Chapter 44: Thank Heavens

Everyone in the conference room was utterly stunned! The principal looked around, having no idea who Zhengtai was.

Teacher Wang appeared particularly nervous before them, glanced at me, and said, "She is Zhengtai!"

The principal called the administrator to his side and whispered into his ear for a long time...

I didn't hear a single word. When they headed downstairs, I followed along, feeling quite puzzled; the administrator wearing the red armband kept trailing right behind me.

A short while later, everyone from the conference room arrived at Class 3 of the eighth grade on the second floor. One of the unfamiliar men grabbed Maopipi, shaking him vigorously and calling out to him over and over again, yet he still wouldn't wake up.

Everyone saw it—dead is dead, how could he possibly wake up? And yet, deep down, there was still a shred of reluctance to accept it, always holding onto a glimmer of hope...

The principal pulled out his phone, turned on the screen, stared at me, and asked, "What is your parent's contact number?"

After a moment of thought, I had no choice but to give him my wife's number...

Everyone could see clearly that the principal was a man in his fifties, with graying hair, about one meter sixty-five tall, dressed in casual wear, wearing black leather shoes, and possessing an ordinary appearance...

He entered the number I gave him, dialed it, and held it to his ear. In less than a minute, he hung up, and tried calling several more times with the exact same result.

The principal frowned for a long time and told me to call my parent myself...

Under the gaze of everyone present, I had to dial the number and hold the phone to my ear. In less than a minute, my wife's voice came through, asking, "What is it?"

Only then did I feel that something was terribly wrong, and with a crying tone in my voice, I sobbed, "Mom, the principal wants to talk to you!"

He snatched the phone right out of my hand, pressed it to his ear, and shouted, "Hey, why didn't you answer my call just now?"

Upon hearing that, my wife flew into a rage! Her words were far from polite: "Do you expect me to answer calls from strangers?"

The principal was left speechless by this retort, but he needed to break the shocking news: "Your child Zhengtai has beaten someone to death! Get over here immediately, the body is still in the classroom!"

Everyone could hear my wife's voice through the phone; she almost fainted on the spot...

By now it was too late for me to run away, so I simply had to grit my teeth and brace for it.

Flustered and panicked, the principal arranged for staff to protect the scene and wait for the parents to arrive before deciding how to handle the situation.

I stood there like a total fool, my face didn't flush, my heart didn't race, nor was I scared; I was only thinking that I was going to get a scolding from my wife again!

Before long, my wife walked in through the school gates; I waved frantically from the corridor so she could see I was on the second floor.

The principal and the others didn't recognize her, as this was their very first time meeting her...

Ever since my wife got involved with Scarface, she always dressed in flashy, flamboyant clothes, looking a dozen times more glamorous than before. Sometimes, she would dress like a young maiden in a miniskirt, exposing her bare thighs...

All eyes were fixed on my wife as she walked into the classroom. When she saw Maopipi sprawled lifelessly on the floor, she was so frightened that her entire body went limp, and she couldn't utter a single word.

The principal stepped forward to speak with her directly: "Madam, what do you think we should do?"

Having never dealt with such a situation before, my wife panicked and was completely at a loss for words. Standing right in front of me, she yelled, "This is infuriating! Matters at home haven't even been settled yet, and now you're causing trouble at school! Is this how a young girl behaves?"

Everyone else simply stood by and watched, waiting for my wife to propose a solution.

I was utterly speechless. It was all Maopipi's fault for saying such hateful things earlier; otherwise, I wouldn't have given him such a fierce kick...

Pacing around the classroom in frantic anxiety, my wife helplessly pulled out her phone from her handbag, dialed a number, and held it to her ear. A moment later, his voice came through, asking, "Darling, is something wrong?"

Everyone concentrated their gaze on my wife's face. The class-end bell rang, and students packed the second-floor corridor tightly, while the classroom itself was crammed densely with onlookers.

With no other options, my wife had no choice but to explain the situation and ask for his advice...

It took a long time before a response came: "Is he actually dead or not? Send him to the hospital to confirm first, and we'll talk after that."

The principal immediately made a phone call, arranging for a few people to lift Maopipi and carry him down to the first floor. Just as they reached the school courtyard, a school van entered and stopped right in front of them. They loaded Maopipi into it (along with my wife, me, the administrator, and a few unfamiliar people), and after everyone climbed in, the vehicle drove away...

My mind raced with countless thoughts: What if he really died? What would happen to my wife? I fixed my gaze on her face...

My wife said nothing, burying all her worries deep within her heart. Arriving at the hospital, she had no clue what to do next...

Maopipi lay limply on the seat of the school van, guarded by someone on his left to keep him from sliding down.

Soon they arrived at the hospital. After a great deal of effort, they found a parking space. Staff members from the school carried Maopipi through the hospital entrance. The lines were extremely long, so they could only place him on a bench while my wife ran around looking for people...

Unexpectedly, the principal didn't come; instead, the vice-principal arrived with a group of people, keeping a close eye on me, while the administrator with the red armband stuck to my side every step of the way.

Panicking, my wife hurried over and said, "There are too many people, we have to wait in line," and motioned for me to come over...

The vice-principal smiled faintly at my wife for a moment and said, "The school provided the transport, and you will have to pay the fee. Please be prepared!"

Upon hearing this, my wife felt her head spin! Money was needed everywhere—where was she supposed to get this much? Driven to helpless frustration, she pulled out her phone and dialed. A moment later, his voice came through, asking, "How is the situation?"

"It's driving me crazy!" My wife recounted the situation at the hospital, focusing crucially on the matter of the expenses.

Scarface, currently deep in the throes of passionate romance, didn't hesitate at all and simply uttered the most crucial sentence: "As long as he isn't dead, everything else is easy to handle."

But that was precisely the problem—he wouldn't wake up, there were long lines everywhere, and if this dragged on and he failed to regain consciousness, what then?

Scarface offered another crucial piece of advice: "If all else fails, go find the hospital leadership." After rambling on for quite a while longer, he finally hung up.

Covered in cold sweat from anxiety, my wife braced herself and barged around blindly, asking everyone she met. Finally, she found the director's office, but there wasn't a single soul inside, and nobody she asked knew where anyone was.

Just when it mattered most, nobody could be found. With eyes strained from looking, my wife returned to the first floor, only to be utterly dumbfounded: Maopipi was miraculously sitting up on the bench, able to move and speak!

The vice-principal asked him how he was feeling. He said he was fine! When asked if his parents needed to be notified, he said no.

Hearing these two sentences, my wife nearly jumped in shock!

Why on earth would Maopipi say such a thing? Nobody knew, because every family's circumstances were different.

Looking completely relaxed, the vice-principal took out his phone, dialed, and relayed this unexpected piece of news to the principal...

Delighted to hear this uplifting outcome, the principal ordered: "Use the vehicle to send Maopipi straight to his doorstep, and let nature take its course!"

Fearing complications, my wife offered to pay the vehicle fee. However, the vice-principal couldn't accept the money directly; according to proper procedures, it had to be handed over to the administrative clerk.

They had to escort him home, and the vice-principal, my wife, and I could not leave just yet...

Following Maopipi's directions, the school's dedicated vehicle stopped by the roadside near his house. Watching him disappear down a narrow alley, my wife and I returned to the school in the van...

Asking directions all the way, my wife finally located the payment office. However, the door was tightly locked, and a glance at her phone showed it was 12:41.

My wife and I emerged from the school, located the electric scooter parked by the roadside, unlocked it, and got on...

"Zhengtai, couldn't you exercise some restraint? Your father is still hospitalized—what if you had actually beaten someone to death? That's a capital offense! You're not a child anymore, you need to think things through and not constantly keep adults worrying!" My wife finally burst out, unable to hold it in any longer.

No matter how I tried to explain now, I didn't dare utter a single sound, and could only swallow my grievances. What baffled me was how a gentle little kick could have turned things into this.

My wife offered an explanation: "That was his neck. All the major arteries of the body pass through there."

I finally understood; people who claimed to know the vital points of the human body actually had no idea where the truly fatal spots were.

With a whir, the electric scooter surged forward and stopped in front of a small snack shop. Habitually, she ordered a bowl of fried rice, quickly finished it, and took me along with her...

The phone rang. Pulling it out of her handbag, my wife glanced at the screen, dialed, and held it to her ear...

"Darling, how did it go?" His concerned voice came through immediately.

"Thank goodness! Everything was so difficult to handle, I never expected..." Overwhelmed with emotion, my wife couldn't help but blurt it out.