Chapter 96: Radical
Bao Qingsong dug at his ear. “Class president, what did you say?”
“The homeroom teacher invited us to lunch at the canteen’s upstairs dining hall,” Gu Qinghuan patiently repeated. “I don’t know if they have roast duck today. I’m craving some Peking duck.”
Hearing this, Bao Qingsong’s nervousness turned into admiration. “You’re really thinking about eating at a time like this, huh!”
With Gu Qinghuan’s interruption, he calmed down a lot. “Why is the homeroom teacher inviting us to lunch?”
“Oh, at first he only invited me, but I asked if I could bring you along, and he agreed,” Gu Qinghuan said, entirely free of guilt.
Bao Qingsong considered for a second the question of “if I fought with the Class president, could I win?” and quickly concluded “Song Yi and Jiang Chuchu would team up to slap me into the air.”
So he became worldly and serene. “Class president, go on.”
Once she saw his mindset had stabilized, Gu Qinghuan told him about her conversation with the homeroom teacher last night.
Thanks to the earlier distraction, Bao Qingsong could now calmly analyze the situation. “So it looks like the reason the homeroom teacher talked to you is because he wants to discuss how to solve it?”
“Exactly. You’re the one collecting intel on those people, so I think having you there will make the analysis better,” Gu Qinghuan said.
Feeling recognized for his skills, Bao Qingsong immediately got a little inflated. “It’s just explaining in front of the teacher, right? Pfft, leave it to me!”
That was how he talked, but when he actually followed Gu Qinghuan and Chen Zelin toward the canteen, he started panicking again.
He secretly tugged on Gu Qinghuan’s sleeve and whispered, “Class president, do you think the homeroom teacher might be mad at me for investigating people?”
“Why would he be mad?” Gu Qinghuan didn’t quite get it.
Bao Qingsong opened his mouth, then mumbled, “Back in middle school, I investigated some stuff, and ended up falling out with my best friend at the time.”
Gu Qinghuan turned to look at him and thought for a moment. “Do you regret investigating back then?”
Bao Qingsong thought for a long while before shaking his head. “No. I just think that if my approach back then had been more mature…”
Gu Qinghuan raised a finger and wiggled it. “Hindsight’s boring. That ‘more mature’ approach you’re imagining might have had its own problems too.”
“Since you don’t regret it, there’s no need to be overly concerned about what others think. Instead of worrying about every possible outcome, just go all in—at least then you’ll enjoy yourself.”
She added, “Besides, this time I’m the one who asked you to investigate. Even if the teacher does get mad, it’s me who should take the heat.”
Hearing that, Bao Qingsong puffed up again. “No! I’m helping of my own accord! I have to take responsibility for my investigation results!”
After saying that, he straightened his back and walked ahead of Gu Qinghuan, looking as if he were marching to his death with fearless resolve.
Once they were seated in a small private room upstairs in the canteen, Bao Qingsong relaxed again and studied the menu with Gu Qinghuan.
Unfortunately, there was no Peking duck. Gu Qinghuan settled for shredded pork with Beijing sauce—in the end, both dishes wrapped meat and vegetables in pancakes anyway.
Considering he’d be busy explaining intel and might not have time to focus on eating, Bao Qingsong ordered fried rice for convenience and speed.
Chen Zelin chose tomato and fatty beef over rice. The three each ordered their own thing, which was quite convenient.
“Regarding this incident, as your homeroom teacher, I failed in my duties. I’m sorry,” Chen Zelin began.
“It’s fine. Who could’ve guessed Class 12’s people would go that far?” Gu Qinghuan replied.
Bao Qingsong’s jaw dropped. “Huh?!” That apology and forgiveness came way too smoothly!
Because she was so quick to brush it off, Chen Zelin felt relieved too. He had been planning to say more to express his guilt, but now he felt that wasn’t so important.
More than apologies and remorse, he thought, what his students probably wanted most was to actually resolve this conflict.
“I’ll find a chance to confront Teacher Shen face-to-face,” Chen Zelin said bluntly. “I’ll make him realize he was wrong—not just for giving Class 12’s students such a bad example, but also for causing harm to our class.”
“Teacher, don’t forget yourself,” Gu Qinghuan reminded him. “Rumors were spread about you, and they came straight from Teacher Shen’s mouth. That’s also harmful to you, so you need to make him apologize to you too!”
Bao Qingsong finally snapped out of his daze and nodded vigorously. “Right! If it weren’t for Shen Mingzhe—uh, Teacher Shen—starting it, Class 12 wouldn’t have written insults on our back blackboard… Uh, teacher, do you know what they originally wrote?”
By the end, his tone had turned cautious.
“I already told him,” Gu Qinghuan said, seeing Bao Qingsong’s hesitation. “There’s nothing shameful about it—it’s not like those two words actually describe him.”
Because she was so confident, whatever thorn was in Chen Zelin’s heart dissolved away.
Of course, he knew Gu Qinghuan was partly trying to comfort him.
Class 12’s students had written “trash” to insult him, meaning he was a useless homeroom teacher who couldn’t teach his students well—something he absolutely didn’t agree with, because Class 3’s students were great!
But when it came to dealing with Shen Mingzhe’s rumors, he did feel like “trash” fit the bill.
Gu Qinghuan continued, “So we’ll leave Teacher Shen to you. We’ll just deal with the people from Class 12.”
Chen Zelin instantly became wary. “How exactly are you going to ‘deal with’ them?”
Why could his Class president say something like that so casually?!
Gu Qinghuan gestured toward Bao Qingsong. “Let’s first review the info on those people.”
Yu Yuan had given them four names: Yang Xiao, Hong Yi, Cui Loulan, and Du Xianhui.
Bao Qingsong had already done a basic investigation on them—their family backgrounds, middle school histories, and some of their personal hobbies.
Listening to Bao Qingsong go on and on, Chen Zelin suspected that given more time, he could probably find out how many moles each of them had.
“These four were the ones who spray-painted the blackboard?” Chen Zelin asked.
“That can’t be confirmed, but they definitely acted together on it,” Gu Qinghuan said.
Yu Yuan had overheard them discussing it, so it was certain they were the culprits. The only one confirmed to have touched the paint was Hong Yi, who’d left fingerprints.
Who suggested it, who carried it out—those details were unclear.
But this wasn’t a criminal case requiring sentencing. As long as they were all co-conspirators, they should all be punished.
Chen Zelin took a deep breath and looked at Gu Qinghuan. “So what’s your plan?”
From Bao Qingsong’s attitude alone, it was obvious Gu Qinghuan was the one making the plans and final decisions.
Gu Qinghuan thought for a moment. “Why don’t you tell us first? My idea might be a bit radical, so I want to know your expectations first.”
Chen Zelin nearly choked on his own breath. Just how radical was she talking about?!
