Chapter 211: Zhang Yu Inside the Mediation Room

Chapter 211: Zhang Yu in the Mediation Room

“In a moment, someone will take you for questioning. Just stick to the plan and take it all on yourself.”

“In short, this matter is purely a conflict between students. Your sending someone to tail them was only to gather information about Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s tutoring sessions.”

“Then you need to do your best to win Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s forgiveness. It doesn’t matter if you have to pay more compensation. The goal is to frame this as an ordinary public security incident.”

“Your father wants you to rest assured. After all, your uncle is a third-tier faith Purple Gold Merit Master, and the Zhou family is a prominent clan in Songyang City. This matter can be weathered—it’s just a matter of paying a bit more money…”

Listening to the other’s words, Zhou Chechen’s face showed a helpless, bitter smile.

Especially recalling how he had earlier sent a message telling Zhang Yu to apologize properly to others.

He never imagined that in the blink of an eye, he would be the one apologizing to Zhang Yu, kneeling and begging the true deity behind him to show mercy.

Zhou Chechen sighed inwardly: “I’m nothing more than a pawn on this chessboard.”

“But this Zhang Yu… to be able to move a sixth-rank true deity to act personally over such a trivial matter, just how highly does that deity regard him and Bai Zhenzhen?”

…

While the Wanxing Group and the Zhou family were in chaos,

Inside the Inspection Bureau,

Zhang Yu continued his cultivation in the office.

Though the door was locked, the air conditioning grew colder, and his stomach was empty, his face showed no trace of panic. He simply carried on with his daily practice as usual.

“After all, the matter has been handed over to Deng Bingding. There’s nothing I can do about it now.”

Zhang Yu knew that the only thing he could do was to keep cultivating diligently, steadily increasing his chances of passing the final foundation-building exam and obtaining the foundation-building qualification certificate.

Just then, the office door suddenly swung open.

Gong Zhe entered, carrying a large tray of food and two cups of animal protein milk, his face beaming with smiles. “You two must be hungry, right?”

“There’s not much to eat in the bureau, so I specially ordered some pre-made takeout. See if it suits your taste.”

Watching Gong Zhe, whose attitude had done a complete one-eighty, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen exchanged a glance, thinking that Deng Bingding must have made her move.

Gong Zhe set the food in front of them, his face full of warmth, as if the person who had coldly interrogated Zhang Yu earlier was someone else entirely.

Gong Zhe smiled. “Eat up, you two. Eat while it’s hot.”

“Oh, and by the way, there was a mistake in our earlier investigation. The surveillance footage has been repaired. It wasn’t a mutual fight at all—Yue Jincheng was trying to steal your phone, and you were acting in self-defense.”

As he spoke, Gong Zhe thought to himself: “You two, if you had connections to a sixth-rank true deity, why didn’t you say so earlier!”

“To think they’ve locked down the entire Wanxing Group just because of you two.”

In Gong Zhe’s eyes now, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were like two great Buddhas.

After hearing about what was happening at Wanxing Group, he just wanted to get them out as quickly as possible.

But Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen merely chuckled, digging into their food without responding to Gong Zhe.

Gong Zhe’s face showed no embarrassment as he continued politely, “The investigation is all cleared up. You two can leave whenever you like.”

Bai Zhenzhen snorted coldly. “No bail fee needed?”

Gong Zhe said helplessly, “You two, it was our mistake earlier. I sincerely apologize to you both here.”

With that, he bowed to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.

Gong Zhe added, “The bureau is taking this matter very seriously now. We will definitely give you both an explanation.”

Bai Zhenzhen said, “And what about the people who attacked us? Why haven’t you arrested them?”

Gong Zhe replied helplessly, “That person is now involved in another case…”

Just as Gong Zhe was repeatedly apologizing and trying to placate Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, someone knocked on the door from outside, then entered and whispered a few words in Gong Zhe’s ear.

Gong Zhe’s eyes lit up, and he quickly said, “You two, the suspect and the mastermind have both been caught!”

“But they want to apologize to you in person. Would you be willing to see them?”

…

In the mediation room.

As Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen pushed open the door and stepped inside, they heard a thud.

Yue Jincheng and Si Zhouyu were already kneeling on the ground, knocking their heads against the floor with a series of dull thuds.

Kneeling there, Yue Jincheng’s face was full of humiliation. The thought of a university student like himself having to kneel and apologize to two high schoolers made him feel as though his dignity as a college student had been trampled into the mud.

But recalling his student loans, the difficulty of finding a job, and his parents’ hard work, he could only suppress his pain and thought to himself: “Yue Jincheng, this is just how the world works. You’re nothing but an ordinary college student. They have powerful backing, and you can’t afford to provoke them.”

He said in a low voice, “I’m sorry. It was my own decision to attack you. Please forgive me.”

On the other side, Si Zhouyu knelt on the ground with far fewer burdens in her heart: “Isn’t it just kneeling and apologizing?”

In high school, she had knelt to students with good grades.

In vocational college, she had knelt to university students, to second-tier masters, to teachers… After starting work, she knelt to her boss, to clients…

She had long since grown used to it.

As for self-respect? What self-respect did a vocational college graduate need?

That was something for high schoolers with good grades, university students from prestigious schools, recent graduates who had just started jobs, and rich people from wealthy families…

Si Zhouyu had gradually thrown away that useless thing ever since she was kicked out of the honors class in high school.

She said with utmost sincerity, “You two, I’m sorry I didn’t stop my colleague. It was a huge mistake on my part at work.”

“I deeply apologize for the trouble I’ve caused you both today.”

Si Zhouyu thought to herself: “I don’t care if I have to kowtow a few times, just don’t make me pay any money.”

Meanwhile, Zhou Chechen, standing behind them, stepped forward.

He kicked Yue Jincheng hard in the back, then slapped Si Zhouyu across the face, scolding, “Look at what the two of you have done! You’ve disgraced the entire Wanxing Group.”

Then, with a face full of sincerity, he looked at Zhang Yu. “Zhang Yu, I had them observe you just to see where you went for tutoring after school.”

“I never expected Yue Jincheng to be so impulsive, trying to steal your phone to check your tutoring information.”

“Today, I’ll have them kneel here. You can hit them, punish them however you like…”

Watching Zhou Chechen’s earnest expression, Zhang Yu recalled their first meeting, when the man had also seemed so genuine and sincere.

And the excuse about checking tutoring information sounded perfectly reasonable—after all, high school students’ tutoring schedules were valuable intelligence within the school, and it wasn’t uncommon for students to scheme against each other over such things.

But at this moment, how could Zhang Yu possibly believe that story? He only sighed inwardly: “This guy’s acting is still as good as ever.”

Meanwhile, Bai Zhenzhen said coldly from the side, “What’s the use of beating them? Will that make up for the time we wasted today?”

Zhou Chechen thought to himself: “Sigh, these two really aren’t that easy to fool. I’ll have to pay up after all.”

“Since they’re lackeys of a true deity, they must be as greedy for money as the deity itself. I wonder how my father and uncle are negotiating with the true deities. I need to settle this quickly too.”

On the other side, Zhang Yu let Zhou Chechen and Bai Zhenzhen argue back and forth without interrupting. Instead, he contacted Deng Bingding.

He definitely needed to follow her advice on how to handle this matter next.

After hearing Zhang Yu’s report, Deng Bingding replied with a question: “What do you think?”

Just then, Fuji spoke: “On our side, let’s have Zhou Chechen pay more compensation.”

“The evidence we can gather at most shows that the Zhou family sent people to tail us—enough to get Deng Bingding to investigate, but not enough to crush the Zhou family.”

“The Zhou family is deeply entrenched after all; without solid evidence, if Deng Bingding really tries to force things, she might have to pay a price herself.”

“Deng Bingding probably doesn’t intend to fight the Zhou family to the death, but she has the nerve—and plenty of it—to use the Foundation Establishment exam as a pretext to extort a hefty sum. She’s likely already in ‘heated negotiations’ with the Zhou family’s upper echelons.”

“But if we insist she investigate everything to the bottom, it’ll only make this righteous god think we’re troublesome.”

“And besides… if something truly is uncovered behind the Zhou family, it might work against us too.”

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen recalled something Fuji had mentioned before.

“Zhou Tianyi, who died from backlash after attacking Zhang Yu; the Zhou family stirring after the death of Song Xu and the evil god behind him; and the possible evil god lurking behind Songyang High School…”

“Though there’s no concrete evidence, all these clues vaguely point to one possibility: that there may be an evil god behind the Zhou family.”

“Especially according to Zhou Tianyi, the evil god behind him knew that Zhang Yu also had an evil god.”

“If that evil god behind Zhou Tianyi is the same one behind the Zhou family… then we absolutely can’t let Deng Bingding investigate to the end.”

“If she really uncovers the Zhou family’s evil god, and that side exposes us too, things will get messy.”

Zhang Yu nodded slightly. Fuji’s reminder was exactly what they had discussed earlier. While the righteous god bled the Zhou family and Deng Bingding took a big bite out of them through this incident, they would also take some benefits on their side, rather than stubbornly fighting the Zhou family to the death and making things hard for the righteous god.

And now, after Zhang Yu replied to Deng Bingding with his thoughts, he received a thumbs-up in response.

Looking at the thumbs-up on his phone, Zhang Yu instantly felt emboldened. Fuji, seeing the thumbs-up, thought to herself: Looks like the righteous god’s squeeze is going smoothly too; the Zhou family caved quickly this time.

Then Zhang Yu raised his head and looked at the three of them, including Zhou Chechen, and said: “Zhou Chechen, don’t think an apology will end this.”

“If you don’t satisfy us today, this isn’t over.”

Gong Zhe coughed from the side, looked at Zhou Chechen, and said: “Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were just strolling in the park when they were suddenly attacked by your company’s employees. Not only were they mentally traumatized, but they also suffered physical injuries.”

“In the prime of the early morning, they couldn’t study and had to waste time here with you.”

“You’re a high school student yourself—put yourself in their shoes. Isn’t the loss huge? Don’t you need to make it up?”

Zhou Chechen nodded and said: “Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, I’m willing to pay 100,000 to compensate for your losses…”

“100,000?” Bai Zhenzhen sneered. “Are you kidding me? If Zhang Yu had a dick, he could jerk off at the Red Tower Seed Bank a few times and make more than that.”

“Think about it—by that standard, the time you’ve wasted here could have gotten him how many rounds?”

Not, the fuck… Zhang Yu whipped his head around to stare at Bai Zhenzhen, cursing inwardly: Is this how you help haggle?

But Zhang Yu knew this wasn’t the time to argue. He turned back to Zhou Chechen and said: “Don’t talk to me about money. I’m not short of cash. This isn’t something money can solve. The mental trauma you’ve inflicted on me today is something I’ll never heal from in this lifetime.”

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(Chapter End)