novelraw Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Chapter 31
The two entered the classroom and called the vice president out.
Xu Feifei handed her the small recorder and told her to put it in her pocket.
Liu Wenjie instructed: "Vice president, in a moment after you call her out, get straight to the point and tell her to turn herself in. Say that Xu Feifei and Liu Wenjie might have already found something, and if she doesn't confess it'll be too late. See what she says."
The vice president nodded timidly: "Okay, I'll go now."
Xu Feifei interjected at this point: "Wait, one more thing—while you're at it, ask her why she framed me and not the class president, Liu Wenjie. What did I do to make her dislike me so much?"
Liu Wenjie gave Xu Feifei a sidelong look of disdain: "What kind of question is that?"
But Xu Feifei had her own idea: "Just ask like that, go on, go on."
The vice president didn't understand, but she had already done something wrong and naturally obeyed, clutching the recorder as she walked over.
Seeing Liu Wenjie's unfriendly gaze, Xu Feifei hurried to explain her thoughts:
"Your eyes look so scary! I'm just honestly curious, okay? There are only three people in the class who manage discipline. The vice president basically doesn't get involved, so usually it's you and me handling it. Logically speaking, you've annoyed her at least as often as I have, yet she only framed me—that's too weird. I still can't figure it out."
Liu Wenjie flicked Xu Feifei on the forehead; she yelped in pain.
This time, though, she didn't talk back—after all, the question she'd told the vice president to ask was pretty odd.
Liu Wenjie pointed to a distant corner: "Let's go hide there and eavesdrop."
Xu Feifei nodded, but after two steps she suddenly spoke: "Liu Wenjie, if the one who'd been framed back then had been you, I'd definitely have helped you too. Really, I swear."
Liu Wenjie didn't look back, giving a soft snort: "If I'd been the one framed, I'd have settled it myself that very day. I wouldn't have let these idiots push me around."
Xu Feifei figured that was true—this guy really was impressive.
Then she realized: "Wait, does that mean you're saying I'm even worse than those idiots?!"
Liu Wenjie wanted to laugh: "Pretty much."
Though they bickered, Liu Wenjie didn't doubt Xu Feifei's words.
This little brat's upright nature was plain to see. She'd been opposing him since kindergarten, yet even now she was completely aboveboard, even stepping up for him when others bad-mouthed him behind his back.
Liu Wenjie liked that kind of character—though it didn't stop him from disliking Xu Feifei herself; she was way too noisy.
They hid in the corner.
Soon the vice president also called Jiang Rao out alone.
Though she had framed Xu Feifei, Jiang Rao clearly hadn't been having an easy time these past two days. When the vice president called her out her face was deathly pale, as if she'd anticipated something.
The vice president said to Jiang Rao: "Jiang Rao, I feel like we can't keep that matter hidden. Why don't we go to the teacher on our own? Maybe the homeroom teacher will forgive us. Xu Feifei and the class president have been investigating these days; I keep feeling they've already found something."
Jiang Rao wanted to speak but stopped herself.
She only managed: "Damn it."
Seeing Jiang Rao not answering, the vice president asked the question Xu Feifei had told her to ask:
"By the way, Jiang Rao, there's something else I want to ask—why did you frame Xu Feifei? Is it because she always writes your name on the blackboard? But the class president does the same thing, so why did you only frame Xu Feifei?"
Who could have known that the moment this question was asked, Jiang Rao suddenly lost her temper without warning, tears appearing in her eyes.
"What are you asking?! What do you mean the class president does the same thing? How could I frame the class president! The class president is so nice! So nice to me!"
The vice president didn't understand; even Xu Feifei and Liu Wenjie hiding in the distance didn't understand.
The vice president said in confusion: "Nice to you? How? The class president isn't even nice to you, is he?"
"How could he not be nice! The class president is perfect in every way! He wrote my name on the blackboard because I broke the rules, and that's what should happen! What right does Xu Feifei have?!"
"Ah?" The vice president blinked—what was she talking about?
Jiang Rao said angrily: "You asked me why I only framed Xu Feifei, right? I'll tell you—I just can't stand the sight of her! I simply can't stand her! I don't like the way she looks at the class president! I don't like how she acts cutesy toward him!"
In the corner, Xu Feifei's face turned red—c-cutesy? Toward Liu Wenjie?! What the hell!
Jiang Rao clenched her fists and laughed at herself through her tears: "I knew this would come out sooner or later. Because the class president helped Xu Feifei investigate, as long as the class president helps, this matter definitely can't stay hidden. But I don't understand why the class president would help her—Xu Feifei is so annoying..."
Her tears pitter-pattered down. She suddenly squatted on the ground and burst into loud sobs: "I just don't understand why the class president is so nice to her, I don't understand." The more she spoke, the harder she cried.
Xu Feifei, who'd been inwardly complaining moments ago, looked at Jiang Rao's utterly heartbroken expression.
Even at her young age, she seemed to realize something.
Because girls are born knowing how to be jealous, especially when something irreplaceable is taken by someone else.
She looked at Liu Wenjie, her small face flushed with embarrassment: "Liu Wenjie, this..."
But Liu Wenjie, after hearing those words, only looked utterly confused: "What is she talking about?"
In Liu Wenjie's eyes, this was just a kid more than twenty years younger than him throwing a tantrum because he'd played with someone else.
It was annoying just to hear.
Xu Feifei gave him a look as if he were an idiot, narrowing her eyes: "Sometimes you're not that smart either."
Unsurprisingly, he flicked her forehead again, and Xu Feifei yelped in pain.
Hearing the sound, Jiang Rao looked up.
By now there was no point hiding, so Xu Feifei and Liu Wenjie both walked out.
Seeing the two of them standing together, Jiang Rao's eyes trembled and her crying only intensified.
That morning, Jiang Rao, the vice president, and Xu Feifei went together to the homeroom teacher and told the whole truth.
The usually scholarly homeroom teacher exploded on the spot—he'd been investigating this matter himself, checking surveillance and questioning students, though obviously not as fast as Liu Wenjie and Xu Feifei.
Very soon, all three sets of parents arrived at the school. Faced with the exposed truth, the parents of the vice president and Jiang Rao were utterly ashamed to show their faces.
Jiang Rao's parents especially, who had at first denied everything, found their daughter no longer willing to hide it, insisting that she had been the instigator.
Only then did they shamefacedly apologize to Xu Feifei's family in the office.
The students were given demerits.
In the afternoon the homeroom teacher held a class meeting, sternly addressing the consequences of the incident and clearing Xu Feifei's name.
"The impact of this incident is extremely negative! Especially since before the facts came out, rumors in our class had already spread—each of you knows how far they went! I hope nothing like this ever happens again!"
For a moment those in the class who'd spread rumors about Xu Feifei felt deeply ashamed.
And Xu Feifei, sitting quietly in the classroom after her grievances had been washed away, was uncharacteristically silent, her little face flushed. Though happy, she was also thinking about something.
That evening after school, Xu Feifei sat on her bed hugging a plush toy, talking to herself:
"Jiang Rao actually... likes that annoying guy? The reason she targeted me was because she thought I liked him too? What was she thinking?"
Xu Feifei's face grew redder and redder; steam seemed to rise from her head as she buried it in the plushie: "We're still so young—how could I possibly have that kind of feeling for that guy? Jiang Rao must've gone crazy..."
As she spoke, she suddenly spotted someone's jacket beside her. She pursed her lips slightly, took the jacket into her arms, and gently sniffed the sweet scent at the tip of her nose.
"I totally don't have that kind of feeling for that annoying guy—I just want to be good friends with him... just good friends..."