The slap caught everyone off guard. Jiang Yuxi was stunned, clutching his face in silence for a long time.
"Jiang Yuxi’s mother!" Ms. Li stepped forward to intervene. "We can talk this through calmly. Please, don't hit the child!"
"Talk calmly? How can we talk calmly?" Jiang’s mother was livid. She raised her hand again, prepared to strike.
"Honey!" Jiang’s father rushed forward to grab her hand. "Let’s get the facts straight first. Don't be so impulsive. Let Yuxi finish what he has to say!"
Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, Jiang’s mother finally spared Jiang Yuxi some shred of dignity. she lowered her arm and snapped, "Speak! Explain everything from start to finish!"
Jiang Yuxi kept his head bowed and did not answer.
After waiting for a long while without a response from her son, Jiang’s mother felt a mixture of shame and fury. Her chest heaved violently with every breath. "If you don't explain yourself today, I’ll keep hitting you until you do!"
With that, she looked around, grabbed a loose-leaf binder from a teacher's desk, and hurled it at Jiang Yuxi’s face.
The hard plastic corner struck Jiang Yuxi square on the forehead, leaving a distinct red mark on his skin.
"Hey! Hey! Calm down!"
Seeing that Jiang’s mother was about to throw something else, Jiang’s father quickly shielded Jiang Yuxi, pleading softly, "You can't hit him! You can't hit him! If you hurt the boy, you'll only regret it later, won't you?"
Jiang’s mother roared, "Get out of my way!"
Jiang’s father shook his head firmly. "Calm down. Leave this be. Let me handle it, alright?"
"Jiang Yuxi’s mother," Ms. Li said, picking up the binder from the floor. "Don't be so anxious. Even though the child did something wrong, he hasn't realized where his mistake lies yet. Why don't you let his father talk to him?"
Jiang’s mother eventually took Ms. Li’s advice. She gave Jiang Yuxi a resentful glare before turning and storming out of the office.
Lin Murun’s aunt had been startled by the mother's sudden outburst. She was supposed to work the night shift, but after receiving Director Tang’s call, she had immediately swapped shifts with a colleague and rushed to No. 1 High School. Witnessing such a farce only fueled her own irritation.
"What kind of person is that? Who is she throwing a tantrum at?" she muttered at the retreating back of Jiang’s mother.
"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Lin," Mr. Ma said apologetically.
"You should be apologizing to the child," Lin’s aunt said with a frown.
Mr. Ma patted Xu Haiyang on the back, signaling for him to say something.
"I’m... I’m sorry, Lin Murun." After witnessing Jiang’s mother’s explosive temper, the previously arrogant Xu Haiyang had shrunk back into a timid "quail" once more.
Lin Murun looked at Xu Haiyang and did not respond for a long time.
His features were exceptionally striking; even a passing glance in a crowd would leave a deep impression. Xu Haiyang remembered how he felt when he first received a photo of Lin Murun as a submission. The photo was clearly a candid shot; the photographer had likely been so nervous that their hands shook, blurring the background into a mess of pixels. There were many people in the frame, but as the operator of the Confession Wall, Xu Haiyang had noticed this boy with cold-white skin at a single glance.
The boy’s crow-feather lashes rested lightly over his tea-colored eyes, revealing an unrefined yet undeniable beauty under the corridor lights.
"Is he wearing makeup?" Xu Haiyang had wondered. "Or did the submitter intentionally find the perfect angle?"
Though Xu Haiyang had doubted Lin Murun’s looks, no matter how he looked at him now, Lin Murun appeared to be a well-behaved student. Even when silent, he was as quiet as the first snow falling in a bamboo forest—cool, serene, and entirely non-aggressive.
But today, Xu Haiyang’s impression of Lin Murun was completely overturned.
Lin Murun looked at him, and within those pale eyes was a chilling coldness that was startling to behold.
"Why did you do it?" Lin Murun finally asked.
Xu Haiyang had already prepared a mental script, coming up with various excuses to deflect responsibility. But meeting Lin Murun’s gaze, he suddenly felt as though he were being seen through.
"I..." Xu Haiyang stammered, "I wanted the engagement."
"And?" Lin Murun asked.
The youth’s tone was flat and his gaze wasn't aggressive, yet under his watch, Xu Haiyang found himself pouring out his inner thoughts bit by bit.
"And... and the money," Xu Haiyang’s voice grew smaller and smaller. "Jiang Yuxi gave me 800 yuan."
"You dared to spread rumors for just 800 yuan?" Mr. Ma said angrily. "Xu Haiyang, if he gave you 8,000, would you have been willing to take the fall for him?"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Xu Haiyang hung his head and didn't dare to reply.
"Did you never think about how that post would affect me?" Lin Murun asked, his eyes downcast.
Xu Haiyang opened his mouth, and after a long pause, finally managed a "I'm sorry."
"Young man, you must never do something like this again," Lin’s uncle sighed. "While we won't hold you legally responsible, we hope this serves as a lesson. Please explain the entire situation clearly on the Confession Wall and apologize to Murun publicly."
An apology would at most be embarrassing; it wouldn't cost him a limb. Besides, Jiang Yuxi was the mastermind behind this. No matter how one looked at it, Xu Haiyang wouldn't be the primary target of the fallout. Thinking this, Xu Haiyang breathed a sigh of relief and nodded hastily in agreement.
"I am a teacher myself, so I can understand your feelings," Lin’s uncle said to the teachers in the office. "No one feels good when something like this happens."
Director Tang nodded. "Now that everything is out in the open, why don't you wait a moment and hear Jiang Yuxi admit his mistake personally?"
"No need." Lin’s uncle patted Lin Murun’s shoulder. "Director Tang, we’ll be heading out now."
"Alright." Director Tang opened the office door for the Lin family. "Lin Murun is an excellent student, and the teachers all like him very much. What happened today was truly an undeserved misfortune."
Lin’s uncle smiled. "Young people sometimes lack a sense of propriety. Making a mistake isn't the end of the world."
"Then let's keep in touch," Director Tang said politely.
"Yes, let's keep in touch," Lin’s uncle nodded.
By the time the three of them left the office, classes had ended. Lin Qingqing had heard her parents were there and had been waiting outside the fourth-floor office as soon as her class was dismissed.
Hearing the door open, she turned around and cried out in surprise, "Dad! Mom!"
"Qingqing, why are you here?" Lin’s aunt asked.
"I heard about what happened to Brother..." Lin Qingqing frowned. "My classmates were all saying this would be hard to settle and that you were all called to the office."
"How big of a deal could it be?" Lin’s uncle laughed and turned to ask, "Right, Murun?"
"Mm," Lin Murun replied.
"As long as everything's okay!" Lin Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief. "The student running the Confession Wall was way too much. They just rumored that Brother cheated last night, and then changed their tune this afternoon!"
"Alright, alright." Lin’s aunt stepped forward to hug her, whispering, "Let's not talk about that. Your brother is upset."
Lin Qingqing looked at the silent Lin Murun, gave an "oh," and covered her mouth.
That night, Xu Haiyang stayed up late to write a full apology statement. In the statement, he released the complete chat logs and transfer records. He first glossed over his own mistakes with a self-reflection, then pointed the finger squarely at Jiang Yuxi from Liberal Arts Class 2. He even added his own conjectures and psychological insights, vividly narrating a story of how Lin Murun had kindly lent his exercise books only for Jiang Yuxi to become consumed by jealousy and stab him in the back. Finally, he attached the self-reflection letter Jiang Yuxi had written in the teacher's office. What should have been a simple apology was turned by Xu Haiyang into a long, emotionally charged essay expressing his own bias.
The students and teachers from other grades, who had been following the drama for days, saw the truth come to light and flocked to the comments to share their views.
Lin Murun’s name instantly spread across the WeChat Moments of the No. 1 High School students. Someone even dug up that blurry photo from the Confession Wall’s history and posted it under the pinned apology, excitedly asking for his contact information.
That night, Lin Murun received dozens of friend requests on QQ and WeChat. As soon as his phone connected to the internet, it vibrated incessantly with a stream of notifications. It was already past midnight. His roommate, Cheng Song, was snoring loudly. Fearing he might wake him, Lin Murun switched his phone to silent, set it aside, and continued solving problems.
In Jingshan Garden, just a wall away from No. 1 High School, Si Bin wasn't asleep either. He had just finished showering and walked into his study, drying his hair. He pulled his phone out from under Big White's belly.
He hadn't done any practice problems tonight, keeping a constant eye on the public opinion on the Confession Wall. Seeing that the comments under the apology were all speaking up for Lin Murun, the heart he had been holding in suspense finally settled.
"Bin-zai, are you asleep?" Chen Yi, the Student Council President, sent a message.
Si Bin replied: "No."
Chen Yi said: "I saw the apology on the Confession Wall. I just talked to Xu Haiyang. We’re taking the account back from him and finding other students from the Student Council to handle the operations."
"Mm," Si Bin said. "It’s definitely time for a change."
Chen Yi: "Xu Haiyang is quite an interesting character. That apology statement was probably written with someone's guidance. He played the emotional card and added his own imagination, basically scrubbing his own mistakes clean."
Thinking of Xu Haiyang’s personality and habits, Si Bin replied: "It’s also possible he wrote it himself."
Chen Yi asked tentatively: "Really? I thought it was your idea."
Si Bin’s hand paused while drying his hair. He replied: "I only provided him with the transcript and suggested he admit his mistake voluntarily."
Chen Yi sent an "oh" emoji and ended the conversation, claiming he had things to do. It was unclear whether he believed him or not.
Si Bin didn't care to explain further. He clicked on Lin Murun’s avatar and sent a message: "Everything is fine now. Get some rest early today."
Lin Murun’s phone had been on silent. By the time he noticed the message, it was already past two in the morning.
"Okay," he replied to Si Bin. "Thank you."
Surprisingly, Si Bin was still awake at this hour.
The "typing..." status appeared at the top of the chat box.
"You're not asleep yet?" Lin Murun asked.
"Mm," Si Bin replied quickly. "Doing some problems. Going to sleep soon."
Lin Murun smiled and said, "Then goodnight."
"Goodnight," Si Bin said. "Sweet dreams."
***
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