Jing Xingzhi’s Daily Life in Ancient Times

With the consent of the parties involved, Zhang Qiwen took the opportunity to begin the search.

“Let’s start by searching the bedding as usual.” Zhang Qiwen stated as he approached Wu Mingrui’s bed.

After thoroughly inspecting Wu Mingrui’s bedding, Zhang Qiwen reported, “There is nothing on the bed.”

Li Huasui’s heart raced, and he felt a sense of panic. His worry was that if nothing was found, he would be held responsible for falsely accusing his classmates. He had initially hoped to find something as he had anticipated all along.

Jing Xingzhi sat calmly, seemingly rather thirsty, taking occasional sips of his tea.

Sensing Li Huasui’s nervous gaze, Jing Xingzhi briefly met his eyes before looking away, exuding an unspoken air of disdain.

Puzzled and distressed, Li Huasui walked closer to Zhang Qiwen and observed the search of Wu Mingrui’s cabinet.

There were several items in Wu Mingrui’s cabinet, but Zhang Qiwen only discovered a few broken pieces of silver and a small stack of banknotes.

There was a clear difference between the gold and silver ingots Zhu Da had brought, and these remnants. The ones Zhu Da brought were quite distinctive, coming from the famous Capital Silver Village.

But… no gold or silver ingots from Zhu Da were to be found. The very items Li Huasui had placed were now missing. Bewildered, he took a few steps back, his face draining of color.

Zhang Qiwen turned to face Li Huasui, shaking his head. “There is nothing in the cabinet.”

As Zhang Qiwen spoke, the last vestiges of hope in Li Huasui’s heart crumbled, and the matter was conclusively resolved.

Zhang Qiwen directed his attention to Li Huasui, who had insisted on searching Wu Mingrui’s belongings. “I’ve conducted a thorough search and found nothing. Li Huasui, do you have any other doubts? If you do, speak openly.”

Having searched both beds in a room shared by two people, there was nothing more to be done.

Li Huasui’s heart felt heavy, and he shook his head with a bitter smile, struggling to speak.

“Teacher, there are no other doubts.”

Zhang Qiwen, the teacher, had a solemn and decisive demeanor. “In that case, you should apologize to Jing Xingzhi. I will also publicize the results of this incident to protect Xingzhi’s reputation from slanderous rumors.”

Li Huasui, gazing at Jing Xingzhi, was rendered speechless.

Observing Li Huasui’s distressed state, Jing Xingzhi interjected, “Teacher, I don’t need Li Huasui’s apology. I just want this matter to be clarified. I have a clue.”

Zhang Qiwen was somewhat puzzled, as he couldn’t see where the clue was coming from. The primary suspect had been eliminated. Nevertheless, he nodded, encouraging Jing Xingzhi to share his information.

Zhang Qiwen might not have been particularly astute, as his role in the school building largely involved menial tasks. He said, “Come here and tell us.”

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Jing Xingzhi looked at the Class A student who was following him and pointed towards this individual. “I remember that classmate Wang, who was standing to Zhu Da’s right, mentioned that he was on lunch duty today. There was only one person in the college who had requested leave, and that person was me.” Jing Xingzhi pointed at himself.

Wu Mingrui was taken aback and interjected, “This doesn’t make sense, Xingzhi. You just cleared your name, why are you pointing to another clue that suggests it’s you again?”

Jing Xingzhi maintained his composure and calmly responded to Wu Mingrui’s query, “As Brother Wu suggested, there should be no suspicion between Brother Wu and me. However, there is another person who has been absent from class recently.” Jing Xingzhi shifted his focus to Li Huasui, his expression serious and brows furrowed.

He then continued, “Brother Li claimed to have seen someone sneaking in and out of the Bamboo Garden, which that person must be me, according to him. However, at the time, Brother Li was the only one absent from class. If Brother Li hadn’t been absent at that time, I wouldn’t have been accused in the first place.”

Jing Xingzhi’s words clearly implicated Li Huasui in the situation. While he believed that Li Huasui was not the mastermind behind the scheme, he knew that he was heavily influenced by Zhu Da.

As Zhang Qiwen listened to Jing Xingzhi’s explanation, he began to realize the possible falsehoods in Li Huasui’s accusations.

Zhang Qiwen, who had been dealing with school matters for over a decade, understood that when a person was questioned repeatedly, they might start to doubt their own memories and even created false ones out of self-doubt.

He gazed at Li Huasui with a suspicious look and inquired, “Li Huasui, what’s your explanation for this?”

Li Huasui, now in a predicament, tried to calm himself down and licked his lips. He responded, “I must have made a mistake. That person is not Jing Xingzhi.”

Jing Xingzhi, unimpressed by the sudden change in Li Huasui’s stance, sneered, “Brother Li can change his stance very quickly. So, who else could have been in the Bamboo Garden at that time? A ghost?”

Li Huasui, still frustrated, retorted, “Why are you so confrontational, Jing Xingzhi? If I were a thief, I wouldn’t shout ‘thief!’ Would I?”

Wu Mingrui chimed in, “But in this world, there are indeed thieves who shout ‘thief!'”

He was quite agitated at this point, “You said that Jing Xingzhi was the only one on leave, that he’s from a poor family, and that you saw him entering and leaving the Bamboo Garden. That’s why you suspected him. But now, with the situation reversed, you, Li Huasui, were not in class, you’re from a poor family too, and you’ve admitted to being in the Bamboo Garden. Apart from falsely accusing Jing Xingzhi, there is every reason to suspect that you are the culprit! Everything aligns!” Wu Mingrui passionately presented his argument.

Jing Xingzhi, observing Wu Mingrui’s vehement defense, silently sighed with relief. He didn’t want to appear unreasonable and dominate the discussion with his words.

Zhang Qiwen, swayed by Li Huasui and others, started to look at Li Huasui with suspicion. Li Huasui’s sudden change in testimony and the doubts about his alibi raised questions.

Li Huasui felt his conscience weighing on him. His situation had changed drastically, shifting from accusing Jing Xingzhi to becoming a suspect himself. He knew that stealing would lead to expulsion from the academy. It could even damage his reputation throughout the school, affecting his future prospects.

Li Huasui attempted to change the narrative, raising his hand proactively. “Since Xingzhi suspects me, you can also search my room!” He couldn’t believe that Jing Xingzhi could hide something so well. He believed that if there was anything suspicious, it was more likely to be found in his own room.

But Jing Xingzhi, a guy who only knew how to read and was aloof in the past, actually sneered, making Li Huasui’s heart tremble with laughter.

“It’s definitely impossible to find. It’s impossible to say that the sneaky person is hiding somewhere else.” Jing Xingzhi directly replaced Li Huasui with the sneaky person.

Li Huasui’s face turned red, and then he realized the humiliation of being described as a sneaky person in front of his classmates.

But Li Huasui’s plea for help towards Zhu Da and others was completely useless. He could only swallow his anger and ask his enemies in a low voice: “What do you want to say?”

“What does Xingzhi wants? It’s just a reasonable guess. He just mentioned a sneaky person, not you, Li Huasui!” Seeing that Li Huasui was targeting his roommate again, Wu Mingrui targeted him aggressively.

When Wu Mingrui spoke, Jing Xingzhi’s eyes fell on his face, and a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.

This surprise was not due to Wu Mingrui’s appearance, but also because Jing Xingzhi noticed that Wu Mingrui’s expression was strange when he was excited.

Wu Mingrui turned around to face his roommate, and felt that his roommate was staring at him, which made Wu Mingrui feel embarrassed.

Influenced by his roommate, Wu Mingrui studied more seriously and made great progress in his studies. He was grateful to his roommate for a long time. It’s just that the original roommate was so focused on studying that Wu Mingrui couldn’t find anyone to chat with.

And Jing Xingzhi, who was proficient in Feng Shui at a young age, looked at Wu Mingrui’s face and began to wonder if he had seen it wrong.

‘I must have read it wrong, right? This roommate seems to be a nice person, so he shouldn’t be so unlucky. Maybe he was wrong.’

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Jing Xingzhi focused his attention on Li Huasui and others again. The dissatisfaction and indignation in his heart for the original body welled up, and his expression became serious.

The original body was just doing better in his studies, was rude to others, and had done nothing else at all. It didn’t matter that these people pushed the original body into the water, causing him to catch a cold, but they actually wanted to frame him and drive him out of the academy. It was a malicious act.

The original body had lived for more than ten years, at least for the whole ten years, and had been accompanied by books. His pursuit of knowledge and seriousness made people admired him.

To expel a young man from the academy and label him as a thief who couldn’t get an education was no less than to completely destroy the original body’s hope.

From this perspective, it could be said that Li Huasui, Zhu Da, and others were truly cruel.

Now that the original body had passed away, but just to satisfy the original body’s anger, or for the countless “young men” who would later enroll in Huainan College, Jing Xingzhi did not intend to let this matter go easily.

Although Li Huasui was a pawn in this scheme, the same intentions were as clear as day. Jing Xingzhi wanted to challenge him to take the path the original body have taken, so he could understand the importance of kindness.

Jing Xingzhi looked at Zhang Qiwen, who was silent, and said respectfully: “Teacher, the evidence I mentioned is all the evidence they mentioned. I didn’t mean to be aggressive, but others forced me.”

Wu Mingrui said happily: “It’s okay! You have the spirit of a man!”

Jing Xingzhi raised his head and faced the blue sky outside the door: “I don’t like to argue, but today I have to. Not because of the grievances of being misunderstood and falsely accused, but because of the countless people who are studying in the college. Students from poor families who compete for it.”

Zhang Qiwen looked at the back of this not-so-tall figure, but suddenly felt that his thin shoulders could carry him up to the sky in front of him.

Jing Xingzhi’s face was determined, and his eyes fell on the people in Class A one after another.

“Dozens of my classmates doubt my character just because I come from a poor family? Why don’t my classmates have the slightest doubt that they have misjudged the person? Those who can swear that there is no stain on their behavior, are a thief?”

After three consecutive questions, he faced Zhang Qiwen directly, “Teacher, please give me justice, give justice to a student who lives in such a poor family and accused of evil deeds but is innocent!”