LWDC Chapter 63

Chapter 63 – Verification

Chapter 63 – Verification

Chapter 63 – Verification

After sending Lin Shengjia home, Duan Yunhong took Ning Fei out for their “dinner for two.”

Originally, Duan Yunhong had booked an elegant Western restaurant, but Ning Fei suddenly insisted on barbecue, and not the kind where the servers do the grilling. He justified it by saying that since Duan Yunhong’s “nephew” had caused him trouble, Duan Yunhong could compensate him by “grilling for him personally.”

Duan Yunhong had replied with “Dream on” in his message, but he still had the venue changed. What else could he do? He’d already driven to the school gate to pick him up; was he supposed to kick Ning Fei out of the car to drink the north wind? It’s not that Duan Yunhong wouldn’t dare do it once, but if he really did, he couldn’t imagine how Ning Fei would torment him later. He didn’t want to suffer that headache for nothing.

Thus, dinner was changed from a brightly lit Western restaurant to a barbecue place thick with the scent of smoke. And these days, the best barbecue is on the roadside, at most with a shopfront that has its doors open. It was bustling with people, a mixed bag of all sorts. There were no private rooms, and certainly no air conditioning. When Duan Yunhong’s secretary reported this with a stiff upper lip, he thought Duan Yunhong would be furious, but the CEO actually agreed quite calmly.

Although he now preferred to live a pampered and leisurely life in various worlds, he had truly suffered hardship before. Personally grilling meat for someone else at a noisy, open-air barbecue wasn’t really anything.

Ning Fei sat opposite him, watching the man with his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows grilling for him. After admiring the view for a while, he started to push his luck, asking Duan Yunhong, “You consciously drove to the school gate, why didn’t you come in and flaunt your rich man’s power? Pull us out?”

Although there were many people around, the ambient noise was too loud, so there was basically no need to worry about being eavesdropped on.

“Wasn’t that to avoid disrupting your plan to show off your power?” Duan Yunhong glanced at him, his cold tone a stark contrast to the hot barbecue. “A small scene of being slandered for cheating, without even needing to draw knives or guns, is beyond your control?”

On the way, Ning Fei had already told Duan Yunhong the whole story of being called in by the school. Duan Yunhong wasn’t surprised by Ning Fei’s behavior, only saying that it was much gentler than he had guessed. After all, Ning Fei was still resolving the matter within the rules and framework of this world and the school, at most just running his mouth a few times, which really wasn’t much.

“You want me to solve everything, so what are you here to help me with? Help me with my food, clothing, shelter, and transportation?” Ning Fei looked at the grill, silently moving away from the downwind side. “I don’t need a life assistant.”

Duan Yunhong turned the skewers, replying, “Then what do you want me to do? In my current position, if I start to take action, Lin Shengjia is very likely to be recognized by the Ji family. Are you sure you want me to act?”

“You can refuse to acknowledge him,” Ning Fei said with a light smile. “But, isn’t using this matter to threaten Ji Xingzhe pretty good too?”

“…” Duan Yunhong stopped grilling and looked at Ning Fei.

Ning Fei raised his chin: “Don’t just stand there, add the seasoning.”

“I knew it, you wouldn’t really use ordinary teacher’s methods to deal with Ji Xingzhe.” Duan Yunhong raised an eyebrow, adding seasoning as he replied, “You want to threaten him so he can’t act rashly? But if I use the truth about my real identity to threaten him, what’s the point of just telling him not to mess with Lin Shengjia? Shouldn’t I be aiming for more?”

“I don’t care if it’s reasonable or not,” Ning Fei said. “Mr. Duan, I’m just asking you to keep an eye on that little brat Ji Xingzhe. Is that so difficult for you? I didn’t even ask you to complete the main goal.”

“Since you don’t want to be bothered by him, why not help Lin Shengjia transfer schools?” Duan Yunhong handed the grilled skewers to Ning Fei. “Anyway, Lin Shengjia’s goals didn’t say he couldn’t transfer schools, right? He might be able to study more peacefully at another school.”

“Ha, just because of this level of harassment, you want me to take someone and slink away with our tails between our legs? Do you think that’s possible?” Ning Fei scoffed, taking a bite of the grilled skewer. “Mmm… delicious, you actually have some skills, I underestimated you.

“Getting back to the main point, if we transferred schools because of this, Lin Shengjia would become guilty even if he’s innocent. It’s absolutely impossible. And staying here, amidst the boring teaching, I can also use Ji Xingzhe’s constant anxiety as a diversion, which is quite interesting.”

“Just keep an eye on him, are you sure?” Duan Yunhong continued to put the grilled skewers on the paper plate next to him, saying, “There are many people around him who have been deceived by his innocent act, and they’re all actively running errands for him—including the Ji family. If Lin Shengjia is constantly waving in front of him, he will definitely try every possible means to ‘dispose’ of this hidden danger. By then, you won’t just be defending against him, a minor.”

“Do you need to tell me?” Ning Fei finished one skewer and took another. “This report should have been done by Ji Xingzhe instigating those little brats around him, definitely not him personally. After he instigated them, he came to me and pretended to be innocent, saying I didn’t need to tutor him for the time being, without daring to say why.”

Speaking of this, Ning Fei took two gulps of beer, then reminded Duan Yunhong to eat too, before continuing, “I have a guess. Since he didn’t show his face to report me either, maybe he didn’t even let the Ji family know about this. After all, he wouldn’t dare risk having the Ji family notice Lin Shengjia. Then the so-called ‘suspension of tutoring’ shouldn’t be because the Ji family also thinks I was involved in cheating, so they don’t want me to go. Instead, Ji Xingzhe is lying to both sides, telling me that the Ji family isn’t looking for me, and telling the Ji family that I had something happen and don’t want to go. He just wants to strike down both Lin Shengjia and me, because I’m now considered Lin Shengjia’s ‘helper.'”

Duan Yunhong finished the skewer in his hand and continued to put new skewers on the grill, this time also adding some grilled chives and other ingredients: “If you want to verify this, it’s very simple.”

“Hmm?”

“Take a trip to the Ji family yourself and ask the Ji family members. Wouldn’t you know?” Duan Yunhong coldly suggested, “It’s best to ask in front of him, so the Ji family will be curious about what happened.”

“Pfft, let the Ji family know about Lin Shengjia’s existence? Ji Xingzhe would be scared to death, you really are quick, accurate, and ruthless.” Ning Fei laughed. “Okay, let’s go on Sunday morning then. That’s the day I was originally supposed to tutor him, but he told me not to go. If I show up at the Ji family, his expression will definitely be priceless.”

Duan Yunhong remained noncommittal, only commenting on his wicked sense of humor: “Is it worth being so happy about just messing with a wet-behind-the-ears kid?”

“Just looking for fun. He’s young, but his mind is beyond his peers, complex and self-serving. His biggest problem isn’t lying, but being arrogant and self-righteous. He dares to use the people around him to deal with Lin Shengjia and me because he thinks everything is in his control?” Ning Fei said. “It’s most interesting to mess with this kind of ignorant brat. Give him a little hope, and he’ll desperately grasp it, even if it means dragging the people around him down with him. Anyway, the Ji family and his group of friends are birds of a feather, so it doesn’t matter if they’re implicated.”

Duan Yunhong paused: “You’re not still avenging the original owner, are you?”

“Wrong, there’s no such task.” Ning Fei personally sprinkled seasoning on the grilled chives and handed them to Duan Yunhong. “Even if he didn’t provoke me, if he bothers me, then I just want to see him unlucky. Is that not allowed?”

Duan Yunhong wasn’t prepared and ate half a skewer of grilled chives in one bite: “…It’s too salty, and you put too much chili. If you don’t know how to do it, don’t touch it!”

“Hahahaha…” Ning Fei laughed even harder. “Eat it, Mr. Duan, chives are great for you!”

*

On Sunday morning, Duan Yunhong took Ning Fei to the Ji family as promised.

However, it wasn’t officially to take him there. Duan Yunhong told the Ji family that he was stopping by his older brother’s house before going to take care of some business, to talk to him about something. As for Ning Fei, he said he was the translator he was taking with him to handle the business later.

Then Duan Yunhong went upstairs to find his nominal “older brother,” Ji Xingzhe’s nominal “father,” Ji Zhenwei. Ning Fei would wait for him downstairs, and when Duan Yunhong brought him downstairs, the “show would begin.”

—Thinking about it, Ji Zhenwei’s brother is not a brother, his son is not a son, what a humorous life…

“Teacher Ning?!”

Ji Xingzhe, who came out of the game room on the first floor to get a drink, didn’t pay attention at first when he passed by the living room. After realizing something was wrong and taking a second look, he finally noticed—why was Ning Fei, who shouldn’t be here, sitting on the sofa?!

“Didn’t I say there’s no tutoring today?” Ji Xingzhe quickly walked towards Ning Fei. “Why did you still come?”

“What’s wrong, what’s wrong?” Zhu Yueting also appeared in the living room, and when she saw Ning Fei, she also realized what was happening. “Ah? Why are you here!”

Ning Fei was still holding the welcome tea poured by the housekeeper, sitting firmly on the sofa in a composed manner: “Why can’t I be here?”

“But didn’t the Ji family say they didn’t want you to tutor anymore?” Zhu Yueting blurted out. “Don’t tell me you’re still trying to beg Little Zhe’s mom and dad to continue having you teach? You did that kind of thing!”

This little girl was used to being spoiled. When she liked Ning Fei before, she became familiar very quickly. Now that she wanted to “share a common hatred,” she turned her face without any hesitation. Ji Xingzhe was happy to have her “take the fall” for him, naturally happy to pretend to be a conflicted “mute” on the side.

However, since Ji Zhenwei hadn’t come down yet, Ning Fei teased the kid, pretending to be puzzled: “What did I do?”

“You’ve already been called in by the vice-principal, are you still trying to pretend nothing happened?” Zhu Yueting said unhappily. “Everyone knows about you helping Lin Shengjia cheat!”

“‘Everyone’?” Seeing that she was so easy to deceive, Ning Fei casually tried to get information out of her. “‘Everyone’ refers to whom? I just chatted with the vice-principal, and the vice-principal even said to keep the content of the conversation confidential. How come you and the so-called ‘everyone’ are already spreading rumors here? Could it be that you guys…”

“It’s clearly…!”

“Teacher Ning, you don’t need to worry about how we know. You may not know this since you just came to the school, but students like us are naturally more well-informed.” Ji Xingzhe felt that Zhu Yueting was about to let something slip, and finally interrupted, “Since we’ve already said this much, let me make it clear. The reason I told you not to come was to save face, and because I really admired you before, so I didn’t explain the reason clearly. The fact is, it’s because you’re involved in Lin Shengjia’s cheating, so my family doesn’t welcome you.”

Listening to them turning black and white with just a few words, Ning Fei didn’t feel much anger, only amusement. So he laughed and said, “The school hasn’t even made a conclusion yet, and you’re saying you heard the news and are already convicting me here with certainty? Little kids lying isn’t very good.”

Zhu Yueting couldn’t help but angrily say, “Who exactly is lying? Do you have any shame!”

“That’s right, who exactly is lying?” Ning Fei’s gaze shifted from her face to Ji Xingzhe’s face. “Who exactly told me not to come to tutoring, Ji Xingzhe, you didn’t lie, right?”

“What’s this about lying or not lying?” Another unfamiliar voice joined the conversation. The three of them looked in the direction of the voice, and a tall young man was standing at the staircase on the second floor, looking down at them.

It was Ji Zhenwei’s eldest son, Ji Yuechi, who was already a senior in college. He saw Ning Fei and Ji Xingzhe and asked in confusion, “Little Zhe, aren’t you supposed to be in English class? What are you doing in the living room with the teacher?”

Finally, someone “worth watching the show” had arrived. Ning Fei smiled slightly and stood up as well.

“You came at the right time. I was just about to ask, Ji Xingzhe said the Ji family didn’t want me to tutor anymore, and he was playing with other students this morning. Is this really what the parents decided?”