Chapter 7 Saving Lily

Eric kicked the bloodstained stool that he just dropped on the ground, then lazily stretched his waist before looking up at Lily. A hint of dissatisfaction was in his black eyes as he grumbled, "You are so noisy."

"I, I... You..." Still in shock, Lily was speechless that she could only look at him with wide eyes. A man forced himself on her and why couldn't she just shout?

Eric just gave her a quick glance. Totally uninterested, he yawned and walked towards the back of the classroom.

Lily struggled to find words. She didn't know whether she should be grateful or mad at this person who, according to him, just saved her because they were interrupting his good sleep!

"Stop... Stop!" Victor clutched his head as he crawled, slowly standing up. He pointed at Eric and said, "You dare to attack a teacher!?"

Eric turned to face him and replied, "It's you who were so noisy that I couldn't sleep well."

This made Victor very angry, and he was not willing to let it just slide. Not only did he miss his chance at Lily, but the pain on the back of his head made it difficult to breathe!

What was more, he thought that these two couldn't stay at school anymore. They were like ticking time bombs and it would be better to take care of them now!

He made up his mind and said, "You don't respect your teacher, and you refused to confess to your wrongdoings. You are so arrogant, you..."

He turned to look at Lily and continued, "You opposed me, a head teacher! Since you refused to cooperate, come with me to the principal's office!"

"Go, if you want to. I just want to sleep," Eric said sleepily. It was apparent that he didn't take Victor seriously at all.

"No?" Victor raised an eyebrow. "If you don't want to go, then you will be expelled immediately. Do not test me. I can do this."

Lily was shaking. She knew that Victor had some power in the school, and if he chose to exercise that power, it wouldn't be good for both of them. If they went to the headmaster's office, she might still have a chance to plead her case. After all, even if Victor had a position, he was not that influential as to do anything he wanted in the school.

"Alright. We will follow you." Lily clutched the torn clothes close to her chest, her voice trembling.

She glanced at Eric, who was frowning, and who appeared to be stubbornly unwilling to follow. This made her anxious, but she managed to give him a wink.

Eric wanted to refuse. He didn't care at all if he got expelled, but when he saw what Lily did, he nodded.

"Humph!" When Victor saw that both of them were in agreement, he snorted. He bent down to pick up the bloody stool and walked out of the classroom.

Lily walked towards Eric, nudged his arm, and whispered, "Let's go."

In fact, the reason why she was shocked when she saw Eric was because he was Frank's cousin!

She didn't know much about him, though; only faint memories. In her previous life, she had been married to Frank for several years and lived with his family. He had never actually seen Eric in person during that time.

When they walked into the principal's office, Lily was relieved to see that there was someone else other than the principal.

She knew the man. She was one of the school's small shareholders, and had seen him in the newspaper when they were running articles for the school's publicity. She thought that as a shareholder, this man could judge fairly.

"Wait... what's going on?" The principal stood up in surprise when he saw them come in. "Mr. Victor, why is your head bleeding?"

"Sir, the students are becoming more and more difficult to handle." Victor sighed and pointed at Lily and Eric. "Look at them, a junior and a sophomore! How could they do such shameful things in our classroom? I tried to stop them, but they hit my head with a stool!"

He handed the stool to the principal.

"Unbelievable."

"Sir, I am a respected teacher here. Do you think I have any reason to lie?" Victor paced himself, looking very distressed. "In any case, she's still my student. I am sorry for what happened to her, and I would be willing to take part of the responsibility."

"I didn't expect that there are still students who dared to challenge the school's rules! I thought that we have been strict enough." The principal frowned.

Lily was disgusted with every word that came out of Victor's mouth. Now, only the principal was talking to him while the shareholder stayed silent.

She looked at Eric, who seemed unsurprised and uncaring about the lies Victor was spewing. This confused her. It was like Eric had no intention of defending himself, and saw himself more as an outsider!

She was wrong. They were not in this together, and she felt that she couldn't count on Eric anymore. She took a deep breath and decided to give it a try, all by herself. She believed that though social networks and influential relationships could decide many things in this society, laws still prevailed.

"No, it's not like that," Lily said. She was cautious. She lowered her head and covered her chest with her torn clothes. "Principal, sir, it's not like that. We didn't do it. It was..."

"You didn't do it?" Seeing that Lily began to state her case, Victor interrupted her, "Did I lie!? I've taught here for twenty years, and I have never seen such a persistent liar!"

"Principal..." Lily raised his head and looked at the principal with tears in her eyes. "He's lying. This so-called teacher is lying. It was him. He tried to rape me!"

"Lily, can you stop this nonsense? I didn't expect you to be such a pain. Not only did you cheat on your exams, now you're also trying to frame your teacher! You're such a bad person," he yelled, exasperated.

"I didn't! I didn't cheat!" Lily started crying. In between sobs, she said, "I didn't cheat and I would never frame you. But you tried to rape me. You did! And if not... if not for Eric, you would have succeeded! Eric saved me."

Lily just let her words flow, but she noticed that the shareholder chose to remain silent, after all. Her anxiety was mounting, in addition to the fear and disgust she already felt.

"You! It's you, Lily! I didn't expect you to be a cheater!" Victor was obviously overplaying it. He look at Eric, who had been silent all this time. He pointed at the wound on his head and asked, "Tell me, boy, did you hit me?"

Eric's face was marred by disgust, but he quickly recovered his indifference. "Yes." He nodded.

"Did it happen in your classroom?" Victor continued.

"Yes." Eric nodded again.

"That's it." Victor now turned to the headmaster and the shareholder. "See? This is how it is. I found them misbehaving in Class 7, Grade 2. I found them and tried to stop them, but they hit me."

"So how do you plan to punish them?" Vivian Huang, the shareholder who up to this point stayed silent, decided to ask.

Victor was relieved when he heard the question. He smiled obsequiously, "Mr. Vivian, of course, students with such a high degree of moral corruption must be expelled from the school, so that they can never influence the other students. It serves as an example for the others, as well.

Lily's heart sank. She thought that the shareholder was on Victor's side.

She felt a little guilty for Eric. After all, he only ended up getting involved because he tried to save her.

"Lily..." She was jolted away from her thoughts when the shareholder suddenly addressed her, "Do you have any evidence to prove that what you're saying is true?"

Evidence? Lily nodded readily and said, "Yes! I have proof!"

After that, she quickly searched for her phone in her schoolbag. She had almost forgotten that she did something, as a precaution, before following her head teacher into the classroom.

Everyone was surprised when she produced her phone. Victor's face darkened. Even Eric looked startled.

The audio recording played, and the conversation was loud and clear. They could hear Victor's voice, muttering his obscenities and his indecent advances.

Tension in the air was building up even more the longer they listened. Lily observed Vivian Huang's expression, wanting to find some hope in him. To her disappointment, she didn't see anything.

The recording finished, and Victor could only draw a blank. He was stunned that Lily could pull such a trick, and glared at her with utmost resentment.

"I have also heard rumors about you." Vivian Huang spoke up. "I also believe that you are a good student, and about the breakthroughs in your study..."

Lily couldn't figure out what Vivian Huang was thinking. He didn't say anything about the recording. Instead, he mentioned the exam results unexpectedly. Still, she answered confidently, "If you still can't believe it, then you can test me yourself."

"Ha-ha!" Vivian Huang smiled, admiration in his eyes. "Okay. Tomorrow morning, I will test you myself."

Lily felt a sense of relief, but like the headmaster and Victor, she was stunned by what just happened. Only Eric could gave h her sideway glances.

"Principal, I remember the school needs an administrator for the library. How about..." Vivian turned to the principal, the meaning of these words clear.

"Mr. Vivian." The principal looked at him, embarrassed. He had been principal for many years. Although Vivian Huang didn't say anything directly, he knew what he meant. "Victor is Mr. Liu's nephew... He is also a shareholder of our school. I think we should discuss with him first."

"After all that, do you really think we still need a discussion?" Vivian Huang looked at the principal unhappily. "I mentioned the library position for Mr. Liu's sake. If I wasn't thinking of him, this man would have already been fired!"

"This... this is..." The principal was in a dilemma. He couldn't afford to offend any of the shareholders of this school.

"If you don't agree, then I will discuss with Mr. Xie and notify all of the shareholders to schedule a meeting. I think they can decide by then," Vivian Huang said to Victor.

"I'm okay with that." Victor nodded repeatedly. Everybody knew that Mr. Xie was the biggest shareholder in the whole school, and he was rigorous in his work. He never protected anyone, nor sided with any person for the sake of nepotism. If Mr. Xie got wind of what just happened, the consequences would be even more serious.

"Principal, I have to leave now. Do what you need to do." Vivian Huang stood up and walked out of the office. When he passed Lily, he smiled and said, "I'll come again tomorrow for your test. Nine o'clock in the morning. Don't be late." With that, he then left.

Lily didn't expect her problems to be solved in this way. She and Eric didn't get expelled, and while Victor might just get transferred, it was still ample punishment for what he did!