As Duan Xu looked appalled, his eyes twitched. He carefully asked, “Mr. Zhang, you always tell me not to be afraid and do my best. I did my best and studied for the test recently. Look at how I’ve improved—”
Zhang Yuan laughed. “You studied? You studied how to copy people’s answers, am I right?”
Duan Xu’s face twitched helplessly. He still wanted to resist by arguing, “No, please—”
“During the monthly tests, you and Ning Li were in the same venue, and you sat beside her.” Zhang Yuan waved the paper in front of Duan Xu. “There are only two people in the entire third year who got all the answers right: you and Ning Li. Tell me, who copied whose answers?”
The answer to that question was obvious.
Ning Li had answered both the multiple-choice questions and essay questions perfectly whereas Duan Xu’s essays were all messy and poorly written. It seemed like he simply pieced the formulas together and still got it wrong.
Duan Xu looked down in guilt, admitting his mistake, “Mr. Zhang, I’m sorry. I won’t do it next time.”
Zhang Yuan grunted. “Ning Li will shift to the first exam venue in the next paper. You won’t get another chance!”
Duan Xu was speechless.
“The discipline instructor has been informed of this. You really are a problematic student. Call your parents to come over right now.”
Duan Xu shook his head nervously when he heard that. “Mr. Zhang, please, no!”
If his father found out about him cheating during the test, he would be dead!
“You started this by copying answers, and you are telling me you don’t want to be held responsible?” Zhang Yuan raised his voice.
The twelfth class that he taught had the poorest average score in the entire third year with Duan Xu being the worst of them all.
He could forgive the boy if he had done badly in the test since the boy would still achieve something if he worked hard. However, he had cheated in the test, thus it was an issue of breaking the rules and principles.
All the third-year teachers knew that Duan Xu of the twelfth class had copied Ning Li’s answers and that he had not even tried to change some of them to make it less obvious.
Zhang Yuan had to fight his urge to crack open Duan Xu’s head and see what was inside!
Meanwhile, Duan Xu could already picture his father’s slap across his face. His eyes were twitching in fear.
“Mr. Zhang, you wouldn’t want to see me bleed to death in the office, right? I’ll write an apology essay, or the disciple instructor can give me a demerit for this, anything! Anything is better than calling my father here!”
Zhang Yuan rolled his eyes at Duan Xu. “Don’t worry. Your father is not the only one. Ning Li will have to call her parents as well.”
Duan Xu looked appalled.
…
“Call my parents?”
In the teacher’s office, the Literature department, Ning Li reacted with a strange expression. “Mr. Geng, may I know what this is about?”
Geng Haifan hesitated for a second before he asked, “Do you happen to know Duan Xu?”
Ning Li immediately thought of the boy’s long legs that could barely fit under the desk. She somehow had a hunch about what was going on. “Is it about the test?”
Geng Haifan hesitated again. “Other than Literature, Duan Xu’s score was rather strange in the other three papers. His answers in all the multiple-choice questions and fill-in-the-blanks are the same as yours…”
Ning Li’s eyes twitched. “All…the…same?”
Geng Haifan nodded.
“Second High has always taken priority in the integrity and honesty of our tests and exams. The school is looking into this incident, and they want you to call your parents over for a better investigation.”
Ning Li was speechless.
Geng Haifan noticed her distressed reaction. He quickly consoled her, “Don’t worry. You passed the test with flying colors, and it’s obvious who cheated on the test. It’s not your fault, but he copied your answers 100%, so the school has no choice but to…”
“…to check whether I helped him to cheat in the tests?” Ning Li finished Geng Haifan’s sentence on his behalf.
Geng Haifan awkwardly cleared his throat. He disagreed with this method. In his opinion, Ning Li came from a harsh background, and after she got transferred to Second High, she did her best in her studies and stayed away from trouble. She certainly showed signs of improvement.
It was almost certain that Duan Xu had copied her answers and that she had nothing to do with this, but if the school wanted to make an example out of this incident, not even Geng Haifan could do anything about it.
Some thoughts later, Ning Li said, “They might be busy, but I’ll cooperate with the investigation. I remember that all the venues have surveillance cameras, so why don’t we bring the footage out and have a look?”
Geng Haifan was aware of Ning Li’s unusual family background, so he did not force her to call her parents after her suggestion. He consoled her and told her that it would be fine before sending her back.
When Ning Li walked out of the office, she ran into Cheng Xiangxiang who was still holding the Mathematics paper with a bitter look on her face. She must have just come out from the Mathematics teacher’s office.
She sensed Ning Li’s gaze at her paper which made her angry.
“What are you looking at?”
“Nothing. There’s actually nothing to see,” Ning Li simply replied.
Cheng Xiangxiang was furious. “Don’t get ahead of yourself just because you scored so well this time!”
Ning Li scoffed. “If I can’t feel happy about getting a good score, should I celebrate when I fail?”
“YOU!” Cheng Xiangxiang clenched her teeth but then, she scoffed and grinned at Ning Li. “Well, if it’s your own results, of course, you can celebrate!”
Ning Li squinted her eyes.
Cheng Xiangxiang must have gotten the news, but the information did not seem complete.
Nevertheless, Ning Li shrugged and did not want to argue. “Whatever.”
She then left.
Cheng Xiangxiang viewed Ning Li’s frivolous answer as an act of guilt. She clutched her Mathematics paper tightly.
…
The news about a genius from the first class of the third year scoring perfectly in the test got out fast.
When the results were posted on the notice board, the students thronged there on pilgrimage batch after batch. Countless students were deeply shaken by the total score on the first row.
“737? Is that even humanly possible?”
“She only lost 13 marks in Literature? I’m done! I’m a piece of a sh*t!”
“Brother Pei has occupied the first place for so many years, but this transfer student beat him in her first test. This is huge! I feel bad for Brother Pei!”
“Wake up! Brother Pei scored more than 730 marks, so why should we feel bad for him? If you have the time for mercy, you might as well use it to study more!”
“No wonder she’s so audacious! She even argued with the headteacher! I heard that many Mathematics teachers used Ning Li’s paper as an example to lecture their classes, but not the headteacher. I guess that’s what happens when you get a perfect score!”
The discussion among the students was heated.
Suddenly, a sharp and irritating voice blurted out, “Do you guys really think she got such high scores on her own?”
The voice silenced most of the students, and everyone, including Ye Ci, turned to the owner of the voice.
She frowned and asked, “Xiangxiang, what do you mean?’
Cheng Xiangxiang crossed her arms and looked at the notice board with contempt and mockery. “I heard that someone cheated on the test, and the school is serious about the punishment. Ning Li was called to the office because of it. What do you guys think will happen?”
Confused, everyone looked at each other.
“Our class teacher even told Ning Li to call her parents. Lil Ci, why don’t you call home and ask your mom?” she continued.
The students then looked at Ye Ci.
Ye Ci did not say a word. Instead, she pulled Cheng Xiangxiang away. The two of them walked into a quiet corner, and Ye Ci took her phone out for a call.
The call got through after a few seconds, and Su Yuan’s voice sounded from the other end.
“Lil Ci?”
“Mom, did Sister Ning Li call you?” Ye Ci asked.
Surprised, Su Yuan asked, “No. What’s wrong?”
Ye Ci tightened her lips. “The school is investigating a cheating incident, and Sister Ning Li seems to be involved.”
