She knew best how to crush someone's spirit

In the end, Cheng Li, Yang Danya, and the other girl had no choice but to do it in front of the police, Miss Charlotte, and the entire class.

They went into the hallway and shouted that Cheng Li and Yang Danya had deliberately framed Shen Banxia for stealing a pen, apologized to her, and promised never to make the same mistake again.

Shen Banxia turned to glance at Xu Mingyue. Xu Mingyue's face instantly went deathly pale, convinced Shen Banxia would make her apologize too.

But Shen Banxia said nothing. She withdrew her gaze, picked up a pen, and signed the Public Security Mediation Agreement.

It was as though that glance had been meant just to scare her.

As Shen Banxia signed, she thanked them.

"Thank you, officers. It's a good thing you came, or I would have been branded a thief.

I would never have been able to clear my name for the rest of my life.

Then my teachers and classmates would definitely have been disappointed in me.

My mommy and brothers wouldn't have liked me anymore either.

You really saved my life!"

Xu Mingyue and her group were utterly speechless. Was it really that serious?

More than anything, though, they felt stifled and frustrated. They had failed to make a fool of Shen Banxia and had been taught a lesson by her instead.

The commotion had taken up half the class.

After this incident, Miss Charlotte had plenty to reflect on and began to see the transfer student, Shen Banxia, in a new light.

She thought this student was special and clever. She understood that the burden of proof lay with the accuser, rather than blindly trying to prove her own innocence when falsely accused.

On the spur of the moment, she decided to turn the planned listening lesson into a scenario-based lesson.

She took a stack of crime-solving clue cards from her teaching briefcase and handed them out, asking the students to discuss how the case had unfolded.

The students worked in groups, each person taking on a different role.

Shen Banxia was grouped with Xu Ziming and two other classmates, while Xu Mingyue was grouped with Pei Yu and two others.

Unlike Shen Banxia, who was brimming with curiosity and energy, Xu Mingyue felt miserable after failing to frame her. Combined with her lack of sleep, it left her slumped listlessly over her desk, her mind somewhere in outer space.

During the ten-minute break, Cheng Li turned around and glared darkly at Shen Banxia.

"Don't get smug just yet. I won't let you off."

"Are you threatening me?" Shen Banxia asked innocently.

"So what if I am?"

"If you threaten me, I can call the police!" Shen Banxia replied with a bright smile.

Cheng Li froze. Perhaps because of the earlier incident, hearing the words "call the police" triggered an almost instinctive fear in her.

"You'd better watch yourself!" Cheng Li snapped, then angrily looked away.

Shen Banxia said with a smile,

"I want to tell you a secret!"

Cheng Li turned and eyed Shen Banxia warily. After a while, she could not help asking,

"What secret?"

"The classroom surveillance camera actually hasn't been fixed yet!"

Cheng Li's expression changed at once. She stared at Shen Banxia in shock, then said angrily,

"I'm not falling for your tricks again!"

At this point, whether the camera worked no longer mattered. After all, they had already admitted that they had put the pen there themselves and had wrongly accused Shen Banxia.

But if the camera really had not been repaired, as Shen Banxia claimed, then they had been played earlier.

They could have stubbornly insisted that Shen Banxia had stolen her pen. There was no evidence proving that she had not taken it, anyway.

Even if she was presumed innocent for lack of evidence, everyone would still have thought she had taken it. Otherwise, why would it have been in her drawer?

Now, though, they had admitted with their own mouths that they had planted the pen, and everyone knew Shen Banxia was innocent.

By telling her this now, Shen Banxia was twisting the knife!

Once the discussion was over,

Miss Charlotte, eager to hear Shen Banxia's deductions, called on her first.

Shen Banxia replied with a smile,

"I think the killer is Vivian!"

Her answer immediately sent the entire class into an uproar of laughter.

"What an idiot!" Dong Yulin laughed, slapping his desk.

Everyone had deduced from the clues that the killer was Vivian's husband, yet Shen Banxia had named the victim, Vivian, as the killer. How could they not find that ridiculous?

The next second, Dong Yulin met Xu Ziming's cold gaze and immediately reined himself in. Lowering his head, he muttered innocently,

"The killer is obviously Robert!"

"Why do you think Vivian is the killer?" Miss Charlotte was interested in Shen Banxia's answer too and asked curiously.

"Intuition!" Shen Banxia remained calm and unruffled, offering no further explanation. That single word served as her answer.

Miss Charlotte neither agreed nor disagreed. She merely smiled and remarked that Shen Banxia was a girl with a mind of her own.

This was an open-ended exercise. No matter whom they identified as the killer, all that mattered was that their reasoning held together.

In other words, anyone could be the killer, as long as they could convince the others.

After all, they were neither police officers nor detectives. The real purpose of a scenario-based lesson was not to find the actual killer.

It was to develop their reading and speaking skills on the one hand, and their logical reasoning on the other.

As long as both of those goals were met, the lesson had achieved its purpose.

She then asked students from several other groups. All of them answered that the killer was Vivian's husband, Robert.

During the break, Xu Ziming went to the restroom with his buddies.

While they were relieving themselves, Dong Yulin suddenly asked,

"Boss, how did you know our classroom camera was fixed last night?"

"Didn't you guys tell me?"

"No. None of us knew," Dong Yulin replied, looking bewildered.

Xu Ziming's eyes widened. He had clearly heard someone say the camera had been fixed last night. How else could he have known?

Had he heard a ghost?

"Fuck!" Xu Ziming suddenly cursed.

That brief lapse in concentration had nearly made him piss on his own shoes.

"Boss, that country bumpkin doesn't seem all that dumb. Could we have fallen for her trick?"

"What trick?" Xu Ziming asked impatiently.

"Didn't she bet us on this month's exam? What if we really can't beat her? Will we actually have to call her our grand-aunt?"

"Fuck, how can you talk us down and boost her confidence?" Already irritated, Xu Ziming lost his temper, smacked Dong Yulin on the head, and cursed at him.

"I was just saying!" Dong Yulin rubbed his head, feeling wronged.

"Not even that!"

Back in the classroom, Xu Ziming walked toward Shen Banxia. He felt as though he would not be comfortable in his own skin unless he gave her some trouble.

Shen Banxia looked up at Xu Ziming standing before her, her expression innocent.

"Classmate, did you need something?"

Xu Ziming choked on his words. It felt like punching cotton-there was nothing for him to hit.

"I don't need a damn thing!"

"Xu Ziming, the monthly exam is the day after tomorrow. Good luck!"

Xu Ziming shuddered, goosebumps rising all over him.

"Can you fucking stop talking in such a disgusting way?"

He turned and walked away, looking both repulsed and frustrated.