Qin Jiao's hometown was Three Families Village, a long way from the county seat. At this hour, there were no buses running from the village to town, and if they took an ox-cart, they wouldn't arrive until that evening.
Li Mei certainly had no intention of inviting Qin Jiao's parents to dinner, much less paying for them to stay at a guesthouse. But the thought of letting the girl off so easily left her deeply dissatisfied.
'What if the Shen Family holds me accountable later? What if this brings the school some kind of negative attention!'
She said, "Fine. You're coming with me to the principal's office!"
After speaking harshly to Qin Jiao, Li Mei turned to Shen Yi with a fawning expression. "Shen Yi, would you have a moment to come with me?"
To one, she was the dead of winter; to the other, a gentle spring breeze.
Li Mei was putting her double standard for students on full display.
Shen Yi's eyelids lifted slightly, and he did her the courtesy of nodding.
Qin Jiao, however, froze, unable to stop herself from turning to glance at Shen Yi.
'Why is he acting so strange? In her past life, she remembered Li Mei asking him just as cautiously, only to be met with the hot-tempered young master's cold, retreating back.'
'And yet today, he'd readily agreed?'
Li Mei, however, was delighted. She felt respected by Shen Yi and couldn't suppress a surge of smugness.
Her mind was already racing, plotting how to pin all the blame for the incident on Qin Jiao.
Meanwhile, as she watched them leave, the unease in Lin Nian's heart grew. After a moment's hesitation, she decided to follow.
Sure enough, once they were in the principal's office, Li Mei pinned all the blame on Qin Jiao, saying that a grown girl like her was shameless for secretly sneaking in to sleep with Shen Yi.
"Shen Yi definitely didn't touch her—they were both fully clothed. But Qin Jiao's behavior is simply outrageous! Principal, what do you think? Shouldn't we just expel her?"
Qin Jiao's eyes filled with scorn.
'This Li Mei was just as caustic, snobbish, and unethical as she was in my last life.'
'Someone like her has no business being a teacher. She's not worthy of the title!'
After Li Mei finished, the elderly principal looked up at the two students. "Qin Jiao," he said calmly, "is what Teacher Li said true?"
"She's spouting utter nonsense." Qin Jiao's tone was even calmer than the principal's.
In her past life, the moment she'd heard Li Mei mention expulsion, she had panicked. Her words became a jumbled mess, and she lost the best opportunity to defend herself.
On top of that, her younger uncle and aunt had been there, and her aunt, without bothering to find out the truth, had walked right up and slapped her across the face.
After that, she completely lost any chance to clear her name.
But this time was different.
Qin Jiao spoke quickly. "Principal, here's what happened. After we finished our exams, our teacher took us out to eat. She wanted to drink champagne, and in the end, she had us all drink some."
"What nonsense are you spouting!" Li Mei panicked.
The elderly principal shot her a glare, then his tone softened. "Qin Jiao, please continue."
"I had a little to drink too, but since I'd never had alcohol before, I fell asleep as soon as I got back to the guesthouse. When I woke up, I found that Shen Yi and I had been locked in a room together. Before I could even figure out what was happening, Teacher Li burst in with a group of people and yelled at me for a solid half-hour."
Li Mei interjected nervously from the side, "Principal, I really didn't make the students drink champagne with me! And..."
"Teacher Li drank." Standing to the side with his hands in his pockets, Shen Yi, who had remained detached from the whole affair, suddenly spoke up.
Li Mei: "..."
Qin Jiao shot Shen Yi a surprised glance before immediately pulling out a student ID card. "I found this in that room. It belongs to our classmate, Lin Nian. I believe this explains why I was mysteriously moved from my room to another. This ID was on the floor right beside the bed, and when Lin Nian came in with everyone else, she never went anywhere near that spot."