95: Chapter 95 Who did you two offend?

He carried a wine jar and stormed furiously to Flender's door. With a palm the size of a cattail fan, he pounded on the door frame with a 'bang, bang, bang' that shook the dust off the eaves. "Flender! You old skinflint! Get out here! Did you buy cheap, fake wine just to fool me? If you don't give me an explanation today, I'll tear this dilapidated courtyard down!"

Flender, inside the room, was jolted awake by the banging. The moment he opened his eyes, he recalled last night's nightmare—being gagged and tied up by three masked men, force-fed anesthetic, covered in itching powder, and affectionately teased for half the night while they called him "Little Dede."

His skin was still itching faintly, his face covered in red welts from scratching himself the previous night. The pink silk ribbons on his hands and feet were only half undone, with the remaining pieces dangling loosely from his wrists.

Hearing Zhao Wuji's roar, Flender panicked. In a flurry of haste, he tore the ribbons off his wrists and grabbed a robe to throw over himself. Without even having time to smooth his hair, he stumbled to the door to open it.

"What are you yelling about! Why are you howling so early in the morning!" Flender pulled open the door, intending to put on his Dean's airs to suppress Zhao Wuji's anger. However, the moment his appearance was revealed, Zhao Wuji instantly shut his mouth. His hand holding the wine jar froze in mid-air, and his eyes widened like copper bells, staring straight at him.

Flender's hair was as messy as a bird's nest, his face and neck covered in dense red marks. His robe was draped crookedly over his body with the collar wide open, and there were several shallow scratches on his collarbone. Most absurdly, half a pink silk ribbon hung from his wrist, swaying with his movements as he opened the door.

Zhao Wuji froze for a full three seconds before placing the wine jar on the ground. He looked Flender up and down, the anger on his face vanishing without a trace, replaced by a knowing, wicked grin. He leaned in cheekily and teased in a low voice.

"Not bad, Old Flender! I thought you were just giving me the cold shoulder early in the morning, but it turns out you were busy having a wild time last night?"

"What nonsense are you spouting!"

Flender's face turned bright red instantly. Both ashamed and furious, he covered his wrist, trying to hide the piece of pink silk ribbon. "I was sleeping in my room all night! I didn't go anywhere!"

"Give it a rest!"

Zhao Wuji laughed even harder, pointing at the red marks on his face and the ribbon. "Do you take me for a blind man? With all these marks and this pink ribbon, you've been playing quite wild, haven't you? Tell me, which woman did you sneak into the courtyard for fun last night? Where did you hide her? Let your brother take a look, too!"

He had lived for most of his life and was a brother who had risked his life with Flender, yet he had never seen him in such a disheveled and ambiguous state. He simply assumed that Flender had secretly brought a lover to the courtyard to play some fancy games; it never crossed his mind that Flender had been bullied.

Flender was rendered speechless by his accusations and trembled with rage. However, last night's events were too humiliating; he couldn't possibly explain the details to Zhao Wuji.

To say that he, a dignified Spirit Saint, had been tied to a bed and tormented for half the night by three street thugs using tricks meant for teasing young girls? If that got out, he would never be able to hold his head high again in his life!

"I did not! Stop talking nonsense!" Flender gritted his teeth, his face turning the color of pig liver. Just as he was about to force the conversation back to the fake wine, a muffled whimper and the crisp sound of something falling to the ground suddenly came from Yu Xiaogang's room next door.

Both men froze at the same time and turned to look at Yu Xiaogang's door.

"What's wrong with Xiaogang?" Flender's heart skipped a beat. Instantly forgetting his argument with Zhao Wuji, he quickly turned and pounded on Yu Xiaogang's door. "Xiaogang? Are you okay? Open the door!"

There was no response from inside, only intermittent, suppressed gasps.

Flender panicked even more. Without caring about anything else, he kicked the door. With a loud "clang," the flimsy wooden door was kicked open.

As the door opened, the scene inside was instantly revealed. Flender froze on the spot. Zhao Wuji leaned in to look, paused for a moment, and then burst into deafening, wild laughter. He laughed so hard he couldn't straighten his back, clutching his stomach as he squatted on the ground, tears nearly streaming from his eyes.

Yu Xiaogang was curled up in the corner of the bed. Several paper flowers folded from his Spirit theory manuscripts were stuck in his hair, sitting crookedly on his head. His undergarments were torn to shreds, and two small mustaches had been drawn on his face with a charcoal pencil. His eyes were red-rimmed, his gaze hollow as if his soul had been taken away, and he was gripping the quilt tightly, trembling all over. Scattered on the floor were torn-up manuscripts and several pink silk ribbons of the same style as those in Flender's room.

"My god! Hahahaha!" Zhao Wuji slapped his thigh, pointing at Yu Xiaogang, and said to Flender while gasping for air, "So... so it wasn't just you? Xiaogang was having fun with you too? No, Old Flender, you two are playing way too wild, aren't you? Drawing mustaches and sticking paper flowers on people?"

"Shut up!" Flender finally snapped. He roared, rushed into the room, and scrambled to pull the paper flowers off Yu Xiaogang's head, then used his sleeve to wipe the charcoal marks off his face. "Xiaogang! Are you alright? Was last night also..."

Yu Xiaogang looked at Flender, his lips trembling for a long time. The humiliation and breakdown he had bottled up all night finally burst. He shouted with a crying voice, "Flender, I've been plotted against again! Last night, three masked men broke in and... and..."

Before he could finish, he covered his face, his shoulders shaking violently, unable to continue.

Flender's heart sank. He realized instantly that he wasn't the only victim; Yu Xiaogang had been bullied by that same group in the exact same way!

And that jar of sour wine of Zhao Wuji's—that must have been the work of that same group too!

Zhao Wuji finally couldn't laugh anymore. The playfulness on his face vanished instantly. He stood up abruptly, his gaze turning sharp. "What? Masked men? You weren't doing this yourselves? Someone broke in and... bullied you both?"

Only then did he see clearly that the clothes on Yu Xiaogang's body had been forcibly torn open. The tables and chairs in the room were overturned, and the manuscripts were scattered everywhere. This was not the look of some romantic escapade; it was clearly a case of being robbed and humiliated!

Flender's face turned livid. He turned and rushed out of the room, immediately spotting the crooked note stuck to his own door, which read: "Little Dede has been taken by us. If you're not convinced, come and fight~"

Turning back to look at Yu Xiaogang's door, there was another one stuck there: "Little Rose, be a good boy and listen. We'll come again~"

The handwriting on both notes was sleazy and arrogant. Looking at them made Flender's vision go dark, and he nearly fainted from anger on the spot.

"Damn it! Which bastard dared to break into my Shrek Academy and run wild!"

Zhao Wuji was instantly enraged. The pressure of a Spirit Saint was released without reservation, shaking the entire courtyard slightly. "I'm going to Soto City right now to drag those three scumbags out and skin them alive!"

"Don't go!"

Flender hurriedly called out to stop him, his face turning from pale to red. His voice trembled. "If you go and make a scene now, do you want the whole of Soto City to know that Xiaogang and I were humiliated by three street thugs using tricks meant for teasing women?! Do you want us, and the entire Shrek Academy, to become the laughing stock of the whole continent?!"

Zhao Wuji's footsteps halted, and he instantly froze on the spot.

He was a rough man who only thought about revenge and venting his anger; he hadn't considered this aspect.

If this matter really blew up and word got out that the Dean and the Chief Theory Teacher of Shrek Academy had been broken in on at night and bullied all night long in such a sleazy way, then Shrek would truly be finished. Forget about recruiting students; they wouldn't even be able to stay in Soto City.

Yu Xiaogang also walked out of the room. Although the paper flowers had been pulled from his hair, the charcoal marks on his face hadn't been wiped clean. His eyes were filled with resentment and humiliation, yet he still gritted his teeth and said, "We cannot let this be known... absolutely not... If this gets out, I will never be able to hold my head up again in this life..."