Chapter 1

"Director Wang, what do you need us for?" Liu Jingtong looked calmly at the head teacher and asked.

Director Wang glanced at the three students in front of him, then his gaze fell on Liu Jingtong, and he said coldly, "I called you here to eat shit."

The other two students were frightened by the fierce head teacher and lowered their heads, but Liu Jingtong was undaunted and said coolly, "Director Wang, as a teacher, isn't it inappropriate to speak like that?"

"Bang!" Director Wang slammed his hand on the table and pointed at Liu Jingtong, shouting angrily, "Are you tired of living? Do you think I won't make you suffer for eternity?"

"Director Wang, you're not planning to kill someone, are you? Murder is illegal, you know." Liu Jingtong replied indifferently, while the other two students standing beside him were almost in tears from fear.

Director Wang's face turned ashen, and he glared at Liu Jingtong, too angry to speak. Suddenly, he raised his hand, and a book flew directly at Liu Jingtong's face. Liu Jingtong turned his head to avoid the attack. Director Wang grunted and took a step forward, raising his hand to strike, but Liu Jingtong stepped back and said coldly, "Director Wang, if you have something to say, just say it. There's no need to act like a hooligan. What kind of example are you setting?"

This simple sentence brought the atmosphere to a freezing point. It wasn't the words themselves that were powerful, but the person saying them was extraordinary. A mere middle school student, facing a notorious head teacher, should normally be trembling and speechless like the other two students, not calm and composed like Liu Jingtong. Even more outrageous was that he was turning the tables and lecturing the one who was supposed to be lecturing him.

"If you want to talk, you're not even fully grown. Come back when you're ready to talk. Call your parents to school tomorrow." Director Wang, seeing that Liu Jingtong was impervious to his threats, resorted to his ultimate weapon.

"Call your parents to school tomorrow" is a classic threat that teachers use to intimidate students.

"You three, don't attend class this morning. Go to the playground and stand as punishment. Get out of here." Director Wang waved his hand impatiently.

Liu Jingtong and the two students left the office and headed to the playground.

"Liu Jingtong, you actually dared to talk to the snake like that. That was amazing," the two friends, now free from fear, praised Liu Jingtong for his boldness.

Liu Jingtong smiled lightly and said, "The snake probably has a problem with my guidebook."

"Taking his business, he must be furious. But... he won't let us off easily today."

"Don't worry, I'll take the blame. Let's go to the playground and take a walk."

At the playground, the two friends stood obediently in place, but Liu Jingtong, being the one who wouldn't follow orders, started walking around the track, thinking about how to deal with the fat and corrupt head teacher.

The reason Director Wang suddenly targeted them was clear. Three weeks ago, Liu Jingtong had compiled a set of "High School Entrance Exam Treasure Book" and sold it to students preparing for the exam at a low price of three yuan. Because his guidebook was both entertaining and educational, it was very popular among middle school students and sold nearly a thousand copies in half a month.

While Liu Jingtong and his two workers, Mei Chuan and Zhang Youlong, were discussing expanding to other towns, the head teacher suddenly appeared and called them to the office.

This Director Wang ran a stationery store and often forced students to shop there. Once, he caught a student buying a ballpoint pen from another store and immediately punished the student by not allowing him to eat lunch.

Now, Liu Jingtong's actions were even worse. Not only did he openly compete with him, but he also used the "vile tactic" of low-price dumping, causing a serious backlog of tutoring books in his store. He felt that his supreme authority in front of the students was unprecedentedly challenged, and he couldn't tolerate it.

Liu Jingtong walked around the track and came back to his two friends, saying, "The snake is a small man. After I confronted him, he won't let me off. But don't worry, if anything happens, just blame it on me. I'm the one who got you into this."

"Liu, what are you saying? We're in this together. You haven't wronged us. You pay us more than our parents give us as pocket money. We won't betray you."

"Right, we share the good times and the bad."

The two friends expressed their loyalty, and Liu Jingtong couldn't say anything more. After a moment's thought, he said, "Then let's be honest. If he keeps pushing, I'll write a letter to the education office to report him."

"But, Liu, he's the teacher, and we're the students. We..."

Liu Jingtong smiled and said, "Don't worry about that. I have my ways to deal with him."

Mei Chuan and Zhang Youlong, seeing their boss's confident demeanor, were even more impressed. In their minds, their boss was no ordinary person.

When class was over, a large group of students rushed out of the classroom to the playground to watch the three students being punished. Standing punishment at Red Moon Middle School was common, but Liu Jingtong, as the new rising star of the school, was quite a spectacle. However, to their disappointment, Liu Jingtong didn't have the demeanor of someone being punished. He sat on a stone slab under the basketball hoop, drawing something with a pebble.

"Boss Liu, I heard you were punished by Director Wang," a few curious classmates asked with a smile.

Liu Jingtong smiled but didn't answer, focusing on his drawing. The classmates who asked the question stepped closer and saw that he was drawing a snake.

"Are you drawing Director Wang, or rather, a snake?"

Director Wang had been bullying students for years and had a terrible reputation, but everyone was afraid of his strictness. Even if they cursed him behind his back, they would quickly move on. Only Liu Jingtong, who was fearless, openly gave him the nickname "snake."

"In two days, everyone will call him that, ha ha." Liu Jingtong said, satisfied with his work. The onlookers didn't dare to comment.

Liu Jingtong turned to face everyone and said loudly, "He's a snake, but I'm not afraid of him because I have the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms."

"Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms? What's that?" a classmate asked.

Liu Jingtong was taken aback and then said, "The Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms. Haven't you read 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes'?"

"What 'Condor Heroes'? Is that a new book you wrote?"

"The Legend of the Condor Heroes, silly Guo Jing, who marries Huang Rong, the playful old man, and the food-loving Hong Qigong. Haven't you heard of it?" Liu Jingtong asked eagerly, but the onlookers looked puzzled.

Liu Jingtong frowned in thought for a moment and then laughed, "Never mind. It is my new book, but you'll have to wait a few years to read it."

"Ring, ring..." The bell for class soon rang, and the students hurried back to their classrooms. Passing the punished students, they felt a strange sense of superiority.

Liu Jingtong watched the students leave like a tide, his heart surging with emotion. After a while, he suddenly burst into laughter, which startled Mei Chuan and Zhang Youlong. They looked around and slowly walked to Liu Jingtong. Mei Chuan asked, "Liu, what are you laughing about?"

"I just learned a set of dog-beating staff techniques. Isn't that funny?"

"Dog-beating staff? What kind of staff, and why do you need to learn it?"

Liu Jingtong was cryptic, "The dog-beating staff is naturally for beating dogs."

Mei Chuan and Zhang Youlong looked at their boss, finding him even more mysterious.

The morning passed quickly. Mei Chuan and Zhang Youlong were allowed to eat lunch because of their good attitude, but Liu Jingtong was not.

Hunger-stricken, Liu Jingtong skipped class and went home. His parents were still at work, so he found food in the kitchen to fill his stomach. Then he returned to his room, took out a notebook and a ballpoint pen, and after a few minutes of contemplation, began to write.

Two hours later, a fairy tale called "Mangmang and Titi" was officially completed. The story mainly tells of the adventures of a little monkey named Mangmang and a little rabbit named Titi as they fight against the evil snake. The snake, of course, was based on Director Wang. In the story, Liu Jingtong mercilessly mocked and ridiculed the snake, and the snake's actions in the story were almost a carbon copy of Director Wang's daily deeds, making it obvious.

Liu Jingtong checked "Mangmang and Titi" for errors, and after a moment's thought, he wrote fourteen words on a blank page of the notebook: "Snow flies, connecting the sky and the white deer, smiling, writing, divine heroes leaning on the green swan."

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**End of Chapter**