This certificate... must be very important to this child.
“He’s right, I am an orphan. My parents are dead and can never come back to play with me. Even if I have new parents and a brother now, I am still an orphan. Only this certificate is with me, but now he has torn it up.”
Shen Zhifei suddenly collapsed to the ground, curled up her legs, buried her head in her knees, and kept repeating as if she had cried herself mad: "I am an orphan, an orphan..."
Song Lang's eyes were red from crying. He bent down and hugged the man tenderly, patting his back gently and coaxing him, "Don't cry, brother, don't cry, don't cry. I'm your brother, and my parents are your parents too. Don't cry, don't cry."
Seeing this scene, even the usually stern and hard-hearted head of the teaching department couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache.
The little troublemaker was dumbfounded; he hadn't even touched that certificate of merit!
Chapter 004
Shen Zhifei remained in this withdrawn posture, only uttering the two words "orphan." Director Tang, fearing he would be overly traumatized, quickly contacted his parents.
In less than half an hour, Shen Mingyu arrived at the school from the company.
When he saw his two precious sons being beaten into pig heads, the younger son was even more shocked and heartbroken.
She hugged her two darlings tightly, had Song Lang cover Shen Zhifei's ears, and then lowered her voice to question him: "Director, didn't we talk about this? Zhifei's situation is special, how can we let him suffer such a shock?"
"I understand how you feel, please go first..."
"Stop with the pleasantries," Shen Mingyu said softly, but her aura was strong. Since she was already in the right, she didn't mince words. "Director, all I want to know now is how the school plans to handle this. Putting aside the injuries on his face and body, the most important thing is the psychological trauma my son has suffered. As you can see, this is not something that can be resolved by the other party writing a couple of pages of self-criticism and giving him a demerit."
"Why don't you take him to see a doctor first, treat his wounds, and the school can mediate the matter for both families afterward."
“There’s no room for mediation,” Shen Mingyu said, displaying her usual assertive style in the workplace, without any intention of compromise. “That child must apologize and transfer to another school, otherwise this matter will definitely make the news. You should have heard about the recent case of a student from No. 3 Middle School committing suicide due to school bullying, which brought a lot of negative impact to the school.”
Director Tang was in a real bind.
This was not a matter he could decide on his own, so he immediately reported it to the vice principal in charge of administration.
The adults went into the office to negotiate, while Song Lang accompanied Shen Zhifei to the infirmary to treat his wounds.
"How is it? How is it?" Meng Fanxing rushed into the infirmary and saw the two pig heads. She wanted to laugh but felt it was unfair, so she could only hold it in.
Song Lang wasn't in the mood for banter. He kept his arms outstretched, half-embracing Shen Zhifei, but even so, the person in his arms was still trembling.
He had never seen anyone so heartbroken, let alone someone else.
He is his younger brother, his biological brother.
From the moment Song Lang heard Shen Zhifei sobbing softly in the dean's office, he secretly vowed that he would protect his brother and never let him cry like that again.
Shen Zhifei had stopped crying, but her body was still trembling slightly, a result of crying too hard just now.
Even now, when he thinks of his parents, his eyes still well up with tears, but he doesn't cry uncontrollably anymore, because he's gotten used to it and has come to terms with it.
During the months after his parents' unexpected death, when he was living with relatives and was abused and beaten, he shed many tears while hiding under the covers and secretly missing his parents.
During those darkest and most agonizing months, he gradually realized that tears would not bring his parents back to life, nor would they make life easier.
At such a young and immature age, he has grown up rapidly with a maturity beyond his years.
Therefore, he understood that he could use his tears to get compassionate adults to help him achieve his goal.
But... thinking of the day he received the award, he couldn't help but tremble a couple of times, and his nose felt a little sore.
"Are you cold?" Song Lang asked in a low voice. When he didn't answer, he raised his hand and touched his forehead.
Unable to figure it out, he said to Meng Fanxing, "Xingzi, come here and touch him, see if he has a fever?"
"No way, I've never heard of someone getting a fever from being beaten." Meng Fanxing reached out, but her hand was slapped hard, leaving the back of her hand red.
"Holy crap! Ouch! Ouch!" he grimaced. "You're quite pretty, how come you have such a strong grip!"
Shen Zhifei didn't speak, but her body tensed up.
Song Lang immediately glared at Meng Fanxing, "What are you yelling about? Don't scare my brother. He only hit you once. If he's in a good mood, he can kick your head like a ball."
Meng Fanxing: "Have you ever thought about how my head feels?"
Song Lang: "Shut up! I haven't even asked you yet. Is your head full of mush? Why did you call Donald Duck here?"
Meng Fanxing raised her hand and made a zipping motion near her mouth, indicating that she wanted to shut up.
Song Lang really wanted to kick him. "Are you looking for a beating?"
Meng Fanxing looked at Shen Zhifei with a particularly aggrieved expression, while Shen Zhifei said calmly, "I told him to call me that."
He had just been crying, and his voice was a little hoarse, sounding more like that of the injured cat.
Song Lang's heart softened a little, and he said gently, "It would be better if we resolved these matters privately. If he's not convinced, we can beat him until he submits and make him afraid of you in the future. Now that things have blown up, we'll probably get a public reprimand."
After saying that, he realized something was wrong and quickly explained, "I didn't mean to blame you, little brother. I just wanted to beat that guy up a few more times to vent your anger."
The term "younger brother" carries an undeniable intimacy that strikes a chord with Shen Zhifei.
Shen Zhifei lowered his eyes, staring at the arm that was wrapped around his chest, and said softly, "I don't want to see him again, so I deliberately made a big scene."
I deliberately crumpled up the award certificate and tearfully exposed my wounds to the head of the teaching department, all so that he would disappear from my sight completely.
Shen Zhifei kept the rest of his thoughts to himself.
He didn't want the boy who was protecting him to think he was a cunning and treacherous person.
When Shen Mingyu rushed into the office and pulled him into her arms, Shen Zhifei thought that this new family seemed to be really good to him, and he wanted to try his best to become a part of it. When someone offended this family, he would protect this hard-won warmth in his own way, even if it meant stabbing himself with a knife.