Chapter 270: Chapter 231: Educator Yang Xiao
All was quiet and uneventful, and the apartment was rather safe before midnight. Yang Xiao finally stood in front of Room 8009. Bowing his head, he could see several large cardboard boxes placed on either side of the door, stuffed full of empty liquor bottles.
If before Yang Xiao had had his doubts about Yan Huiru’s words, now he believed most of them. After adjusting his emotions, he reached out to knock, but before he could, a faint voice came through from inside the room.
Yang Xiao ceased his actions, ensuring his surroundings were secure, then pressed his head to the door, ear against the wood. The sound from inside the room grew clearer.
It was a man’s rough cursing, mixed with the noise of something being knocked over, and beyond that, Yang Xiao could also hear the crying of a child.
Normally, it would be a bad time to knock and disturb, but with the appointed time for the task drawing near, Yang Xiao had no choice but to steel himself and knock on the door.
"Bang."
"Bang, bang."
Just as he knocked a few times, the sound of rapid footsteps charged toward the door, which was then yanked open. A disheveled man, barefoot and with an abnormal flush on his face, stared at Yang Xiao with bloodshot eyes, a strong smell of alcohol assaulting his senses.
"Who? Who told you to knock on my door in the middle of the night?!" the man’s voice was rough and his demeanor aggressive, "Looking for trouble, huh? Do you know who I am?"
Arguing with a guy like this was pointless, especially since Yang Xiao was here to complete a task.
"Mr. Chen, I am the tutor you hired for your child," Yang Xiao said calmly, "Is it convenient for me to come in now?"
Still glaring at Yang Xiao, the man had an air of anger with nowhere to vent but ultimately stepped aside.
Although Yang Xiao had braced himself, he was still taken aback by the state of the room—dirty, disordered, and strewn with empty bottles of liquor, both baijiu and beer.
The table was strewn with half-eaten takeout boxes, the floor was filthy with a layer of greasy dirt, and the dishwashing area was even more chaotic, with blackened dishes and bowls piled up. Even from a distance, Yang Xiao could smell a rank stench mixed with alcohol.
This didn’t resemble a home but more of a garbage dump. Yang Xiao struggled to find a spot to stand without knocking over several empty liquor bottles with any given step.
The man staggered, leading Yang Xiao to a sofa, and sat down first. Yang Xiao looked at the pitch-dark sofa, guessing that it must have been white at some point.
"You won’t sit?" the man was irritable, "What, you think you’re too good for me? Are you looking down on me? I’m asking you, are you?!"
Yang Xiao had no desire to argue and simply sat down, then promptly asked, "Mr. Chen, where is your son? I think we should start the lesson as soon as possible."
The mention of the child seemed to touch a nerve, and the man swept empty bottles and leftover food from the previous night off the coffee table onto the floor, cursing loudly, "Those damned teachers and students, isolating my son, this trash, this garbage, they all deserve to die!!"
"Why isolate him?" Yang Xiao inquired.
"All over some damn trivial matters, making a mountain out of a molehill. They just look down on me and my son, denigrating us for being poor, those snobs. Sooner or later, I’ll kill them all." The man fumbled under the coffee table for a long time, unable to find a bottle with any liquor left. Reluctantly, he got up, fetched a bag of bulk baijiu from the cardboard box in the corner, tore open the packaging, and gulped down several large mouthfuls. The leftover liquor dripped down his chin, his eyes bloodshot, his face twisted into a ferocious snarl.
Moments later, a bedroom door cracked open slightly, someone observing from behind, then the door was pulled open wider, and a young boy of about 8 or 9 years old emerged, skin and bones, wearing a timid expression, looking quite pitiful.
Yang Xiao noticed the boy must have just cried, his eyes still red and swollen, with the imprint of a red hand on his right cheek.
"Dad, please don’t drink anymore." The boy pleaded timidly, his voice trembling.
"Slap!"
The man raised his hand and delivered a slap, "Scram! Don’t you dare tell me what to do. If you backtalk again, I’ll beat you just like I did your mother!"
The scene was indeed too much. Yang Xiao rushed over, shielding the boy behind him, "Mr. Chen, let’s talk this through calmly, there’s no need to hit the child."
"Hah, you think you’re someone? He’s my son; I’ll do as I please. And let me tell you, if you don’t teach well, I’ll beat you along with him," the man threatened, brandishing his fist menacingly. He was rather skinny and short. If it came to it, Yang Xiao was confident he could take on two of him.
Tired of arguing, Yang Xiao just wanted to complete the task at hand. He took the sobbing boy back into the bedroom and shut the door.
Pulling out a tissue to wipe the boy’s tears, Yang Xiao sighed, "Does your father often hit you like this?"
"Yeah, he hits Mom too. She ran away because he kept beating her," the boy sobbed, snot and tears mingling.
Yang Xiao patted the boy’s head, unsure of what to say to comfort him. Scum existed everywhere, after all.
"Teacher, I want to study. Can you teach me?" the boy looked up, his swollen, tear-stained eyes filled with sincerity, "I want to go back to school soon."
Yang Xiao would naturally not refuse such a request – he was here to help the boy overcome his trauma. The boy took Yang Xiao’s hand, leading him to his study desk, where a large and a small chair had been set, the smaller one for the boy. The larger one, prepared for Yang Xiao, had a cushion thoughtfully laid out to prevent it from being too cold.
The sensible boy moved the larger chair outwards to make it more convenient for Yang Xiao to sit, "Teacher, please take a seat."
"Thank you."
As Yang Xiao sat down, he still contemplated how to deal with the abusive man outside. However, the moment he felt the chair beneath him, a sharp pain jolted him up at once, and Yang Xiao immediately stood.
Lifting the cushion from the seat, a few thumbtacks appeared underneath, their sharp points facing upwards.
"Hahaha..." The boy who had been crying just moments ago was now laughing so hard that tears came out, "So stupid, dead stupid, just like the dumb Teacher Wu in our class, hahaha!!"
Upon hearing the noise, the man barged in, but instead of scolding his son, he warned Yang Xiao, "It’s no big deal for kids to be a bit naughty. You, as teachers, should be more tolerant. Why lower yourself to argue with a child?"
After speaking, the man closed the door and went back to his drinking.
Yang Xiao was then certain that everything Yan Huiru had said was true. This father and son pair were no good, "Do you act like this towards your teachers and classmates at school too?"
After hearing this, the boy appeared unconcerned, smirking back, "It’s their fault for being so dumb. Why don’t they play with me?"
"Have you ever considered it might be because of you, because your behavior is nasty, and your character flawed, that everyone wants to stay away from you?" Yang Xiao retorted.
"You’re full of shit! Did someone in your family die, that your mouth stinks so much? Be careful, or your whole family might get hit by a truck when you leave!" the boy cursed loudly.
Truthfully, Yang Xiao was somewhat bewildered; he hadn’t expected a child to have such a venomous tongue. This was beyond the realm of a merely naughty child; this was a malicious brat.
After saying that, the boy cheerfully handed his schoolbag to Yang Xiao, "Teacher, help me take out my book. I want to study hard now."
The schoolbag was half open, and only one book was visible, but Yang Xiao knew there must be another trap inside. He smiled, grabbed the boy’s hand, and guided it towards the book, "You can take it out yourself."
Sure enough, the moment the boy’s fingertips touched the book, he screamed sharply, blood flowing from the tip of his finger.
Only then did Yang Xiao notice that a razor blade had been inserted between the pages of the book, leaving just a sliver of blade exposed—an almost imperceptible trap.
"Ahh!!" The boy clutched at his bleeding finger and cried out, "Dad, Dad, come quick, the teacher—he cut my finger with a blade!"
In an instant, the boy’s father burst in, and, not to be outdone by Yang Xiao, the boy’s performance was impressive. He rolled on the ground clutching his finger and stealthily watched Yang Xiao from the corner of his eye.
The man who had barged in didn’t bother to find out what had actually happened and immediately grabbed Yang Xiao by the collar, "You dare to cut my son with a blade?! Speak up, are you looking down on our family? You piece of crap, you all look down on us!"
Upon hearing this, the boy climbed up from the ground, innocently pointing at Yang Xiao, "Dad, the teacher... he showed me those kinds of things. I didn’t want to look, so he cut me with the blade. It’s in... it’s in my schoolbag, he put it there!"
The man pushed Yang Xiao aside, found the schoolbag, shook it, and out fell a large-scale poster of a woman and a blatantly adult comic book.
"You beastly teacher, just like those other trash at the school, all garbage, garbage!!" After a round of cursing, the man suddenly changed his tone. He said he could keep this quiet and save Yang Xiao’s dignity, but Yang Xiao would have to provide his son with compensation for the emotional distress, the amount of which could be negotiated.
The man told Yang Xiao to get back to teaching and to think things over carefully. They would discuss the details after class and warned Yang Xiao not to get any funny ideas.
"Hehe, you’re done for, you’re so done!!" After the man left, the boy scrambled up from the ground, clapping his hands and laughing gleefully.
Yang Xiao was a person who could keep his cool, but now, this father and son duo had infuriated him, especially the child in front of him, clapping and cheering.
No wonder the school had insisted on expelling him despite the pressure. In Yang Xiao’s view, such a scoundrel deserved more than expulsion; annihilation would be best.
But as angry as he was, Yang Xiao still smiled amicably and didn’t lose his composure. He had been paying attention to the changes in the father and son during the unfolding confrontation.
The first time he saw the man, he was frail and weak as if a gust of wind could blow him over.
The second time, which was the first time he barged into the bedroom, the man had become slightly more robust than before, and he seemed taller too.
And the third time, just now, the man even dared to grab him by the collar directly, and his arms had bulged with muscles, his physique more than twice as strong as it was at first.
As the boy’s behavior became increasingly outrageous, his father also grew stronger and more violent in his actions—this was not a good sign.
Yang Xiao realized that if things continued in this direction, he would eventually die at the hands of this father and son duo.
"Heh, Xiao Hong refuses to play with me. She dares not to join me, so I flipped up her skirt and stabbed her thigh with a pencil to show her my power!"
"Su Jiajia brought delicious food and didn’t share it with me, so I smashed her head with a rock. Everyone who defies me will get the same!"
The boy was saying this when he suddenly pulled out a sharpened pencil from his pocket and lunged at Yang Xiao’s leg.
But then, the boy was stunned as Yang Xiao grabbed the pencil firmly, twisted the boy’s wrist to reverse the pencil’s direction, and drove it deep into the boy’s thigh amid his fearful gaze.
The puncture was deep, and the boy erupted into a scream like that of a slaughtered pig. Just as he was about to curse, Yang Xiao slapped him across the face, silencing the impending foul language. Then he kicked the boy, sending him flying like a ball to crash against the bedroom wall.
"Thud!"
When the man heard the noise and rushed in, he was shocked by the scene before him. After locking eyes with Yang Xiao, the fierceness in the man’s eyes quickly dissipated, and fear took hold. His once-strong physique now deflated like a punctured ball, his body bent and crooked.
"Turns out you only bully the weak and fear the strong. Bloody hell, today I’ll give you a proper lesson!" Yang Xiao lifted a chair like an avenging deity, unstoppable.
