Chapter 44: Backing Him Up

Last year, Mr. Wang had also talked to Lin Lu, asking him to persuade Jiang Ruotang to stop leading other students at school astray by idol-chasing, since he himself wasn’t even focusing on his studies.

That very day, Mr. Wang passed by Class One’s window and overheard Lin Lu advising Jiang Ruotang to stop making such a fuss about celebrities. Mr. Wang felt very pleased.

But he hadn’t expected Jiang Ruotang to retort directly, “You don’t want to hold an umbrella for Yingchuan, but you also want to tear up the one someone else holds for him?” From that moment on, Mr. Wang had seen Jiang Ruotang as hopeless, wishing he’d just drop out so he wouldn’t ruin Beicheng Guangyao’s graduation stats.

Right now, Jiang Ruotang stared at Mr. Wang coldly. “My Chinese grade hasn’t changed, but my math and science are improving. Seems like you’re not much of a Chinese teacher.”

Mr. Wang slammed his tea mug on the desk. “Jiang Ruotang! What kind of attitude is that?! Mr. Song, call his parents here right now!”

Mr. Song Qinghe froze for a second and quickly tried to smooth things over. “But at this time of day, his parents are probably at work? And we don’t even have any proof he did anything wrong—what’s the point of calling his parents?”

“I want his parents to see what kind of son they’ve raised!” Mr. Wang pointed at Jiang Ruotang’s forehead.

The English teacher exchanged a helpless glance with Mr. Song and shook her head.

Even the biology teacher, who’d just returned from washing his lunchbox, muttered under his breath, “Is this such a big deal? You have no evidence and you’re already suspecting him—of course he’s going to talk back.”

But Mr. Wang was determined to crush Jiang Ruotang’s arrogance and insisted Mr. Song call his parents.

With no choice, Mr. Song dialed Jiang Huaiyuan’s phone first—but Jiang Huaiyuan was off fishing in the mountains with a producer. All he got was: “The number you have dialed is out of service range. Please try again later.”

Jiang Ruotang exhaled slightly in relief. Thank God they couldn’t reach Jiang Huaiyuan.

His dad was useless outside of the set—spineless and timid, he’d be no help at all.

Mr. Song also let out a quiet breath of relief. Not being able to reach Jiang Ruotang’s father gave Mr. Wang an excuse to let this go.

But Mr. Wang wouldn’t give up. “Then call Zhao Changfeng’s mother! If we can’t reach his father, let’s see if his stepmother even cares!”

Thanks to Lin Lu’s past stories about “stepmothers’ bitter hearts and roots of gall,” the whole school thought Jiang Ruotang and Zhao Yunshu didn’t get along. If his stepmother was called, wouldn’t this be a disaster waiting to happen?

Meng Yang and his gang all looked like they were ready to enjoy the show.

All thanks to Jiang Ruotang—Mr. Wang’s anger was no longer focused on them.

In the office, Zhao Yunshu picked up Mr. Song’s call and immediately grabbed her bag to rush over.

Luckily, the company’s internal audit had just finished, and Zhao Yunshu was relatively free. As she walked to the parking lot, she handed over some final tasks to the assistant manager and headed straight for school. Her instincts told her that Jiang Ruotang was being wronged.

She knew that with Jiang Ruotang’s wit and mouth, he wouldn’t lose easily to a teacher. But no matter what, students and teachers were inherently unequal—some matters had to be handled by parents.

Once Mr. Song hung up, Mr. Wang noticed the looks exchanged among the other teachers in the office. He finally realized he’d gone overboard.

He had always disliked Jiang Ruotang. His emotions had gotten the better of him during questioning. Now he couldn’t find a way to back down.

Less than thirty minutes later, Zhao Yunshu arrived at the grade office in a sharp black suit.

As soon as she entered, she saw Jiang Ruotang, Cai Ji, Meng Yang, and a row of other students standing there—a real spectacle.

Jiang Ruotang had his hands stuffed in his pockets, clearly annoyed for a long time.

“Teachers, I’m Zhao Yunshu, Jiang Ruotang’s mother. If I’m not mistaken, parents are usually called when students get into serious trouble. But before coming, I got a text from my son saying he did well on his exams. So—what exactly is the urgent matter that required calling me here?”

As Zhao Yunshu spoke, her voice was crisp and full of presence—like a boss lady straight out of a drama. Completely different from the humble, apologetic mother who once came to school over Zhao Changfeng’s poor grades. Now, she carried an air of pride for her stepson.

The office fell silent. The English and physics teachers, who had no class in the next period, stayed to watch.

In truth, most of the teachers thought Mr. Wang was in the wrong—jumping to conclusions without evidence was inappropriate. Plus, he was always stubborn and old-fashioned, constantly criticizing the younger teachers’ modern teaching methods. Everyone secretly hoped someone would put him in his place.

Mr. Wang had been counting on Mr. Song to smooth things over—but Mr. Song stood silently by, clearly unwilling to help.

This was awkward beyond words.

Zhao Yunshu continued coldly: “I left work and rushed here immediately because of Mr. Song’s call. I’ve always respected teachers’ work. But now that I’m here, no one is explaining what happened? Is a parent’s time not valuable?”

Mr. Wang, face stiff, realized he had no good way out. After thinking for half an hour, the only fault he could pin on Jiang Ruotang was his “bad attitude.”

He cleared his throat and spoke with a hard face: “The grade is investigating a cheating incident from the monthly exams. We called Jiang Ruotang in for questioning, but he repeatedly talked back and refused to cooperate. That’s why we summoned his parents for discipline!”

Zhao Yunshu immediately understood—this wasn’t about something her stepson did wrong. Most likely, the teacher couldn’t save face and wanted to make a show for the parent.

Meng Yang chuckled quietly. As a fellow basketball player with Zhao Changfeng, he was sure Zhao Yunshu would use this chance to crush Jiang Ruotang’s pride—after all, she was his “evil stepmother,” right?

But Zhao Yunshu turned to Mr. Wang and said sharply: “According to what Mr. Song told me, our Ruotang already told you multiple times he did not cheat. You kept asking the same question, humiliating him—and yet he answered you repeatedly and did not storm out. Isn’t that respectful enough? Or are teachers allowed to insult students as they please?”

That last line landed heavily.

The English teacher widened her eyes. Meng Yang and his gang gaped. If their parents were here, they would’ve taken the teacher’s side without question, begging forgiveness immediately—no way would they ever dare speak like this.

Cai Ji looked at Jiang Ruotang with shock and envy. Zhao Yunshu hadn’t even been his stepmother for long and was already standing up for him like this.

Mr. Wang opened his mouth, but nothing came out. His voice trembled from anger and embarrassment: “Then how do you explain this kid improving by over a hundred ranks in just one month?”

Zhao Yunshu didn’t even pause. “What else could it be? Hard work, of course! Such a simple answer—do I, as his parent, really need to spell that out for you? Or do you believe students who rank low can never improve?”

Meng Yang and the cheating boys laughed softly.

Mr. Wang’s face darkened further. Hearing their laughter made him completely lose control as he snapped: “Over a hundred places in a month? Where’s the proof that this was due to effort?”

Even as he said it, Mr. Wang knew this was nonsense—but the words were out, impossible to take back.

The English teacher, who’d been silent until now, finally spoke: “Mr. Wang, that’s not right. If someone accused you of stealing, how would you prove you didn’t? Isn’t it the accuser’s job to provide evidence? By your logic, every student who improves must prove they didn’t cheat—people will think our school is insane!”

Mr. Song added: “Mr. Wang, I’ve told you about Jiang Ruotang’s performance in class. Why won’t you believe it?”

Word of what happened in the grade office soon spread back to the class.

Lu Guifan was flipping through some of Jiang Ruotang’s practice sheets when a classmate rushed in, excitedly shouting: “Hey! Did you guys hear? Mr. Wang actually thinks Jiang Ruotang cheated with Meng Yang’s group! No matter how they explain, he won’t let it go—he even called in his stepmom! They’re face-to-face arguing in the office right now!”

The other classmates immediately started gossiping noisily.

“What? Jiang Ruotang cheated? If he doesn’t know something, he’d rather just sleep through the exam!”

“Exactly. He can’t even be bothered to copy answers on practice tests!”

Zhao Changfeng slammed the desk angrily. “That old man Wang is just itching for trouble! Making a fuss over nothing! Lin Lu, didn’t you see it too? Ruotang’s actually been pretty serious about studying lately!”

Lin Lu nodded. “Yeah, Ruotang’s been working hard. Being suspected by Mr. Wang like this… he must feel awful.”

Well, who told him to offend Mr. Wang so many times before?

Mr. Wang was all about saving face. He was probably using this as an excuse to crush Jiang Ruotang’s spirit.

Sitting nearby, Bai Yingchuan stood up, about to leave, but Lin Lu quickly grabbed his sleeve.

“Yingchuan, where are you going? Class is about to start,” Lin Lu asked, looking up.

“I’m going to the grade office to see what’s happening. We all know how hard Ruotang’s been working. If it’s a misunderstanding, someone needs to speak up for him.”

Lin Lu was speechless.

What? Speak up for him? Why bother?

Lin Lu quickly held Bai Yingchuan back. “Yingchuan, Mr. Wang must be furious right now. If we speak up for Ruotang, we’ll just make him lose more face. He’ll remember it. Our reputation as good students won’t survive that.”

He’d worked so hard to build his good student image—he wasn’t going to ruin it for Jiang Ruotang. Besides, Mr. Wang was all about saving face. Anyone who spoke for Ruotang would surely end up blacklisted.

But Bai Yingchuan said indifferently, “If he wrongly accuses someone first, then isn’t losing face what he deserves?”

Lin Lu’s gaze turned anxious. “Yingchuan, if your mom finds out you did this, she’ll be furious. After that, whatever you want to do—she won’t let you.”

Those words—“she’ll be furious”—landed heavily on Bai Yingchuan’s heart.

Just a few months ago, Bai Yingchuan had refused to accompany Bai Yue to a dinner meeting, and she’d had her manager cancel all his favorite gigs in retaliation.

Seeing Bai Yingchuan freeze, Lin Lu knew he’d hit his weak spot. He quickly offered him a way out: “Even if you want to speak up for Ruotang, shouldn’t we figure out why Mr. Wang thinks he cheated first? After all, we weren’t in the same exam room as him.”

Sure enough, Bai Yingchuan sat back down, his face darkening.

At that moment, someone passing by Jiang Ruotang’s desk coldly tossed out a line: “He wouldn’t bother cheating.”

Lin Lu and Bai Yingchuan turned to see Lu Guifan’s departing figure, clutching a thick stack of scratch paper and worksheets.

“So fake.” Zhao Changfeng rolled his eyes at Bai Yingchuan and Lin Lu and stood up. After all, this was his brother—how could he not go support him?

But unexpectedly, Jian Sha across the aisle stood up too and pushed Zhao Changfeng back into his seat.

“Don’t you go. You’ll just make it worse. I’ll check it out.”

Jian Sha was the English class rep—a model student in the teachers’ eyes.

Meanwhile, in the grade office, invisible tension hung thick in the air. Mr. Wang hadn’t expected Zhao Yunshu—always polite and respectful before—to come with such overwhelming presence this time.

Just then, the office door knocked.

Everyone turned to look. It was Lu Guifan standing outside.

“Mr. Wang, Mr. Song, I have something to report.”

Seeing it was Lu Guifan, Mr. Wang’s expression immediately softened, and even his voice grew gentler.

“Lu Guifan, what is it?”

Lu Guifan stepped in. From the corner of his eye, he caught the anger and frustration on Jiang Ruotang’s face. But his own tone remained calm, a stark contrast to the tense atmosphere in the room.