The parents looked at each other, their faces showing disbelief.

"No way? Didn't the Ye family get better? How come they're like this again?"

"That's right. I heard last time that the Ye family was almost starving because they had to pay for their children's education. I never imagined it was like this!"

"You can know a person's face but not their heart. I thought they had really changed for the better, but they are still the same as before!"

Ye Zhenghua's face instantly turned ashen.

As the saying goes, family scandals should not be aired in public. That brat Ye Linchen actually spilled all the family secrets, making him lose face.

"What...what nonsense are you spouting?" Ye Zhenghua, enraged and embarrassed, pointed at Ye Linchen and yelled, "Stop spouting nonsense!"

"Which word I said wasn't the truth?" Ye Linchen met Ye Zhenghua's gaze without flinching. "Should I find witnesses?"

Xu Yuru, who was sitting below, immediately said upon hearing Ye Linchen's words, "I've heard about these things; I can testify to them."

Ye Zhenghua was speechless for a moment, then his eyes darted around and he found another scapegoat.

"Those were all stupid things your mother did, they have nothing to do with me!"

He hurriedly distanced himself from the situation, trying to shift all the blame onto Meng Xueyun.

"What did you say?"

Meng Xueyun was fidgeting in Meng Zihan's seat when she heard Ye Zhenghua say this, and she immediately became unhappy.

In front of so many people, how dare she be called a vicious mother!

She stood up and raised her voice, "Which of those things didn't I tell you? Which one didn't you agree to? Now that something's happened, you're blaming me for it all? Don't you have any conscience?"

"I've been telling you to talk to your child properly and not to yell at them all the time, did you listen to me?"

"Isn't all my cursing for the sake of this family? Do you think I want to curse? If you weren't so useless, would I be so worried about you?"

Meng Xueyun refused to back down and argued fiercely with Ye Zhenghua.

The two already harbored resentment towards each other, and they went back and forth, bringing up all sorts of old, trivial matters.

They completely forgot that this was a school, a parent-teacher meeting, and that there were so many parents around.

Just then, the homeroom teacher, Ms. Ma, walked in.

Today, Ye Zhenghua came to the classroom, saying he was going to hold a parent-teacher conference for Ye Linchen.

Teacher Ma was initially quite pleased, thinking that she was good at ideological work and had finally convinced Ye Linchen.

Little did she know that when she went to the office to prepare some meeting materials, she came back to find Ye Linchen's parents arguing heatedly in the classroom.

"What's wrong with you two parents? Talk it out, don't get agitated!" Teacher Ma immediately stepped forward to mediate.

“Teacher Ma, you’ve come at the perfect time. I don’t need anyone to hold a parent-teacher conference for me; I can do it myself,” Ye Linchen said, pointing at Ye Zhenghua.

Teacher Ma's expression immediately turned sour.

"Ye Linchen, your parents are arguing because of you, so be sensible and don't add fuel to the fire."

Looking at the farce unfolding before him, Ye Linchen felt it was utterly absurd.

She coldly said to Teacher Ma, "They didn't argue because of me, they argued because they're selfish! They want my money but don't want to bear the blame, so they're just shifting the responsibility between each other!"

She pointed to the parents below, "All the uncles and aunts saw it, they can testify."

Teacher Ma frowned, looking at Ye Linchen with incomprehension.

"Since you've earned money and can help your family, why don't you bring it home? Or is it because you're selfish, refusing to give it to your parents when they ask for it!"

As soon as Teacher Ma finished speaking, Feng Linlin's mother, Xu Yuru, couldn't help but speak up.

She stood up and asked loudly, "Why should Xiao Ye give her family the money she earns? She doesn't eat or live at home, and the Ye family doesn't pay for her living expenses or tuition! She lives entirely on this little bit of money."

"Besides, the Ye family isn't starving. How can Meng Xueyun, as her own mother, not work but instead exploit her daughter? How can she have the nerve to do that!"

Lin Xiaojuan's mother also stood up.

"That's right! Xiao Ye earned her money through her own abilities, why should she give it to the Ye family? Everyone has seen how the Ye family has treated her all these years!"

"I saw Meng Xueyun taking her niece out to eat and buy clothes just two days ago!" another mother said.

Ye Zhenghua's face immediately turned ugly. He turned sharply to look at Meng Xueyun and questioned her sternly.

"Eating out? Buying clothes? What's going on? You told me you were broke and couldn't even afford meat, but you took Meng Zihan out to eat and ate alone?"

Meng Xueyun panicked and quickly denied it: "That's not true! They're talking nonsense!"

Ye Linchen sneered: "Forgot? Let me help you remember. The last time I met you was on a Sunday at Wei Mei Ju restaurant. We ordered a whole table of dishes..."

She recounted everything that happened at the restaurant that day, including how Meng Zihan slandered her to others, claiming she had been flirting with men.

As Ye Zhenghua listened, his face grew increasingly dark. Pointing at Meng Xueyun, his finger trembled as he cried out, "You...you...how exactly are you managing this family!"

Judging from his posture, Meng Xueyun's answer did not satisfy him, and he was about to slap her.

The atmosphere in the classroom suddenly became tense, and all the parents held their breath as they watched the two of them.

When Teacher Ma saw that things were not going well, she quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

"Alright, alright, parents, this is school. Let's talk about any conflicts at home!"

She said to Ye Linchen, "This whole thing started because of you. Quickly apologize to your parents! Tell them not to be angry."

Ye Linchen turned his head away and refused without hesitation.

"I did nothing wrong, why should I apologize?"

Lin Xiaojuan's mother, who also had a fiery temper, exploded as well.

"Teacher Ma, isn't it clear who's right and who's wrong? Why should Ye Linchen apologize?"

"With your inability to distinguish right from wrong, how can you really teach children well and lead a graduating class effectively?"

Other parents chimed in, "That's right! Teacher Ma, you're not doing it correctly!"

"As teachers, we should handle this impartially, not try to smooth things over!"

Ms. Ma had never been so embarrassed in front of the parents before; her face was so dark it looked like it was about to drip water.

She slammed the materials down on the podium, suppressing her anger as she asked Ye Linchen, "So tell me, what do you want to do?"

Ye Linchen looked at her calmly: "I will hold my own parent-teacher conference."

Teacher Ma was furious and waved her hand, saying, "Fine! You're so great! Then go back to your seat!"

Ye Linchen turned around and returned to his seat, leaving Ye Zhenghua and Meng Xueyun standing in front of the podium.

"You two?" Teacher Ma asked them politely with a smile.

"She doesn't care about me, and I don't care about her either!"

Ye Zhenghua flung his hand away and strode out of the classroom.

Meng Xueyun, however, was unwilling to leave; she needed to attend Meng Zihan's parent-teacher conference.

"I'll open it for Xiaohan."

She gave Teacher Ma a fawning smile and quickly returned to her seat.

During the meeting, he would occasionally turn his head and glare at Ye Linchen.