Nobody said that teachers at elite academies have to be heartthrobs.

Seeing that the person was about to leave, the school board member panicked.

What's wrong with this person? They won't listen to reason or pressure!

Left with no other choice, he could only utter a final, harsh remark: "Do you know who stands behind me? It's the Xiao family!"

Yu Fuli: "???"

What does this have to do with Xiao Chi?

[Host, the person standing behind him is indeed from the Xiao family, but it's not Xiao Chi; it's Xiao Chi's father.]

Oh, he thought it was Xiao Chi.

However, this statement is indeed easy to misunderstand. Nowadays, when the Xiao family is mentioned, most people think of Xiao Chi first.

It makes it seem like Xiao Chi is the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.

This plot twist is really... In the original story, it was bullying from Xiao Chi, but now, after all the twists and turns, it's somehow gotten involved with him again in this way.

"Oh? What a coincidence, Xiao Chi himself is in our class." Yu Fuli's tone carried just the right amount of doubt. "Should I go ask him now what his next instructions are?"

The school board member's expression froze instantly, and his face drained of color at a visible speed.

Are you kidding me! Everyone in the entire Upper District knows the temper of the Xiao family's heir! Ask him directly? What's the difference between that and walking right into the line of fire?!

"No—! Wait! Sigh!" He could no longer maintain his composure, hurriedly reaching out his hand, his voice trembling, "We can talk this over! Here's what we'll do... whatever your conditions are, just name them! As long as this matter can be resolved."

Yu Fuli stopped in her tracks.

He turned around, and a sliver of clarity lifted from his usually droopy eyelashes.

"Conditions?" he repeated.

The school board member nodded hurriedly, sweat already beading on his forehead.

Yu Fuli looked to her side. Lin Xun stood there quietly, head down, seemingly oblivious to the commotion around them. Only her slightly taut shoulder line betrayed a hint of tension.

Yu Fuli spoke, "As for my conditions..."

He paused, then turned his gaze back to the school board member's face.

"Go apologize to Lin Xun now."

The school board member was stunned: "What? What?"

"For allowing your son to bully his classmates and then turning around and blaming them. For using your status to shout and yell here, disrupting Lin Xun's class." He tilted his head slightly, his tone even bordering on polite:

Do you need me to repeat myself?

The school board member's face was a mixture of pale and flushed.

His lips trembled a few times, and he still wanted to struggle. Apologizing to a top student from the slums was worse than killing him.

But out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the still-lit phone screen in Yu Fuli's hand—the contact list interface with Xiao Chi's name on it, which had never been dialed, like a silent death knell.

Finally, his shoulders slumped, and he slowly moved to stand in front of Lin Xun.

Lin Xun raised his head, his gaze calm, which only made the school board members more embarrassed.

"...I'm sorry." The three words were forced out, dry and stiff. "I didn't understand the situation and spoke inappropriately. I...apologize to you."

Lin Xun looked at him quietly for two seconds, gave a soft "hmm," and lowered her head again.

There was no forgiveness, nor was there any further entanglement.

A well-timed silence was more embarrassing for the school board than any words.

Yu Fuli then put away her phone and casually said to the school board member who was frozen in place:

"Your son's self-criticism will proceed as scheduled tomorrow morning. As for you—"

His lips curved into a very slight smile.

Please make yourself at home.

All the humiliations that Lin Xun endured alone in the original story are now being returned to him in kind.

The school board member, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly choked up. He turned around abruptly, his voice sharp with urgency:

"Wait! Didn't you just say... that as long as I apologized, this would be over?!"

Yu Fuli turned his head slightly, and the yellow light fell on his eyelashes, making his eyes look clear and innocent.

He blinked gently, his tone carrying just the right amount of doubt:

Did I say that?

After a brief pause, as if just remembering something, he slowly added:

"I only said I wanted you to apologize." A very faint smile curved his lips. "I didn't say that once you apologized, it would all be forgiven."

Seeing the school board member's exasperated yet forced composure, Yu Fuli said nothing more, only nodded slightly, and then turned and left with Lin Xun, leaving the school board member, whose expression was uncertain, completely behind.

……

Time quickly passed to the next day.

The morning light shone through the glass windows of the radio station, making the dust particles in the air clearly visible.

Jerry stood stiffly in front of the microphone, his face ashen, his fingers gripping the thin letter of self-criticism so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Two stern-faced school supervisors stood on either side of him, making escape impossible for him.

The entire school's broadcasting system was activated at the same moment, the static crackling through the air, signaling that the sound would soon reach every corner of Saint Laurent College.

Jerry took a deep breath, but it caught in his throat halfway through, trembling. He lowered his eyes, avoiding the reflection of his embarrassed face on the table, and his dry voice carried through the loudspeaker, carrying a slightly distorted, hollow echo:

"I, Jerry, hereby deeply reflect on my inappropriate behavior towards Lin Xun."

Every word seemed to be forced out of his throat, harsh and heavy.

"I realize that bullying the weak and maliciously humiliating classmates is an extremely wrong and shameful act. This not only violates school rules but also seriously harms Lin Xun's physical and mental well-being..."

His voice trailed off, and the supervising teacher gave him a silent, warning glance.

Jerry gritted his teeth, forced to raise his voice, so that the most crucial sentence would resound clearly and unavoidably throughout every corner of the suddenly quiet campus—

"Hereby, I solemnly apologize to Lin Xun... I'm sorry."

The hurried footsteps in the corridor stopped, the students in the classroom, some focused and some distracted, looked up, the teachers in the office put down their pens, and even the students in the physical education class on the playground heard the apology.

At this moment, all the teachers and students in the school, even the cleaning ladies in the corridors and the gardeners under the shade of the trees, became the audience for this public self-criticism.

Cold sweat beaded on Jerry's forehead as he read the polite phrases at the end of the broadcast script, such as "I promise to abide by the law and unite with my classmates," with an increasingly mechanical and hurried pace.

He just wanted to end this public execution as soon as possible.

For him, the two-thousand-word self-criticism felt like an eternity.

As the last syllable faded, the broadcast was abruptly cut off, and the suffocating silence was replaced by an even more clamor of discussion.

Countless gazes, some bright, some dim, were cast from all over the campus toward the radio station, then turned to search for another center of the incident: Lin Xun, the exceptional student who was always quiet and almost invisible.

Thanks to Jerry's father being a school board member, who is usually very high-profile on campus, his self-criticism completely ignited the school's discussion.

Everyone was talking about it.

An A-level student actually apologized to a top student!

This was unprecedented and unheard of. Everyone's first thought was, "This must be a joke, right? April Fool's Day is over!"

However, the announcement released by the school made them realize that it was true!