Chapter 39

Zhenzhen had a vague sense that her mother bringing up Zhao Lianqiao at that moment was more than a mere coincidence, but seeing Qin Jing give the impression she didn't want to say more, she didn't press it and obediently went back to her room to sleep.
Actually, for someone who'd lived two lives, this really wasn't much of a thing. But Chi Shen and Qin Jing were so serious about it that when she lay in the deep, quiet night she suddenly couldn't sleep.
Tossing and turning for an hour, she finally took out her phone to read the forum; the more she read, the less sleepy she became. By the time she began to feel a little drowsy it was already past one in the morning.
Staying up late meant getting up was hard: the alarm rang three times without waking her, and in the end Qin Jing had to drag her out of the covers.
“...Considering how hard I've worked at my studies before, can I skip school for a day today?” Qiao Zhenzhen cooed, trying to charm her mother.
Qin Jing said without expression, “No. You have to go.”
Qiao Zhenzhen pouted and reluctantly got out of bed.
The mother and daughter got ready and drove to school. At the school gate Qin Jing stopped the car. “You get out first, I'll go find a parking space.”
“Okay.” Qiao Zhenzhen agreed and stepped out. As Qin Jing drove off, she habitually scanned the corners for Chi Shen's figure.
But he wasn't there. Her heart sank; her first reaction was that after being provoked all day yesterday, Chi Shen couldn't contain the murderous anger inside him and had gone to kill Zhao Lianqiao.
Just as she was tense with worry, Zhao Lianqiao walked by in perfectly good health and, seeing her, couldn't help but offer a comforting word: “Zhenzhen, you're so early. I thought after what happened yesterday you'd stay home and rest for a few days.”
Qiao Zhenzhen shot her a sideways glance, thinking that if she hadn't been worried about Chi Shen going to jail she wouldn't have saved her that day.
Unaware that she'd been killed off hundreds of times in Qiao Zhenzhen's mind, Zhao Lianqiao grew more pleased when Zhenzhen said nothing. “Anyway, I'm just happy you came to school. You don't know how scared I was reading those posts yesterday, I was so afraid you might not be okay. Stay strong, okay?”
She chattered on, but Qiao Zhenzhen let it wash over her. Zhao Lianqiao had come to needle her; she hadn't expected to be not only to be ignored but completely dismissed.
Her face turned sour. Just as she was about to say more, a voice called from behind: “Zhenzhen!”
They both turned and saw Qin Jing walking toward them.
“Hello, Auntie.” Zhao Lianqiao smiled sweetly.
Qin Jing glanced at her and returned the smile. “Lianqiao, it's been a long time. What are you two talking about?”
“About those posts from yesterday, I was trying to encourage Zhenzhen to be stronger.” Zhao Lianqiao answered.
Qin Jing gave her an inscrutable look. “Oh, is that so? How kind of you. Zhenzhen, say thank you to your classmate.”
Qiao Zhenzhen tugged at the corner of her mouth and pretended not to hear.
Zhao Lianqiao sneered inwardly but kept up a compliant expression. “We're friends; of course I care about her... Auntie, why did you come today all of a sudden?”
“It's something I need to deal with. You go back to class first.” Qin Jing evaded the question.
Zhao snorted softly. Even without Qin Jing saying anything she knew, Qiao Jian had been to their house last night and had already said he'd make Qiao Zhenzhen quit school.
“Well then, goodbye, Auntie.” With that she obediently walked away.
Qin Jing watched her go with a small smile, then looked serious and addressed Qiao Zhenzhen: “She didn't bully you, did she?”
“No.” Qiao Zhenzhen replied.
Only then did Qin Jing relax. “Alright, hurry back to class, don't be late.”
“But Chi Shen still hasn't come.” Qiao Zhenzhen frowned.
“Can't he be late once? Stop standing here waiting and go back to class.” Qin Jing urged.
Helpless, Qiao Zhenzhen went into class, glancing back every few steps.
Chi Shen wasn't in the classroom either. Qiao Zhenzhen kept looking toward the door and had no mind for studying. She regretted once more not having made Chi Shen buy a phone immediately, now she couldn't find him.
Just as she grew increasingly restless, a familiar voice came over the intercom,
“May I have a moment of your time? Please turn on the multimedia in each classroom.”
Qiao Zhenzhen recognized Qin Jing's voice and wondered what she was up to. The other students were puzzled too, but obediently turned on the TVs.
The TV feed connected to the conference room, and Qin Jing appeared on screen with a smile. “Hello, students. I'm Qin Jing, the mother of Qiao Zhenzhen, who was slandered yesterday.”
At her words, nearly every classroom erupted; Zhao Lianqiao was stunned. Chi Shen, who had just hurried into school, paused when he heard the broadcast; instead of going to class his steps turned toward the conference room.
“When I learned about this yesterday I asked the homeroom teacher to clarify that my daughter and Chi Shen did not live together, she had simply asked him to tutor her. But some students insisted this was a smear engineered by money and dismissed the clarification as fake. With no other choice, I came myself. Please give this mother ten minutes of your time.”
She spoke evenly and gently, without the slightest trace of adult arrogance. After the initial commotion the classrooms fell into an involuntary silence.
“First, I asked the homeroom teacher to pull Qiao Zhenzhen's midterm exam papers. These are her test results, which show a large improvement compared with last month's monthly exam; her rank in the grade rose by three hundred places. It's not brilliant, but it's much better than before. To prevent anyone from claiming the papers were fabricated, I had a professional department authenticate them yesterday, this is the certificate.”
As she spoke, the TV switched from her face to the table: sheets of exam scores, then the ranking list that wouldn't be published until that afternoon, and finally the authentication certificate.
One couldn't help but notice that everyone was taken aback by the certificate.
“The handwriting can be precisely dated to within forty‑eight hours, so it's clear these papers weren't forged overnight. Of course, showing test improvement alone might not convince everyone, so I also obtained the notes Chi Shen used when tutoring Zhenzhen and had the handwriting authenticated.”
She opened a thick notebook. “The authentication can prove these notes were written by Chi Shen. He has a bad throat and sometimes writes out steps in his notebook; these should count as evidence that he tutored Zhenzhen.”
Qiao Zhenzhen swallowed, silently rummaged through her backpack, and sure enough, her notebook was gone. She had no idea when it had been taken.
Murmurs were already rising in the class: "So... were we the ones who misunderstood?"
"I think so. Look at all those notes, and the appraisal shows they weren't done at the last minute. She must've been helping with tutoring for a long time."
"It could still be a boyfriend tutoring his girlfriend, tutoring doesn't disprove cohabitation."
"True..."
The chatter grew louder. Qiao Zhenzhen found herself wondering what the other classes were saying. Although the evidence her mother had produced went some way to proving the tutoring claim, it couldn't definitively disprove living together, yet it did ease the public pressure a little.
She sighed, thinking how hard her mother had worked.
On the TV, Qin Jing finished displaying the evidence one by one, then continued, "Also, when I was reading the posts, I discovered this was a..."
Before she could finish, the door swung open. She glanced up automatically, and so did every student in the school.
"Chi Shen?" Qin Jing asked.
The students erupted.
Meeting everyone's expectation, Chi Shen stepped into the camera's view and handed a USB drive to Qin Jing. "These are surveillance videos from shops near the neighborhood. They show that every time Qiao Zhenzhen walks home with me, the housekeeper's car comes to pick her up within two hours. Sixteen shops in total, seven of them caught the housekeeper's car. I saved the footage from the last seven days."
Qin Jing blinked, quickly plugged the USB into the computer, and the surveillance footage appeared on the screen.
"Attention, this license plate is my car. And though the footage isn't perfectly clear, you should be able to see my face. That should prove Zhenzhen never stayed overnight, so what cohabitation are we even talking about?" The surveillance played as Qin Jing's voice came over the speakers. "Besides, think about it, would I, as a mother, knowingly accept my daughter living with a boy?"
Her words paired with the footage; everyone found themselves nodding.
Zhao Lianqiao watched each piece of evidence laid out and felt increasingly agitated. She had thought this would force Qiao Zhenzhen out, but now it was all for nothing.
The sped-up surveillance finished, Qin Jing unplugged the USB, and her face reappeared on the screen. She tilted her head toward Chi Shen. "Do you have anything to add?"
Chi Shen thought for a moment, then said, "Qiao Zhenzhen hasn't been keeping me."
Qiao Zhenzhen's eyelids twitched.
"All my current expenses come from bonuses I've saved myself. I was going to use them to study abroad, but now I have other plans... These are my award certificates." Chi Shen said, then pulled a stack of certificates out of his backpack.
The homeroom teacher operating the camera couldn't help twitching at the corner of his mouth when he saw the top few, he hadn't expected Chi Shen to have achieved so much without the school knowing.
Qin Jing, aware of the significance of those certificates, smiled at him and continued, "Thank you to Chi Shen for providing this evidence; it directly proves there was no cohabitation. Now, let's return to the subject of the posts."
Zhao Lianqiao froze for a moment and suddenly grew nervous.
"When I was going through the forum, I noticed that the wording in several of the posts was strikingly similar, including the initial expose. So out of curiosity I checked the IPs and found they all came from the same address. I took the liberty of visiting that complex and discovered the IP belongs to a woman named Zhao Ying," Qin Jing said with a smile.
Qiao Zhenzhen blinked, was her mother really this formidable? Zhao Lianqiao, meanwhile, was completely stunned.
"I don't know Ms. Zhao Ying, but I'm very familiar with her daughter because that child is my Zhenzhen's classmate. Her name is Zhao Lianqiao."
Zhao Lianqiao's face went white, and the classroom exploded in chatter.
"I don't know what deep grudge would make a young girl spew filthy lies about another girl. I don't know what kind of home teaches a child to be so despicable and shameless. I'm just a mother, a mother whose daughter has been hurt, so forgive me if I cannot be magnanimous," Qin Jing's smile faded. "You may be facing a lawsuit for defamation and slander, as well as compensation for the mental and reputational damage. I suggest you prepare yourself."
She paused for a second, then added softly, "I also hope you'll be strong."