Eric Foster couldn’t be bothered with nonsense; he was a bit anxious and interrupted the two, quickly explaining the situation. In fact, he couldn’t make it clear himself—he didn’t really know what exactly had brought the three over to cause trouble. But the excuse of peeping into the women’s restroom definitely wouldn’t hold up. Once they got to the student affairs office and checked, it would surely backfire on him.

This was a big problem. The surveillance only showed Eric Foster kicking someone; if the others flatly denied everything, it would be hard to explain. So, Eric Foster decided to go all in and said directly, “Do me a favor, I have to report them first. I can’t just sit here and take the hit. Plus, we need to find out who’s behind this.”

“No problem, who else would I help if not you?” said Mouse.

“Come on, punch me right here.” Eric Foster pointed to his own nose. Mouse yelped, made a show of it, but couldn’t bring himself to do it, which made Eric Foster curse at him. He stuck out his face and let Ethan do it instead. Ethan hesitated, uncertain, and asked, “I’ve been wanting to hit you for a while—don’t say I did it on purpose, and you’re paying your own medical bills.”

“Cut the crap, hurry up.” Eric Foster urged, closing his eyes. Ethan gritted his teeth, mustered up all his courage, and landed a punch right on Eric Foster’s nose.

With a thud, blood spurted from the punch, and Eric Foster saw stars. His eyes stung and his nose bled profusely. Mouse shuddered, covered his mouth, and nervously shouted, “Ouch, that must hurt!”

“Bastard, you really went for it.” Eric Foster wiped his nosebleed, pulled out a tissue, and said, “When those three come out, follow them and see where they go. Don’t follow me.”

Saying this, he covered his bleeding nose and rushed off to the student affairs office to file a complaint.

“Ethan, who do you think is bored enough to mess with him? He’s got no girls, no money, a total proletarian loser,” Mouse said, watching Eric Foster leave, then turned to ask.

“Exactly, Eric usually doesn’t cause trouble, does he?” Ethan said suspiciously. Eric Foster was a bit cunning, but it was just the usual roughhousing among classmates—nothing that would make someone go after him so viciously.

“Let’s go, we still haven’t written our reflections.” Mouse couldn’t figure it out and called Ethan to leave, but unexpectedly froze on the spot. Ethan noticed it too—a person emerged from a recessed wall in the cafeteria, where the furnace ash was dumped. Someone had been eavesdropping. Normally, they wouldn’t be afraid, but this person happened to be the newly hired Chief Grant. Chief Grant just stood there, and Mouse and Ethan pursed their lips and stared, like little mice cornered by a cat, completely dumbfounded.

Suddenly, Chief Grant burst out laughing. The one who’d just injured his own nose was probably already on his way to file a complaint, face covered in blood. The more Chief Grant thought about it, the funnier it seemed, and he shook with laughter. Mouse and Ethan also started laughing, and as they laughed, they split up. Caught off guard, the two of them bolted like mice fleeing for their lives, disappearing in a flash.

By now, it was dark, and Chief Grant was still laughing all the way back to the guesthouse.

……

“Director Sullivan, look at what they did to me! I just said one thing, and they beat me up. If it weren’t for the crowd of classmates, I might not have made it out alive today… It’s outrageous! I don’t even know them—did they have to go this far?”

Eric Foster held his nose, deliberately smearing the blood on his mouth and cheeks to make himself look even more pitiful. He was good at playing up the drama, covering his face with blood and pouring out his grievances as if he were the helpless victim, so much so that Jack Sullivan the director, who had come to handle the situation, glared angrily at the three troublemakers. Director Sullivan was furious and scolded, “This is outrageous! What’s wrong with you students from the sports university? Think you’re so great? Running over ten kilometers just to beat up our student?”

“It wasn’t us who hit him—he hit us,” said the second injured one, feeling wronged. He’d been hurt and thought he had the upper hand, but now it seemed the other guy was worse off.

“That was self-defense! Would you rather I just stood there and let you hit me?” Eric Foster retorted.

“Exactly. Beating someone up like this must be dealt with seriously,” Jack Sullivan said, looking at Eric Foster’s bloody face and trying to comfort him.

“We didn’t beat him up like this!” protested one of the boys, still rubbing his kicked neck, even more aggrieved. It really hadn’t been the three of them who did it. Eric Foster seized on this and almost burst into tears, asking in utter misery, “Then what, you wanted to beat me up even worse!?”

Oh boy, that was a loaded question. Jack Sullivan looked at the three tall, burly sports students and got even angrier, pointing at them and scolding, “Stand straight! What, you want to beat him up right in front of me now?”

There was no way to explain it now. The three all felt more wronged than Dou E, but in everyone else’s eyes, they seemed even worse than someone who’d actually peeped into the women’s restroom. Protective as ever, Director Sullivan scolded them a few more times, then turned back to check on Eric Foster’s injuries.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, Director. I need to go get bandaged up, maybe get an IV drip—my head’s a little dizzy,” Eric Foster said quickly, seeing Director Sullivan about to come over and check, afraid his act would be exposed.

“Then go ahead, get some rest. The student affairs office will handle this,” Jack Sullivan said, trying to reassure him.

“I’ll be going, then.” Eric Foster said goodbye, and as he turned to leave, he glanced carefully at the three dejected guys, then suddenly asked, “Who sent you?”

The three were startled. The one with the lighter injuries snorted and didn’t answer. Eric Foster continued, “You guys are going to be famous now—peeping in the women’s restroom, the sports university really produces some characters.”