One Move That Shattered Everything

Pei Du was not someone who advocated violence.
In a harmonious society, violence was incredibly inefficient and rarely solved problems at their root.
But sometimes, violence was like the sauce in a burger, the ink in a fountain pen—an indispensable element.
When necessary, Pei Du would also decisively use violence.

“Hey, hey, why the violence? What is this student from another class trying to do?”
Zhao Yu wouldn’t let Pei Du be left with a negative impression.
He quickly laid down a conclusion, first embedding the impression that “Fang Wen struck first” in everyone’s minds to avoid any after-the-fact impact on Pei Du or the spread of a bad reputation.
This was his way of protecting a friend.

Because school was already out, Xu Tong didn’t step forward now to fulfill her duties as class monitor.
She pretended to play with her phone in the corner after packing up, but in reality, she was watching the show with rapt attention.
She had no desire to run over and break up the fight.
The guy on the floor looked like he was going crazy; what if she got accidentally hurt?
Besides, she believed Pei Du would handle the situation well.
Pei Du gave her an inexplicable sense of reliability; it was a woman’s intuition.

If Zheng Zhengbo were here, he would have stepped in to mediate.
He was the type to resolve things amicably between friends and could handle matters.
But due to evening physical training, he and several other guys who could handle such situations weren’t present.
This led to a particular scenario—while the Class 7 students looked on, no one stepped forward to stop Pei Du from pinning Fang Wen to the ground.
They just watched the farce continue, laughing at Fang Wen’s miserable state.

Fang Wen, lying on the floor, felt an immense sense of humiliation under the gazes of those around him.
Being pinned down, immobile, by another guy in front of his girlfriend and the beautiful girls—that kind of humiliation was indescribable.
Especially when this guy was both handsomer and more accomplished than him.
Worried about being looked down upon by everyone, he struggled furiously again.

Seeing he wasn’t behaving, Pei Du slowly increased pressure, bending Fang Wen’s arm inward.
Intense pain instantly swept through Fang Wen’s entire body, making him dare not struggle any further.

“Yeah, why resort to violence?” Otaku Liu Kang also spoke up for Pei Du.
He had some goodwill toward Pei Du; after all, they shared a love for anime and games.
He raised his phone. “I’ve got it all on video.”
His original intention was to record the gossip to share with students from other classes.
He hadn’t expected to capture this heavyweight scene of Pei Du beating up Fang Wen.
In the video, he could clearly see that Fang Wen had struck first.
Since they were classmates and shared interests, he didn’t mind stepping forward to back up Zhao Yu’s words.

Hearing that Liu Kang had recorded a video, Fang Wen saw black before his eyes.
—Being recorded meant this incident would soon spread throughout the grade.
Videos spread far faster than text chats.
Who knew how many of the onlooking students from Class 7 had also recorded it?
Fang Wen could hardly imagine the speed of its spread.
The fact that he was inferior to Pei Du would soon become known throughout the grade.
Right now, many people probably already knew.

“Fang Wen, tell me the truth.” Lu Jing, for some reason, felt like she couldn’t catch her breath.
Having seen most of the chat records, she already had a rough idea of the answer.
Today’s incident was just her clinging to a sliver of hope, wanting to prove her judgment wasn’t that poor, that Chen Xintian wasn’t that great.
Who was she trying to prove it to? She couldn’t say clearly—perhaps Chen Xintian, perhaps herself.
And what had her boyfriend done? Lied and resorted to violence.
Although his goal was to prove he hadn’t been flirting with another girl, it only made Lu Jing feel he had poor character.
Lu Jing was just that contradictory.
Or rather, anyone in her position would be just as conflicted.
She hoped Fang Wen would say he was blameless, yet she didn’t want him to lie and slander others.
Either way, disappointment was unavoidable.
From the beginning, there was only one outcome: she would truly become disappointed in Fang Wen.
“Was it you… who initiated the chats with her?”
Her voice was faint.
The once strong-willed girl had long lost her earlier commanding presence.
Her words didn’t sound like an accusation, but a statement of fact.

Fang Wen remained silent, struggling on the floor, trying to get up.
He didn’t dare answer.

“Pei… Classmate Pei, please let Fang Wen up, okay?”
Lu Jing spoke in an almost pleading tone.
Pei Du sensed she was on the verge of tears.

Whether to let Fang Wen go didn’t matter to Pei Du.
Even if Fang Wen tried something, Pei Du could subdue him again easily.
Pei Du straightened his back and casually pulled Fang Wen up.

Once up, Fang Wen still wanted to swing at Pei Du, but Lu Jing stopped him.
“Say something!”
Her shout was hysterical, cutting off Fang Wen’s movement.
His mind was a complete mess.
Everything had been fine just yesterday—how had it all collapsed in one day?
He quickly found someone to blame.
Lu Jing was too sensitive.
Chen Xintian hadn’t helped cover the lie.
And Pei Du—if he hadn’t interfered, Chen Xintian would have smoothed everything over.
From start to finish, Fang Wen believed he had done nothing wrong.
Blaming others came naturally.

Lu Jing heard no answer.
After a moment, she turned numbly toward Chen Xintian.
“I’m sorry. I wronged you.”
Her steps were stiff, her expression blank, tears seeming to pool in her eyes.
She walked toward the classroom door.
Her shoulders hunched as if cold.
Pei Du noticed these subtle movements and knew the girl had grown cold inside.

As she passed Fang Wen, she said softly,
“Let’s end it here.”
“End it here? What do you mean?”
Fang Wen replied in astonishment, unwilling to accept being dumped unilaterally.
He reached out.
“I’m breaking up with you, Fang Wen.”
Lu Jing stepped back as if avoiding something dirty.
Disgust showed in her eyes, irritation in her tone.
“That’s it.”
She gestured to her friends and left.

Fang Wen wanted to chase after her but couldn’t.
Doing so would make him lose face.
He glared at Pei Du.
“You just wait.”
Then to Liu Kang,
“If you post that video, I’ll beat you to death.”
Liu Kang replied with disdain,
“Go ahead. Who are you trying to scare?”
It was senior year—who was afraid of whom?
Fang Wen fled.

His threats had no deterrent power.
No connections. No backing.
Just empty bluster.

“That was solid.”
Zhao Yu slung an arm around Liu Kang.
“Thank you,” Pei Du said.
He wasn’t keen on socializing, but his manners were model-level.
Liu Kang was pleasantly surprised.
Pei Du usually felt distant, lukewarm, hard to approach.

The onlookers silently dispersed.
Some were already spreading the incident that had just happened.
Phones came out.
Explosive gossip traveled fast.
To really enjoy it, you had to tell everyone who knew the people involved.