It’s Him – Ch34

Cruelty

For most people, socialization is officially completed upon graduating from university. Before that, school life mainly focuses on developing learning abilities, inheriting human civilization, and instilling moral and legal principles.

Following this sequence, most individuals, after receiving this training, can smoothly enter society without pain.

But Li Xun wasn’t part of this process. She hadn’t experienced the training of human civilization and directly entered the more brutal reality of society, leading her to master much harsher survival rules.

Later, she returned to civilized society, back to the student group, in a warm environment. The part of her that had been suppressed—the needs belonging to a child—exploded.

She became reliant on her mother, just like other children. She enjoyed the feeling of loving someone, played with her friends, and cherished the days of being unguarded in a group. She enjoyed the sense of loving the group and society.

If before, it was her strong inner core and fearlessness toward the outside world that made almost everyone around her feel secure and unconsciously draw near her, now, the sense of accomplishment from supporting such a person was indescribable. Li Xun’s school life was no longer disturbed by things that upset her.

She also gladly accepted everyone’s kindness and protection, after all, it was something everyone was happy about.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Li Xun was contemplating whether she could get her mother released on bail, while also assessing the current situation.

Online, Zhao Xin had become an outlet for the emotional release of some people. In modern society, the hidden fear of unsafe factors within people’s hearts was vented through this one vulnerable person.

Offline, Zhao Xin, who had been stirring up trouble and worsening the teacher-student conflicts at the school for ten years, was now widely known for it.

A high-pressure environment had formed around him, waiting for just a crack.

Li Xun felt uneasy and sent a message to the people from the Jin family.

“Keep a close eye, don’t let him die.”

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Zhao Xin had always believed he was strong enough, indifferent to what others said, and didn’t need friends.

Now, however, facing thousands of insults, he didn’t have a single friend to talk to.

His son…

His son was useless.

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Four days later, Sun Ning learned that Zhao Xin had been stabbed while leaving his house.

What had happened?

She quickly asked someone to inquire, and only then did she understand the situation.

The man who stabbed him was also a teacher at Pingcheng High School, but not one of the teachers Sun Ning had wanted to collaborate with.

This person, Sun Ning didn’t want to mention what he had done in front of Li Xun.

She vaguely said, “He wasn’t proper when he was at school, had moral issues. Originally, the student’s parents went to the school, but the school didn’t admit it. Later, a group of parents reported him to the education bureau, which led to it being taken seriously. He was locked up for a few years, of course, losing his job. All the teachers looked down on him.”

From just these few words, Li Xun could roughly guess what had happened.

After being released from prison, this person naturally couldn’t return to the system, but he had some connections and, hiding his past history, managed to find a job in an educational institution, earning several times more than he did at the school.

When a person gets money, they become arrogant, and arrogance leads to offending others. So, someone exposed his past to the parents of the institution’s students.

The relationship between the institution and the students’ parents was not the same as that between the school and the parents.

The students’ parents blew up the matter. Not only was he fired, but he also had to compensate the institution for its losses. Since then, he had become infamous in the circle and could no longer find similar work.

He had an inflated sense of self-worth and was unwilling to do hard labor, so he had to rely on his parents while trying to start a business.

Starting a business wasn’t that simple. After a few years of struggling, all his money, plus his parents’ retirement savings, was used up, and he owed a massive amount of debt.

With no other choice, he had to work hard labor.

After a few years on the construction site, his body couldn’t take it anymore. Fortunately, he was lucky when the delivery industry emerged, and he started delivering food.

Occasionally, when passing by Pingcheng High School, he would boast to others that he used to be a teacher there, but after getting expelled, delivering food was freer and made more money.

Others just laughed it off, thinking he was bragging.

One night while having a late-night snack, he happened to meet an old colleague from Pingcheng High. Not only did his old colleague not look down on him, but he also invited him for a drink. The two of them talked about the past.

It felt as if they had returned to the days when they were still teachers. Back then, whether it was the students’ parents or the students, everyone greeted him respectfully.

The old colleague said, “If you ask me, you must have also been harmed by Zhao Xin.”

“Harmed by him?”

“You don’t know?” His colleague got excited when talking about it. “He used to stir up trouble behind our backs and make things worse between teachers.”

In the end, the old colleague revealed how Zhao Xin had caused strife and worsened conflicts at the school.

“You might have been harmed by him back then, too.”

In that instant, this person felt that it must have been him. His failed life, which had no support, had finally found someone to take it out on. All the accumulated resentment over the years could now be released instead of being buried inside him.

For years, the depression, the stable life he could have had, and the respectful environment, plus the alcohol, drove him to find Zhao Xin. On the way, he also remembered someone saying Zhao Xin was a murderer.

He went and bought a knife.

If it hadn’t been for a passerby stopping him, Zhao Xin might not have survived.

He was no longer in danger, but his situation was far from optimistic. During the fight, he had injured his hand, and in the future, it might be hard for him to even hold a pen.

Sun Ning sighed after hearing this. She remembered that the starting point of this whole matter was when she told everyone.

Now, the situation…

“What’s going on here? What does Zhao Xin’s incident have to do with that dog bastard? How did it turn out like this—one is going to jail, and the other can’t even use his hands.”

She couldn’t adjust to it. She felt that there should have been a more just way to handle it, but now, no matter how she thought about it, it felt strange.

Li Xun had little thought on the matter. Zhao Xin had accumulated too much evil; this was just the explosion of it.

As for the person who hurt him, they would definitely end up in prison. From society’s point of view, losing one dangerous element wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Li Xun’s childhood experiences had an impact on her. She hadn’t fully grown up and hadn’t found balance yet. She often didn’t consider the consequences of her actions.

The classmates in her class organized themselves, bought flowers and fruits, and planned to visit Teacher Zhao.

Li Xun also went along.

Now, Teacher Zhao was not like he used to be in her basement. He had lost at least ten more pounds, his mental state was very poor, and his hand was wrapped. When he saw them, he no longer had the previous gentleness, instead, his face was always grim.

She looked at Teacher Zhao, and he turned around to look at her.

When their eyes met, it was like the gaze of two wild beasts.

High school students were not good at handling such situations, so they stayed only a little while before leaving.

After they left, Teacher Zhao began looking for people to help investigate Li Xun.

His best lead was the incident that nearly caused Li Xun to be expelled.

Early love.

The early love that almost led to expulsion happened because the boy attempted suicide.

The boy didn’t die, and his parents were wealthy and influential, making a big scene at the school.

Li Xun was innocent in the whole matter. She had never insulted the boy or said anything bad about him. Their conversations were normal, and they had even agreed to go see a movie together that weekend.

No one knew why the boy suddenly took such extreme action. At the time, people thought he might have had psychological issues.

Now, however, he believed things might not be that simple.

Zhao Xin had completely lost his mind. He stubbornly believed that all of this was related to Li Xun.

He had to kill this little girl!