom. Even if he loved him enough to be willing, what about himself... Would he even be able to get it up when the time came?
Uh... His brother was so handsome, maybe he wouldn't have a problem getting it up then...
No, no! Why was he thinking about this! He just... just wasn't psychologically prepared for that level of intimacy with another man yet!
A-Anyway, not now.
Liang Zhou watched his rapidly changing expressions, his emotions completely transparent. A touch of helplessness entered his eyes as he pulled the blushing and pale-faced boy back, amused, ruffled his hair, and coaxed softly, "Alright, don't get worked up. I was just teasing. Without your consent, I won't touch you." He saw all those struggles. It was fine; he could wait.
"...Mm." Yu Shulin hung his head. After the fluster and internal conflict passed, the earlier suppressed emotions surged back. His shoulders slumped. "Ge, I'm sorry." His feelings weren't deep enough yet, so he was sorry.
"There's nothing to be sorry for." Liang Zhou smiled, kissed his forehead, and led him towards the sofa. "I'm already very happy you're with me. Come on, how much homework is left?"
Did he have to change the topic so understandingly and quickly... It was precisely because he was too understanding. Yu Shulin sighed, gave him a smile, and replied, "Just half a test paper left. It'll be quick."
The next noon, Yan Kaiwen called again. He stared at the phone for a long time, frowned, hung up, and dragged the number into the blacklist. The Yan family was the biggest knot in Liang Zhou's and the Zhou family's hearts. It was better for him not to get too involved. His opinions held too much sway over his brother.
After a period of quiet, Ronghua Entertainment dropped another bombshell.
Liang Zixiu, after reaching an out-of-court settlement with Yang Lin, was bailed out of jail by his father. Just when everyone thought this Young Master Liang had learned his lesson and would behave, he willfully released a large batch of explicit photos with various female artists. Shockingly, a few even featured Liang Jian himself. The graphic content was appalling and shattered people's perceptions.
The photos involved a wide range, hitting almost all the female artists who had jumped ship between Rongguang and Ronghua. Among Ronghua's existing female artists, except for a few newly trained ones, most appeared in the photos.
For a time, various photos flew all over the internet, gossip running rampant. Netizens joked that Ronghua wasn't an entertainment company at all—it was clearly a harem built by Liang Jian and his son for themselves!
Just as public curiosity peaked and everyone wanted to pry more details from Liang Zixiu, he suddenly vanished from the public eye, nowhere to be found.
Liang Jian was furious. He never expected the son he had worked so hard to bail out would turn around and stab him in the back, then disappear without a trace.
The outside world, of course, didn't believe Liang Jian was unaware of his son's whereabouts, suspecting he was sheltering and hiding Liang Zixiu. With the photo scandal first and being betrayed by his son afterward, Liang Jian was utterly miserable.
Although Ronghua was the main subject of this photo scandal, Rongguang, having been managed by Liang Jian for over a decade, also faced some skepticism. After it was revealed that Rongguang had recently taken in several artists who had jumped ship from Ronghua, people began to suspect whether Rongguang's boss was also involved in the photo incident, having engaged in casting couch practices with his female artists like the Liang father and son.
Liang Zhou became busy again.
Rongguang's response to the photo incident was swift. The next morning, Liang Zhou held a press conference with all artists involved in the incident. Without making excuses, he had each of them step onto the stage to apologize to the public.
At the end of the conference, Liang Zhou took the stage. On behalf of the company, he announced the resolution for the incident and, in both his personal and the company's name, donated a total of thirty million worth of assets and funds for the construction of Hope Primary Schools in various impoverished regions. This was a small compensation for the negative impact caused by the incident.
A collective apology and thirty million in donations—the sincerity was undeniable. Moreover, Rongguang was just unlucky to be implicated. Upon closer inspection, the blame really couldn't be placed on them.
After some media outreach, the press began speaking well of Rongguang. Before long, Liang Zhou and Rongguang were completely cleared of any association with the photo scandal.
Thus, this major entertainment industry photo scandal not only failed to bring down Ronghua and Liang Zhou but actually earned Liang Zhou unanimous public praise as a rare positive force in the entertainment circle. Rongguang's corporate image and reputation also rose to a new level.
Unlike Rongguang's swift response, Ronghua avoided addressing the matter entirely from start to finish. The atmosphere within the company was tense, and artists going out practically wanted to wrap their entire faces to hide. The photo scandal had an extremely damaging impact. The relevant authorities acted quickly, scrubbing all the circulating photos from the internet clean. Only then did the artists under Ronghua finally breathe a small sigh of relief. 166 Reading Website
