Don't underestimate the poor and elderly; I was thrilled to refuse the class beauty's adva

As if they had won a battle, everyone surrounded Zhang Yifan and led him out.

Hundreds of senior high school students marched across the playground in a grand procession. The morning light slanted in from the east side of the teaching building, turning their blue and white school uniforms into a shimmering light gold.

Some people were laughing, some were patting each other on the shoulder, some were singing off-key lines, and some were taking out their phones to meet up with the first and second-year high school students at the door, waving their arms as they walked to let them go back to their classrooms.

No one turned around to look at the lone figure still standing at the cafeteria entrance.

Principal Meng stood still, motionless.

The lingering smell of rancidity and the pungent aroma of spices still permeated the cafeteria hall, and the mess on the floor gleamed a ghastly white under the fluorescent lights.

His gold-rimmed glasses were still crooked on the bridge of his nose, and he didn't straighten them.

His gaze was fixed on the back of the person at the very front of the crowd—Zhang Yifan.

The student who was "sensible" in front of him just last night was now surrounded by hundreds of students, like a triumphant general.

"Brother-in-law..."

Zhou Degui broke free from the security guard's grasp at some point and approached him. Just as he was about to start complaining, Principal Meng glared at him, making him swallow his words.

Principal Meng did not say another word to Zhou Degui.

He suddenly turned around and kicked a plastic chair that had fallen to the ground next to him.

The chair flew out and crashed into the wall, its back breaking in two with a loud crack, creating a deafening explosion in the empty cafeteria.

Zhou Degui was so frightened that he jumped back a step, and the two security guards also subconsciously lowered their heads.

After kicking the building, Principal Meng adjusted his crooked glasses, brushed the rotten vegetable leaves off his trouser legs, and turned to walk towards the office building.

His old Beijing cloth shoes crunched on the broken glass, the sound echoing through the empty canteen.

No one noticed that a girl with a ponytail stood under the old locust tree by the side entrance of the cafeteria from beginning to end.

Shen Zhiyi held a cup of soy milk that had gone cold. She watched Principal Meng kick over the chair and walk away. Suddenly, the expression in her usually aloof eyes turned cold.

She took out her phone, found a number in her contacts labeled "Dad," and dialed it.

The phone rang twice before being answered. A calm yet slightly surprised voice came from the other end: "Zhiyi? Isn't this morning reading time? Why did you think of calling your father?"

Shen Zhiyi's voice was low, but every word was enunciated clearly: "Dad, there's something I want to talk to you about. The school cafeteria's contract, and Principal Meng's dealings with some off-campus companies during his tenure... Could you help me look into that?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, then Mr. Shen's voice became serious: "Why are you suddenly concerned about this?"

"It's nothing," Shen Zhiyi leaned against the trunk of the old locust tree, her gaze still fixed on the direction of the office building. "I just feel that some things shouldn't be left like this."

When Zhang Yifan and Zong Wen returned to the classroom, most of the morning reading session had already passed.

Lin Wanqing sat in her seat and saw Zhang Yifan come in through the back door. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but her gaze swept over the large group of classmates who followed him in.

She glanced at the boys in her class who had also participated in smashing the cafeteria, who were patting Zhang Yifan on the shoulder and giving her thumbs up. In the end, she turned her head back and held up her English textbook to cover her face.

Before the morning reading session was over, a series of hurried footsteps came from the direction of the office.

Fu Kai pushed open the door and entered, his gaze sweeping around the classroom before finally settling on the last row by the window.

He strode over, his expression not one of anger, but of anxiety.

That anxiety was exactly the same as what he had seen at the alley entrance last night: the anxiety of an ordinary teacher facing the possibility that his students might be targeted, knowing that he was powerless but still desperately trying to protect them.

"Zhang Yifan, Zong Wen, come out for a moment."

The two followed Fu Kai to the corner at the end of the corridor where no one was around.

Fu Kai first looked Zhang Yifan up and down to make sure he wasn't injured, then turned his gaze to Zong Wen to make sure both of them were unharmed before letting out a long sigh of relief.

He leaned against the wall, rubbed his temples, and said in a low, hoarse voice, "Principal Meng won't just let this go."

Fu Kai recounted the events of last night in the alley and this morning to the two of them, connecting them together.

"He's been able to sit firmly in the principal's seat for over a decade because he has the entire school under his control. You made him lose face in front of the whole school today, and even snatched the lucrative cafeteria from his brother-in-law's mouth. If he just lets it go like this, he wouldn't be Principal Meng."

Zong Wen's face turned pale after hearing this.

His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but then he thought of Principal Meng's livid face and the kinds of underhanded tactics he had heard about.

He had heard from upperclassmen about things like transferring academic records, withholding graduation certificates, and having college application choices manipulated.

He wasn't afraid of being implicated; he was afraid of Zhang Yifan suffering a loss.

But Zhang Yifan didn't look at him, nor did he look at Fu Kai.

Zhang Yifan's eyes were vacant, his gaze passing over the corridor window and fixed on the canopy of the old locust tree on the playground in the distance.

Fu Kai and Zong Wen exchanged a glance, both thinking he was frightened.

Fu Kai sighed, patted Zhang Yifan on the shoulder, and softened his voice: "Don't be afraid, the teacher is here. If Principal Meng wants to touch you, he'll have to get past me first. Go back to class first, I'll think of something."

Zhang Yifan nodded mechanically and turned to walk towards the classroom.

But he wasn't thinking about Principal Meng at all.

The cold, electronic voice in his head had just exploded—

【Ding--】

[Looking back, host, do you remember your high school principal? The middle-aged man who always wore a faded gray jacket, old Beijing cloth shoes, and told everyone, "Education is a matter of conscience."]

Everyone thought he was a poor and simple ordinary person, but no one would have imagined that after Peng Kaifei's family was investigated for tax evasion, the asset audit revealed multiple improper financial transactions between the Peng family and this Principal Meng.

The donation contract for the gymnasium contained a hidden profit-sharing agreement, and this evidence dragged Principal Meng into a mess, ultimately leading to his imprisonment.

However, when the police investigated the embezzled funds, ten million yuan remained unaccounted for. This became the biggest unsolved mystery in the city-wide sensational corruption case within the education system, and also Principal Meng's last trump card in prison, preventing him from speaking out.

Years later, the high school was demolished due to urban redevelopment. While breaking through the wall of the principal's office on the third floor of the original office building, construction workers discovered a hidden safe in a wall cavity. The safe door was rusted, but inside were neatly stacked ten million yuan in cash, the banknotes still in their rolls. No one knew that that money had been lying quietly in the wall of the corridor you passed every day for years.

[Task issued: Find the hidden safe in the principal's office.]

[Task Description: Discover the safe hidden inside Principal Meng's office wall and obtain evidence of the concealment of embezzled funds.]

[Task Reward: Ten million yuan in cash.]

[Task Difficulty: Extremely Difficult]

[Reason: Time has passed. This office building was already a pile of rubble when you were sixty-eight years old, and the safe had long been discovered and sealed by the police. How could an old scavenger like you, who can't even get into the security booth, possibly enter the demolished principal's office?]

Zhang Yifan: ......

Is it possible that the office building is still standing there perfectly fine? And that Principal Meng is still sitting inside perfectly fine?