I Won't Accept!

Li Mu Yang's life had been as pitch-black as his complexion, without a trace of light or brilliance.

That was precisely why, when Cui Xiaoxin had taken the initiative to approach him at the Beast-Faced Pavilion and offered to tutor him, his heart had overflowed with gratitude. When Cui Xiaoxin was attacked by an assassin, he had thrown himself forward without a second thought, wishing he could donate his very life to her.

That was precisely why, when his grades had improved by the tiniest bit and a sliver of light had entered his life, he had cared more deeply than anyone and valued it above everything else.

It was like a little flower blooming in the desert. You carefully sheltered it, waiting for it to bear abundant fruit. Then someone came along and crushed that little flower beneath their foot, snuffing out your hopes and that faint glimmer in your heart, plunging you once more into an even darker world.

His heart was filled with such despair and such grief and fury.

When they saw Li Mu Yang's expression, everyone froze.

They could feel the grievance in Li Mu Yang's heart, as well as the vicious fury he could barely suppress. They could clearly see the veins bulging on his neck and the fist clenched tightly around the writing brush.

Crack—

The writing brush snapped in his grip, black ink spilling everywhere and staining his palm.

Just as he had said, even if you suspected him of cheating, you first had to find a way to prove your deduction. You could not simply slap the huge label of "cheater" onto a student's head.

Such slander was like carving the character "early" into a desk with a small knife. Even if you dug out and smoothed over that section, years later, it would still leave an ugly scar in a person's heart.

Hearing Li Mu Yang's questioning, Zhao Mingzhu's expression turned extremely gloomy.

"Li Mu Yang, does this really need to be proven? Don't you know what your grades used to be like? Don't I know? Don't your classmates know? You were gone for a few days and suddenly you can answer an exam paper like this. Do you think you're a genius?" Zhao Mingzhu's words remained harsh and cutting, but her voice was much weaker. "Fine. You want evidence, right? All right, I'll give you evidence."

She swept her gaze over the students around Li Mu Yang. Li Mu Yang's deskmate was Yang Jun, Zhang Chen's close friend and likewise a member of the school's cuju team. His grades could only be considered average, and there was no way he could have handed in such a perfect paper.

Her gaze moved forward to a girl sitting in front of Li Mu Yang. "Chen Yuanyuan, bring me your exam paper so I can take a look."

Chen Yuanyuan rubbed her eyes, then looked up at Zhao Mingzhu. "Teacher Zhao, I haven't finished yet—there's still a third of the questions left unanswered."

Zhao Mingzhu's brows drew tightly together. Chen Yuanyuan was an excellent student in her eyes, as well as the student with the best grades near Li Mu Yang. If even she still had a third of the questions left unfinished, then Li Mu Yang naturally could not have copied from her.

"Zheng Fang, have you finished your paper?"

"Teacher, I haven't finished yet." The petite girl answered in a timid voice, afraid that Zhao Mingzhu would blame her.

"Chen Lei—"

"Teacher, I've finished mine."

"Bring it up for me to see."

Chen Lei brought up his exam paper. Zhao Mingzhu opened it with an excited look, as if she had found evidence that Li Mu Yang had cheated.

But the more she read, the greener her face became. She threw Chen Lei's paper out and cursed, "Chen Lei, do you have a pig's brain? I've gone over the first major question and the third question countless times. They're practically free points, and you still got them wrong? Do you have no memory at all? Do you still want to go to university? Take it back and do it again."

Chen Lei picked up his paper from the floor and ran back to his seat, his face flushed with embarrassment.

Zhao Mingzhu swept her gaze across the classroom. "Has anyone finished their paper? It's fine if you only have two or three questions left—"

No one answered.

"Not a single person?" Zhao Mingzhu's expression grew even uglier.

Li Mu Yang stood up.

He pushed back his chair and walked toward the podium one step at a time.

"Li Mu Yang, what are you doing?" Zhao Mingzhu shouted sharply.

"There's no need to make things so troublesome." Li Mu Yang's voice was low.

He walked up onto the podium and stood shoulder to shoulder with Zhao Mingzhu.

He pulled out an unfinished exam paper from the stack on the teacher's desk, then picked up the writing brush Zhao Mingzhu used to mark papers and began answering the questions on it.

Zhao Mingzhu's eyes widened, and the muscles in her face twitched incessantly.

This ignorant fellow who did not know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth—he actually wanted to answer the questions on the spot?

Just as Zhao Mingzhu had expected, Li Mu Yang stood beside her, leaning slightly forward as he solved the questions one by one on the blank exam paper.

Swish, swish, swish—

The tip of the brush glided across the paper, his wrist barely lifting at all.

One question after another fell before him, and the blank sections of the paper gradually filled.

The classroom was deathly silent.

No one spoke. No one answered questions. Not even a mocking expression appeared on anyone's face.

Everyone raised their heads to watch Li Mu Yang, wholly absorbed in answering the questions on the podium. They were about to witness a miracle, and they were also about to witness Li Mu Yang's innocence.

The bell signaling the end of class rang, but no one left. The exam continued.

When Li Mu Yang finished the last question, he had used only a little over thirty minutes. He had already answered these questions once, so he did not need to think through them again.

He handed the paper back to Zhao Mingzhu and said, "Look again."

Zhao Mingzhu took the paper mechanically, but stared at Li Mu Yang with a bewildered expression.

This useless student in everyone's eyes had truly undergone a world-shaking transformation.

Regardless of whether the paper he handed in next was right or wrong, simply by bravely standing up to fight back, walking onto the podium, and answering questions in front of the entire class, he was no longer the timid, weak, muddleheaded student he had once been—apathetic toward everything and almost entirely without a sense of presence.

"Of course, you might say that because I copied the answers once before, I've already memorized them by heart..." Li Mu Yang stared sharply at Zhao Mingzhu, his voice filled with resentment he could not let go of. "To avoid such an accusation, I've used a different method for many of the questions. So please, Teacher Zhao, look carefully and see how these two exam papers differ."

Whoosh—

The classroom grew noisy once again.

"What? He said he used different methods for many of the questions?"

"That's impossible, isn't it? Did Li Mu Yang eat some divine elixir? How else could he have become this amazing?"

"Could this guy have been hiding his true abilities all along? Maybe he deliberately did badly before to lull us into complacency, waiting until the Literary Examination arrived to stun everyone with a single brilliant feat—"

—

Zhao Mingzhu ignored the discussion in the classroom. Her gaze finally returned to the exam paper in her hands.

She went through the questions one by one. Answer after answer appeared before her eyes, and she compared each one with the answers in her mind.

Li Mu Yang had not lied. He had indeed used a different method for many of the questions. It was hard to say which method was better, but the answers were all the standard answers she had expected.

Just like on the previous paper, two questions had been left blank. Those were the parts he did not know how to answer.

With such grades and such ability, even Cui Xiaoxin, the top student in the class, might not have been able to do this.

It was now certain that Li Mu Yang had not cheated. Both this paper and the previous one had been completed by Li Mu Yang himself.

Zhao Mingzhu gripped the exam paper as if she were clutching a handful of red-hot coals.

Her expression shifted repeatedly. At last, she struggled to force a smile onto her face, patted Li Mu Yang on the shoulder, and said, "Not bad. Li Mu Yang didn't cheat. This exam paper was indeed completed by you. Your improvement is obvious, so keep it up."

Zhao Mingzhu looked up at the students below. "Li Mu Yang, go back down. The other students still need to continue their exams."

"Teacher Zhao—" Li Mu Yang stood in front of Zhao Mingzhu without moving.

"What?" Zhao Mingzhu abruptly raised her head, a fierce glint flashing in her eyes. She had already proven his innocence. Could this fellow still be trying to push his luck?

"You've taught for many years, but you've never apologized to a student, have you?" Li Mu Yang asked.

The air seemed to solidify. Every student felt a chill creep up the back of their neck.

They thought Li Mu Yang had to be insane. He actually dared to make the school's notorious rigid old witch apologize to him.

"What are you trying to say?" Zhao Mingzhu clenched her hand into a fist, crushing the exam paper Li Mu Yang had just completed into a hard ball of paper.

"If you haven't..." Li Mu Yang looked straight into Zhao Mingzhu's eyes and spoke word by word. "Then let me be the first."

"Li Mu Yang—"

"Does Teacher Zhao really think that what you've done and what you've said caused a student so little harm that it isn't even worth an apology? If that's the case, I'll report today's events to the school. I'll lodge a complaint with the Ministry of Rites about a teacher slandering and insulting me—"

Zhao Mingzhu stared fixedly at Li Mu Yang. "Li Mu Yang, are you sure you want to take this that far?"

"Yes, Teacher. I'm absolutely sure."

"All right, I apologize to you. I misspoke just now. I shouldn't have accused you of cheating based on my own assumptions before investigating the matter clearly—Li Mu Yang, I'm sorry." Zhao Mingzhu's voice was hoarse.

This was something she had never done before.

It was also something she had never once considered doing.

"I didn't cheat." Li Mu Yang said this to the students in the class.

"..."

Li Mu Yang turned back to Zhao Mingzhu and said, "I won't accept it."

"What?"

"I said—I won't accept Teacher Zhao's apology." Li Mu Yang repeated himself.

He walked down from the podium and returned to his seat.

He packed all the books, writing supplies, and water cup on his desk into his schoolbag, then carried the bulging bag out of the classroom.

This time, his back was ramrod straight, like a cold pine standing proud in a mountain valley.