The Dean of Teaching was getting a headache from the noise. Seeing that she was here, he quickly waved her in. “You're here? Come on in.”

Qiao Nian entered and closed the door behind her. She saw Shen Qiongzhi and Qiao Chen the moment she entered. Qiao Chen was hooking arms with a woman in an elegant and cla.s.sy attire as they spoke to someone. The woman Qiao Chen was holding seemed more like her biological mother than Shen Qiongzhi herself. Meanwhile, Qiao Chen left Shen Qiongzhi on her own, sitting by the side.

The three of them turned to her the moment she entered. Their eyes were like nails baring into her skin!

Oh? Qiao Nian raised a brow, her expression calm as usual with a little bit of wildness in her eyes. She pretended not to see them and walked to the desk. “Dean, you're looking for me?”

The Dean of Teaching had been in this line for so long and finally got a genius in his school. He had high hopes of Qiao Nian and did not want this gifted student to be ruined by such trivial matters.

But with teachers and parents around, he couldn't show his bias.

He coughed deliberately to mask the awkwardness before looking at Qiao Nian and saying very seriously, “Did you play truant yesterday?”

The moment Qiao Nian reached school this morning, Shen Qingqing had told her that the teacher found out about her leaving school early. Qiao Nian didn't intend to deny it now, nor had she ever thought of doing so.

“Mm. I had something to attend to at the last minute.”

This att.i.tude… she was so nonchalant it seemed like she was trying to anger them!

Everyone in the office felt offended by her tone.

Her Form Teacher, Shen Hui, sneered with an unpleasant look. “What do you take the school for? A place you can come to and leave as you wish?”

The Dean of Teaching acted as the mediator. “Teacher Shen, don't get angry first. Let Qiao Nian explain herself. Perhaps there was an emergency?”

He then lectured her seriously, “Student Qiao Nian, no matter how urgent the matter was, you should not have left without telling your teacher at all. You left the school compound during lesson time. If anything happened to you outside, who is going to take responsibility? Your teacher and the school can't possibly bear such a responsibility! Neither can I. Do you understand?”

Qiao Nian kept her head low, hiding her dark and fierce eyes. She responded rather politely, “I understand.”

The Dean of Teaching knew that she was a smart girl who understood what he was getting at. He seemed more relieved now as he turned to Shen Hui. “Teacher Shen, just look, she's realized her mistake. She's only just transferred into the school and doesn't know the rules yet. Let it go this time.”

Shen Hui furrowed her brows and wanted to say something.

He raised his hand to stop her. “If she leaves school early again without giving teachers a valid reason, I will punish her on my own even without you asking me to!”

Shen Hui's anger was lodged in her throat. She could tell that the Dean of Teaching was rather protective of Qiao Nian. As much as she didn't like it, she felt that it was best if she stopped talking.

After all, the Dean had already said that he would punish her if this happened again. The least she could do was to show him some trust and respect.

She wouldn't talk about it anymore, but that didn't mean that everyone else was fine with it just yet!

At this point, Chen Xi, the Form Teacher of Cla.s.s B, glanced at Qiao Nian and said, “Dean, you still haven't even asked her what exactly was so urgent and important that she would miss the school-opening ceremony.”

The Dean of Teaching frowned again. He was intending to let this go easily, but didn't know why Chen Xi was so bent on making things difficult for this new student!