99: Xie Ning dressed up as a woman to beat someone up?

The next morning, Xie Ning once again walked into the classroom under the strange gazes of his classmates.

"Xie Ning, you didn't take money from the academy to come and demoralize us, did you?"

A classmate teased, and the others burst into laughter.

Seeing this, Xie Ning smiled and said, "What are you talking about? I didn't expect anyone to dare tamper with the Public Cultivation Class either."

"Hey, is Mo Yu really your disciple? Good heavens, you're amazing," Class Monitor asked curiously.

Xie Ning smiled and gave a silent acknowledgment.

Some classmates also kindly reminded him, "Xie Ning, be careful. That Little Leopard Zhao who was knocked out isn't an ordinary person. Watch out for his retaliation."

"Yeah, I'll be careful," Xie Ning responded, but in his heart, he knew clearly that the grudge had already been formed; this one incident wouldn't change much.

While waiting for class to start, Xie Ning also heard what other students were discussing.

"Did you hear? Fei Shanqiu was beaten up last night. It seems he was hit pretty badly."

"I heard too. He said he was beaten by a beauty. With that silly, dazed look on his face, he was almost sent away by the physician as a mental patient."

"It's good that he's gone stupid; no more collecting protection fees. Haha~"

Xie Ning frowned.

He had just come into contact with him last night, and then Fei Shanqiu was beaten up. Even if he wasn't a beauty, he wouldn't be able to escape being investigated.

Besides, given the current situation, who would believe Fei Shanqiu's nonsense?

Sure enough, as the bell rang, Yan Ruyu walked in, followed by a bald, middle-aged male instructor with a gloomy face.

Yan Ruyu scanned the room, locked onto Xie Ning, and said, "Everyone, this is Student Fei Shanqiu's mentor, Liu Guang. You all know Fei Shanqiu, the student who came to collect protection fees before."

After she spoke, those who had been sitting upright a second ago immediately burst into snickers.

"Instructor Yan must be joking. It's also my fault for poor teaching, producing such a piece of trash."

Instructor Liu Guang first nodded in response, then counted the heads. "After all, there are too many people in the class, so it's inevitable that some discipline is lax. I really envy Instructor Yan; twenty-odd people are so easy to manage."

Xie Ning's brow first furrowed, then relaxed as he asked with a smile, "I've heard that an Old Thieving Rat can't teach a rat not to steal. I wonder if Instructor Liu Guang is here today for protection fees? Or compensation fees?"

"Truly bold, daring to talk back to a teacher! My student, Fei Shanqiu, was injured. Someone said you were the only one who saw him that night. I've come to find your Instructor Yan for an explanation!" Liu Guang questioned coldly.

"See, he's here to extort compensation. Instructor Liu Guang, can you two, teacher and student, stop always looking at money? Think of something practical. Look at me, do I look like a woman?" Xie Ning stood up and spun around.

The whole class burst into laughter, and even Yan Ruyu couldn't help but smile.

"Instructor Yan, is this the quality of your students?" Instructor Liu Guang's face turned green with anger.

Yan Ruyu didn't even look at him. "Apologies, I indeed cannot teach the 'quality' required to collect protection fees. Moreover, their eyesight is quite good; they can distinguish between men and women."

"Hmph!"

Liu Guang looked at Xie Ning again, narrowed his eyes, and said stiffly, "Fei Shanqiu was beaten silly and can't speak clearly; his words are unreliable. But several students from other classes can testify that he only went to your place that night. The academy's surveillance can also serve as proof. What do you have to say?"

As his voice fell, the laughter in the class died down. Everyone looked at Xie Ning, waiting to hear his answer.

His deskmate, Su Qin, was even more anxious and worried, opening his mouth as if he wanted to speak.

Xie Ning, however, was fearless. He smiled and said, "Since you want evidence, then let's listen to the evidence."

He then took out his phone, tapped it a few times, and a recording began to play:

"Student Fei Shanqiu, what's wrong with you?"

"Ever since the protection fee matter was exposed, the people I collaborated with have also been implicated. Now they're hunting me down and are almost here! If you don't help me, I'm dead! Please! Help me!!!"

"You're joking, right? This is a school. How would they dare?"

"You don't understand, those guys are simply lunatics! They're capable of murder; they've done it before..."

This was what Xie Ning had quietly recorded when Fei Shanqiu broke into his courtyard last night, and it happened to come in handy now.

After listening to the recording, everyone had different expressions.

Xie Ning's classmates looked surprised and impressed, while Su Qin let out a long sigh of relief. Only Instructor Liu Guang's face was unsightly, perhaps angered by that line in the recording, 'Teachers are absolutely useless.'

"How about it, Instructor Liu Guang? Still think I was the one who beat him?" Xie Ning asked.

With a dark face, Liu Guang snorted coldly. "Even if it wasn't you, you watched a classmate being hunted and remained indifferent. Don't tell me you're not at fault?"

"What did I do wrong? I believe the academy will protect its students, I believe the students in the academy are all good people, and I believe those students were just joking with him. Is that wrong? The facts also prove that he wasn't killed. Besides, haven't I helped you identify the culprits?"

"Hmph!" Instructor Liu Guang snorted coldly, eventually took the recording, gave a stiff greeting to Yan Ruyu, and turned to leave.

The class immediately erupted in cheers, clapping and shouting, "Nicely done!"

Yan Ruyu kept staring at Xie Ning and only frowned and asked once everyone had quieted down, "Was it really not you?"

"It really wasn't me this time," Xie Ning nodded and answered seriously. "In fact, I find this matter very strange as well."

"Teacher, Fei Shanqiu said a beauty beat him. Our Student Xie Ning doesn't look like a beauty no matter how you look at him, so let him off," a classmate chimed in, suddenly grinning mischievously halfway through. "How about we buy him some women's clothes to wear and then ask him again?"

The whole class burst into laughter again. Even Yan Ruyu couldn't help but roll her eyes at the student, but she didn't pursue the topic any further.

Afterward, the lecture began, and everyone quickly put the matter behind them to listen attentively.

"Su Qin, did you do it?" Xie Ning suddenly asked.

Su Qin smiled shyly and replied, "How could that be? I'm only a Black Iron Rank Demon Tamer, and my Demon Tamers Beast is a Light Cat. I can't contract a second one."

"True, I must have misunderstood." Xie Ning thought about it and felt it was indeed unlikely.

It was mainly Su Qin's agitated behavior earlier, which was different from others' worry, that made him feel a bit suspicious.

The morning class passed in a harmonious atmosphere until the end of the lesson, when there was a new development in Fei Shanqiu's case.

The four students who had collaborated with Fei Shanqiu were penalized three months' worth of resources as compensation for him, and all four were sentenced to three months of community service.

Upon hearing the news, the whole class laughed, everyone gloating over their misfortune, as the people Fei Shanqiu collaborated with were no good either.

Xie Ning, however, felt a second of sympathy for those four because this time, they were implicated by the recording, although they had brought it upon themselves.

It could be expected that Fei Shanqiu and these four would completely turn against each other, and he might even have to avoid them from now on.

The matter of the protection fees finally came to a complete end.