Chapter 55 :Sophistry

Guardian?

Those two words had long since become a faded, yellowed, and blurred term buried deep within her memories.

Yet, in this very moment, the term pointed to only one unmistakably clear figure.

Lin Yanqiu.

In the eyes of the law, she was currently her only legal guardian.

At the thought of Lin Yanqiu’s face, always covered in a layer of frost, her sharp gaze seeming capable of slicing through every disguise…

Hua Qi’an’s stomach tightened in a sudden spasm.

Just yesterday, she had spent the night at Lin Yanqiu’s place, and the morning atmosphere could even be described as… warm.

The invisible layer of ice between them had seemed to thaw just a little.

But now, after only half a day, she was once again about to be disturbed by this trivial dormitory squabble…

How awkward.

Hua Qi’an lowered her eyelids, her long lashes casting a small shadow on her pale cheeks, concealing the swirling emotions in her eyes.

Forget it.

It’s come to this—might as well accept it.

Counselor Li Lei clearly had no patience left to sympathize with the two students’ complicated feelings at the moment.

She was more in need of someone to understand her own predicament.

Frowning, she took out her phone and snapped a photo of the bruise on Zhao Yingying’s forehead, then walked out of the academic affairs office and dialed a number by the window at the end of the corridor.

Her low voice came through in broken fragments.

For a moment, the atmosphere inside the office fell into dead silence.

Dorm supervisor Zhai Min stood with her arms crossed, leaning against a filing cabinet, her sharp gaze flicking back and forth between Hua Qi’an and Zhao Yingying, her brows twisted into a knot.

The director of academic affairs, on the other hand, remained indifferent, lifting his teacup to blow on the floating tea leaves as if this entire farce before him was nothing but a boring drama.

Li Lei ended the call quickly, her expression darker than before.

She returned without entering the office right away, instead calling out He Yi, who had been standing helplessly beside Zhao Yingying.

“He Yi, come out here with me.”

In the corridor, Counselor Li Lei’s tone grew much sterner: “You’re in the same dorm room as them. Tell me the truth—what really happened? Don’t be afraid, there are teachers here. Just be honest.”

He Yi’s eyes darted nervously.

She glanced at Hua Qi’an sitting inside the office, then recalled the venomous glare from Zhao Yingying.

Her lips trembled for a long time but she couldn’t utter a single word.

What could she say?

That Zhao Yingying was jealous of Hua Qi’an’s closeness with Chen Zhiyan and tried to deliberately frame Hua Qi’an over the dorm inspection punishment, only to have the scheme backfire and get so embarrassed that she lashed out?

If she spoke those words, she’d earn no favor from either the counselor or Zhao Yingying.

For Zhao Yingying, it was one thing to snitch, but for the counselor, He Yi would be guilty of “knowing but not reporting.”

“I… I don’t know,” He Yi said hesitantly.

“I was wearing headphones, looking at my phone… I didn’t notice.”

“Maybe… maybe they already had some personal grudge before.”

This rambling, obviously flawed explanation drained Li Lei’s patience completely.

She sighed, knowing she wouldn’t get anything useful from this student.

Waving her off, she let He Yi return, then turned back to the academic office with a face so dark it seemed to drip with water.

“Tell me, what exactly happened?”

Li Lei fixed her gaze on the two involved.

Zhao Yingying held her forehead, which was now swollen and darkly bruised.

Her eyes were red-rimmed, tears welling up, wearing the expression of someone grievously wronged.

At this moment, she seemed utterly resigned, and with a crying tone, the victim playing the aggressor first: “It was her! Hua Qi’an threw my electric cooker!”

She dared not mention Chen Zhiyan, as that would make her appear unreasonable and expose her jealousy of Hua Qi’an.

So she clung to the electric cooker—the only seemingly plausible reason.

“Electric cooker?”

Dorm supervisor Zhai Min’s brows twitched sharply at the word, instantly alert to her professional instincts.

She looked at Zhao Yingying.

“You brought an unauthorized appliance?”

Zhao Yingying choked on the question, her momentum weakening.

Though she initially intended to use this as a weapon against Hua Qi’an, it might now backfire.

Still, she stubbornly raised her chin: “I… I hadn’t even used it yet! How dare she throw my stuff!”

At that moment, Hua Qi’an, who had remained silent, slowly lifted her head.

Her face was still pale, even more so than usual; that frail appearance made her seem like porcelain ready to shatter at the slightest touch.

Yet her dark eyes were astonishingly clear, with not a trace of panic—only a cold, nearly indifferent calm.

“Teacher.”

Her voice was quiet but exceptionally clear.

“You conducted an inspection of my dorm this afternoon for unauthorized electrical appliances and confirmed there were no issues.”

“In that case, isn’t it true that you’ve already fulfilled your duty?”

She turned to the dorm supervisor, staring at her intently.

Zhai Min was momentarily stunned but nodded instinctively.

She had indeed carried out the inspection and found nothing.

“Since the inspection was clear, that means there were no so-called ‘unauthorized appliances’ in our dorm.”

Hua Qi’an’s gaze returned to Zhao Yingying, her lips curling into a faint, icy smile.

“The dormitory regulations are written clearly: carrying and using unauthorized appliances is strictly prohibited.”

“Zhao Yingying, since you claim you had an electric cooker, can you prove that you actually used it inside the dorm?”

Her words struck like thunder, leaving everyone present stunned.

Zhao Yingying was dumbfounded, her mind blank.

Prove it?

How could she prove it?!

The cooker was already thrown away!

This… this was pure sophistry!

Her body trembled with fury, bloodshot eyes fixed on Hua Qi’an, trembling all over.

But because of earlier events, her resentment toward Hua Qi’an had taken root, so she didn’t dare lash out directly.

She laughed bitterly.

Sophistry or not, so what?

Hua Qi’an’s expression remained indifferent.

At this point, the trash downstairs in the dormitory building had already been collected by the garbage truck.

Would the school really halt the entire truck just to search for a “possibly existing” electric cooker?

Without physical evidence, the “electric cooker” in Zhao Yingying’s accusation was nothing but a ghost.

“We only had a quarrel over some trivial matter.”

Hua Qi’an calmly recounted her version, her clear eyes showing no sign of deceit.

“She was emotional and lost her balance, which caused her to fall and hurt her forehead.”

“You’re lying! You did this to me!”

Hearing Hua Qi’an’s words, Zhao Yingying exploded.

She no longer cared about logic or evidence, acting like a wild beast determined to sink her teeth into Hua Qi’an.

“It’s you!”

“Even if you didn’t push me, you must’ve done something! Otherwise, how else could I fall for no reason?”

She wanted to describe that strange look she’d seen on Hua Qi’an’s face in that moment, to tell of the cold force pushing from behind.

But who would believe that?

She’d end up seeming the weird one!

The atmosphere in the academic office grew increasingly tense.

Counselor Li Lei rubbed her temples in frustration, about to question them again when the office door was quietly pushed open from outside.

The soft “creak” sounded especially jarring in the charged silence.

“There’s a contusion above the right temporal bone, the wound edges are irregular, with slight abrasions and a clearly depressed bruise at the center.”

“Based on the wound’s shape, it’s likely that after losing balance, the right foot instinctively stepped backward to try to regain stability but failed, causing the body to lean left and the right side of the forehead to hit the ground at about a thirty-degree angle.”

A clear and emotionless female voice cut through the noise like ice shattering on warm water, instantly breaking the tension.

“This type of fall is usually caused by self-inflicted reasons—like tripping, dizziness, or a sudden push from behind.”

“If you were arguing at the time, Hua Qi’an should have been standing directly in front of you.”

The voice paused briefly, the tone carrying a barely perceptible hint of mockery.

“So, the suspicion that she physically assaulted you is quite low.”

The precise and professional analysis stunned everyone present.

Even the teachers were momentarily at a loss for words.

Hua Qi’an, upon hearing the voice, felt as if her blood instantly froze.

She whipped her head around, her pupils sharply contracting.

At the door stood Lin Yanqiu, quietly observing.

She wore a high-fashion coat similar in style to the one from yesterday, tall and upright in posture.

Her face bore no unnecessary expression, but those sharp eyes calmly swept across everything inside the room.

Her gaze finally settled meaningfully on Hua Qi’an’s pale face.

Lin Yanqiu…

How did she get here so quickly?