Chapter 724: Thick as thieves!
Chapter 724: Thick as thieves!
Translator: Legge Editor:
Ten minutes later.
On the road in front of Tsinghua University's main entrance, six to seven police vehicles arrived and their blaring sirens which could be heard from several streets away stopped. They made a strong show of force, and judging from the license plates, these police vehicles were clearly not sent from the local police station (sub-district public security bureau), but from the district police station (district public security bureau) instead. After the police report was received, the district police station was immediately informed of it. Kidnapping of hostages? This was a big case that the local police station would not be able to handle. So officers from the district police station were activated and sent to the location, equipped with guns. More than a dozen police officers had been sent over.
However, when they got to the scene, the police officers in the vehicles witnessed a relatively calm scene. A couple of cars had their windows smashed while a crowd of people had gathered around to observe. There were even reporters?
They got out of the police cars.
"What happened?"
"What's the situation?"
"Who alerted the police?"
Officer Sun, the lead police officer, asked around, "Who is Lei Feng?"
Suddenly, Zhang Ye strode out from the group. "That's me, I am! I was the one who called the police!"
When they saw him, the dozen or so police officers' eyes all widened with confusion. How could they not know this person standing right before them? All of them knew who he was which was why they all nearly fainted together at once. Lei Feng? Lei Feng your sister! Aren't you just the goddamned Teacher Zhang Ye!? When did you change your last name to Lei!
Clearly, the people of this world did not know who Lei Feng was.
When Liao Qi and the Tsinghua University student recruitment teachers saw that the police had arrived, their confidence recovered and they were no longer afraid of Zhang Ye. They rushed to the front, shouting, "Officers, you've finally arrived! It was him, he was the one who smashed the cars of Tsinghua University! And interfered with our student recruitment! He even beat up our people! And used physical force on us! This is too lawless!"
"Just look at this!"
"The car windows are all smashed!"
"It was with that brick slab! It was Zhang Ye who used it to smash the cars!"
"This is too much! I've never seen such an unreasonable bully before!"
The Tsinghua University teachers yelled continuously!
The student recruitment teachers from Peking University who had stayed behind also retorted immediately!
Su Na said, "Officers, this matter is definitely not Teacher Zhang's fault. It was those people from Tsinghua University who insisted on snatching the students from us. When a number of those students did not want to go with them, they used force to take them away from their homes or schools and sent them back here!"
Han Henian added, "We managed to stop them outside the entrance, but the car doors ended up getting locked by the Tsinghua University people. They kept the students trapped in the cars against their will! They've totally gone insane!"
Tsinghua University: "Held against their will my ass!"
Peking University: "If that wasn't holding them against their will, then what do you call it!"
Tsinghua University: "You're the ones who are trying to steal the students from us now! Using violence to take them away forcefully!"
Peking University: "We're not the same as you! The students followed us according to their own initiative. We did not insist on it, but what about you? When the students did not want to come along, you just dragged them here against their will!" Both groups kept harping on the same points and hugely exaggerated for more impact!
Tsinghua University: "Bullshit!"
Both groups kept pointing fingers at each other and were arguing again soon after!
When the police officers heard this, they immediately knew that this was going to be troublesome case. They had received two reports earlier, one of someone committing a crime outside of Tsinghua University's main entrance—reported by the people from Tsinghua University. The other report was about the kidnapping of hostages at Tsinghua University's main entrance—reported by Zhang Ye. At the beginning, the police thought they were referring to the same case, where someone was committing a crime by kidnapping. However, after they arrived, they realized that it was basically two separate issues in response to each other!
A few of the police officers were left speechless for a long time and gradually holstered their guns, knowing that the situation was not as dangerous as they thought it to be. Committing a crime and kidnapping or whatnot, it was all exaggerated by the two parties who had reported it! Actually, they were not unfamiliar with such a situation between Tsinghua and Peking University as the two institutions had often clashed and tussled many times over the years. The local police station used to send their officers to settle such cases, but this was the first time they were witnessing such a drastic situation between the two institutions where cars were smashed and people were beaten up. The most extreme situations in the past had always been kept to arguments and quarrels only, nothing as serious as today. They couldn't have expected a bunch of intellectuals to actually get into a physical altercation!
How should they handle this?
This situation wasn't going to be easy to handle at all!
The lead officer had a headache due to this. Whether it was Peking University or Tsinghua University, they were the top two institutions in the country. In terms of civil service authority, the schools' leaders were ranked higher than their district police station leaders. They were basically at the level of deputy ministers! [1.]
The lead officer could only say, "Just what is going on? Please tell me. One at a time."
A female teacher from Tsinghua University shouted, "Zhang Ye beat up our people! He hit Professor Liao!
Liao Qi pulled up his sleeve. "Look, it's all bruised!"
Several policemen went to take a look. The arm was indeed bruised, but it didn't look like serious at all.
Zhang Ye looked at the Tsinghua University people. "Did I make a move on him?"
A person from Tsinghua University said, "Of course you did!"
Zhang Ye threw his hands up. "If we're talking about who made a move first, it was Professor Liao who came over to grab my shoulders at the beginning, didn't he? He even tried to push me, but what did I do? I didn't even raise an arm!"
Liao Qi was outraged!
The lead officer did not just listen one side of the story. He went over to the observing crowd to better understand the situation.
"Who made the move first. Did any one of you see anything?"
"I saw it. Uh, it was that professor from Tsinghua University who grabbed Zhang Ye by his shoulders first."
"And then?"
"And then the professor took a tumble on his own."
"Took a tumble? On his own?"
"Yeah, it didn't look like anyone touched him."
"No one touched him?"
"I only saw Zhang Ye's shoulder sway a little, but it wasn't much. Then that professor took a tumble. As for how it happened, I didn't see it clearly, but Zhang Ye definitely did not raise his arms."
"Alright, I understand."
The surrounding crowd just related whatever they had seen to the police officers.
When the Tsinghua University people heard this, they couldn't accept it.
The lead officer said, "Let's put this matter aside first. Who smashed the car windows?"
Zhang Ye said, "I did."
The police officer said, "Why did you do it?"
Zhang Ye said righteously, "They kidnapped those students, so as a citizen of China, as a public figure who is also a role model, how can I ignore something wrong happening when I see it? I ought to rise to the occasion!"
The police officers: "…"
The Tsinghua University teachers nearly vomited blood at this reply!
"Holy shit!"
"What do you mean by rising to the occasion!"
"You were clearly trying to steal our students away!"
"You-you're too shameless, Zhang Ye!"
A few of the Peking University teachers also started sweating with anxiety when they heard this!
But right at this moment, several cars arrived. It was the Peking University student recruitment teachers and the exam's top scorers who had just left. They had returned. Huang Lingling and a few other examinees alighted, and this time, their parents also came with them.
"Teacher!" Huang Lingling said anxiously.
Su Na explained to the police officers, "These were a few of the students who were taken away forcefully just now!"
The police officers immediately started asking, "Were the few of you taken away by the people from Tsinghua University just now? Did you all go with them willingly?"
Huang Lingling said, "About that…I didn't willingly go with them."
Another male student also said in embarrassment, "I, I had already filled in Peking University as my first choice and agreed to meet with the Peking University student recruitment teachers. But when I was at my school's graduation ceremony, I got pulled aside by the Tsinghua University teachers and got dragged along with them. I didn't want to go as my parents had let me apply for Peking University."
Clearly, after the Peking University side found out about the situation here, they sent this group of people back to support Zhang Ye, knowing that he might get into a sticky situation.
The male student's parents also spoke.
The father said, "Tsinghua University went too far. My son did not even want to follow them yet they grabbed him with force and put him into their car. This is as good as kidnapping!"
The mother said, "When his teacher from school called to inform me that my son had been taken away, his father and I were scared to death. So we quickly rushed here, thinking that he had been taken away by some child trafficking gang!"
Liao Qi retorted angrily, "We were doing student recruitment!"
The mother grunted at him, "Who knows what you people were trying to do!"
Liao Qi said, "You…"
The parents were actually speaking up and siding with Zhang Ye.
Zhang Ye looked at the two of them with wonder.
Su Na walked beside Zhang Ye and whispered to him, "They are Zhou Zheng's parents. His father and mother both graduated from Peking University and were very prominent figures in the school back in the day."
It suddenly dawned on Zhang Ye why these two persons were siding with him so much. It was because they were on the same team as him!
Huang Lingling's father followed up with, "My child is the same. She has always dreamed about attending Peking University since childhood. When those Tsinghua University people dragged her away forcefully, it gave my child such a scare. How can anyone do the things they did!? They might as well commit highway robbery! Even if the Tsinghua University teachers were doing this for the student recruitment and without any other motives, they shouldn't have done it this way. That is essentially disrespecting the views our children!"
Afterwards, a few more parents started ranting. Some of them were basically graduates from Peking University, so if they didn't side with Peking University on this matter, who else would they side with? Meanwhile, some of the other parents were very unhappy with how Tsinghua University had tried to force things their way this time. For these parents, when it came to such important matters, they should have at least notified and informed the parents before taking them away, not like how they handled it!
The place was chaotic again.
"It's not like that!"
"We were just doing this for the children!"
"We called you before inviting them to Tsinghua University!"
The Tsinghua University student recruitment teachers were trying their best to explain themselves!
But the students' parents' doubts just grew and grew!
After a long back and forth with the two groups of people talking for over 20 minutes, the lead officer formed a very good understanding of the situation. He waited for them to finish arguing before standing between them and saying to the Tsinghua University group, "I understand quite well what's going on here. In fact, Professor Liao's injuries aren't very serious, and besides, the witnesses have all vouched that Professor Zhang did not touch him whatsoever, so let's drop that matter. As for the smashing of the cars…" He looked at Zhang Ye and continued, "Professor Zhang's way of handling the situation was indeed inappropriate. Actually, it's just student recruitment, so there was no need to resort to smashing cars like you did. But similarly, Tsinghua University has a big problem on this front. Since they did not respect the wishes of the examinees and forcefully brought them here, that action itself was already overboard. Now that we have established that both parties were at fault and should be responsible for their actions, though not amounting to kidnapping and committing crimes as those claims were exaggerated, I would like to offer to both groups that we drop the matter and forget about it!"
Liao Qi stared with eyes wide. "Drop the matter?"
"What about our cars? He smashed three of them!"
"How can we just drop it like that? That's impossible!"
The people from Tsinghua University were objecting. Only Xin Ya did not say a word.
Zhang Ye and the Peking University personnel did not have any issues with this outcome. The cars were already smashed and they also got back the students, so to them, there wasn't really anything else to ask for. It would be best that they could drop the matter here.
The police officer frowned. "If you really want me to handle this matter, then I can only do it like this and negotiate for both sides. If Zhang Ye had really smashed your cars for no reason, I would have taken him away immediately. But that is not the case here, since your side also has a problem with your actions. The students' parents have already made it very clear. Honestly, if they choose to not sue you for holding their children in illegal custody, you're already very lucky. Should they want to take this up with the authorities, it wouldn't do any of you good, right?"
The attitudes of the parents were very critical here. Even if it was just a few parents of the students, it was more than enough.
The Tsinghua University people turned pale, and did not say a word.
The police officer said, "At most, you can ask for them to compensate you for the car windows. How does that sound?"
Zhang Ye shrugged. "I have no complaints."
The police officer nodded and turned to look at Liao Qi and the others.
To the Tsinghua University group, those car windows weren't even worth much! Could it compare to what those top scorers were worth? Of course not! They weren't even in the same class!
Soon after.
With the matter more or less put to rest now, Peking University compensated Tsinghua University for the car repairs, while the Tsinghua University student recruitment teachers offered their apologies to the examinees' parents who were unhappy about the way the matter was handled.
After the matter was settled, the policemen all drove off. To be honest, the moment the police cars left Tsinghua University, many of those police officers heaved sighs of relief. If Zhang Ye had smashed those cars with no good reason today, they might have really had to bring Zhang Ye back with them to the police station. If that had happened, there might have been a chance that they would attract another round of trouble on themselves. They had long ago heard about Zhang Ye's temper. Back then, Zhang Ye was arrested twice and on both occasions, the police stations which arrested him were plunged into chaos. With his "My Confession" and "Prisoner's Song," countless citizens turned up to turn themselves in on behalf of Zhang Ye. It caused such huge turmoil that the police stations were nearly dismantled. Those police officers who had been through those times would often bring it up during meal times and share their haunting stories of the incidents. They knew well Zhang Ye's notoriety, so if they could avoid it, they would definitely choose to not arrest Zhang Ye. If they did, it would have been as good as arresting a ticking time bomb! It was a good thing that they did not have to go to that extent this time as it was clear the Tsinghua University people were at fault.
The problem was resolved.
The reporters left. The observing crowd also dispersed.
The expressions on the Tsinghua University people were not good. They turned their heads and glowered at Zhang Ye. In their fight with Peking University this time, they had suffered a great and humiliating loss. Not only did they not manage to invite the exam's top scorers to their admission talks, their cars had also been damaged. All face was lost and many of the student recruitment teachers could not take this lying down. They quietly cursed at Zhang Ye 10,000 times over….No, it was more like 100 million times!!
On the Tsinghua University campus.
Liao Qi scolded, "That damned hooligan!"
A female teacher said in anger, "Tsinghua University is not finished with that Zhang guy!"
Another Tsinghua University teacher yelled, "We will surely hold him accountable for this someday!"
Xin Ya walked off alone to somewhere quiet. She angrily took out her cell phone and made a call to her childhood friend Wu Zeqing!
Old Wu answered the call: "Hello."
Xin Ya denounced: "Old Wu! What kind of boyfriend did you get! He just happily comes up against me and even smashed our cars! He pissed me off today!"
Old Wu laughed and asked: "What happened?"
Xin Ya related the incident to her and then said: "He proposed a solution to the mathematical conjecture and just left it for a group of us to work on it tirelessly day and night to verify it for him. It's fine that he did not thank me for it, but now he's not even leaving any face for me?!?"
Old Wu said: "I was the one who told him to go this time."
Xin Ya said: "But he still shouldn't have handled it that way. Just settle it with words, who the hell settles problems by smashing cars!?"
Old Wu chuckled and replied calmly: "It's not like you've only known him for a day. He has always been like this."
"You're still trying to defend him? Aren't you trying too hard to justify his actions!?" Xin Ya said angrily.
Old Wu laughed: "Alright, would it be OK if I apologized to you on behalf of Little Zhang?"
Xin Ya replied annoyed: "No!"
Old Wu said: "Then why don't I buy you dinner?"
Xin Ya snorted: "That's not enough! He has to apologize to me!"
Old Wu said: "Hur hur, with that temper of his, do you think it's possible? Besides, when we come around to what happened, Tsinghua University was truthfully in the wrong in the first place. I'm sure you agree with me on that, right?"
When she heard this, Xin Ya nearly vomited blood in anger. "I've finally seen through you! Whatever Zhang Ye does, you'll always think that it's correct! You two are thick as thieves!!!"
[1. Level 4 for presidents of key universities in the civil service ranking system.]