Chapter 38: Wishful Thinking
Director Zhang's face turned extremely grim. He knew very well that his daughter had become increasingly withdrawn lately. He was also aware that his wife was very strict with their daughter, but he didn’t see anything wrong with that. His daughter was already in her third year of junior high, she just had to endure this period. Later, when she achieved success and stood out, she would understand her parents’ good intentions.
Right now, there was only one thought in his mind: his daughter must not come to harm. He fetched the spare key, but the bedroom door was locked from the inside and couldn’t be opened. This time, he was truly terrified, his daughter was definitely inside.
Yang Jiabo saw him in a state of panic and asked, "Uncle Zhang, can you think of any other way to get in?"
"No. Her window is near the balcony, but there’s a security grille, we can’t get in that way either." Director Zhang tried to force the door open with his body, but it was useless. He rushed into the storage room, grabbed an axe, and hacked at the lock.
Desperate to save his daughter, he used all his strength, and soon the bedroom door was broken open. Zhang Yi lay on the bed, her face deathly pale. Her arm hung limply over the edge, blood gushing from the wound on her wrist and dripping onto the floor.
"Zhang Yi—!" Director Zhang shouted, lunging forward.
Zhang Yi opened her eyes, glanced at him, and said weakly, "Dad, I’m so tired."
Then she closed her eyes again. Director Zhang, startled, reached out to check her breathing and confirmed she was still alive, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Zhang Yi’s wound isn’t too deep. If we get her to the hospital quickly, she can still be saved," Yang Jiabo who was more experienced, reminded the panicked Director Zhang.
"Right, we need to get her to the hospital." Director Zhang found some bandages, hastily dressed the wound, then carried Zhang Yi downstairs.
Yang Jiabo had already gone ahead to hail a taxi. The hospital Yang Jiabo was staying at was the closest, so Zhang Yi was rushed there for emergency treatment. Yang Jiabo watched as she was taken into the emergency room before returning to his own ward, his face just as pale.
The doctor scolded him the moment he saw him, he had pulled out his IV and run off without permission. Yang Jiabo explained the situation, and the doctor ordered him to get checked again before restarting his IV. By the time Yang Jiabo was done with all this, he was exhausted and collapsed onto the bed, half-asleep.
His aunt walked in carrying a thermal lunchbox, she had come to bring him lunch. Li Guizhen was taking care of Grandma Yang, and Yang Jianjun was busy, so his aunt had taken on the responsibility of looking after Yang Jiabo. Yang Jiabo felt he wasn’t bedridden and didn’t need someone watching over him all day, so his aunt mainly just brought him meals.
"Jiajia, why do you look so terrible?"
"Something happened this morning," Yang Jiabo said weakly, taking the chicken soup his aunt handed him and sipping it slowly.
"What happened?" his aunt asked.
Yang Jiabo gave a brief account of the morning’s events and sighed. "I don’t even know if my classmate was saved."
"What’s wrong with you kids these days, always thinking about suicide?" His aunt sighed in dismay.
"Who knows?" His illness was due to his rebirth, but Zhang Yi’s case was from overwhelming parental pressure. While rescuing her, he had noticed bruises on her arms, as if she had been struck with a ruler.
After finishing his IV, Yang Jiabo went to check on Zhang Yi. Fortunately, she had been discovered in time and saved. Director Zhang, seeing Yang Jiabo, solemnly thanked him for saving Zhang Yi. Zhang Yi remained unconscious, and Yang Jiabo left without waiting for her to wake. He had done what he could, his conscience was clear.
Yang Jiabo stayed in the hospital for five days before being discharged after the doctors confirmed he was fine. He obtained a medical certificate to submit to his homeroom teacher upon returning to school. But what he never expected was to be handed an expulsion notice.
Yang Jiabo stared blankly at Teacher Jin and asked, "Teacher Jin, I just want to know, why am I being expelled?"
"Asking you to withdraw voluntarily is for your own good. If the school officially expels you, it’ll be embarrassing for everyone," Teacher Jin advised.
"I won’t withdraw voluntarily. If the school wants to expel me, then expel me. What’s the point of being so vague about it?" Yang Jiabo felt exhausted. If he couldn’t continue his studies, so be it. In his previous life, he had only graduated from junior high and, due to poor grades, attended a mediocre vocational school, though he dropped out after just half a year.
Back then, his family had no money. When Li Guizhen went to relatives to borrow some, they all said education was useless and he might as well start working early to earn money. So when Yang Jiabo returned home for break, Li Guizhen told him to quit school, they couldn’t afford it.
Yang Jiabo had wanted to finish vocational school, at least having a diploma would make job-hunting easier. But the family truly had no money, and after much deliberation, he decided to drop out. Much later, he learned from Yang Jianjun that half the money Li Guizhen had borrowed under the pretext of his education had gone toward gambling debts.
At that time, he had hated Li Guizhen. She spent all day playing mahjong, neglecting the family. Every time Yang Jiabo asked her for money for school supplies, she would snap that they had none, yet at the mahjong table, she never seemed short on cash. Yang Jiabo had even overturned her mahjong table once, but it changed nothing.
Actually, Li Guizhen hadn’t known how to play mahjong at first. Among the Li family relatives, only Second Aunt played. During family gatherings, everyone would scold her for it, until she taught everyone except Eldest Aunt how to play. After that, no one criticized her anymore. Family gatherings no longer involved cards, only mahjong. Second Aunt had been quite smug about it.
Now, reborn, he was still stopping at junior high. It seemed he really wasn’t cut out for studying.
"Do you think I’m lying to you? If the school issues an official expulsion, it’ll be even more humiliating for you."
"I know you’re not lying, but I want to know why. And what reason will the school give for expelling me?"
Teacher Jin’s tone turned sharp. "Zhang Yi attempted suicide because of you. Her mother came to the school to make a scene. Plus, you got into a fight with a high school girl, the school knows about it. And then there’s your mental condition..."
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