LWDC Chapter 64

Chapter 64 – Lies

Chapter 64 – Lies

Chapter 64 – Lies

Just as Ning Fei expected, the Ji family actually didn’t know that Ji Xingzhe wasn’t attending English class today, let alone what had happened to Ning Fei at the school.

Zhu Yueting also followed up with confusion: “Xiao Zhe, didn’t you say you were going to have your family investigate the situation? Doesn’t your brother know?”

“I…” Having such a “teammate,” Ji Xingzhe’s expression was almost strained beyond repair. Fortunately, his brain could still barely function, and he quickly said, “I didn’t have time to tell my brother.”

It sounded barely reasonable, but uttering this lie at this place and at this moment was still very risky. It was unclear whether Ji Xingzhe was exceptionally bold or simply couldn’t think of any other way out.

Ji Yuechi said, “So, Xiao Zhe, you just didn’t want to attend the extra tutoring?”

Sensing that Ji Yuechi was about to be swayed by Ning Fei, Zhu Yueting preemptively explained before Ning Fei could, “Brother Yuechi, Xiao Zhe didn’t skip class to play! It’s because this Teacher Ning helped Lin Shengjia cheat on the exam that Xiao Zhe doesn’t want him to tutor him!”

Upon hearing this, Ji Yuechi walked down the stairs, looking at Ning Fei with a stern expression: “You helped a student cheat?”

“I did not.” Ning Fei looked directly at Ji Yuechi. “He’s just a top student named Lin Shengjia who was in a bad state at the beginning of the semester, and his grades plummeted all the way to failing. Recently, his monthly exam scores have recovered to just barely passing. Although I happen to live near him, does that mean I helped him cheat?”

Zhu Yueting chimed in from the side, “It’s not just living close, is it? Dare you say you didn’t tutor him?”

“Of course I tutored him in English, but I also gave Ji Xingzhe extra lessons.”

“Can he compare to Ji Xingzhe? His English is only 28!”

“Lin Shengjia was admitted fairly and squarely, and he recovered to 65 points on the most recent monthly exam. He’s not always going to score only 28.” Ning Fei looked at Zhu Yueting, earnestly saying, “Even if Lin Shengjia did score 28 before, shouldn’t those of you who can score high marks, Ji Xingzhe who can be in the top three, as classmates, help him? Even if you don’t help him, you shouldn’t laugh at him, let alone suspect him of cheating when he finally pulls himself together again. You must know that this kind of behavior of suppressing other students is already considered school bullying!”

In this era, the term “school bullying” wasn’t yet widely known, but it was still easily understood. Zhu Yueting was blocked by Ning Fei’s “righteous argument.” She wanted to argue, but the moral high ground had been seized, and she couldn’t maintain her self-righteous state. She muttered, “Easy to say, but you were still interviewed and punished by the vice-principal…”

“To be precise, I went to cooperate with the investigation and agreed not to spread the news before the final results are out.” Ning Fei’s gaze swept over her and Ji Xingzhe, slowly saying, “But it’s very strange that, even though the investigation hasn’t ended, I just came out of the vice-principal’s office, and Ji Xingzhe came to say he didn’t want me to tutor him anymore. How coincidental, isn’t it?”

Ji Yuechi looked at his younger brother: “You knew he was being investigated?”

Ji Xingzhe didn’t want to answer, but with three pairs of eyes staring at him, he could only bite the bullet and reply, “Well, everyone saw Teacher Ning and Lin… the student being called to the vice-principal’s office.”

Ning Fei thought to himself that Zhu Yueting had already spilled the beans, and you’re still hiding it, pretending to be innocent. So Ning Fei directly said, “Ji Xingzhe, perhaps you’ve forgotten what I told you the day before yesterday—I only told you about me living near Lin Shengjia. And the so-called evidence of me ‘helping him cheat’ that the school presented is only that I live near Lin Shengjia.”

Zhu Yueting actually became anxious at this moment, jumping out to question, “I think Lin Shengjia has been spreading everywhere that you live close and that you tutor him every day!”

Seeing her like this, Ning Fei basically confirmed that the person who reported it should be this girl herself, calmly replying, “Ever since Lin Shengjia was assigned to the new class in the second year of high school, his grades plummeted, and everyone in the class intentionally or unintentionally isolated him. He doesn’t even have a friend to talk to, so who would he tell? Zhu Yueting, you keep saying that we live close, so who did you hear it from?”

“…” Zhu Yueting didn’t dare to answer, but her eyes unconsciously wandered towards Ji Xingzhe.

“No matter who the informant is, it is the school’s responsibility to verify and handle it, and it has nothing to do with the informant.” Ji Yuechi came forward to block the conversation, obviously already tacitly acknowledging that the “informant” was his younger brother’s group of kids. He easily changed the subject, saying, “If there’s really only the fact that you live close, then that’s not much evidence. Why hasn’t the investigation yielded results yet?”

“Good question, I’d also like to know why.” Ning Fei lowered his eyes, smiling softly. “Even though there’s no evidence, Lin Shengjia and I still have to be called in for long talks and continue to cooperate with the investigation. And it was agreed that it would be a secret investigation, and Lin Shengjia’s reputation would not be affected before the results were out. Yet we were still openly slandered like this. Why? Perhaps because Lin Shengjia’s parents are just ordinary workers, and I’m an orphan.”

He kept mentioning Lin Shengjia, which made Ji Xingzhe panic, and he had no intention of interjecting.

Ji Yuechi narrowed his eyes: “Teacher Ning, you don’t have to imply that our Ji family is using our power to oppress people. We don’t know anything about this.”

“I didn’t say that the Ji family did anything to Lin Shengjia and me.” Ning Fei raised his eyes to look at him. “I just think it’s a pity that Lin Shengjia is being suspected of cheating just because he improved to barely passing.”

“The clear are clear.” Ji Yuechi said, “If you really didn’t cheat, you shouldn’t be afraid of being investigated.”

Zhu Yueting even echoed, “That’s right, that’s right.”

“‘The clear are clear’ is such a laughable statement.” Ning Fei glanced at the area above Ji Yuechi’s back, lightly pushed his glasses, and sneered, “We didn’t do something, but we’re being slandered for doing it. But others can’t produce evidence that we did it, and they insist that we produce evidence that we didn’t do it. Are we just supposed to fall into this ‘self-proving trap’? Now, even in criminal cases, they emphasize presumption of innocence, but at school, they’re practicing presumption of guilt, no, it’s fabricating something out of nothing. Are we just supposed to suffer this injustice because we’re poor and powerless? Then what if I say there’s also something wrong with Ji Xingzhe’s high scores? Is anyone investigating his truth?”

Zhu Yueting retorted, “But Xiao Zhe’s grades have always been very good!”

Ning Fei looked at him, then stared at Ji Xingzhe: “Does always being like this mean it’s true?”

Ji Xingzhe had a feeling of being seen through, and he was so frightened that his whole body stiffened unconsciously. Seeing him like this, Ji Yuechi’s temper gradually flared up, and he frowned: “As Xiao Zhe’s teacher, how can you say such a thing…”

“Then what should I say?” Ning Fei smiled. “Just because I’m a teacher, I have to swallow my anger no matter what the students say? Just because I’m here, I deserve to be surrounded and condemned by a group of you and be treated like a show?”

When he said the last half of the sentence, he looked upstairs again. The other three also turned their heads, only to see two people standing at the top of the stairs at some point—Duan Yunhong and Ji Zhenwei.

Ji Xingzhe’s expression was obviously more flustered. He didn’t know how long these two had been listening upstairs, or what they had heard: “Dad, Uncle…!”

“Xiao Zhe, is this the real reason you said you weren’t going to tutoring today?” Ji Zhenwei went downstairs first. “No matter what the reason, you should tell me the truth.”

Ji Xingzhe had prepared for this question, so he replied, “I was a little worried… After all, I was the one who suggested that Teacher Ning tutor me.”

“You’re still young. If you have any thoughts or questions, just raise them, and the adults will be responsible for verifying and handling them.” As Ji Zhenwei spoke, he looked at Ning Fei. “Right, Teacher Ning?”

“Yes, very right.” Ning Fei thought to himself, 17 years old is still young?, and answered casually, “Ask clearly if you have any questions, and then wait for the verified answer. Don’t make wild guesses about the results, let alone spread the wrong answers everywhere, otherwise it’s lying. It’s not good for children to lie, right, Mr. Ji?”

“It seems that such a small matter has had a significant impact on Teacher Ning, to the point that you had to come to our door to demand an explanation.” Ji Zhenwei was no greenhorn. He wouldn’t follow Ning Fei’s words and fall into his verbal trap. “Then how about this? After the school finds out the results, if you really didn’t cheat, then our Ji family will give you some mental compensation, how about that? Correspondingly, Teacher Ning is so easily emotional, so it’s really not suitable for you to tutor Xiao Zhe. I, on behalf of the Ji family, confirm that you don’t have to come and help anymore from now on, okay?”

The way he said it made it seem like Ning Fei had come to demand compensation. However, the Ji family always keeps their eyes on their own benefits. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have marginalized their own son if he didn’t do well.

And when Ji Zhenwei made this statement with a condescending attitude, Duan Yunhong just stood behind him and listened, without saying a word. He was purely watching the show.

Ning Fei never expected that nemesis to help, and continued to respond calmly, “Mr. Ji, the one who’s most hurt by the rumors is not me, but Ji Xingzhe’s classmate – Lin Shengjia. But you’re right, this matter should be investigated and handled by the school, and the school should be the one to explain it after the investigation, not the informant to apologize and compensate. So when I talked to the school, I only said that I wanted the school to take full responsibility for this matter.”

He paused, and then said, “I didn’t originally intend to pursue who the informant was, or what I would do to the informant. I’m saying this here because your son and your son’s classmates, just because they saw me standing here, came to accuse me of cheating without any explanation. I’m not deaf or mute, can’t I refute them?”

Ji Zhenwei quickly grasped the key point: “Then what exactly did you come here for today? Xiao Zhe told you not to come, but you came anyway, of course he’ll find it strange.”

Ning Fei said: “Passing by.”

Ji Xingzhe and Zhu Yueting: “…Huh?”

Ning Fei finally looked at Duan Yunhong: “Director Duan, if you’re not going to explain things clearly, it seems I really have to stay away from the Ji family.”

Duan Yunhong’s identity now is a legitimate member of the Ji family. He was “threatened” by Ning Fei, and finally stood up and said, “Okay, actually I brought him here.”

Ji Zhenwei looked at him: “You?”

“I brought him to do something. I came here first to talk to Big Brother about something, and let him wait in the living room.” Duan Yunhong said, “I know he’s being investigated by the school for cheating. To be honest, it’s quite humorous. It’s just a small monthly exam. If he really helped that poor and powerless Lin Shengjia cheat, and only cheated him to just pass, what was he trying to gain?”

Zhu Yueting remembered Qin Ran’s words, and immediately replied, “If the teachers at our school teach well, they can still have a promising future!”

“Ha.” Duan Yunhong laughed dismissively. “If he came to me as a translator, his daily salary would be equal to his monthly salary. Even so, he’s willing to stay at school as a teacher instead of coming to my company to work. You still say it’s for the future?”

Ji Zhenwei narrowed his eyes slightly: “He’s your translator? Isn’t your English very good? Is it necessary?”

“Just translating for other people in the industry. And he can argue in English to the level he just did, saving those foreigners from being annoying.” As Duan Yunhong spoke, he looked at Ji Xingzhe, “Speaking of which, I have to thank my little nephew. If it weren’t for your birthday party, I wouldn’t have met such a talent like Teacher Ning. I even personally picked him up last Friday to persuade him to help me.”

Ji Xingzhe suddenly remembered something.

“That black car… was it yours, Uncle?!”

Lin Shengjia also got into that car, and Uncle saw Lin Shengjia!