Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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Tang Hongbo’s parents were startled by his actions and quickly tried to pull him away. The others were also startled by the sudden laughter, and the office instantly descended into chaos.
The grade head took the lead, using the chaos to get both students and their parents out of the office.
Gong Yuxue’s guardian seized the opportunity to approach Director Gu and said, “Director, could we speak privately?”
His attitude had completely reversed; just ten minutes ago he was threatening the school in the name of the law, but now he was utterly subservient, no longer daring to mention any legal system.
Director Gu’s eyes swept over him, then over Lin Jianlu, Yan Han, and the other teachers still in the room, and he said somewhat awkwardly, “What do you want to say to me?”
The implication was clear: don’t say anything now. Even if I wanted to hear, everyone would know what you were up to in front of so many people, and speaking alone now would be too inappropriate.
Thus, Gong Yuxue’s guardian had no choice but to shut up, awkwardly standing to the side, waiting for an opportunity, not daring to leave.
Director Gu then picked up the landline on the table and started dialing.
The fact that cheating could be covered up even in something as important as the class placement exam meant the situation was undoubtedly very serious. He made several calls, and Yan Han felt it was inconvenient for him, a student, to hear everything. However, since the other party didn’t kick him out, he remained seated.
As Yan Han listened to Director Gu’s calls, he thought to himself that Director Gu clearly knew what was inside the paper bag before opening it. The school couldn’t tolerate this kind of thing, so it was best to handle it privately. But there were not only students but also parents in the office.
If this scandal were exposed, it would definitely affect the school’s reputation, and it would be very difficult to appease the parents. Director Gu couldn’t have been unaware of this.
Yet, he still made the evidence public… Clearly, Director Gu wanted to escalate the matter.
After making the last phone call, presumably receiving some instructions, Director Gu stood up and said, “I have to go out for a meeting. You can all leave now and go about your business.”
The events of the morning exam had already caused quite a stir, and the things that had just surfaced in the office were also very serious. The school would need a long time to handle this, so the grade head decided to postpone the afternoon exam to tomorrow. Classes would proceed as normal this afternoon.
Understanding Director Gu’s meaning, Yan Han didn’t press the matter further. He had successfully stalled for time until he met Brother Lin, and his plan had been successfully completed. The crazed Tang Hongbo should have already been taken away by his parents. An apology wouldn’t be forthcoming, but he could still have lunch.
However, before leaving, Director Gu called Lin Jianlu back.
“Jianlu, I have another favor to ask of you. You must have heard about the incident this morning where Yan Han was falsely accused of cheating. I’d like you to check the video footage again to see if Gong Yuxue and this Tang Hongbo had any private contact.”
Since entering this office, Gong Yuxue hadn’t mentioned a word about her connection with Tang Hongbo.
She neither admitted nor denied it.
If some clues could be found at this point, the matter of Yan Han being wrongly accused would become clear.
Lin Jianlu readily agreed, and Yan Han looked at Director Gu gratefully.
It was obvious that Director Gu’s words indicated that Gong Yuxue’s character had reached a point where the teachers could no longer trust her, and she had no reputation left to protect.
However, compared to bribing a teacher to go to Class 9, this framing of a classmate was not so serious. With the matter escalating to this extent, Gong Yuxue would not escape unscathed.
But Director Gu didn’t overlook this point. Even at a time like this, she was still thinking about clearing his name. How could Yan Han not be grateful?
After leaving the office, Yan Han excitedly exchanged a glance with Lin Jianlu.
He felt that Lin Jianlu’s uprightness was partly due to Director Gu’s excellent teaching. Now, he was incredibly grateful to have such a fair and selfless dean of students.
It was indeed difficult to produce evidence of Gong Yuxue’s collusion with Tang Hongbo and bribing the students of Class 14. Her family had connections and could easily bribe the homeroom teacher of Class 9. Even the school teachers had to give her some leeway. If Director Gu directly ordered the collection of evidence at this time, it would probably cause dissatisfaction from the Gong family, and it would be difficult to explain to the higher-ups.
It would be fine if they could find evidence that could deliver a fatal blow, but as Gong Yuxue’s guardian said before, Class 9 and Class 10 are next to each other. Even if they really checked the surveillance footage and saw her talking to Tang Hongbo, it wouldn’t prove anything.
In the end, someone would have a handle on her and accuse the school of publicly insulting the students’ reputation. Director Gu couldn’t bear that crime.
But if it were revealed that this student had bribed a teacher to get into Class 9 through plagiarism, that would be a different story.
With such a serious prior record, he could then legitimately produce evidence of Gong Yuxue’s recent bullying… Of course, this evidence wasn’t actually that important; as long as this fly was driven away, Yan Han didn’t really mind that his grievances hadn’t been redressed.
However, although he didn’t mind, it was clear that the dean of students and Lin Jianlu cared a lot about this matter.
Gathering evidence wasn’t difficult for Lin Jianlu; in fact, based on Tang Hongbo’s testimony, Yan Han felt they could simply pull up the library’s surveillance video.
Lin Jianlu obviously agreed with his idea.
“If we’re going to find evidence, we need to be comprehensive,” said Da Lin. “After all, I promised Director Gu.”
Speaking of this, Yan Han suddenly remembered, “The director really showed some guts this time by taking decisive action.”
Lin Jianlu added, “Director Gu values fairness highly; she won’t tolerate any imperfections in that regard.”
“So she knew all along that Gong Yuxue had bribed the Class 9 homeroom teacher?”
“Yes,” Lin Jianlu said. “She has her own channels, and her eyes are very sharp.”
Yan Han exclaimed, “Oh!”
He only knew about Gong Yuxue bribing teachers in private, but he didn’t know that Director Gu had already suspected it.
The homeroom teachers of the best classes in each grade were highly respected in the school. Even the dean of students couldn’t alert the culprit without solid evidence, but once Director Gu had the evidence, she would not tolerate it.
With such a huge scandal, the school would have to cover it up and keep quiet, and in the end, they might only give Teacher Qin a minor punishment, and the outside world wouldn’t even know what happened.
Director Gu had anticipated this, which was why she deliberately revealed the evidence in front of the students’ parents and so many teachers.
Only by pushing the matter to its most irreparable point will the school take it seriously and give the bribed teacher the most appropriate punishment.
The same applied to Gong Yuxue.
After half a morning of arguing, it was quite tiring, but at least the ending was good, so Yan Han relaxed and even whistled with a self-righteous air.
Lin Jianlu: “…”
Yan Han grinned at him: “I know, this is an office building and we can’t do such uncivilized things. I’ll whistle outside later.”
“…”
With a hint of helplessness, Lin Jianlu raised his hand and patted Yan Han’s head. His face was expressionless as he said, “I’ve already sent someone to the library to retrieve the evidence. It’ll be submitted soon. It’s time for the Wang family to go bankrupt.”
Yan Han: “Huh?”
“What?” Yan Han rubbed his head, indicating he didn’t understand.
“‘It’s getting cold, time for the Wang family to go bankrupt,’ haven’t you heard of such a classic line?” Lin Jianlu finally showed some expression, looking somewhat puzzled.
Yan Han shook his head blankly, feeling like he’d heard it before, but also like he hadn’t.
These days, he’d been so engrossed in studying that his days seemed to have been rewritten, and he didn’t remember much about anything unrelated to studying.
But he understood the meaning.
Luckily, Xiao Wu knew the answer and quickly provided some background information in his mind.
Then, combined with the expression on Lin Jianlu’s face when he said that… Yan Han was inexplicably struck by how cool it was.
Although such a chuunibyou line should have been even more cringeworthy, he didn’t think so. Instead, he thought it was incredibly cool, like a character from a novel had stepped out…
[Uh, host, your filter is quite thick.] Xiao Wu, who had just eaten a ton of dog food, felt a little uncomfortable.
“Yes, I’m thick-skinned,” Yan Han readily admitted.
[…]
After completely draining Xiao Wu’s energy, Yan Han heard Lin Jianlu say, “Let’s go eat.”
“Okay!” He was genuinely hungry after hearing that. By then, the two of them had already turned a corner and were walking slowly down the stairs.
The midday sun was still dazzling and warm, but it didn’t feel scorching in the cool teaching building.
Before leaving the office building, Yan Han quickly went into the dressing room to reapply sunscreen.
It was actually best to apply sunscreen half an hour before going out, but the older brother didn’t know anything about it and didn’t dare to ask. Anyway, he couldn’t always follow the instructions.
However, before the two of them could even step out the door, they were stopped in the first-floor corridor.
Gong Yuxue had followed them down, her ponytail was loose, and a few strands of hair were hanging down, making her look a little disheveled.
But she still ran straight up to them, or rather, to Lin Jianlu, stubbornly asking him, “Why did you do this to me? Did you really have to make me suffer like this?”
Yan Han thought to himself, “Ha, I didn’t expect her to be the one crying ‘stop thief’.” She had already done something wrong, so how could he say he harmed her?
Before Lin Jianlu could even speak, he instinctively stepped forward, blocking Lin Jianlu’s path, and said, “Young woman, you’re wrong. We need evidence for everything. You say Lin Jianlu harmed you, do you have any evidence?”
“You!” Gong Yuxue never expected to be hit with such a retort!
She glared at Yan Han with bloodshot eyes, wishing she could devour him alive, but she forced herself to remain elegant.
She completely ignored Yan Han, still aloof and superior, her attitude clear— she only spoke to Lin Jianlu.
So at this moment, her gaze remained fixed solely on Lin Jianlu, and she said in a wronged tone, “Lin Jianlu, haven’t I been good enough to you? You told me not to do anything underhanded, and I immediately stopped. I even went so far as to get together with someone else so you wouldn’t know I liked you and put pressure on you… You’re so smart, don’t you understand my feelings?”
This…
Yan Han: “…”
Lin Jianlu: “…”
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