Qin Jiao looked at his squinted eyes and suddenly saw her new teacher in a completely different light.

The older, the craftier.

Besides, wasn’t there a saying that you should never underestimate people with squinted eyes?

He’d cleverly maneuvered the students into breaking Li Mei’s old, rigid rules on their own. At the same time, he’d made them quickly warm up to him as their new homeroom teacher.

A good impression was the first step. Trust would be the next.

Qin Jiao turned her head and, just as she’d expected, saw the expressions on the faces of Li Dong and the other class officers—the ones Li Mei had railroaded into their positions—change drastically.

Just then, the bell for the end of class finally rang. Qin Jiao grabbed her schoolbag and headed out, mulling over the day’s events.

Jiang Xiaoyue was a day student. She shouldered her own bag and ran to catch up with Qin Jiao. "Qin Jiao, you’re really not boarding at the school anymore?"

"Yeah, my family moved into the county town."

"Oh, that’s great! We can walk home together after school, and we can plan to hang out on the weekends!"

"I don’t know if we’re heading in the same direction."

The two of them walked to the bike shed together, where they happened to see Chen Feng pushing his bicycle.

Chen Feng pushed his black, cross-barred bicycle to block Qin Jiao’s path. He frowned and said, "Qin Jiao, why are you slandering Lin Nian in the village?"

Qin Jiao met his gaze evenly. "What slander about Lin Nian?"

"You can stop pretending. Lin Nian already said it was you who spread those rumors. Now everyone in her village thinks she..."

"Thinks she what?"

Chen Feng was already in an intimate relationship with Lin Nian, but he was still too embarrassed to speak about such private matters directly.

He looked at Qin Jiao with a complicated expression and said in a low voice, "Slandering someone, putting them under so much mental pressure that they feel like they can’t even go on living... what exactly is your goal?"

’My goal?’

In her past life, Lin Nian had done all of these things to her. At first, Qin Jiao hadn’t understood what her goal was, but she eventually found out.

The girl wanted to steal her life.

In the life that she was originally supposed to have, the furious boy standing before her had been a part of it. But now, as Qin Jiao looked at Chen Feng, her eyes were filled with pity.

Qin Jiao knew that Lin Nian hadn’t loved Chen Feng in either of her two lives. She was only using him to secure a life of wealth and luxury, tying herself to the story’s male lead.

Seeing that Qin Jiao wasn’t speaking, Chen Feng grew even more agitated. "Why aren’t you saying anything? Is it because you have a guilty conscience?"

Qin Jiao’s tone remained calm. "I didn’t do it."

"How is that possible? Lin Nian said you did!"

Although Jiang Xiaoyue, standing to the side, hadn’t quite figured out what was going on, she spoke up irritably, "What is wrong with you, Chen Feng? Why is it that you don’t believe a word Xiao Jiao says, but you believe everything Lin Nian says? What is she, your mother?"

Chen Feng’s face turned beet red, and thinking of his relationship with Lin Nian, he didn’t have a comeback.

People at this age were still quite conservative about certain things.

Seeing his reaction, Qin Jiao had a vague idea of what had happened. She couldn’t help but sigh internally; Lin Nian was truly willing to do anything to live a better life.

Furthermore, the only reason Chen Feng would come looking for trouble with her was that Lin Nian must have put him up to it.

Qin Jiao calmly looked at Chen Feng’s slightly flushed neck and said serenely, "If I really did this, then tell Lin Nian to get evidence and report me. If there’s no evidence, Chen Feng, then what you’re doing right now is also slander. I’m very fragile, you know. I might be too scared to come to school tomorrow. And if that happens, you’ll be the one responsible for ruining me."

"I..."

Qin Jiao and Jiang Xiaoyue pushed their bikes and left. She was already thinking about what excuse she could use to go see Sun Guotao tomorrow.

’Yes, I’ll use the excuse of reporting a student for being in a relationship.’