LVLYA

Chapter 22: Method of Resolving Things

Song Yu's words seemed to poke at Wang Jie's sore spot. He turned to look furiously at Yue Zhishi.

What are you staring at, I still want to give you a punch back in the face. Yue Zhishi rudely glared back at him.

Song Yu walked towards Yue Zhishi, took back his watch and lowered his head to carefully put it back on. "If they bully you, you can hit them back to let them understand you're not someone who can be bullied by just anyone. But if you keep punching them and I keep kicking them, then there's no way we'll be able to end things. Nothing is ever that simple."

He gazed into Yue Zhishi's eyes. "You need to learn how to handle and solve issues by yourself."

Jiang Yufan had been seriously holding onto Yue Zhishi's schoolbag in the corner, not making a single sound. As soon as he saw Song Yu come over, he very respectfully called out a 'senior Song Yu'. Song Yu gave him a slight nod and took Yue Zhishi's bag from his hand.

Naturally, Yue Zhishi understood what Song Yu was trying to say. This matter couldn't keep dragging on until it turned into something from a television drama, where each party tried to get revenge on each other until no one knew how the situation had truly started. Even though Wang Jie bullied classmates, charged protection fees and even cursed people, the words he'd said to Yue Zhishi at that time weren't truly aimed at him.

Yue Zhishi rubbed the tip of his noise, stealing a glance at Song Yu, and gathered up his courage to walk towards Wang Jie. Wang Jie thought he wanted to hit him and said, posture already hostile, "Don't think I'm afraid of you just because your brother's here! I..."

"Do you still remember the last thing you yelled at me in the bathroom?" Yue Zhishi looked at Wang Jie's eyes.

The emotions in Yue Zhishi's large eyes were almost imperceptible, but Wang Jie saw them and felt very uneasy. "If you want to hit then hit, what are you blabbering..." His words drawled away. He suddenly remembered what'd happened that day.

Yue Zhishi continued, "You were right. That's why I was angry."

"I..." Wang Jie's words were caught in his throat. He got into fights, skipped classes, ran away from school, bullied classmates — he did everything teachers didn't want students to do. He'd long grown numb to it all. These little things were nothing to him. He was just an uneducated, unskilled little punk who knew exactly what his future held: he would become a grown up punk who did nothing but laze around all day.

He never expected to feel guilt over something he'd yelled at someone in a fit of anger.

"But it was wrong of me to hit you." Yue Zhishi lowered his eyes. "I'm sorry."

That was completely out of his expectations. Wang Jie felt a bit lost. He'd only wanted to take some revenge on the meddlesome Yue Zhishi, so he'd slashed his tires and looked for people to give him a little scare — so that he would never again dare to pretend to be a hero. But Wang Jie was slightly flustered after hearing Yue Zhishi's words and seeing the traces of a bruise still on his face. At the end of it all, he was the only person trying to make himself seem stronger than he actually was.

"You... don't give me that kind of pathetic look." Wang Jie pretended to bluster, but his fingers were clutching his school pants. "Just look at your panda eyes. Since I've hit you as well, let's just call it even."

His voice weakened. "That... that thing I said, I didn't mean it. I'm not that disgusting of a person."

Jiang Yufan interrupted in a low voice. "But you still bully other students..."

"That's because he talked shit about me first, he said my dad..." Wang Jie abruptly stopped. He looked very angry but also slightly awkward. "...He spread rumours about my family and even got our teacher to go through my desk and bag just by saying I stole from him. I may not have money, but I've never stolen his money!" He was a bit agitated by this point, eyes having turned red, but he very quickly remembered he'd also had problems with the people in front of him. His voice changed. "...If he wants to lie about something, then I'll just go ahead and do it. What can he do? Cheng Mingming was asking for it!"