Ye Ci picked up the book.
Her exam paper was still inside, but it had obviously been flipped through because it was different from the way she had folded it earlier.
Someone had gone through her paper.
Ye Ci suppressed the rage in her heart and turned to look at a boy sitting behind her.
“Liang Rong, did you see anyone touching my stuff?”
Liang Rong was reading a book and looked up when he heard her. He pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose.
“No.”
The classroom was very quiet with only the sound of papers being flipped and students writing.
The moment Ye Ci spoke, she immediately drew the attention of several people around her, but no one said anything.
Cao Jingxuan sat down in her seat and looked back when she heard Ye Ci. She saw the unpleasant expression on Ye Ci’s face, before asking in a low voice, “Ye Ci, what’s wrong?”
Ye Ci’s voice carried a hint of suppressed anger.
“Someone touched my things.”
“Huh? No way!”
Cao Jingxuan glanced towards the table.
‘There isn’t much here, so who would have touched her things?’
“Everyone has this book. Why would they touch it…? Is it possible that you are mistaken?”
“No.”
Ye Ci’s face was expressionless.
“I know that someone went through my book.”
“Um…”
Cao Jingxuan had originally wanted to coax Ye Ci, but seeing that she was not in a good mood, Cao Jingxuan did not say much.
Ye CI looked around and finally focused her gaze on Zhang Yanyan.
She said in a cold voice, “Zhang Yanyan, did you touch my stuff?”
Zhang Yanyan looked up and nodded without much concern.
“Oh, I accidentally knocked your book onto the floor. Sorry.”
‘Knocked it onto the floor? It’s just been sitting here… Zhang Yanyan did it on purpose!”
Ye Ci stepped forward.
“Apologize.”
Her tone was harsh.
Zhang Yanyan frowned.
“Didn’t I already say that I was sorry? Besides, it was an accident. Why are you so uptight?”
Zhang Yanyan was not a pushover. The moment she heard Ye Ci’s tone, she confronted her.
Both girls looked at each other, the atmosphere becoming intense.
The people in the classroom looked over at them.
Ye Ci clutched the corner of her book.
“I said, I want you to formally apologize.”
With all eyes on them, why would Zhang Yanyan bow to Ye Ci?
Zhang Yanyan let out a cold laugh.
“It’s just a book. I picked it up for you and put it back. I told you that it had been an accident, so what else do you want?”
Usually, Ye Ci would not care too much about things like this, but this time was different.
Her exam papers had been stuffed in this book, and Zhang Yanyan must have seen it.
Knowing Zhang Yanyan’s character, everyone would know that Ye Ci had only gotten 37 marks on that paper by the end of the day!
Previously, Ye Ci had been mocked by Zhang Yanyan because of her score on the previous test.
This time, there was no telling how harsh their words would be behind Ye Ci’s back.
Ye Ci had been suppressing her anger and resentment since she had come out of the office, with nowhere to vent it.
Now, with this encounter with Zhang Yanyan, she could no longer hold back.
All of her anger had been ignited by Zhang Yanyan.
Without even thinking about it, Ye Ci slammed the book in her hand onto Zhang Yanyan’s desk.
Bang!
The book landed heavily on Zhang Yanyan’s desk, and everything on it fell to the floor.
“Apologize!” Ye Ci raised her voice.
Everyone was stunned.
No one had expected that the previously quiet and gentle Ye Ci would suddenly act like this.
Moreover, it was only because Zhang Yanyan had accidentally knocked a book from her table.
‘Was it even worth it?’
Zhang Yanyan was dumbfounded. She had just managed to dodge the book and now felt her heart racing.
The book had almost smacked her in the face!
After feeling dazed for a brief moment, Zhang Yanyan suddenly stood up.
“Ye Ci! What are you going crazy about?!”
Seeing that the two girls were about to get into a fight, the students next to them finally reacted and hurriedly went forward to pull them apart.
“Don’t fight! We’re all classmates!”
“Yeah, Yanyan didn’t do it on purpose and your book looks fine, so just forget about it, okay?”
“Zhang Yanyan, it was your fault too, so why don’t you apologize…”
Zhang Yanyan raised her voice. “She started it. Why should I apologize first?”
Several students next to her hurriedly picked the things up from the floor.
A girl picked up a piece of paper and inadvertently saw the bright red score on it. Without thinking, she said, “37? Isn’t this yesterday’s paper? Whose is it?”
Ye Ci’s face instantly turned pale.
She had been so emotional earlier that she had forgotten that her exam paper was still stuck inside her book. When she had slammed her book down, her paper had flown out.
Her first reaction had been to grab the paper, but there was quite a distance between her and the girl, so it had been too late to reach over before the girl had glanced at the name on the paper.
She murmured, “Ye Ci?”
The surrounding students quickly realized what was going on and quieted down. All of them looked at Ye Ci.
Zhang Yanyan also glanced in the same direction and blurted out, “37? This is the paper that won’t be counted towards Ye Ci’s final grade, right?”
Dead silence.
Everyone had done the same paper, so they all knew the level of difficulty.
They had thought that the teacher had not marked Ye Ci’s paper, but it turned out that he had.
Ye Ci had only done half of it before she went to the hospital, so getting a low score was normal, but… 37?
‘That’s too low… If that was the case, even if Ye Ci had finished the paper, her marks would not have been much higher…’
Ye Ci felt the blood rush to her head. Her face flushed red, although her lips were very pale.
At this moment, all Ye Ci could feel was that her last bit of dignity had been ripped from her body.
Everyone’s eyes around her were as sharp as knives.
Zhang Yanyan was the first to react. She laughed and said, “Ye Ci, were you so angry just now because you were worried that we would find out about your score?”
Ye Ci clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms. She gritted her teeth and said, “Zhang Yanyan, why are you still pretending?!”
“What reason would I have to pretend?” Zhang Yanyan tucked her hair behind her ear and sized up Ye Ci. She snorted and continued, “I accidentally knocked over your book. Your paper fell out, but I folded it back and put it away without looking at it. Although I don’t like you, I wouldn’t stoop so low as to peek at your things.”
Zhang Yanyan spoke frankly, but Ye Ci did not believe a word she said.
“Do you think I’ll believe you just because you say so? I know what you said about me after the previous test!”
Zhang Yanyan folded her arms and laughed.
“Yeah, that’s because I let you hear it on purpose. I’m not actually prejudiced against people with bad grades. I’m just wondering how you managed to do so badly on the test when you got fifth place in M Province. If you care that much, I can apologize. However, before that happens, why don’t you explain to us how you got this grade?”
