His eyes opened shallowly, yet his sight was still blurry. Conversations from his past life echoed, voices high and low, vibrating in his mind.
As he closed his eyes, vivid images of a past life flashed before him. He fought against them, opening his eyes with a start, but the visions persisted, tormenting him even with his eyes wide open.
He closed his eyes and breathed in and out once. The mimicry of voices became clearer as he focused on the echoes inside his head.
"Ohh… Right, I'm Lǐ Wéi in my past life…"
Lǐ Wéi was a skinny, pale-looking guy with dead eyes. He was walking to the college president's office, gazing down, hunched, with cracked glasses. He walked through the hall.
A bunch of fancy-looking girls with elegant clothes and a fashionable walk saw him coming. They wondered where they had seen him before. One of them said, "Guys, the dishwasher is from Old Wang's Grocery Store (老王杂货店, Lǎo Wáng Záhuò Diàn)."
The girl next to her couldn't hold her laugh and burst out loud, saying, "What is he doing here?" Her eyes were dead set on him while she laughed mockingly.
Lǐ Wéi knew she was talking about him. He stayed grounded and gazed at the ground, but nothing changed. They laughed even louder, cursing as he walked straight past them.
Another girl said, "Shh… hey, shut it, he will hear us," whispering with worried eyes, pinching her friend's elbow. She tried to change the subject. The other girls joined in when she said, "Stop, girl, he will hear us." The others laughed while listening to the fact that he was the dishwasher.
They all said to her, "And what if he hears us?" "He is just a crybaby." "Don't tell me you care about him—wait, is that what I think it is? Guys, she must have fallen for him… too bad."
He heard it. He heard all of it.
She knew that worrying about him would only make her a target as well, so she looked at him and jerkily moved her head toward them. She said, "Wow, he is even more disgusting up close." They all laughed gradually and forgot about her being empathetic.
He didn't say a word—not even a single thing came out of his mouth. He acted perfectly as if he didn't see them.
Though he was human, and he wanted to stand up for himself—of course, how could he not? After all, they knew nothing about him. Spoiled rich girls acted like they owned the school with nothing but their useless brains, mocking him. He was heartbroken.
But he didn't end it there. The moment they passed by, he whispered, "That's how we lose a great generation—peer pressure."
The girl who defended him but was scared to lose her friends—and even comfort, good and bad—was deeply hurt. The others were just laughing as if nothing happened.
She turned her face and looked back without moving too much. She saw him looking back at her. Lǐ Wéi turned his face and tilted his head, then walked away, hunched and gazing at the ground.
Her name was Sū Lìyàn. Not too good at the academy, she was not as rich as the others either. She was never bullied before, but coming into college, being bullied after avoiding all the drama in her past was horrifyingly undeniable.
Though she could avoid bullying if she became what bullies fear—what bullies fear is someone like them. Bullies think they can do whatever they want and that they are in control, but that logic applies to other bullies as well, which not all bullies are about. So, she befriended them and became one of them.
But by doing that, she was killing herself. She was completely becoming someone else—the type the media would love and hate alike.
His teacher, Diāo Sīyán, a witty man with a smile that shook the heart, came out of a room. He saw Lǐ Wéi coming.
He laughed and punched his back lightly. "What are you doing hunched like that, kid? Straighten your back, man… Why are you even looking at the ground? Are you counting your steps or something…"
Lǐ Wéi smiled a bit. "No, sir, I'm tired, that's all."
Teacher Diāo Sīyán said while passing him, "Yeah, yeah, kid. Just don't stay hunched like a tire, and don't stare at the ground. And if you do, do it sleeping on the ground—hahahaha…"
Lǐ Wéi laughed a weak laugh—such a fake and easily fading smile. It was just like a clown's painted, melting smile.
He walked straight to the office, which was nearby.
He got there and knocked on the door. He knocked once, and no one answered. He could still hear the sound of chairs squeaking.
He forcibly gripped the door handle. He was a cautious person, always calm even in stressful situations. That's why he opened the door with minimal sound.
As soon as he opened it, his eyes landed on something he should have never seen.
He stood frozen outside the principal's office, the door slightly ajar. Inside, Mr. Zhang—the ethics teacher—was with President Lei…
Mr. Zhang was sitting in the honored chair of the principal. In front of the principal chair was, as usual, the desk placed on the ground.
But this time, it wasn't as always—not even usual. All the president's papers, file cases, and everything else were scattered on the ground.
President Lei was sitting on the desk, right in front of the chair where Mr. Zhang, his teacher, was sitting. Her legs were wide open on the chair, and she turned around abruptly, shocked. Her eyes widened as she saw him and the open door.
Lǐ Wéi didn't mean to see this. At the very least, he could tell that her chest was completely naked.
The teacher was definitely doing something from the chair. Why else would she have her legs wide open, sitting on the desk, looking at the teacher sitting in front of her?
She let out a weird voice, saying, "S—oooome o—ne is h—here… haaa… T—the do—or is o—open… the dooooor…"
She wasn't in control of herself. As soon as Teacher Zhang took his hand off her legs and woke up, covering her chest, the teacher was at a loss for words.
He shouted at him, crying out loud, "What are you looking at?! Get the fuck out of here!"
Indeed, the teachers were a bit young—they are still in their twenties. It's expected that they actually cheat and all from childhood. It's all peer pressure; I can't blame them for that. I will act as if I didn't see it. It's none of my business. They should be glad it's me.
He never knew, though, that such a thing could happen to him just by looking at something he wasn't supposed to. He thought they would ask him not to tell anyone and tremble in front of him, but they weren't…
The next day, he tried to whisper the truth to a classmate.
"Don't be ridiculous, Lǐ Wéi," she said. "Mr. Zhang is a model teacher. Why would you make up such lies?"
The girl he told was the one who had laughed at him out loud in the school's ground hall with Sū Lìyàn.
When his test scores suddenly dropped from 98 to 58, and Mr. Zhang smiled coldly while handing back the paper, Lǐ Wéi understood. Truth didn't matter. Power did.
That was the day the politician in him was born.
He used his spare time to take revenge on the teachers who kept wronging him whenever they got the chance—to the point they would even laugh at the job he had, dishwashing.
He never replied. He acted unbothered by it.
He kept searching for what to do against someone who was not replying to them with nothing, and then taking his hard work—plus no one defending him—he was on the edge of ruining his life.
After weeks of reading some books, he crafted his very first evil plans for revenge. He finally learned which psychology methods to use against their control over the power of the school…
The Psychological Tactic He Used:
"Poisoning the Well" + "Confirmation Bias"
This is a strategy where you plant seeds of doubt and negative rumors so strategically that people start connecting non-existent dots themselves. You don't need proof—you need perception.
People wondered:
"Guys, isn't Mr. Zhang and Ms. Lei being weird toward that dishwasher kid? They keep harassing him again and again to the point I'm getting bored of their harmful jokes…"
"But why would they even do that? What did he do?"
"As far as I know, he never does anything at all. Are they maybe picking on him?"
"Maybe he knows something…"
"Ohhh… I remember he once asked me if Mr. Zhang and Ms. Lei were cheating…"
"No way! Did he maybe catch them off guard?"
"But why would he be silent about it…"
Eventually, people talked and figured it out. That's the best method.
But he didn't end it like that. He went straight to the most witty teacher at school…
"If I can't beat them with whispers, I'll bury them with power." He gritted his teeth as he walked by, seeing students talk about why would the teacher and principal gang up on him?
He opened the door…
The teacher—the most witty, cool, amazing, hot, very caring, loving teacher—was holding the principal's hand against the wall, hugging her from behind…
That's when he knew why Mr. Zhang and Mr. Diāo Sīyán hated each other…
Because they both wanted her for themselves.
Why did I get into this mess? Why…
Both of them looked at him. Mr. Diāo Sīyán, with his death stare—that was a straight flight ticket to hell—stared at Lǐ Wéi while squeezing her chest so hard…