The examination was approaching, and the atmosphere was tense. After a moment of excitement, everyone was led by Chen Jie into a state of focused study.
But Zhou Siyu was still infuriatingly annoyed. That damn girl, she must have known all along that they wouldn’t expel her. Her earlier words were just an act.
Throughout the lesson, the more she thought about it, the angrier she got, paying no attention to the lecture. As soon as the bell rang for the end of class, she ran up to Shen Mianmian and demanded loudly.
"Sis, you knew all along that the teacher wouldn’t expel you, and that you’d even be rewarded, right? Everyone was worried about you being expelled and cared for you, but what was the meaning of misleading us on purpose before?"
"Were you treating us all like fools to toy with?"
She looked deeply hurt, as if Shen Mianmian had committed a grievous sin against her.
Some were swayed by Zhou Siyu’s emotions.
"Shen Mianmian, we were so concerned about you before, and what you did was a bit much."
"Yeah! How could you do that? We’re not going to steal your pen, why act ? It’s too scheming."
Shen Mianmian sneered inwardly, seeing her not expelled and even receiving a reward. Jealous now?
In fact, she didn’t care much about others’ opinions, but she didn’t want Zhou Siyu to succeed.
So, she immediately switched to an innocent look and blinked her eyes, "Siyu, what are you talking about? How would I know the teacher was going to reward me with a pen? Didn’t you hear what Teacher Li said before? She said she had an announcement to make, which means even she didn’t know; it was a last-minute decision by the principal."
She deliberately avoided the topic of Teacher Li asking the parents to come.
Everyone thought it over and it seemed to make sense.
"You really didn’t know?"
Shen Mianmian shook her head, "I thought Teacher Chen was going to punish me too. I was so nervous that I was sweating."
They were all teenagers with little guile. Seeing Shen Mianmian so earnest, they believed her right away.
Zhou Siyu saw that everyone believed Shen Mianmian and immediately changed her tone, "Did I misunderstand you?"
Damn, the dead girl’s mind was working fast now. The old tricks wouldn’t work on her anymore.
Shen Mianmian responded with a question, "Why don’t you seem happy for me that I wasn’t expelled and even got rewarded? You look jealous. Didn’t you say you love me the most, your sister?"
"I..." That damn girl, when did she ever say such a sickening thing?
Shen Mianmian didn’t give her a chance to speak, and with an imitation of Zhou Siyu’s previous sad expression, her tears were on the brink of falling, "I heard others saying that you always hoped I would drop out so that my parents could afford to fund only your education. That’s not true, is it?"
Everyone had the look of spectators enjoying drama, all eyes on Zhou Siyu.
Zhou Siyu was panicked, and with reddening eyes, she was on the verge of crying, "Who’s been spreading such nonsense?"
Unfortunately for her, with Shen Mianmian’s prior act, the rest were now immune to Zhou Siyu’s display.
"Not true?" Shen Mianmian asked with innocent eyes, "My dad is going to be unemployed, and can’t afford two students. If you didn’t want to compete with me, why not go back to your own home to study?"
All the students in the class knew that Zhou Siyu had always been studying at Shen Mianmian’s home, but they didn’t know that the Shen Family was also paying for her tuition fees.
They had always thought Zhou Siyu was more to be pitied, living at someone’s mercy, but now it seemed that Shen Mianmian was the truly pitiable child, right?
It was cruel for parents to choose another child over their own, refusing to let them study.
This should have been Shen Mianmian’s privilege!
Everyone’s gaze towards Zhou Siyu had changed from before.
Zhou Siyu found herself speechless in response.
After a long silence, with red-rimmed eyes, "This was all decided by the adults. How can you blame me?"
Fearing that Shen Mianmian might reveal something even more embarrassing, she covered her face and ran away. Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝※𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖※𝕟𝕖𝕥
With the protagonist gone, the onlookers naturally dispersed.