Chapter Fifty-Seven: Wei Xiaofan’s Tears of Grievance

“Could it really have been Li Bufan who orchestrated the hit-and-run incident?” Wei Xiaoping muttered to himself.

“It was all designed by Li Liangtian—Li Bufan and Li Chaoqian just did the dirty work!” Wei Xiaofan said angrily.

“The principal and that Li Liangtian, all to curry favor with two superiors, masterminded this whole incident.”

“Li Liangtian was the ringleader, Li Bufan and Li Chaoqian executed the plan, and the principal merely used school rules as an excuse to strip me of my first place!”

“From what Lu Wentao said earlier about ‘killing two birds with one stone,’ what he meant was—by removing you, the children of those two leaders both move up in rank: one becomes the top student, the other second. Their kids sweep all the prizes for ninth grade this term! And the principal gets to flatter both leaders at once. That’s not killing two birds, that’s three with one stone!”

“If I’d known it would end like this, I’d have rather not taken part in the competition at all!”

“Xiaofan, do you think Zhang Liying knows about this?”

“From the principal’s call with Deputy Mayor Zhang, I don’t think Zhang Liying knows. That Deputy Mayor Zhang doesn’t know either—he thinks Zhang Liying won first place fair and square. Li Liangtian and Principal Luo must have told him only after the deed was done. And no one told Deputy Mayor Zhang that Zhang Liying’s award was the result of their manipulations.”

“Do you think we should tell Mr. Wu Wenbin about all this?”

“It’s better not to. The principal’s involved. Telling him won’t change anything. Worse, if Mr. Wu finds out and tries to confront the principal, it’ll only make things more unpleasant between them. Or, if he learns about it, he’ll feel stuck—he can’t help, but he can’t do nothing either. It’ll just make things awkward for everyone,” Wei Xiaofan replied.

Wei Xiaoping, hearing this, felt it made sense, and admired how thoroughly Wei Xiaofan had thought things through.

“But aren’t you bothered that everyone’s misunderstanding you about the hit-and-run?”

“Well—”

“Should we tell Zhang Liying about it?”

“No, let’s not. If Zhang Liying found out, she’d probably refuse to accept the award, and then it would be awkward for everyone.”

“True. If she really knew, and actually refused the award, then…”

Wei Xiaofan and Wei Xiaoping fell silent for several minutes.

“Xiaoping, let’s go back to the dorm. I feel especially tired today,” Wei Xiaofan said, dejected.

The two of them headed back to the school, walking in silence the entire way.

When they returned to their dorm room, Wei Xiaofan flopped onto his bed, pulling the quilt over his head and upper body, lying there quietly.

Wei Xiaoping saw that Wei Xiaofan, without a word, had pulled the covers over his face. He understood—it was because Wei Xiaofan knew now that his first-place result had been snatched away through the secret machinations of Li Liangtian and the principal. He was hurting inside, and simply didn’t want anyone to see his pain.

Wei Xiaoping thought to himself: Luo Dengfang, as head of the school, how could he stoop to such despicable behavior? Using a poor rural student’s achievement to curry favor with superiors, just to win their approval? Doesn’t he realize how much grades and honor mean to a student—especially one from the countryside?

The greatest pride for a student from a poor family is to achieve outstanding results, to repay their parents’ sacrifices. What parent wouldn’t be proud to see their child excel? In Wei Xiaofan’s family, his father had wanted him to quit school because of their financial situation. It was only because his uncle, seeing his excellent grades and his reputation as the only local student admitted to Liangzhi High School, persuaded his father and even agreed to cover part of the school fees, that his father finally let him continue.

Ever since learning he’d placed first in the competition, Wei Xiaofan had dreamed of taking his award home, sharing the news with his father, and talking about his plan to attend high school next term, as well as discussing his sworn brotherhood with Wei Xiaoping. He knew his father would be even more supportive of his continuing his studies if he saw his son win an award.

But now, Luo Dengfang and Li Liangtian had taken away his first-place result and the chance of winning the award, shattering his dreams. Worse, the hit-and-run incident had left him with an undeserved stain on his reputation.

Wei Xiaoping lay on his own bed for a while, but when he saw that Wei Xiaofan was still under the covers and might fall asleep without showering, he got up and went over to his friend’s bed.

“Xiaofan, go take a shower before you sleep. If you doze off now, you’ll forget, and it’ll be a hassle to get up in the middle of the night.”

No answer.

“Xiaofan, are you asleep? Go shower first, then come back and rest!” Wei Xiaoping repeated.

Still no response.

Wei Xiaoping wondered if Xiaofan had really fallen asleep—but with all that had happened, how could he possibly sleep so soon?

He bent down, gently lifted the covers from Wei Xiaofan’s face to see if he was awake. As he pulled the blanket aside, he saw tears tracing down both sides of Wei Xiaofan’s face, glistening in the lamplight.

It was the weekend, and the other students were out, so only Wei Xiaofan and Wei Xiaoping were in the dorm.

Seeing Wei Xiaofan’s tears, a wave of bitterness swept through Wei Xiaoping. He couldn’t help but mutter angrily, “They’re really bullying you! Especially Principal Luo—how could a school head treat a student like this?”

Hearing his words, all the injustice Wei Xiaofan had bottled up finally broke loose, his tears falling even harder, though he struggled not to make a sound.

He wiped his face with the quilt, then sat up. “Xiaoping, I’m fine. It was just that learning the truth all at once made me feel so wronged and sad. I’ll be better in a while.”

“Luo Dengfang doesn’t deserve to be principal, or even to call himself a teacher!” Wei Xiaoping said bitterly.

“Don’t say any more, Xiaoping. Even though I didn’t get the prize, I still have my knowledge. As long as I do well in the entrance exams and get into high school, that’s enough. Let’s never bring this up again—especially not to Zhang Liying. I trust she and her father know nothing about this. With her character, if she ever learned the truth, she’d refuse the award, and then things would get even messier for everyone,” Wei Xiaofan said.

“I won’t tell anyone, Xiaofan. I just can’t help feeling upset for you. That prize should have been yours. And if you’d won it, you might have gone on to represent Liangzhi High School in the city’s model student competition. If you’d placed first there, since it would’ve been the school’s first time winning such an honor, your name might have gone down in the school’s history! Even if you didn’t take first, I’m sure you’d have at least gotten second or third—after all, our Liangzhi High is one of the best in the city!”

Wei Xiaofan stood up, searching for his clothes. “Come on, let’s go shower. And remember—starting now, neither of us is to mention this again. Let’s just focus on our studies.”