Chapter 17#
Jian Yunchen is indeed a bully#
Qin Yanchen didn’t stay long before getting up and returning to the company.
Qin Mu collected the scattered documents from the table and floor, casually flipped through them a few times, and then suddenly paused.
Time quietly moved on. Qin Mu put the documents away, got up, and walked out.
As he passed the small garden in front of the courtyard, his steps faltered slightly. The Qin residence’s garden was beautiful, filled with various flowers, and even had a pavilion. A woman wearing a shawl stood with her back to Qin Mu, gazing at the pond.
Those who could appear here were probably his aunts. Qin Mu had no intention of exchanging pleasantries and walked straight ahead.
Just as he took a step forward, his palm was suddenly gently held.
Qin Mu turned his head to look, and his gaze suddenly froze.
On the other side, after Jian Yunchen parted ways with Qin Mu, he returned to his dorm. Tracking the IP address of the bullying rumors about him on the campus network, Jian Yunchen discovered they originated from Qin Zheng’s dorm.
The so-called “evidence” revealed there was nothing more than Tang Qi’s hospitalization records and the supposed psychological treatment. Disguising himself as a victim to gain sympathy and using public opinion to suppress him—such a clever move indeed didn’t seem like Tang Qi’s style.
Jian Yunchen leaned back, scoffing coldly. The screen’s glow cast a cold, pale light on his face. He pulled out his phone and sent a message.
Eight o’clock, the appointed time arrived.
Jian Yunchen put on a jacket and got up, walking out.
He waited at the meeting spot for about twenty minutes when a figure suddenly appeared at the end of the alley.
This was the school’s back mountain, too far from the academic buildings for students to usually pass by, and with the late hour, even fewer people would be there.
It couldn’t be a coincidence.
Jian Yunchen raised a hand and took off his hood. The street’s pale light illuminated half of his face, leaving only his dark pupils emitting a faint glow in the darkness.
“I thought you wouldn’t dare to come.”
The newcomer limped slowly out of the shadows; it was Tang Qi.
The man had thick eyebrows, big eyes, and slightly thick lips, appearing much taller than Jian Yunchen.
His face twisted ferociously for a moment, and he lowered his voice, “Where is it?!”
Jian Yunchen lightly stepped back, creating distance, his tone even tinged with a smile: “Didn’t bring it.”
“Then why did you call me here?!”
Before he finished speaking, Jian Yunchen had already moved behind him. Tang Qi had no time to turn around when his injured leg’s knee was violently kicked. Caught off guard, his leg gave way, and he fell straight down with a thud. The dull sound of his kneecap hitting the ground mixed with his groans of pain, and dust swirled up, agitated by the light.
At the same time, a voice recording played from behind him.
The background was noisy, the voices chaotic.
Tang Qi’s heart pounded like a drum, yet he still clearly caught his own voice.
“Can you really get the original exam questions?”
Another voice interjected: “Don’t you trust me? For just three hundred thousand, I’ll get you the original questions.”
“Money’s not an issue. This competition is extraordinary.” The sound of colliding beer bottles came from that end, followed by: “As long as I can surpass Jian Yunchen…”
The recording stopped abruptly there.
But the outline of the matter was already clear.
Jian Yunchen’s cheerful laughter came from behind him, “Young Master Tang, you should have said so earlier. If I’d known you were willing to spend three hundred thousand to surpass me, you should have given that money to me instead of buying exam questions, don’t you agree?”
Tang Qi abruptly twisted his head around, glaring at him fiercely.
Half of Jian Yunchen’s face was hidden in shadow, a smile on his face, but his eyes were utterly cold: “After all, I’m a ‘pauper,’ aren’t I?”
Tang Qi’s pupils suddenly contracted.
The deliberately forgotten memories began to unravel because of that rhetorical question.
Cold floor tiles, a dripping faucet, an empty bathroom.
A boy in a thin school uniform, due to some rumors, was cornered at the end of the restroom.
The boy’s sinister face and gloomy eyes were like a tough bone that couldn’t be chewed through.
Bullying such a person seemed to exceptionally satisfy the unexpressed brutality within one’s heart.
Now, Tang Qi knelt on the ground, his knees aching so much he couldn’t stand up. He watched Jian Yunchen drawing closer, a shadow falling over him, and an uncontrollable fear rose in his heart, making him shrink back.
“I know… I was wrong, but, but it wasn’t my intention, I didn’t mean to spread it, I, I didn’t want to.”
Jian Yunchen clicked his tongue twice, looked down at him, then suddenly raised his foot and stepped on his knee.
A piercing scream suddenly echoed from the school’s back mountain, tearing through the silence.
“No, actually, the rumors weren’t wrong.”
“Did you forget?” Jian Yunchen’s voice was very soft and faint, “Who was it that broke your leg?”
The pressure on his knee disappeared. Tang Qi’s face turned pale from the pain, his mind a chaotic mess, unable to even hear clearly.
Hearing this rhetorical question, he first froze for a moment, then looked up at him in disbelief: “It was you?”
The words came out with an involuntary tremor.
After drinking that day, the people he was with just said they were going to the restroom and never returned. When he finally grew impatient and prepared to go home, he was dragged into an alley while walking, had his head covered, and was beaten.
He couldn’t even participate in the original competition.
Jian Yunchen glanced at him disdainfully, surprised that this person was so stupid it took him until now to understand.
He crouched down, tilted his head, and looked at him: “You’re so stupid, even if you knew the original questions, you wouldn’t be able to score higher than me.”
“Why waste those three hundred thousand?”
Jian Yunchen sighed slightly: “Well now, you’ve even handed me evidence on a silver platter.” He patted Tang Qi’s cheek; it didn’t hurt, but it was highly insulting: “Tell me, with a recording like this, who will believe whether your other grades are real or fake, or if they’re inflated?”
This one sentence firmly hit Tang Qi’s weak spot.
He looked up in terror, his face filled with unstoppable panic: “Don’t… please, my dad can’t know, whatever amount you want, I’ll give it to you!”
Jian Yunchen smiled sweetly at him, showing no sign of threatening anyone.
Just as he finished with Tang Qi, Jian Yunchen pulled up his hood and was about to leave when a figure blocked his path.
He looked up, and his steps halted.
“What do you want?”
“Aren’t you curious who I am?”
“Not curious. If you have something to say, say it.”
Jiang Yunhan looked at him with concern. He had heard everything just now. He didn’t know Jian Yunchen’s past and could only piece it together from those few lines of dialogue.
He couldn’t help but step forward, wanting to hold the other’s hand.
But before he could get close, his hand was sharply slapped away.
The wariness in Jian Yunchen’s eyes grew stronger, and his impatience was no longer concealed. This was the first time Jiang Yunhan had seen such obvious aggression from him.
Ever since he learned about Jian Yunchen, Jiang Yunhan couldn’t help but secretly follow him. The other was an excellent student, loved to smile, got along with everyone, had a busy and fulfilling life, seemed to have a good temper, and always exuded a bright, happy smile.
It was only with the sudden rumors that broke out recently that he inadvertently glimpsed a hint of Jian Yunchen’s possible past.
Originally, he didn’t believe it one bit.
But the scene just now.
Had genuinely unfolded before his eyes.
Jian Yunchen was indeed a bully.