"Why don't you discipline your son!" Lingling's mother was also angry. Although she feared their family, hitting her child in front of their parents was simply going too far.
Lingling, facing her mother's protection, lost her earlier expectation. "I'll be good from now on."
She got up from the ground, looked at Zhou Yang's arrogant demeanor, wiped her face, and ran away.
"What kind of people are they!" Lingling's mother also wanted to avoid trouble, but she didn't expect Zhou Yang to be so overbearing.
Zhou Yang carelessly pushed Zhou Qin forward, "She's too noisy, hurry up and shut her up."
Zhou Qin was pushed forward by him, and he happened to see An An and Ruan Ruan not far away, who also had dumplings in their hands.
He strode over, came to Ruan Ruan, "Hey, kid, give it to brother."
Zhou Yang was accustomed to being showered with attention. Today, he had unexpectedly stumbled with Lingling, and he needed to regain face.
These two little brats reappearing before him meant he couldn't be blamed for using them to assert his authority.
"Brother An An, why is this person so annoying? He always wants to eat other people's things and is so fierce." Ruan Ruan had been doted on by her uncle and mother since she was little and had never seen anyone bully others like this.
Zhou Yang put his hands on his hips and pointed at her, "It's an honor for me to eat your things. How many people are waiting for me to eat their food, and I'm still unwilling."
"Shameless," Ruan Ruan declared, tilting her little face.
Zhou Yang felt doubly frustrated this time.
What was going on today? Why was no one afraid of him?
"What did you say? Say it again!" Zhou Yang looked at Ruan Ruan's doll-like face and intended to give her a chance to admit her mistake.
Ruan Ruan "humphed" and was about to repeat herself, but An An pulled her arm, "Ruan Ruan, don't say that, it doesn't sound nice."
"Oh. Okay, if Brother An An doesn't want me to say it, I won't." Ruan Ruan wasn't the type of girl who liked to badmouth others. She looked at Zhou Yang, "If you want to eat, take your mom to the competition. It's not good to always snatch other people's."
Zhou Yang only knew that he had been rejected again. "I said, I want the dumplings in your hand. What does my mom have to do with it?!"
A student from City No. 1 Primary School nearby whispered, "His mom abandoned him, so how could she come to compete with him."
"That's not his mom?"
"That's Zhou Yang's stepmother. His dad probably married a stepmother because he found him too annoying."
"Yeah, Zhou Yang is so domineering and always gets into fights. It's normal for his parents to dislike him."
Even though these whispers were soft, they still reached Zhou Yang's ears. "If you say one more word, I'll have my dad find someone to expel you from school!"
This was his pain. His mother had left with someone, abandoning him and his father. His father then found him a stepmother. Although this stepmother took care of him, he didn't like her.
He hated it the most when people talked about his mother.
The surrounding children knew Zhou Yang's arrogance and that his father would always side with him, no matter what he did wrong.
Xiao Ming, who had been beaten by him and sent to the hospital before, was expelled from school with the help of his father.
Under Zhou Yang's fierce gaze, the students from City No. 1 Primary School dispersed, no longer watching the commotion.
Zhou Yang approached Ruan Ruan, intending to repeat his previous tactic – snatching.
"This is our thing. You can't just take it without our permission. It's wrong." An An stood in front of Ruan Ruan, looking at Zhou Yang's angry face, trying to reason with him.
He had been targeted by older kids in the village before, and he was used to being different. Reason usually solved problems.
"If I want it, I should get it. What's right or wrong? Why are you so annoying?"
An An patiently said again, "Taking without asking is wrong, and acting recklessly is also wrong."
Zhou Yang didn't listen to him and stepped forward to push him.
An An was agile. As Zhou Yang charged, he took the bowl from Ruan Ruan's hand and dodged with her.
Zhou Yang, due to inertia, fell directly to the ground. His face-plant made the students not far away burst into laughter.
"You're bullying me, woo woo woo, I'm going to tell the teacher to expel you!" Zhou Yang cried, clutching his arm, still shouting about the teacher expelling them.
Ruan Ruan, seeing him cry, became a bit flustered. "Brother An An, he tried to hit us but missed, why is he blaming us?"
An An had done nothing wrong in this matter. He looked up at Huo Rou, his eyes clear and honest.
Seeing Zhou Yang cry, Zhou Qin couldn't continue arguing with Lingling's mother and quickly ran over to help Zhou Yang up.
"Where did you fall?" Zhou Qin was very worried. Zhou Yang's father had specifically instructed her to accompany Zhou Yang to the event today, and now he had fallen.
Zhou Yang stood up and pushed her away, "Why are you pretending to be nice? Your mouth is splitting from smiling! You vixen!"
"Call my teacher, quickly, have him come help me." Zhou Yang told Zhou Qin to quickly notify the teacher, while he continued to cry and fuss.
His skillful performance made it seem as if he had done it countless times.
Classmates in the same class as Zhou Yang could probably guess the outcome.
The teacher would only side with Zhou Yang.
All the students sighed, thinking that someone would finally stand up to Zhou Yang today, but it turned out no one could.
Huo Rou and Qin Ningyi exchanged glances, not expecting things to turn out this way. This child was too much trouble.
Soon, the teacher arrived. He looked at Qin Ningyi's family, dressed plainly, and then at the "habitual offender," Zhou Yang.
Some people, he couldn't afford to offend.
"Yang Yang, what's wrong? Tell the teacher." He squatted in front of Zhou Yang, took out tissues from his bag to wipe his tears, and asked patiently.
Zhou Yang pouted, "They both ganged up on me, Teacher. They pushed me to the ground."
The teacher understood. He just had to listen to Zhou Yang's words in reverse. He wanted to push them, but ended up suffering the consequences.
"Why did they push you?" the teacher continued to inquire. Normally, to deal with Zhou Yang's matters, one needed him to string together the cause and effect.
Zhou Yang lowered his head, "They snatched my dumplings. My stepmother and I won them. They are too young and tried to snatch mine..."
Qin Ningyi frowned. Were children these days so good at twisting facts?
His wronged expression was almost as if it were real.
"Which class are you from? How could you gang up on a classmate?" The teacher did not ask An An and Ruan Ruan but immediately convicted them.
Huo Rou couldn't help but step forward. "Teacher, you've made a judgment based solely on your student's one-sided account without fully understanding the situation. Isn't that unfair?"