Chapter 36

Half an hour later, Gu Lin, acting as Yun Shang's guardian, arrived at the school. He looked at the two before him—one filthy from fighting, the other supposedly being made to write a self-criticism on the spot for impersonating a guardian and carrying a phone.

The pen in Su Yu's hand had been shoved at him by the dean, who had been watching him the whole time. He could only force himself to write a few words.

Gu Lin glanced indifferently at what Su Yu had written. Those few words—"I really am a guardian"—seemed to be his final stubborn stand.

The alpha said, "Dean, I think you've misunderstood. He really is Yun Shang's guardian."

The dean was somewhat unconvinced. He turned back to look at Su Yu and asked as if seeking confirmation, "You're saying he really is a guardian?"

"He's my Omega. He's Yun Shang's brother-in-law."

"Then why, why didn't you say so earlier?" The dean wore a hint of apology on his face. "I'm truly sorry. I never thought I'd mistaken him for someone else. Sorry, sorry."

Su Yu had been explaining the whole way as he chased after him back to the office to get his phone back, but the man simply refused to believe him and even said he was lying. With his own situation on one side and Yun Shang's on the other, Su Yu had no choice but to ask the teacher to call Gu Lin.

Fortunately, Gu Lin had rushed over from the company without making them wait long.

"Dean, regarding Yun Shang's matter, I believe I need an explanation. Call that student's guardian here too. I want to speak with his guardian personally."

The dean suddenly found himself in a difficult position. "I'll try, but his guardians are away year-round. I don't know whether they can make it here."

There was nothing left for the two of them to do in the office, so Su Yu accompanied Yun Shang to the infirmary. Unexpectedly, the spiky-haired boy who had hit Yun Shang was there too. He had quite the entourage, with several people gathered around him.

The spiky-haired boy snorted coldly. Feeling humiliated over ending up in the infirmary after a fight, he began making threats. "Yun Shang, this isn't over."

Yun Shang ignored him completely. Su Yu glanced at him and ignored him as well. The only reason Su Yu did not respond was because he could not speak; otherwise, he would have offended him with at least a few remarks.

Who knew what kind of guardians he had? They had raised such an unruly child. A perfectly good rich kid acted like some street punk, forming cliques and threatening classmates.

Yun Shang, who had fought with him, had a very obvious bruise at the corner of his mouth. The other boy was not much better off, with bruises all over his face. He had suffered even more injuries than Yun Shang. In that fight just now, Yun Shang had completely crushed him. Su Yu had never expected someone who usually looked so refined to be so vicious in a fight.

Still, the bruise would not fade anytime soon. If his aunt saw it, she would be heartbroken. Once she found out, she would surely pursue the matter.

He wondered whether Gu Lin could handle it properly.

The school doctor gave Yun Shang some simple treatment. By the time it was done, the class bell had already rung, but Su Yu was worried Yun Shang might be hungry. Instead of letting him return to class first, he took him to the cafeteria for a meal.

[Was that your first time fighting?]

Yun Shang nodded. He said, "Don't tell... tell them."

Su Yu nodded in understanding. So Yun Shang was also afraid of making his parents worry.

[This needs to be dealt with properly. Otherwise, they'll definitely keep bullying you in the future.]

Yun Shang asked, "How do we deal with it?"

Su Yu frowned. He had not figured that out yet. Unless they ran into someone the spiky-haired boy was afraid of too. From the way he spoke, he did not seem afraid of Yun Shang's parents.

[Anyway, you can't let them bully you. If they hit you, hit them back. From what I saw, you're pretty ruthless when you fight.]

Although it was not good to teach a kid that, he could not just let them bully him.

Yun Shang seemed conflicted. He furrowed his brows and said, "Fighting... is bad."

If the other boy had not looked as though he was about to attack and bully Su Yu at any moment, Yun Shang would never have rushed over to hit him.

[Fighting is indeed bad, but if they hit you, you have to fight back. Otherwise, they'll definitely think you're easy to bully. Just don't hit too hard. Teach them a lesson or two, that's enough.]

[Do you understand?]

Yun Shang read through it word by word, then finally nodded as if he understood.

[Oh, right, right. Don't tell anyone I taught you this. And when you go up against them, definitely don't hit too hard.]

While eating noodles, Yun Shang looked at Su Yu's message. After reading it, he raised his head and said, "Just now... I really... really didn't hit... that hard."

Su Yu looked at the teenager before him in confusion. Whenever Yun Shang spoke, he always looked especially serious, forcing out each word one by one. Though halting, every word was clearly pronounced, and together they still formed a fairly smooth sentence.

But at that moment, Su Yu did not understand what Yun Shang meant.

He had beaten that boy into such a state, and that was supposed to be not hitting hard?

What, had he been holding back?

"My... my mom told me not to... casually hit people."

Su Yu knew he had not finished speaking and waited for him to continue. Yun Shang said, "She was afraid I'd... hurt someone too badly."

In fact, before Yun Shang started school, the place he visited most often was his maternal grandfather's martial arts school. He did not know what use there was in learning those things, but before he began school, his mother told him not to fight with people casually because she was afraid he would hurt someone too badly. Yun Shang had not really understood at the time, but he had always remembered those words, so he had never fought back against those who bullied him.

After hearing that, Su Yu thought that Yun Shang was unexpectedly obedient toward his aunt, even though he usually did not respond much to her.

[It's fine. If they curse at you, curse them back. If they lay a hand on you, just beat them up to the same extent you did today.]

He figured his aunt probably did not mean Yun Shang should never fight back at all. At the very least, he had to defend himself properly.

"Mm."

By the time they finished dinner, evening study had already ended. Su Yu accompanied Yun Shang back to the classroom, but just as they reached the door, they ran into the spiky-haired boy coming out. The boy deliberately bumped Yun Shang, his gaze slightly provocative, then walked away without looking back. As a result, he nearly tripped over Su Yu's foot, though his lackeys caught him in time.

The alpha gritted his teeth and said, "Why are you so damn punchable?"

Su Yu met his gaze directly, not afraid of him in the slightest. He even took a step forward.

Before the alpha could speak, someone called out, "Lu Chengfei, your guardian is here. The dean wants you in the office."

Lu Chengfei glared at Su Yu, then turned and left. One of his lackeys reminded him, "Brother Fei, wrong way. The dean's office is over there."

Lu Chengfei said, "Screw that. Come on, let's climb over the wall and go play games."

Unexpectedly, the moment he left, Su Yu received a message from Lu Heyun.

[Lu Heyun: I heard my cousin hit your boss's cousin.]

Su Yu: "???"

Wait a second. That was a little too coincidental.

The other person sent another message: I'm at the dean's office right now. Are you still at school?

[Su Yu: I am. I'll come over right away.]

[Lu Heyun: Mm, okay. Have you seen my cousin?]

[Su Yu: I saw him. He said he was going to climb over the wall and play games.]

[Lu Heyun: I'll call him. Go drag him back.]

Drag?

After replying, Su Yu turned off his phone and caught up with Lu Chengfei, who had not gone far. Lu Chengfei had just answered Lu Heyun's call and had not even had time to speak before Su Yu grabbed him by the ear.

Caught completely off guard, he was dragged back by Su Yu and cursed, "Are you fucking sick? Let go of me!"

Su Yu said, "Your cousin told me to drag you back."

"What cousin? What cousin do I have? Let go of me, damn it! If you don't let go, I'm going to hit you!" Lu Chengfei held his phone in one hand and freed the other to cover his ear, but Lu Heyun's voice sounded from the other end of the call.

His voice was calm, without a trace of emotion, and his tone was no different from usual. "Lu Chengfei, I told him to drag you."

Lu Chengfei: "..."

Damn.

Why was it really his cousin?

Out of everyone, why did it have to be him?

What terrible luck. What terrible luck.

Although he was not particularly close to Lu Heyun, he had been afraid of him since he was little. Terrified of him. Especially terrified of him.

It could be said that no one in the family was not afraid of him. Even Lu Chengfei, the most troublesome one among their generation, feared him.

Su Yu deliberately twisted his ear. Lu Chengfei cried out in pain. "You... take it easy! Let go, let go. I can walk by myself."

He was much more polite now, with none of the arrogance from earlier.

Su Yu snorted, then let go.

Lu Chengfei hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket. He glanced at Su Yu and asked, "You... you know my cousin?"

"Yeah. Not only do we know each other, we're neighbors."

"Then help me talk to him later."

Su Yu gave Lu Chengfei a strange look, as if he were looking at an idiot. "Is something wrong with your brain? Why should I help you? You're afraid of your cousin, right? Then not only will I not help you, I'll kick you while you're down."

Lu Chengfei nearly died of anger.

"No, why are you so damn punchable?"

Su Yu said, "Then do you have the guts to hit me?"

If he were not an Omega, Lu Chengfei would have hit him already.

After walking for a while, Lu Chengfei said again, "Help me. I promise I won't cause trouble for Yun Shang again."

Su Yu had not expected this little brat to be so afraid of Lu Heyun. It was genuinely surprising, because he did not know what there was to fear about Lu Heyun. After all, he looked so gentle and mild-mannered.

"Since you're so afraid of your cousin, then once I tell him, you won't dare cause trouble for Yun Shang anyway."

Hearing that, Lu Chengfei asked suspiciously, "Are you really that close to my cousin? Are you sure he'll listen to you?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're really not that close. You don't need to ask me to speak for you either. He might not listen anyway."

Lu Chengfei let out a breath of relief. "That's good. That's good."

Then he heard Su Yu say, "Our relationship is only at the level where we contact each other every day, have pleasantly eaten a few meals together, and exchanged some gifts. It's not as good as you think."

Lu Chengfei: "..."

And that was not close?

Lu Heyun contacting someone every day was practically a miracle. He had never cared to contact others, nor had he cared to maintain any relationship with anyone. If he was happy, everyone else had to be happy with him. If he was unhappy, no one else could expect to have a good time.

And pleasantly eating together? Who would want to eat with Lu Heyun? Lu Chengfei did not want to spend even a second with him.

Giving gifts? That was even more impossible. He would be afraid Lu Heyun was sending him off to his grave.

"Brother, brother, brother, how about this? I'll apologize to Yun Shang, and we'll let this matter go. Look, he beat me up pretty badly too."

Su Yu glanced sideways at him. "I didn't expect you little brat to be able to bend and stretch."

"Who are you calling a little brat?"

"You."

Lu Chengfei wanted to snap back at him, but he also wanted Su Yu to speak up for him. He was utterly conflicted.

No, he had to hold it in.

A real man knew when to yield and when to stand tall.