Chapter 134: Accusation

"What do you think you are doing?" Senior Sister Wei was quite intimidating when she turned serious, especially to the younger students like Qin Qing, who all felt a nervous flutter in their chests whenever they faced her.

"Senior Sister Wei, I..."

"What 'I, I, I'? Are you stupid? How could you agree to help with something like this? Now that you've been burned, maybe you'll learn to be more careful next time." Senior Sister Wei glared at Qin Qing. "Don't worry, I've already found someone to explain the situation to the school. Our project team has been in preparation since the start of last semester; where would we have had the time for you to go traveling with him? If you’re going to make an excuse, at least come up with a believable one."

Hearing this, the other girls nodded in agreement. They lived in the same dorm building as Qin Qing and had never seen her go out on a date. She was always with Gou Xiangru, so the idea of her being a homewrecker was ridiculous. They felt the rumors were utterly shameless.

Regardless of whether these students were being sincere or just putting on a show, they were standing by Qin Qing’s side. Having them explain the situation was far better than Qin Qing rushing back alone.

"Professor Jin said for you to just focus on your work. She will handle this and ensure it doesn't negatively impact you," Senior Sister Wei said, her tone softening. "It wasn't a big deal originally, but this has blown up, and with people ending up in the hospital, it has cast a very bad light on the school."

The girls, always fond of gossip, surrounded Senior Sister Wei to ask what had actually happened. When they learned that a doctoral student had beaten his rival after discovering his girlfriend was two-timing him, and that the rival had been hospitalized, they all unanimously agreed that the doctoral student had been far too brutal.

However, Chen Xin had met the two of them, and she couldn't help but feel that the doctoral student had likely been played.

That night, as Chen Xin and Senior Sister Wei lay in bed talking, Senior Sister Wei revealed that the rival was a low-level section chief in a government office. The female teaching assistant's family saw potential for him to climb the ladder, so they had urged their daughter to be with him.

"I heard the teaching assistant wasn't interested at first, but she couldn't resist his constant flowers, outings, and little romantic gestures," Senior Sister Wei scoffed. "And Xing Kai was such a fool. Knowing what kind of person his girlfriend was, instead of breaking up with her straight away, he thought he could win her back. Fine, try to win her back, but he actually thought beating the guy up would scare him off. The man wasn't even seriously hurt, but he seized the opportunity to check into the hospital, claiming Xing Kai gave him a concussion. You see? He tried to catch a fish and ended up covered in slime."

Chen Xin didn't know what to say, so she just offered a polite smile. Senior Sister Wei, however, feared that Qin Qing’s troubles were far from over. She told Chen Xin to advise Qin Qing privately to be prepared; if things escalated again, she had to stick to her story that she hadn't done anything and knew nothing.

Chen Xin hesitated, then mentioned that Qin Qing had spoken to Xing Kai’s parents over the phone during the break. Senior Sister Wei cursed under her breath and waved a hand, saying it didn't matter—she should just deny everything. Since there were no recordings of the calls, who could prove she had made them?

"What are these young girls thinking? Don't they know that human nature is unpredictable? They’ll get sold off and end up counting the money for the traffickers."

"It's not entirely her fault. How could she have known he was that kind of person? Fortunately, she was just a shield. There’s no way this can be pinned on her. If things get desperate, she can just play the victim, cry, and say she was deceived and knew nothing. After all, those two kept their relationship very secret; not many people knew about it."

"Neither of them is a source of peace," Senior Sister Wei muttered, scratching her head. "We'll see how things look when we head back tomorrow."

As it turned out, they didn't even have to wait until the next day. That very evening, they received a call from the school: Xing Kai had killed someone and then committed suicide.

Traumatized by the news, Qin Qing was completely at a loss. Two male students called back to get the details: Xing Kai had asked to use the restroom, climbed out of a third-floor window, and gone straight to the female teaching assistant’s dormitory to kill her. Afterward, Xing Kai took his own life, leaving a message written in blood claiming he had given everything for her, only to be betrayed.

However, his parents refused to accept the facts. They insisted that the future daughter-in-law they knew was named Qin Qing, not the teaching assistant. Yet, they had no evidence of a relationship between their son and Qin Qing. No one at the school had ever seen them together, other than the occasional times Xing Kai dropped off snacks at the girls' dorm.

Because the case involved a homicide, the police notified Qin Qing that she had to return to school for questioning.

With such a tragedy occurring during their short trip, no one had the heart to continue sightseeing. Aside from a few who weren't close to Qin Qing, the girls from neighboring dorms and the translation team members all headed back together.

Upon arriving at the school, the security office escorted the police to question Qin Qing. The interrogation lasted half an hour, focusing mainly on the relationship between the two deceased. Qin Qing told them everything she knew. She admitted to providing cover for them but firmly denied any romantic relationship with Xing Kai. She explained that they were from the same hometown, and he had pleaded for her help so earnestly that she had agreed. She had told him she would stop helping by the end of the year, as she was busy with her master's thesis and job hunting, leaving her no time or energy to assist further.

"Xing Kai said that was fine, as they were already planning to get married. Since he was pursuing his doctorate and working on his advisor's project—and was supposedly being recommended for a position at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences—he felt that by the end of the year, he would have secured a job, and the girl's family would have no reason to keep them apart."

The woman's parents disputed this, claiming their daughter had always had only one boyfriend, and that they were truly planning to marry, having already picked out an apartment and waiting to register their marriage before making the down payment.

Xing Kai’s parents, upon arrival, also denied Qin Qing’s account. They had never met her, but their son had always told them his girlfriend was a master’s student who studied foreign languages and was named Qin Qing; he had never mentioned a teaching assistant. They argued that if he had another girlfriend, they would have known, and he would have had no reason to hide it from them.

Qin Qing didn't know what had been going through Xing Kai's mind at the time, but she told the police exactly what he had said to her. Afterward, she was nearly attacked by the teaching assistant's parents. Fortunately, Senior Sister Wei had the foresight to bring two male students along, who rushed in to pull them apart the moment things turned ugly.