Chapter 107: Running into a Brick Wall

Upon hearing the voice, everyone instinctively turned toward the door.

Principal Ji strode into the conference room, his expression marked by clear irritation.

No one had expected the principal to show up at such a moment. Although Principal Ji was the head of Songdu No.1 High School, his status as the school's largest shareholder was well known.

Therefore, no one dared to trouble him with trivial school matters.

Even regarding the recent incident, if it hadn’t been for Principal Ji personally securing Gu Ci’s spot in the Youth Olympic Games, the former Director of Teaching wouldn’t have bothered calling to confirm with him.

This time, no one had thought to disturb the principal.

Yet unexpectedly, he had come on his own accord.

Recalling Principal Ji’s words upon entering, Director Lin hastily stepped forward with a forced smile. “Hehe, Principal Ji, I believe there’s been a misunderstanding. We’re not trying to expel the other students of Class 12. We know that the rest of them are fundamentally decent. We only intend to expel Gu Ci, the transfer student from the countryside.”

“You don’t know—her character is terrible, and she’s adept at using petty tactics to stir up the other students, disrupting the peace of our school!”

At this, the other board members nodded in agreement.

“Yes, Principal, such a student cannot remain at our school.”

“We don’t even know who slipped her in through the back door originally, but we’ll investigate that thoroughly!”

From the board members’ perspective, the only reason the principal would be roused from his office was if it involved some powerful scions from Class 12, whose influence dwarfed their own.

The principal must have misheard some rumor, thinking they intended to expel those privileged students, and had come to avoid offending the families behind them.

Now that they made clear it was just a rural transfer girl they wanted to expel, the principal would surely support their decision.

Confident in this assumption, the board members said, “Principal, please rest easy and leave this to us. We guarantee a perfect explanation to the parents and to you.”

The former Director of Teaching’s heart sank when he heard someone mention who had brought Gu Ci in.

Seeing the principal’s increasingly grim expression, he was seized by a foreboding sense.

Sure enough, the next moment—

“An explanation?! Your explanation is to expel the very student I personally invited here on such baseless grounds?!”

Principal Ji’s temples throbbed with anger.

From his understanding of these board members, it was obvious they wanted to scapegoat someone to quell the uproar on Weibo.

But fearing to touch the troublemakers of Class 12, they chose to pin it all on Gu Ci—a powerless, newly arrived student from the countryside.

His cold gaze swept across all the board members. “What, do you want to expel me too?”

Today, he intended to make it clear that Gu Ci was not some powerless girl they could bully at will.

Gu Ci was under his protection.

This time, they had kicked a stone and hurt themselves badly.

When the principal spoke his first sentence, the board members’ faces froze completely.

Their confident smiles vanished, replaced by stunned and incredulous looks directed at Gu Ci.

For a moment, the scene was both ridiculous and laughable.

When the principal’s next words, clearly uttered in anger, rang out, panic seized them all, and they hurried to distance themselves from the matter.

“No, no, Principal, that’s not what we meant at all.”

“Principal, you must be joking. This was a misunderstanding on our part; Gu Ci has nothing to do with it.”

“I always said Gu Ci is a student of excellent character and outstanding grades. The parents outside are simply mad to slander her like this!”

“Yes, yes, Principal, please don’t misunderstand. We were deceived by what we saw on Weibo. You’re magnanimous; please don’t hold it against us.”

Watching this sudden reversal, Jin Jiejiao’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The once aggressive board members had been utterly cowed by the principal.

Is that all?

Yet through this, Jin finally understood just how highly the principal regarded Gu Ci.

Principal Ji snorted coldly, his face still grim.

Had he not overheard the news and rushed here, who knew if this little troublemaker would have just walked out in anger!

Who else could he turn to for the top student in the province?

Could they compensate for that?

“What nonsense is spreading online, and you just let these people defame our student like that?”

One board member shivered and quickly recounted the Weibo incident in detail to Principal Ji.

Wiping sweat from his brow, he obsequiously added, “Principal Ji, Gu Ci already provided the surveillance footage. We’ll post it on Weibo immediately to clarify our school’s stance and clear her name!”

“Yes, yes, Director Lin’s right.”

They turned to the vice principal and urged him to use the school’s official account to publish the surveillance footage.

Though his expression was sour, the vice principal complied, logging into the school’s official Weibo account.

However, as he searched for the topic to post the footage, he suddenly froze.

Seeing the vice principal hesitate, the board members pressed him impatiently.

“Vice Principal, what’s going on? Why aren’t you posting it?”

After a moment, the vice principal raised his head. “Someone else has already posted the video.”

This revelation shocked not only the board members but also caused Gu Ci to raise an eyebrow.

After a pause, Director Lin laughed heartily to smooth things over. “Looks like someone has already done it. That’s commendable!”

“Yes, yes, surely now the people on Weibo will realize they misunderstood Gu Ci!”

“They must have realized their mistake and apologized to her by now, right?”

Only then did the principal’s expression soften somewhat as he lowered his gaze to follow the public opinion’s reversal.

But the longer he looked, the uglier his expression became again.

His chest heaved as he slammed his hand hard on the table.

“This is utter nonsense!”