As soon as the apology statement and the transcript screenshots were posted, Xu Haiyang, the student responsible for operating the Confession Wall, was hauled into the office by his grim-faced homeroom teacher.
"It’s one thing to neglect your studies every day, but you actually dared to spread rumors?" The homeroom teacher of Science Class 10 had already learned the full story from Mr. Tang. She hadn't expected this usually well-behaved student to cause such a massive mess. Fearing she might be held responsible, she went straight to find Xu Haiyang the moment she stepped out of the grade director's office.
"I didn't spread rumors..." Xu Haiyang argued in a low voice, his head hanging low.
"Then you were a conduit for them!" The teacher pulled out her phone and called Xu Haiyang’s parents directly.
Twenty minutes later, after being thoroughly berated by his parents, Xu Haiyang finally emerged from the office. Dejected and preparing to go back to write a self-reflection essay, he ran into Si Bin at the classroom door.
"Bin-ge..." he complained, his eyes lifeless. "You lied to me. I almost got a formal demerit."
Si Bin glanced at him and said flatly, "If you hadn't confessed voluntarily, you really would have gotten one."
Xu Haiyang slumped against the corridor railing, looking like a wilted plant. "I didn't do anything except post the message. Aside from the self-reflection, there shouldn't be any other punishment, right?"
"Who was the person who submitted the post?" Si Bin asked.
Xu Haiyang kept his head down and didn't answer.
"You can take the initiative to tell Mr. Tang who the submitter was," Si Bin suggested. "After all, you’re just in charge of operating the Confession Wall. There’s no need for you to take the fall for someone who spreads rumors."
Xu Haiyang buried his face in his arms and let out a long sigh. "I don't know who it is either."
"Hmm?" Si Bin looked puzzled. "Didn't they submit it to you via QQ?"
"Yeah," Xu Haiyang looked up, his voice muffled. "But the account they used was a newly registered burner. I didn't plan on posting the chat logs originally. After all, it involved the City-Level Excellent Student evaluation and another student's reputation. If I got it wrong, I’d be implicated too—just like I am now..."
"And then?" Si Bin asked. "Why did you change your mind?"
"He said he was a student from Class 2." Xu Haiyang pulled out his phone, found the chat history, and held it out to Si Bin. "And he said he had solid evidence."
Si Bin took the phone and asked, "If he had evidence, why didn't he go to a teacher?"
Xu Haiyang stammered, unable to give a straight answer.
Si Bin scrolled through the chat logs and found the answer himself.
"You even took money from him?" Si Bin asked, frowning.
"It... it was just a submission fee," Xu Haiyang defended himself in a small voice, head bowed. "He said he definitely wasn't playing a prank. I figured if he was willing to pay a fee, it couldn't be fake. I mean... nobody would pay money just to cause trouble for themselves, right?"
Si Bin let out an ambiguous chuckle and handed the phone back to Xu Haiyang.
Xu Haiyang didn't dare look up.
"Why didn't you tell me about this part earlier?" Si Bin asked.
"I... I didn't dare..." Xu Haiyang stammered. "I was afraid of being seen as an accomplice..."
"Why weren't you afraid when you were taking the money?" Leaving him with that remark, Si Bin walked right past Xu Haiyang.
"Then... what do I do now?" Fearing that Si Bin was going to report him to Director Tang, Xu Haiyang forced himself to follow.
"Go to Mr. Tang yourself and explain the whole story," Si Bin said coldly.
Xu Haiyang said in disbelief, "No way! Bin-ge, don't screw me over!"
"Am I the one screwing you over?" Si Bin turned around, narrowing his eyes as he looked down at the trembling Xu Haiyang.
"In the information age, it’s not hard to find the submitter. He certainly won't help you hide the fact that you took a submission fee."
Xu Haiyang’s face slowly turned red from nerves. After a moment of silence, Si Bin said, "Explain it yourself, or wait for him to throw you under the bus. Your choice."
It was dinner time, and many students were standing in the corridor. The two of them hadn't made a deliberate effort to avoid others, and several students noticed the situation, casting inquisitive glances their way.
Being watched by so many people, Xu Haiyang was so ashamed he wanted to find a hole to crawl into.
Si Bin waited for a while, and when he didn't hear a response, he turned to leave.
"Wait!" Xu Haiyang’s trembling voice came from behind him. "I... I’ll go find Mr. Tang right now."
During evening self-study that day, Lin Murun and Jiang Yuxi were called to the fourth-floor office together.
"Teacher, you wanted to see me?" Lin Murun knocked and entered the office, only to find it crowded. Besides several teachers, his uncle and aunt were also there.
Lin Murun was stunned. "Uncle, Aunt, why are you here?"
Hearing Lin Murun’s voice, his uncle quickly beckoned him over. "Runrun, come here."
As Lin Murun walked into the office, he noticed a middle-aged couple sitting in the corner. Before he could get a clear look at them, Jiang Yuxi, who was behind him, spoke up: "Dad, Mom, why are you here?"
The two in the corner looked up and gestured for Jiang Yuxi to come over as well.
"Now that everyone is here, let’s clear this matter up face-to-face." Mr. Tang closed the office door and said to the Class 10 homeroom teacher, "Ms. Ma, you go first."
"Cheating?" Lin Murun’s aunt gasped in shock, immediately retorting, "That’s impossible, teacher! Our boy would never do such a thing!"
Ms. Ma nodded and explained, "Yes, we believe he didn't cheat. Please don't be upset; we didn't ask the parents here today to criticize Lin Murun."
Lin Murun’s aunt frowned as Ms. Ma continued, "From the drafting of the questions to the grading of the papers for this exam, our school's teachers were not involved. Therefore, there was no possibility of the questions being leaked beforehand."
Lin Murun glanced sideways at Jiang Yuxi and found him standing quietly in the corner, still maintaining his persona of a well-behaved, top student. There wasn't a trace of the panic one might expect from someone about to be exposed.
"We also reviewed the surveillance footage from the two days of the exam and confirmed that Lin Murun did not engage in any cheating," Ms. Ma said. Then, with a look of guilt, she added, "However, a student from our class spread rumors about Lin Murun cheating without any evidence, which has affected his studies and life. This is our fault, and we are truly sorry. We will definitely strengthen our students' moral education in the future."
"This..." Lin Murun’s uncle hadn't expected this turn of events. He paused, then asked, "Which student is Xu Haiyang? Why would he do such a thing?"
"I'm... I'm sorry, sir. It was me." Xu Haiyang shrank behind Ms. Ma, his voice barely a whisper.
The uncle asked in surprise, "Young man, you must know how much of an impact spreading rumors would have on Runrun. Why did you do it?"
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry!"
Facing the reproachful gazes of the parents and teachers, Xu Haiyang was so nervous his lips were trembling slightly.
"I really didn't mean to! He was the one who said it!" Xu Haiyang pointed at Jiang Yuxi, who had remained silent until now, and argued, "He said he had evidence of Lin Murun cheating on the exam, and he even gave me money, telling me I had to post the message!"
In an instant, everyone’s eyes were focused on Jiang Yuxi.
"How could that be?" Jiang’s father quickly stepped forward, explaining to Lin Murun’s uncle, "Mr. Lin, our son would absolutely never do something like this."
"It was him!" Xu Haiyang raised his voice. "He registered a burner QQ account and told me the news about Lin Murun cheating. If you don't believe me, look!" He frantically pulled out his phone and unlocked it with trembling fingers. "Look! I have the chat logs right here!"
Compared to Xu Haiyang, Jiang Yuxi appeared exceptionally calm. He glanced at the chat interface Xu Haiyang had pulled up and asked, "What evidence do you have that the burner account belongs to me?"
Mr. Xia looked at Jiang Yuxi and nodded. "There is such a matter."
"Teacher, there might be an issue with how I expressed myself," Jiang Yuxi argued. "Because I had seen that specific question in Lin Murun’s after-class exercises before, I felt there was some 'fluff' in his score. I never said he cheated on the actual exam."
"Jiang Yuxi." Lin Murun, who hadn't spoken until now, finally opened his mouth.
"In the entire class, only you and I have seen the original version of that multiple-choice question," he said in a calm tone.
Jiang Yuxi’s temper flared at Lin Murun’s tone. He let out a cold laugh and asked, "What? Are Top Student Lin’s exercises really that niche? Can you guarantee that no one else besides the two of us has ever done that question?"
"I can't guarantee that no one in the entire grade has done it, but I can at least guarantee that in the two experimental classes, only you and I saw that question before the test," Lin Murun reminded him. "You seem to have forgotten that the after-class exercises from the Affiliated High School of A University are generally not distributed externally."
Jiang Yuxi froze for a moment, then quickly tried to quibble. "So what? Problems from the Affiliated High School of A University aren't top-secret documents. If you could get the original questions, why couldn't someone else?"
"He wasn't the one who got them," Director Tang spoke up. "That workbook belongs to Si Bin."
"Exactly!" Xu Haiyang suddenly found his second wind. He pointed at Jiang Yuxi and mocked, "Si Bin has a lot of friends, so naturally he can get exercises from other schools. What about you? Do you have that kind of capability? You don't even have the courage to admit it after making a mistake!"
"Xu Haiyang!"
After receiving a sharp glare from Ms. Ma, Xu Haiyang immediately fell silent.
"Jiang Yuxi." Lin Murun looked at him. "You seem to have forgotten that I wasn't the only one who saw that advanced question before the exam."
Meeting Jiang Yuxi’s paling face, Lin Murun said, "You saw the original question before the exam too. Strictly speaking, your score also has some 'fluff' in it."
"That’s different! I already admitted it voluntarily!" Jiang Yuxi raised his voice to excuse himself.
"When did you admit it?" Lin Murun asked. "Was it when the exam ended, or after the scores and rankings were announced?"
"I..." Jiang Yuxi was stunned into silence.
Seeing that he still wanted to say something, Mr. Xia spoke up. "Jiang Yuxi, you can lie to others, but you can't lie to yourself. I remember exactly what you said to me that day."
Jiang Yuxi opened his mouth, but in the end, he said nothing more.
"How did this turn into another matter entirely?" Jiang’s father asked anxiously. "What does this mean? Did Lin Murun and my son share a geography workbook before?"
"We didn't share it," Lin Murun explained. "I borrowed that workbook from a friend. Jiang Yuxi took the initiative to suggest we study together."
"Then what’s this about seeing the original question before the exam? Does it have anything to do with this midterm?" Jiang’s mother, who had been silent, finally asked.
"It’s like this," Mr. Xia explained to both sets of parents. "To broaden the students' knowledge, I included an advanced question in a geography quiz. That question happened to come from the Affiliated High School of A University’s exercises. Before the quiz, both Lin Murun and Jiang Yuxi had done the original version of that question."
Lin Murun’s uncle understood. "That’s just a coincidence, then. How can that be called cheating? A child doing exercises can't possibly predict the future!"
Jiang Yuxi kept his head down in silence, saying nothing.
"This kid..." Jiang’s father smiled apologetically at Lin Murun’s uncle. "I'm so sorry. This is my son’s fault. I’ll definitely give him a good talking-to when we get home."
"But what does this have to do with cheating on the midterm?" Lin Murun’s aunt asked with a frown.
"I didn't!" Jiang Yuxi said angrily. "You’re slandering me!"
"Why would I bother slandering you?" Xu Haiyang suddenly got angry. "I already said I don't take these kinds of submissions, but you insisted you had solid evidence and even stuffed money in my hand!"
"I didn't take the initiative to stuff it! You were the one who said posting these kinds of submissions requires a fee!" Jiang Yuxi was so agitated that he shouted the words before realizing what he had just admitted.
"See!" Seeing the conflict successfully shift, Xu Haiyang shed his previous cowardly demeanor. He seized the key point and shouted, "You just confessed!"
"I never did such a thing!" Jiang Yuxi’s face turned bright red. He looked around at the parents and teachers, who all had varying expressions, and struggled to defend himself. "I do hate Lin Murun, but I have no reason to do this! What benefit would I get from throwing mud at him?"
"You’ll have to ask yourself that." Lin Murun looked at him expressionlessly and said coldly, "Jiang Yuxi, from middle school until now, you really haven't improved one bit."
"Jiang Yuxi," Mr. Tang said gravely. "If you don't want people to know, don't do it. If I hadn't gathered solid evidence, I wouldn't have called your parents today."
Jiang Yuxi wanted to say more, but he was silenced by a slap from his mother that left him seeing stars.
"You little bastard!" his mother cursed. "Puppy love in middle school, and now spreading rumors in high school! I should have sent you back to the old hometown back then to save us from this public embarrassment!"
***
