The girls who were accused all bore expressions of wrongful accusation. They hadn’t done it on purpose. It was Zhou Siyu who told them that Shen Mianmian bought clothes but didn’t buy the hair ties. They were afraid of being deceived, so they united with other students. Originally, they had planned to confront Shen Mianmian first, but since Shen Mianmian hadn’t arrived yet, someone suggested going directly to the principal, and that led to this scene.
With things having escalated to this point, they simply dragged Zhou Siyu into it as well.
"It was Zhou Siyu who said that Shen Mianmian bought clothes but didn’t buy the hair ties, so we believed Shen Mianmian didn’t buy them."
Shen Mianmian’s lips curled slightly. No wonder Zhou Siyu arrived at school so early today; she had planned to cause trouble from the start.
The principal frowned, not expecting the matter to involve Zhou Siyu. He immediately summoned Zhou Siyu over.
"I didn’t say my sister didn’t buy hair ties; I only said she didn’t bring them home. I also told them at that time, that my sister might not have been able to buy them and would refund their money. It was their own misunderstanding."
Zhou Siyu, having already prepared her retreat, came across even more wronged than the other girls.
Fortunately, she was smart, otherwise, she would have really dug her own grave at this moment.
Hearing Zhou Siyu’s words, the girls were suddenly at a loss for words. Indeed, Zhou Siyu had said those things at the time, but such words were very easily misconstrued.
It was clearly Zhou Siyu who had led them on. So how could she appear so innocent in the end?
After listening to Zhou Siyu’s words, the principal couldn’t find any fault with her. This matter could only be blamed on the few girls who hadn’t understood the true situation and encouraged their classmates to make a fuss. It seemed they had been too impulsive.
Having been a principal for so many years, he was astute. On the surface, Zhou Siyu was indeed faultless, but in reality, were those words truly spoken unintentionally by Zhou Siyu?
A teenage girl with such scheming is not a good sign.
He scowled and waved his hand to let Zhou Siyu leave first, then turned to the girls who had caused the commotion.
"You should all reflect on this. Don’t be used as a pawn by others without knowing it. Shen Mianmian didn’t do anything wrong; apologize to Shen Mianmian."
Most of these girls were from the junior second class, and they initially held no hostility towards Shen Mianmian. They were grateful that Shen Mianmian was willing to buy things for them. It was only when they suddenly heard that Shen Mianmian had allegedly tricked them out of their money that they acted impulsively.
Now that the truth was out, they all felt somewhat embarrassed.
So when the principal asked them to apologize, nobody objected.
"Shen Mianmian, we’re sorry."
"We didn’t do it on purpose, we just really thought you hadn’t bought the hair ties."
"Shen Mianmian, please don’t be mad at us, we really didn’t mean to target you."
They were all teenage girls, and someone as scheming as Zhou Siyu was rare. Most of the girls were still very innocent.
Therefore, their apologies were especially sincere.
Shen Mianmian knew they had been manipulated; it was a normal reaction to being deceived, and she wasn’t mad at them at all.
She smiled graciously, "You all thought you had been tricked by me, which is why you acted this way. It’s okay. If it were me, and I suddenly heard I’d been cheated, I’d also go to the teacher to complain. It’s all a normal reaction, I’m not offended."
She was calm, composed, and magnanimous, truly not like a fifteen or sixteen-year-old child.
The principal and other teachers present all inwardly praised her. Such a child was bound to succeed in the future. No wonder the big shots from the city took special care of her.
It had to be said, the moguls from the city had unique vision; no wonder they possessed so much wealth at such a young age.