Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat-Chapter 53 - 050 The Truth and Innocence
Chapter 53: Chapter 050 The Truth and Innocence
Chapter 53 -050 The Truth and Innocence
It wasn’t until the next day that Song Jiawen heard about the basketball game between Jiang Yan’s class and Class Six the afternoon before, where the boys from Class One, as if injected with chicken blood, had completely overpowered Class Six.
This was something that had never happened before.
What happened after that, Jiang Yan did not say, and none of the boys who came back from the class mentioned a word about it.
But the rumors grew more and more outrageous, with even the freshmen and sophomores discussing how the former high school beauty, out of jealousy, had stolen the current beauty’s painting, causing the latter to miss out on participating in the provincial art competition and costing the school a chance to win a prize there.
What’s key is that the sophomore who served as a witness had even reenacted the whole process of Deng Tao tearing up Song Jiawen’s painting on the spot….
Class Six, Senior Year.
The second afternoon period was gym, and the gym teacher, as usual, was absent, so everyone, as always, did their own thing. But not a single person left the room, and the whole class was eerily quiet.
The class monitor stood up, closed the back door, then gestured for the students in the front to close the front door. He turned to face Deng Tao, who was sitting across the aisle from him, with a serious expression, “Deng Tao, you’ve heard the rumors going around the school, haven’t you? Can you tell us if they are true?”
All the classmates suddenly turned their heads to look over.
The school hadn’t taken any disciplinary action against Deng Tao, and the homeroom teacher hadn’t even mentioned it, but today wherever she went, she could hear judgments and discussions about the incident, which made the students of Class Six uneasy.
As the school beauty and also the beauty of their class, Deng Tao had excellent grades and was seen through rose-colored glasses by her classmates. Even though Song Jiawen had ranked first in the monthly exams, she still couldn’t compare to Deng Tao in their hearts.
Therefore, their first reaction to the rumors was disbelief.
“Monitor, that’s an over-the-top question to ask,”
Before Deng Tao could speak, a boy retorted in dissatisfaction, “That Song Jiawen came from a rural middle school. Her academic achievements might be credited to her efforts, but traditional Chinese painting and sketching—these skillsets that require guidance from renowned teachers, does she have that?”
“Exactly, you’re well aware of how many years Deng Tao has been studying painting. Even if Song Jiawen participated in the painting competition, could she possibly be a match for Deng Tao? Would Deng Tao need to stoop low by tearing up her painting? Isn’t that superfluous?”
“Totally, totally…”
A few girls who usually got along well with Deng Tao spoke up in agreement.
The class monitor frowned, “At first, you all looked down on her academic performance, but what about now?”
The few indignant boys and girls were rendered speechless in an instant.
Yet there was still someone who muttered discontentedly, albeit quietly, “But painting is different, you know….”
The class monitor ignored that person and looked towards Deng Tao, waiting for her response.
Deng Tao’s face was stern, her gaze icy, “Since you’ve already believed the rumors outside, why bother asking me again?”
She had suffered through the entire day, with people pointing fingers and whispering wherever she went. Several times she nearly couldn’t resist heading to Class One to confront Song Jiawen—hadn’t they agreed that the situation would be resolved with the five thousand yuan?
Now she was breaking her promise, causing a school-wide spectacle. Had she no shame?
Yet, remembering her father’s words of advice, as well as the vice principal’s and Teacher Fang’s attitudes, she had forcibly endured it.
Now, when she replied to the monitor, her voice carried a clear undertone of restraint and grievance, which made the boys in the class feel especially sympathetic.
When had their class beauty ever been treated like this?
“This is too much!”
A boy with a crew cut slammed his fist onto the table, feeling utterly intolerable when he recalled the humiliation from Jiang Yan and his gang from Class One the previous afternoon.
“Let’s go to Class 1.”
The boy with the crew cut suddenly stood up from his seat, leading several boys as they pushed open the back door and walked out.
The class monitor stood up, wanting to stop them, but before he could shout out, the group had already run off into the distance.
He turned his head to look at Deng Tao, who sat in her seat stable as a rock, holding a pen in her right hand, her head slightly lowered as if she were focusing intently on taking a test.
How can you still study at a time like this?
It was the first time the class monitor thought Deng Tao was really good at pretending.
To prevent the situation from escalating, the class monitor rushed to the faculty office to find the head teacher.
Meanwhile, several boys from Class 6 had already run up to the entrance of Class 1’s classroom.
With no main classes in the afternoon, most were self-studying. Class 1’s students had good grades and were self-motivated. At this moment, the classroom was silent except for the rustling of pens moving across paper; no one was speaking idly.
“Song Jiawen!”
The boys had just reached the classroom entrance when they were yelling at Song Jiawen, who sat in the last row against the wall, “The rumors defaming Deng Tao, you spread them, didn’t you?”
This was not a question, but a statement.
Jiang Yan slapped his pen onto the table, and Xiao Qi stood up, snorting at the boy with the crew cut, “I damn well thought it was some dog barking from who knows where, Lu Jinglong… …”
“Xiao Qi, it’s none of your business!”
Lu Jinglong glanced at Xiao Qi and Yu Hang, who also stood up, his dark eyes turning to Song Jiawen as he sneered, “You don’t think you can use rumors to defeat Deng Tao with just that face of yours, do you? Song Jiawen, have some self-awareness. What isn’t yours will never be yours, no matter what dirty tricks you use.”
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“Well said,” Jiang Yan was almost ready to applaud this idiot. His face was smiling, but his eyes were cold as ice, “So, Lu Jinglong, have you guys run over to our class to stand up for Deng Tao?”
Isn’t it obvious?
Lu Jinglong looked at Jiang Yan, confused about why he would ask such an obvious question.
He stated his purpose, “Song Jiawen needs to apologize to Deng Tao and clear things up over the school broadcast, she owes Deng Tao her innocence!”
“The truth? Innocence? Ha!”
Several people said these words simultaneously. Lu Jinglong looked around at the students of Class 1, and for some reason, he felt like all of them were looking at him with mockery and ridicule.
A jolt went through Lu Jinglong’s heart. Was this country bumpkin, here for only a month, actually receiving so much support from Class 1?
Up until now, he had held not the slightest doubt towards Deng Tao, obstinately believing it was Class 1 blindly and boundlessly defending Song Jiawen.
“Everyone’s heard it clear, Lu Jinglong and his Class 6 want the truth and innocence. If that’s the case, shouldn’t we kindly satisfy them?”
No sooner had Jiang Yan finished speaking than the usually quiet Zhu Zhen was the first to respond, “We must satisfy them. As the class president, I can vouch for student Song Jiawen.”
Xu Yan stood up, saying, “Lu Jinglong, I’m an art student; I’m clearer about the actual truth than anyone else. Of course, you can choose not to believe it, then I can take you to Teacher Fang. You can’t disbelieve the teacher’s words, right? Do you still think Teacher Fang is against Deng Tao?
The art competition was compromised because Deng Tao secretly took away Song Jiawen’s painting, which is why only she and I were shortlisted in the school. But due to her actions, Teacher Fang has refused to take her to the finals.
This is no secret; you can go and inquire about it, or you can ask your class teacher directly—he knows.”
