Chapter 63: Aren't You Going to Ask About My Background?

Teacher An arrived at just the right moment, and Liu Jing’s cries grew even louder.

"Ouch, ouch..." Liu Jing lay on the ground, and somehow, the wooden stick had found its way into the burly man’s hand.

He wasn't entirely faking it, though; his shoulder was genuinely throbbing.

The injury had been sustained a week ago, during the shooting of the climax for *Rush Hour*.

Jackie Chan and the black guy were rescuing him from a kidnapping, and the fight choreography had been quite intense.

The script had undergone quite a few changes, and on that day, Liu Jing was involved in the combat scene while strapped to a bomb, which included a fair amount of action sequences for him.

During Jackie Chan’s fight with his opponents, a lot of the fake antiques were smashed, and one of the shards had embedded itself into Liu Jing’s shoulder.

Liu Jing had merely given the wound a quick, simple dressing before continuing with the shoot, thankfully leaving only dramatic dialogue scenes for the remainder of the day.

A few days later, once his injury had mostly healed, he traveled with the film crew to Hong Kong to shoot more scenes and took on a few commercial gigs on the side.

"Damn Jackie Chan, why did he have to demand so much realism?" Liu Jing muttered inwardly while groaning in pain.

With Teacher An’s arrival, the brawl naturally came to a pause.

The teachers finally saw their chance and hurried to pull the two apart.

While Liu Jing could comfortably lie flat on the ground, the burly man lacked the thick skin to do the same, and he glared at Teacher An with a hostile gaze.

"Dad..." Xixi squatted beside Liu Jing, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Dad, schmad, don't interrupt Old An's moment," Liu Jing mumbled softly.

"..." Xixi suddenly didn't feel like crying anymore.

The burly man desperately wanted to say something imposing, but looking at the stick in his hand and Liu Jing lying on the ground, he felt utterly humiliated and his face flushed with anger. "He... he tripped and fell himself..."

"I only saw you beating him up. You've lived all these years for nothing," Teacher An said, flying into a rage.

The little girl's tearful gaze broke his heart; his eyes turned bloodshot, looking as though he wanted to devour someone alive.

Feeling a sudden loss of confidence under Teacher An's fierce and overwhelming aura, the burly man stammered, "You little... this punk hit my daughter, that's why I hit him."

Hearing the burly man's explanation, Teacher An’s emotions gradually settled.

His gloomy expression wasn't because he was angry at Liu Jing's actions.

He knew Liu Jing’s worldview was a bit skewed, but the boy never started trouble without a reason. To go this far meant there had to be a cause.

Teacher An was a meticulous man who had been an educator for many years. With just a single glance, he had already guessed what had happened.

The girl’s clothes were disheveled, her braids undone, and her face smeared with tears—she had clearly been bullied.

Who could bully her? Whoever Liu Jing had beaten up was undoubtedly the person who had bullied the girl.

Hearing what the burly man said, Teacher An breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that a few weeping little girls had bullied his daughter, not this burly man.

That meant it wasn't a feud to the death.

Besides, for this fellow to pick a fight with Liu Jing meant he had truly... run into a brick wall.

"Hmph! Why don't you ask why I hit your daughter? Of all things in this world, I despise people like you parents who don't bother to figure out right from wrong." At this moment, Liu Jing fully channeled the persona of an arrogant young master.

Back in Xianyang, that arrogant young master had often suffered such injustices. Whenever he got into a brawl with other scions, it was invariably his fault—that was Lu Buwei’s philosophy.

Especially the time when the young master beat up Ying Zheng as a child, Lu Buwei had nearly beaten his own son to death for it.

Heaven and earth as witness, that time the young master really hadn't been to blame.

"Dad, we were just joking with An Feng," one little girl said, clutching the hem of her father’s shirt, not even daring to catch Liu Jing’s eye.

At that moment, in the eyes of the five girls, Liu Jing was a demon. Not only did he beat them, but he also beat their parents, and was even ready to beat the teachers.

"Joking? Shall we have a joke ourselves, then? Don't let me ever catch sight of you again. Every time I see you, I'll beat you, until even your own parents don't recognize you." Liu Jing lay on the ground, making threats right in front of the parents and teachers.

The girls were too terrified to speak; some hid behind their parents, while others cowered behind the teachers.

"You—"

Liu Jing glared at the burly man. "What about you? What are you staring at? That includes you, too. Such a waste of all that food, all show and no substance—I've never seen such a coward. Is it some kind of glorious achievement to hit a child?"

"You—" The burly man was driven to fury, on the verge of coughing up blood. He had rolled up his sleeves, and before he could even throw a punch, he had already gotten beaten up.

He hadn't suffered this much grievance in his entire life. The worst part was that he couldn't even beat a kid.

The teachers exchanged glances, marveling at how formidable the boy's combat skills were, but that mouth of his...

"Are you An Feng’s parent? I'm her head teacher, Teacher Xiao Wang," the head teacher mustered up her courage and stepped forward two paces.

Teacher An completely ignored her, shooting a meaningful look at Liu Jing instead. "Liu Jing, how bad is your injury? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"Ouch, I'm dying. Ouch, I can't go on. Ouch, hurry up and make funeral arrangements for me. Ouch, Xixi, give me your notebook, I need to write my last will and testament," Liu Jing wailed, channeling every ounce of his acting skills into the performance.

"What's the password to your savings account?" Xixi asked.

"Ouch, ouch..." Liu Jing groaned. This girl had no conscience; she was taking advantage of him in his hour of need!

Teacher An kept a straight face, reminding himself not to laugh. He had only signaled Liu Jing to fake an injury; who could have known this mischievous kid would put on such an elaborate production?

"An Feng’s father, you should check on the child's injury first. The principal will be here shortly, so please cooperate with us," the pretty teacher said, looking rather anxious because, from her angle, she could clearly see blood seeping through the fabric on Liu Jing’s shoulder.

Xixi noticed it too and cried out with a sob, "Dad, Woodhead is bleeding! Dad..."

Having used too much force while beating up the burly man, Liu Jing had accidentally reopened his wound.

Teacher An grew genuinely worried as well. "Let's get to the hospital immediately."

"Don't worry, it's just an old injury from before. My acting is pretty good, isn't it?" Liu Jing grimaced, flashing an awkward smile as he whispered to comfort Xixi.

"What's going on here?" Teacher An asked.

"They bullied my person, and I, damn it..."

"Watch your language." Teacher An frowned. Speaking so coarsely right in front of him showed that hanging around those people in the Hong Kong film circle hadn't taught him any manners.

"A few girls bullied Xixi, so I beat them up. I beat the kids, and then I beat the old man, too. Now it's time for you parents to step in. Don't worry, handle it however you like. Even if a few more parents show up, I can take them all down." Liu Jing clenched his fist, only to draw in a sharp breath of air and grimace in pain all over again.

"Xixi, sigh..." Teacher An looked at her with a heart full of pity. Even *he* couldn't bring himself to hit her.

"This is normal; she was born with a face that begs to be bullied. It's only because I'm kind-hearted that I don't bully her myself," Liu Jing advised.

Xixi bit her lip, instantly losing all her previous emotional warmth. As if you haven't bullied me enough! I hope it hurts you to death.

"Uncle An, I'm leaving the rest to you. I'm just a kid, so I'm responsible for getting into trouble. You're the adult, so you're responsible for cleaning up the mess," Liu Jing muttered under his breath.

"I—" Teacher An felt as though he had swallowed a fly. The situation was indeed as he described, and the logic was sound.

Yet hearing it put so bluntly rubbed him the wrong way.

"You're not going to flake out on this, are you? If it were Sister Li..." Liu Jing’s face showed deep suspicion.

"Shut your mouth," Teacher An retorted irritably.

He picked Liu Jing up, intending to get him to the hospital first and leave everything else for later.

The principal hurried over, having already headed home for the day, never expecting such a chaotic mess to break out.

Along the way, he had managed to find out everything he needed to know—and quite a few things he probably shouldn't have.

"An Feng’s father, let's step aside and have a word," the principal said, a massive headache pounding behind his temples. This was the exact kind of trouble he feared most.

"No need," Teacher An replied without looking back.

"An Feng’s father, rest assured, we will handle this matter with the utmost severity," the principal began, well-versed in administrative rhetoric, before pivoting smoothly. "However, the family backgrounds of those few children are somewhat..."

"Special backgrounds mean they have the right to bully other children? Special backgrounds mean they can disregard school rules and discipline? Special backgrounds mean the school can sweep things under the rug? Special backgrounds mean I should just let my daughter suffer grievances in silence?" Teacher An rattled off a series of pointed questions that made the principal realize this parent was not going to be easily brushed off.

"Sigh! Let's all take a step back. After all, those girls took a beating too."

"Oh, judging by that tone, you still want to hold my child accountable?"

"Of course the school doesn't have that kind of right, but..."

"Why don't you ask what kind of background *I* have?"