He fiercely criticized the Manchu scholar clique and the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty.

Zhao Shuyao sat upright on the sofa, his hands folded on his knees. His assistant, Li, opposite him, was breathing rapidly, his facial muscles twitching uncontrollably, and his right fingertips hovering in mid-air.

The air in the office seemed to freeze. Yan Jianhui's gaze pierced through his glasses and landed on Zhao Shuyao's calm face.

In his past experience, at this level of conversation, an ordinary student would be incoherent and might even stand up and back away, but the young man in front of him didn't even blink.

"Assistant Li." Yan Jianhui raised his right hand, making a slight downward motion in mid-air. His voice was deep and resonant, carrying the calm composure of someone accustomed to a high position. "There's no need to be so angry."

Assistant Li immediately withdrew his finger, his tense body relaxing as he turned his head, adopting an extremely annoyed expression: "Professor Yan, I'm sorry to have made you laugh. This is a failure of our department's administrative work; we failed to properly teach the students the rules. This is truly a teaching error."

Yan Jianhui straightened the cuffs of his dark gray trench coat, shook his head slightly, and didn't even glance at Zhao Shuyao. His gaze remained fixed on the ashtray on the edge of the coffee table.

"Assistant Li, you flatter me. This matter has nothing to do with your school's teaching. Northeastern University's academic attitude has always been well-known in the domestic academic community, and it has always been rigorous and pragmatic."

He paused for a moment, his tone now carrying a mixture of pity and arrogance: "Ultimately, a person's bottom line in words and deeds is most influenced by their childhood environment."

"The survival logic of the common people, when brought into the halls of academia, will naturally cause problems. Schools can teach book theories, but they can't change the family traditions that have been ingrained for decades. This is not your fault."

This is a clash between intellectuals, without using a single dirty word, yet it completely tramples Zhao Shuyao's upbringing, background, and even his entire personality into the mud.

Assistant Li nodded repeatedly, his face filled with even more guilt: "Professor Yan, you are absolutely right. With such a large number of students enrolled, it is inevitable that there will be both good and bad ones. We have such a student who does not know his place and has disturbed the old gentleman. On behalf of the department, I still want to apologize to you."

Yan Jianhui waved his hand, adopting an extremely haughty attitude: "These are all trivial matters. I took the time to sit here today not to cause trouble for your school, after all, my father's health is the most important thing."

After speaking, Yan Jianhui finally turned his head, his gaze fixed intently on Zhao Shuyao, his body leaning slightly forward, creating a sense of scrutiny and pressure: "Zhao Shuyao, I understand the school's attitude. Now, as a family member, I'd like to hear your opinion. What are your thoughts on this matter, and how do you plan to handle it?"

What do you think?

What should I do?

The other party has presented a typical moral obedience test. As long as he follows the other party's line of reasoning and admits that he was "young and ignorant" or that his "family of origin was short-sighted," he will completely lose control of the negotiation.

Stripped of all emotional distractions, Zhao Shuyao met Yan Jianhui's gaze, a perfect, flawless social smile curving his lips.

"Professor Yan asked me what I thought," Zhao Shuyao said calmly. "Actually, I think this is completely within the normal range. Yesterday afternoon in the lecture hall, we were just having a purely academic discussion of historical materials."

He slightly adjusted his posture to appear more sincere: "Of course, in the process of presenting historical materials, my words were objectively somewhat intense. Before speaking, I did not fully consider that Mr. Yan Chongnian was over eighty years old, and I overlooked the degree of aging of his cardiovascular system and the limits of his psychological endurance. I express my deepest apologies for the adverse consequences caused by this."

Assistant Li, who was standing nearby, was about to explode when he heard the first half of the conversation, but when he heard the "sorry" at the end, he swallowed his words back. However, he felt that there was an inexplicable sense of strangeness in those words.

Yan Jianhui's eyes darkened completely. His words sounded like an apology, but they emphasized, "I did nothing wrong. It's your father's poor health and weak mentality."

Zhao Shuyao didn't give them time to react and continued, "As for how you asked me to handle this, my attitude is very clear."

He spread his hands and looked directly at Yan Jianhui with an open and honest expression: "Since the old gentleman was hospitalized due to high blood pressure caused by discussing issues with me, as a party involved, if you ask me to provide compensation, I believe it is a civil responsibility that I should bear, and I will not shirk it."

Yan Jianhui raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised that the student would bring up compensation.

"However," Zhao Shuyao changed the subject, deliberately slowing his speech, "this compensation must be within a reasonable range and in accordance with current legal regulations. As you know, I am currently a full-time student with no formal income. I may not necessarily accept any amount that exceeds the normal medical reimbursement standard."

Looking at the water glass on the coffee table, Zhao Shuyao began to seriously calculate the economic costs: "After all, I wasn't at the hospital, so I can't be sure whether the prescription issued by the old man's attending physician contained a large number of Class A and Class B drugs that were not included in the 2016 municipal medical insurance reimbursement catalog."

"If you insist on using imported medicines and high-grade nutritional solutions that are paid for entirely out of pocket for your recuperation, or if you book a VIP ward for high-ranking officials, you cannot expect a poor student to bear these excessive costs."

He looked at Yan Jianhui again, his tone extremely sincere: "Moreover, there are clearly defined observation periods in medicine, and I cannot predict how long you intend to stay in the hospital before you are considered 'recovered'."

"If it's indefinite hospitalization, then it becomes over-medicalization. So, I'll accept compensation for the reasonable portion; but if they try to take advantage of me and reimburse me for those exorbitant high-end medical care fees, then I definitely won't accept that."

The office was deathly silent.

Zhao Shuyao's words directly dragged Yan Jianhui's carefully crafted high-level pressure campaign into the most mundane and basic medical insurance reimbursement accounting system.

This isn't being sarcastic; it's the ultimate deconstruction of rules.

"Zhao Shuyao!" Assistant Li couldn't hold back any longer and stood up abruptly, his finger almost poking Zhao Shuyao's nose. His voice became shrill as he broke down, "Do you know what nonsense you're spouting?!"

Assistant Li took a few quick breaths, turned to look at Yan Jianhui, whose face was ashen, and then turned his attention back to Zhao Shuyao: "Professor Yan is over eighty years old. You angered him in public and he ended up in the hospital. He's still lying in the intensive care unit."

"Instead of inquiring about your elder's health or showing concern for his condition, you're here fussing over imported medications and hospital stays? You not only lack any compassion, but you're also accusing the family of trying to extort money from you?"

Assistant Li's voice grew louder, seemingly trying to drown out Zhao Shuyao's impeccable logic: "What kind of status does Professor Yan's family have? They're a top-tier family of scholars nationwide. Do you think they need your little bit of medical expenses? Do you assume everyone is like you, a shameless scoundrel who haggles over every penny?"

The word "scoundrel" echoed in the office.

After hearing this fierce denunciation, Zhao Shuyao remained calm and composed, turning his head to look at Assistant Li's face, which was flushed with excitement.

"Assistant Li," Zhao Shuyao's voice was not low, but rather tinged with doubt, "I really don't understand. I just discussed the issue entirely based on the current principles of civil compensation, and every word I said was based on a reasonable division of rights and responsibilities. Was it my mention of the 'medical insurance catalog' or my mention of 'over-medical treatment' that gave you the illusion that I was a 'rogue'?"

Zhao Shuyao crossed his arms, his gaze gradually sharpening as he stared directly into the other man's eyes: "To put it another way, you are an administrative leader of the Faculty of Arts at Dongda University, a cultured person selected through the national higher education system."

"Before the matter was determined and the court made a judgment, you used the extremely subjective and insulting term 'scoundrel' to denigrate a student enrolled in our school in front of outsiders without any basis."

He paused, his tone becoming increasingly authoritative: "Assistant Li, do you think this kind of emotional, reckless speech is befitting your administrative rank and position as an educator? Or is your work principle simply to unconditionally seek peace by verbally abusing your students when faced with external pressure?"

Assistant Li was stumped again. He opened his mouth wide, his chest heaving violently, racking his brains to find a rebuttal, only to find that under this logical analysis, he couldn't find any foothold to rely on.

Seeing that Assistant Li had completely lost control of the situation, Yan Jianhui finally couldn't sit still any longer. He snorted coldly, a sound that was particularly clear in the office.

"Zhao, please." Yan Jianhui spoke, his voice losing its initial feigned kindness and composure, his speech noticeably faster, "Don't get so agitated. Assistant Li's words were a bit direct, but his intentions were good; he wanted you to graduate smoothly. There's no need for you to nitpick over the words here."

Yan Jianhui pushed up his glasses, completely tearing away that veil of tenderness.

"I'm here today not to settle any medical bills with you." Yan Jianhui stared into Zhao Shuyao's eyes, his tone absolutely unquestionable. "As for compensation, our family has never intended for you to pay. Our Yan family is not short of money."

He raised his hand, pointed his index finger in the air, and said, "I'm here today just to show you some attitude. As long as you publicly apologize to my father and delete all the videos from your social media account to eliminate the social impact, we can consider this matter closed."

Yan Jianhui frowned as he looked at Zhao Shuyao's expressionless face, then shook his head dramatically, his tone full of heartache.

"But now, seeing your attitude of full of sophistry and no remorse, I am very disappointed. I think my father would be heartbroken if he saw you like this."

He straightened up, crossed his hands on his knees, and delivered the final verdict: "Before coming to this school, my father, in his lucid moments, repeatedly told me not to make things difficult for a young person, not to hold you accountable, and that as long as you admit your mistake in understanding the historical facts, that would be enough. But he was too kind."

Yan Jianhui's eyes turned extremely cold: "Now, I think I have to change my mind. Since you don't know how to cherish and be tolerant, then we'll do it according to the rules. My requirements have changed."

He held up three fingers and declared, word by word: "First, you must publish a formal written apology on your account with hundreds of thousands of followers, and pin the apology to the top of the entire internet for a month; second, immediately and completely delete all the videos and images you posted about this lecture; third, as for medical expenses..."

Yan Jianhui let out a cold laugh: "Since you like to settle accounts, then settle them clearly. You must reimburse me in full for all the expenses incurred during my father's hospitalization, regardless of whether the drugs were imported or not, or whether it was a special ward or not."

This is the true face of those in power when faced with resistance: they don't use the law, but rather their sheer size and power to force you to submit.

Zhao Shuyao listened quietly to the three conditions without getting angry, without arguing, and without even changing his breathing.