He was in a suit, and given the cut and design, it was evidently a luxury brand. The aura he exuded was extraordinary as well, signaling his status.
Wu Jie’s mother dared not go overboard, but she was frustrated and anxious at this point. Her shrill voice rang out again. “Alright, if you say there wasn’t a fight, then so be it. But how can your child go around telling her friends such untrue stories? Wu Jie only caused such trouble in school because she heard stories from her. As a parent, you’re trying to just get past this by apologizing? Dream on.”
She pointed at Qiao Chen and yelled, “Such a young lady, pretty good-looking at that. But causing so much trouble behind people’s backs. How did your parents raise you? Huh!”
Qiao Chen’s face was like a sheet of paper, about to be ripped into pieces.
In the face of accusation, she felt unbearably aggrieved. Yet, she dared not defend herself, and hence took it all in and simply cried.
But this time, nobody cared about her tears.
Shen Jingyan’s expression turned awful, and he said succinctly, “Chen Chen is in the wrong for spreading falsehoods without checking it first. But she only talked about it, the person who posted it online was Wu Jie, not her.
“She’s about Wu Jie’s age, and she has already apologized for spreading rumors. Wu Jie should take responsibility for her own faults, too.”
This statement was true, as a matter of fact.
The woman who wanted to push the blame could not find anything to rebuke.
Wu Jie was trembling with fear as she turned towards Qiao Chen with a panicked look. She bit her lip for a while and eventually chose to spill it. “Uncle, I was the one who put up the post. But if Qiao Chen had not told me that the school would surely discipline Qiao Nian if they found out about it, I would not have posted it either.”
Shen Jingyan had believed in Qiao Nian from the start. But Qiao Chen had always been so sensible and obedient before him, and she was also his biological niece. Blood was thicker than water. He found himself intuitively defending Qiao Chen, even now. He wanted to believe that she was innocent, that she had made a casual statement mindlessly.
But what Wu Jie had just said completely revealed Qiao Chen’s true colors.
Disappointment took over his face and his features stiffened.
Qiao Chen was scared by the coldness of his expression and rebutted frantically, “Don’t talk rot! I only told you that Qiao Nian was in a fight. I didn’t get you to post anything on the forum. This was all your own doing, don’t pin it onto me!”
With that, she looked up a little worriedly. She was about to burst into tears again as she tugged at Shen Jingyan’s elbow. “Uncle, I really just mentioned it to her…”
“We’ll talk about this when we get home!”
Right after he said that Wu Jie’s mother intervened again. “The trouble has gotten so big and you’re still trying to shirk responsibility. This was all caused by you, why should Wu Jie bear the consequences alone? If there’s punishment, everyone should be punished together. Nobody gets to evade it.”
Qiao Chen started sweating profusely at the thought of punishment.
“Uncle, I cannot be punished…”
She had taken such pains to qualify for Qing University, how could she go to school with a bad record?
Shen Jingyan shook her hand off and remained quiet, not wanting to speak up for her anymore.
That woman was just trying to scare her and she took it so seriously, even losing her composure over it. Her reaction was too different from Qiao Nian’s calm demeanor. At this point, he was really regretting picking Qiao Chen over Qiao Nian because of the unimportant blood ties…
So what if she didn’t make it into Qing University? The Shen Family had the network and financial means, and that child had favorable looks and personality. She wouldn’t do too badly in life.
He must have been blind back then to have chosen Qiao Chen!