NOVPUBThen came the speeches from the leadership. Shen Yuan also gave a brief address, and finally, Shen Yuan and Wei Zhuo jointly pulled down the red ribbon, revealing the name of the teaching building.
With a loud "bang," two student council officers fired off party cannons.
Honestly, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was just a formality. It was obvious that Wei Zhuo was more interested in maintaining his relationship with Shen Yuan, so he booked a private dining room at a restaurant for the evening and invited him for dinner.
Shen Yuan knew he couldn't avoid it today, so he agreed.
Earlier in the afternoon, Wei Zhuo had refrained from scolding anyone in front of so many students on the sports field. But this time, he went all out and harshly reprimanded Tang Hong, the Deputy Secretary of the Youth League Committee.
"You call yourself a school leader and can't even discipline your own nephew? Before we educators start teaching others, shouldn't we reflect on whether the kids in our own family have been properly taught?"
Tang Hong lowered his head and admitted, "Principal Wei, you're absolutely right. This is my fault."
Watching this scene, Shen Yuan thought to himself, Wei Zhuo was quite the cunning old fox. Full of thunder but no rain—did they really think he couldn't tell?
Not long after, the deputy dean of the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering was also dragged out to take a beating.
"Deputy Dean Lei, Zhao Fei is one of your students. It seems you haven't even done the basic job expected of you as a deputy dean…"
Deputy Dean Lei bowed his head and endured the scolding, all the while thinking to himself, "Even this gets pinned on me? That little bastard Zhao Fei sure knows how to get into trouble."
"Seriously, I'd rather offend an actual dean than cross paths with that kid."
"Fine, later I'll just toast Mr. Shen a couple more times."
By the third round of drinks, Wei Zhuo clinked glasses with Shen Yuan again. "Mr. Shen, about the graduate school recommendation…"
Shen Yuan smiled and said, "Principal Wei, what I said earlier this afternoon was just out of anger. A graduate recommendation at Nanzhong University? That's exactly what I hope for."
"Good, good, good! I'll drink to that!"
"......"
While Shen Yuan was drinking and chatting with the leadership team at Nanzhong University, things weren't going so smoothly for Zhao Fei and Gao Hongyi.
That afternoon, after being taken to the security office by the director, they were interrogated relentlessly.
Zhao Fei tried to exaggerate the story, but the director's sharp eyes saw right through him. On top of that, Gao Hongyi kept giving him warning looks.
The director recorded everything, gave them a thorough lecture, and then called their respective counselors.
After writing self-criticism letters, the counselors finally took them away.
But that wasn't the end of it. Back at the office, the counselors gave them another harsh scolding.
By the time they returned to their dormitory, it was already 8 PM, and their stomachs were growling with hunger.
"Judging by what the counselor said, is it true they're going to issue a formal criticism?"
Zhao Fei asked despondently. He'd never felt so humiliated in his life.
"Yeah," Gao Hongyi replied, just as annoyed. The whole incident earlier in the afternoon could have been completely avoided.
"Should we try pulling some strings to get the formal criticism canceled?"
Zhao Fei felt it'd be incredibly humiliating to be formally criticized. After all, they'd already been disciplined and had written their self-criticisms. For several hours, they'd been berated so thoroughly that they hadn't even dared to lift their heads.
Gao Hongyi's expression turned cold. "Are you out of your mind? A formal criticism is already the lightest penalty possible. What connections are you even thinking of pulling?"
Gao Hongyi was so angry that he even cursed. "And besides, even my uncle can't smooth this over. Do you really think your family or your uncle could do any better?"
Zhao Fei, completely deflated, lowered his head and remained silent.
They ate and returned to the dormitory, and by then, it was already 9 PM. After thinking for a while, Gao Hongyi finally decided to call his uncle, Tang Hong.
The call connected quickly. Gao Hongyi said, "Uncle, I'm sorry to trouble you. About what happened today…"
Tang Hong cut him off. "I already know how today's events started. You need to reflect on this and make sure it doesn't happen again. I assume you've already been educated and criticized, so I won't say more. But remember this: There will always be someone better than you, and just because you got into Nanzhong and your family has some influence, doesn't mean you can look down on others."
Gao Hongyi, who had always been an outstanding student, hung his head in shame. "I understand, Uncle."
"Good. Learn from your mistakes. Principal Wei was initially planning to give you a warning on your record, but Mr. Shen stepped in and it was reduced to a formal criticism instead. He's only a few years older than you, yet he's much more magnanimous."
Gao Hongyi felt even more humiliated, his face turning red. "We'll reflect seriously on what we've done."
"Alright, that's all," Tang Hong said, preparing to hang up.
"Uncle… I, I want to ask, who exactly is that man?"
In the end, Gao Hongyi couldn't hold back his curiosity.
There was a long pause on the other end before Tang Hong finally said, "Let's put it this way: That new teaching building the school just completed? It's named after his foundation."
Gao Hongyi's mouth hung open in shock. "I see…"
"Alright, goodbye."
Zhao Fei, who had been eavesdropping nearby during the call, gulped audibly several times.
"Is today just a cursed day? How on earth did I manage to run into someone like that?"
Shortly after, the formal criticism was officially posted. Both Gao Hongyi and Zhao Fei's names appeared on it.
But the reason for the criticism left Nanzhong students scratching their heads. It stated, "The students lacked clear academic goals and did not make full use of their extracurricular time to enrich themselves. All students at Nanzhong are urged to take this as a warning."
What the hell kind of criticism reason was that?
Of course, the school had carefully considered how to phrase it. Mr. Shen didn't want the situation to escalate or for it to negatively impact Chen Xinyu, so the details of the incident couldn't be disclosed. That's how this bizarre explanation came to be.
However, the students at Nanzhong were in the dark. They assumed the two had done something terrible and only figured out what happened after digging around and learning about the incident on the sports field.
