The Queen of Everything

It became awkward after Teacher Chang spoke.

The teacher of Class Two spoke again while correcting the papers. “We can’t say it just like that. We need evidence to call her a fraud. Who was the invigilator? We can ask him to confirm.”

“It should be their headmaster, He Qun. She had invigilated the whole test yesterday,” Zhao Zhizhong said quickly.

Teacher Chang smirked, “Cheating isn’t a good thing. What if He Qun wouldn’t say anything for the sake of her class? Plus, she would feel good if her student gets a high score…”

“Teacher Chang, that’s enough!”

Qian Jinyuan, the Math teacher and headmaster of Class One interrupted him. “Don’t you know that it’s inappropriate to say such a thing? We have no evidence now. Let’s put this student’s papers aside and have a talk with her headmaster first. She also took exams on other subjects. We will look into her other papers as well.”

Qian Jinyuan was an excellent teacher. As the headmaster of Class One the Superclass, he was respected. Everyone shut up after he spoke.

The teacher of Class Two took out Su Cha’s papers as asked, and did not change the marks.

Zhao Zhizhong glanced at Teacher Chang. The latter squeezed his eyes at him and then Su Cha’s papers, and showed contempt.

Zhao Zhizhong did not know what to say and sat down to go on correcting papers.

When the bell rang, Chang Wugui left for his class.

After he left, a teacher whispered to Zhao Zhizhong, “Teacher Zhao, don’t listen to Teacher Chang. Yang Nuanru is his distant relative. Su Cha has conflicts with her. She hasn’t come to school lately and had sought trouble with the unemployed loafers. He must hate Su Cha for it and wants to cause her trouble. Did you see him blame others like this before?”

Zhao Zhizhong nodded, “I’m aware of it. But it is indeed a strange thing that Su Cha could have improved so greatly. He has the reason to suspect her.”

The other teacher also nodded, “Then you can ask He Qun to figure it out.”

Zhao Zhizhong fell into contemplation.

***

After three classes in the afternoon, He Qun called Su Cha to stay back after the last session.

He Qun waited until almost all students had left for meal or home, then she asked Su Cha, “Su Cha, I want to ask you an awkward question. Did you cheat during yesterday’s exams, especially Math?”

He Qun asked directly. Other students might either flush or feel hurt.

But Su Cha denied and asked drily, “No. What’s wrong, Teacher He?”

He Qun was surprised to find her denying it without a blink.

Su Cha was strong-minded even if she was treated unjustly.

“That’s a relief. You have made great progress in Math. All the teachers find it too hard to believe.”

He Qun smiled and tried to cover it up.

She had never thought about it before nor expected that teachers would doubt Su Cha. She recalled that Su Cha had been concentrating on answering the questions and did nothing special during the exams. Le Anqi who was sitting next to Su Cha had appeared more suspicious.

“Oh,” Su Cha raised her brow, “so teachers would just accuse students as frauds when they found it too hard to believe them?”