Chapter Twenty-Two: Li Bufan's Lie

Li Bufan noticed that Wei Xiaoping’s clothes were bulging at the back, as if something was propping them up, and suddenly thought: Could it be that Wei Xiaoping was helping Wei Xiaofan hide something in the clothes on his back?

With this suspicion, Li Bufan immediately strode behind Wei Xiaoping and grabbed the bulging part of the clothes, lifting them up.

Feeling someone lifting his clothes from behind, Wei Xiaoping quickly turned around, instinctively reaching back with his hand to stop it.

But he was a step too late. His greatest fear had come true—the book hidden in his clothes fell to the ground, knocked loose by Li Bufan’s hand!

Seeing the book drop, Wei Xiaoping spun around, bending down to pick it up.

However, Li Bufan was faster, snatching up the book before Wei Xiaoping could reach it.

Wei Xiaofan, hearing the commotion behind him, turned to look and saw Li Bufan holding a book that looked familiar!

Wei Xiaofan’s heart began to race, pounding anxiously. Wei Xiaoping was stunned as well: what he had dreaded most had happened after all!

Wu Wenbin was also taken aback for a moment, thinking: Could Li Bufan's accusation about Wei Xiaofan secretly reading those kinds of books actually be true?

If it were true, it would be troublesome!

In Wu Wenbin’s eyes, Wei Xiaofan and Wei Xiaoping were both top students in the class and the most disciplined followers of the school rules.

Recently, the school was selecting from each grade the students with the best academic performance, most adherence to rules, and highest moral standards to be recognized as exemplary students.

Wu Wenbin recommended Wei Xiaoping and Wei Xiaofan to participate in the competition.

If either of them won during the competition, they would represent the class in the school-wide grade competition, becoming exemplary students for their class—a great honor!

Now, if both Wei Xiaofan and Wei Xiaoping were caught reading such books and it became known, they would surely lose their chance.

Li Bufan, holding the book, declared, “No wonder I couldn’t find it! Turns out Wei Xiaoping helped Wei Xiaofan hide it! Wei Xiaoping, you’re just as bad as Wei Xiaofan! Birds of a feather flock together!”

Wu Wenbin, seeing the book fall from Wei Xiaoping’s back, called both Wei Xiaoping and Wei Xiaofan over, then asked Li Bufan to hand him the book.

He examined it—hardly the kind of salacious book one might expect. It was merely a family medical magazine in a sixteen-format.

These magazines, to boost sales, often featured images of celebrities in revealing outfits on the cover, misleading people into buying them.

Wu Wenbin tossed the book onto the table and couldn’t help but laugh. He thought, “How wonderful! After all this fuss, Li Bufan’s claim about Wei Xiaofan reading such books turns out to be just a family medical magazine. Now it’s clear that Wei Xiaofan and Wei Xiaoping are innocent, and they can participate in the exemplary student competition.”

Wei Xiaofan and Wei Xiaoping, seeing the teacher with the book, felt tense, fearing they’d be scolded and that their homeroom teacher would change their opinion of them. They didn’t even know who had put the book there; though they suspected Li Bufan, there was no proof. So they couldn’t clear their names.

But seeing Wu Wenbin laughing, they were puzzled. They didn’t know why the teacher was so amused upon seeing the book, but a smile was better than anger. Gradually, they relaxed a little.

Li Bufan was equally confused: the teacher wasn’t angry with Wei Xiaofan and Wei Xiaoping, but instead found the situation funny.

“Teacher Wu, this is the book! The extracurricular book Wei Xiaofan was reading in class! Look at the cover—isn’t it that kind of book? Aren’t you going to discipline him? Oh, and Wei Xiaoping too! He hid the book, planning to take it to the dormitory to read. He deserves to be reprimanded even more!”

Wu Wenbin was about to speak when he saw Wei Xiaoping preparing to explain, so he said, “Wei Xiaoping, go ahead. Why did you hide the book? Did you really intend to sneak it back to read?”

Wei Xiaoping replied, “It’s true that I hid the book, and it appeared in Wei Xiaofan’s desk drawer, but neither of us brought it. We couldn’t afford to buy such books, nor would we have the time or inclination to read them.”

Wei Xiaofan added, “The book wasn’t mine either. We never read it. I suspect someone put it in my drawer while I was away. I only discovered it when Li Bufan claimed I had such a book during physics class and I checked my drawer.”

Wu Wenbin asked, “Wei Xiaofan, since you say someone snuck the book in while you were absent, and you never read it, who do you think would go to such lengths to frame you? Did you offend anyone in the class who might want revenge?”

“I’ve thought about it,” Wei Xiaofan replied. “I haven’t knowingly offended anyone, unless it happened unintentionally and I didn’t notice.”

“Li Bufan, since Wei Xiaofan denies owning or reading the book, how did you know he had it or was reading it? Can you describe what you saw in detail?” Wu Wenbin questioned Li Bufan, though inwardly he trusted Wei Xiaofan. This child was an excellent student, with no time for such books, and ever since meeting him in first year, his grades had been stellar, with a good reputation among his peers. Besides, the book wasn’t what Li Bufan claimed. It was likely, as Wei Xiaofan said, that someone had put it in his drawer while he was away. But who did it? Of all the students, only Li Bufan seemed to know Wei Xiaofan supposedly read this book. Yet Wei Xiaofan said he never saw it, while Li Bufan insisted he had, and his familiarity with the book’s details suggested he knew it well—perhaps he put it there to frame Wei Xiaofan?

Li Bufan protested, “Wei Xiaofan is lying! I saw him reading it, using his physics textbook to cover it up. He didn’t want anyone to see, so he hid the book beneath the textbook.”

“Li Bufan, are you sure Wei Xiaofan used only his physics textbook to cover the book? If he hid it completely, how did you see he was reading this magazine?” Wu Wenbin pointed to the magazine on the table.

Li Bufan, realizing Wu Wenbin’s logic, grew anxious, thinking he hadn’t anticipated these questions. He continued fabricating, “Because I saw him, after reading a page, move the textbook aside and turn to another page. I happened to see the cover—there were exposed images!”

Wu Wenbin found Li Bufan’s explanation plausible in parts, but it didn’t add up: the magazine, being sixteen-format, was much larger than the thirty-two-format physics textbook, which couldn’t possibly cover it. Clearly, Li Bufan was lying.

“Li Bufan, you’re making things up. The physics textbook is thirty-two-format, while the magazine is sixteen-format—it couldn’t cover the magazine! Besides, I have a habit of reading books under the desk to avoid distractions, and only put them on top during class.”

“What’s thirty-two-format and sixteen-format? What does that mean?” Li Bufan asked, confused.

“Li Bufan, you’re obviously lying!” Wei Xiaoping interjected. “I have the same habit as Wei Xiaofan when reading. Besides, you claim he covered the magazine with a textbook—do you even know the sizes of the physics textbook and the magazine?”