Chapter 413: Killing in the Sunlight (Subscribe for monthly tickets)
Wang Mingzhen and Wang Daozhong are old acquaintances.

When they were young, Wang Mingzhen and Wang Daozhong were top students who graduated from the same university. They returned to their hometown one after another and became teachers at Jiangchuan No. 1 Middle School.

At that time, the two of them had a good relationship. The only problem was that they both had a crush on a female teacher in the junior high school named Lin Yunying. At that time, Wang Mingzhen thought it was nothing. A gentleman loves a beautiful lady. Everyone yearns for beautiful people and beautiful things.

Wang Daozhong is not very focused on teaching and educating people, but he is good at dealing with leaders.

When he was young, Wang Daozhong would make a cup of tea in the morning and then go to the old principal's place to sit until the break. He would prepare breakfast for the principal on time and was very attentive. As a result, he was selected as an advanced worker every year and was soon awarded a senior professional title. He climbed up all the way and became a school management within a few years. Later, he was transferred to the Education Bureau.

Wang Daozhong had only been in the Education Bureau for a few years when he was noticed by the then director Zhou Xianjing, and met his current wife Zhou Xiaolin, Zhou Xianjing's daughter. Zhou Xiaolin had been married once, and her marriage to Wang Daozhong was her second marriage, and they had a child. However, Wang Daozhong's career path became smoother because of this, and he was promoted all the way to deputy director. Later, when the position of principal of the No. 1 Middle School in the city became vacant, he was transferred to the middle school as principal.

At that time, Wang Mingzhen was still a poor teacher.

Logically speaking, the treatment of teachers at the No. 1 Middle School in the city was pretty good, and as a family with two teachers, although they were far from wealthy, they still lived a worry-free life. It was just that Wang Mingzhen always helped some poor students, so their life was very tight. Moreover, the couple and their daughter had lived in a row house for half their lives, and they wanted to get a house.

Wang Mingzhen had been teaching for many years and had been recognized as an advanced teacher for his academic performance, but he was never included in the school's housing allocation. His wife, Lin Yunying, could not stand this and repeatedly asked him to talk to the school leaders about this.

Later, when housing was distributed again, even those who ranked below him in terms of seniority were given housing, but not his. Wang Mingzhen finally couldn't sit still anymore, and under the nagging of his wife Lin Yunying, he mustered up the courage to go to the office of the principal Wang Daozhong.

Logically speaking, it should be his turn for the housing allocation this time. Unexpectedly, Wang Daozhong, his good friend and junior from their youth, did not give a clear explanation when practicing Tai Chi with him. Later, the two of them started arguing. The argument was nothing more than "the individual is sorry for the organization" or "the organization is sorry for the individual."

This chicken-and-egg cycle will never have an end.

In the end, Wang Mingzhen slammed the door and walked out.

Qian Zhongshu wrote in Fortress Besieged: "The competition for survival gradually strips off the decorations and masks, revealing the most primitive cruelty. Honesty and shame are not honest, and many people cannot afford to maintain them."

If we say that the vast majority of students in the ivory tower are idealistic, even "naive" idealism, like Chu Jian and Li Xiaoman, but measured by realistic standards, in a sense, they are lucky, because they will eventually enter a cruel society. At least after experiencing the painful sense of separation from campus to society, they will be reborn in the next stage of life.

However, for teachers like Wang Mingzhen, the campus is society and the society is the campus. On the one hand, they have to teach and impart knowledge with lofty morals, and on the other hand, they have to support their families.

This realistic contradiction accompanied Wang Mingzhen throughout his life.

A gentleman is steadfast in poverty. Is this noble?
Teachers are ordinary people with emotions and desires. Not every teacher needs to cultivate himself into a saint. Getting rich through hard work and legal means can stand the test of time and is beyond reproach. Studying and getting rich are never opposites, but two steps in a relationship. However, Wang Mingzhen could never break the invisible barriers in his heart.

Over the years, Wang Mingzhen had always been in the habit of giving free tutoring to poor rural students. Sometimes, he tutored students in his bare house, while his wife Lin Yunying, who was cooking in the kitchen, would clang pots and pans! The poverty and lofty ideals seemed to have opened a bigger rift in the sound of pots and pans.

The bigger problem was that Wang Mingzhen's free tutoring would steal students and cut off other people's sources of income. Later, as expected, he was reported to the police.

Wang Mingzhen didn't know who reported him at the time, but he was suspended from his job.

After one of Wang Mingzhen's students learned about this, he went to the city to "file a complaint" and appeal for his injustice. Ironically, because the city leaders intervened, after the matter was clarified, not only did Wang Mingzhen return to class, but he was also given the house he had always dreamed of. But his student had an accident and was hit by a car on the way back to school. That student was less than two months away from the college entrance examination.

Later, Wang Mingzhen learned that Wang Daozhong's stepdaughter opened a cram school outside the school and recruited a group of teachers to unify the after-school tutoring market.

This incident caused Wang Mingzhen to suffer for many years.

He was just a penniless teacher. He could write letters of complaint one after another, but he could not change anything. Over the years, he had watched what Wang Daozhong did in the school. He could write letters of complaint one after another, but he could not change anything.

Just like now.

It was the beginning of summer in May 1995.

The old man's hair had turned gray, his body was hunched, and all kinds of illnesses tormented him day and night.

When he stood up, Wang Daozhong's tall body had blocked out the sunlight, but despite being in the shadow, he still stood up with his hunched body to defend what he believed was right. People who live in idealism cannot live against their own wishes.

This old man is especially so.

Should Wang Xiaokai be fired?

should.

But the time to expel Wang Xiaokai should be when he got into a fight, not when he was the first to expose the unknown whereabouts of the tuition fees at the school. This is what this stubborn old man stubbornly and even "naively" thought was wrong.

He stared at Wang Daozhong and said, "Principal Wang, I have never seen you care so much about any student. It's not right to say that. At least you always care about my student named Zhang Yunqi. He is a rare talent in this school in a hundred years. He is a golden signboard! It's a pity that you, a sycophantic and greedy person, can't curry favor with him!"

Wang Daozhong's cheeks were trembling.

No matter how well-educated he is, when such a highly respected person in the eyes of others suddenly has all his disguises torn off, the anger and shame are hard to contain: "Shut up! Get out!"

Wang Mingzhen started coughing. He couldn't help smoking a cigarette just now, and it came back at this time. His throat felt as if it was filled with lead, but he smiled while coughing and said, "It's rare for me to come to your office. Please let me finish what I want to say. Principal Wang, over the years, you should know very well how many letters of denunciation I have written for you, but all of them fell on deaf ears. The effect is not as good as the one posted on the bulletin board by my student Wang Xiaokai. You care about him so much. Did he touch your sore spot?"

"Yes, sometimes I wonder why I don't post your dirty deeds on the bulletin board like my student Wang Xiaokai did? Let those kids who hold a sense of justice and fairness start a riot? Because I always remember that I am a teacher, and it is my responsibility to protect my students!"

Wang Mingzhen suddenly bent down, covered his mouth and started coughing violently. The sound seemed like he was coughing out his heart, liver, intestines and lungs. His haggard face turned red and blood was flowing from between his fingers.

After he stopped coughing, the voice that came out of his throat was hoarse: "I'm telling you, Wang Daozhong, you chose a divorced woman you didn't like for your future, and your family is not happy. When you were young, you admired Yunying, but she chose me, and you hated me! After you were transferred here, you made trouble for me in various ways. Back then, because of the tutoring incident, you killed my student! As long as I have a breath left, I will run to the bureau! Run to the city and the province!"

Wang Daozhong was so angry that he was shaking all over.

But the piercing anger reached its peak, and he suddenly laughed, a cold laugh with a fierce look in his eyes.

He nodded, pulled out his office chair and sat down, holding his tea and pouted: "Okay, I'll do what you want. All your materials are with me. It was me who blocked your daughter's transfer to the No. 6 Middle School, and it was me who killed your student! Wang Xiaokai, I'm going to expel you!"

"You! You! You..." Wang Mingzhen pointed at Wang Daozhong with trembling fingers, and in anger he spat out a mouthful of blood.

His body swayed, and he suddenly felt dizzy, his vision went dark, and he fell headfirst.

Wang Daozhong was startled.

He quickly stood up and walked around the desk, and saw Wang Mingzhen lying on the ground, foaming at the mouth and twitching all over.

This might cost someone their life!

He quickly turned around and grabbed the phone on the desk, ready to call an ambulance, but after pressing a few numbers, his hand suddenly stopped.

He looked back at Wang Mingzhen, looking at the dying old man who had been entangled with him for more than 30 years.

Snap!
He put down the phone.

This was the beginning of summer in May 1995.

Wang Daozhong stood by the windowsill with his hands behind his back. His tall and majestic body was bathed in the strong sunlight, and his eyes were silently staring at the old man on the ground.

The old man's eyes turned white, bloody white foam kept oozing out of the corners of his mouth, his hunched body curled up, twitching and trembling on the cold and damp floor tiles...

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(End of this chapter)