Time passed day by day, the judgment had come into effect, the school had paid the money, but there was still no movement regarding an apology.
Old Tang never bothered to contact the other party; it was pointless. Some people only engage in conversation after they've felt the pain, so if that's the case, there's no need for idle chatter.
Choosing an auspicious day on the legal calendar, Old Tang posted the original text of the judgment, which only contained the lines about the school paying and making a public apology, to his long-dormant social media account.
He accompanied the post with the comment, "You teach the children every day that they must admit their mistakes when they make them, but when you make a mistake, you refuse to acknowledge it?"
Old Tang hadn't posted online in a very long time, so much so that many people had almost forgotten about this internet celebrity.
Therefore, initially, the traffic wasn't very high.
But soon, "I like to play with colors" reposted Old Tang's message and included a picture with it.
It was the classic contrast image from the brother who likes to play with colors: on the left was a classroom picture with a teacher kindly saying, "It's still good to correct your mistakes."
On the right was a cartoon picture, with the school personified, shouting, "I won't change, what can you do about it?"
The caption with the picture read, "So the question is, is the school really a good school? o(* ̄) ̄*)o"
Once this picture came out, especially given that the brother who likes to play with colors regularly updated with cartoons and had a following, the heat suddenly rose.
As some comments put it, "the brother who plays with colors hits the soul with his contrast every time."
In the Bright District's Department of Education, Lou Yandong was chatting with his superiors, having reported everything to them.
Putting a lid on things was situational; it was acceptable within the education system to suppress such issues.
Nowadays, that's generally how things were done, refuting commitments, and in this case, Lou Yandong was just the unlucky one.
"Director Wang, I can assure you there will be no issues on my end. I've paid the money according to the judgment and have confirmed with friends in the judicial system that there won't be a public apology on my part, as the court will issue an announcement for an apology," he said.
Amidst all the chaos, the education authorities of Jingzhou City released a notice.
Lou Yandong, the principal of No. 57 Middle School, and Kang Fengwei, the vice-principal, were removed from their posts!
Of course, the netizens weren't naive anymore; they all knew that being removed from a post wasn't a form of punishment. However, the notice also stated that an accountability system had been initiated and subsequent actions would be publicly disclosed in a timely manner.
At the very least, this showed an attitude.
In their rural hometown in Lüzhou, the Liu couple, who had taken leave from their work committee to take their children back home for a mountain and water getaway, were stunned when they saw the online announcement.
Wasn't it supposed to be just a public apology from the school?
Why were the school's main leaders now dismissed, with further punishment to follow?
What kind of behavior was this, and was Old Tang truly fearless?
At No. 57 Middle School, Teacher Sun looked at the notice and suddenly burst into tears. The school leaders were going to be disciplined, and she, as a teacher, would surely not be exempt. The new principal would likely discipline her as the first order of business.
A few days passed, and Li Zixin's case moved into the prosecution review phase, suspected of multiple charges.
Zhang Wei naturally lost Guan Qiaolian's trust. She didn't care about the rest; her son initially faced only one charge, but your fiddling has led to four charges now!
Zhang Wei, feeling dejected, returned to the law firm. He suddenly realized that he seemed to have the feel of a harbringer of doom.
Old Tang didn't go on the day of the sentencing; even if he had, he couldn't enter the courtroom. But from what he heard through the grapevine, Li Zixin was sentenced to ten years in prison.
That was already a lenient sentence considering his status as a minor...
As for the other boy, he was sentenced to three years; thus, aside from the girl who received a suspended sentence for lesser involvement, all other bullies went in to learn a trade.
Li Zixin's mother, Guan Qiaolian, attempted to bribe the judge and caused a conflict with him, resulting in a fifteen-day administrative detention.