Chapter 23: The Art of Deception and the Weight of Bullying

“You’re overthinking things.”

Though Lin Qing had initially intended to simply ignore Wang Fanran, the memory of Wang Fanran’s public remarks, made out of fear of Su Yao, prompted him to speak.

Wang Fanran was a man prone to overactive imagination.

However, Lin Qing’s words were weak and lacked any real conviction.

Witnessing Lin Qing’s continued gloomy demeanor, and his reluctance to even speak much, Wang Fanran scoffed, rolling his eyes. He mused that Lin Qing was exceptionally skilled at pretense.

Others might believe he was genuinely ill, but Wang Fanran saw through the act.

Lin Qing wasn’t sick at all!

He was merely feigning illness to avoid a beating.

He usually put on an honest front, but in reality, he was full of cunning schemes. Lin Qing, that damned scoundrel, was to blame for him being bullied by Zhou Lin for days.

A beggar-like fellow!

He didn’t possess a single branded item. Such a pauper had no business attending school; he should just scurry back to his beggar’s den!

Once Wang Fanran settled into his seat, the presence of someone next to him, especially Lin Qing’s detestable face, made his resentment fester even more.

‘Why?’

‘He was being bullied at school, while Lin Qing comfortably slept in a hospital. It was truly too unfair.’

‘Lin Qing should be beaten by the class delinquents, so he could experience what it felt like to be bullied.’

‘Wait, there’s no need to wait; he could deal with Lin Qing himself!’

‘This scrawny kid could be knocked down with a single punch!’

‘The sight of him crying and begging for mercy – hehe, just thinking about it was utterly hilarious!’

****

As Wang Fanran harbored these thoughts, Zhou Lin’s demonic voice resonated.

Upon hearing it, Wang Fanran’s body stiffened, and he thought, ‘No way!’

‘Lin Qing was already back at school. Why was this rabid dog, Zhou Lin, still relentlessly hounding him?’

‘Damn it, he wouldn’t cling to him until graduation, would he?’

‘These beggar-like fellows should all die; they’d only grow up to be parasites on the nation!’

“Brother Zhou, my mother told me to study hard, otherwise my allowance…”

As Zhou Lin approached Wang Fanran, despite all the curses swirling in Wang Fanran’s mind, he spoke in a timid, submissive tone.

‘The odds were stacked against him; it was better not to resist. Otherwise, he couldn’t win a fight and would only humiliate himself further in class.’

“Shut up! Did I give you permission to speak? You’re just asking for a beating!”

However, Wang Fanran’s compromise did not yield a good outcome. Instead, Zhou Lin snapped his hand up irritably, delivering a sharp blow to the back of Wang Fanran’s head.

This sent Wang Fanran’s head hurtling forward, rapidly plunging towards the desk.

Nevertheless, it was a close call, yet without true danger; he did not directly collide with the desk.

As Wang Fanran swiftly regained his balance to avoid hitting the desktop, the fat on his cheeks jiggled violently from the sudden halt.

It looked ridiculous and comical, eliciting a hearty laugh from Zhou Lin.

“Haha, you’re my daily entertainment, little bro… keep it up. My future high school happiness depends on you, alright?”

“Whatever makes Brother Zhou happy,” Wang Fanran immediately responded with fawning words, resembling a shameless sycophantic lackey.

Witnessing this, the surrounding students couldn’t help but show expressions of disdain on their faces.

‘To be bullied to such an extent, yet still grovel so shamelessly. Truly spineless.’

However, when Zhou Lin cast a slightly smug glance around, these students quickly averted their eyes, picked up their books, and feigned indifference, terrified of being implicated.

They aspired to study hard and get into university, not to become someone else’s punching bag at school.

“Oh, isn’t this Lin Qing? You’re out of the hospital.”

After Zhou Lin’s sweeping gaze, he acted as if he had just noticed Lin Qing, displaying a look of surprise. Then, his gaze critically swept over him from head to toe.

Aside from the bandage wrapped around his hand, everything appeared normal; there were no other lingering side effects.

‘Phew~’

‘He could finally relax.’

‘Heaven knew how much dread and anxiety he had felt during Lin Qing’s hospital stay.’

‘He was terrified that Lin Qing might die in the hospital… in which case, he would also bear some responsibility, which was truly frightening.’

‘Seeing Lin Qing looking so frail, it was probably best not to provoke this guy in the future.’

‘What if something else happened…’

‘He certainly didn’t want to go through that a second time.’

“Mm.”

Despite knowing that Zhou Lin wasn’t genuinely concerned, Lin Qing nodded earnestly in response to the inquiry.

His obedient and compliant demeanor seemed to put Zhou Lin in a good mood, making Lin Qing appear much more agreeable in his eyes.

He had originally intended to play a trick on the kid.

Now that he thought about it, this incident wasn’t Lin Qing’s fault; instead, he was a victim, just like Zhou Lin himself.

It was all that fat pig’s fault!

“You damn fat pig, what are you laughing at? Did I tell you to laugh?! If you love laughing so much, then get down and oink like a pig, so we can all have a laugh!”

As soon as Zhou Lin thought of the true culprit behind the incident, he immediately frowned in annoyance. Then, he imperiously ordered Wang Fanran.

He was prepared to continue tormenting Wang Fanran to sate his lingering resentment. Even though Lin Qing was back, thinking it was over was exceedingly naive!

“Brother Zhou, I…”

“Don’t ‘bip-bip’ me. Are you going to oink like a pig, or do you want me to beat you up?!”

However, upon hearing the demand to oink like a pig, Wang Fanran’s expression immediately turned unsightly.

‘He couldn’t do something so humiliating!’

‘Humiliating himself in front of so many people, and if it were filmed, it would become a lifelong stain on his reputation.’

‘Otherwise…’

‘Perhaps he should ‘feign illness’ like Lin Qing!’

‘Then that bastard Zhou Lin wouldn’t continue tormenting him.’

Thinking this, Wang Fanran glanced at Lin Qing, convinced that if Lin Qing could successfully ‘pretend,’ there was no reason he couldn’t!

Seeing that Zhou Lin now dared not lay a hand on Lin Qing, Wang Fanran immediately made up his mind.

He refused to endure this kind of school life any longer; he had to get rid of that hooligan, Zhou Lin.

“Oh, ho, so your silence means you want a beating, does it?”

Zhou Lin, however, paid no mind to Wang Fanran’s thoughts. Seeing him sit silently without a word, his anger immediately flared. Zhou Lin reached out, grabbed Wang Fanran by the collar, and then threw him to the ground.

Wang Fanran was quite heavy, and falling to the ground caused him considerable pain.

‘However, this was all part of his plan!’

‘As long as this ‘feigned illness’ succeeded, he wouldn’t have to endure further beatings.’

‘Though Zhou Lin had hidden it extremely well, Wang Fanran had clearly seen his dread and anxiety from the past few days.’

‘Since that was the case, he would just terrify Zhou Lin again!’

‘Serves him right!’

As Wang Fanran thought this, he tried to recall the way Lin Qing had trembled all over. He didn’t mind the dirty ground and quickly began to shake his body.

“Heh heh, you damn fat pig, do you think just anyone can feign illness?”

However, as Wang Fanran strenuously performed, Zhou Lin merely sneered.

Then, he directly kicked Wang Fanran in the stomach, making the latter’s face instantly turn pale. Immediately, he forgot he was still performing and quickly covered the spot where he’d been kicked.

‘This shouldn’t be happening!’

‘Why wasn’t Zhou Lin following the script? Lin Qing had clearly fooled him before.’