Behind a bush outside the school cafeteria, several girls known for being troublemakers in class were chattering amongst themselves. Jiang Lin, whom the class president had mentioned, was among them.
"Jiang Xueli has been with Lin Zhengran all the time lately. You think they've figured something out?"
"Probably not, right? How could they even investigate this? There was no one around when we put the phone in her desk."
"No one was around, sure, but Lin Zhengran is number one in our class. I'm afraid he'll figure out it was us."
"Then what do we do? I never thought this would blow up so much. If we tell the teacher now, our parents will all be called in, and we'll get expelled!"
The more they talked, the more panicked they became. The incident had been gnawing at them for days, giving them no peace.
Around the corner from the bushes, Lin Zhengran and Jiang Xueli were pressed against the wall.
Jiang Xueli clutched a voice recorder. After hearing everything, she gritted her teeth. "Those jerks! It really was them! I'm not letting them get away with this!"
Lin Zhengran shushed her, signaling for her to be quiet. The girls had started talking about Jiang Xiao.
And so, they heard one of the girls say, "Oh yeah, what was up with Jiang Xiao that day? Why did she point the finger at Jiang Xueli in class? She wasn't there when we planted the phone and money."
Jiang Lin answered, "I forgot to tell you guys. Jiang Xiao actually saw us planting the phone that day. But she said she wouldn't rat us out and would just pretend she didn't see anything. I never expected her to call out Jiang Xueli in class."
"That makes sense. Jiang Xiao likes Lin Zhengran, right? She doesn't like Jiang Xueli."
Hearing this from around the corner, Jiang Xueli realized her guess had been right all along. She turned off the recorder and whispered to Lin Zhengran, "Now everything's clear. And I've got all the evidence."
Lin Zhengran chuckled. "You'll be clearing your name soon. Are you going to go straight to the teacher, or do you want to scare them a little first? If you walk out with that recorder right now, I bet you those girls will burst into tears."
Jiang Xueli puffed out her cheeks and clenched her fists. "Of course I'm gonna scare them! Even if we're classmates, what they did is just too much! I'm not going to just swallow this!"
With a flick of her pigtails, Jiang Xueli held her head high, puffed out her chest, and strode out from behind the corner with the recorder in hand.
Her voice rang out like the crack of dawn. "Don't you think you've all gone way too far?!"
Her voice made the girls jump, and they trembled with panicked eyes. "Ji-Jiang Xueli?! And Lin Zhengran, what are you two doing here...?"
Jiang Xueli held up the recorder. "What do you think? I've recorded everything you just said. After doing something so awful, you can just wait for the teacher to call your parents!"
Lin Zhengran naturally walked out as well, but before either of them could say another word...
More than half of the girls turned pale with fear and burst into tears. They started wailing apologies one after another, saying they never thought things would get so serious.
Jiang Lin, their leader, was the first one to start crying.
Lin Zhengran was speechless. 'Kids really are just kids,' he thought. 'They can't handle any pressure at all.'
Of course, no amount of crying would do them any good. This incident had to be reported to the teacher and made public. At most, the severity of their punishment would be adjusted based on Jiang Xueli's mood and whether or not she decided to forgive them.
But before going to the teacher, Jiang Xueli went to find her deskmate, Jiang Xiao.
Lin Zhengran didn't go this time. As Jiang Xueli put it, "This both does and doesn't have anything to do with her. I'll go talk to her myself."
Lin Zhengran shrugged. "Up to you. I'm just here to help, after all."
Jiang Xueli found Jiang Xiao alone and told her she knew everything, and that she even had a recording of the other girls' conversation.
Jiang Xiao lowered her head. She wasn't crying, but her face was a mask of conflict and pain.
It was as if she had known this was coming.
She said to Jiang Xueli, "I knew I couldn't hide it. With Lin Zhengran helping you investigate... he's so smart, of course he'd figure it out. I'm sorry."
Jiang Xueli's face was cold. "It's too late for 'sorry' now. I'm going to ask the teacher to change our seats. We won't be deskmates anymore."
Seeing that the other girl had nothing to say, she turned to leave. But Jiang Xiao suddenly squatted down, crying and covering her face.
"I'm sorry, Jiang Xueli! I shouldn't have done it! I'll never do it again! I don't even know why I did it that day, but I just... I really don't like seeing you two together."
"Actually..." Seeing her pained expression, Jiang Xueli told her the truth. "To be honest, he and I weren't that close at first. If you hadn't pulled this whole stunt, we probably wouldn't have spent the last few days eating and talking together. We wouldn't have gotten so familiar."
Jiang Xiao cried even harder.
Having said her piece, Jiang Xueli left, completely unaware that her words had been far more painful than any direct insult could ever be.
In the afternoon, Jiang Xueli didn't even bring the recorder. She just marched the group of girls, Jiang Xiao, and the class president straight to the homeroom teacher's office.
She laid out the whole affair from beginning to end.
The homeroom teacher was stunned. Upon learning the truth, he gave the girls a harsh scolding and called in the parents of all the students involved, except for the class president.
The girls then received a second round of lecturing. For the rest of the afternoon, the office was filled with nothing but the sound of crying.
After the lecturing was over, the homeroom teacher also apologized to Jiang Xueli in private. "I'm sorry, Jiang Xueli. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that in front of the class. I will help you get your position as Discipline Monitor back. I'm truly sorry."
Jiang Xueli smiled and nodded.
The next morning, all the students of Fourth Grade, Class 2 were sitting upright in the classroom.
The homeroom teacher stood at the lectern and sternly went over the incident again:
"Regarding the recent theft in our class, the investigation has proven that Jiang Xueli was framed! She absolutely did not take the class president's belongings or anyone's money. I won't name the people who framed her here, but if not for Jiang Xueli's forgiveness, this matter would not have ended so easily!"
"But even though she has forgiven you, you all know exactly what you did, don't you?! I hope you remember this lesson! Carry it with you always! And you had better be grateful to Jiang Xueli! If anything like this ever happens in our class again, I will not be as lenient with the culprits as I was this time!"
The homeroom teacher spoke hoarsely for over ten minutes. And although he didn't name names, everyone knew who he was talking about. Even the students who had just gone along with the false accusations looked thoroughly embarrassed.
The homeroom teacher announced, "I hereby declare that starting today, Jiang Xueli is officially reinstated as our Discipline Monitor! I hope that she will be able to carry out her duties even more effectively in the future. Let's have a round of applause for our Discipline Monitor!"
The applause started small and grew louder. Jiang Xueli sat at her desk, feeling a little bashful.
And so, after a week, the theft incident was finally, completely over.
Everything returned to normal. Children don't hold grudges, and the memory of the theft soon faded from everyone's minds.
Jiang Xueli also went back to her old ways, quickly scribbling the names of anyone she saw talking or chatting on the blackboard.
One of the mischievous boys asked, "Hey, Discipline Monitor, do you really like Lin Zhengran? If I told you I was good friends with him, would you not write my name down?"
Jiang Xueli's face turned red. "What nonsense are you talking about?! Who said I..."
She squeezed her eyes shut, then suddenly changed her tone and said shyly, "I'll like whoever I want to like! It's none of your business! I'm writing your name at the very top of the list!"
Hearing this, more students in the class started to jeer. "The Discipline Monitor really does like Lin Zhengran! Look, she's blushing!"
Jiang Xueli stood there, fuming with embarrassment. She glanced back at the unfazed Lin Zhengran, which only made her angrier. In a fit of pique, the words slipped out:
"What's it to any of you?! So what if I like him?! Anyone who keeps teasing me, I'll write all of your names on the board! Every single one!"
The whole class fell silent, stunned. Jiang Xueli froze, stunned as well.