After Getting Bound to Both the Protagonist and the Villain at the Same Time - Chapter 5

After buying a spare phone and getting a new SIM card, Lin Chuyi reinstalled a handful of essential apps—most importantly, DingTalk.

During her training for the library assistant position, all the online modules had been conducted via DingTalk. She also knew that DingTalk automatically saved livestream replays.

If she had dared to pull out her phone so openly back then, she had obviously already planned to preserve evidence.

Earlier, treating the little pitiful one’s injuries had taken precedence. Now, helping that same pitiful child clean out these tumors was her top priority.

Sure enough, once she logged into DingTalk, she saw the replay of the livestream she had accidentally broadcast from the alley—though in the chaos, she had clicked into her work group and streamed it there.

Messages exploded instantly.

“Oh my god, Xiao Lin, where are you right now? Are you safe?”

“How can kids like that still exist nowadays? That was way too malicious.”

“Her phone probably got cracked. It makes sense if we can’t reach her. Is she back on campus yet?”

“This is terrifying. Should we report it to the police?”

The work group belonged to the H University Library—her colleagues and supervisors. Ever since she started the job, Lin Chuyi had never been late a single day and always worked seriously. She had left a very good impression on everyone.

Some of her coworkers were more than one generation older than her. They often said their own children were around her age, so they took special care of her.

The moment she logged in, the first thing she did was reassure the group she was safe. After that, she requested leave from the library administration.

As expected, the director called her almost immediately.

“Xiao Lin, are you alright? Did those people hurt you? How did you run into something like that this morning? And that child—is she okay?”

“I’m fine, Director,” Lin Chuyi replied. “But the kid who was bullied had her hand cut open—there was a lot of blood. I brought her to the school infirmary.”

“As long as you’re both unharmed. Go handle things first. We’ve got the library covered.”

“Thank you, Director.”

After obtaining leave, Lin Chuyi immediately rushed toward Shen Qing’s school. Mengmeng, having seen the video of the ‘villain’ being bullied, was now brimming with indignant righteousness.

“Those people are so mean! How can they bully someone like that!? I want to beat them up! Hang them upside down and beat them!”

“Alright,” Lin Chuyi replied calmly. “We’ll hang them up and beat them.”

“Wait—hold on. You—you’re not serious, right?”

Mengmeng’s tiny translucent wings fluttered nervously. As a protagonist’s growth-and-protection system, it had never experienced the feeling of “violence for violence,” nor was it supposed to encourage it. It held certain moral guidelines and knew that violence wasn’t the answer.

But after seeing those girls so arrogantly tormenting someone weaker, its chest felt tight and angry—and hitting back suddenly felt satisfying.

“If I was serious, would you stop me?” Lin Chuyi asked.

“I—I.”

Mengmeng faltered. It was a system meant to protect the protagonist’s growth, not something specifically opposed to the ‘villain.’ It was responsible for the protagonist, but it also had to stand up against injustice.

Finally, it said:

“I’ll close my eyes and pretend I don’t see anything.”

“Don’t worry,” Lin Chuyi assured it. “They’ll get what they deserve.”

When she arrived at Shen Qing’s school, she met with the Director of Student Affairs. From him, she learned that Shen Qing’s academic situation wasn’t very encouraging. Her grades were poor—barely enough to consider college.

“This child is smart, truly smart,” the director said with pity. “But she’s too affected by external circumstances. We recruited her with the highest scholarship, but her scores have been dropping faster and faster.”

“Her commute is long and exhausting. Her energy is scattered and she’s bullied.”

“We know,” he continued. “The school spent over ten thousand yuan in scholarship funds to bring her here, hoping she’d succeed. But she travels so far, works so hard and yet.”

The director clearly wanted to drag the conversation elsewhere, dragging out excuses, but Lin Chuyi refused to be led around.

“Can you bring in the students from the video?” she asked. “I’m here to resolve this today. Our child has been bullied inside and outside the school. We hope the school will take proper action to protect its students. This all happened just this morning.”

The director wiped the sweat on his forehead. He knew exactly what kind of troublemaking demons these girls were.

He walked to the door, grabbed a passing student, and said, “Go get Shen Qing from Class 3-1 and Niu Qianqian from Class 8. Tell them to come to the Student Affairs office.”

“Shen Qing?”

“Yes. Tell her her guardian is here and wants to see her.”

“Got it!”

The kid tasked with delivering the message had a booming voice. Before even entering the classroom, he shouted:

“Shen Qing! Your guardian’s here! They’re waiting for you at Student Affairs!”

Shen Qing froze, assuming it was a joke, and didn’t move.

Her classmates, well aware she had no parents and no real family, immediately began jeering.

“Shen Qing, your guardian’s here! Hahaha!”

“Where’d they come from? Crawl out of the ground? Hahahaha!”

“Wow, that’s creepy.”

“Shen-ghost! Shen-ghost!”

“Why Shen-ghost?”

“Because the ghost of the Shen family is a Shen-ghost! Hahahaha!”

Shen Qing was clearly long numb to the mockery.

Niu Qianqian from Class 8 was the school tyrant. She led the bullying and ostracizing of Shen Qing, and the others imitated her—hoping to savor the cheap thrill of picking on someone weaker.

Shen Qing stared at the gauze wrapped around her hand, her gaze lowered, her thoughts drifting somewhere dark.

If only she had a knife, she suddenly thought.

If she had a knife, she could cut down every noisy person around her—one by one.

But all she had was a pen.

The wound she had bandaged that morning had begun to seep blood again. Shen Qing tightened her fist, as if she couldn’t feel the pain at all.

“Shen-Ghost, Shen-Ghost, Shen-Ghost—hahaha!”

Shen Qing sat in her seat, her expression flickering between shadow and light, something within her on the verge of erupting.

“What are you saying.”

A clear, sharp female voice cut through the doorway, carrying anger like a drawn sword, slicing straight through the vile atmosphere in the classroom.

The group tormenting Shen Qing froze mid-laugh. All heads snapped toward the door.

Lin Chuyi stood there, face expressionless, but everyone could feel the blaze of fury radiating from her. The mockery stuck rigidly on their faces before shame forced their eyes downward.

Earlier, she had sent a classmate to fetch Shen Qing to the Student Affairs Office, but Shen Qing never arrived. So, Lin Chuyi came to the classroom herself—only to walk into this scene.

“Too much! Too much!” Mengmeng’s voice shook with rage, practically rolling over itself. “These little brats—these little brats!”

Lin Chuyi turned to the Student Affairs director behind her. “Do they always bully our child like this?”

She strode toward Shen Qing and planted herself protectively at her side. “I demand an apology—and they will write self-reflections. That’s not excessive, is it?”

“N–not at all.” The director wiped sweat from his brow. One of the bolder students lifted her chin stubbornly and snapped, “What did we even do? We only said a few words! It’s not like we hit her!”

“So, you think that as long as you don’t hit her, you’re not hurting her?” Lin Chuyi let out a cold laugh. Raising her voice, she announced, “Alright then—here’s the deal. Anyone who curses this classmate the way you all usually curse our kid gets ten yuan. Make her scream, fifty. Make her cry, a hundred! The harsher your words, the more you earn!”

“You, you mongrel,” someone muttered under her breath.

Lin Chuyi slapped ten yuan onto that girl’s desk.

“You motherless stray!” Another ten.

“You’re a thief. I saw you rummaging through someone’s bag!”

“What did you say?” the girl shouted, panicking.

Lin Chuyi placed fifty yuan down.

“Oh, I get it. You’re secretly in love with Wang Meng from the next class. He likes Shen Qing’s face better, so you pick fights with her on purpose!”

“You even wrote him a love letter! He didn’t reply, so you cried!”

“Wow, that’s disgusting.”

“You, you!” Tears filled the girl’s eyes. She burst into sobs and ran out of the room.

Funny how she had been the loudest instigator, spreading the worst rumors about Shen Qing—yet a few insults aimed her way and she couldn’t handle it.

Truly, people never understand pain until it’s their own skin on the line.

“Quiet! All of you! One-thousand-word reflection, on my desk before the end of school!” the director barked. He knew what Lin Chuyi had done wasn’t strictly right, but in this situation, he had no ground to stand on. He collected the money she had thrown out and handed it back to her. “Go handle what needs to be handled.”

His tone had softened—he was finally ready to address the real issue.

Lin Chuyi helped Shen Qing stand, gently supporting her. On the way to the Student Affairs Office, she asked softly, “Your hand, oh no, it’s torn open again. Does it hurt? Are you okay?”

Shen Qing shook her head.

In truth, she felt a faint relief—relief that she hadn’t had a knife in her hand earlier. If she had, she wasn’t sure what she might have done.

If the person walking beside her had witnessed that monstrous side of her, Shen Qing bit her lip and obediently followed Lin Chuyi.

“Don’t worry,” Lin Chuyi said. “We’re going to resolve this for real.”

In Class 8, Niu Qianqian was called into the office. She stood there “punished,” chewing gum lazily, posture sloppy and defiant.

She knew she had bullied Shen Qing—but so what? Who cared about picking on someone with no parents? If Shen Qing was upset, blame her for having that eerie, aggravating face. And with no family to back her up, what could the teachers even do? At worst, they’d coax the two sides into shaking hands and “making peace.”

In a good mood, Niu Qianqian whistled at Shen Qing the moment she walked in. “Slut.” She wiggled her brows mockingly.

Lin Chuyi’s expression snapped cold. She knew this girl—Niu Qianqian was the ringleader, a delinquent wannabe trying to rule her little corner of the school through intimidation.

“Wait for your guardian to arrive,” Lin Chuyi said icily.

“My guardian’s busy.” Niu Qianqian scoffed, smug.

“Alright.” Lin Chuyi didn’t argue. “Then you alone will answer this—this morning, when you blocked our kid on the way to school, what exactly were you planning to do?”

“Get some spending money.” Niu Qianqian answered lazily. “Shen Qing saves money; I don’t. When I’m broke, I go to her. Got a problem with that?”

“So, it’s robbery.” Lin Chuyi let out a sharp laugh. “Assaulting and extorting someone—under the law, that’s a sentence of at least three years. Even minors can be charged. Once you’re over sixteen, sentencing applies.”

Niu Qianqian’s face drained of color. Something had clearly hit her.

“Wait.” Lin Chuyi narrowed her eyes and asked, each word pressed down like a weight, “You aren’t already eighteen, are you, classmate?”