Ye Ming’s face was as dark as water.
“She harmed you? Then, can you bring out the evidence!?”
Finally, it was a rhetorical question that successfully made Ye Ci shut her mouth.
She bit her lips tightly and cried even harder. Her hatred towards Ning Li also grew.
Evidence!
Evidence!
How could she have evidence?
She had always kept that down jacket in her luggage without ever taking it out. Moreover, her luggage had been locked from beginning to end.
She had no idea how Ning Li had done it, let alone be able to produce the evidence.
“Ye Ci, get it straight! You were caught cheating in the exam! Whether it was Ning Li or not, this matter has already been decided! Did you hear what Zhou Fei said just now?”
Not only would the results of the finals be canceled, but the honor of the preliminary competition would also be taken away, and there would also be a disciplinary notice!
As soon as Ye Ming thought of all that happening, his temples began to throb.
He pointed at Ye Ci, his fingers trembling slightly due to his anger.
“Once this matter is exposed, the Ye family’s face will be completely disgraced by you!”
Hearing him say this, Ye Ci felt both afraid and wronged.
Half of her face was still faintly aching, and it felt as if someone was holding a fine needle and stabbing it into her heart.
Something seemed to be colliding wildly within her chest, tearing apart the last bit of her rationality.
“Ye family! The Ye family!”
She suddenly erupted, becoming hysterical.
“In your heart, the Ye family’s face is more important than mine, right?! I was framed, yet your first thought was not to help me, but that I had embarrassed the Ye family! Have you ever thought about what I should do in the future?!”
With the announcement of the cheating penalty and the cancellation of the competition results, how could she return to Yunzhou? How could she face the mocking gazes at school??
Originally, when she had obtained fifth place at the provincial level, many people in the school had already questioned it.
In addition to the consecutive decline in her exam results, who knew how many people were waiting to see her make a fool of herself.
She had urgently needed to produce a good result in the Physics competition finals in order to shut those people’s mouths!
But now, everything was over!
“Your only thought is about your reputation and the Ye family’s reputation, but you’ve never thought about how much I have to pay for this!”
All the long-suppressed grievances and resentment that had built up within Ye Ci, exploded at this moment. Her eyes were red as she looked at Ye Ming, with a slightly distorted face.
Ye Ming’s face was cold and gloomy.
“Was it me who forced you to participate in the Physics competition?”
Ye Ci’s remaining words were suddenly stuck in her throat.
“Ever since you joined the Physics competition class, your grades have been slipping. Didn’t anyone advise you to give up and focus on the college entrance exam instead?
“Back then, your mother said that your class teacher, Geng Haifan, and Zhou Fei had brought this up with you, but what did you say at that time?
“It was you! It was you who insisted on continuing! Didn’t you know what level you were at?!? You should have stopped when you got fifth place at the provincial level! At the very least, you should have chosen to quit when you were at the Winter Camp!”
“You missed so many opportunities along the way, but you insisted on getting into this situation! Ye Ci, you can’t blame anyone. The only person you should blame is yourself!”
Ye Ci felt completely destroyed, but how was Ye Ming any better?
He was usually a very busy person. Ye Ci had never given him any cause to worry before, so he had not taken much interest in Ye Ci’s matters.
Who would have known that one misstep, just one mistake, would eventually lead to such a situation?
Ye Ci felt as if a fishbone had gotten stuck in her throat.
Every word from Ye Ming was extremely harsh to the ear and was so piercing that her tears kept on falling.
That was because she knew that what he had said was reasonable.
If she had not been so focused on competing with Ning Li, how would she have gotten to this point?
Ye Ming closed his eyes.
“I put in so much effort to pave the way for you… Now, it’s all ruined!”
Ye Ci covered her face, as she felt the despair deep in her heart.
If even Ye Ming said so, then there really was no other way out.
Being caught cheating in the national competition finals had a huge impact.
The Ye family did not have the energy to change the result.
What awaited her next was obvious!
She started to sob.
After a while, Ye Ming asked, “We’ve already come this far. Let’s not worry about anything else. Have you deleted all those things?”
Ye Ci nodded.
Only then did Ye Ming let out a sigh of relief.
“There’s no other way now. We can only try to deal with this in a low-key manner. I’ll go and make some connections to try and suppress this matter as much as possible to reduce the impact.”
It would definitely be impossible to completely suppress this matter.
However, this was still a shameful matter. Not to mention within the province, but on Yunzhou Second High School’s side, he would look for someone and use some means to prevent this matter from escalating too much.
As long as he controlled the situation well, after a while, everyone would forget about the issue and everything would just blow over.
Ye Ci lowered her head and responded.
Ye Ming did not look at her again. He took a deep breath and turned around to leave.
Ye Ci collapsed on the sofa and raised her arm to cover her eyes. She felt extremely exhausted.
After a while, Su Yuan walked in and sat down beside her.
“Lil Ci, does it still hurt?”
She had asked for ice cubes from the hotel and wrapped them in a towel to reduce Ye Ci’s swelling.
Ye Ci did not move at all.
What did she care about the slap on her face?
Su Yuan looked at her empty eyes, feeling as if her soul had been sucked out of her. She gently advised,
“Lil Ci, please don’t blame your father. He is very anxious as well… After all, the one who is most affected by this matter is still you. He has always doted on you, so it was normal for him to be so angry this time. Your teacher, Zhou Fei, has gone to talk to him. We will return to Yunzhou tomorrow…”
Hearing this, Ye Ci finally had a reaction.
“I’m not going back!”
A deep fear flashed across her eyes.
Once she returned to Yunzhou, what awaited her would be a sea of ridicule and mockery!
Su Yuan’s exquisite brows were tightly knitted together.
“If you don’t return to Yunzhou, do you want to stay in the Capital forever?”
Ye Ci did not speak.
Of course, she had to return to Yunzhou.
The road to the competition was completely blocked now. All she had left was the college entrance examination.
She had no other choice.
…
In the private room of the tea restaurant.
“Do you have any other arrangements for the next two days on your trip to the Capital this time?”
Lu Huaiyu asked.
Ning Li shook her head.
She had come to the Capital purely for this exam and had declined everything else.
“The results will be out tomorrow. I’ll leave the day after tomorrow after settling any relevant matters.”
Lu Huaiyu looked up and spotted a white sesame seed at the corner of her lips. He smiled and raised his hand.
“Ah Li, this…”
Ning Li was stunned and felt a little embarrassed. She licked the corner of her lips with the tip of her tongue.
The white sesame seed had lodged itself even further within the pink flesh.
“Is that okay?”
Lu Huaiyu’s hand paused. His gaze lingered on her plump lips for a moment, and his gaze deepened.
After a moment, he said, “No.”
As he spoke, he bent over a little, and his lightly calloused slender fingers gently brushed against the corner of her soft lips.
