Actually, I always thought Lin Chu Jing didn't have a mother because it was always Lin Shan Li who attended the parent-teacher meetings.

Not really, just thinking that wouldn't make me mistakenly believe she didn't have a mother.

I carefully recalled and suddenly remembered an essay Lin Chu Jing wrote last semester, "My Favorite Season."

This kind of assigned topic was a piece of cake for Lin Chu Jing. I used to use her essays as exemplary samples.

But for that particular essay, I used the class monitor's work. The class monitor's essay wasn't as lively as Lin Chu Jing's, but she was smart enough to come up with a specific essay template that was easy to replicate and scored well.

So from an exam preparation perspective, I had been using the class monitor's essays as samples since the second semester of the ninth grade.

But why didn't I use Lin Chu Jing's essay as a sample that time?

Her writing style was definitely not an issue. I remember it was probably because it was off-topic.

I found that essay.

In it, Lin Chu Jing wrote about accompanying her seriously ill mother in the hospital when she was 7 years old. Her father, distracted by an "aunt," neglected her mother, leading to her tearful death in the hospital.

That "aunt" had the surname Xia.

Since then, summer had become Lin Chu Jing's most hated, even loathed, season.

As I read the essay, my mind was filled with questions.

Lin Chu Jing's stepmother is named Xia Rong.

Has Lin Chu Jing always... hated her?

I realized that I was already breaking out in cold sweat at some point.

Did Lin Chu Jing hate her stepmother?

Then the scene of them empathizing with each other at the police station was a complete lie?

Or is this essay the lie?

If it wasn't involved in a homicide case, I wouldn't have taken this essay seriously at all.

But now, a terrifying thought emerged in my mind:

Could Lin Chu Jing be framing her stepmother out of hatred?

No! Impossible!

Lin Chu Jing is so smart, so kind. Watching Lin Shan abuse Xia Rong, how could she hate and frame such a pitiable person?

She might not even dislike this stepmother in real life. Maybe thinking about her biological mother, she felt guilty about her "betrayal," which complicated emotions into hatred in her writing.

Yes! It must be like this!

After all, Lin Chu Jing's testimony was insufficient to convict. If Xia Rong hadn’t committed the murder, she wouldn't confess.

But soon, Xia Rong confessed.

I heard from Qin Chuan that Xia Rong initially adamantly denied killing anyone.

But upon hearing that Lin Chu Jing claimed to have witnessed the murder, she suddenly deflated.

She probably never expected to be caught or it to be by Lin Chu Jing.

"Do you think there's a possibility that Xia Rong was framed?" I suddenly asked Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan was startled.

"Framed? Who framed her? Her daughter?" Qin Chuan shook his head, "In my experience as a detective, this little girl doesn't seem like someone who would lie. She looks like a well-behaved child."

"You're right, she is top of the class."

"Just make sure her studies aren’t affected then!"

Lin Chu Jing's grades weren't affected, but her emotions clearly were.

Her father was dead, and her mother was the murderer, whom she testified against. Such pressure would be unbearable even for an adult, let alone a child.

Since Xia Rong's confession, I had been on edge regarding Lin Chu Jing. I felt panicked if I didn't see her for half an hour.

Even if other teachers were in class, I would frequently go to the classroom door, peeking through the small window on the back door to make sure Lin Chu Jing was quietly sitting, listening to the lecture, and taking notes. Only then did I feel relieved.

If this continued, even if she didn't break down, I would.

That day during recess, following my usual routine, I looked around the classroom and my heart skipped a beat.

Lin Chu Jing was not there!

I quickly asked her deskmate. Her deskmate panicked and said that Lin Chu Jing had disappeared while she was dozing off with her head on the table.

I asked her to check the restroom, stall by stall.

No one.

I then went to the convenience store, canteen, and medical room.

No one.

Where could she have gone?

A teacher passing by told me that he had seen Lin Chu Jing heading to the rooftop of the academic building.

Why go to the rooftop?!

I ran to the rooftop frantically and saw Lin Chu Jing's back.

She was shouting on the rooftop, crying when she was tired, then sat down again and started tearing her books apart. When she was done tearing, she cried again.

I couldn't imagine the immense pressure she was under alone, nor did I know how to help her.

Parents always think that teachers are better at handling situations and communicating with their children. But in reality, teachers are often just as helpless when faced with problems.

I hid behind the stairs until she left. Only then did I come out to help clean up the scattered papers.

She had torn her Chinese textbook.

I found it both funny and frustrating. She probably wasn’t hating literature class or finding me too annoying, right...

I had an extra textbook, and decided to give it to her during evening study, pretending nothing had happened.

However, I suddenly noticed the name on the textbook's title page wasn't Lin Chu Jing's but the class monitor's.

What was going on?

Why would Lin Chu Jing tear up the class monitor's book?

"You wouldn't believe me."

Facing my query, the class monitor refused to speak.

"Why? Why wouldn't we believe you?"

"Because she scores better than me. She said no one would believe me, no one would believe that she has been bullying me all along..."

My head buzzed: "How long has this been going on?"

"Ever since you started using my essays as samples..."

That was from the first semester of the ninth grade.

The class monitor poured out her grievances: "Every time you read my essay, she would block me in the restroom, mock my writing, saying I could only use crappy parallel sentences. I was so terrified of being mocked again that I didn't dare to write anymore. I've told you before, I have told you..."

Then I remembered. She asked me for essay advice once, and without thinking, I told her to emulate Lin Chu Jing.

"Then why did she tear up your Chinese textbook?"

The class monitor lowered her head, furtively glanced at me, and didn’t dare to answer.

"Don't worry, you can tell me. The teacher will stand up for you."

"She said you keep watching her and it's annoying. She snatched my book to tear up for stress relief..."

My head buzzed again.

"Please, don't tell her! She will retaliate against me..." The class monitor begged.

"I'm your teacher, don't worry. I'll protect you."

The class monitor shook her head resolutely: "No, you can't protect me. Not only me, but she has also bullied many others. Some dared to tell, but no one believed us. Because she is top of the class, a model student. No teacher would believe us..."

I promised the class monitor to keep quiet about this and asked her to return to class while I went to the office to fetch a new textbook for her.

The short walk from the office to the classroom felt endlessly long this time.

I never thought that there could be bullying in my class, and the mastermind would be my pride and joy, the top-ranked student.

According to school rules, bullying classmates warranted punishment.

But a top city student with a disciplinary record, how credible would that be?

Better to suppress it, let her graduate smoothly.

After all, only one semester left, and they would part ways after that. Those bullied students would be free. Then it would be the high school teacher's problem, not mine...

Thinking about this, shame bubbled up inside. I had chosen to study education with dreams of shaping young minds, yet a few years into the job, I had turned so cunning and pragmatic.

Back in the office, I noticed a sneaky figure.

At Ping Hai No. 3 Middle School, we had academic stars like Lin Chu Jing, but also students brazen enough to steal from the teachers' office.

Last semester, a student named Zhang Lei, under the guise of asking questions, had stolen the English teacher's phone. He didn't realize he needed to log out of the cloud account.

Ten minutes later, the teacher saw a new selfie in her cloud album: Zhang Lei smiling with his girlfriend.

Bad, sure, but comically dumb.

"Who's there!" I shouted.

It was Zhang Lei again, hiding something behind his back.

"What are you hiding? Hand it over!"

Zhang Lei refused.

Furious, I grabbed at him: "What did you steal this time? Hand it over!"

It was his own test paper, with a single-digit score.

He stammered, "I...wanted to ask the teacher something..."

"You? Ask a question? Who would believe that!"

I continued searching him, looking for the stolen item.

Zhang Lei, now desperate, shouted, "I only stole once! Since then, I haven't stolen anything! What, only good students can come to the office, and delinquents like me can't? You let Lin Chu Jing steal and do nothing; I steal and I'm forever tainted?"

If he hadn't mentioned Lin Chu Jing, I wouldn't have been so furious.

"Watch yourself and don't falsely accuse others."

"I'm not accusing her! I saw with my own eyes that she stole the test answers from the office!" Zhang Lei said with conviction.

I laughed out loud. Lin Chu Jing was top of the class; why would she need to steal test answers?

"I knew you wouldn't believe me!" Zhang Lei stormed out of the office.

I stood there, dazed, not chasing him.

Moments ago, the class monitor had said the same thing.

Indeed, all along, because of Lin Chu Jing's academic excellence, everything she did was deemed right.

Some students had indeed complained to me about Lin Chu Jing, but I dismissed it as jealousy of her academic prowess and scolded them for wasting energy on baseless suspicions instead of studying.

But do academically excellent students necessarily have good character?

Certainly not always.

It was nearly graduation, and I only just discovered Lin Chu Jing was a problematic student.

But thinking further, with a father who was an abuser, could such an original family nurture a perfect student? That would, indeed, be unusual.

From then on, my attitude towards Lin Chu Jing shifted from concern to vigilance.

But what you fear comes true.

During the mock exam, Lin Chu Jing secured the top rank again. Several math teachers huddled around her perfect score paper, determined to find any mistakes. With the final exams approaching, it was necessary to knock her down a bit, lest she become overconfident.

Previously, I would be thrilled to hear teachers praising Lin Chu Jing's paper. After all, she was my proud student.

But now, hearing her name gave me a headache.

"She wrote the wrong name for this segment; it should be AE, not DE!" An eagle-eyed teacher spotted Lin Chu Jing's error. Though minor, everyone was delighted, as finding faults in her papers was a rarity.

"How did we miss this in grading?"

"Oh, the answer sheet got it wrong too!"

I peeked too, indeed seeing Lin Chu Jing's mistake matched the reference answer exactly.

I recalled Zhang Lei's previous statement.

"I saw with my own eyes that she stole the test answers from the office!"

Could Lin Chu Jing have indeed been cheating by stealing test answers? Was her top rank achieved through deceit?