When Yun Yuanfeng received a call from Yun Xi's homeroom teacher, he thought that Yun Xi had caused trouble at school.
After receiving the phone call, he realized that because Yun Xi had gotten first place, he'd been asked to go to school to tell other parents about Yun Xi's learning experiences and education.
He had been preaching those words on other occasions frequently, but it was the first time he would be preaching to other parents.
Ever since Yun Xi had come back, she'd really given him so many reasons to be proud.
He would be able to show off in front of all those parents today.
Yun Ziling and Yun Chuhan had never given him such pride.
He couldn't help but being filled with joy when he thought of the envy and admiration he would receive from the other parents.
Coincidentally, he'd also gotten another big project at work today, so he was having a lucky break.
After Yun Xi had gone to the Shen family's house, good things began to follow.
It seemed that this daughter had brought him much good fortune.
For the first parent meeting, no matter what, he couldn't let down his girl, otherwise she wouldn't be obedient in the future.
After class, Teacher Xu told Yun Xi the good news.
Her father had agreed, as she'd expected.
Her dad would never miss such an opportunity to show off.
When he comes, there will be a good show awaiting.
...
The parent meeting happened during the third period of the afternoon, and the parents arrived one after another. Yun Yuanfeng had never attended a parent meeting before, so he didn't know what time it was supposed to be.
All the other parents had arrived, but he was still nowhere to be seen, so the head teacher quickly called him.
As the parents arrived and the students were preparing to clear the venue, Yang Lu suddenly stood up.
"Mr. Xu, since there are parents who haven't arrived yet, we might as well wait. A rumor has been spreading throughout the entire grade today. Yun Xi got first place by cheating and stealing the exam paper. Shouldn't the school give all the students and parents an explanation?"
As soon as these words came out, the quiet classroom suddenly started buzzing.
The parents looked at their children and then at the teacher.
Finally, everyone unanimously turned to look at Yun Xi, who was sitting at the last table.
"Stealing exam papers and cheating, how can the school allow this to happen?"
"How can such a student stay in school after committing such a serious offense?"
"The person who got first place stole the exam paper? So then isn't it because of her that my daughter was squeezed to fourth place and lost the opportunity to enter the advanced class?"
"Such students must be dealt with seriously! Otherwise it will be unfair to other students!"
"..."
When it came to spots in the advanced class, parents became anxious and edgy. They all had grievances and were all very much dissatisfied.
In an instant, Yun Xi was swallowed up in the teeth of the storm and became the target of public criticism.
Liang Xiuqin glanced at Liang Xinyi and asked in a low voice, "Did she really steal the exam paper?"
Liang Xinyi nodded and smiled a little smugly. "The rumor has been spreading throughout the grade. It's okay to cheat, but if you stole the exam paper, you will get an academic dishonesty record."
Of course Liang Xiuqin understood the seriousness of the matter and sneered with contempt.
"It's a pity that her dad didn't come, otherwise he would see how good of a daughter she really is. If he ever saw such a shameful thing, he would definitely drive her back to the countryside!"
Teacher Xu glanced at the classroom. Parents stood beside each student, except for Yun Xi, who stood there all alone.
"Quiet! Parents must stay calm and quiet!"
Teacher Xu turned to look at Yang Lu, who was adding fuel to the flames.
"Yang Lu, do you have any evidence that Yun Xi stole the exam papers? The storage room was locked."
"I wouldn't talk nonsense if there was no evidence! Before the exam I saw her sneaking up to the academic administration office building alone, and she went back and forth several times. I thought it was because the teacher was looking for her, but later I found out that she had gone to the storage room. When the exam results came out, she had high scores in several subjects, so she must have peeked at the exam papers.
"There is no proof, so the teacher can't believe in your words alone. You said Yun Xi stole the exam papers, but what about the evidence?"
"I noticed that she had been looking for something for the past few days, so she must have left her stuff in the storage room."
"You said she stole the exam papers and was able to get in once, so couldn't she have gone in again to retrieve her stuff, instead of waiting for you to frame her?"
"Teacher, you forgot. A few days ago, the school's storage room was newly equipped with a password-locked anti-theft door. It's not that easy to get in any more."
Teacher Xu looked at Yang Lu, and suddenly he understood what was going on.
It seemed that what Zhao Yumo had said to him was true.
All the students in the class had been upset by Yun Xi's outstanding grades and had come together to frame her.
He glanced at the seemingly high-society lady sitting next to Liang Xinyi. Her daughter was being wronged, yet she appeared completely indifferent.
What a mother! She was truly negligent and irresponsible.
If he openly defended Yun Xi in front of so many parents, it would only make the students feel that he was being unfair and partial.
After pondering the situation, he glanced at Yun Xi, who had an impassive expression on her face.
"Since you are making these charges, you had better go to the storage room and search it again. If it is proved that Yun Xi did not cheat and you framed Yun Xi, then the school will mete out harsh penalties. You'd better think hard about this."
Yang Lu raised her chin with a resolute expression. "It's the truth, so I have a clear conscience."
Besides, the door was equipped with a coded lock, so one couldn't enter it without the code.
She didn't believe that Yun Xi would have been able to get in and retrieve the bracelet.
And even if she could have entered the room, she wouldn't have known in advance that they would frame her with a bracelet.
This time, Yun Xi was dead meat!
Given the hard evidence they had, it would be interesting to see how she could defend herself now.
As long as they could get her kicked out of the top advanced classes, no one in the class would hold against her what had happened at the beginning of school.
"Good!" Seeing her so confident, Teacher Xu sneered to himself. "Then let's go over there together."
The other parents and classmates also followed them in order to verify whether the accusations against Yun Xi were true.
Walking at the end of the group, Yun Xi saw Yun Yuanfeng rushing over.
"Dad, you're here!"
Upon hearing that, Liang Xiuqin and Liang Xinyi turned their heads abruptly, and their eyes were full of the pleasure they were taking in Yun Xi's problems.
"I think that he's Yun Xi's father. I've heard that he is the vice president of a big company and an extremely busy person."
"How did he raise such an excellent child?"
Many of these students' parents also worked in business, and not many of the busy parents were able to attend the parent meetings in person.
Liang Xiuqin listened to them talking about her husband, and their tones of admiration and envy made her proud.
She called him from a distance, "Husband, you are here."
It seemed that she desperately wanted everyone to know that she was the wife of Vice President Yun.
Sure enough, as soon as she spoke, many parents started gossiping about it.
Vice President Yun's wife, as in Yun Xi's mother?
Then why was she simply standing beside another female student while completely ignoring what was happening to Yun Xi?
Was she afraid of embarrassment, or...maybe she wasn't her birth mother?
The couple came to attend the parent meeting for their two "daughters" separately. What an unusually complicated relationship...
Yun Yuanfeng saw the crowd of parents and teachers as he approached. He thought they were there to welcome him, and he smiled unctuously.
"Sorry, sorry, I'm late!"
Teacher Xu stepped forward to shake hands with Yun Yuanfeng. "Hello, Mr. Yun, I am the homeroom teacher of Class 3, and my surname is Xu."
"Hello, Teacher Xu. I'm really sorry for being late and wasting everyone's time!"
"It's okay, the parent meeting hasn't started yet. At this time, there just happens to be something that needs to be dealt with first."
"This is..."
Yun Yuanfeng glanced at all the parents who were staring at him, then looked at the homeroom teacher in confusion.
"What happened?"
Before Teacher Xu could speak, Liang Xinyi rushed over to preemptively accuse Yun Xi.
"Uncle, Yun Xi stole the exam papers for the quiz, and she got first place by cheating."
"This...how is this possible!"
When Yun Yuanfeng heard that Yun Xi had stolen the exam papers and saw so many parents staring at him with questioning eyes, the huge smile on his face instantly vanished and his face grew dark.
"Yun Xi, what the h*ll is going on? You better explain yourself to me."
Yun Yuanfeng felt extremely embarrassed in front of so many parents.
When he'd heard that Yun Xi was in trouble, he got very nervous.
Yun Xi raised her head, and like a weak and pitiful child who was being bullied, she stared innocently at the angry Yun Yuanfeng.
"Dad, I don't know what's going on, but I didn't steal the exam paper."
Liang Xinyi erupted, "You and I both came from the countryside. The textbooks in the countryside are very different from those in Jingdu, and the questions are much more difficult here. If you didn't cheat, how could you get first place?"
Yun Xi felt momentarily at a loss for words as she glanced at Liang Xinyi. Then she shrugged. "You may be stupid, but that doesn't mean I'm not smart. How can you even begin to compare yourself with me?"
She sounded shocked, as if she couldn't possibly take a thick opponent like Liang Xinyi seriously.
Indeed, first place in the class and second-to-last place were worlds apart.
There was nothing wrong with such a rebuttal.
The classmates stared as they watched Liang Xinyi futilely trying to provoke Yun Xi, and they couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Wasn't this an example of crushing strength?
Even if she had indeed cheated by stealing the exam papers, the exam subjects for their junior year of high school weren't easy, and one couldn't get first place without some academic capabilities.
After all, compared with Yun Xi's score, even Li Sinuo's scores were much less impressive.
Even if someone tried to cheat and memorize the answers one by one, there was no guarantee that they would have gotten first place on the test.
That not only required a superhuman memory, but also academic merit.
"How dare you! Yun Xi, don't be so ridiculous. It was you who cheated by stealing the exam papers. If you hadn't cheated, you might have gotten last place in the class on the exam. So what are you gloating about?"
Yun Xi glared at Liang Xinyi with fierceness in her eyes.
"Yun Xi, tell me straight out, did you or did you not steal the exam papers?" Yun Yuanfeng didn't want to believe it, nor could he believe it.
"Dad, I didn't." Yun Xi raised her eyes coldly. Her eyes remained calm, and her tone was resolute.
Standing alone by the window, facing everyone with the whole crowd against her, she was resilient and calm.
She wasn't exasperated, nor did she appear guilty. She seemed completely at ease.
Just like the lotus blooming on the lotus pond, a single branch stands out among the dark green lotus leaves, a lonely and proud existence that was so sacred that no one could defile it.
"If you didn't, then why has everyone joined in to say that?"
At this moment, Yun Yuanfeng was only thinking about saving his own dignity and hadn't even considered how Yun Xi, his daughter, was feeling.
As a father, he didn't even have the most basic trust in his own daughter.
Yun Xi couldn't help feeling a little bit disheartened, and the warmth on her calm face gradually faded.
All that was left was contempt and indifference.
When Teacher Xu saw the father question his own daughter like that, he couldn't help but feel pity for the helpless Yun Xi.
"Mr. Yun, this is the situation. Some of her classmates said they saw Yun Xi steal the exam papers, but they have been saying this without any evidence. We are on our way to the storage room to find the evidence, to make certain that they haven't falsely accused Yun Xi."
"Then go quickly! She can't be wrongfully accused of such things."
Yun Yuanfeng's desperation and impatience were basically like walking right into Liang Xinyi and Yang Lu's trap.
The two looked at each other sneakily, the expressions on their faces full of pleasure and smugness.
When he arrived outside the storage room, Mr. Xu approached the person in charge and asked him to unlock the coded door.
"Yang Lu, you keep saying that you saw Yun Xi entering the storage room, so you can enter and look for it."
Teacher Xu turned his head and glanced at Yang Lu. Now that the situation had developed into such a farce, he might as well play along with her.
Yang Lu almost jumped with joy when she heard Teacher Xu call her out to go search for it
Before entering, Teacher Xu glanced at Yun Xi anxiously.
Yun Xi smiled indifferently. Her face was completely apathetic, and that made Teacher Xu a little worried.
After all, he knew there was incriminating evidence inside.
Teacher Xu hadn't taken the bracelet away, because he wanted to see if his star student was capable of handling the situation.
She would definitely run into similar incidents in the future. If she didn't handle it well this time, and she couldn't hold her own against these kind of schemes, then next time, she would fall into their trap again.
He'd also decided to seize this opportunity to discover the mental resilience of his outstanding student.
Sure enough, after a while, Yang Lu found the silver bracelet under a desk.
"Found it!" Standing up, Yang Lu turned to look at Teacher Xu, who was standing behind her looking gloomy.
"Teacher Xu, I found a bracelet, which seems to have a name on it."
"Whose name?"
"Yun Xi! The name on the bracelet is Yun Xi. This must be what Yun Xi has been looking for lately."
As soon as she'd found the bracelet, Yang Lu couldn't wait to get out of the storage room and hold the bracelet up for the crowd of parents to see.
"I found a bracelet. Yun Xi, is this your bracelet?"
Yang Lu held up the bracelet and looked at Yun Xi. "It has your name on it."
Before Yun Xi could speak, Liang Xiuqin rushed forward and snatched the bracelet.
She knew that this was the bracelet that Liang Xinyi had stolen without even having to look at it. She pretended to be shocked.
"Yun Xi, it was really you! You really stole the exam papers!"
Liang Xiuqin gave Yun Xi a disappointed look.
"Even if your grades were poor, you can't do something like stealing exam papers. You are so disappointing."
Yun Xi glanced at her mother coldly. Her pretentious mannerisms might fool others, but to her it all seemed too ironic.
"Mom, this bracelet used to belong to me. But my cousin stole it a long time ago. When she first came to Jingdu, she used the bracelet to pose as me. In order to enter the Yun family as me, my cousin even pushed me off a cliff. If it hadn't been for the kind people who saved me, I'm afraid I wouldn't have survived to come to Jingdu."
Since she was using the bracelet for her farce, how could Liang Xinyi not play a supporting role in it.
Since she was already under the bus, she might as well throw Liang Xinyi under the bus too, since she was the mastermind behind the scenes trying to get others to do the dirty work for her.
"Yun Xi! What nonsense are you talking? That's your stuff. What would I do with your stuff?"
When she heard Yun Xi throw her under the bus, Liang Xinyi immediately became anxious.
"I came to Jingdu just to see my aunt. You are my cousin anyway, so how could you make such a vicious accusation against me? If you did something wrong and can admit your mistakes, everyone will forgive you. Do you even have a conscience slandering me like this?"
"Mom, in regard to whether or not I'm vicious, you should ask Mr. Jiang to come over to clarify that. Did you forget that you just offended Mr. Jiang?"
"You wretched girl, why don't you just admit that you have done something wrong. Mr. Jiang is very protective of you, so of course he would take your word at face value."
Yun Xi smirked coldly and turned to look at Yun Yuanfeng. "Dad, you know who had this bracelet in their possession, right?"
Upon hearing this question, Yun Yuanfeng was at first caught off guard, but then he suddenly remembered that Liang Xinyi had in fact used this bracelet to come to Jingdu by pretending to be Yun Xi.
Afterward, the bracelet had always been in Liang Xinyi's hands, and Yun Xi didn't ask for it back.
Now it had suddenly appeared in the storage room. So wasn't it evident that Liang Xinyi was clearly framing Yun Xi?
Had Liang Xiuqin acknowledged Yun Xi as her daughter in the first place, he wouldn't have offended Mr. Jiang.
Upon thinking of all this, he realized what had been going on and how oblivious he had been.
Useless bastards! Always giving him trouble!
Yun Xi watched her dad give Liang Xinyi a vicious glare, and she curled her lips mockingly.
"Cousin, this bracelet has been in your hands. If anyone had stolen the exam papers from the storage room, that person would be you."
Tugging at her hem, Yun Xi chuckled lightly with a calm and indifferent expression on her face.
"You can't accuse me of stealing the exam papers just because the bracelet has my name on it, right?"
Liang Xinyi glanced at Yun Yuanfeng and shook her head guiltily. "I didn't! The bracelet is yours. I never took your stuff."
"Your own belongings have been found at the scene of a theft, but now you're trying to pin the blame on me. Yun Xi, you are too shameless!"
"Cousin, don't try to wipe your hands clean so fast. There will be a chance for you to explain yourself thoroughly later."
"What is there to explain? Don't change the subject. You stole the exam paper. You have to give everyone an explanation."
"I said I didn't steal anything. That bracelet has always been in your hands. What if I say you took the bracelet and threw it in there to frame me?"
Since she had indeed guessed correctly, Liang Xinyi immediately felt as if she were choking. She simply stared at her for a while, not knowing how to refute her.
She was afraid that Yun Xi would catch her in a lie if she said something wrong, and she was even more worried that she might accidentally reveal something by saying too much.
Since they were on the same side, when Yang Lu saw that Liang Xinyi had been rendered speechless by Yun Xi, she quickly stood up.
"Yun Xi, it wouldn't matter if you admitted that you did something wrong. Teacher Xu wouldn't have punished you. How can you pin the blame on your cousin now? Why can't you own up to your deeds?"
"I will own up to what I do, but as for what I don't do, don't even think about pinning the blame on me."
Yun Xi glanced at Yang Lu, this stupid pawn, and she sneered. Her eyes had a fierce and resolute expression.
Liang Xinyi tugged at the hem of Liang Xiuqin's clothes weakly. Since Yun Xi had refused to admit doing anything wrong, it could only be detrimental to her if this kept dragging on.
Of course, Liang Xiuqin knew that the bracelet had been planted by Liang Xinyi. She also wanted to see Yun Xi punished, so she naturally stood on Liang Xinyi's side unconditionally.
As long as the results were good, she didn't mind adding fuel to the flames.
"Wretched girl, how dare you try to ruin your cousin's reputation when you did something wrong. Have you become so horrible after learning the ways of the countryside?"
Liang Xiuqin stood up angrily and was about to reach out to pull on Yun Xi's arm, but Yun Xi dodged her easily.
Since she couldn't catch her, Liang Xiuqin's face grew sour.
"Wretched girl, if you stole it, you stole it. If you admit your mistakes, your dad and I can still intercede for you. But if you blabber such nonsense to ruin your cousin's reputation, I will discipline you when we get back home."
Yun Xi smirked coldly. "I didn't do it, so I won't admit guilt. But..."
She turned to look at Yang Lu, who was standing on the sidelines with pleasure at Yun Xi's embarrassment in her eyes, and then looked at Liang Xinyi, who appeared pathetic.
Stepping forward, she patted Yang Lu's arm hard.
Yang Lu was caught off guard and glared at her. "Why are you hitting me?"
Yun Xi snorted softly. How stupid. no wonder Liang Xinyi had chosen her as an accomplice to stab her in the back without getting her own hands dirty.
"I would like to ask you something. This bracelet jingles when you touch it. It was a bracelet I wore when I was a baby, and I had long ago outgrown it. It was a precious collectible item, so why would I carry it around with me instead of keeping it in my drawer? If I had really come in here and stolen the exam paper, wouldn't I hear it fall to the ground instead of waiting for your team to frame me? Don't you think such cr*ppy evidence is rather pathetic?"
Yang Lu was about to answer her when Yun Xi unceremoniously interrupted her.
"Even if I hadn't heard it drop, Yang Lu, you tell me, you said I entered the storage room. Where did I get in from?"
"Do you think I don't know? I watched you climb in."
With that, Yang Lu walked to the broken window, pointed to it, and said, "This window is broken! You can open it and climb in."
Yun Xi sneered and stepped forward, reached out to unlock the window lock, then turned to look at Yang Lu with a smug expression.
"It has no lock and is broken. Yes, you can actually climb in from here. Teacher Xu, remember to report to the school administration to change the window lock."
"Look! This is the evidence. Yun Xi, I think you should stop making excuses. If you stole it, you stole it."
"Don't worry, Yang Lu, if I'd stolen it, I wouldn't deny it. However, I want to ask you, do you know what the grudge between me and Liang Xinyi is all about?"
"What does the grudge between you two have to do with me?"
Yang Lu didn't know what Yun Xi was trying to achieve by stalling.
Besides, the evidence was in front of her and in front of so many parents, she wasn't afraid of anything now.