tiantianyingshi

“Xiyang surely was wrong here. We can suspend him and observe him for some time at school. When the scandal is over, we can discuss more how to punish him,” Vice Principal Li said as if he had lots of reasons and was right.

The other leaders who started to dislike Vice Principal Li since a long time ago all laughed coldly on the inside. Vice Principal Li was saying they should let Zhu Xiyang avoid the public voice and the scandals, and after a few months, when everyone has forgotten about it, he could still be a teacher. There would be no punishment.

Such prejudice was too out of bounds!

The other leaders could no longer bear it.

“I think we should straight up fire Zhu Xiyang,” The other Vice Principal said straightforwardly, “Zhu Xiyang has been in an inappropriate relationship with female students and has a bad style. He even threatened students with just a bit of power he holds, critically harming the school’s reputation. He doesn’t have the qualifications and the morality to be a teacher. If we let people like him continue doing whatever they want to do here at our school, will there be any outstanding students left that are willing to apply for our school in the future?”

“Mhm. For the school’s reputation and for this scandal to end, Zhu Xiyang must be fired! That student named Wang Nina must also be dismissed,” Another vice principal added on.

Principal Zhou nodded and told the Dean, “You go announce right now about the firing of piano major teacher, Zhu Xiyang, and piano major student, Wang Nina.”

The Dean glanced at Vice Principal Li with bits of hesitation before he nodded and answered “okay”.

Seeing that not one person sided with him, Vice Principal Li was looking very upset. He manipulatingly rolled his eyes.

“This student named Liu Man should also be fired! Liu Man’s a cactus and is a hidden danger. Her way of solving an issue is too passionate; if she has any requests or dissatisfaction, she could’ve told us. It’s fine if the Dean ignores her, she could’ve directly come to me or found another vice principal. She could’ve even found Principal Zhou. Why did she have to post it on the internet? She only cares about how she, herself, feels, and she never considers what her actions could bring to the school. Who dares to teach such a student in the future? If she gets angry over anything, she exposes you onto the internet and let ten thousand people scold you.”

Principal Zhou has, to be fair, also had thoughts on this aspect. As a school leader, he hated the “throwing a farce” type of student like Liu Man the most. Maybe today, this incident gets solved, she would pause. However, Liu Man’s like an invisible bomb and no one would know when someone else would touch her sensitive spot. Once she gets angry, maybe she would post something else to show the netizens.

Such a student was horrific.

“I’ve seen her report card. Even excluding her Chamber Ensemble Music course, her grades for other courses aren’t that good either. The reason why she got famous is that she played ‘Butterfly Lovers’ with Guqin and piano, and it’s all coincidental,” Vice Principal Li, seeing that Principal Zhou was getting convinced, continued to say,

“Half a month ago, I personally went to watch the personal graduation concert of Shen Mozhen, an outstanding graduate this year from the folk music major. Liu Man was, coincidentally, a guest invited by Shen Mozhen, and they performed together. It proves the saying, ‘with no comparison comes no harm’. Under the Guzheng playing by Shen Mozhen, which was full of high-tiered techniques, Liu Man, who played the Guqin, seemed like a clown. Her playing was suddenly loud and soft, and it was very messy. It was as if she was intentionally trying to disturb Shen Mozhen’s performance, and it’s hard to understand how she even played her ‘Butterfly Lovers’.”

“I watched that performance, too,” the other vice principal said, “Liu Man’s performance at that time surely disappointed me.”

“I suspect she can only play ‘Butterfly Lovers’ on the Guqin. She probably practiced it for a very, very long time to trick the audience’s ears. If she plays any other pieces, she probably gets exposed.”

The administrative principals in the school mostly came from other schools, and they didn’t graduate as professional musicians. They didn’t understand music, nor did they understand the Guqin. They were like mediocre audiences. If the piece sounded good, then the performer was skillful. If the piece didn’t sound good, then the performer was sucky.

And the professional professors in the room were all from the piano major, so they didn’t understand techniques involving folk music instruments. None of them watched Shen Mozhen’s concert either, so they didn’t see the situation and couldn’t provide any suggestions.

“Besides, Liu Man’s piano talent is barely there, and she cannot change how it is just by trying hard. All the piano major professionals know her level as well. She’s such a bad student with her ‘passionate’ solutions. If we don’t fire her as an example, then are we allowing other students to say fake things online when they get involved in similar incidents and put the school in danger? Aren’t we ignoring our school protocols? Therefore, I think we wouldn’t regret dismissing Liu Man, and we must dismiss Liu Man!” Vice Principal Li was a leader, after all. He was very good at philosophies, and his reasons were very persuasive.

Principal Zhou slightly pondered for a moment before he told the piano major dean, “On the dismissing notice, add Liu Man, too.”

Soon, Capital Music University’s Official Wei Bo account with a blue verified symbol posted a message, “To reinforce and bolster our strict school protocols, after discussion from several school leaders, the school is removing Zhu Xiyang as an employee for his actions while firing student Wang Nina and student Liu Man as their punishment. We hope the rest of the teachers and students will remember that actions have their consequences. (Special Notice)”

This Wei Bo post shook the entire top-tiered school circle in the capital.

Liu Man knew she got fired as soon as she woke up. Even if she was already mentally prepared, she still felt very helpless and confused by the after-effects of this post.

She expected Zhu Xiyang and Wang Nina to get kicked out, but she never thought her punishment would come at the same time as theirs. She didn’t expect the punishments to arrive so quickly, and neither did she realize the school would be so merciless.

Zhang Pei knocked on the door, came in, and was going to call her daughter for breakfast. She saw Liu Man in a trance, staring at her phone. The two cats were surrounding her, meowing from hunger. However, it seemed as if Liu Man didn’t notice that at all.

“Man Man,”

Zhang Pei’s calling woke Liu Man up. She looked at her mother, feeling guilty for disappointing her.

“Mom, I got fired by the school.”

Zhang Pei was extremely surprised; it was no different from a nightmare to her. Her hand tightly held onto the doorframe, and she tried to make herself stay calm. She was wondering whether she heard it wrong,

“Didn’t they want to expel you? Why has it turned into firing you?”

TL’s Note: In China, expelling and firing are two different things. Expelling is a slightly weaker word and is less mandatory. If Liu Man agreed to the expelling, then it could be seen as after negotiating, the school has decided to remove the contract between them. If Liu Man gets fired, then it’s mandatory.

Liu Man told Zhang Pei about her meeting with Zhu Xiyang.

Zhang Pei was not feeling fine at all.

“Why didn’t you tell me then,” She felt both surprised and infuriated.

“I was afraid you would’ve been so angry you would go fight Zhu Xiyang to death.”

“Surely I would’ve,” Zhang Pei’s eyes were full of anger, “My baby girl will not tolerate the foulness of such a disgusting pervert. A score of 60, and getting fired, so be it. They think we are afraid of them?”

Translated by: Sydney