Chapter 002: Nine-Life Virgin

Lin Feng rolled out of bed and pressed his ear against the bedroom door.

"Teacher Lei, please sit down and have some tea." Lin Jingye's expression was somewhat uneasy. He knew his son's situation, and a visit from the homeroom teacher was probably not good news.

"Hmph! I won't be drinking any tea. I came here today to talk to you about Lin Feng," Thunder Tiger plopped down on the sofa with a dark expression. "Lin Feng refuses to study at school and drags down the entire class. That would be one thing, but now he's getting worse—fighting over girls and causing trouble at school."

"That can't be right?" Lin Jingye adjusted his glasses and looked at Thunder Tiger with doubt. "Lin Feng may not love studying, but fighting? That doesn't sound like him."

"Whether it's true or not, just ask your son! In any case, I can't teach this wonderful son you've raised. Tomorrow, you parents should come to school and process his withdrawal!"

In Thunder Tiger's mind, Lin Feng was basically beyond saving. Being able to remove Lin Feng from his classroom was exactly what he wanted. He stood up, glanced around left and right, and said in a mocking tone, "I see your family's living conditions aren't that great. Is that TV still black and white? Qinglan Middle School's tuition is so expensive—I think you should just let Lin Feng drop out and start working to lighten the family's burden."

Seeing Thunder Tiger's tone full of contempt, Yang Huiru's expression gradually darkened. Though their family was poor, that didn't mean they could be insulted by anyone.

"Our family doesn't really watch TV anyway." Lin Jingye tugged at Yang Huiru's sleeve and explained awkwardly.

But Yang Huiru pushed Lin Jingye aside and looked at Thunder Tiger neither humbly nor arrogantly. "Teacher Lei, we don't steal or rob. What's wrong with living a simple life?"

"You..."

Thunder Tiger was greatly shocked. As a homeroom teacher, which parent wasn't enthusiastic toward him?

Especially parents of poor students—when he, Thunder Tiger, came to their door, they were always submissive and deferential. Yet this Lin Feng's mother actually dared to talk back to him?

As a homeroom teacher, if parents didn't care about his position, then he was no different from an ordinary worker. This was the first time Thunder Tiger had been put in his place by a student's parent. His face turned livid with anger as he sneered coldly, "I won't waste words with you people. This is simply unreasonable. Lin Feng doesn't need to come back to school. You can come process the paperwork tomorrow."

"Teacher Lei, are you trying to persuade Lin Feng to withdraw, or are you expelling him? If you're trying to persuade him to withdraw, please leave. We don't agree!"

"I'm expelling him!"

"You're expelling him? Let's not even discuss whether you have the authority to expel him on behalf of the school. Even if you did, you'd need to provide sufficient reasons!" Thunder Tiger was only 160 centimeters tall, while Yang Huiru was just over 160. She removed her apron, walked up to Thunder Tiger, and looked down at him. "We've visited your home plenty during holidays, haven't we? If you dare expel Lin Feng, I'll report you to the Education Bureau for accepting red envelopes from students' parents."

"Oh my!"

Being looked down upon by a woman was not a pleasant feeling. Thunder Tiger retreated several steps, trembling with rage. He pointed at Yang Huiru, jabbing his finger in the air repeatedly. After a long while, he finally caught his breath and said, "Fine, fine, fine! Then I'll give Lin Feng one more chance. The day after tomorrow is the math test. If he fails, don't blame me!"

After saying this, Thunder Tiger turned and left. When he reached the door, as if remembering something, he turned back and said, "Feel free to report me to the Education Bureau then. I won't admit to anything."

Lin Feng knew that after such an incident, the usual ideological lecture was inevitable. Moreover, since this involved fighting over a girl, there would probably be extra sessions.

However, what Lin Feng didn't expect was that this time his parents didn't come looking for him. After Thunder Tiger left, the living room fell into a long silence.

"Sigh!" Lin Jingye sighed, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag.

"Why are you sighing?" Yang Huiru smiled, though her tone carried a trace of bitterness she couldn't hide. "Whether what Teacher Lei said is true or not, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. If Teacher Lei is lying, it proves Xiao Feng is innocent. If it's true, it proves Xiao Feng has grown up."

Lin Jingye was silent for a moment before saying, "Huiru, have we been thinking about this wrong?"

"Weren't you the one who said 'In books there are houses of gold, in books there are beauties like jade'?"

Lin Jingye shook his head. "I went through great hardship to send Xiao Feng to Qinglan Middle School, hoping he could receive a better education there and get ahead through studying. But looking at Teacher Lei's attitude, he must have given Xiao Feng plenty of grief at school. A school like that—better not to attend! However, if Xiao Feng fails the math test the day after tomorrow and gets expelled, we'll still need to transfer him to another school. We won't put any more pressure on him, but no matter what, we need to let him at least graduate from college. Otherwise, when he enters society later, he might face discrimination."

Yang Huiru's eyes grew moist as she smiled. "I'm glad you've come around. If the child isn't cut out for it, forcing him will only make him suffer."

After making this decision, Lin Jingye felt much more relaxed. He took a drag from his cigarette and said, "That's right. Aside from his grades, Xiao Feng is pretty good in other aspects..."

In middle school, Lin Feng's grades were above average. With those grades, getting into a high school wouldn't have been a problem at all, but getting into Qinglan Middle School was far from enough.

Qinglan Middle School—whether in terms of teaching staff, facilities, or acceptance rates—ranked solidly in the city's top three. Two years ago, they even produced the province's top scorer in the College Entrance Examination.

To ensure their acceptance rate, Qinglan Middle School set a relatively high cutoff score when admitting new first-year students. Those who didn't meet the admission cutoff but still wanted to attend Qinglan Middle School had to pay a school selection fee of one thousand yuan per point below the cutoff.

Lin Feng had been more than thirty points short back then. Over thirty points—that meant over thirty thousand yuan in school selection fees. Although he had repeatedly insisted he didn't want to go to Qinglan Middle School, Lin Jingye had still sent him there, even going into debt to do so.

One could imagine how much hope Lin Jingye had placed in Lin Feng.

At the beginning of the school year, Lin Feng had also thought about studying hard. But on the very first day of school, just for making a small gesture, he was mercilessly mocked by Thunder Tiger. In that instant, Lin Feng's beautiful aspirations shattered like bubbles. At sixteen, right in the midst of his rebellious years, after his self-esteem suffered such a blow, Lin Feng chose an extreme path—he gave up on himself.

Shaking his head, a bitter smile curved Lin Feng's lips. If only he had chosen to endure the humiliation and work hard back then, today would probably be a completely different story, wouldn't it?

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