Become a Knight Across the World

Chapter 293 Covering the sky with one hand

When the homeroom teacher, Ms. Li, walked into the classroom, she only glanced at Xu Yun, who was sitting in the corner looking disheveled and with her head down, and her brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

He was disgusted that she had polluted the classroom air. There were no questions, no words of comfort, as if nothing had happened. During break, Xu Yun mustered all her courage and walked to the door of the teachers' office.

"Teacher Li..." Her voice was barely audible, tinged with tears.

Teacher Li was drinking tea from her thermos when she heard this. Without even lifting her eyelids, she said, "What is it? Speak quickly, I'm busy." Her tone was full of impatience.

"Chen Ya and the others... they bullied me again... this morning they spilled my milk tea and stepped on my books..." Xu Yun's voice was choked with sobs as she tried to state the facts.

"Bullying?" Teacher Li put down her cup and finally looked at Xu Yun properly, her eyes full of doubt and disapproval. "Xu Yun, it's normal for classmates to have minor conflicts. You say Chen Hao bullied you, do you have any evidence? Who saw it? Don't accuse others of bullying you so easily. It takes two to tango. You should look for the reasons within yourself! Did you do something wrong and offend him? Stop thinking about these things all day long, focus on your studies!"

"But teacher, they..."

"Alright!" Teacher Li interrupted her rudely, waving her hand. "I don't have time for your trivial matters. Midterm exams are coming up soon, and your grades are already at the bottom. Aren't you going to start studying? If you keep going like this, I don't think you'll even graduate! Get out!"

The office door slammed shut coldly in front of Xu Yun, crushing her last glimmer of hope. A chilling despair, like a poisonous vine, tightened around her heart. Leaning against the cold wall, tears finally streamed down her face silently, bitter and astringent.

At noon, Xu Yun didn't go to the cafeteria. She ran to the most secluded corner of the school, where the tap water was icy cold. She scrubbed her hair and the stains on her school uniform vigorously until her skin turned red.

Her stomach was empty, but she had no appetite; shame and anger burned like fire in her chest. After school that afternoon, she practically fled the school gate.

The mother set up a small wonton stall at the entrance of an alley in an old residential area not far from the school. It was their only source of income.

Her mother was a very good cook; her wontons had thin wrappers, generous fillings, and delicious broth. With the help of the neighbors, they managed to support themselves and pay for Xu Yun's tuition.

From afar, Xu Yun could see that a lot of people had gathered around the stall, not the familiar diners, but the onlookers.

Her heart sank, a sense of foreboding gripping her. She pushed through the crowd, and the sight before her struck her like a thunderbolt!

The small wonton stall was overturned! The stove fell to the ground, the charcoal fire went out, the boiling soup pot overturned, and soup and wontons were spilled everywhere, leaving a mess.

The mother, hunched over, her hair disheveled, her face bearing obvious bruises and abrasions, and blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, was struggling to right the overturned tables and chairs and tidy up the mess on the floor. Her movements were slow, and each movement caused her to gasp in pain.

"Mom—!" Xu Yun screamed and rushed over, tears streaming down her face.

"Xiaoyun...you, why are you back..." When her mother saw her, a hint of panic flashed in her cloudy eyes. She tried to cover the injury on her face with her hand. "Mom's fine...I just...fell down..."

"What wrestling! Who did this?! Was it them again?!" Xu Yun looked at the injuries on her mother's face, her heart aching, and anger made her tremble. She looked around; several neighbors who had come to watch seemed hesitant to speak, but in the end, they just sighed and shook their heads.

An older woman who usually had a good relationship with the mother quietly pulled Xu Yun aside and whispered, "Xiao Yun...it was a few fierce-looking thugs who came in a van...they overturned the stalls and beat people up without saying a word...they were cursing and saying things like 'Tell your daughter to watch her mouth' and 'If you dare to complain again, we'll kill you'...before they left...they even threw down a stack of money..." The woman pointed to a dirty brown paper envelope in the corner.

Xu Yun picked up the envelope; inside was a thick wad of hundred-yuan bills, estimated to be over ten thousand yuan. The crisp banknotes smelled of ink, like silent slaps across her face!

This money is hush money! It's payment for humiliation! It's "compensation" and "settlement" they declared through violence!

"Zhang Hao! Chen Ya! Wang Lei! That damned Chen family!" Xu Yun's nails dug into her palms, drawing blood, but she felt no pain.

For the first time, the flames of hatred burned so clearly and fiercely within her, threatening to consume her. She understood that her report to the school had not brought justice, but rather her mother being beaten in the street, her livelihood vandalized! It was a naked warning and trampling, bought with money!

Clutching the wad of money stained with humiliation, she helped her injured mother and slowly made her way back to their rented room, a small, dark, and damp space of only a dozen square meters.

Xu Yun carefully wiped her mother's wound with warm water, tears streaming down her face. Her mother weakly comforted her, "Xiao Yun, don't cry... Mom's not in pain... We can't afford to offend them, but we can avoid them... Once Mom's healed, we'll set up our stall somewhere else... This money... we can't take it... Mom will pay them back tomorrow..."

"Pay back? Why should they pay back!" Xu Yun suddenly looked up, her eyes filled with a near-mad light her mother had never seen before. "This is what they should pay back! It was paid for with your blood! Mom, let's call the police! This time we must call the police!"

Her mother looked at her with a complicated expression that eventually turned into deep weariness: "It's no use... Xiaoyun... They're rich and powerful... Calling the police... will only bring more trouble... Listen to your mother, just bear with it... so you can study hard... just bear with it..." A violent cough interrupted her mother's words, and her face instantly turned pale.

Xu Yun's heart sank. Looking at her mother's pained expression, the cold sweat on her forehead, and her rapid breathing, a huge panic gripped her. "Mom? Mom, what's wrong? Don't scare me!"

The mother clutched her chest in pain, her breathing becoming increasingly labored, her face turning from white to pale. "It hurts... Xiaoyun... it hurts so much..." Before she could finish speaking, her body went limp, and she fainted!

"mom--!!!"

.........

The red light in the emergency room was blindingly bright. Xu Yun was covered in sweat, her face a mixture of tears and perspiration, her school uniform stained with milk tea and her mother's blood. She stood like a stone statue, staring intently at the closed door.

Time ticked by, and finally, the lights went out. A doctor in a white coat came out, solemnly removing his mask.

"Doctor! How is my mother?!" Xu Yun rushed over, her voice hoarse.

The doctor looked at the thin, disheveled girl before him, his eyes filled with deep sympathy: "I'm sorry, we did our best. The patient was in critical condition when she arrived; she had multiple ruptured internal organs with bleeding, a broken rib that had punctured her lung... and she also had a serious heart condition..."

"boom--!"

Xu Yun couldn't hear what was said after that. The doctor's words struck her like a bolt from the blue! The world instantly lost all sound and color. She felt dizzy, her legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground.

"No...it's impossible...Mom...Mom, wake up...look at me, Mom..." she murmured, trying to crawl towards the emergency room on her hands and feet, but was stopped by the nurse.

"Please accept my condolences..." The doctor sighed heavily, handed her a piece of paper, and said with some reluctance, "This is the death certificate... and also, the previous rescue costs... here is the bill."

The cold paper felt like a red-hot branding iron, searing her very soul. The death certificate… the bills… and the stack of “compensation” notes stained with her mother’s blood in her pocket…

Her mother was wheeled out, covered with a white sheet. Xu Yun rushed over, lifted a corner, and her mother's weathered face, which was unusually calm at the moment, came into view.

She could no longer hold on, collapsing onto her mother's cold body and sobbing uncontrollably. Her cries echoed through the empty corridor, filled with despair.

"Why...why..." she cried out, "Mom...what will I do without you...who will take care of me..."

Afterwards, she called the police and recounted in detail how her mother was beaten, her stall was vandalized, and how she received "compensation."

The police took a statement and were fairly serious, but when Xu Yun mentioned Zhang Hao and Chen Ya's names and the Chen family behind them, the young police officer in charge of taking the statement hesitated for a moment and exchanged a glance with the older police officer next to him.

"Young lady, do you have any evidence for what you're saying? Like eyewitnesses? Or... CCTV footage?" The older policeman suppressed his reluctance and tried his best to be official in his tone.

“Yes! Aunt Li, who sells fruit at the alley entrance, saw it! And…and the money! They sent someone to deliver it!” Xu Yun said urgently, taking out the kraft paper envelope.

The policeman took the envelope and looked at it, his brow furrowing. "This... only proves that someone gave you money, not directly who ordered it, nor does it prove that the money is related to the assault. As for witnesses..." He paused, "we will conduct interviews and investigations. You can go back and wait for news."