Tan Ming had been secretly in love with Lu Lingshan for three years, starting from the third year of middle school. How could he tolerate someone framing her?
He glanced at Zhou Xiu in the corner. Her skin was a bit dark, her hair slightly frizzy, and she wasn’t very tall. This ordinary girl, who could easily be overlooked in a crowd, was supposedly targeted and framed by Lu Lingshan?
Facing the intense gazes from the slackers, Tan Ming felt pressured and remained silent with a stern expression.
Feeling indignant, Hua Xu led a group of slackers to the door of the Rocket Class and demanded:
“Can we have Yue Shi and Lu Lingshan come out for a moment?”
The top students of the Rocket Class had been feeling targeted lately. First, Zhou Xiu insinuated against Lu Lingshan, then Class 24 publicly insinuated against them on the forum. Now, even the teacher had pointed fingers at their classmates.
So… this mess got kicked around and finally landed on them?
The top students were shocked. How could the minds of these slackers be so twisted?
If they were falsely accused, it would be one thing, but to accuse the Rocket Class’s beauty? In a science-focused class with a 3:1 male-to-female ratio, having a beautiful class flower was a matter of pride.
Class 24 students wronging Lu Lingshan was intolerable for the top students of the Rocket Class.
They were beyond furious.
After Hua Xu’s demand, the Rocket Class fell silent, and the atmosphere became tense.
Xu Qing adjusted his glasses and politely said, “Lu Lingshan, could you please come out? We might need to discuss what you were doing at 3 PM on December 1st.”
Xu Qing had carefully read Old Huang’s technical analysis post and calmly posed the question.
The top students had read the analysis post as well, and it left them feeling incredulous.
The Rocket Class students felt insulted. Using mathematical probability analysis as evidence?
It was mind-numbing.
The top students scoffed, “Mathematical probability is just that—probability. After excluding randomness, does it become a certainty?”
A coin flipped a thousand times would result in a roughly equal number of heads and tails, but could that prove that any single flip would definitely be heads or tails?
At that moment, Xie Shen was away at a winter training camp for the Olympiad, otherwise, he would have stood up for Lu Lingshan. Taking advantage of his absence to bully their class?
Qi Yaguang privately messaged Xie Cheng, forwarding the forum posts.
“Lingshan is being bullied! Need your help to counter this technical analysis post.”
Qi Yaguang received no reply for a long time.
Hua Xu raised her voice, coldly saying, “Lu Lingshan, if you have the guts to do it, why don’t you have the guts to admit it?”
The top students looked at the beautiful girl standing at the door, speechless.
Some of the Rocket Class boys had originally found Hua Xu attractive, but now any favourable impression had completely vanished.
Seeing Hua Xu’s confrontational stance, the boys clenched their fists and coldly said, “We won’t admit to something we didn’t do. Spending all your time on this nonsense, making it seem like everyone is out to get you, is just sick.”
Hua Xu scoffed, “Lu Lingshan, are you just going to hide behind your classmates and stay silent? Don’t say I’m bullying you, but if you did this, we’ll be enemies from now on.”
Lu Lingshan finally spoke slowly, “Hua Xu, I didn’t put any test papers in anyone’s bag.”
The Rocket Class students stood up one by one, furious.
Did Class 24 think the Rocket Class was easy to bully?
The students from the two classes stared each other down, the tension in the air palpable. They were all fifteen or sixteen years old, full of youthful vigour, and if they weren’t in school, a fight might have already broken out.
The top students fully utilized their home advantage, outnumbering and outtalking their opponents with a barrage of taunts.
The class president of the top students, Xu Haobo, said, “Show us concrete evidence.”
Li Simiao, the class representative, mocked, “Your class’s Zhou Xiu didn’t even rank in the top 100 this time, but our class’s Lu Lingshan ranked 23rd. What’s her motive for doing this?”
Qi Yaguang, the math class representative, stood up, “Wait until Zhou Xiu is good enough to make Lu Lingshan jealous before you make such accusations.”
“Jade doesn’t mix with rubble. Our Lu Lingshan wouldn’t stoop to such things.”
“Stop being so paranoid. Our top class doesn’t need to frame someone from a low-ranked class.”
“I advise you to spend more time studying. When you face problems, think more. Brains are a good thing to use.”
Du Feiyang and the other slackers from Class 24 were so angry they were practically fuming.
Hua Xue sneered, “You want evidence? Fine, just wait.”
After throwing down her challenge, Hua Xue led the slackers back to their classroom.
Zhou Xiu was busy doing her homework and hadn’t joined the confrontation at the top class’s door. She was surprised to see the Class 24 boys and girls return so quickly.
Seeing their darkened expressions, she asked, “Did you… get the short end of the stick?”
The slackers returned to the classroom, looking at the girl quietly doing her homework in the corner. She kept her head down, focused on her work.
The slackers suddenly felt a deep sense of sorrow. Not only could they not seek justice for her, but they also let her be mocked and ridiculed by the top students, turning the tables on them.
Tan Ming, who had anticipated this outcome, coldly said, “I told you from the beginning, without solid evidence, you can’t just accuse good people.”
Du Feiyang swore, “Do you think Old Huang is framing her?”
Zhou Xiu looked at Tan Ming and Du Feiyang, “Stop arguing.”
…
After school.
Zhou Xiu returned to the Xi residence and unexpectedly saw Xi’s mother, whom she hadn’t seen for a long time.
She was dressed in a neat, tailored suit, with a refined appearance and pale skin that showed little sign of aging. She exuded a powerful aura of a strong woman, her face full of indifference and impatience.
Xi Shaoyuan was very much like her.
Zhou Xiu stopped and greeted her, “Aunt Xi, you’re back.”
Xi’s mother nodded coldly.
After being away for over a month, she had almost forgotten she was sponsoring a poor student.
Zhou Xiu went back to her room, put down her schoolbag, and started her homework.
After finishing her homework, Zhou Xiu noticed Xi’s mother still sitting in the living room, clutching her stomach, her brows deeply furrowed, and a few beads of sweat on her forehead.
Zhou Xiu watched for a long time from upstairs before going to the storage room to retrieve some items.
They were things Zhou Xiu had brought from the countryside in fertilizer bags—herbal medicine. All wild and not worth much, but Zhou Xiu’s parents had put in a lot of effort to dig them out from the mountains. The Xi family hadn’t paid any attention to these things, and they were left untouched in storage.
Zhou Xiu found a clay pot and started brewing the herbs. After a long time, she brought a bowl of medicinal water to Xi’s mother.
When Xi Shaoyuan returned, he was met with an unexpected scene:
His usually aloof mother was seriously conversing with Zhou Xiu. Although her expression seemed indifferent, it was clear that she was showing a rare moment of patience. Xi Shaoyuan was surprised.
Immediately, he thought of Zhou Xiu’s personality. If she wanted to please someone, pleasing his mother wouldn’t be difficult for her.
After her conversation with Xi’s mother, Zhou Xiu went upstairs to her room, running into Xi Shaoyuan in the hallway.
Xi Shaoyuan stopped her, looking at her calmly for a while.
When Zhou Xiu thought he was going to start spouting some garbage talk again, he said nothing and went downstairs to work out.
…
The next day.
The top students of the Rocket Class were thoroughly outraged because they demanded the deletion of the so-called “slander post” written by Teacher Huang.
Xu Qing, being part of the management, naturally refused to delete it. Other admins and moderators also dared not delete it lightly; after all, offending Teacher Huang, who was one of the school directors, was not a wise move.
The Rocket Class’s top students confronted Zhou Xiu herself, “Zhou Xiu, this whole incident started because of you. Don’t you think you should say something?”
The class committee members mocked Zhou Xiu, “Your grades are mediocre, but your ability to stir up trouble is top-notch.”
The slackers got angry. They hadn’t gone looking for trouble, but now the Rocket Class was provoking them?
Did they think they were dead?
Students from the neighbouring classes silently watched the commotion, realizing that this matter was more serious than they had initially thought.
Everyone in the second year was paying attention to this issue. The students from the Winners Class whispered among themselves, feeling conflicted, “Which side do you support in this?”
In terms of friendship, many students from Class 24 had been friends with them since elementary school.
In terms of closeness, the Rocket Class and the Winners Class shared the same resources, and over two years, their interactions had become more frequent.
However, the slackers from Class 24 were numerous and seemed like hopeless cases, but the emotional bonds ran deep. The Rocket Class students were excellent and ambitious but not as close emotionally.
It was like old flames and current lovers clashing, with both being dear to them. The students from the Winners Class were torn, wishing their old flames weren’t so troublesome and dramatic.
A student curiously asked, “Yuan Shao, which side are you on?”
Realizing his blunder, he slapped his own face, feeling stupid, “I must be out of my mind to ask that. Lu Lingshan is Yuan Shao’s girlfriend.”
Rocket Class students called out to Xi Shaoyuan, “Your girlfriend is being bullied.”
That morning, Xi Shaoyuan posted a video on Weibo, dropping a metaphorical bomb and completely igniting the war between the slackers and the top students.
Upon clicking the video, viewers saw Lu Lingshan handing a test paper to Yue Shi. In another clip, Yue Shi deliberately brushed against Zhou Xiu and slipped the test paper into her bag while Zhou Xiu was focused on her work.
Xi Shaoyuan captioned the repost from the Rocket Class, “Not my girlfriend, thanks.”
This action shocked everyone, making bystanders too stunned to even continue their gossip.
The slackers of Class 24 were exhilarated, “I knew Yuan Shao was righteous.” Meanwhile, the academic god of the Rocket Class, Xie Cheng, who was busy at the math winter camp, found time to reply to Qi Yaguang’s message: “Math is rigorous.”
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