The first thing to come out wasn’t the test results but the punishment for Qian Zheng.
This was the first provincial joint exam, which held extraordinary significance for the entire provincial city.
Yet such a vile incident had occurred.
Qian Zheng was naturally made an example of and punished severely.
He was directly expelled from Experimental Middle School.
It was said that if it hadn’t been for the cheating attempt, the punishment Qian Zheng would have faced could have been even more severe, perhaps even legal prosecution.
However, Qian Zheng didn’t feel fortunate about this at all.
The law hadn’t sanctioned him, but public opinion had already condemned him to rock bottom.
There were many students in the examination hall that day, and the director of political education had no intention of hiding the incident.
Word spread quickly from one to ten, ten to a hundred – soon, all students in the ninth grade knew about it.
A teacher from the second middle school who was invigilating in the same hall declared, "I knew why he kept targeting that student from First Middle School; it was because the student’s good results could potentially affect Experimental Middle School’s chance of having the top scorer. Such a person is utterly unfit to be a teacher."
The media extensively covered the incident and interviewed many students from Qian Zheng’s class.
These students also had a bad impression of Qian Zheng.
"He was particularly nasty to the girls, often putting us down, saying our studies were pointless, and even if we did well now, we couldn’t catch up with the boys in the future."
"In class, when there were difficult questions, he loved to pick on the girls to answer them. If we answered incorrectly, he would ridicule us and then have the girls stand at the back of the room to be punished, write reflections, and read them aloud in front of the whole class. He forced the girls to insult themselves as stupid until he was satisfied."
"He was incredibly biased towards his nephew; Qian Wentao would sometimes physically attack someone he disliked, and it was useless to complain to the teacher."
"Mr. Qian did not scold every girl; it depended on their background. Yi Yi, whose father had studied abroad, was rarely scolded by him. Those from ordinary families suffered terribly..."
In his class, there were hardly a few who spoke well of Qian Zheng.
Previously, they had just been too scared to speak out, but now they finally had an outlet.
Many parents only realized at this point that Qian Zheng was this kind of person.
Previously, when their daughters complained about not liking school or even cried saying they hated Mr. Qian, they thought it was a trivial matter.
They scolded them and forced them to go to school.
They even called Mr. Qian to explain the situation, hoping he would pay more attention to their children’s reluctance to attend school.
Little did they know that this led to their children suffering even more, eventually becoming more withdrawn and unwilling to communicate with them.
The parents realized too late and were furious, confronting the school.
The principal tried desperately to soothe the parents’ emotions, but to no avail.
This was a mistake he had made, focusing only on the teaching credentials of the teacher without paying attention to his character, ultimately backfiring on him.
Yet Qian Zheng had already been expelled, and the parents, though angry, could not achieve any resolution.
Zhuancheng was neither too small nor too large a place.
Soon, someone found Qian Zheng’s address, and parents threw paint on his door and garbage at his entrance.
In no time, the entrance to Qian Zheng’s house was foul-smelling and completely disorderly.
Duan Wenzhen didn’t even bother to follow through with the bet with Qian Zheng, as the latter could not even leave his house.
Qian Zheng hid at home for a long time.
Until one night, when he heard no noise outside, he sneaked out to take a look.
Going downstairs, he encountered a neighbor who was the mother of one of the girls in his class.
In the past, every time she saw him, she would bend over with a big smile and respectfully address him as "Mr. Qian."
Whatever she carried, she would always give him a large share.
But today, she looked at him as if he were her enemy, her teeth grinding audibly.
Qian Zheng’s scalp tingled immediately.
Just as he was about to run, the woman furiously threw the garbage she was carrying at him.
Soup dripped down his head, and Qian Zheng’s head was covered with eggshells and vegetable leaves.
"Beast, you such a beast, how dare you even be a teacher!" the woman yelled as she pummeled Qian Zheng.
Only after the news came out did she realize how much her daughter had suffered,