In his previous life, Li Ye had seen a news story.
A female college student was crossing the street when an elderly couple panicked on their electric bike and fell over. The student thought the elderly pair had fallen because of their age and clumsy limbs, and that it had nothing to do with her, so she left first.
The old couple was unwilling to let it go. They grabbed the student and claimed she had harmed them, then berated her for having no compassion—seeing two old people fall and not even helping them up. In the end, they even summoned the police.
The police thought it was no major matter and mediated between the two sides, finally suggesting that the student just apologize.
The student was young and believed human nature was fundamentally kind, so she said, "I'm sorry." But that single apology gave the old couple something to seize upon, and they insisted that the student compensate them for the jade bracelet broken in the fall.
The student was dumbfounded. She had never imagined that after swallowing her grievance to keep the peace, she would instead fall into the other party's trap.
Fortunately, the police were responsible. They immediately said they would check the surveillance footage. If the student had been far enough from the elderly couple at the time, then not only would it have nothing to do with her, they would also pursue the old couple for provoking trouble.
The old couple immediately rode away.
Having lived to such an age, they knew far too well what counted as "far enough." Twenty meters was far enough, three meters was also far enough. Some people could be provoked; others could not.
So when Li Ye heard that Zhuo Minglan wanted Jiang Shiqi to write a self-criticism, he