Chapter 33: Knocked Out with a Single Slap

Page (1/3)

Meanwhile, Lu Liang arrived at the primary school affiliated with the Normal University.

He waited at the school gate for a while and called Zhang Yun’s homeroom teacher, Zhang Yun, to confirm his identity. Only then did the security guard let him through.

Zhang Qian treated her daughter exceptionally well and was willing to spend whatever it took. She had bought an old, run-down apartment for more than three million yuan solely to secure her daughter’s admission.

The affiliated primary school was not the very best in the city, but in Shanghai it ranked among the top ten. Its campus was beautiful, and both its teachers and facilities were excellent.

After crossing the grassy track, Lu Liang arrived at the Academic Affairs Office. From a distance, he saw Zhang Yun standing alone in a corner, her head bowed as she stared at the tips of her shoes.

The moment he entered, he heard the shrewish woman from the phone still hurling abuse.

“She’s barely old enough to know right from wrong, yet she can be so vicious. No upbringing at all.”

“Auntie, Zhao Jiaqi bullied me first. Why don’t you say anything to him?”

Zhang Yun bit her lip tightly, her face stubborn. She was not nearly as weak as she appeared.

“Oh, so now you’re talking back? Teacher Lin, when is her parent coming? I’d really like to see what kind of parent could raise such a sharp-tongued little brat.”

The woman was furious. She raised her hand and moved to slap Zhang Yun.

“Say what you like, but keep your hands to yourself. Don’t act like some shrew.”

Lu Liang strode over and slapped the woman’s arm away.

“Uncle Lu!”

Zhang Yun looked up in delight. As if she had finally found someone to rely on, she ran over and hugged his leg.

“You’re Mr. Lu Liang, correct? May I ask whether you can contact Zhang Yun’s mother?” the teacher asked.

“Her mother asked me to come and handle this…”

Lu Liang had only gotten halfway through his sentence when his expression suddenly darkened.

Near Zhang Yun’s right ear were three bright red finger marks, already turning slightly blue.

They were far too large to have been left by a child’s hand.

In a cold voice, Lu Liang demanded, “Who hit her?”

The teacher sensed trouble and hurried to explain. “Mr. Lu, please don’t lose your temper. Mrs. Liang was just a little agitated.”

Lu Liang crouched in front of Zhang Yun and pointed toward the woman beside them.

“Sweetheart, was it her?”

Zhang Yun suddenly broke down. “It was Zhao Jiaqi who insulted me first… and pushed me first too. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Don’t cry. Uncle will see that justice is done.”

Lu Liang’s heart ached. He turned to the teacher.

“Teacher Lin, there must be security cameras. What exactly happened?”

Worried that Lu Liang might retaliate, the woman took several cautious steps backward. But when he still made no move, a trace of contempt flickered in her eyes.

Then she suddenly raised her voice. “Whatever happened, there was no excuse for scratching my child’s face like this. Look at him—he’s almost disfigured!”

A boy stood nearby with several scratches on his face, but they were only faint marks, nowhere near as serious as Zhang Yun’s injuries.

“Mr. Lu, it was only children playing around.”

Lin Xiao chose her words carefully, trying to use the phrase “children playing around” to obscure the truth.

The matter could be treated as either serious or trivial. As teachers, they naturally hoped to smooth it over and keep it from escalating.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

“So you’re saying our child did nothing wrong, correct?”

After learning the full story, Lu Liang understood what had happened.

Zhang Yun had inherited her mother’s looks. She had been delicately beautiful since childhood, and it was only natural that she attracted the admiration of boys.

The boy liked Zhang Yun and wanted to play with her, but she did not like him. His affection soon turned into resentment.

He messed up her schoolbag, scribbled in her textbooks, and deliberately tripped her, trying every possible way to attract her attention.

Zhang Yun endured it again and again, until she finally reached her limit.

At that age, girls were often taller than boys, and they tended to have the upper hand in a fight as well.

“Children playing around is perfectly normal.”

Lu Liang suddenly swung his arm and slapped the woman hard across the face.

The crisp crack echoed through the room. The woman was knocked to the floor, and everyone in the office froze.

No one had expected Lu Liang, who had been calm and reasonable just moments earlier, to suddenly explode into violence.

The strength of an adult man was considerable. With the full force of his swing, he left one side of the woman’s face swollen like a pig’s head.

She began to sob uncontrollably, as though the blow had burst her tear ducts.

“Help! Murder! Call the police—quickly!”

The little boy beside her was terrified into stillness. His entire body trembled, and tears welled in his eyes.

The office had only two male teachers. They rushed forward and restrained Lu Liang.

“Mr. Lu, please calm down.”

“I’m sorry. I got a little emotional and lost my composure.”

Lu Liang smiled indifferently. He made no further aggressive move, merely watching coldly as the woman called the police.

Then he crouched down and rubbed the back of his little darling’s head.

“If someone hits you, you’re not the one in the wrong. You hit them back—and hit them hard.”

Tears shimmered in the little girl’s eyes as she nodded firmly.

Lin Xiao knitted her brows. “Mr. Lu, teaching a child this way is deeply problematic.”

“What about the way you handled it? Don’t you have a problem too?”

Lu Liang snapped back angrily. The more he thought about what had happened, the more furious he became.

“So many adults watched her get slapped and did nothing but tell her not to be angry and not to panic. Of course you weren’t worried—you’re not the ones whose child was hurt. You’re a disgrace to the teaching profession.”

He could tell that the teachers had been taking the woman’s side.

Zhang Yun had been slapped, yet no one had stood up for her. They had not even applied anything to reduce the swelling.

But once he knocked the woman to the floor with a single slap, even the director of discipline had come over to fuss over her.

Lin Xiao was rendered speechless, her face shifting from pale to flushed and back again.

As Zhang Yun’s homeroom teacher, she knew the circumstances of both families and had long been accustomed to choosing the lesser of two evils.

The police station was right beside the school. After receiving the call, the officers arrived almost immediately.

“Officer, what took you so long? It was him! Arrest him at once!”

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

The moment she saw the police, the woman suddenly found her courage. Covering her face, she glared viciously at Lu Liang and accused him of his wrongdoing.

“Come with us to the station. Don’t cause a scene at the school.”

The officers frowned, though inwardly they also breathed a sigh of relief.

When they had first received the call, even the station chief had been startled. The woman had claimed that someone had been murdered and that a killing had taken place on school grounds.

Fortunately, it was merely a dispute between parents. Had a murder occurred at a school within their jurisdiction, their station would have become infamous.

Holding Zhang Yun’s hand, Lu Liang followed the officers to the police station.

At the same time, he called Meng Changkun to ask whether he knew any lawyers.

Meng Changkun hurriedly asked, “What happened?”

“Nothing serious. I had a dispute with someone and accidentally slapped her.”

Lu Liang told him the truth.

“If anything comes up, just let me know. I can recommend a law firm. They handle civil, criminal, and commercial cases.”

Meng Changkun sent him the number for Jincheng Law Firm. His company entrusted the firm with many of its commercial disputes.

Lu Liang thanked him. Before long, Zhang Qian’s call finally came through as well, and she rushed to the station after hearing what had happened.

She embraced her daughter. Seeing the handprints on the girl’s face, her heart ached. She looked up at Lu Liang and said, “Thank you, Brother Liang.”

She also explained why she had been unreachable: she had been out handling some business, and her phone had run out of battery with nowhere nearby to charge it.

“It’s nothing,” Lu Liang said with an indifferent smile.

These days, everyone knew at least a little about the law. For something this minor, it did not even meet the threshold for filing a formal case. At most, it would cost some money.

A while later, Ye Wei from Jincheng Law Firm arrived at the police station.

He asked Lu Liang, “Mr. Lu, would you prefer to settle this through legal proceedings or privately?”

“Either is fine. I’ve already vented my anger.”

Lu Liang smiled as he said it in front of the woman.

The woman was enraged. She grabbed at the officer’s sleeve.

“Officer, listen to how arrogant he is!”

“Miss Liang, please don’t pull on me.”

The officer frowned and then turned coldly toward Lu Liang.

“Mr. Lu, please stop provoking her as well.”

He had known from the moment Lu Liang called a lawyer that he was not an easy man to deal with. With the woman refusing to let the matter go, the officer’s head was beginning to ache.

“Okay, okay.”

Lu Liang shrugged with a smile and left the matter in Ye Wei’s hands.

He picked up his phone and looked at the purchasing list Tang Caidie had sent him: five computers, two printers…

More than twenty types of office supplies were listed, with an estimated price for each item beside it.

Page (3/3)