Chapter 20 Prove Innocence
  Although Teacher Zhang knew that Fang Qing was wrongly accused, the two of them had little influence and could not stop the director's decision. Fang Qing was eventually sentenced to have her math score cancelled.

  Standing in the corridor, the two looked into the distance silently, and Teacher Zhang patted her on the shoulder.

  "Fang Qing, I believe you did not plagiarize, but this matter is indeed difficult to explain clearly. I know this result is unfair to you, but as long as we have a clear conscience..."

  But Fang Qing could not stand this humiliation, "No, I will never admit to what I did!" After that, she turned around and ran out.

  Teacher Zhang was afraid that she would be upset, so she followed her all the way out. When she found that she ran all the way to the principal's office, she knew that the matter was about to get out of hand.

  Fang Qing stood outside the principal's office door and knocked hard. "Principal, please help me! I didn't cheat. Please give me justice!"

  The door opened, and Fang Qing froze for a moment, tears streaming down her face. Seeing Teacher Zhang approaching with a nervous expression, her face darkened slightly. "Student, come in and talk. Sit down and talk. Teacher Zhang,

  please come in too." Fang Qing regretted seeing the principal. After all, the principal was incredibly busy, and her rash arrival would surely cause trouble for him, and even Teacher Zhang would be implicated. She had been impulsive.

  Sitting in her chair, Fang Qing felt a little apprehensive. This would surely offend the dean and the other teachers, and she wondered if she could continue attending school.

  "Child, didn't you just say you were busy? Go ahead and tell me. I'm listening carefully." The principal, a kind old man, smiled at Fang Qing, making Fang Qing regret his impulsiveness even more.

  "Principal, I... I..." Fang Qing could handle insults with impassive composure, but facing such a gracious old man as the principal, he suddenly felt truly ignorant.

  Seeing Fang Qing unable to speak for a long time, the principal turned to Teacher Zhang. "Teacher Zhang, then you tell me what happened to drive this student this far."

  Teacher Zhang understood the principal's character. Although he had a good temper, he was a man of his word, so he explained the entire matter in detail.

  "I understand. So, you take this student back to take the next exam. I'll handle this matter."

  After giving Teacher Zhang his instructions, the principal picked up the phone and called the director's office. "Xiao Hu, you and the first-year math teacher come to my office. I have something to ask you."

  Seeing this, Teacher Zhang had no choice but to take Fang Qing away. Fang Qing, inexplicably trusting the principal, bowed deeply before him as they left. The principal smiled and waved his hand, then returned to his work.

  Despite this setback, Fang Qing's performance on the upcoming exam remained unaffected. Because in her opinion, the more she felt at this moment, the more she had to be calm, do well in the exam, and use her grades to shut those people up.

  After the exam ended successfully, Fang Qing returned to the dormitory and began to wait for the school's decision. Three days passed, and there was still no notice about her. Instead, the teachers from each teaching group held meetings again and again to investigate the matter.

  "Hey, have you heard? It seems that there were missed questions in this major exam!"

  "Is it true? If so, it's too unfair to the rest of us students! What will the school say?"

  "What can they say? An investigation! Haven't you seen that the teachers of each subject have been holding meetings every day these days? I don't know which teacher was unlucky and so careless..."

  Fang Qing felt calm as she listened to the students' conversation. Although the matter was getting bigger and bigger, she was also wrongly accused. If she didn't find out who leaked the questions, she really couldn't clear herself of suspicion. Now she just hoped that the school could really find the culprit...

  A week after the incident, Teacher Zhang called her to the office.

  "Fang Qing, we've investigated this matter. It was indeed a teacher who accidentally leaked the exam questions." Teacher Zhang paused, then sighed at Fang Qing's delight. "However, since no one can prove you didn't see the answers, your score on this math test remains disqualified."

  Fang Qing's smile faded before it even rose. She nodded in understanding. "Thank you, Teacher Zhang. I understand."

  Teacher Zhang saw Fang Qing's uneasiness. "But I've secured a chance for you to retake the exam now. Are you willing?"

  Fang Qing was overjoyed. As long as she could prove her innocence, she wouldn't be afraid to take the exam ten more times. That afternoon, during study time, Fang Qing was summoned to the director's office. Under the supervision of several teachers, she began her retake.

  The questions were reselected by the math teachers based on the difficulty of the final exam. No one knew the answers; even the answers were still being compiled to prevent them from being leaked.

  Under everyone's gaze, Fang Qing quickly began answering the multiple-choice questions, shocking the teachers by taking just over ten seconds to complete each one.

  "This child is so fast..."

  "It seems that this child has a solid foundation in mathematics..."

  "Let's take a look first, what if he just guessed randomly in order to be faster?"

  ...

  After the re-examination, several teachers began to calculate the correct answers to the test paper on the spot, and finally graded Fang Qing's answer sheet.

  To everyone's surprise, Fang Qing's answers to all the multiple-choice questions were correct again. On the entire test paper, except for one question that was missing a step and was deducted two points, all other questions were correct. Seeing this, Director Hu finally believed that this student did not need to cheat.

  "Student Fang Qing, congratulations, you have proved that you did not cheat."

  Fang Qing stood up nervously and bowed to the teachers repeatedly to express his gratitude. His heart finally settled down.

  ...

  "Qingqing, you are amazing! You are ranked fifth this time!"

  Standing in front of the results list, Wen Ling hugged Fang Qing and yelled excitedly. Then, seeing the gloomy faces of several other female students around her, she became even more proud. "Qingqing, your results really slapped some people in the face. I heard that some people have been unwilling to accept it and are clamoring to surpass you. I wonder how those people did in the exam. I wonder if their faces hurt..."

  Sister Shuang and her group stood not far away. Looking at Fang Qing's results, they turned around and walked away angrily.

  "Waste! You can't even do such a thing. Didn't they say she plagiarized? How come she still has a result?"

  "She went to the principal and the school allowed her to retake the exam. We couldn't do anything the second time..."

  "Forget it, let's think of another way..."

  Fang Qing was looking for her friend's ranking on the results list. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Wen Ning also standing not far away, looking at the high school results list. As if sensing her gaze, he immediately looked over. Seeing that it was her, he immediately smiled and mouthed a message to her from a distance.

  "Congratulations, you did well on the test."

  Fang Qing smiled and mouthed the same words as him, "Congratulations, first place student."

  Meanwhile, not far away, Sun Changqing, watching this scene, had a gloomy expression.

  (End of this chapter)