Chapter 27 "Try touching her."...
Based on his tone and expression, Tang Ci judged that he was in a bad mood at the moment.
She understands.
It's not a pleasant feeling to be the subject of gossip.
So she tightened her face and said, "Who said that? Tell me, and I'll go explain to them."
Sheng Yu propped his elbows on the table and said with interest, "Oh?" "What are you planning to say?"
"Well..." Tang Ci frowned and racked her brains for a long time, "explain to them that we are not in that kind of relationship."
"That kind of relationship?"
“Husband and wife, relationship,” Tang Ci said softly and dryly. Although she tried to sound calm, the pink blush on her ears betrayed her shyness.
“So we’re not husband and wife after all.” Sheng Yu smiled and tugged at her earlobe with his free hand: “Then why are you blushing?”
Tang Ci instinctively shrank her shoulders, and the heat intensified when he tugged at her ear. She pointed to the air conditioner and stammered, "It's the air conditioner blowing, I'm afraid of the heat."
Song Ke happened to be passing by the back door carrying a stack of documents. Hearing her words, he casually turned the air conditioner down two degrees and asked in confusion, "I've never heard you say you're afraid of the heat before."
Tang Ci caught a glimpse of Sheng Yu's ambiguous smile and jumped up from her seat: "Class monitor, let me help you deliver the materials."
Song Ke was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "Okay."
He shared some of the information with Tang Ci, and as he left, he caught a glimpse of Sheng Yu's cold face out of the corner of his eye, and suddenly felt a chill.
Song Ke, unaware of who had offended this powerful figure, whispered to Tang Ci, "Who provoked him?"
Tang Ci paused for a few seconds, then said somewhat embarrassedly, "Some people are spreading gossip about me and him, and he wasn't too happy when he heard it."
Song Ke nodded as if he understood, "I see."
After arriving at the office, the teacher led them to sort and file the materials, and the two returned to the classroom just in time for class.
As soon as he sat down, Sheng Yu casually remarked, "These documents are quite difficult to deliver."
Tang Ci sensed his unfriendly tone, and while he was still angry about the gossip, she patiently and gently explained, "The teacher asked us to help tidy up."
Sheng Yu lifted her eyelids slightly: "You guys are quite popular with the teachers."
Tang Ci didn't catch the emphasis in his words and assumed he was dissatisfied with the teacher's differential treatment of students, so she comforted him, "If you correct your attitude towards learning, the teacher will welcome you too."
"..." Sheng Yu flicked her forehead expressionlessly: "Elm wood."
Before Tang Ci could even ponder where she resembled a blockhead, Jiang Jun strode into the classroom with a stack of test papers in his arms, slamming his hand on the blackboard.
"Everyone, pay attention! The exam is tomorrow!" Jiang Jun glared and scanned the classroom. "Today we'll have a pop quiz."
The students who had been lying down to study all looked up, and soft sighs filled the classroom.
Tang Ci put aside everything else and focused intently on answering the questions once the test papers were handed out.
She solves problems very quickly, and is usually the first person in the class to stop writing, using the rest of the time to check her work.
After Tang Ci checked the paper a second time and confirmed that there were no errors, she turned her attention to Sheng Yu's paper.
Sheng Yu had finished her exam at some point and was now idly twirling her ballpoint pen.
Tang Ci silently checked his paper and nodded in satisfaction.
Sheng Yu's magnetic voice was tinged with laziness: "Teacher Tang, what score would you give me?"
Tang Ci couldn't help but chuckle, then leaned on the table and whispered, "Perfect score, you're amazing."
Fearing that Chiang Kai-shek's troops would discover her, Tang Ci kept her voice very low, almost like a mosquito buzzing softly against Sheng Yu's ear.
Sheng Yu lowered her eyes and met her bright eyes: "Aren't you afraid I'll get carried away by such praise?"
Tang Ci paused, her tone gentle yet firm: "You've made such rapid progress, you can be complacent."
Sheng Yu's Adam's apple bobbed slightly: "Sweet talk."
Tang Ci was unjustly accused and stood up to defend herself when Jiang Jun's shouts suddenly erupted in the quiet classroom.
"Tang Ci! Sheng Yu! Have you two finished your papers? What are you whispering to each other for?!"
Jiang Jun was so angry that he glared and his beard bristled, and the students in the front row turned around to look at the two of them.
Tang Ci lowered her head in shame, adopting an attitude of humbly accepting criticism.
Sheng Yu stood up under everyone's gaze, holding his and Tang Ci's papers in his hand and waving them at Jiang Jun: "Finished? Can we hand them in now?"
Jiang Jun's arrogance vanished instantly, and he glanced suspiciously at the paper: "You're not going to hand in a blank paper, are you?"
Sheng Yu walked through the classroom and slammed the test paper on the podium: "Then you're going to be disappointed."
Jiang Jun looked down at the paper filled with his writing, paused, picked up a red pen, and began to grade the paper.
As he finished reviewing the papers, Jiang Jun's furrowed brows gradually relaxed, and a satisfied smile slowly spread across his lips.
He finished grading the two students' papers in one go, and the other students began to hand in their papers one after another.
It was just a short quiz with not many questions, and Jiang Jun quickly finished grading everyone's papers. He neatly arranged the stacked papers with both hands and breathed a sigh of relief.
“In this test, two students in the class got full marks.” Jiang Jun changed his stern expression from before and smiled as he looked at the back of the classroom: “As you all probably guessed, Tang Ci is one of them, and the other is her deskmate Sheng Yu.”
As soon as Jiang Jun finished speaking, the classroom erupted in an uproar.
Zhou Yiyang opened his eyes wide and turned his head: "Brother Yu, what kind of cheat did you use?"
Sheng Yu nodded slightly towards Tang Ci without saying a word.
Some of the classmates who looked over at Sheng Yu were surprised, some congratulated him, and a few muttered doubts.
Did he write it himself?
"Tang Ci was sitting right next to him, and the two of them handed in perfect scores together. Doesn't that say something?"
Zou Qiang silently pricked up his ears, and upon hearing these dark speculations, he gripped his pen tightly.
Jiang Jun handed out the exam papers one by one. When it was Zou Qiang's turn, he gave him a long and earnest lecture.
"There are methods to learning. Don't just study blindly. Your grades are dropping instead of improving because you keep getting stuck on the same details."
Zou Qiang gritted his teeth, listened to the criticism, and returned to his seat clutching the unsightly test paper.
He turned to look at Tang Ci and Sheng Yu in the last row, across half the classroom.
The two were standing at a moderate distance, talking quietly to each other, both with relaxed smiles on their faces.
After school, Zou Qiang went home with his classmates. Just as he left the school building, he suddenly touched his pocket and said with annoyance, "I think I forgot my phone in the classroom."
Seeing him turn around in a hurry, his classmate followed him, saying, "Shall I go with you to get it?"
"No need!" Zou Qiang realized his tone was too harsh after he finished speaking, and softened his voice as he said, "You should go home first. Don't bother me in this cold weather."
"Alright then." The classmate scratched the back of his head and left first.
The classroom was pitch black, and all the students had left. Zou Qiang didn't turn on the light, but instead took out his phone from his bag, turned on the flashlight, and walked straight to Tang Ci's seat.
As soon as he stood still, Zou Qiang quickly took two or three exercise books from Tang Ci's bookshelf, flipped through them, selected one with notes written on it, stuffed it into his schoolbag, and took it downstairs.
/
As the last exam was about to end, Tang Ci put down her pen, rubbed the back of her neck with her fingertips, and reviewed the knowledge points tested in the past two days' exams in her mind.
After the bell rang to signal the end of the exam, Tang Ci stopped thinking and got up to hand in her paper.
After the proctor left the classroom, the students went downstairs one after another to eat or rest.
When Tang Ci and Jiang Chan returned to the classroom after dinner, they bumped into Lao Xu and the grade director, who both looked serious as they entered.
As evening self-study was about to begin, almost all the students in the class had arrived.
Old Xu, with a solemn expression, stood on the podium and glanced around behind him before saying in a deep voice, "Tang Ci, Sheng Yu, you two come to my office."
Tang Ci was caught up in the tense atmosphere and stood up without understanding why.
Sheng Yu, who was to the right front, also put down his pen and stood up. As he followed Tang Ci out of the classroom, he lightly patted her shoulder.
The two were called to separate offices, one in front of the other, which were separated by a wall.
Tang Ci stood behind the desk, and Lao Xu pushed a wad of homework paper spread out on the table toward her: "This is a cheat sheet found in Sheng Yu's desk drawer. Take a look and see if it's your handwriting."
Tang Ci's breath caught in her throat. She glanced at the familiar handwriting on the paper, shook her head, and said, "I never wrote any cheat sheets."
“Good girl, your teacher believes you.” Old Xu patted her arm: “But the anonymous whistleblower sent the whistleblower’s letter to the principal’s email and the school forum. You have to find a way to prove that you didn’t do it.”
Tang Ci pursed her lips and nodded, looking at the cheat sheet and beginning to ponder.
The head of the teaching department spoke up in a deep voice: "This matter has become quite serious, so we had no choice but to call your parents. We will try to have your parents come to communicate about this matter in the future, so as not to affect your studies."
Tang Ci's eyes widened suddenly, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. Her face pale, she asked, "Have you already made the call?"
The head of the teaching department nodded and looked at her tightly clenched hands, comforting her, "Don't be nervous, student. The school is just going through the motions. Talk to your parents properly later, and they will understand. Besides, this matter hasn't been settled yet."
Tang Ci nodded, her breath catching in her throat, her lips unconsciously tightening.
/
When Tang Jianwei received the call from the school, he was acting like a servant outside the president's office of Lingkong Real Estate.
The secretary repeatedly urged him to leave: "I'm sorry, sir, our CEO Shen has given you the order to leave. You should leave now."
Tang Jianwei rolled up the tender documents in his hand and swayed them up and down as if bowing: "Girl, please help me out. I have something important to tell your boss, Mr. Shen."
The secretary apologized with a cold expression.
Tang Jianwei wiped the sweat from his forehead, scooped Qin Ling up from the sofa, pointed to her belly and said, "Look, my wife is about to give birth. I really have no other choice but to beg you for help."
The secretary awkwardly pursed her lips and said, "I'll go in and ask again."
She left with those words and went into her office. The door remained closed, leaving Tang Jianwei standing outside. He didn't dare to knock and just paced back and forth in front of the door.
Just then, the phone rang. He answered it with a grim expression, and after hearing what the teacher on the other end said, he cursed under his breath and hung up. He then grabbed Qin Ling and hurriedly went downstairs.
About twenty minutes later, hurried footsteps came from outside the office. Tang Jianwei followed behind the teacher, his face suppressed and his tone humble.
His expression changed abruptly when he saw Tang Ci standing in the office.
After a second of eye contact with his gloomy gaze, Tang Ci indifferently looked away, her lips moved but she didn't utter the word "Dad".
Seeing her dismissive attitude, Tang Jianwei's anger, which had been building up all afternoon, suddenly flared up. Without thinking, he grabbed a broom from behind the office door and threw it at Tang Ci.
Tang Ci instinctively dodged, and the metal handle of the broom slammed against the wall, grazing her shoulder, with a loud bang.
Old Xu and the grade head were both startled. Before they could react, Tang Jianwei, panting heavily, walked up to Tang Ci and said, "I work hard outside to earn money, and you repay me by cheating at school?!"
Tang Ci listened to his roar, and calmly met his gaze: "I didn't spend a single penny of your money."
Veins bulged on Tang Jianwei's forehead. Ignoring Old Xu and the grade head who tried to restrain him, he raised his hand high at Tang Ci: "I'll beat you to death—"
Just then, a tall figure suddenly appeared outside the door and kicked Tang Jianwei to the ground.
Tang Jianwei's shoulder slammed hard against the floor, and he let out a muffled groan.
Qin Ling, who had been standing quietly by the wall, screamed.
The office was in chaos. Tang Ci's mind was buzzing, and a tingling sensation spread from her fingertips to her whole body.
She began to tremble uncontrollably.
Suddenly, her shoulder was gripped tightly. Sheng Yu shielded her behind him, just like when they were children, his tall figure blocking half of her view.
Tang Ci could only clearly hear his cold, deep voice resounding from his chest: "Try touching her."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
