freeallnovels Chapter 124 : Chapter 124
Chapter 124 : Chapter 124
Chapter 124: Do Not Kneel
The next day, early in the morning, Song Chuhe received a phone call.
“Song Chuhe, remember to tell your father to come to the factory as soon as possible to be investigated.”
The moment he heard the voice on the other end, Song Chuhe recognized it.
It was that rich second-generation classmate of his.
“Guan Dong, what do I have to do for you to let my family go?”
A light chuckle came from the other side.
“Nine o’clock. Red Cloud Restaurant. Get over here.”
“If you perform well, I might show a little mercy.”
With that, the other side hung up.
Song Chuhe looked at the time. It was already past eight-thirty.
His father had already gone to the factory.
Song Chuhe immediately set out for Red Cloud Restaurant.
When he arrived there, he called Guan Dong again, and Guan Dong told him to come up to the second-floor hall.
It was still morning.
Ordinary people had to work.
Who but the wealthy would come to a restaurant for breakfast this early?
And yet the second floor was full of laughter.
The moment Song Chuhe walked upstairs, he saw that the largest table had already been laid out with food and drinks, with fifteen or sixteen people seated around it!
Sitting in the place of honor was Guan Dong.
As for the others, without exception, they were all students from Golden Scale High School.
There were both boys and girls.
The moment Song Chuhe saw the girl sitting beside Guan Dong, his whole body trembled, and he clenched his fists hard.
When that girl saw Song Chuhe, her body also gave a sudden jolt.
Sitting there, she looked utterly out of place.
Clearly, she had not come to this meal of her own free will!
And yet she was being forced to sit beside Guan Dong, while Guan Dong’s hand would occasionally rest on her shoulder.
It made the girl visibly uncomfortable.
The instant that girl and Song Chuhe looked at each other, they both immediately understood why they had been brought here.
“Well, well, our great benefactor of Golden Scale High School has arrived!”
One of the students said in a mocking tone.
“Old Song, you’re late. You were so enthusiastic when it came to coming up with plans, but now you’re late for the meal? Not giving us any face?”
Another male classmate sitting beside Guan Dong sneered with a smile that hid a knife.
Suppressing his anger, Song Chuhe said to Guan Dong, “Young Master Guan, I’m not even part of Golden Scale High School anymore!”
“In the beginning, I was doing it for the school’s sake too!”
“You all knew the full story. Was there really any need to push me to death like this?”
“And now I’ve already been expelled, yet you still have to drag my family into it. That’s unnecessary, isn’t it?”
“If you still count as a man, let my family go and come at me instead!”
Song Chuhe understood that begging them blindly was useless.
He might as well try provoking them.
Unfortunately, his words still sounded pitifully weak, like the impotent rage of someone with no power at all.
The whole table burst into laughter.
“Oh wow! Young Master Guan, he’s using provocation on you! Are you scared? Hahahaha...”
One of the boys laughed exaggeratedly at Guan Dong.
Guan Dong also put on a show, patting his own chest.
“Oh my, a real man! That hurt me so badly. So I don’t count as a man?”
As he spoke, Guan Dong reached out a hand toward the girl beside him.
The girl immediately recoiled with all her strength.
Guan Dong was not angry. Smiling, he turned back toward Song Chuhe and said,
“Well now, since you brought up being a man, then Song Chuhe, you ought to be pretty manly yourself, shouldn’t you?”
“You know Xue Jiao, right?”
Guan Dong pointed at the girl beside him.
The others immediately chimed in.
“How could he not know her? Our Old Song even courted Xue Jiao. They exchanged plenty of love letters!”
“Tsk, what a perfect match!”
“Of course. Our Old Song is a man of many talents! Come on then, Old Song, dance for us!”
Song Chuhe was so furious that his whole chest trembled.
“Guan Dong, what exactly will it take for you to spare my parents?”
Guan Dong only smiled.
“Didn’t you hear what my friend said?”
“He told you to dance for us!”
“I can’t,” Song Chuhe said through clenched teeth.
By now, Xue Jiao could not endure it any longer.
She abruptly stood up.
“That’s enough! Why do you have to humiliate him like this!?”
“What exactly did he do wrong!?”
Tears were already threatening to spill from Xue Jiao’s eyes.
At last, she understood why Guan Dong had threatened her into coming to this meal.
Because Song Chuhe had once pursued her.
To be honest, she had a very good impression of Song Chuhe, but she was not someone who was good at expressing herself. The signals she had given him were only that she did not want to start dating too early.
So Song Chuhe had always stayed in that slow, hesitant stage.
Today, this group led by Guan Dong had brought her here for one reason— to humiliate Song Chuhe in front of the girl he liked.
To grind his self-respect to pieces right before her eyes!
Vicious.
These people clearly knew the full story, yet in their twisted minds, they refused to blame Song Yan. Instead, they shifted all their hatred onto Song Chuhe.
They were venting their warped, powerless fury.
Why were there such pieces of trash in this world?
Everyone at the table immediately turned cold-faced, their mood darkening at once.
What should have been a perfect little monkey show had been ruined by this woman.
“Heh...”
Guan Dong leaned back in his chair.
“Xue Jiao, Xue Jiao, you really do bring trouble to people.”
“Originally, as long as Old Song danced for us, the matter would’ve ended there. I really could have let his father off.”
“But now, things have gotten troublesome.”
“I suddenly don’t feel like embarrassing Song Chuhe anymore.”
“I feel like embarrassing you, Xue Jiao!”
“So, Song Chuhe, since you say you can’t dance, we’ll skip that.”
“Instead, get on your knees for me. Right in front of Xue Jiao, beg me to spare your father!”
Song Chuhe felt as if he were about to grind his teeth to dust.
He truly wanted to turn around and walk away, but he could not bear the thought of his father really going to prison.
Even the tiniest shred of hope was something he did not want to give up.
He did not dare look at Xue Jiao again.
Instead, he asked Guan Dong, “How can you guarantee that you’ll let my father go?”
Guan Dong immediately laughed.
With a filthy grin, he leaned back and pointed between his legs.
“That’s easy. I swear it on my little brother!”
Then, still grinning, he raised four fingers.
“If Song Chuhe gets on his knees and cries to me, I’ll definitely let his father go!”
“But if he doesn’t kneel, I guarantee I’ll find a way to make his father rot in prison!”
“Of course, it’s also possible that my oath won’t count for anything!”
“Even if you kneel, I still might not let your father go!”
“But tell me... are you going to give up this chance?”
The more Guan Dong spoke, the more arrogant he became.
He wore the expression of someone who had already eaten you alive.
He loved this feeling of standing above others and grinding them into the dirt under his feet.
At that moment, Xue Jiao glared fixedly at Song Chuhe, telling him not to give in.
But Song Chuhe was already beginning to look half out of his mind.
Extreme humiliation pounded relentlessly against his mind.
The girl he liked was right in front of him.
And his father, who had given everything for him, was about to face prison.
A clever person like him—how could he not understand?
Even if he really knelt! Even if he really cried and begged Guan Dong to let him go!
Guan Dong could still frame his father anyway. In fact, since he had openly said as much, the odds of that were even higher.
But should he give up?
Should he turn around and walk away with his head held high??
If there was even the slightest chance—just the faintest chance—that Guan Dong might keep his word if he knelt, then walking away now would mean abandoning that chance with his own hands.
After his father went to prison, how would he ever sleep at night?
Would he regret it for the rest of his life because he had not seized that tiny chance?
Song Chuhe felt he could not bear that.
He could not make himself turn away and trade his father’s future for his own momentary pride.
Scalding tears blurred Song Chuhe’s vision.
And his mind.
He felt his legs growing heavier and heavier.
So be it.
This was how the weak survived.
I am only a supporting figure in this world, a nobody. Why should I care so much about my pitiful self-respect?
I choose to exchange it for my father’s sliver of hope.
Even if it is impossible...Song Chuhe bent his knees, and his whole body began sinking downward.
But right at that moment—Bang!
Song Chuhe felt a huge hand, hard as iron tongs, clamp onto the back of his collar.
The force was so terrifying it nearly shook the tears off his face.
That hand actually lifted his entire upper body straight back up.
Song Chuhe whirled around!!
Only then did he see that several people had appeared behind him at some point.
The one gripping him was a towering brute nearly two meters tall!
It was Lu Chenfeng, the S-Grade talent user from Blackwater High School.
And behind him—was Li Mu, both hands in his pockets.
At Li Mu’s side stood Zhang Zhiwei, his expression cold.
And behind them were the Xing brothers, Xing Yang and Xing Guang.