Chapter Ninety-Five: Taking the Blame

The air seemed to freeze at once. Everyone stared at the memory card tossed onto the desk, and not a single person dared to speak. An indescribable feeling surged in their chests, followed by a prickling sensation creeping over their scalps.

They all stood there in silence, waiting for their homeroom teacher to speak.

"Go on. What exactly did you do?" As she spoke, the homeroom teacher rose and shut the office door, as if afraid that something that should not be overheard might reach someone else's ears.

Even after she finished speaking, no one said a word. Perhaps her presence was simply too formidable at that moment; even Yin Lize, who was usually fearless and unruly, obediently kept his mouth shut.

Seeing that they remained silent, the homeroom teacher returned to her seat and lightly tapped the desktop with her fingers. The sound was not loud, yet it felt like a deadly countdown, enough to throw the four youngsters into disarray.

"If you won't tell me, then I'll just look myself."

At last, her voice broke the silence in the office again. She stopped what she was doing and picked up the memory card.

When the teacher said that, the four of them could not help but feel a little relieved. From her words, it seemed she had not yet watched the video on the card.

Not long after her words fell, Yin Lize's voice reached everyone's ears. "Teacher, how did you get this card?"

"A student submitted it anonymously."

"Xia Manman?" Yin Lize blurted out instinctively. For some reason, the first person that flashed through his mind was Xia Manman. He had a feeling the card had been handed in by her.

That card was known only to the six members of their study group, and no one else. Yet by a strange coincidence, when he was looking for it that day, he had run into Xia Manman.

"Don't try to guess who it was. Just tell me what you did that day." The homeroom teacher steered the subject back to the memory card.

The card had indeed been handed to the teacher by Xia Manman. More than that, she had told the teacher that the card contained a video of Yin Lize and Jiang Muwen going to the abandoned building, along with Gu Nianxi and Wen Yichen.

"We all went to the abandoned building," Yin Lize said honestly.

Hearing that, the homeroom teacher lifted an eyebrow with interest. "You went together willingly, or were you forced into it?"

The same thing, said in a different way, carried an entirely different meaning. The first made it sound as though two people had done something wrong and dragged two others down with them; the second made it sound as though all four had gone together of their own free will to do something improper.

"Does this kind of thing even involve coercion?" Yin Lize muttered under his breath.

Though he spoke softly, the teacher still heard him. "Hmm?"

"Of course we went together." Yin Lize looked at the teacher, wearing an expression that said he had done nothing wrong at all, as if he were entirely in the right.

"The student who submitted this card anonymously did not say it that way."

From the way the teacher put it, it sounded as though that student had already gone through the video in its entirety and told her everything in full.

But the teacher's probing was of no use against these four. Not only was it useless, it even gave them the feeling that their secret had been laid bare, leaving behind a trace of displeasure and anger.

At last, Wen Yichen, who had stood silently aside the entire time, could not help but speak. "Teacher, the contents of that card should count as personal privacy, shouldn't they?"

It was an ordinary sentence, yet it landed like a boulder thrown into still water, sending up great waves in an instant. His meaning could not have been clearer: even if they were in the wrong first, no matter what was inside the card, neither the student nor the teacher had the right to open it and look without permission.

Wen Yichen's words left the teacher speechless.

After a brief silence, the homeroom teacher spoke again, deliberately shifting the focus. "At least this card ended up in the hands of someone from our own class. If it had fallen into someone else's hands and things had blown up, let's see if you'd still dare to be so stubborn."

The moment the teacher finished speaking, Yin Lize steered the conversation back again. "Teacher, since that student already looked through our private matters, don't we have the right to know who that student is?"

These two boys seemed to fear the homeroom teacher not at all. She had called them in intending to educate them, but instead the situation had spiraled completely out of control.

Jiang Muwen sensed from Yin Lize's tone that he was growing somewhat sharp, and her heart gave a little tremor. At this rate, things really might turn into a big mess.

"Teacher." At last, Jiang Muwen spoke timidly. "Going to the abandoned building was our fault."

As soon as she said that, everyone's attention turned to her. Seeing that Jiang Muwen had admitted her mistake, Gu Nianxi also spoke up. "Teacher, we know we were wrong. We should not have ignored the school's clear rules."

With the two girls apologizing, the teacher's heart softened as well. She glanced at the few students standing before her, though there was still a trace of severity in her eyes. "Since you know it was wrong, why did you still go and do it? And you, Jiang Muwen, if nothing was wrong, why did you and Yin Lize go dragging other people off to the abandoned building?"

As soon as she finished speaking, all four of them could not help but tense. Yin Lize looked at the teacher in surprise. What did she mean by that? So he and Jiang Muwen were the ones who had started it all?

Seeing that Jiang Muwen and Yin Lize remained silent, the teacher continued, "The two of you will each write a one-thousand-character self-criticism, and in addition—"

"Teacher, this has nothing to do with Jiang Muwen." Before the teacher could finish, Wen Yichen's calm voice came from the side. "It was Yin Lize and I who asked Jiang Muwen and the others to go to the abandoned building with us."

The homeroom teacher was startled to see Wen Yichen step forward on his own to take the blame. She probably could never have imagined that such an obedient boy would be the first to violate the rules.

"Teacher, this was my idea to begin with. If you want to punish someone, punish me alone." Yin Lize added after Wen Yichen, looking at the teacher with eyes that held no trace of evasion or fear.

At that, the corner of the teacher's mouth twitched uncontrollably. She knew he was the principal's nephew, and for that very reason, she did not dare punish him too harshly. If Yin Lize later added some embellishments to the story, her job might not be secure.

"Well, aren't all of you quite capable of taking the blame for one another." Looking at the two boys before her, the teacher forced a smile, the meaning behind it impossible to read.

As she spoke, she slid the memory card toward Yin Lize. "Take it back. Since you like covering for each other so much, then today's after-school cleanup will be handled by the four of you. Tomorrow morning, when your cleanliness is inspected, if points are deducted, you'll do another week."