Holding tightly onto Qiao Wei's wrist, A Xin moved fast — almost running — as she went to find the teacher.
She had indeed messaged the teacher earlier, and soon the teacher led them to the monitoring room to check the hallway cameras outside the dressing area.
The dressing room itself had no surveillance — it was considered a private area.
But there were cameras at both corners along the hallway between the stage and the dressing room.
The footage clearly showed that after Qiao Wei came down from the stage, she never went near the dressing room.
Instead, A Xin had taken her away directly.
"Maybe she did it before the performance,"
someone muttered, still convinced that Qiao Wei was suspicious.
Even if she hadn't hidden the costume afterward, what about earlier?
No matter what, they simply refused to believe Qiao Wei had nothing to do with it.
Qiao Wei's face went pale with anger.
She couldn't understand why people always assumed the worst of her.
Just as she opened her mouth to argue, A Xin tugged her sleeve lightly — so she decided to keep quiet.
"Teacher, let me handle it."
At A Xin's calm voice, the teacher unconsciously let go of the mouse and stepped aside.
A Xin rewound several key moments in the footage and captured a few stills —
all showing Qiao Wei entering and leaving the dressing room before her performance, with nothing in her hands.
"Wait a minute!"
A Xin's brows lifted slightly.
Her gaze turned toward Lin Xiao'ai.
"Is there a problem, Lin Xiao'ai?"
"From these clips, it's true Qiao Wei didn't take my costume,"
Lin Xiao'ai said, biting her lip.
"But… I can't say the same for you, Yun Xin.
After Qiao Wei's performance, you went into the dressing room — and came out holding something."
Everyone turned their eyes to A Xin,
their faces saying so you helped her do it, huh?
Qiao Wei almost exploded.
But A Xin only lowered her head and smiled.
The teacher who'd come with them looked even more displeased.
"If you think A Xin did it," the teacher said sharply,
"then you might as well accuse me too — since I was the one who came out of the dressing room after her."
Lin Xiao'ai's heart gave a hard thump. A bad feeling crept up her spine.
Sure enough - A Xin pulled up another clip,
this time showing the teacher leaving the dressing room right after A Xin.
The crowd's faces shifted immediately.
"I-I'm sorry, A Xin," Lin Xiao'ai stammered.
"I just got too worked up earlier. I was afraid we'd embarrass everyone, so I-I know you're a good student, you'd never—"
A Xin smiled faintly.
"No need to apologize.
You'll want to kill me soon anyway."
Before anyone could react, she switched to another video.
The new footage was crystal clear — the person in it was unmistakably Lin Xiao'ai herself.
At first, it looked ordinary.
She appeared several times, walking through different hallways, carrying her backpack - nothing strange.
Lin Xiao'ai began to relax, remembering there were no cameras in a certain area…
But then A Xin did something that made her heart drop to the floor.
Without hesitation, A Xin reached into Qiao Wei's pocket and took out her phone.
Qiao Wei looked stunned, but before she could protest, A Xin had already unlocked it and opened a video file.
She pressed play.
On-screen, Lin Xiao'ai's face appeared clearly under the hallway lights —
and the footage showed her pulling the stolen costume from her bag and throwing it into a trash bin.
The room went silent.
Everyone turned toward Lin Xiao'ai in unison.
Her face drained of color.
Under so many stares, she burst into tears, stammering,
"I—I—I didn't—this isn't—"
but the words fell apart before they could make sense.
"The evidence has already been saved by the teacher,"
A Xin said evenly.
"If Lin Xiao'ai believes this is a setup, we can test for fingerprints.
I'm not curious why you tried to frame Qiao Wei,
but doing something like this - planting blame and ruining someone's name -
isn't what a 'model student' should do."
Behind her glasses, A Xin's eyes glinted coldly.
"Teacher, for behavior like Lin Xiao'ai's,
I think her scholarship should be revoked.
It should go to someone who has both good grades and good character."
Qiao Wei straightened a little under A Xin's glance.
Come to think of it, her moral standing was at least better than Lin Xiao'ai's -
she'd never done something that low.
The teacher's expression hardened.
"I'll report this to the administration," she said sternly,
shooting Lin Xiao'ai a disappointed look.
"No matter the reason, what you did was truly shameful."
Thanks to Ji Jiang's influence, the school probably wouldn't make a public announcement,
but Lin Xiao'ai's reputation was ruined all the same.
There were plenty of witnesses in that room — and not everyone had ever liked her to begin with.
Some were probably delighted to see her fall.
As expected, the school never officially punished her.
Maybe because of Ji Jiang.
But the way people looked at Lin Xiao'ai changed.
No one called her "hardworking and kind" anymore.
As for Qiao Wei — it had nothing to do with her now.
Her days were filled with practice tests and tutoring after school.
She was too busy to even spare a glance at Lin Xiao'ai's bitter looks from afar.
Thanks to her "question sea" strategy,
Qiao Wei's final exam rank shot up -
from the top twenty in the grade to the top ten.
Meanwhile, Lin Xiao'ai's grades slipped — she fell to ninth place.
That alone made Qiao Wei ecstatic.
When the new semester began, Qiao Wei was busier than ever.
So busy she practically forgot Ji Jiang and Lin Xiao'ai existed.
Those who used to mock her lost interest.
They'd laughed at her for falling from grace -
but who would've guessed she'd become friends with the top student,
then rise into the top ten herself and even be publicly praised by the school?
A true heiress was always dazzling, no matter how low she'd fallen.
Few could compare.
At the end of the second semester, Qiao Wei placed third in the entire grade,
winning a scholarship.
When she came home and shared the news, she realized something -she hadn't seen her father drunk in a long time.
After asking, her mother told her he'd left for work elsewhere,
leaving only one note:
"If Weiwei can work this hard, then as her father,
I have to stand up again.
I can't be the bad example for my daughter."
That night, Qiao Wei called A Xin and cried for half the night,
pouring out everything - all the memories, the pain, the things she'd never said aloud.
Only after that did she finally fall asleep.
The next morning, she overslept.
And it was A Xin who came all the way to her house to wake her up.
When the two top students walked into class late,
everyone stared at them as if they'd seen something rare.
But instead of scolding, the teacher smiled kindly.
"Yun Xin, Qiao Wei, you're only in second year - it's good to study hard,
but don't forget to take care of your health."
Then, turning to the class-
"Everyone, learn from these two!"
Dragged to her seat by A Xin, Qiao Wei whispered, half-dazed,
"See? Being a good student really is differe-
even when we're late, the teacher makes excuses for us."
She grinned.
"Amazing."