After this incident, he expected the troublemaker boy and the rest of the class to repent and behave themselves better.
That had been his second mistake, hoping so naïvely that they could change.
At the start of a new year, the classes were reshuffled and the bullying started once more. This time, however, the girl was no pushover. Knowing that her background could not compare to the troublemaker boy, she quietly gathered the evidence of his offenses before reporting it to Shang.
"Please, Teacher… you're the only one I can rely on!" she choked out, her eyes brimming with tears. "I can't do anything to him, he can easily destroy me and my whole family. But if it's you… you must be able to do it!" she pleaded, "Teacher, help me report him to the police!"
Staring at the desperation, trust and dependence in her eyes, Shang found it a little harder to breathe, as if the noose called 'hush money' was slowly tightening around his throat.
