93 My Words of Warning

Mission accomplished? Not by a long shot.

Zhang Pa put on quite a display, giving the students out in gym class a real lesson in what power looked like, and impressing the hooligans shut out beyond the school gates even more. Those idiots seemed pumped full of adrenaline, screaming themselves hoarse as they shook the gate with all their might, looking as though they meant to storm the school.

The two security guards stood on this side of the gate as if facing a great enemy. With so many people outside, they did not dare shout at them to stop and could only call the principal in a panic.

Zhang Pa strolled over and said, “Are you two idiots? Call the police.”

Only then did the guards react and dial the police.

Calm and composed, Zhang Pa stood by the gate and stared back at the hooligans. Leading the pack was that long-legged girl, shrieking and pointing at him, saying things about killing him for sure.

Zhang Pa said, “If you’ve got the guts, don’t run. I’ve already called the police.”

“Damn it, trying to scare us? Just wait till you come out. We’ll cripple you and make you take our surname,” one tattooed thug cursed.

Zhang Pa said, “Then your surname must be Zhang.”

The police arrived quickly, mainly because No. 119 Middle School had a reputation. Unfortunately, only one patrol car came. Three officers got out and walked forward, barking for the mob to calm down as they went, obviously trying to drive them off rather than make arrests.

The hooligans gave them no respect. The long-legged girl at the front pointed at Zhang Pa and yelled that she had called the police because he had struck someone, and look at how badly he had beaten him, gesturing at Luo Chengcai.

See that? They really did know how the law worked.

Zhang Pa stood still and said nothing.

By then, Sheng Yang and the others had recovered and were standing not far away. They wanted to get out, but the gate was locked tight; only by climbing over it could they leave.

The officers stood outside and asked who had called. Zhang Pa raised his hand and said, “I did. They’re trying to force their way into the school.”

At the sight of seventy or eighty hooligans, the police were in a difficult spot. How were they supposed to arrest that many? If they failed to catch anyone, they might be the ones beaten up.

The thugs, emboldened by their numbers, made a rare show of arrogance, crowding around behind the police in a noisy mass, and not a single one of them left.

Zhang Pa pointed at the long-legged girl and said, “She paid people to come fight. Two hundred apiece. Arrest her, and the rest will scatter.”

The officers looked at Zhang Pa in surprise, wondering how he knew that. But this was no time to discuss it. One of them turned to face the crowd and warned, “Final warning. If you still won’t leave, we’ll have to arrest people.”

“Arrest us then. Like anybody’s afraid of you,” one of the thugs shouted.

This was getting out of hand. One of the officers squeezed out of the crowd, got back into the car, and made a phone call.

What happened next was simple enough. Three more police cars arrived, and more than a dozen officers lined up to make arrests. No matter how many hooligans there were, they could only run unless they truly wanted trouble.

As the main culprits who had led the attack on the school, Sheng Yang, Luo Chengcai, and the long-legged girl were all taken to the police station, then transferred to the detention center in less than half an hour.

In ordinary cases, if something could be handled at the station, it would be handled there; there was no need to make a bigger mess. The detention center was different. Once someone entered that door, it meant criminal detention. This time they had really gone too far. Since persuasion would not work, the authorities decided to lock them up first and talk later.

The long-legged girl tried the same old trick and called her father.

Her father was at his wit’s end. Other people’s daughters studied music or dance, quiet and obedient as could be. How had his own child turned into such a disaster?

But there was no helping it. She was his own flesh and blood, so he could only keep begging others for help.

This time, though, Sheng Yang and Luo Chengcai were the unlucky ones. Both of them had been involved in the two arrests of the long-legged girl, and the nature of this incident was different from the last, so only she was released.

She would not accept it, pleaded with her father, complained bitterly, but none of it helped. Later that day, in a rage, she ran away from home.

That was the long-legged girl’s business. As one of the people involved, Zhang Pa was invited to the police station, where he was given a thorough lecture by the officers. They told him that even if he was a teacher, he could not lay hands on students.

He was lectured for more than two hours. Three different officers took turns giving him a “meeting,” and he did not even get lunch. It was two o’clock in the afternoon before they finally let him go.

Zhang Pa very much wanted to say: I am innocent.

Unfortunately, nobody listened.

As soon as he left the police station, Principal Qin called. “Come to my office.”

Zhang Pa had no choice but to hurry back, where he endured another hour of reeducation. Principal Qin was deeply frustrated, and with utter helplessness in his voice said, “Brother, how many days have you been at work? How many fights have you already been in?”

Zhang Pa said, “Before I came, No. 119 Middle School was fighting every day too.”

The principal said, “Back then it was individual fights. Now it’s group brawls. How can that be the same?”

After enduring the principal’s criticism, school was over.

He went back to the classroom to take a look and found that the whole flock of little monkeys was actually holding a meeting. Zhang Pa opened the door and went in. “What are you talking about?”

“We were thinking of coming to get you out,” Lao Pi replied.

That only made Zhang Pa even more depressed. “You were going to get me out?”

“Yeah. You got arrested by the police, so of course we had to rescue you,” Gao Fei said, standing up. “My family has money.”

Zhang Pa did not know what to say. After thinking for a moment, he pointed at Gao Fei. “Your family’s rich, right? Then this Saturday you put up a thousand yuan, same as last Saturday. We’ll do barbecue.”

The classmates cheered. Gao Fei replied disdainfully, “Fine.”

Yun Zheng was the one who thought it through most carefully and reminded him, “Teacher, that’s you collecting money from students. That’s improper fees.”

“Improper fees my foot. Who did I ask for anything from?” Zhang Pa said. “Other classes all have class funds. Have I ever asked you for one?”

Yun Zheng pressed on, “That’s not the point. Those are two different things. What you did is more serious. If somebody reports you, they’ll say you have poor ethics, poor conduct, and a bad character. You could be disciplined.”

Zhang Pa sighed. “You should become a lawyer someday.”

Then he raised his voice and said to the whole class, “Judging by the morals of all of you, I strongly recommend that you study hard. Why? For your own good. You can take the law exam and find loopholes in the law to do bad things; you can study medicine and memorize the locations of important organs so fighting becomes easier. If you want to kill someone or avoid responsibility, it all depends on what kind of damage you inflict on the other person. Or you can become a police officer, wear a uniform while fighting. How cool is that? And perfectly legal too... So, how’s my advice?”

Yu Yuan shouted, “Teacher, you’re amazing. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard someone talk somebody into studying like that.”

“All right, enough nonsense. School’s over. Go home like good children, and don’t cause trouble. Otherwise I’ll end up back at the police station, and at this rate, where exactly am I working?” Zhang Pa waved a hand. “Dismissed.”

And so school let out. The students left the classroom in laughter and chatter. Lao Pi and the other four waited at the back and asked Zhang Pa, “Bro, heading home?”

Zhang Pa glanced at the time, said sure, told them to go on ahead, and gave them fifty yuan for dinner.

He went to the office to get his computer, then rode off on his bicycle.

He got home first, but as soon as he arrived, he found that the lunatic downstairs was causing trouble again. Wang Baihe’s bastard of a father was wielding a hammer and pliers, prying at the door, while six or seven neighbors stood around watching the spectacle.

The lock was an internal one, so brute force either meant dismantling the whole door or simply smashing through it. Wang Baihe’s bastard father swung the hammer savagely, beating the security door until it warped out of shape.

Zhang Pa parked his bicycle, walked up behind him, and kicked him. Then he landed a punch that sent the man sprawling and called the police.

The police arrived first and asked what had happened.

Zhang Pa said, “He was smashing the door. He was trying to break in and steal.”

The police were very familiar with the Wang Baihe family. On average, someone from that household called the police once a month. In recent days it had been even more frequent.

Truth be told, the police in the Happiness Lane district had terrible luck. They always ran into one bastard after another causing trouble: the old lady Jiang, the expert at staging accidents; Wang Baihe’s family; and then there were Zhang Laosi’s two dogs, which to this day still had not been caught and sent in to relieve their superiors’ worries.

When they saw this familiar troublemaker, even the officers were helpless. He had been smashing the door, yes, but what charge could they possibly put on that? The two policemen could only drag him into the car in frustration.

The man would not accept it. He pointed at Zhang Pa and shouted, “Someone just hit me. I’m going to the hospital. That bastard beat me.”

Zhang Pa said, “I just got here.”

“It was you, it was you, it was you,” the man howled wildly.

Zhang Pa said, “Scream it a hundred times and it still won’t matter. I wasn’t the one who hit you.”

The police did not care who had beaten this miserable excuse for a person. They shoved him into the patrol car and took him away. That was the end of it.

Lao Pi and the others came back from buying groceries and saw the police car drive off. They asked Zhang Pa, “Can’t you lock him up for a year or two?”

Zhang Pa said, “Easy. You just give him ten thousand yuan to steal, leave behind the evidence, and that’s enough to get him sentenced.”

Lao Pi and the others snorted and went upstairs together.

Looking at the door that stayed shut day after day, Zhang Pa was also curious. What exactly were Wang Baihe and her mother doing? He had not seen either of them for a long time.

After thinking it over, he called Wang Baihe. “Your father came again. He was smashing the door with a hammer. The whole thing’s dented.”

“Call the police,” Wang Baihe said.

“I already did. They took him away,” Zhang Pa said. “Just letting you know.”

Wang Baihe thanked him and said, “If you see him again, call the police.”

Zhang Pa smiled. “All right.” He hung up.

Upstairs, the food and drinks were already laid out, standard as before, except the liquor had been replaced with cheap distilled spirits in a plastic bag.

Zhang Pa sat down and said, “You really do have a drinking problem?”

“No problem,” Lao Pi said. “We just drink for fun. Eating by itself would be too boring.”

Zhang Pa smiled. “Fine. Let’s have a drink.”

During the meal, Yun Zheng and the others kept talking about Sheng Yang, asking whether they should find someone to deal with him and the like. Just then, a call came in from a capital city number. Zhang Pa answered it. “Wrong number?”

“Are you Zhang Pa? Teacher Zhang?” A very pleasant male voice came through.

Zhang Pa said yes and asked who it was.

“I’m Liu Zhengyang. My daughter is Liu Yue,” the voice said.

“What can I do for you?” Zhang Pa asked again.

“My daughter had some conflict with you. As her teacher, your handling of things was somewhat inappropriate. But putting that aside for the moment, I’m calling to tell you that my daughter has run away from home because of this incident. I’m heading back to the provincial capital now. If she comes to find you again, I hope you can let me know. Just call this number.”

Zhang Pa gave a soft oh and asked, “Your daughter is the girl who had people beat me up?”

“Yes.”

“All right then.” Zhang Pa curled his lip indifferently. “Good luck to you.” He hung up.

Lao Pi asked, “What is it? What happened?”

Zhang Pa replied casually, “The girl who fought me this morning has run off. Nobody knows where she’s gone.”

“She can run wherever she wants. What’s that got to do with you?” Lao Pi said unhappily.

Zhang Pa smiled. “Eat.”

That was the most exasperating part of all. If any family ended up with a daughter like that... there would be no peace in this life.