“I didn’t attack you,” Niu Caijie insisted, falling back into her performance of sniveling vulnerability. “You’re the ones who bullied me unreasonably. Professor, please… I’m so scared.”
“Don’t be afraid,” the professor assured her. “I won’t let them get away with hurting you.” He leveled a withering glare at Tang Qiu. “Bargaining is useless. Refuse to compensate her again, and I’ll have you expelled–I promise.”
“I’m looking for Professor Zhao Guohao.” A deep, masculine voice traveled into the office from outside the door, followed by its owner.
The principal.
“Principal Pang,” Zhao Guohao greeted, startled. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m not here for you,” the principal replied, his bespectacled gaze tinged with the barest hint of dry contempt. “I’m here to witness how exactly you dispense justice–if you can call it that.”
Zhao Guohao’s eyes dropped. It was true he hadn’t taken care to investigate the reason behind the fight in the cafeteria. But he had seen the two girls beating Niu Caijie up, and she was so delicate; she couldn’t possibly hurt a fly. They had even threatened her in his presence. Wasn’t that evidence enough that they were in the wrong? “Why do you say that, Principal Pang?”
The principal’s name was Pang Cunshen. His eyes flickered to the man in the wheelchair, then Niu Caijie. “You’ll have to ask her,” he said coldly.
Niu Caijie didn’t understand why she had been targeted, so she resorted to weeping again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she whimpered. “You’re frightening me.”
“You weren’t too frightened to hit a fellow student earlier.” Principal Pang’s gaze glinted like the tip of a dagger. He had encountered all kinds of pupils before, but never one as outrageously barefaced as Niu Caijie.
“I didn’t. How can you frame me like that, Principal Pang? They were bullying me!”
“Answer me this, Niu Caijie: did you start the fight?” The principal’s tone was harsh with ice and steel.
He was utterly unmoved by her teary-eyed pleas. A bolt of fear–real this time–shot down Niu Caijie’s spine. “Help me, professor,” she begged, latching onto her only source of support in the room.
The professor said nothing. It hadn’t escaped his attention that she had failed to answer the principal’s question. For the first time, a bud of doubt blossomed in his heart.
“You leave me no choice, then.” The principal turned to the doorway. “You can come in now.”
Three students walked into the office. Dread sank in Niu Caijie’s chest like a physical weight.
“Tell me what happened.”
One of the students replied, “After school, we happened to see Niu Caijie bothering Tang Qiu. The three of them quarreled for a bit before Niu Caijie slapped Xie Qingqing, who defended herself, backed by Tang Qiu. They were just teaching her a lesson when the professor came by.”
Cold sweat broke out over Professor Zhao’s forehead. He had been fooled by Niu Caijie’s doll-like appearance.
Niu Caijie’s face turned a bloodless white. She hadn’t expected the principal to personally investigate the matter–or call upon witnesses. “No!” she burst out, succumbing to her panic. “They’re lying. They’re helping Tang Qiu to frame me!” As long as she didn’t admit her guilt, they couldn’t touch her. At most, she would rescind her demands for compensation.
“I knew you would deny it.” Everyone’s heads spun to Jiang Shaocheng, seated in his wheelchair. “So I went to obtain video evidence.”
This was He Lei’s cue. He entered the office with his phone in hand, displaying a video of the incident in the cafeteria. Had Niu Caijie known she was being recorded, she might have stayed her hand. Earlier, He Lei had been busy looking for footage of the scuffle and finding the principal–all necessary measures to force Niu Caijie to cease her lies, lest she push the blame to Tang Qiu.
The principal spoke first. “Are you going to deny your guilt, Niu Caijie? Again?”
Even beneath her makeup, Niu Caijie had gone ghastly pale. With nowhere left to run, she could only sob and beg for mercy. “They insulted me first. I was so angry, I wasn’t thinking…”
“You were the one who started it,” Xie Qingqing interjected, a little too hastily. “Why would we insult you for no reason?”
Wordlessly, Niu Caijie continued to let her tears flow. It was the men she needed to convince–as long as they didn’t pursue the matter, nothing would happen to her.
Unfortunately, she was dealing with Jiang Shaocheng.
“Earlier, she said that she should be compensated for being attacked,” Jiang Shaocheng said calmly. “In that case, she should compensate them for landing the first blow. How much do you think is appropriate?”