Chapter 33 - knock sb. down with one slap

On the other side, Lu Liang arrived at the Primary School Affiliated to Normal University. He waited at the school gate for a while, called Zhang Yun's headteacher to confirm his identity, and was finally let in by the doorman. Zhang Qian doted on her daughter and never hesitated to spend money on her. She had once bought a shabby old apartment for over three million yuan just to secure Zhang Yun a place at this school. While not the absolute best primary school in the city, it easily ranked among the top ten in Shanghai, boasting an excellent campus environment and faculty. Crossing the lush green track, Lu Liang made his way to the Academic Affairs Office. From a distance, he spotted Zhang Yun standing all alone in the corner, staring down at her toes. As soon as he stepped inside, he heard the shrill voice of the shrew he'd heard on the phone, hurling insults: "A child this young, with such a vicious streak—completely unruly and ill-bred!" "Auntie, Zhao Jiaqi bullied me first! Why aren't you saying anything about him?" Zhang Yun bit her lip tightly, her face set in stubborn resolve. She was far less fragile on the inside than she appeared. "How dare you talk back to me!" The woman flew into a rage, raising her hand to slap Zhang Yun across the face. "Watch your mouth—and keep your hands to yourself! Stop acting like a hysterical shrew!" Lu Liang strode forward quickly and knocked her arm away. "Uncle Lu!" Zhang Yun looked up, her face lighting up with joy. She darted over to him like a lifeline, clinging tightly to his thigh. "Mr. Lu Liang, isn't it?" The teacher asked, stepping forward. "Could you please get in touch with Zhang Yun's mother?" "Her mother asked me to come and handle this…" Lu Liang's voice trailed off, his expression suddenly darkening. He spotted three bright red, almost purple, finger marks on the right side of Zhang Yun's face, near her ear. The size of the marks made it clear they hadn't come from a child's hand. Lu Liang's voice dropped to a cold growl. "Who did this?" The teacher's heart sank. She hurried to explain, "Mr. Lu, please calm down. Ms. Liang just lost her temper a little earlier." Lu Liang knelt down in front of Zhang Yun, pointed at the woman beside them, and asked gently, "Xiao Guai, did she hit you?" Zhang Yun's emotions suddenly overflowed. "It's not fair… Zhao Jiaqi called me names first! He pushed me first! I didn't do anything wrong!" "Don't cry. Uncle will sort this out for you," Lu Liang said, his heart aching for the little girl. He turned to the teacher. "Ms. Lin, the school has security cameras, right? What really happened here?" The woman, fearing retaliation, took a cautious step back. But when Lu Liang made no move to attack her, a flicker of contempt crossed her face. She suddenly exploded, her voice shrill with rage: "No matter what happened, there's no excuse for her scratching my son's face like this! Look at him—he's practically disfigured!" Standing beside her was a little boy with a few faint scratch marks on his face—nothing compared to the marks on Zhang Yun's cheek. "Mr. Lu, it was just a silly quarrel between kids," Ms. Lin said carefully, choosing her words to downplay the incident and sweep the truth under the rug. As a teacher, she wanted nothing more than to smooth things over and make the problem disappear. "So what you're saying is, my kid did nothing wrong?" Lu Liang asked, having already pieced together the whole story. Zhang Yun had inherited her mother's good looks, growing up as an adorable, doll-like child—naturally attracting the admiration of the boys around her. The little boy had a crush on Zhang Yun and wanted to play with her, but she'd turned him down. His infatuation had quickly curdled into resentment. He'd messed up her schoolbag, scribbled all over her textbooks, and deliberately tripped her, trying everything he could to get her attention. Zhang Yun had endured it all as long as she could—until she'd finally snapped. At this age, girls were often taller and more physically aggressive than boys. "Kids will be kids, after all," Lu Liang said softly. Then, without warning, he raised his arm and slammed his palm across the woman's face. "But why did you, an adult, have to get involved?" Crack! The sharp sound of the slap echoed through the room. The woman was sent sprawling to the floor, her head spinning. Everyone in the office froze in stunned silence. No one had expected Lu Liang—who had seemed so calm and reasonable just moments ago—to suddenly snap and lash out. The force of a grown man's full-armed slap was brutal. The woman's cheek instantly swelled up like a pig's head. Her tear ducts seemed to burst open, and she dissolved into a flood of tears and snot, screaming at the top of her lungs: "Help! Murder! Someone call the police!" The little boy standing beside her was so terrified he froze, his whole body trembling as tears streamed down his face. The only two male teachers in the office rushed forward to restrain Lu Liang. "Mr. Lu, please calm down!" "I'm sorry. I lost my temper for a moment. That was inappropriate," Lu Liang said, a faint, cold smile playing on his lips. He made no attempt to resist, watching calmly as the woman fumbled for her phone and dialed the police. He knelt down again, gently stroking the back of Xiao Guai's head. "If someone hits you, and you're not in the wrong—you hit them back hard." Tears glistened in the little girl's eyes as she nodded vigorously. Ms. Lin frowned deeply. "Mr. Lu, that's a terrible way to teach a child." "And what about you? Are you saying you did nothing wrong here?" Lu Liang shot back, his voice sharp with anger. The mere thought of what had happened made his blood boil. "All of you stood by and watched her get slapped in the face, and all you could say was 'calm down' and 'don't be hasty'! It's not your child getting hurt, so of course you don't care! You're nothing but a disgrace to the teaching profession!" He'd seen the teachers' obvious bias toward the woman. When Zhang Yun had been slapped, no one had stood up for her—not even bothering to get her some ointment for her swollen cheek. But the moment he'd slapped the woman to the ground, even the school principal had rushed over to fuss over her. Ms. Lin was left tongue-tied, her face turning a sickly shade of red and white. As the headteacher, she was well aware of the family backgrounds of both children—and had simply chosen to side with the less troublesome party. The police station was just a stone's throw from the school. The officers arrived almost immediately after receiving the call. "Officer! Finally! It's him!" The woman wailed, clutching her swollen cheek as she pointed at Lu Liang, her eyes twisted with malice. "Arrest him! Hurry!" Seeing the police, she suddenly found her courage, screaming accusations of Lu Liang's "vicious assault." "Let's all go back to the station to sort this out. No more trouble here at the school," one of the officers said, frowning. But inwardly, he breathed a sigh of relief. When they'd first received the call, the station chief had panicked—after all, the woman had screamed that someone was being murdered on school grounds. Thankfully, it was just a petty dispute between parents. If a murder had actually happened on school property in their jurisdiction, the entire police station would have been disgraced. Lu Liang took Zhang Yun's hand and followed the officers to the police station. On the way, he called Meng Changkun to ask if he knew any good law firms. Meng Changkun answered immediately, his voice full of concern. "What's going on? Are you okay?" "It's nothing serious. Just got into a little argument with someone and accidentally slapped her," Lu Liang said matter-of-factly. "Let me know if you need anything. I'll send you the contact info for a law firm—they handle civil, criminal, and commercial cases, you name it." Meng Changkun texted him the number for Jincheng Law Firm, which handled most of his company's commercial disputes. Lu Liang thanked him and hung up. A moment later, he got through to Zhang Qian, who rushed over as soon as she heard what had happened. She pulled her daughter into a tight hug, her eyes filling with tears as she stared at the marks on Zhang Yun's face. She looked up at Lu Liang, her voice choked with gratitude. "Brother Liang… thank you." She explained why she hadn't answered her phone earlier—she'd been out running errands, and her phone had died with nowhere to charge it. "It's no big deal," Lu Liang said with a faint smile. He knew enough about the law to know that this was a trivial matter—nowhere near serious enough to file criminal charges. It would probably just cost him a little money to settle. A short while later, Ye Wei from Jincheng Law Firm arrived at the police station. He pulled Lu Liang aside to ask, "Mr. Lu, would you prefer to settle this matter privately, or take it through the official legal channels?" "Either way is fine with me," Lu Liang said with a grin, loud enough for the woman to hear. "I already got the anger out of my system." The woman flew into a fresh rage, grabbing one of the officers by the arm and screaming, "Officer! Look at how arrogant he is!" "Ms. Liang, let go of me at once," the officer snapped, shaking her off. He turned to Lu Liang with a scowl. "Mr. Lu, please refrain from provoking her further." Anyone who called a lawyer this quickly was not someone to be messed with. And the woman's relentless screeching was giving him a massive headache. "Alright, alright," Lu Liang said, shrugging. He handed the matter over to Ye Wei to deal with. Pulling out his phone, he opened the shopping list Tang Caidie had sent him: five computers, two printers… It listed more than twenty different office supplies, with estimated prices next to each item.