Zou Ying had prior knowledge of this situation but never expected Luo Yingbai to suddenly steal the show. She was momentarily shocked before reacting. She deliberately dawdled, seeing Zhao Qi sitting calmly, thinking he was prepared, but when she walked over, the note was still clutched in his hand – caught red-handed.
Fang Wei craned his neck to look: “Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk!”
Zou Ying was distressed.
Exam cheating would go on record, and if she caught Zhao Qi, Dean Wang would hold a grudge. If she didn’t catch him, Luo Yingbai had shouted so loudly that the hallway could hear – how could she not catch him?
Helplessly, Zou Ying asked Zhao Qi to explain: “Zhao Qi, what exactly happened?”
Fortunately, there were no cameras in this classroom, so he could say anything. Zhao Qi took a deep breath to calm himself and said, “Teacher, I didn’t cheat. This paper rolled over from Luo Yingbai’s side. I just picked it up and hadn’t even opened it.”
Zou Ying picked up the paper, unfolded it, and compared the handwriting with Luo Yingbai’s and Zhao Qi’s exam papers, saying, “The handwriting seems more similar to Luo Yingbai’s…”
Luo Yingbai quickly interjected, “But the paper was in Zhao Qi’s hand when discovered. Teacher, it seems we both have suspicions, and we can’t clarify this quickly without disrupting everyone’s exam. Why don’t we go to the office to discuss?”
Zhao Qi: “…I haven’t finished my exam.”
Luo Yingbai said, “It’s fine. I’m almost done. Let’s go.”
This was between the two of them, and as a teacher, Zou Ying couldn’t let the entire exam room fall into chaos. She had no choice but to call an intern teacher to watch over the class while she led Zhao Qi and Luo Yingbai to the main office.
“Teacher Yao said: “No, it was originally Teacher Zou’s responsibility, but there seemed to be two students accusing each other of cheating in the exam hall, so Zou went to handle it, and I’m watching temporarily.”
“This is outrageous. Exam discipline must be handled seriously.” Principal Yi frowned and asked, “Is there a student named Luo Yingbai in this exam? Let me see his exam paper.”
He had heard a lot about Luo Yingbai from Yi Yong and was curious about his exam paper.
Chapter 20: Principal Yi Saves the Day
Teacher Yao looked through the sign-in sheet and indeed found Luo Yingbai’s name. After glancing at the notes beside it, her expression became somewhat strange, and she didn’t dare say much as she pulled out an exam paper and handed it over.
Principal Yi unfolded the paper and silently praised the “beautiful handwriting” in his mind.
Luo Yingbai had used a fountain pen, writing in elegant cursive.
Principal Yi looked through several major questions and found them well-answered. However, he noted that the student was lazy, always using the minimum number of words possible to explain something, which explained why Yi Yong both admired and was frustrated with him.
When he flipped to the last major question, he noticed it was only half-completed, which was unusual given Luo Yingbai’s typical level and concise answering style.
“Was he asleep again?” Principal Yi tapped the paper. “Our exam time is quite tight?”
“Principal…” Teacher Yao said awkwardly, “This candidate is one of the two taken to the office for cheating. I’m not entirely clear about the specifics, but he only completed half the exam.”
Principal Yi was extremely surprised, his brow furrowing as he asked in a deep voice, “What is the name of the other student, and which office did they go to?”
After getting the answer, he immediately headed to Dean Wang’s office. The two male students from the classroom followed him hesitantly.
Principal Yi asked, “Do you have something to say?”
The ones following were Fang Wei and Deng Wanlin, both worried about Luo Yingbai and wanting to help. Fang Wei said, “Hello, Principal. We are Luo Yingbai’s roommates. We can testify that Luo Yingbai absolutely did not plagiarize!”
Deng Wanlin added, “That’s right! Zhao Qi falsely accused Yingbai of having cheat sheets. This is definitely a frame-up.”
Fang Wei remembered something else and quickly added, “Principal, Luo Yingbai submitted a project, but the name list changed to Zhao Qi’s. Maybe this is why Zhao Qi is framing him!”
They were desperate and happened to meet the principal, so they decided to say everything they could think of. If Principal Yi didn’t know Luo Yingbai, he would surely be displeased by such student intrigue. But now, after hearing just a few sentences, he was already convinced that Luo Yingbai, such a talented and good-tempered child, was definitely being wronged!
Principal Yi smiled kindly at them: “Okay, I understand the situation you’ve reported. I’ll go to the office and check.”
Deng Wanlin and Fang Wei were overjoyed, repeatedly thanking the principal. Even walking back to their dormitory, Fang Wei kept saying, “I never expected the principal to be so approachable. I feel like I’m dreaming. When he heard Yingbai was taken to the office, his expression was like someone was threatening his own son.”
Deng Wanlin responded, “But he’s so old, I hope he still has some fighting spirit… Our school is so gossipy.”
As the saying goes, popularity breeds controversy. Although Luo Yingbai wasn’t a big shot, being a trending topic was already something many ordinary people would envy. Soon after this incident, someone posted on Weibo accusing him of cheating.
The entire narrative was far from the truth.
They only said that Luo Yingbai was taken away by a teacher during the exam for cheating, didn’t finish his paper, and despite previously being praised as a talented campus heartthrob who made headlines for a rescue, was now exposed as a poser.
Once the Weibo post appeared, many people started commenting and criticizing.
The forum was noisy with all kinds of discussions, but Luo Yingbai knew nothing about it, as he was in the office listening to Dean Wang.
After Zou Ying brought Luo Yingbai and Zhao Qi to Dean Wang, she originally wanted to explain the situation, but was called out by a phone call before she could finish. Dean Wang, on the other hand, was friendly and trying to communicate with Luo Yingbai.
“Luo Yingbai, right?” Dean Wang smiled and said, “I’ve more or less understood what happened just now. Although you’re still students, you’re already in your early twenties. I can’t educate you like children. Let’s discuss things, and I have a thought I’d like to share with you.”
Luo Yingbai smiled and said, “Please go ahead, Dean.”
Seeing Luo Yingbai’s good attitude, Dean Wang felt more at ease and said, “Zhao Qi is my nephew, and I know him quite well. He’s been a good student since childhood and has never had such an incident in any exam. I believe he wouldn’t plagiarize. Besides, you’ve seen the handwriting on the cheat sheet – how similar it is to yours. I think we should handle it this way. It’s not easy to prepare for graduate school, and you’ll be a pillar of the nation in the future. The teachers will try to help you navigate this. This time, it’ll just be a verbal warning, no disciplinary record. What do you think?”
Dean Wang had instigated Zhao Qi to trouble Luo Yingbai but didn’t expect the matter to escalate like this. Now, his words sounded nice, but the actual meaning was to tell Luo Yingbai that he would definitely side with Zhao Qi and that Luo Yingbai should take the blame while he would try not to let him suffer too much.
Luo Yingbai said, “Dean, I understand. I know Zhao Qi is an excellent student, and he certainly wouldn’t need to cheat on such a simple exam.”
Luo Yingbai said, “But I’m also excellent. My score in the last final exam was even higher than his. Following that logic, you should believe that I wouldn’t cheat either.”
Dean Wang’s momentary relief was immediately cut short.
