This brute, putting him in a dog cage is letting him off too easy. Next time I catch him, I'll definitely give him some more good stuff.
Zhou Yingying continued, "The next morning, Mr. Li had class, much like that day. While Mr. Li was having everyone practice, I asked him a question. Mr. Li, afraid of disturbing other students, walked to the back. This time he didn't come near me. Perhaps the previous incident still affected him. He stopped a row of desks away and asked me what my question was. I said, 'Teacher, look at this problem. I've done it several times and it's still wrong. Can you help me see where I went wrong?' I deliberately held out my notebook for him to see, but it was too far for the teacher to see. In fact, the notebook didn't have the question I wanted to ask, it just had writing on it. Mr. Li had no choice but to carefully walk over and lower his head to look at my notebook. As I watched him lower his head and bend over to get closer to me, I suddenly tore open my top, exposing almost half my chest, and shouted, 'Mr. Li touched me! He's going to rape me!' My shout attracted all the students who were writing with their heads down. They saw the panicked Mr. Li and me standing there with my clothes disheveled. The students exploded, pointing at Mr. Li and calling him a brute. Some students ran out to report him. Mr. Li was surrounded by the students, his lips trembling, unable to utter a word, his face a sickly yellow. Seeing him like that was incredibly painful. Honestly, at that moment, I really wanted to shout that it was my fault, that I had framed Mr. Li, but I didn't dare. Not only would Principal Sun not forgive me, but the other students would have torn me apart. Before long, the principal came in with a few other teachers. I didn't look at Principal Sun, knowing he deliberately stayed away to avoid suspicion. The principal had a few teachers restrain Mr. Li, then asked some female students to help me fix my clothes and accompany me to the principal's office. In the principal's office, I recounted what Principal Sun had instructed me to say to the principal, with a few female students testifying beside me. Although they didn't see Mr. Li molest me, Mr. Li had indeed approached me, and I was disheveled afterward. No one would have suspected anything was amiss. The principal took my recorded testimony, realized the gravity of the situation, and sent for Principal Sun to discuss it. Principal Sun adopted a conciliatory attitude, saying they were all colleagues and that if they could resolve it quietly, they should. He suggested Mr. Li apologize. As he spoke, he signaled to me. I understood his intention: to shift the blame entirely onto me and have me insist that Mr. Li had attempted to molest and rape me, effectively ruining Mr. Li's career. After hearing him speak, I suddenly let out a sharp cry, cursing Principal Sun for being inhuman, for condoning a rapist, and saying that his actions were no different from Mr. Li's, making him an accomplice! My outburst made the principal lose face. He probably had some hidden intentions, but after Principal Sun spoke, I became insistent. He no longer dared to cover up and had no choice but to call the police for them to handle it."
My heart ached faintly. I never expected my father to have suffered such great injustice, to have been trapped by them and pushed into an abyss.
Towards Zhou Yingying, although I hated her to the bone, I also sympathized with her. In this incident, she was both the perpetrator and the victim. In the final analysis, the surname Sun was the main culprit.
She continued, "You know what happened afterward. Although I insisted Mr. Li had molested me, because there was no second witness, Mr. Li consistently maintained that his hands were behind his back at the time, and that no students heard anything when my clothes were torn. In the end, the public security bureau made a decision not to prosecute, and Mr. Li was acquitted. However, at Principal Sun's insistence, the school decided to revoke Mr. Li's qualifications and fire him. Principal Sun did not give up harming Mr. Li. Just recently, he asked me to re-gather evidence, and as the victim, to appeal again regarding Mr. Li's attempted rape. I didn't tell you today that he contacted Wu Guodong. In fact, I lied. I do have the contact information of one of Wu Guodong's trusted subordinates. Whenever I need to contact him, I call this subordinate first to arrange a time with Wu Guodong, and then contact Principal Sun. If you need it, I can give you this contact information. It might be useful."
I said, "You can give it to me, but I won't contact him easily. You also need to be careful recently and don't let him know you told me all this. My war with him doesn't need to be rushed. You should continue playing your role with him and don't make him suspicious."
She agreed and gave me a string of numbers, then mentioned a name, Zhang Lianxi, a very Chinese-sounding name. If you didn't say he was a Lao Mei, it wouldn't be much different from the names of people around us.
I told her I understood and hung up. This call lasted nearly two hours, and it was almost dawn.
I got up and went to my office restroom to take a shower. Lan Ya and Jing Lei were still asleep. I filled the bathtub with warm water and soaked myself in it.
As I soaked in the water, I hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time.
During this period, one thing after another had exhausted me. I had almost become a vegetable, nearly being paralyzed in bed for life. It was difficult enough to wake up, only to have the Crown Prince and Wu Guodong's men harass me repeatedly. Each time was a near-death experience; one wrong move would have been fatal.
The warm water permeated my body, allowing my tense muscles to completely relax. Sleepiness returned, making my eyelids heavy, and I fell asleep again.
I dreamt I was in a forest, with birds chirping, cicadas buzzing, and many butterflies fluttering about. I saw a beautiful girl standing in the distance. She saw me too and walked towards me gracefully. As she approached, I saw it was Lan Ya.
She wasn't wearing her uniform, but a white sundress with small floral prints. She walked up to me, took my hand, and asked me to follow her deeper into the forest.
We stepped on thick fallen leaves, bathed in the sunlight filtering through the tree trunks, like a boy and a girl, running and jumping joyfully. Lan Ya sang a beautiful song as we ran, and I was captivated. I embraced Lan Ya and kissed her passionately.
This kiss felt so real. I couldn't distinguish between the dream and reality. I didn't want to wake up; I wanted to remain in this dream.
We kissed for who knows how long, only waking up when the water in the bathtub grew cold. I slowly opened my eyes, afraid that if I opened them too quickly, Lan Ya would disappear.
To my surprise, my eyes widened, and Lan Ya hadn't disappeared. She was on top of me, her eyes closed, accepting my prolonged kiss.
It turns out this was all real. It was I who didn't want to wake up, believing it was all a dream.
She didn't want to get up, and the cooling water couldn't dampen her desire. It wasn't until the water was completely cold that we got out of the bathtub.
I didn't know if Jing Lei had woken up. After all, we had been in the bathroom for a long time. I quietly got up, dried myself with a towel, and went to the closet to get clean clothes. Jing Lei rolled over on the sofa, saw me sitting there changing, and moved closer to me, leaning against me to continue sleeping.
Lan Ya was still in the bathroom. I was afraid that if Jing Lei woke up, it would be awkward for everyone. I gently pushed Jing Lei further inside, quickly put on my clothes, and went out.