47: Chapter 50 Leading the Seizure? Sun Yaozu's Impotent Fury

Before Fang Jiming could even refill his thermos for a second cup of goji berry tea, a rush of hurried footsteps echoed from the end of the fifth-floor corridor.

The heels of leather shoes struck the terrazzo floor heavily and rapidly, interspersed with a duller, heavier sound of footsteps as someone jogged behind, panting.

Fang Jiming leaned against the wall at the stairwell and glanced over.

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu was wearing a gray jacket, his hands clasped behind his back, his face pulled long and sour.

Director He Rencai followed half a step behind, clutching a briefcase, a layer of oily sweat seeping from his bald head as he muttered something under his breath.

Behind them followed two young Academic Affairs Office staff members, each holding a clipboard, looking nervous.

Fang Jiming watched the four of them march imposingly down the corridor, heading straight for Class 18, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"You've arrived quite quickly."

Fang Jiming: ( ≖ ‿ ≖ )

He carried his thermos and followed them at a leisurely pace.

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu stopped at the entrance of the Class 18 classroom.

The classroom door was open. The students were on their break; some were touching the desks, others were examining the air conditioner remote, and Qian Duoduo was using his phone to record a video of the 85-inch blackboard, muttering incessantly.

"Holy crap, this thing actually has a touchscreen."

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu looked inside for three seconds, his expression darkening layer by layer.

Then, he lifted his leg and kicked the back door of the classroom with the sole of his leather shoe.

With a bang, the door panel slammed against the wall and bounced back.

The whole class was startled, their gazes snapping toward the back door in unison.

The phone in Qian Duoduo's hand nearly flew out of his grip.

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu strode into the classroom, his gaze scanning back and forth between the desks, the OLED blackboard, and the air conditioning vents on the ceiling, the veins on his temples throbbing.

He stood in the middle of the classroom and pointed at the fresh air conditioning unit on the ceiling.

"Who approved this?"

No one answered.

He turned around and pointed at the 85-inch blackboard.

"Who installed this?"

Still, no one answered.

Director He Rencai squeezed out from behind him, his belly protruding, nearly tripping over the back of a new desk chair in the aisle. After steadying himself, he took out his clipboard, putting on an official, business-like air.

"Students, please do not panic. We are staff from the Academic Affairs Office, and we need to conduct a safety inspection regarding the renovations of this classroom."

He cleared his throat.

"According to the school's preliminary investigation, the Class 18, Grade 12 classroom underwent large-scale renovation without the approval of the School Affairs Committee. This may pose potential structural safety hazards and violates Article 17 of the School Infrastructure Management Regulations."

"It has been decided to temporarily seal off this classroom. Effective immediately, the entire class is to be relocated to the spare classroom on the first floor for lessons until the safety assessment is completed."

Director He Rencai: ( ꐦ ¬ ‸ ¬ )

Qian Duoduo was the first to jump up.

"On what grounds are you sealing it off? Our classroom is perfectly fine; by what right can you just say 'move' and expect us to move?"

Zhao Dazhuang also stood up from his chair.

"Are you jealous that our classroom is better than the Administrative Building, so you're intentionally coming here to find fault?"

"What kind of attitude is that, student!" Director He Rencai, unable to handle the retort, looked back at Vice Principal Sun Yaozu.

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu snorted coldly and was just about to speak.

A voice drifted in from the back door of the classroom.

"Principal Sun, this habit of kicking doors isn't very good. Last time, Brother Long kicked it the same way, and I threw him out."

Fang Jiming walked in from the back door, carrying his thermos.

His canvas shoes made almost no sound on the brand-new PVC floor. He stopped about two meters in front of Vice Principal Sun Yaozu.

He took a sip of goji berry tea and tightened the lid.

"Sealing off the Class 18 classroom—Principal Sun, do you even have the authority to do that?"

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu forced a smile, but it was filled with coldness.

"Teacher Fang, the management rights for school infrastructure belong to the School Affairs Committee. Any renovation project must go through approval and filing. As a teacher, you should be clear on this point."

He reached out and pointed at the ceiling and the blackboard on the wall.

"You carried out this scale of renovation without any approval procedures. If a safety accident occurs, who will take responsibility?"

"If a student gets hurt, can you afford to compensate them?"

Qian Duoduo muttered from the back.

"We're perfectly fine; it's much safer than the old classroom that used to leak when it rained."

"Student, shut up!" Vice Principal Sun Yaozu turned and glared at him.

Director He Rencai quickly added to the pressure.

"Exactly, exactly! If the air conditioner hanging on the ceiling falls one day and hits a student, what then? As a substitute teacher, can you bear that responsibility?"

He thrust the clipboard in front of Fang Jiming.

"This is the temporary seizure notice issued by the Academic Affairs Office. Teacher Fang, just sign it and cooperate; don't bring trouble upon yourself."

Fang Jiming glanced at the A4 paper.

The print quality was poor, the font sizes were inconsistent, and the stamp in the bottom right corner was crooked. It was obvious it had been rushed out in under half an hour.

Fang Jiming: ( ¬ ‸ ¬ )

He didn't take it.

He placed his thermos on the corner of a nearby student's desk and pulled a transparent file folder from inside his hoodie.

Inside the file folder was a thick stack of papers.

He opened the file folder, pulled out the first document, and unfolded it.

"The construction qualification certificate of Dingsheng Architectural Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd.—Grade A qualification, valid until 2027."

He waved it in front of Vice Principal Sun Yaozu and pulled out the second one.

"The completion acceptance report for this classroom renovation project, issued by the Nanqiao City Construction Quality Inspection Center. All items meet national standards, and the conclusion is qualified."

The third one.

"The filing receipt from the fire department. The electrical safety of the air conditioning and fresh air system has passed fire inspection; the reference number is right here."

Director He Rencai's hand shook.

"You… when did you file this?"

"Last Saturday." Fang Jiming flipped to the next one. "The efficiency of your Academic Affairs Office might not be as fast as the fire department's."

The fourth one.

"The full set of product quality inspection reports provided by the equipment supplier, including formaldehyde testing for the desks and chairs, electromagnetic radiation testing for the OLED blackboard, and energy efficiency certificates for the air conditioner."

He pulled them out one by one, each bearing a red official seal and complete signatures.

As Fang Jiming pulled out more and more documents, Vice Principal Sun Yaozu's complexion shifted from iron-blue to ash-gray.

Fang Jiming pulled out the final document.

This one was thicker than all the previous ones and was bound neatly.

He spread the cover open and pointed to the title.

"A donation agreement—you recognize these words, right, Principal Sun?"

He flipped open the agreement and pointed to the key clauses.

"This is a gratuitous donation agreement signed between the overseas-registered New Far East Education Development Foundation and Nanqiao No. 19 Middle School. The donor funded the upgrade and renovation of the teaching equipment for the Class 18, Grade 12 classroom. All costs were fully covered by The Foundation, and the property rights belong to the school, with no commercial conditions attached."

"The agreement has been notarized by the Notary Public Office; the reference number is here."

Fang Jiming stuffed that thick stack of documents back into the file folder and shoved it into Vice Principal Sun Yaozu's arms.

"Principal Sun, the construction has qualifications, the completion has acceptance reports, the fire safety has filings, the equipment has quality inspections, and the donation has notarization."

His tone was light and airy, no different from chatting about whether the food in the Cafeteria was too salty today.

"Do you still think there are safety hazards?"

"Would you like to take that seizure notice back and rewrite it? Make the format more professional and stamp it straight. Don't rush out another amateur job in half an hour next time; it's embarrassing for the school."

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu clutched the file folder, the muscles in his face twitching.

He flipped through the documents once; every single one was stamped with a compliant red seal, and every signature had been notarized and filed.

It was watertight.

A substitute teacher with a monthly salary of only a few thousand yuan—where did he get the ability to obtain this entire set of construction permits and donation notarizations within two days?

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu looked up and stared at Fang Jiming's face, trying to find even the slightest flaw.

Fang Jiming's expression was so calm that nothing could be read from it, and there was even a smile hanging at the corner of his mouth.

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu: ( ꐦ ° ᷄ ᗝ ° ᷅ )

He shoved the file folder into Director He Rencai's arms and turned to walk out.

Director He Rencai scrambled to follow him while clutching the file folder, but tripped over the threshold while passing through the door, nearly falling flat on his face.

The two Academic Affairs Office staff members exchanged a glance and quickly lowered their heads, running after them.

The classroom was silent for two seconds.

Qian Duoduo took the lead and started clapping.

"Brother Fang is awesome!"

The applause rang out sporadically, spreading from the front row to the back, growing louder and louder. Even Lu Zihao clapped twice in the very back row.

The sound was very light, but he did clap.

Fang Jiming retrieved his thermos from the corner of the student's desk and blew on the steam at the mouth of the cup.

"What are you clapping for? Next period is English; have you memorized your vocabulary words?"

The entire class's applause vanished completely within a second.

Fang Jiming walked out of the classroom with his cup and nearly collided in the corridor with Teacher Wen Ruyan, who was rushing up from the stairwell.

Teacher Wen Ruyan was holding her phone; on the screen was the message sent by other teachers in the teacher group chat saying that Class 18 was going to be sealed off.

Her face was flushed from running, and her bangs had been blown to one side by the wind.

"Are you okay? Did Vice Principal Sun Yaozu come to cause you trouble?"

Fang Jiming smiled at her while holding his thermos.

"He came. I slapped him in the face with a stack of official documents, and he left."

Seeing his carefree and relaxed demeanor, Teacher Wen Ruyan stamped her foot hard.

"Fang Jiming, can you be more serious? Vice Principal Sun Yaozu has been operating in this school for over a dozen years; do you know what kind of tactics he has? You made him lose so much face in front of the students today; he won't let this go."

Fang Jiming looked at her pouting appearance and tilted his head.

"Teacher Wen, your hair got messy when you ran up; that strand on the left is sticking up."

Teacher Wen Ruyan reached up to press down that strand of bangs, and her ears turned red instantly.

Teacher Wen Ruyan: ( ᗒ ᗩ ᗕ )

"Can you stop changing the subject every time!"

Fang Jiming walked toward the stairwell with his thermos, turning slightly as he passed by her.

"Teacher Wen, don't worry. If he comes ten times, I'll receive him ten times. With all the paperwork in order, what can he do to me?"

Teacher Wen Ruyan stood in the corridor, watching his back as he walked down the stairs, and gripped the phone in her hand tightly.

She wanted to say, "Don't always carry it all on your own."

But the words reached her lips and were swallowed back down.