The Sick Villain Just Want to Live

The school soon got the news that Yuan Shaozhou was sent to the hospital.

But the incident happened outside the school, and no one came to the school for the time being, so the school just turned a blind eye.

In the hospital, Yuan Shaozhou was lying on the bed with a bruised nose and a swollen face. His head was wrapped in gauze, while one leg was wrapped in a bandage and was hung on the bed. He was embarrassed and ashamed, his eyes were full of undisguised hatred.

“I want him to drop out of school! Mom, you go to school now, go to Class 3 and find a guy named Zhu Tong. He was the one who beat me up like this! You go to Dad, let him go to Uncle. I swear I will definitely expel him from school! I want him to go to jail!”

Yuan Shaozhou howled loudly. His already terrifying face, because of the pain and anger, became even more distorted. It was hideous and ugly. 

Even the woman in front of the hospital bed was startled by him.

But it was her own son, so the woman’s fright was quickly replaced by heartache. She held Yuan Shaozhou’s hand and tried to placate him. “Okay, okay, Shaozhou. Don’t be afraid, Mom will vent your anger in your stead. You have to rest well now. Lie down, and watch out so the wound won’t open again.”

Yuan Shaozhou seemed to be insane, and shook off her hand forcefully, “Go quickly! Find Dad! Call him or something!” 

He was hysterical in the ward, making two nurses who passed by in the corridor to flinch in his direction. After they looked at each other, they curled their lips, and shook their heads at the same time.

No one went in to remind Yuan Shaozhou to be quiet, but also none of them went inside to comfort him. 

Anyway, this young man wouldn’t appreciate that.

His mother was taken aback by his hysterics. She went out to make a phone call while comforting him.

Not long after, Yuan Hui showed up at the hospital.

Yuan Shaozhou saw his father finally appear. The madness on his face finally subsided a bit, he stretched out his hand full of hope. “Dad…” 

“Slap!”

A crisp slap resounded in the ward.

“Husband!” The woman exclaimed in disbelief.

Yuan Shaozhou slowly turned his head back, still in shock from that sudden slap. He looked at his father with widened eyes.

The anger on Yuan Hui’s face was still there. He pointed at him and started scolding him, “Didn’t I tell you not to provoke the wrong person? Do you know who you are provoking?” 

Yuan Shaozhou: “I…”

“The group of bastards who beat you have already surrendered! They said that you were the first one who hired them to teach a student named Zhu Tong a lesson, which they did! Now beat you out of revenge!” 

Yuan Shaozhou stared at nothing, face blank in confusion.

‘What does this mean? For revenge? What about Zhu Tong?’

“No, no!” Yuan Shaozhou felt like he lost his grip on reality. “It was Zhu Tong who asked them to beat me! He is the mastermind behind the scenes! Dad, it was Zhu Tong who intentionally messed with me…” 

“There is evidence!” Yuan Hui’s voice got louder as his face got redder. “They had the damned evidence! The police have a record of you sending WeChat transactions to those gangsters. If you weren’t in the hospital right now, you should be talking to the police!” 

“…” 

“You stupid brat! What’s wrong with your head? Why the fuck did you go and mess with the prince of A City’s Zhu’s Group! You’re fucking out of your mind!”

The man kept yelling, and his anger began to overflow. He raised his hand, as if he wanted to start beating Yuan Shaozhou. Suddenly, the woman next to him suddenly stopped him, screaming, “Husband! Husband! Don’t hit your son, you will kill him!”

“Tch, you’re looking for trouble!”

“Bang!”

Because his wife stopped him, he vented his anger by kicking the hospital bed instead. 

Yuan Shaozhou on the bed swayed. His wound was pulled, and the pain it caused was enough to make his breath hitch. But the pain felt dull, because he was stunned by the whole situation.

‘How did this happen?’ 

He didn’t do anything to Zhu Tong at all! So, why did Zhu Tong treat him like this?

Then, he had an epiphany–

‘It’s Shao Ming.’

‘Does Zhu Tong fall in love with Shao Ming too, like Xia Yang?’

‘Why!’

‘Just because of his face? Why hasn’t he died already!’ 

Yuan Shaozhou’s hands clutched his bed sheets, fingernails almost bore a hole into the cloth. 

After kicking the bed, Yuan Hui felt his boiling anger subsided a bit, gaining a bit of clarity. He planned to leave without any consolation. “You stay in the hospital for now!” After speaking, he went straight out of the ward.

Yuan Shaozhou lowered his head and said nothing.

His mother comforted him with a few words, helped him lie back on the bed, and said, “Shaozhou, don’t worry, this matter will not be left alone. Mom will go to your uncle, and he will definitely help you.”

But fate has other plans.

By the time she found someone to take care of this problem, Yuan Shaozhou’s uncle was too busy taking care of himself.

In the school, since the school forum was closed, many students moved to group chats for their discussions. At this moment, those group chats became much livelier than usual 

It’s unknown who first broke the news – especially since people can go anonymous – but they somehow obtained internal information of the county’s Education Bureau. 

[The exact news is that Yuan Shaozhou’s uncle, the deputy director of the Education Bureau, was reported covering up Yuan Shaozhou’s minor crimes. He has been detained for further investigation.]

[Juvenile delinquency, then? What crime did Yuan Shaozhou commit?]

[Yuan Shaozhou fell in love with a girl two years ago and forced her to open a room. Fortunately, someone reported to the police in time. Yuan Shaozhou was supposed to be held accountable, but didn’t. It’s all because his father gave the girl’s family a sum of money to shut her up, and his uncle even transferred this girl into the city. So, this matter has been left hanging like this.] 

[Shit, if this kind of crime can be covered, just what kind of other horrid things are still buried!] 

[First, let’s not talk about the obvious – he’s a bully and often “blocks” students outside the school. Didn’t he slandered Study God’s milk tea shop with some nasty rumors last time? He had a beef with Study God; those so-called “news” must be his doing.] 

[Fuck, this is too vicious!]

[Is he still a human being1!] 

[Argh, I have kept this inside my chest for so long, and now I finally can say it outloud! The situation at Shao Ming’s family is not what the forum said at all! It’s true that his family had opened a bar before, and the bar was closed down. However, it was Shao Ming himself who reported it. He is a righteous person, even towards his own relatives!] 

[I also know this. I used to live on the same street as Study God. His stepfather was a scum of human being. He drank, gambled, and was abusive at home. Someone saw Shao Ming’s mother being dragged by the hair by that man into the street!]

[Furthermore, the closing of the bar happened five years ago. Nowadays, Study God’s mother have peacefully running the milk tea stop. It’s just Yuan Shaozhou, that nasty human being, who actually made a malicious report.]

Without being worried of getting retaliated by Yuan Shaozhou, some people who wanted to speak up for Shao Ming but were afraid of being targeted gradually began to show up.

The school was small and rather tight-knit. This kind of news spread like wildfire. Of course, it didn’t take long before Class 3 started to discuss this matter. 

In his seat, Zhu Tong had just finished practicing a mock exam paper when he heard some people discussing it in the classroom.

While most of them sympathized with Shao Ming and scolded Shao Ming’s stepfather, it’s always uncomfortable to hear this kind of thing. 

Fortunately, it’s lunchtime, Shao Ming and Luo Suo went out for food and haven’t come back yet.

Just as he was rejoicing in my heart, he  heard a person swearing into the classroom, rather loudly, “Ming-ge, you are so miserable. With a stepfather lower than a pig and a dog, it must have been very difficult when you were a child, right? He still wants to ask your mother for forgiveness. Ptooey2, I hope he stays in prison for the rest of his life!” 

Zhu Tong: “…”

Luo Suo walked into the classroom with a look of indignation, and Shao Ming was with him.

What Zhu Tong was worried about didn’t happen. Shao Ming raised his lips slightly, looking as usual. He parted ways with Luo Suo in the first aisle after entering the classroom, and then walked back to his seat.

“I didn’t see you at breakfast time. Didn’t they say that one day of parting is like three autumns apart? Why didn’t you welcome me with warm eyes, Mr. Deskmate?” 

Zhu Tong: “…”

After a beat of regaining his speech, he naturally denied. “No.”

Thanks to prolonged exposure of absolutely nonsensical Shao Ming Behavior, Zhu Tong was already immune to his dramatics. Thankfully, Shao Ming didn’t care about Zhu Tong’s cold reception. He took out his cell phone after sitting down, his bright mirrored phone case reflected the entire classroom.

The gossiping people from before had already returned to their seats once Shao Ming came back. Zhu Tong stared at his phone case for a while, trying to quell his curiosity. After a losing internal battle, he looked up at Shao Ming, and asked with a low whisper, “Are you the one digging the materials from the Education Bureau?”

Shao Ming responded with visible annoyance. “Yeah, what’s the matter?”

Zhu Tong: “…”

He always felt that something was weird. Nonetheless, he straightened up his posture, shook his head and dismissed it. “It’s nothing.”

If the materials were sent by Shao Ming and the Education Bureau could process them so quickly, then those report materials should have been sent yesterday at least.

So even if he didn’t do anything to Yuan Shaozhou yesterday, the bully wouldn’t be able to laugh for long. 

Perhaps, Shao Ming’s calmness after seeing those remarks yesterday was not entirely fake.

Even without his own help, he wouldn’t suffer much.

‘But when did he collect that evidence and report materials? It is not so easy for a high school student to find all the evidence and make them process it in one go, especially since Yuan Shaozhou’s uncle is an insider.’ 

–It was indeed difficult, and this made Zhu Tong wonder about Shao Ming’s past. Specifically, putting his own father to jail after reporting his crime. 

According to other people, Shao Ming was only twelve years old when he collected evidence to report his father’s bar.

Where did he get his courage and confidence? Did he think about the consequences of failure? Was he scared? 

His mother suffered domestic violence, what about him?

As Zhu Tong thought about it, he couldn’t help but turn his gaze to Shao Ming’s body.

He was wearing a round-neck T-shirt with gray gradient, highlighting his collarbone and neckline. Because the weather turned colder recently, he wore a long-sleeved shirt. Except for his neck and palm, all his skin was covered neatly. 

Shao Ming followed his line of sight and lowered his head, looked at his body. He saw that his deskmate seemed to be in a daze, staring at him. So he quietly leaned over and said mischievously, “You… d-do you have unreasonable thoughts about me?” 

Seeing Shao Ming’s teasing smile, Zhu Tong regained consciousness in an instant. He realized what Shao Ming implied, making him blush furiously. He raised his head in an instant and said, “No, I didn’t mean that.”

Shao Ming: “…”

Zhu Tong had this weird stare towards his neckline, and he knew what this meant.

Otherwise, why would he intensely stare at his neck? 

Zhu Tong: “I want to…”

‘I want to see if there is any injury inside!’

But those words were too straightforward and might be too nosy. So he paused and reconsidered his approach. After a deep breath, he finally decided to strip off the bandage in one go. “Your stepfather, he… was he… uh… violent with you?”

Shao Ming’s body froze.

After Zhu Tong finished speaking, he instantly regretted it. He turned his head and said, “I’m just asking out of curiosity, if you don’t want to talk about it…”

“Want to see it?” Shao Ming interrupted him suddenly.

Zhu Tong was taken aback. He didn’t expect such a response.

Shao Ming ignored Zhu Tong’s speechlessness, and continued, “You can see it if you want. Heck, since you are my deskmate, I can give you a discount.”

Zhu Tong shook his head quickly. “…no need.”

Even if there was any injury, it must’ve faded or even completely healed over. It’s been years, after all. 

The shorter youth cringed at his stupid decision. He regretted asking! 

Just as he was embarrassed and wanted to stagger his seat away from Shao Ming, the taller youth had already leaned over and whispered in his ear, “But can this kind of request be brought up at night? There are so many people in this classroom, you know. It would be embarrassing if we got watched by others.”

Zhu Tong: “…”

this has the implication of “does he still have conscience?”

spitting noise.