Chapter 62: When Seeking to Condemn, Any Pretext Will Suffice

Hearing what Zhang Shen said, Hao Lei realized that she had probably spent too much time with him and replied, "You should go back to class now. I'll use this for a while."
"Alright, teacher," Zhang Shen answered.
With that, he turned and returned to his class.
Back in the classroom, Zhang Shen naturally took a seat beside Wang Ying. However, Wang Ying didn't dare look him in the eye, for in her heart, Zhang Shen was exactly the kind of person she liked.
The bell rang, marking the start of the final period. A middle-aged male teacher, slightly balding and in his forties, entered the classroom. His name was Tong Wei.
Tong Wei began the lesson by reading directly from the textbook, making no effort to enliven the atmosphere. As Tong Wei lectured at the front, some students chatted quietly in the back, and some even dozed off right in their seats.
Witnessing this, Zhang Shen couldn't help but recall the hardships he endured while learning medicine from his master. If he failed to recite a passage or identify an herb, he would be punished—sometimes with a bamboo rod to the palm, sometimes with no dinner for the night. He sighed at how comfortable life was now, yet these students seemed oblivious to their good fortune, wasting their youth without gratitude.
"Hey! Aren't you paying attention in class?"
It turned out Wang Ying had kept her head down beneath the desk the entire time. Hearing the magnetic voice beside her, she lifted her head, locking eyes with Zhang Shen. In that moment, Wang Ying once again felt the fluttering of her heart.
"Wh-what is it?"
Wang Ying spoke softly, but Zhang Shen could hear her clearly.
"You keep your head buried under the desk in class. Is there a handsome guy underneath?"
"There's no one down there, but there's one right beside me."
Wang Ying mumbled under her breath.
Zhang Shen didn't catch what she said.
"What did you just say?"
Seeing Zhang Shen press her for an answer, Wang Ying hastily changed the subject. "It's nothing!"
"Well, if it's nothing, pay attention to the lesson. I have a task entrusted to me by the teacher."

"What task?"
Zhang Shen wondered what nonsense Wang Ying was thinking up this time, amazed that she'd already forgotten Hao Lei's instructions in just a few minutes.
He flicked Wang Ying's forehead and said, "Your grades, of course! What else do you think my task is?"
Wang Ying responded with a soft "Oh," acknowledging him.
What Zhang Shen didn't know was that Wang Ying had originally planned to apply to an art school and had even scored above the admission cutoff. However, she had a younger brother at home, and her parents believed that studying art was useless for a girl, preferring she study medicine instead. That way, she could secure a respectable job after graduation, help pay her brother's tuition, and, if she married well, rise to prosperity.
So Wang Ying had been strongly opposed to enrolling in medical school from the start. It's true that interest is the best teacher, as the saying goes.
"I'm not interested in this. I just want to draw," Wang Ying confessed for the first time to someone of the opposite sex.
Zhang Shen didn't argue with her. Instead, he opened her textbook, and to his surprise, found the pages filled with sketches of landscapes and people. In Wang Ying's hands, the textbook had taken on new layers of artistry.
The more Zhang Shen flipped through the book, the more reluctant he was to put it down. Suddenly, his gaze fell upon a particular image.
It depicted a young man subduing a fierce-looking man in a restaurant, while two girls nearby looked on admiringly.
Zhang Shen thought, "Isn't that... me?"
Wang Ying hadn't expected Zhang Shen to look through her textbook so thoroughly, and now he had found the drawing she made the first time she met him.
She quickly snatched the book away and said, "Give it back to me."
In that moment, Zhang Shen, possessed by a sudden stubbornness, began to tussle with Wang Ying over the book. Their struggle grew more intense until Wang Ying cried out, "Give me back my book!"
At that, all the classmates turned their attention to Wang Ying, Zhang Shen, and the "spoils of war."
On the platform, Tong Wei, noticing the commotion, merely scratched the few hairs on his head and said blandly, "You two, mind your behavior. Even though you're about to graduate, that's no excuse for such unruly conduct."
After all, Wang Ying was a girl. Hearing Tong Wei's remark, she immediately hung her head again.
The book naturally ended up in Zhang Shen's hands.

Zhang Shen thought Tong Wei's comment would be the end of it, but it was only the beginning.
"Hey! You, stand up!"
At first, Zhang Shen didn't realize Tong Wei was addressing him, until Tong Wei resorted to the classic teacher's trick—throwing a piece of chalk.
When the chalk struck him, Zhang Shen realized Tong Wei meant him.
He stood up and asked, "Teacher, are you calling me?"
"Who else?"
Tong Wei spoke with an air of superiority, clearly displeased with Zhang Shen's earlier actions.
"Teacher, my name isn't 'hey'..."
Before Zhang Shen could finish, Tong Wei cut him off, his harsh tone betraying a lack of confidence, "I've never seen you before. Which class are you from?"
Zhang Shen didn't bother to argue with the balding teacher and replied, "I just transferred here."
"Just transferred? Does that mean you don't have to pay attention in class?"
"But I already know everything you're teaching!"
Tong Wei, in truth, liked to pick on those he thought were easy targets. Many were fooled by his outwardly kind appearance, but the reality was different.
Despite being in his forties, Tong Wei was still unmarried, and rumors abounded as to why. Two things, however, were certain. One, he took advantage of female students under the guise of tutoring, sometimes calling them to his office for supposed academic help but engaging in questionable behavior. Two, he extorted favors from students; those who couldn't provide gifts found themselves on the receiving end of his petty revenge.
The students knew Tong Wei's ways well. Those from influential families had nothing to fear, but those from ordinary backgrounds routinely sent gifts to his home.
Tong Wei dared to act so brazenly only because his family had someone working in the city government.