Cheng Xi’s mother spoke angrily, “It takes two to clap. Are you saying this was Cheng Xi’s fault alone?”

“No matter what happened, there was no reason to resort to violence.”

“Who says a single hand can’t clap?”

A woman’s voice suddenly rang out from behind them, drawing everyone’s attention.

Jiang Ran slowly walked in through the doorway, a mocking smile lifting the corner of her lips.

She strode straight up to Cheng Xi’s mother. Before the woman could even react—

Slap!

The sudden blow sent Cheng Xi’s mother stumbling backward with a cry of pain, her cheek instantly burning.

She glared viciously at Jiang Ran. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

Jiang Ran’s actions stunned everyone present. Cheng Xi covered his bleeding nose with one hand while supporting his mother with the other.

The teacher rushed over and demanded sharply, “Mrs. Si, how can you hit someone like this?”

Si Zuochen and Si Youlin exchanged glances, both clearly shocked.

According to how things were supposed to go, wasn’t she supposed to scold them when she came to school?

So why did she slap someone else instead?

Jiang Ran lowered her gaze, casually rubbing her palm. “She said one hand can’t clap. I was simply giving her a personal demonstration—to see whether one hand can make a sound.”

She took two steps forward. Chairman Zhang, still dazed from the slap, instinctively tried to dodge—

But Jiang Ran easily grabbed her by the collar.

“You tell me,” Jiang Ran asked coolly, “did you hear it?”

The teacher stood frozen at the side, shocked beyond words.

This—this was outright intimidation!

After being slapped, who would dare say it didn’t make a sound?

Being grabbed by the collar in front of so many people made the woman furious. She raised her hand and clawed toward Jiang Ran’s face.

Jiang Ran frowned slightly, slapped her hand away, released her collar, and shoved her back hard.

“Try moving again.”

Cheng Xi’s mother was instantly intimidated. She stood stiffly in place—clearly frightened, yet unwilling to lose verbally.

“No wonder those two brats are so uncouth—this is clearly a family tradition!”

“Look at what they’ve done to my son!”

Jiang Ran shot her a sideways glance, then turned to Si Zuochen. “What happened?”

Si Zuochen hadn’t wanted anything to do with her, but given the situation, he had no choice.

“He insulted us first,” he said simply.

“I see.” Jiang Ran raised an eyebrow, then turned toward Cheng Xi with an expression of helplessness.

“Well then, there’s nothing that can be done. Your son was the one who came looking for trouble. Doesn’t he deserve what he got?”

“You—!” Cheng Xi’s mother snapped, furious at Jiang Ran’s feigned innocence.
“So you’re just taking his word for it? Even if my son said something wrong, did that justify beating him?”

“No manners, no upbringing—only fists! What kind of future could people like that possibly have?”

Knowing she was in the wrong, she avoided addressing the issue directly and clung stubbornly to the fact that violence had been used.

Jiang Ran frowned, then sneered. “You’re not qualified to lecture my children.”

Those words made Si Zuochen and Si Youlin’s hearts jolt.

My children?

This woman had never defended them like this in front of outsiders before.

Jiang Ran stepped forward again.
“I’ve heard of people pressing their advantage when they’re in the right—but I’ve never seen someone so shameless even when they’re wrong.”

“My children have always followed one principle: if others don’t provoke them, they won’t provoke others. You should reflect carefully on just how filthy that ‘pighead’ must have spoken to end up beaten into this state.”

Pighead?

“Pfft—”
Si Youlin burst out laughing before he could stop himself.

He never imagined Jiang Ran could be this savage with her words.

Feeling someone glance sharply at him, Si Youlin immediately composed himself.

Si Zuochen slowly withdrew his gaze and looked at Cheng Xi.

…Honestly, the description fit.

The teacher, sensing how bad the situation had become, tried to smooth things over.

“Mrs. Si, Chairman Zhang, conflicts between students happen all the time. Why don’t we go to the office and calmly discuss how to handle this?”

“Making things so confrontational will only affect the relationship between the children.”

Jiang Ran turned and glanced at the teacher.

She honestly didn’t know whether to call this teacher stupid.

A relationship?
After someone’s been beaten this badly, what relationship was there left to talk about?

“Look at Cheng Xi’s condition—does this still count as minor scuffling?” Cheng Xi’s mother snapped at the teacher.

Then she turned to Jiang Ran. “I don’t want compensation. I want those two sent to juvenile detention—to be properly disciplined!”

“Sent just because you say so?” Jiang Ran laughed coldly.
“If that happens, your son won’t just be a pighead—he’ll be missing arms and legs.”

“You’re threatening me?” Cheng Xi’s mother scowled.

Si Zuochen lowered his eyes, emotions swirling.

Seeing the shock on Si Youlin’s face, he tugged lightly at his sleeve and whispered, “Let’s wait and see.”

Ignoring her entirely, Jiang Ran turned to the homeroom teacher.

“Why did you call me here?” she asked bluntly.

Given how muddle-headed the teacher was, Jiang Ran didn’t even bother with polite honorifics.

The teacher hurriedly replied, “Well, Mrs. Si, the school regularly holds parent-teacher meetings, but you’ve never attended even once.”

“And also…” She paused, glanced at Jiang Ran’s expression, then continued cautiously.
“Si Zuochen and Si Youlin’s recent behavior hasn’t been ideal. We wanted to discuss it with you.”

“Are you too busy to pay attention to their studies?”

Jiang Ran raised an eyebrow. “What—are their grades poor?”

“No, not exactly,” the teacher replied nervously. “It’s just…”

Before she could finish, Jiang Ran cut her off.

“As far as I know, they recently took a mock exam. What were the results?”

Luckily, when the teacher had called earlier to complain about truancy, she mentioned it happened after the exam—otherwise Jiang Ran wouldn’t have bothered paying this much attention.

“Si Zuochen ranked first in the entire school,” the teacher said stiffly.

Her face looked awful.

She had just accused a parent of not caring about grades—only for the child to turn out to be top of the school. It was a slap in the face.

“Impossible!” Cheng Xi’s mother screeched in disbelief.

“How could someone so uncouth rank first in the whole school?”

What she couldn’t accept even more was that her own son had lost to him.

“He must have cheated!”

The instant the words left her mouth, Jiang Ran shot her a deadly look.

The teacher quickly added, “Chairman Zhang, that’s true. Si Zuochen has consistently ranked first since enrolling.”