"Want to leave? Get on your knees, crawl between my legs, and swear to cut ties with Ximen Jin, and I'll let you go," Gu Mengqi said arrogantly.
"Are you sick in the head? Xiao Ru has never dated that Ximen Jin. He was the one who kept sending her love letters and harassing her. I threw all those letters away. Why don't you keep your own boyfriend in line?" Chen Qianxue said furiously.
"Hmph, this little vixen must have seduced Ximen Jin. Tear her face to shreds for me! Let's see if she dares seduce someone else's boyfriend again. I'll take responsibility if anything happens."
As soon as Gu Mengqi finished speaking, the seven or eight girls behind her moved forward to beat Li Ru.
"Don't you dare! I'll tell the teacher!" Seeing them approach, Chen Qianxue threatened them urgently.
"Ha, ha! So what if you tell the teacher?"
"My brother is Gu Tianlong. How many people in this whole county dare disrespect him? Would a teacher dare interfere?" Gu Mengqi said with brazen arrogance.
At Gu Tianlong's name, the girls, who had already stopped, moved forward again. Three pulled Chen Qianxue away while the others surrounded Li Ru. Just as one girl reached for Li Ru's hair, with Li Ru having nowhere left to retreat-
An angry roar suddenly rang out. "What are you doing?!"
Just as everyone turned to see who had shouted, a plastic chair came flying down and slammed hard into the girls surrounding Li Ru.
Then a boy of about eighteen or nineteen wearing gold-rimmed glasses charged into the crowd, his eyes red, knocking the girls every which way.
Seeing Li Ru's swollen red face, the blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, and her shattered glasses on the floor, Li Tai trembled all over. His eyes were red as though stained with blood, and the veins in his neck bulged one by one. Through gritted teeth, he growled, "Who hit her?"
The girls, staggering and sprawled about, looked at Li Tai, who seemed ready to kill someone, and lowered their heads without a word. With Li Tai in this state-
They all knew that only extreme rage could put someone in such a state. His adrenaline was surging, and his inability to control his emotions made his entire body shake. Someone like this was already on the verge of losing all reason, and once he did, he would disregard the consequences.
No one dared provoke Li Tai when he was already on the verge of going berserk. Only Gu Mengqi stood to one side and said brazenly, "Who are you? My brother is Gu Tianlong. You dare stick your nose into this?"
Li Tai, who had been gradually losing control, jolted at the name Gu Tianlong.
He had heard that name before, though not at school. He had heard his mother mention it back in the village. Someone in the neighboring village had taken out a loan at usurious interest to gamble, failed to repay it, and had both hands chopped off. Rumor had it that Gu Tianlong was behind it. He was a local gang leader whose name could stop children from crying.
Hearing Gu Tianlong's name again, Li Ru still did not know who he was, but she knew someone like him must have some standing and influence. Otherwise, Gu Mengqi would not be able to act so high-handedly at school. He was certainly someone a farming family like hers could not afford to offend. At that thought, Li Ru stopped crying and said, "Cousin, let it go. I'm fine."
The roommates who had accompanied Li Tai to the cafeteria for lunch also marveled inwardly. Li Tai was usually a model student, quiet and refined. They had never seen such a fierce side of him. It truly bore out the saying: a dragon had a reverse scale, and touching it would provoke its wrath.
But an arm could not twist a thigh, after all. They stepped forward to persuade him. "This Gu Tianlong has over a hundred men under him. We can't afford to provoke him."
After everyone's persuasion, Li Tai gradually calmed down. He truly could not afford to provoke him. He could not bring trouble upon his family over a moment's impulse.
Just as Li Tai and the others were preparing to let the matter rest-
Gu Mengqi had no intention of doing so. She was used to throwing her weight around at school. With her brother backing her, her word was law there. There had been one or two people who refused to obey her before, but they had been beaten up outside school every few days until they could no longer bear it and transferred.
"I told you, if this little vixen crawls between my legs, I'll let her go. Otherwise, I'll tell my brother. This little vixen is quite pretty. I'm sure my brother and all his men would like her." With that, she gave Li Tai and the others a provocative smile.
Although they were all only eighteen or nineteen, everyone understood what Gu Mengqi meant. They all thought how vicious a girl could be, actually wanting to ruin another girl's chastity.
Hearing Gu Mengqi's vicious threat, Li Tai's eyes reddened again. He had to protect this younger cousin who had lost her father at eight. That was the promise he had made to Rui back then.
"What are you doing?" Just then, an authoritative middle-aged voice rang out.
"You're students, and you're copying gangsters and fighting? Do you still want to attend school? Notify your parents immediately! Every last one of you is out of control!"
"Director Huang, they started it," Chen Qianxue explained indignantly to the dean of students.
"I don't care who started it. Fighting at school is wrong. Have your parents come here."
"Those of you who are injured, come with me to the infirmary for an examination and bandaging." Looking at the mess in the cafeteria and the injured students, Director Huang had a terrible headache. This was not the first time Gu Mengqi had caused trouble, but given her background, even if he wanted to intervene, he could not.
Leaving her father aside, even that brother of hers was not someone to trifle with. He had been stirring up storms in the county town for years.
He also had a deep impression of this girl named Li Ru. She ranked first in her studies every year. Unfortunately, she had probably run into serious trouble this time.
Having them bring their parents over so the school could mediate would be better than having Gu Mengqi's brother come after them in private. After all, Li Ru came from a farming family. How could they possibly fight back against Gu Tianlong?
Since the dean of students had spoken, Gu Mengqi said nothing more. He was the school's dean of students, after all, so she still had to show him some respect.
Afterward, Li Ru followed the dean of students and the girls injured by the chair to the infirmary for examination and treatment.
Li Tai, meanwhile, was taken away by his homeroom teacher, who arrived shortly afterward. After questioning him, Li Tai's homeroom teacher called his mother, Tian Yuzhen.
To hear the teacher more clearly, Tian Yuzhen put her phone on speaker and asked again, "Teacher, are you sure there's no mistake? Li Tai really hit someone?"
"Yes, Li Tai's mother. Li Tai injured others with a chair. One of his parents needs to come to the school. Oh, right, Li Ru is a member of your family too, isn't she? She was beaten and injured. Please notify her mother and have her come as well." The teacher on the other end explained the situation.
The phone was much louder on speaker. Even from five or six meters away, Li Rui heard every word clearly. Perhaps because of the system's recent modifications, his hearing seemed to have improved considerably too.
"Eighth Aunt, what happened? Li Tai hit someone? Li Ru was beaten and injured?" Li Rui had fairly strong impressions of these two cousins, both seven years younger than him. Li Ru went without saying. A sensible child was always well liked.
Li Tai was also very close to him, his older cousin. When he was little, he would often trail behind Li Rui, climbing trees to take birds' eggs and using firecrackers to blast fish.
It was only after Li Rui left to study elsewhere that he had less contact with this younger cousin. But he knew Li Tai had an exceptionally good temper. If he had hit someone, there had to be a reason. Li Rui had his own guess about that: it must have something to do with their cousin Li Ru.
Xu Dingxiang, who had been standing nearby rejoicing over the possibility of her daughter receiving a huge scholarship, heard that her daughter had been beaten and injured. Instantly, she panicked like an ant on a hot pan.
"Seventh Aunt, don't worry. I'll drive you there."
When the clansmen present heard that something had happened to Li Tai and Li Ru, they all clamored to go along, but Li Rui stopped them. They were not going there to fight. What was the point of taking so many people?
Besides, if it came to fighting, didn't he have bodyguards?
Then, with four bodyguards, they took two Land Rover Range Rovers and drove toward County Town No. 1 Middle School with his eighth uncle, eighth aunt, and seventh aunt.