Become a Knight Across the World

Chapter 342 Witness

The color drained from Wang Rui's face instantly, his lips trembled, and he tried to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.

Li Xiaoming and Zhang Wei next to him were so frightened that their legs went weak and they almost collapsed to the ground!

They just wanted to spread a rumor, vent their frustrations, and bully a girl they didn't like. How... how did they become witnesses?!

The dispatcher on the other end of the phone clearly realized the seriousness of the situation, and his tone immediately became stern: "Young man, please remain calm! Tell me your exact location! We will dispatch officers immediately! Please do not leave the scene, nor should you or any of the 'witnesses' present!"

"We are at the No. 2 Middle School in Z City, in the classroom of Class 3, Grade 11!" Wei Shiyu reported the address and then hung up the phone before the dispatcher could say anything else.

After doing all this, she seemed to have all her strength drained away. She swayed and had to grab the table to steady herself. But she still kept her back straight, her gaze fixed on the ashen-faced Wang Rui and the other two, her eyes so cold they were chilling.

The classroom erupted into chaos! Some students panicked and ran out to find the teacher, while others secretly took photos and videos with their phones. Many more gathered around Wang Rui and his two companions, pointing and whispering amongst themselves.

The three who were so arrogant just moments before now resembled three plucked quails, their necks hunched, their faces pale, and cold sweat pouring down their faces, unable to utter a single complete sentence.

"No...no...we were just talking nonsense...just kidding..." Wang Rui tried to explain, his voice dry and hoarse, with a sob in it.

"A joke?" Li Yuetian scoffed. "A joke to the police? Saying a teacher drugged and raped a student is a joke? Wang Rui, you've gone too far with this joke!"

"Exactly! Didn't you just make it sound so convincing? How come it all turned into a joke as soon as the police arrived?"

"Maybe Teacher Ye really did it. They've described it in such detail, we must investigate thoroughly!"

Mocking and gloating voices rained down on Wang Rui and his two companions like hailstones. Only now did they truly understand what it meant to shoot oneself in the foot, and what it meant for words to bring disaster upon oneself!

Soon, the grade head and several teachers, their faces ashen, entered the classroom with several uniformed police officers, their expressions serious.

"Who called the police? What happened?" The lead policewoman's sharp eyes swept over the chaotic scene.

Wei Shiyu stepped forward. Although her face was still pale, her eyes were unusually firm: "I called the police. I accuse my homeroom teacher, Ye Wenxiu, of drugging and raping me."

"I must have been drugged by the teacher and taken advantage of me after I was unconscious. Luckily, Wang Rui saw it. Police officers, you have to help me!" She pointed again at the three men, who seemed to be out of their minds. "They said they 'saw it with their own eyes,' but I have no recollection of it at all! I'm so scared..." After saying that, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer and burst into tears.

The police immediately focused their attention on Wang Rui and his two companions.

The three boys were almost in tears. Under the stern gaze of the police, their legs trembled like leaves, and they began to deny everything incoherently:

"Officer! No! We're just kidding! We didn't see anything! We were just joking!"

"Yes! Just kidding! We don't know anything!"

"Date rape? That's not true! We're just making this up!"

The police frowned; experience told them this was no simple matter.

“They lied!”

Just when things had reached a stalemate, Lin Yue suddenly stepped forward.

"He said it! Everyone present heard it!"

Lin Yue pointed at Wang Rui, "He previously claimed to have seen Wei Shiyu come out of Teacher Ye's office disheveled, and he described it in great detail. Now he's saying it was a joke. This is clearly an attempt to shirk responsibility." The surrounding classmates nodded in agreement.

The policeman saw Lin Yue. "It's that little girl again?" he thought. But he didn't pay it any mind. He turned to Wang Rui and the other two, looking serious. "Since you were so certain before, and now you say you were joking, we can't just let this slide. You'll have to come with us to the station to cooperate with the investigation!"

Soon, the police took Wang Rui and his two companions, along with Wei Shiyu (one of the parties involved) and several teachers who knew the situation, back to the police station for further statements. At the same time, they also notified Ye Wenxiu, one of the parties involved, to come to the police station to explain the situation.

Ye Wenxiu had already gone home when he heard the news and was stunned. When he arrived at the police station, after learning the whole story, especially hearing Wei Shiyu's "admission of being slept with and calling the police," and Wang Rui and others' tearful confessions, his expression became extremely complex, and his face turned very pale. There was shock, anger, but more than anything, there was lingering fear.

He was an intern teacher himself, and he had a premonition that he might lose his job.

His previous flippant remarks, "The innocent will clear themselves" and "Don't make a mountain out of a molehill," now sound so ironic and foolish!

If Wei Shiyu really couldn't accept his inaction, or if the matter hadn't been exposed in such an extreme way, then the consequences...

At the police station, when questioned by the police, Ye Wenxiu had to admit that Wei Shiyu had indeed come to him to report the rumors, and that he... had indeed taken a conciliatory approach.

"At the time, I thought... it was just a minor squabble between students, I didn't think much of it... I thought it would be fine to just let it cool down..." Ye Wenxiu's explanation sounded weak and unconvincing.

The older police officer taking the statement glanced at him and said sternly, "Teacher Ye, you are a teacher, one of the students' pillars of support at school. Faced with such serious defamation and bullying, your 'cold treatment' is actually condoning wrongdoing and inflicting secondary harm on the victim! If this female student hadn't taken such an extreme measure to protect herself, and something had really happened, you would be held responsible!"

Ye Wenxiu lowered his head, his face burning, and couldn't say a word.

The three men were terrified when faced with serious questioning from the police at the police station and the potential legal consequences of "perjury." They spilled the beans, explaining in detail how they harbored resentment because Wang Rui's advances were rejected, how they fabricated rumors, and how they embellished and spread them.

The claims of "seeing it with one's own eyes," "disheveled appearance," and "strange noises in the office" are all fabrications. The motives are despicable, the circumstances are egregious, and they have caused extremely serious negative impacts, especially on campus.

With conclusive evidence, Wang Rui and the other two were dealt with according to law on suspicion of defamation. Although they may not face severe criminal penalties due to their age, they will definitely face disciplinary action from the school, at the very least being placed on probation, and possibly even expulsion.

Their parents were also called to the school. Faced with the shameful things their children had done, they apologized profusely and expressed their deep remorse, making the scene quite awkward.

Ye Wenxiu, the temporary homeroom teacher who quickly won the students' favor with his good looks and affability, is facing the first major crisis of his career.

Although the investigation proved him completely innocent of the "date rape" allegations, his passive attitude of "keeping the peace" and "cooling off" when students sought his help was undoubtedly a serious dereliction of duty. School leaders were extremely furious about this.

"Teacher Ye! Do you know how serious the consequences your inaction almost caused?" In the principal's office, the grade director was heartbroken. "If Wei Shiyu hadn't used such an extreme method to protect herself, if something had happened to her because she couldn't bear the pressure, our entire school would have had to bear an unshirkable responsibility! And you would be the one primarily responsible!"

Ye Wenxiu's face was ashen, his head bowed, all traces of his former composure gone. He tried to explain, "Principal, Director, I really just thought it was a minor conflict between students, and I wanted them to resolve it themselves..."

"A minor conflict?!" The principal slammed his hand on the table. "Malicious slander involving a female student's reputation is a minor conflict in your eyes?! Ye Wenxiu, you have disappointed us greatly! You lack the most basic sense of responsibility and sensitivity as a teacher! We can no longer entrust the class to you!"

Ultimately, the school decided to immediately terminate Ye Wenxiu's substitute teaching contract and dismiss him. The school also notified all faculty and students of the incident.

So Ye Wenxiu left No. 2 Middle School in disappointment. He might learn a lesson from this experience, but his teaching career at No. 2 Middle School had come to an inglorious end.

Afterwards, Wei Shiyu took a few days off. When she returned to school, although she was still somewhat silent, the lingering gloom between her brows had dissipated considerably. When she looked at Lin Yue, her eyes were filled with gratitude.

When her classmates looked at Wei Shiyu again, their gazes changed. The previous suspicion and strangeness were gone, replaced by sympathy, admiration, and even fear.

This girl, who is usually quiet, can be incredibly ruthless when she gets angry.

As for Wang Rui and his two companions, they became the laughingstock of the entire class and even the whole school. They walked close to the walls and never dared to cause trouble again.

(I'm already working on finishing it soon. After all, this is my first time writing a novel, and I know that many parts of it are not well written. I will definitely write better in my future novels.)