The students of Class 24 watched the podium, expecting the math teacher to unleash a tirade, but the situation was unfolding differently from what they imagined.
Mr. Huang wasn’t yelling?
Most of the students had been in Mr. Huang’s class for over a year and were familiar with his bad temper. Realizing he was uncharacteristically silent, the students straightened up, pricking up their ears and holding their breath.
The classroom was dead silent.
Dozens of eyes were fixed on Mr. Huang.
Hua Xu, who had been comforting her desk mate a moment ago, suddenly brightened up:
“Xiuxiu, did you do really well?”
Unable to get her test paper back, Zhou Xiu walked up to the podium and glanced at her score: a glaring, bright red 150.
She calmly said to Mr. Huang, “You said I couldn’t score half of 150 points even with an open-book test. If you were me, what would you do, Teacher?”
“So, Teacher—”
Zhou Xiu looked at the score and elongated her voice, asking, “Please tell me, how much did I score?”
Her arrogant and triumphant tone made Mr. Huang’s face turn dark.
He felt a rush of blood to his head, and even the air seemed to thin.
Looking at the perfect score test paper and then at the smile on Zhou Xiu’s face, his chest felt tight; the more he looked, the more suffocated he felt.
How could Zhou Xiu have scored a perfect score?
Du Feiyang stood up urgently and shouted, “Xiuxiu, you got a perfect score!”
“Perfect score!”
The students in Class 24 were stunned, and the classroom erupted like boiling water.
Students: “???”
“!!!!”
What had they just heard?
“Du Feiyang, are you making this up?”
A moment ago, the transfer student was preparing to be expelled or scolded, and now they had the power to turn the tables on Mr. Huang?
Even though it seemed too incredible to be true, seeing Mr. Huang deflate like a punctured balloon, they realized something extraordinary had happened.
Zhou Xiu had really… scored a perfect score!
Zhou Xiu curled her lips into a smile and said, “Teacher, you can stop looking. It’s indeed 150 points.”
“I don’t need to drop out since I did well, so Teacher, are you going to apologize to me?”
Such a familiar phrase made the students of Class 24 burst into laughter.
Mr. Huang’s chest heaved, his eyes bulging with anger…
He didn’t get angry but instead let out a cold laugh, squeezing out through gritted teeth, “Zhou Xiu, scoring a perfect score once doesn’t prove anything. Humility makes progress. Take your test paper and go.”
Zhou Xiu wore a “just as expected” expression and calmly said:
“One perfect score indeed doesn’t prove much. If I score a perfect score again next time, will you apologize then? For you, Teacher, I’ll make sure to get another perfect score next time.”
Seeing Mr. Huang’s face turning darker by the second, Zhou Xiu changed the subject.
She coldly said, “Alright, my suspicion of cheating is cleared. So—I’d like to ask you, Teacher, why did you frame me?”
She asked Mr. Huang seriously, “Even though we don’t get along well and I often challenge your authority, you shouldn’t always target me, right?”
Mr. Huang was furious, glaring at Zhou Xiu, “Zhou Xiu, shut up!”
The entire class was stunned, slowly processing: “???”
What was Zhou Xiu saying?
How could Mr. Huang frame her?
Du Feiyang saw Mr. Huang’s neck swell with anger and had a sudden realization, nearly bursting into laughter.
Du Feiyang held back the urge to laugh out loud, put on a serious face, and asked, “Right, Xiuxiu couldn’t have cheated. So… did the teacher put the test paper in her bag?”
Hua Xu had a lightbulb moment, walked to the podium, and used the computer to show several surveillance clips she had investigated.
She pointed to the screen, presenting evidence meticulously, and said, “Teacher, don’t say Xiuxiu is wronging you. Right now, the teacher is the most suspicious.”
She sped up the footage to 10x speed and slowly explained:
“Where did the test paper in Xiuxiu’s bag come from? Let’s watch the surveillance footage—
Here, Xiuxiu is packing her bag after the Chinese exam, putting books in one by one. It’s clear that at this point, there was no test paper in her bag. Xiuxiu didn’t leave the school at noon, and this is footage of her in other areas of the school. Finally, before the math exam, the teacher searched her bag.”
“However… at this point, the podium is a blind spot for the cameras.”
Mr. Huang’s breathing grew rapid, and the feeling of a heart attack slowly crept up again.
The entire class: “?????”
It sounded strange and didn’t quite add up, but why was it so satisfying and funny?
Once the students processed everything, they nearly burst out laughing.
This year’s funniest moments seemed to be owned by Zhou Xiu.
Many students quickly caught on and stood up to confront Mr. Huang:
“Yes, Mr. Huang, our Xiuxiu didn’t cheat! How could there be a test paper in her bag?”
Their indignation grew: “Teacher, please explain why there was no test paper in Xiuxiu’s bag before entering the exam room, but it appeared when you searched her bag?”
They were red-faced with anger: “Mr. Huang, even if Xiuxiu doesn’t look like a typical good student, you don’t have to target her like this!”
Their outrage peaked: “Our Class 24 might have poor grades, but we shouldn’t be treated like this! Teacher, is this fair to us?”
How could Mr. Huang frame a student?
But Xiuxiu didn’t cheat either! Yet the test paper was found in her bag by Mr. Huang.
If Mr. Huang didn’t put the test paper there, how did he know to search only her bag so precisely?
Maybe Mr. Huang was worried about having to apologize to Xiuxiu at the end of the semester and set her up? They never got along well whenever they met.
He looked very suspicious! Every part of him screamed for scrutiny.
That feeling of a heart attack overwhelmed Mr. Huang again; he clutched his chest, nearly out of his mind with anger.
He roared, “All of you, shut up!”
“You, you, and all of you, are you rebelling? Get out, all of you!”
Hua Xu found herself amused by the scene.
She knew Mr. Huang wasn’t the one who framed Zhou Xiu, but since the video had been cut, she couldn’t find the real culprit. Seeing Mr. Huang wrong Zhou Xiu, she thought it fitting he experienced the same feeling of helplessness Zhou Xiu had felt.
Pain isn’t real until it’s felt.
Some students in Class 24 started laughing secretly, while others tried to hold it in, their faces contorting with the effort.
As Mr. Huang stormed out of the classroom, the whole class burst into laughter.
Zhou Xiu called out coldly to the retreating figure, “Teacher, I really do suspect you now. If you can’t find evidence, I’ll have to assume you deliberately targeted me.”
“Good thing I scored full marks. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to clear my name.”
Du Feiyang couldn’t even look at Mr. Huang’s face anymore.
He wiped his eyes, and real tears fell.
Hua Xu, seeing the farce of this lesson, couldn’t help but laugh, though she still felt it wasn’t enough.
When it’s teacher versus student, the teacher is always right, no matter what.
If Zhou Xiu hadn’t been quick-witted, betting on taking the test even at the cost of expulsion, this would have ended badly for her. If she hadn’t scored full marks, her score would have been invalidated, and she would have been forever marked as a cheater, pointed at and shamed.
Given the high stakes Zhou Xiu faced, it was only fair that Mr. Huang got a taste of being wrongfully accused.
…
The students in the adjacent Winners Class had lost all interest in the math lecture, eager to see the drama unfold next door.
This was too good.
It was hilariously absurd.
The live broadcast by the Class 24 students nearly caused the Winners Class to die laughing.
Their class group chat exploded with 999+ messages, half-heartedly listening to the math lecture.
Finally, the bell rang, and Mr. Wang left.
The Winners Class students poured out of the classroom, eyes wide with curiosity, as if watching a New Year’s Eve celebration.
Class 24’s laughter almost blew the roof off, the sound of desks being rearranged adding to the chaos. The whole class was caught up in the comedy of it all.
“Hahahahahaha.”
“Mr. Huang got what he deserved today.”
“If he can’t find evidence, let’s blame him.”
“Analysing it, Mr. Huang really might have done it. Has he no shame?”
“He’s shameless enough to frame Xiuxiu over something small.”
“Thank goodness Hua Xu got the surveillance footage. If it had been deleted, Xiuxiu would never have cleared her name.”
“But the real miracle is Xiuxiu scoring full marks, right?”
…
The “Zhou Xiu cheating” incident had already spread by mid-morning.
The school’s forum saw a flurry of posts with titles like, “How do you view the incident of Zhou Xiu being falsely accused of stealing the test paper?”
A shocking title from a local social media platform read, “Unbelievably, a young girl took this path to fame and ruin—”
A gossip post on a popular forum went, “818 my classmate who stole the test paper…”
The posts flipped back and forth, leaving onlookers’ jaws dropping as they devoured the juicy gossip.
Although the posts were quickly deleted by the school, they were enough to make the students of Class 24 laugh for a while. After the entertainment, the students of Class 24 looked at Zhou Xiu with a new perspective.
Zhou Xiu had really scored full marks!
Du Feiyang, a self-proclaimed slacker, found himself admiring a girl for the first time.
He looked at Zhou Xiu with the kind of worshipful gaze a slacker gives to a top student.
“Xiuxiu, I remember you scored only eighty on math when you first came. How did you improve so quickly?”
Hua Xu slapped Du Feiyang on the back of the head, “Didn’t you see how Xiuxiu studies?”
“While you guys are sleeping, playing games, and chasing girls, she’s writing test papers and memorizing her books.”
The slackers who once thought Zhou Xiu’s efforts were a waste suddenly found her determination and hard work incredibly inspiring. What they had dismissed as useless now seemed incredibly effective, bringing a sense of satisfaction and vindication.
The change came with the sound of metaphorical slaps to their faces.
As Zhou Xiu neatly folded her math test paper, she looked around and noticed her classmates staring at her.
She said, “Mr. Huang is always insulting you. Don’t you want to hit back?”
“Did you enjoy today?”
In unison, they responded, “Yes!”
“Absolutely fantastic!”
“I’ll remember Mr. Huang’s expression forever!”
Zhou Xiu calmly said, “That’s good. Compared to many things, studying is the simplest. The more you put in, the more you get out.”
“Though many of you have comfortable lives and might not need to put in much effort to succeed, life is unpredictable. Most things don’t go as planned, and there will be times when you need to rely on yourself.”
“Doesn’t it feel great to fight back on your own terms?”
It felt amazing, incredibly satisfying.
Now, they were brimming with positivity!
“Next time, I’ll do well in math,” Yu Qingyan said with determination.
“I said I’d find a tutor, but I haven’t yet. Tonight, I’ll get one!” another student said, feeling guilty.
“I’ll never sleep in class again. I want to prove I’m not garbage!” another student reflected.
“Our class isn’t a garbage class. Can a garbage class produce a perfect math score?” Zhou Xiu interjected.
“Xiuxiu is right. Our class isn’t a trash class. The real trash is Mr. Huang!”
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