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To Bai Chen, the way he sprayed spit everywhere made him look just like a hippo.

Disgusting.

He fought back his revulsion and looked innocently at the other boy. "What? What happened to your family's company? I haven't done anything."

"You fucking idiot, stop playing dumb. Lin Jingchen's about to bankrupt all three of our companies. Go tell him to withdraw that proposal right now, and we'll let bygones be bygones. We'll make sure you stay safe at this school from now on."

He raised his fist slightly in front of Bai Chen's face. "Otherwise, I'll beat you to death."

It was lunchtime in the cafeteria, and the students nearby all turned to watch the commotion.

They saw Shi Long and his friends surrounding a young boy, whom Shi Long had grabbed.

The boy was looking at them helplessly.

They thought he was done for, having gotten on the wrong side of those three.

None of them had a good temper. Anyone who crossed them usually ended up with a broken arm or leg.

Once, a student on a bicycle had accidentally hit Shi Long's sports car and scraped off a tiny bit of paint, even though Shi Long's driving had caused the accident.

Yet he had pinned the blame on the other boy.

Unable to pay, the boy had been dragged into an alley and had his leg broken, to teach him a lesson for having legs but not knowing how to ride a bike.

His parents had come to protest, only for Shi Long's father to silence them with money.

The boy had been pitiful, too.

In the end, the boy had lost the use of a leg and been disabled for life, while Shi Long had bought his way out of trouble. How ironic.

Shi Long had a vicious temper. Relying on his family's business and their connections to the Gu Family, he constantly bullied weaker students.

The one beside him, Mu Congnan, was even worse.

He had once driven a girl to jump from a school building.

Her body had barely gone cold.

Apart from Yu Wen, who was a little better, the other two were rotten to the core.

The onlookers were breaking into a cold sweat for the boy.

Of all the people he could have crossed, why these three?

After hearing that, Bai Chen finally understood why the three had come looking for him.

They thought Mr. Lin was punishing them on his behalf.

Why didn't they consider whether they themselves were the problem?

Bai Chen said a little helplessly, "How could I control what Lin Jingchen thinks? He's the head of the Lin Family."

Shi Long refused to believe him. "If it weren't for you, would he be going after all three of our families for no reason?"

"Believe whatever you want. I can't help you anyway. Now let go of me."

Bai Chen was secretly delighted, too. A bully like Shi Long deserved this. Once they went bankrupt, what trouble could the three of them possibly stir up?

He would have to properly thank Mr. Lin another day.

Shi Long hadn't expected him to dare defy his orders. Unable to restrain himself, he swung his fist straight at Bai Chen's face.

The next moment.

Shi Long's scream rang through the entire cafeteria.

The boy facing him had forcibly bent his hand the other way.

Bai Chen had only refrained from touching the three of them before because he had feared causing trouble for the original owner's family.

Now that all three families were almost bankrupt, what did he have to worry about?

He also believed Mr. Lin could certainly make it happen.

Facing this hulking brute, Bai Chen couldn't use a shoulder throw. He had already used one earlier, and doing it again might injure his shoulder further.

Instead, he kicked Shi Long hard.

Pinning him beneath his foot, he asked, "Want to try that again?"

Shi Long tried to get up, only to be pressed back down.

He tried to grab Bai Chen's ankle, but Bai Chen flipped him over instead.

Then he kicked him forcefully aside.

The entire sequence left the onlookers stunned.

"Holy shit. Isn't this guy a little too good?"

"How did he pull those moves off so effortlessly?"

At the sight.

Mu Congnan and Yu Wen were scared stiff, too.

Was this really the same little idiot who had crouched down to pick up money at the reception?

Bai Chen looked disdainfully at the two before him. "Do you two want to have a go as well?"

Their taekwondo teacher had once said that learning taekwondo was about protecting yourself, not hurting others.

This counted as protecting himself, right?

He wanted nothing more than to charge over and give Mu Congnan, who had driven that girl to jump off a building, a few more kicks.

Preferably enough to cripple him.

But the two stood rooted to the spot for a long time, their earlier anger replaced by dazed disbelief.

Bai Chen didn't want to give them any chance. Even running away was no longer an option.

He charged straight over and delivered a vicious kick to Mu Congnan.

The kick was so fast and powerful that even Mu Congnan, who had practiced taekwondo for several years, couldn't dodge it. He was sent straight to the floor.

Bai Chen slowly crouched down and moved closer to the two of them.

Terrified, they kept shrinking backward.

Bai Chen looked at them with a smile and said quietly, "So you do get scared. I thought you never knew what pain felt like. Consider those kicks a lesson."

He didn't dare take things too far, either.

With that, he stood up and looked at the other boy, whose lips had gone white with fear.

Bai Chen glanced at him, then returned to his seat, picked up the rice on the floor by hand, put it on his plate, and took it to the food disposal area.

He picked up his backpack and left without looking back. A short-haired girl among the onlookers even gave him a thumbs-up.

When Bai Chen saw it, he nodded and smiled in response.

Having beaten up two people he had wanted to hit today, he felt wonderfully relieved. He had also repaid the humiliation from last time.

Bai Chen was someone who always settled his scores. He repaid kindness with kindness and grievances in kind.

If he hadn't retaliated, it only meant the time hadn't come.

He had been that way since childhood. He had never believed that bullshit about treating others generously and forgiving them even when they did something wrong.

If someone bullied him, he fought back.

In elementary school, a boy had decided Bai Chen was easy to bully because he was a good-tempered new transfer student, and because Bai Chen had refused to help him cheat.

So the boy had thrown his backpack into a trash can.

He and his buddies had laughed so hard they clutched their stomachs.

Everyone had thought the new kid would soon burst into tears.

But Bai Chen hadn't gotten angry or cried. He had calmly walked over, retrieved his backpack, brushed it off, and put it back at his seat.

Then he had grabbed the boy, dragged him to the trash can, and shoved him hard inside, leaving only his two legs dangling outside.

When he tried to get out, Bai Chen pushed him back in.

The boy was chubby. Getting in was easy; getting out was hard.

Unable to overpower him, he had burst into furious tears.

He had even threatened to tell the teacher.

Bai Chen hadn't cared. He had told him to go ahead, since he was going to tell the teacher about someone throwing a classmate's backpack in the trash anyway.

His words had stunned everyone. He hadn't played fair.

After that, no one had dared bully the new transfer student again. Bai Chen entered the dormitory building as though nothing had happened.

Once he was inside, a man in a suit hiding in the shadows took out his phone, made a call, and sent over a video.

"Mr. Lin, he's fine. Don't worry. He's also very capable, so you don't need to worry about him getting bullied," the young man said helplessly.

He had been sent over at short notice to follow and protect Bai Chen. He had no idea why his boss had asked him to protect someone perfectly capable of defending himself.

He felt as though Bai Chen was even better than he was.

Sitting in the pavilion, Lin Jingchen thought for a moment, then said gently, "Keep watching him for a while. Once those three families have been completely dealt with and there are no threats left, you can come back."

Hearing that, the young man didn't dare say anything more.

"Yes, Mr. Lin."

After hanging up, Lin Jingchen narrowed his eyes slightly at Gu Cheng, who lay in a sorry state on the ground.

He said, "Young Master Gu, those three good friends of yours can't even save themselves. Do you still not know who you've offended?"

Lin Jingchen remained seated in the pavilion, sipping his West Lake Longjing.

The slender, well-defined fingers of his other hand tapped lightly on the table.

Bai Chen had given Lin Jingchen this tea as an apology at the teahouse last time.

He drank it every day. Although it didn't taste as good as the treasured tea he kept at home, he liked it very much.

What should have been a pleasant atmosphere for drinking tea was spoiled by one person's presence.

At those words, Gu Cheng finally realized whom he had offended. He truly hadn't considered it at first.

He burst out laughing and jeered, "So the person you care about is that idiot Bai Chen, Mr. Lin. I never would've guessed-your standards are actually that low. Is that idiot amazing in bed?"

As something occurred to him, he grinned again. "I'll give him a try when I get back to the dorm. You won't mind, will you, Mr. Lin? Hahaha..."

Lin Jingchen's brows furrowed slightly at that, though the movement was barely noticeable.

He told the bodyguards, "Break his legs, then dump him back at the Gu Family's place. Tell them their precious son trespassed, and we mistook him for a thief and beat him up, accidentally breaking both his legs."

"Yes." At his command, the bodyguards stamped down again and again.

"Aah!" Gu Cheng screamed in agony.

He hadn't expected the man to actually dare hurt him. Wasn't he afraid of offending the Gu Family?!

"Lin Jingchen! If you dare hurt me, the Gu Family won't let you get away with it! They won't..." Gu Cheng could no longer feel his legs.

He collapsed on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Ten minutes later, Gu Cheng lay facedown in such pain that he couldn't say a single word.

Lin Jingchen walked slowly down, crouched, and toyed with a knife in his hand.

The next moment, he drove the knife straight through Gu Cheng's palm.

Gu Cheng was in too much pain to speak. All he could do was bite down hard on his lip, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

A faint smile touched Lin Jingchen's lips. "That depends on whether you can make it back to the dorm. And if you dare lay a finger on Bai Chen, your hands and legs won't be the only things I cripple. Understand?"

"You know I have the power to make you disappear. The Gu Family can't do anything to me." Lin Jingchen narrowed his beautiful, peach-blossom eyes slightly.

"I... I won't. Please... let me go." Gu Cheng was truly afraid.

The man before him was terrifying. He really could kill him.

Hearing that, Lin Jingchen rose as though nothing had happened, wiped his hands with a tissue, and said, "I hope you can keep your word, Young Master Gu. Otherwise... I can do exactly what I just said."

With that, Lin Jingchen left.

At that moment, Bai Chen was at his desk reviewing some materials. Tomorrow, Professor Lin would take them into the countryside for fieldwork.

The trip would last two days and one night, and they could bring only one backpack for their belongings.

This was their first field study. As long as they did well on this project.

They would be able to join Professor Lin on an overseas field study next time.

It would also be a very important scientific expedition.

They would meet many botany experts. It was a rare opportunity.

So Bai Chen wanted to seize it.

He read the contents of the book over and over.

He already knew them by heart, but still felt it wasn't enough, so he opened the book and read it again.

The village was located in Longquan Ancient Town in S City.

Bai Chen had been surprised to learn that their research site was in S City.

The original owner's home was in S City. Although it wasn't in Longquan Ancient Town, it was very close.

Speak of the devil: the next moment, a call came in.

The contact name on the original owner's phone was "Sister."

The original owner's older sister: Bai Chichi.

Bai Chen answered. He still had some impression of this sister.

She had grown up with the original owner and was three years older than him. She loved Lolita fashion and was a very cute older sister.

That was how Bai Chen saw her.

As soon as he answered, Bai Chichi said, "Chen, it's been so long! Did you miss me~?"

Even her voice was cute.

Bai Chen: "..."

"I... I did," Bai Chen said hesitantly.

"Liar. You don't miss me at all. It's been two months, and you haven't even called. Being your big sister is so hard. All that love I gave you when you were little was wasted." Bai Chichi pretended to sound heartbroken.

He didn't have an older sister. This wasn't his sister, either, but the original owner's.

Bai Chichi said, "Oh, right. When are you coming back to S City?"

Bai Chen had intended to say next time, but suddenly remembered that he would be returning to S City tomorrow and quickly changed his answer. "We're going to S City tomorrow for a research project. We should have a day off once we're done."

Hearing that, Bai Chichi sounded noticeably happier. "Really? Tomorrow? I'll tell Mom."

Bai Chen said, "Not tomorrow. We have two days of research to do, and we won't have free time until we're finished. I should be able to come back in about three days."

He had meant to say "come home," but realized that it wasn't his home at all and quickly changed his wording.

"Oh, okay, got it. Remember to remind me the day you come home. All right! I've got something to do, so I'll stop here. Bye."

Before Bai Chen could even react, she hung up.