CH 97

The students, who had cell phones, were still playing with their phones as they headed downstairs. After all, there was a manifold of information and rumors online, and many people wrote angry execrations and insults directed at the school. The school did delete the post after all, which incurred the ire of angry netizens. The school also didn’t clarify the matter.

Miaomiao also perused the top post. Some netizens were already threatening to come down there and beat up that boy.

Real life was a place where people were hesitant to speak up about this incident, but when people were online, they were less hesitant to tolerate such disgusting incidents since the internet shielded them from harm.

Miaomiao counted the students from her class after their arrival to the school playground. A teacher already stood next to the podium.

The ceremony today would’ve been the oath-taking ceremony for the third-year students. Normally, students from their first and second years were not required to attend.

This incident caused them to reevaluate their plans. They changed this oath-taking ceremony into a lecture.

Miaomiao sat on the lawn in the middle of the playground along with her other classmates. She heard the teachers utter some statements from the podium, “A person has only one life”, “Become worthy of your parents”, and “Step back and broaden your horizons.” 

Miaomiao sat there and endured listening to their trite words of encouragement for a long time, and then she heard them say, “You will understand when you graduate from here. When you enter society, you will face even more problems. Society is harsh and merciless, and you cannot escape from it. Furthermore, you cannot extricate yourselves from any problems that society throws at you. If the problem becomes too difficult, then escape is nigh-impossible. You have lived in the ivory tower for too long…” 

She could already already hear some students whispering to each other.

Miaomiao stood up and said nonchalantly but sonorously, “If I understand your words correctly, teacher, you are telling us to actively face our problems and solve our own problems instead of avoiding them if such obstacles revealed themselves to us. But, teacher, you yourself have given us no solutions to these quandaries. What should I do, for instance, if some people decided to, for instance, incessantly humiliate or even slander me for two years straight? To me, it’s much more meaningful to implement some specific steps beforehand to forestall our problems. That would be much more useful than simply stating things like “think positively” or other trite, useless statements like that.”

The teacher was shocked and remained speechless for a while. But he had his reputation to consider; he couldn’t just say that he didn’t know the solution in front of so many students; otherwise, he would have no authority over them, so he replied, “You should think about whether or not you had offended the other party. There are so many students. Why do they only target you and not the other students?”

“Okay, the first step is to do some sort of self-evaluation, right? So what if I did that? I grew up working hard to get to where I am. I lived frugally and didn’t squander my money, so I should be fine in this regard. What’s the second step?”

The third-year students were also gathered on the playground. No one spoke, but they still observed this scene in silence.

When the principal noticed that the conversation had gone awry, he interposed himself into the conversation, took the microphone and said, “Student Miaomiao, you could ask further questions in private.”

Miaomiao clenched her fists. She could hear her heartbeat, but the nervosity within her heart wasn’t as strong as the indignation she felt, “I think today’s educational theme should be about how to deal with one’s frustrations and problems. You should teach everyone how to deal with life’s insurmountable difficulties. I strongly believe that the solutions to life’s challenges can’t be summed up in several words. Mumbo jumbo, such as staying positive and solving our own problems, are completely useless; they only serve to shift the blame onto the victims so that the ones in charge don’t have to deal with the fallout. Perhaps I am stupid, so I hope there are specific steps and solutions.”

Zhou Yuan observed Miaomiao while she stood up and said that. He realized that she had changed. This stunned him for a transient moment; then, he opened his mouth and said, “The teachers already know the solution. They could solve this within minutes. They just don’t want to.”

None of the high school students were stupid. Almost everyone had already read that post by now.

With the exception of that class who tried to come up with excuses for their incessant bullying of the girl, everyone else agreed with the angry netizens.

Humans were inherently obedient, especially towards people of lofty statuses such as the rich and powerful.

Since several rich and powerful people bullied that poor girl in their class, everyone had to follow along and do the same, and if they didn’t follow along, then they would also be considered social outcasts and become additional victims for their bullying and harassment. Everyone did like to brownnose the rich and powerful, and everyone did try desperately to ingratiate themselves with them to win their favor.

Even the people who merely teased her and didn’t directly bully her felt little to no guilt since they believed that everyone did the same.

Since the other students in their school perused the post for the first time as well as the netizens’ comments, their emotions naturally gravitated towards aiding the poor girl, perhaps even avenging her.

As the teacher spoke, the students naturally wanted to hurl ire-filled imprecations at him, but they weren’t brave enough to do so. The teacher tried to defend the reputation of his school by stating that the girl had committed suicide because of her fragility and weakness within her heart, but he didn’t mention the instances of harassment and bullying at all. He didn’t want the outside world to know. However, due to various reasons, it was nigh-impossible to confront the teacher. Perhaps it was because this type of occurrence had never happened, or perhaps they were afraid that the teacher would become vengeful and make life difficult for them. 

The teacher’s speech almost persuaded a different group of students to his side. 

But after Miaomiao had stood up and interposed herself into the teacher’s speech, only several thoughts floated into the minds of the other students.

Valiant!

Gallant!

Brave!

Miaomiao obdurately peered at the teacher on the podium, “The teacher doesn’t know the solution; therefore, I have to come up with one myself. Should I fight them? Challenge them? I can’t win; there are too many of them. Should I call the police to investigate? Perhaps, I have to speak with a teacher next, but what if that teacher also believes that I’m at fault? What should I do then? I can’t transfer to another school because this is the high school of my dreams, so what should I do?”

Miaomiao’s heart was full of complexities. It was hard for her to imagine the kind of desperation that drove Ji Hao to take her own life.

Ji Hao probably thought that she only had to endure for a little while longer since it was her senior year. She could immediately leave after her final exams. But she wasn’t able to endure her peers’ constant abuse and harassment.

In Miaomiao’s opinion, Ji Hao wasn’t a fragile girl, but it has been over two years of constant abuse…She probably had enough.

“Teacher, what should I do next? Can you offer us any advice? Should I just continue reflecting on my own flaws?” Miaomiao forced herself to ask.

At this point, the teacher on the podium handed the microphone to the principal and abruptly ended the speech.

Everyone else dispersed, but the girls from Miaomiao’s class gathered around her and uttered words of praise, “Class president. You’re so valiant!”

“Class president, you were so gallant just now!”

“Class president, is the class teacher going to talk to you in private?”

This excited group of girls completely jostled Zhou Yuan out of the picture, which forced him to watch from the sidelines.

Miaomiao replied, “It’s okay. I’m not afraid.”

However, something unexpected happened. Mother Hua came looking for Miaomiao first, not the principal.

“Class president, your mother is looking for you.”

Mother Hua hugged Miaomiao and uttered, “Today, I was scared.”

Mother Hua was busy, so she didn’t see the news on the Internet. As a result, she was quite surprised when Miaomiao’s teacher called her. “A girl in our school jumped off the building…” was the preamble in her message.

Mother Hua was so terrified that her heart almost stopped.

“Did the headteacher call you?” Miaomiao asked when she departed the classroom.

“Well, she already told me everything.”

Miaomiao dilated her eyes and looked at Mother Hua ruefully, “Mom, I just stated what was in my heart…”

“I know. Miaomiao is a good child. I’m here to bring you lunch. You haven’t been home for two weeks, and I miss you as well.” Mother Hua ruffled her hair, “I already knew that you had a strong sense of justice. Even during your childhood, you possessed the same qualities. I’m so proud of you.”

Society might not tolerate her sense of justice, but society was a farce anyways. If anything, she had to become even more gallant and just precisely because society frowned upon it.

Miaomiao heaved a sigh of relief and grabbed her lunch, “Mom. I’ll eat lunch with you!”

When she returned to her classroom after finishing her lunch, Miaomiao realized that Zhou Yuan wasn’t there.

At first, she thought that he just went outside for something, but she didn’t expect that Zhou Yuan’s absence would continue all the way to their first class in the afternoon.

Miaomiao found it a little strange.

Where is he?