Chapter 1171: Chapter 1171: Turning Point (12)

The meaning of those words was almost as if saying directly that the Ruan Family doesn’t care about this little bit of money, so just don’t fuss with this student. After all, for the Ruan Family, a dozen or so yuan might not even be enough for a piece of clothing, but for Xiao Yan, it could be a month or two of living expenses.

The homeroom teacher of Class One hadn’t finished speaking when Shu Jiao frowned, but before she could say anything, Ruan Lei, who was on the other side holding a basketball and preparing to go play, lazily yelled, “Teacher Gong, you mean just because my sister’s family has money, they don’t have to pay back, right?”

“That’s great then. The glass I broke yesterday, do I not have to compensate for that either?”

“Why not compensate? You broke it.” The homeroom teacher glared at him, having a love-hate relationship with this student. He was the top student in the class but too unruly, having already broken the school’s glass just three days after school started.

“Hey.” Ruan Lei grinned, baring his teeth, “Teacher Gong, your words are interesting. Why do I have to pay, but Xiao Yan doesn’t? What, just because she’s poor? Oh wow, I’m poor too. My mom only gives me ten yuan for living expenses a month, a piece of glass costs three yuan, and installation costs another fifty cents. Three yuan and fifty cents, if I pay, I can’t even afford to eat. How pitiful, right?”

“How about you feel sorry for me and tell the school not to make me pay either, you can’t be partial, right?”

At the end, Ruan Lei even winked at the homeroom teacher, as if he really couldn’t bear to part with the three yuan and fifty cents and hoped she would talk to the school to get him off the hook.

Being able to be the homeroom teacher of a first-year class, Teacher Gong naturally wasn’t stupid and immediately understood the meaning behind Ruan Lei’s words, her face turning bright red from being goaded.

Yang Tao initially didn’t plan on joining in, but seeing Ruan Lei’s words had reached this point and being disgusted by Xiao Yan’s actions, she immediately asked innocently from the side, “Teacher Gong, so being poor means you don’t have to pay? I thought it was only natural to compensate if you broke something or accidentally hurt someone.”

As she spoke, she even scratched her forehead, a look of realization on her face, genuinely appearing innocent, not intentional.

And the students around, who initially sympathized with Xiao Yan, began to ponder after hearing Ruan Lei and Yang Tao’s words, feeling there’s something off with those words but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.

Yang Tao’s words were equivalent to tearing off Xiao Yan’s last fig leaf, her face turning even redder than the homeroom teacher’s, now truly at a loss. She looked at the homeroom teacher, then all her classmates, finally turning to Shu Jiao: “I… I didn’t mean it like that… I… didn’t mean not to pay, really! Teacher Shu, you have to believe me.”

Shu Jiao looked at the flushed Xiao Yan, her expression indifferent, as if she hadn’t taken in their previous words, she simply asked, “Did you apologize if you didn’t pay?”

Upon hearing this, tears welled up in Xiao Yan’s eyes in a panic, unable to answer, because she hadn’t thought to apologize, naturally since she didn’t plan to pay.

“You can talk about paying later, but did you apologize? Or do you think just because Ruan’s family is wealthy, they deserve to be smashed?” Shu Jiao asked again.

“No, no, I really didn’t mean that.” This time tears truly fell from Xiao Yan’s eyes, and she covered her face, sobbing.

“The money issue can be resolved over time, but the apology is about your attitude. What do you think?”