Before Mo Li even left the boardroom, the rumors of her cheating in the IMO already spread among her classmates.
"See, I was right after all! There's no way her results can improve so much in less than a month!"
"She has attracted the suspicion of the officers from the organizer committee, I guess she has really cheated then."
"This means that Mo Family has helped her to cheat, have they lost their mind?"
"Well, think about it, if they didn't cheat the exam, how did she get the marks she did?"
"You're right, she's only 2 marks away from the first place while Ding Yi didn't even qualify. I knew something was wrong."
"But just how stupid can she be? She don't even know how to cheat. She has made her marks too high, thus attracting the examiner's suspicions."
...
All the shock and praise they had for Mo Li's results turned into suspicion and derision towards the Mo Family. No wonder they said power was everything. They thought Mo Li had studied hard for this exam, but it looks like they had overestimated her. Now that they thought about it, they should have found it suspicious when they found out someone like Mo Li managed to get second place in Pearl River.
"Please don't say that." Noticing how the winds had turned, Qiao Qing knew this was the perfect time for her to jump in. "Uncle Mo will not do something like this... Mo Li, she, she..." She argued weakly, looking pitiable, "I'm sure she didn't mean to do this on purpose! She must have been confused. That's why... Please don't talk about her like that!"
"Qing Qing, you're much too kind."
"You know, if she didn't cheat in the exam, pulling up the passing grade, you would have been the second place winner already!"
"Huh!?" Suddenly a scoff came from the back of the class. "Aren't you people supposed to be only one year junior than me, how come you have the intellect of babies instead?"
Qiao Qing turned around and realized the speaker was Lin Mu, who was one grade higher than them.
Lin Mu directed his eyes at Qiao Qing.
"Didn't cheat on purpose? And you're supposed to be one of the IMO finalists? Do you even know how to use your brain to process the words before you speak?
"And the rest of you. Do you have no shame for spreading such shameless rumors?"
Lin Mu attended the same school as they did, but they never had much interaction in the past.
However, since the day he was whipped by Mo Li and had personally witnessed Mo Li stand up to his father, Lin Mu felt the strange urge to come and see the girl... So the moment he heard about the incident, he hurried to Mo Li's class. He didn't expect to walk into such a big gossip!
Leaning against the door, Lin Mu turned to Qiao Qing and mocked, "Do you really think these people will buy what you're selling?"
Qiao Qing's expression shifted and her tone became even more innocent, "Se, senior, what are you talking about?"
"Innocent, gentle and pure." Lin Mu studied Qiao Qing, "Just how fake can you be? I hate two-faced bitches like yourself the most. Do you think your acting is really that good or we're that dumb?"
Hearing Lin Mu's words, the other classmates started to mumble among themselves. Qiao Qing swore she could hear them mocking her. For a split moment, the way her classmates looked at her became derisive. Thanks to one statement by Lin Mu, Qiao Qing felt strangely embarrassed like her disguise had been stripped naked.
To be fair, not everyone in the class fell for Qiao Qing's act. But since most of the time Qiao Qing's target was only Mo Li, they pretended to buy Qiao Qing's performance. At least, Qiao Qing had the decency to act nice around them, the same couldn't be said for Mo Li.
The others who had fallen under Qiao Qing's spell though immediately took up guard around their goddess.
"What are you people doing here?" Mo Li asked in bafflement. She was confused when she saw Lin Mu at her class.
"I..." Lin Mu wanted to console Mo Li but he realized the girl didn't appear to be saddened at all. She strode past him like nothing happened and walked to her seat.
Mo Li didn't explain herself like the news of cheating had nothing to do with her. As Mo Li took her seat, Qiao Qing and Ding Yi's faces were dark. How shameless can she be? Does she not owe us an apology?!
The classes went by with every student harboring their own thoughts. But on the internet, the incident had exploded.
"We demand an investigation! Investigate the Mo Family too!"
"If you ask me, something is mentally wrong with this girl. She should be locked up in an asylum."
"The IMO committee hasn't released any official statement yet, let's not jump to conclusion."
"Hey, you must be one of Mo Family's hired 50 cent army. Mind hooking a brother up? Share the wealth."
"Wait a minute, I think I saw this Mo Li on a movie set recently with Mo Zheng's original team."
"Seriously? Then she is one scheming bitch. She forced her own brother out of the industry just so she could take over his resources? That's cruel!"