Those Who Bully Me Will Pay It Back

Bai Yunsheng did not stay long at Meng Shangzhi's home. After showering and reapplying his medicine, he left. Meng Shangzhi was thoughtful and thorough; a new school uniform had already been prepared before Bai Yunsheng arrived.

Ever since Bai Zhi had left, no one had cared about him so deeply for a very, very long time.

By the time he arrived at school, it was already the final class. Bai Yunsheng walked openly into the classroom, startling even the teacher. The looks directed his way were a chaotic mix of fear and curiosity. Rather than feeling uncomfortable, Bai Yunsheng's heart settled.

After this incident, even without a school badge, no one would dare provoke Bai Yunsheng so easily.

After class, Bai Yunsheng ate a little dinner just to fill his stomach, then returned to his old dormitory after evening self-study.

It was a four-person dorm, all silver-badge students.

"Do you think he'll come back today?"

"Probably not. He didn't come back yesterday either. Didn't they say he has a gold school badge? He probably won't live with us anymore."

Bai Yunsheng stopped outside the dorm room without entering immediately, lest things become awkward. Footsteps passed back and forth through the hallway, mingling with the voices inside and making everything sound especially chaotic. Bai Yunsheng looked at the door and quietly listened to their discussion.

"Did you hear about what happened today?"

"I-I-I heard about it. One of my friends is in their class. Anyway, it was terrifying. There was blood everywhere."

"Do you think he has some kind of psychological problem? What if he suddenly goes crazy and kills all of us?"

"Don't say that. That's so scary."

"He only attacked because that guy was insulting his mother. If someone insulted my mom, I could rip his skin right off."

"And there's something even more explosive. Haven't people always said Bai Yunsheng was an illegitimate child? But today, Bai Yunsheng said Feng Tingfan is the illegitimate one! You know Feng Zhiyou, right?"

"I do. My dad is always praising him."

"Bai Yunsheng and Feng Zhiyou are brothers! Full brothers, born of the same father and mother!"

"Holy shit! Is that true?"

"That's what Bai Yunsheng said."

"Oh my god, if it's true, then he's been called an illegitimate child all these years and bullied because of that identity... Th-that's too miserable."

"Yeah, I think so too. It's awful. But why didn't he say anything?"

"Who knows?"

"Maybe that's just how wealthy families are."

"Oh, right. I heard you went to Germany this time. I want to go next vacation too. Was it fun?"

"Not really. It felt kind of boring, and it wasn't even..."

The topic changed quickly. What they had just said felt like nothing more than idle after-dinner chatter. Once Bai Yunsheng heard that they were no longer discussing him, he opened the door.

The lively dorm room instantly fell silent.

Everyone instinctively shut their mouths. Even the sound of breathing seemed to disappear.

Bai Yunsheng walked to his bed as though no one else were there and changed his shoes.

Bai Yunsheng had never had any interaction with these people to begin with. Compared with those who had bullied him before, the people in this dorm were already decent enough. They had never verbally abused him, much less laid a hand on him. They simply ignored him. After living here for so long, apart from their brief exchange when they first met, they had never spoken again.

The quiet atmosphere lasted for a long time. Bai Yunsheng did not pay attention to what anyone else was doing, nor did he find the atmosphere uncomfortable. After all, this was how he had lived for years.

"Bai Yunsheng, this is a little gift I brought back from Germany." The dorm leader held a bag that clearly did not look suitable for gift-giving. It was obvious he had found it in a hurry.

Bai Yunsheng looked up, politely rose to his feet, and accepted it. "Thank you."

Bai Yunsheng had changed so much that the dorm leader did not react at first. It was only after Bai Yunsheng thanked him again that he finally responded.

Because of that small gift, the dorm room became lively again, though everyone was still somewhat restrained.

As before, Bai Yunsheng quietly went about his own business.

One of them seemed quite afraid of Bai Yunsheng. He kept sneaking glances at him, the terror in his eyes all too obvious, along with unmistakable caution and timidity.

Bai Yunsheng swept his gaze over him lightly. "What is it? Is there something on my face?"

The sudden question interrupted the others' conversation.

The person instinctively looked away. "N-no."

Seeing this, the dorm leader hurriedly said, "Maybe it's because you feel different now."

The person nodded in agreement but still did not look at Bai Yunsheng. "Yeah, very different."

A clumsy excuse.

Bai Yunsheng got straight to the point. "Are you afraid of me?"

The person immediately shook his head.

"You heard about what happened today? What did they call me?"

There was a smile in Bai Yunsheng's voice. "A lunatic."

"A psycho?"

Bai Yunsheng could have let it pass. Otherwise, he would not have waited until they finished talking about him before entering the dorm. Yet for some reason, the moment he saw that person's fearful eyes, he instinctively wanted to say something.

He had already seen such looks in the classroom, and he had not cared in the slightest.

Perhaps the dorm was too cramped, making that fearful gaze seem too singular and obvious.

Perhaps it was that insignificant, hastily prepared gift.

But whatever the reason, Bai Yunsheng still wanted to say something in that moment.

The atmosphere around them grew strange again. The people seated on the other side exchanged glances.

The dorm leader seemed to be choosing his words. His lips moved a few times, but no sound came out. After a while, he finally said, "Honestly, anyone who saw something like that would instinctively be scared."

"But if... if someone said something like that about my mom, I might hit him even harder than you did."

Bai Yunsheng listened silently to the dorm leader's words.

It was more or less the same as what he had heard outside the door.

"It wasn't just this." Bai Yunsheng's gaze was calm, as though what he was about to say did not matter. "He bullied me before."

"He trapped me in the bathroom. Made me eat cigarette butts."

"They were dry, bitter, and spicy. Disgusting."

"I can't forget those faces."

The people in the dorm knew that Bai Yunsheng had been bullied before, but they did not know the details. They were neither his classmates nor part of his social circle, and they had no interest in learning about a stranger's affairs.

The dorm leader quickly asked, "Why didn't you say anything?"

Bai Yunsheng said, "I didn't say anything before because it was useless. I don't say anything now because too much time has passed, and there's no evidence."

At the hospital, he had wanted to say something. But when he saw Feng Yanshan's false face, he lost all interest in speaking.

Just as he had said, there was no evidence. Saying anything would have been useless.

Later, after he saw Meng Shangzhi, he wanted to say even less.

Meng Shangzhi did not need to know about his past humiliation, because it could not be changed. He did not want Meng Shangzhi to suffer any unnecessary negative emotions.

Bai Yunsheng lowered his eyelids slightly. Sitting on the lower bunk, he was not fully illuminated by the light. Half in shadow and half in brightness, his fine lashes faintly fell across his pale face like shattered wings.

"I'm telling you this because I want you to know that he deserved it."

"Those who bullied me, I'll settle accounts with them one by one."

"That person just happened to run into the muzzle."

"So I gave him a little lesson while I was at it."

"If not today, then tomorrow."