Hou Liangping knocked on the door of Liang Lu's office.
He looked at Liang Lu, who was deep in thought.
He thought to himself that he must not let Qi Tongwei latch onto this powerful connection.
*Qi Tongwei, you want to take a shortcut, and yet you still dared to speak ill of me in front of Xiao'ai.*
*Let's see how I dismantle your plans.*
Seeing Hou Liangping enter, Liang Lu hurriedly composed herself.
"Student Liangping, is there something you need?" Liang Lu asked.
Hou Liangping took a few steps closer to Liang Lu.
Liang Lu frowned slightly, wondering what Hou Liangping was up to, though her attitude remained relatively gentle. After all, Hou Liangping's girlfriend was someone she couldn't afford to provoke.
Hou Liangping gathered his thoughts and said, "Teacher Liang, did Qi Tongwei just confess his feelings to you?"
Hearing this topic, Liang Lu's eyes narrowed.
*Was this little punk coming here just to annoy her?*
But a second thought of Zhong Xiao'ai made Liang Lu restrain herself.
"Student Liangping, that is a private matter of mine. Is there something else you need?" Liang Lu asked.
Hearing this, Hou Liangping thought her attitude wasn't clear at all! If Qi Tongwei really managed to climb this high branch, wouldn't he become even more smug?
Hou Liangping hurried to say, "Teacher Liang, you mustn't trust senior Qi Tongwei! His family is just a bunch of peasants."
"You know how people like that will cozy up to anyone the moment they gain a shred of power."
"Senior Qi Tongwei is the kind of person who will stop at nothing for his own benefit. When the time comes, he'll definitely use your power to seek benefits for his own relatives, and it will surely drag you down, Teacher!"
"Besides, he only approached you for your power and influence—you have to be on your guard!"
Hearing Hou Liangping's words, Liang Lu was inwardly shocked.
*Didn't you and Qi Tongwei usually have a pretty good relationship?*
*Why aren't you saying this sooner or later?*
Besides, Qi Tongwei hadn't shown any such intentions at all.
Still, Liang Lu nodded slightly.
Seeing this, Hou Liangping thought, *This is bad, she must be blinded by love!*
He hurriedly added fuel to the fire: "Teacher Liang, you don't know how deeply calculating Qi Tongwei's mind is. Right now he's just acting submissively toward you, but the moment you can no longer help him, he'll definitely be the first to throw you away..."
"Enough!"
Unable to listen any longer, Liang Lu interrupted Hou Liangping.
"Student Liangping, apply this kind of judgment toward your girlfriend instead. You don't need to worry about my affairs."
"Right now, I only feel a teacher-student bond toward Qi Tongwei, and he already made his stance clear to me just now. Please don't say any more."
Hearing this, Hou Liangping's eyes lit up—it seemed Qi Tongwei had given up on his own.
Though doing this showed some backbone, Hou Liangping knew that Qi Tongwei was stuck in some remote judicial station with zero background. He would never get out for the rest of his life, no matter how capable he thought he was, and no one would ever notice him.
Thinking of this, Hou Liangping offered a few satisfied, polite remarks and left the office.
Liang Lu couldn't figure out what had gotten into Hou Liangping. She usually thought quite well of him—he seemed upright and intolerant of evil.
It looked like she had simply misjudged a person.
She could see straight through Hou Liangping: he was terrified that Qi Tongwei would leverage her influence. He was nothing more than a petty person.
However, Qi Tongwei might not actually be the right match for her; their social classes were completely different, making it hard to get along.
The moment she thought of her ex-boyfriend, Liang Lu felt that if she forcefully kept Qi Tongwei by her side, she might just repeat past mistakes and stir up unnecessary trouble.
Besides, to be honest, Liang Lu didn't think all that much of Qi Tongwei—she had just been playing around.
It seemed she shouldn't waste her thoughts on him, lest she draw unnecessary trouble.
Yet, was Qi Tongwei really as upright as he portrayed himself?
He felt a bit different from his past self, and who on earth was this Li Dakang he had mentioned?
Meanwhile, Qi Tongwei felt refreshed and light-hearted. Even though he didn't know the final outcome, at least he had altered the trajectory of history, avoided becoming a kept man, and preserved his present reputation.
Right now, however, he still had to figure out a way forward. Two major problems lay before him:
First, how to get transferred out of that judicial station.
Second, he was currently dirt poor...
As Qi Tongwei walked out, he happened to run into Zhong Xiao'ai. He found it puzzling why she was alone; even if she wanted to watch a show, Hou Liangping should have been there too!
"Student Zhong, what are you doing here?" Qi Tongwei asked in a clear voice.
Zhong Xiao'ai looked at Qi Tongwei in a daze and said, "Hello, Senior! Liangping went to see Teacher Liang, and he asked me to wait for him here."
For a moment, this news stunned Qi Tongwei. Why would Hou Liangping go find Liang Lu?
And he had just come out from Liang Lu's place himself. Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Qi Tongwei!
*Was he going to make things difficult for me behind my back?*
*That's right!*
Hou Liangping looked upright on the outside, but deep down he was a snob who fawned over the rich and powerful. One could tell just by looking at how differently he treated people.
In his past life, without Qi Tongwei deliberately provoking him, Hou Liangping would at most have found a few people to mock Qi Tongwei from the sidelines.
But just now, Qi Tongwei had deliberately stirred up Zhong Xiao'ai. With Hou Liangping's petty nature, he was bound to retaliate.
Thinking of this, Qi Tongwei almost burst out laughing—this kid might actually end up doing him a huge favor.
Watching Qi Tongwei chuckle there, Zhong Xiao'ai asked with a hint of curiosity, "Senior, what are you laughing at?"
Looking at Zhong Xiao'ai, Qi Tongwei hatched a plan. "Student Zhong, I bet Liangping went to complain about me, hahaha! But tell him I said thanks!"
With that, Qi Tongwei waved his hand and walked away.
As for why Qi Tongwei didn't say anything else: clever people always needed to figure things out for themselves, and they tended to distrust answers that came too easily.
Sure enough, the moment Hou Liangping came out, Zhong Xiao'ai glared at him and asked, "What were you doing just now?"
Hou Liangping felt a bit guilty. What he had done wasn't entirely honorable, so it was probably better not to tell her.
He made up a clumsy lie: "I just went to talk to Teacher Liang about some academic matters."
Seeing the evasive look in Hou Liangping's eyes, Zhong Xiao'ai pressed on, "Did you go talk trash about Qi Tongwei?"
For a moment, Hou Liangping froze. He didn't know how to answer Zhong Xiao'ai's question...
Seeing his reaction, Zhong Xiao'ai instantly guessed the truth: "Hou Liangping, you are so childish."
With that, Zhong Xiao'ai turned and made to leave.
Hou Liangping immediately grabbed her hand. "Xiao'ai, I did it so Teacher Liang wouldn't go astray... I was doing it entirely out of good intentions..."
Zhong Xiao'ai furrowed her pretty brows. "What does that have to do with you?"
She shook off Hou Liangping's hand and stormed away...
Zhong Xiao'ai had originally thought Hou Liangping was upright and truly cared for her. But after today's events, she wondered if she had misjudged him. He seemed overly obsessed with fame, fortune, and status, while also being extremely childish...
Looking at Zhong Xiao'ai's retreating figure, Hou Liangping clenched his fists tightly. He had worked so hard to latch onto the massive tree that was the Zhong family, only for Qi Tongwei's few casual words to put all his efforts in jeopardy.
Hou Liangping muttered inwardly: *Qi Tongwei, you'd better pray you never fall into my hands...*
Naturally, Qi Tongwei had no idea what was going through Hou Liangping's mind, nor did he know that Hou Liangping had targeted him. But he wasn't afraid.
Leaving aside the fact that Hou Liangping hadn't even started working yet, even if he had, how could he possibly influence him overnight?
Hou Liangping was fiercely competitive and exceptionally ruthless in his methods. One could see that clearly from his future career: when arresting Zhao Dehan, he could have gone straight to Zhao's villa, but he chose not to. Why? Because he wanted to show off his own capability, deriving a sense of superiority from watching other people's downfall.
That was why he acted so recklessly; had it not been for the protection of the Zhong family, heaven knows how many times he would have already died.
As for his teachers and mentors, he would exploit them whenever he could, and the moment something went wrong, he would turn arrogant and overbearing...
That was Hou Liangping: someone who used a facade of righteousness to mask his own hypocrisy. Someone who relied on women while constantly putting on airs of capability, all just to prove he wasn't a kept man...
"Tongwei?"
As Qi Tongwei walked along the sports field of Handong University, lost in thought, a shout snapped him back to reality!
"Haizi, why are you here?" Qi Tongwei asked.
Looking at the person who had financially supported him throughout university, Qi Tongwei's heart filled with gratitude. Back when he had no money, it was this very person who used his own meal tickets to relieve his destitution.
Later on, when Director Qi assassinated Chen Hai for his own selfish gains, that gratitude had turned into a lingering sense of guilt.
None of that would happen now... In the future, he would definitely repay Chen Hai properly.
Whether Chen Hai still looked down on him as a senior schoolmate or not, this was a debt he had to settle!
Chen Hai hurried over and said, "I heard from Monkey that you were going to propose today. I rushed over to the teaching building in a panic, but didn't see you anywhere. When I asked around, they said you walked this way, so I came looking for you."
Qi Tongwei's mouth twitched slightly.
*So Hou Liangping went around inviting his friends to watch the show just to humiliate him!*
Only, the storyline of this world had already changed today.
"Nothing like that," Qi Tongwei said. "I came to thank Teacher Liang. If not for her, how could I have won that medal?"
Chen Hai looked at Qi Tongwei in shock. "You're thanking her? Tongwei, if it weren't for her..."
Qi Tongwei interrupted Chen Hai's words: "The past is gone, just focus on doing your best!"
Chen Hai gave Qi Tongwei a thumbs-up, thinking what a true gentleman he was—to remain so calm and composed after facing such oppression.
"Tongwei, come to my place for dinner!" Chen Hai invited. "Chen Yang is back."