Chapter 330 - F*cking scholarship student

"No, no, no!" the principal immediately said before adding, "Student Zhihao got his injuries from a fight with three other boys." 

The principal then looked toward the three boys standing at one corner of the room with their parents.

Han Ye followed his gaze and saw the boys, and these boys were in a worse condition than Xiao Zhihao. There were cuts on those boys' faces, and one of them was so badly bruised that both of his eyes were almost shut, and his right hand was in a cast and sling, as if it was broken. 

The other two were also badly bruised, and one of them had cotton up one nostril. 

"It was a good thing that we have a proper clinic here..." the principal said with a sigh. "Mr. Han, this is serious..." 

Han Ye glanced back at Xiao Zhihao before looking at the principal. He then asked in a disbelief tone, "Zhihao did this?" 

"According to witnesses and I've also gone through the CCTV... And yes, Student Xiao was the perpetrator. It seemed that he just jumped these boys for reasons unknown." 

Han Ye turned around and walked to Xiao Zhihao. He stood right in front of Xiao Zhihao. Honestly, despite maintaining the calm facade, he was extremely surprised upon hearing the principal's voice. A sweet, demure teenager like Xiao Zhihao was able to hurt those boys that badly? Three of them? 

Han Ye sighed internally. With a stern expression, he said to the teenager, "Zhihao, look up."

Xiao Zhihao refused to look at him. 

"Xiao Zhihao! Look up!" Han Ye snapped angrily. 

Xiao Zhihao clenched his fists as much as he could. He then forced himself to look at Han Ye. 

"Did you do that to them?" Han Ye asked in a stern voice. 

"They deserved it," Xiao Zhihao hissed as he glared at the three boys. When he glared at them, the boys immediately took a step back in unison, as if they were extremely afraid that he would come at them again.

Upon hearing it, Han Ye said with a strict tone, "If you think they deserved it, then hold your chin up. Stop looking down at your feet when you've done nothing wrong!" 

Xiao Zhihao looked at him. He was confused. That wasn't something that an a.d.u.l.t should say. 

"What the f*ck!" The burly man suddenly snarled, and he went to the boy with his hand in a sling. He pointed at his son's broken hand and snapped, "Look at my son's injury! We've never raised a hand on him before, and that kid dared to hurt him so badly!"

He then looked at his son and said, "Johnny, tell the principal what he did to you!" 

Johnny looked at his father. He then looked at Xiao Zhihao, and when he saw the threat in Xiao Zhihao's gaze, he immediately shook his head.  

"Useless!" the burly man snapped when he saw his son's fearful expression. He turned to look at Han Ye and snapped, "Look at that kid! He still didn't think he did anything wrong! Are you his guardian? How are you going to settle this?!"

Han Ye turned around to face the man, and he asked in a sneer, "Settle? I'm not settling this."

He then looked at the principal and said, "I want to know what happened, from start to end." 

"That b*stard hit us! That's what happened!" one of the boys, the chubbier one, sneered before holding his painful jaw.

His friend immediately pulled him back. "Joshua, no!" hissed his friend, Oliver, as he hovered his hand around his nose and winced. Oliver looked at Xiao Zhihao meekly and thought back to what happened earlier. Those eyes of his scared him. At that time, Oliver thought that Xiao Zhihao would have killed Johnny on the spot.   

"Look at our sons!" Oliver's mother said. "Obviously your son did this to them!" 

"He's not my father!" Xiao Zhihao snapped and took a step forward, but Han Ye stopped him from threatening them further. 

"Zhihao, tell me, what happened. Why did you guys fight?"

Han Ye looked as Xiao Zhihao glared at him, and after a moment of silence, he said, "You called me here because you didn't want your mother to know. Should I call her now?"

"Yes, Student Xiao," said the principal as he wiped the sweat off his forehead with a clean silk handkerchief. "You didn't want to say anything earlier, but if you don't talk about it now, I'm afraid we would have to call the cops and let them handle this." 

"Jerk!" Xiao Zhihao hissed as he glared up at Han Ye. After a while, he started narrating what had happened a few hours earlier. 

...

Earlier, during lunch break.

Xiao Zhihao had just had lunch with Quinn when he had to excuse himself in order to use the toilet. 

"I'll wait for you here," Quinn said as she pointed toward a makeshift counter selling snacks for charity.

Xiao Zhihao nodded before walking to the toilet. When he pushed open the door, he bumped into his ex-bullies, Johnny, Oliver, and Joshua. 

"Oh, look at this... A little ugly duckling who became a swan because of his late father's deed," Johnny sneered as he looked at Xiao Zhihao.  

Xiao Zhihao ignored him. He merely stepped aside to let them go. 

"Coward orphan..." Johnny sneered as he walked past Xiao Zhihao.

Xiao Zhihao clenched his fists, but he did not say anything. He maintained his composure and waited for them to come out before going into the toilet. 

"Blood?" Xiao Zhihao thought when he smelled something iron-like lingering in the air. He then heard sniffling noise. "Hello?" he called out. 

Immediately after, he heard some shuffling sound, and he slowly walked in. That was when he saw the blood on the floor. It wasn't much, but there were drops of blood on the otherwise kept pristine toilet floor, and a thin bamboo cane that was covered in blood and some unknown thing on it. 

He also saw a broken metal hanger, and it seemed that one end of the broken hanger was burnt?  

Xiao Zhihao gulped, and he slowly walked toward where the sniffling noise was heard. It was a lot softer than earlier, as if it was muffled by something. Along the way, he saw a piece of sock, which seemed wet, an Imperial High blazer lying around, as well as a white Imperial High school shirt that was stained with what seemed like blood. 

As Xiao Zhihao walked past the blazer, he noticed the small E.S embroidered on the left side of the blazer. Upon seeing that, his eyes widened slightly, and he had a bad feeling, an extremely bad feeling.

"Hello?" Xiao Zhihao slowly pushed the stall doors open, one by one. When he reached the last one, the smell of blood was quite strong that it took him aback. Xiao Zhihao slowly pushed it open, and that was when he saw the gruesome sight. 

A smaller-sized boy, whom Xiao Zhihao recognized as one of the scholarship students, was lying on his stomach on the floor. The boy glanced at Xiao Zhihao with teary eyes as he cried, "No... No more..."    

There were both blood and tears on his bruised cheeks, and his lips were bruised as well. He wasn't wearing any shirt, and on his back...

Xiao Zhihao clenched his jaws tightly when he saw the boy's back. Red bloodied welts aside... There were freshly-carved wounds... Five words, "F*cking scholarship student should die", were carved into the boy's back in huge thin letters.

At that moment, Xiao Zhihao was seeing red, and all those abuses that were thrown at him before flashed past his eyes as he met the poor boy's eyes.