The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 750 - 739

Chapter 750: 739

Mr. Zhai certainly didn’t believe Wei Ting’s words, but he also wouldn’t let the harmonization officer come to punish his student.

Therefore, he said nothing in the presence of the school inspector, but as soon as he returned to the classroom, he called Wei Ting to the front, made him face away from all the students, and then told the whole class, "Those who climbed the wall and skipped class with Wei Ting yesterday, stand up."

Not a single student in the class moved.

Mr. Zhai then narrowed his eyes and tapped the desk, saying, "I’ll give you a quarter of an hour. If no one stands up, I will take it as Wei Ting’s sole act and punish him severely. Consider carefully."

After speaking, he closed his eyes slightly.

The students sitting below blinked and couldn’t help but look at Bai Shan, wondering if Mr. Zhai was serious or just bluffing.

After thinking, Bai Shan felt that Mr. Zhai would not lie, so he nodded slightly to them.

The four students who ran off yesterday glanced at each other and stood up from their chairs, trembling.

Mr. Zhai opened his eyes and looked at them, sweeping his gaze across the class, nodded in satisfaction, "Very well, you’ll clean East Garden for a month and copy the school regulations twenty times. I want them in one month."

The students moaned, but in front of Mr. Zhai, no one dared to object.

Only then did Mr. Zhai let Wei Ting turn back around and told him, "You copy the regulations twenty times as well."

Wei Ting bulged his eyes and exclaimed, "Mr., why have you increased the punishment? I was only supposed to clean East Garden."

Mr. Zhai calmly replied, "I have added four people to help you clean East Garden; is that not a reduction? These twenty times you should have copied regardless. Had they not stood up, what you’d have to copy would have been more than just the school regulations twenty times. Go back to your seat!"

Wei Ting walked back with his head drooping.

Mr. Zhai then gave them a half-day lesson on ethics, focusing on Wei Ting and Bai Shan, saying, "There is just over a month left before the year-end exams at the school. Whether you can stay in Class A3 or progress further will depend on the results of this exam, yet you are still thinking about going out for food and fun every day..."

After lecturing them, Mr. Zhai also talked to Wei Ting alone, advising him to stay out of politics.

"You are merely students of the school for now. You should listen more and speak less. Counsellor Chang has been demoted, and you are aware of it, which is fine. Discussion with your classmates is one thing, but to go out and celebrate publicly, do you want to add fuel to the fire after the incident with Ji Hao?"

Wei Ting hung his head and didn’t dare to speak.

After scolding him, Mr. Zhai said, "It’s one thing for you to make trouble, but to drag Bai Shan into it... How old is he? His family has no power or influence; if the Chang family is to leave, taking him down would be like pinching an ant. You may be fearless, but what about him?"

Wei Ting spoke softly with his head down, "Hasn’t he already cleared himself of the matter?"

"Is it that easy to clear oneself from such matters?"

Wei Ting fell silent then.

Tired, Mr. Zhai waved him away, saying, "Go back. If you rank below the sixtieth place, I will absolutely not protect you. Then you should move to Class B."

Wei Ting was startled and scampered back with his neck retracted.

Seeing him return, the classmates crowded around him, asking, "How did it go, how fierce was the teacher?"

"Can’t you see my face is all spit? What do you think?" Wei Ting pushed the classmates away, glanced at Bai Shan beside him, and couldn’t help saying, "Sorry for dragging you into this."

Bai Shan replied indifferently, "There’s no need for apologies."

For he wasn’t sure if it was Wei Ting who had dragged him down, or if he had dragged down Wei Ting and the others.

He would bet that if yesterday he and Manbao Bai Er hadn’t been among them, County Magistrate Tang definitely wouldn’t have gone to make a complaint.

So this matter... could only fall by the wayside.

The classmates in Class A3 patted Bai Shan on the shoulder one by one in a brotherly manner.

Although Bai Shan had pushed all the blame onto Wei Ting after the incident, one more louse on Wei Ting’s head made no difference.

Everyone was very understanding.

Seeing them with such expressions, Wei Ting couldn’t help but shout, "You all knew to push the blame onto me, so why did you confess just now?"

Someone looked at Bai Shan and said, "It was Bai Shan who asked us; we were worried Mr. Zhai would really punish you harshly."

"That was just to scare you. They wouldn’t hit me or expel me anyway; how much could they really punish me?"

"Yeah, we shouldn’t have come forward! Bai Shan, this is your fault, you have to take responsibility. Your handwriting is good, you’ll be in charge of copying the regulations for us."

Bai Shan, sitting at the desk, rolled his eyes unapologetically, and Song Zheng couldn’t help but explain for him, "You should be thanking him. Do you really think Mr. Zhai couldn’t have found you out?"

"The harmonization officer didn’t want the hassle and sought a shortcut by taking statements directly from Wei Ting and Bai Shan. Otherwise, taking the portraits of the twenty people from our class to Ganxiang Pavilion for identification by the waiters, no, probably no need for portraits, just questioning that fellow more, would naturally reveal the truth. Which of you few hasn’t been to Ganxiang Pavilion for a meal?"

The group shuddered.

Song Zheng said, "The harmonization officer might have found it too troublesome, but our teacher certainly does not. If you don’t admit it now and he finds out later, the punishment won’t be as simple as just cleaning and copying the regulations."

The crowd slumped their shoulders, accepting the situation.

"However, Bai Shan, as brothers, we share our joys and face troubles together. Why don’t you join us to clean East Garden after school?" Having one more person means less work for each.

Bai Shan said, "I’m not going!"

"You have only ten rules to copy. You’ll finish quickly, so just help us out."

Bai Shan said, "I need to study more for the tests, hoping to get a good ranking."

Wei Ting was stunned and asked, "Are you leaving our class?"

Bai Shan glanced at him and said, "Doing well doesn’t necessarily mean leaving, but doing poorly definitely means leaving."

Song Zheng also felt the urgency and nodded, "It’s true. If you’re first, you can stay in Class A3 even if you don’t want to move to Class A1, but if you’re sixty-first, you’ll have to go to Class B no matter how much you want to stay here."

The others shivered and immediately dispersed to grab their books and read.

Bai Shan, seeing the surrounding finally quiet, smiled in satisfaction.

Song Zheng turned to look at him and laughed, "Your two friends haven’t dared to come to school to read these past few days, have they?"

Bai Shan snorted; Manbao and the others weren’t bold enough to slip in and read books at such a risky time.

Song Zheng then said, "As students of the school, those who rank in the top twenty have the right to borrow books from the Book Collection Tower the following year. They are the kind that can be taken out of the tower, up to three books at a time, for up to one month."

Bai Shan said thanks, "Thank you."

Song Zheng smiled slightly, "No need to thank me."

He too wanted to know how well Bai Shan would perform.