Chapter 33: Assistance

At the podium, as Chen Lishu was addressing the class, he heard some noise and turned his head toward the back door.

His words still hung in the air: "Moral character is what defines our Federation—"

But as soon as he caught sight of Song Shi, his voice faltered.

It had only been three or four days since they last met, and Song Shi had lost a significant amount of weight. Her mouth was bruised, her eyes shadowed with deep purple, and there was a streak of blood on her uniform's collar. The most startling sight, however, was the dark purple bruise on her neck, clearly the mark of a violent grip, which became all the more evident when she lifted her head.

Song Shi kept her gaze lowered as she walked to her desk and sat down.

She was exhausted. She hadn't been able to sleep in the dark room, and now, in the classroom, her eyelids felt as if they might fuse together. All she wanted was to rest.

But the intensity of the gaze from the podium was impossible to ignore. It had been following her ever since she entered.

She looked up to find Chen Lishu, holding his book, staring at her in stunned silence.

His glasses were nearly slipping off his nose, yet he made no effort to adjust them.

Song Shi's face remained expressionless. She retrieved her textbook and slammed it onto the desk.

The sound echoed through the quiet room.

Several students who had been sleeping with their heads down were jolted awake and looked at her with annoyance. 

But upon recognizing who it was, they quickly looked away.

Chen Lishu, startled by the noise, hastily adjusted his glasses, cleared his throat, and attempted to continue his lecture. However, if one looked closely, they would notice his trembling hand as he flipped the page.

The class resumed, and Song Shi slumped over her desk, sinking into a deep sleep.

In her dreams, she heard someone calling her name.

"Song Shi?"

"Song Shi!"

She woke with a start, lifting her head to follow the sound.

Standing at the edge of the podium, Chen Lishu, holding the book on moral education in the crook of his arm, was glaring at her. "Come to my office," he said curtly.

He descended from the podium and exited through the door.

Was class over?

Rubbing her eyes, Song Shi noticed the others were packing up and heading out. She glanced at the time—it was noon.

Lunch time.

Her stomach, long numb from hunger, reminded her that she needed to eat, but since Chen Lishu had called for her to go to his office, there must be something he needed to discuss.

She stood and exited through the back door.

Chen Lishu was already waiting for her.

He glanced at her briefly before walking ahead.

The lunchtime crowd was thick, but Song Shi didn't rush to catch up. She lagged a step behind, moving at a calm pace.

Her mind wandered as she speculated on the reason Chen Lishu wanted her in his office, wondering if it would delay her lunch.

"Song Shi!"

A voice called from behind.

She stopped and turned to see a chubby, unfamiliar boy walking toward her.

Chen Lishu also heard the voice and turned around. 

He saw the boy, whose round figure made him look like a ball, strutting toward Song Shi, stopping a few steps away. 

The boy, not as tall as Song Shi, craned his neck to appear level with her, pointing a finger at her nose. "I, Zhang Biao, challenge you!"

Chen Lishu was immediately on edge. It was clear that Zhang Biao had taken advantage of Song Shi's fragile state, coming right after she had just been confined, to pick a fight.

He moved quickly, stepping between them and scolding, "What kind of behavior is this?"

Zhang Biao sneered. "Who are you to control us? Mind your own business!" He shoved Chen Lishu aside.

The force behind the shove was not to be underestimated. Chen Lishu stumbled back two steps before regaining his balance.

Sweat poured from his face as he stepped forward again to block the boy. "If you keep this up, I'll report you to the school authorities!"

"Go ahead and report! Let's see if they care!" Zhang Biao retorted, shaking his fist with confidence.

The so-called authority figure was clearly an outsider, unaware of the situation. The school's own enforcers had long ago tacitly accepted that when it came to Song Shi, any beating was not considered a fight and wouldn't be penalized.

Chen Lishu, enraged, stomped his feet and reached for his optical device to contact Li Bingwen.

But suddenly, he felt his right arm, which had been clutching the book, lighten.

The heavy moral education book had been yanked from his hand!

He looked up, only to see the book swing forcefully into Zhang Biao's face.

The dull thud of the impact startled Chen Lishu, making him shrink back.

Zhang Biao was left dazed, reeling from the blow.

Chen Lishu's device had already pulled up Li Bingwen's contact details, and with just a click, he could have called him, but seeing the current situation, he quietly set the device aside.

Song Shi, gripping the thick book with one hand, her lips pressed tightly together, stared at Zhang Biao, who was clutching his bleeding nose, considering whether to strike again.

Chen Lishu, sensing her intent, cautiously took the book from her hand and hugged it tightly. "Let's go to my office."

Song Shi suppressed the urge and followed him out.

Along the way, she activated the subtitles in her mind.

The strike she had just delivered had increased her "anti-abuse" progress by 2%.

Song Shi felt a small sense of satisfaction.

Chen Lishu's office was one of the ten rooms provided by the school for visiting teachers. 

As soon as Song Shi entered, she was greeted by the faint scent of cooked meat in the air.

It was subtle, but to someone who had been starving for nearly two days like Song Shi, it was like a chicken leg placed in front of her.

"Please, sit on the sofa," Chen Lishu said, gesturing for her to sit. He quickly walked to his desk, tossed the book aside, and bent down to pull a lunch bag from beneath the desk.

He took the bag to the coffee table, unzipped it, and retrieved two boxes of bento and a thermos of soup.

The suppressed aroma immediately filled the air.

Song Shi's stomach growled audibly.

Chen Lishu heard it and smiled, placing the pink bento box in front of her, handing her chopsticks. "I heard you were locked in the isolation room when I came to class yesterday. I asked Li Bingwen about it, and he told me you were confined for 36 hours and wouldn't be released until this morning."

Song Shi, already opening the bento with her left hand, barely registered his words.

"He said they don't provide meals during confinement, so I had your... well, I had my wife prepare this food for you."

Inside the bento, there was a neatly arranged serving of chicken legs, vegetables, and rice.

Chen Lishu then fetched a bowl, opened the thermos lid, and the smell of chicken soup wafted up. He filled the bowl and placed it in front of her.

"Thank you..."

The second word was stuck in her throat.

Chen Lishu, holding the spoon, paused, then slowly turned to look at her. His gaze moved from her face to her neck.

"Your throat..."

Song Shi forced a small, helpless smile. She hadn't slept for nearly 36 hours, and her wounds hadn't healed. Every vibration of her vocal cords felt like torture.

She could already anticipate how painful eating would be.

Chen Lishu, pretending to remain calm, looked away and poured the remaining chicken soup into her bowl. "Drink more soup." He placed the full bowl in front of her.

Song Shi nodded, gesturing at his own food, signaling for him to eat too.

"I'll eat in a moment," he said, sitting down, lowering his head, and shoveling large mouthfuls of food into his mouth.

Song Shi took the spoon and carefully sipped the soup.

The first sip was excruciating, her throat dry from lack of water, as though it might crack open.

The second sip was better.

She continued drinking slowly.

Gradually getting used to the pain, she opened the chopsticks and picked at the rice in the bento.

Chen Lishu occasionally glanced up to check on her as he ate. 

When he saw her clumsily using her left hand to pick up the rice, he almost forgot to swallow the food in his mouth. He remembered that when Song Shi struck someone, she had used her left hand. She had opened the bento with her left hand, and even unwrapped the chopsticks with the left.

Unable to contain his guilt, he sighed, "I shouldn't have let you come here."

Song Shi, struggling to swallow a bite of rice, looked confused.

He covered his eyes, his lower face flushed red. "I should have fought harder, not have your parents involved. You wouldn't have ended up here, enduring this suffering."

Song Shi set down her chopsticks. She knew Chen Lishu had done his best.

He had family and couldn't afford to offend someone like Wang Danyu, so he did everything he could for her. It was her mother who refused his help and pushed her further into the abyss.

Given the circumstances back then, sending her to this disciplinary school was the best option.

If Wang Danyu had gotten her expelled as she initially suggested, no other school would have accepted her, and at under eighteen, with the

 label of "low-functioning," her future would be doomed.

She already had the label of "high-risk," which made her unwelcome anywhere, and adding "low-functioning" would seal her fate in the gutter for the rest of her life.

So, Song Shi found Chen Lishu's apology unnecessary.

But she couldn't speak, so she couldn't comfort him. She gestured with her hand to show she didn't want to talk about it, but he couldn't see it because his hands were covering his face.

Song Shi felt speechless.

She picked up her chopsticks and continued eating.

When he had cried out all his regrets, he finally stopped.

From his first year of high school to his third, Chen Lishu recounted everything, focusing on how he could have prevented certain events from happening but, due to pressure and a desire to keep the peace, chose to turn a blind eye, leading to the current consequences.

Time dragged on, and Song Shi, tearing into her chicken leg, finished every bit of it, while he was still talking.

Her throat was in agony, so she stopped eating and started sipping the chicken soup.

After two bowls of soup, Chen Lishu finally stopped and solemnly apologized again, asking her if she wanted to drop out.

Of course, Song Shi wouldn't drop out. She didn't want to be a rat in the gutter in her next life.

Though it was difficult here, the efficiency was undeniable. Her "anti-abuse" progress bar was already over half full, and success was within reach.

She shook her head.

Chen Lishu understood and dropped the subject.

The class bell rang.

Song Shi stood up and pointed at the office door, signaling that it was time for her to return to class.

"Go ahead," Chen Lishu said. "This class isn't mine. I'll take the next one."

(End of chapter)