So What If the Beautiful Campus Belle Loves Money? (17)

The investigation had reached its conclusion, and the news that Shi Zheng would not have to leave school spread as if it had grown wings.

Su Qingqing's secret hopes were utterly dashed, replaced by deep resentment and doubt.

No, she had to know why.

Why had Gu Yanshen changed his mind?

Why had Shi Zheng escaped disaster?

She made an excuse and headed straight for the Administration Building.

Just as she reached the building, a familiar figure happened to stride out of it—it was Hua Jinchen.

Su Qingqing's heart leaped. Although she and Hua Jinchen were not close, they had spoken before.

Now that she had run into him, perhaps she could find something out.

She immediately put on a gentle, gracious smile and quickened her steps to meet him.

"Hua Jinchen, what a coincidence," she called softly.

But Hua Jinchen acted as though he had not heard her, not sparing her so much as a glance.

His face was cold, and a forbidding air surrounded him. Without looking aside, he strode straight past her, leaving Su Qingqing frozen on the spot, her outstretched hand and smile set in awkward curves.

A few students passing by cast curious glances her way.

Su Qingqing's face burned as though an invisible hand had slapped her.

She quickly withdrew her hand and pressed her lips together, her resentment toward Shi Zheng growing another degree deeper.

Shi Zheng must have done something that made Hua Jinchen ignore her so completely too!

She forced herself to remain calm, turned, and hurried into the Administration Building.

The door was slightly ajar. She knocked lightly, then pushed it open and went straight in.

Gu Yanshen was the only person left in the conference room.

He stood tall before the window, his back to the door.

Su Qingqing was about to speak when her nose caught a faint trace of an x smell in the air.

It was so faint that she would not have noticed it without smelling carefully.

She frowned but thought no further of it.

"President Gu." She stepped forward. "About the outcome of Shi Zheng's case on the forum..."

Gu Yanshen did not turn around. He interrupted indifferently, "What is it?"

His cold attitude made Su Qingqing falter over the words she had prepared.

She collected herself and continued, "President Gu, I just don't quite understand."

"It's a fact that Shi Zheng lied about her family background, and the impact was very bad. Given how the Student Council usually handles things, she shouldn't... shouldn't have been let off so easily."

"Isn't a warning too lenient? Won't this make others think the Student Council handles matters unfairly?"

She tried to use these high-sounding reasons to conceal her own selfish interests.

They were both thousand-year-old foxes; how could Gu Yanshen fail to understand the meaning hidden in Su Qingqing's words?

Gu Yanshen turned around. "Are you in the Student Council? What's your name?"

His gaze was calm and unruffled as he looked at her, yet it carried an invisible pressure.

Su Qingqing was taken aback. She had not expected him to ask that and answered instinctively, "I... I'm an ordinary member of the Arts Department. My name is Su Qingqing."

"Since when did people from the Arts Department start handling this sort of thing?"

"I'm only concerned about the Student Council's reputation and fairness..."

"The Student Council's reputation and fairness are naturally upheld by the Disciplinary Inspection Department, based on the investigation results and the rules and regulations."

Gu Yanshen interrupted her. "The outcome of today's meeting was a comprehensive judgment reached after joint deliberation by the members of the Disciplinary Inspection Department, based on school rules."

"You question whether the punishment was too lenient. Are you questioning the professional judgment of every member of the Disciplinary Inspection Department, or the fairness with which I chaired the meeting?"

His words left Su Qingqing speechless, and her face turned slightly pale. "President Gu, that's not what I meant... I just think..."

"I don't want to hear what you think." Gu Yanshen's gaze grew colder. "As a member of the Student Council, you can't make reckless guesses about the organization's decisions based solely on personal likes and dislikes or one-sided information."

"If I catch you doing it again, get out of the Student Council."

At that moment, Su Qingqing was not paying attention to Gu Yanshen's words. Her gaze was completely drawn to his face.

On Gu Yanshen's left cheek was a very faint five-finger mark, almost impossible to notice without looking closely.

Su Qingqing's heart sank sharply, as though an invisible hand had gripped it tight.

Without a doubt, he had clearly been hit!

Someone who could slap Gu Yanshen...

Could it have been Hua Jinchen?

Su Qingqing was unwilling to consider the possibility in her mind.