Chapter 678: Why Should I?

A few people were chatting as they walked towards the jeep.

Just then, a hurried sound of footsteps came from behind.

"Jiadong, Jiadong, wait..."

Lin Jiadong’s expression, which had been gentle and smiling, suddenly turned cold when he saw Li Youmin catching up.

With a mournful look, Li Youmin grabbed Lin Jiadong’s hand, "Jiadong, Jiadong... I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean it. Can you forgive me? We’ve been in the same class and dorm since we entered school. For the sake of our two years together, can you forgive me?"

Lin Jiadong silently withdrew his hand and spoke calmly, "It’s not about whether I forgive you now. Just now, the police have already determined the mistakes you made. Even if you didn’t break the law, criticism and education are inevitable. I hope you accept the police’s criticism and education properly, and don’t make such mistakes again."

To constitute defamation, one must fabricate and spread false facts.

Throughout the whole incident, the Tian Qiaofeng family’s role was predominant, while Li Youmin’s false testimony only made him an accomplice.

Additionally, defamation must reach a level of severity to constitute a crime.

This usually means that the defamation has caused significant damage to the victim’s reputation and character, or has resulted in a substantial social impact.

In this case, with the school publicly clarifying, Lin Jiadong would have his reputation restored, so it’s not considered severe.

At the police station earlier, the officers already announced the handling results.

Tian Qiaofeng and her daughter received an administrative penalty of three days’ detention, while Li Youmin was subjected to criticism and education.

However, the actions of these two individuals have caused a significant impact on the school and brought it to the police station.

No matter the police station’s handling outcome, the school will expel them.

The second sister also said that this is the result they wanted.

With less than a year to college entrance exams, the second sister won’t allow anyone or anything to affect his studies.

Potential threats like Li Youmin must be dealt with.

Li Youmin was on the verge of tears, "Jiadong, I really know I was wrong. Please help me, please help me. I’ll even kneel for you. I can’t be expelled from school. You know my family’s not as well-off as yours. My parents have worked hard to put me through school, hoping I’d make something of myself someday. My family is poor, and all our money is for my education. If my parents find out I’ve been expelled, they’ll kill me."

Lin Jiadong looked at him coldly, "What use is it telling me all this? The results were given by the police station, and the expulsion is the school’s decision."

"It’ll help, it definitely will. Jiadong, if you just tell the police and the school that you’ve forgiven me, I’m sure the school will give you this face. This isn’t really a big deal, and you weren’t affected, right? It was a moment of confusion on my part, Jiadong, please, help me..."

Lin Jiadong sneered, "Not affected? Li Youmin, do you really think I’m that naive? If my second sister hadn’t produced that evidence, I might have been the one expelled already, right? You really think I don’t know what you’ve done? From last year’s math competition, you’ve been plotting this, haven’t you?"

Li Youmin froze for a moment, guilt flickering in his eyes, but still insisted, "No, I never meant to harm you. I’ve always seen you as a friend. It was Tian Qiaofeng. Her grades aren’t good. She’s afraid I’d go to college and she wouldn’t, and our relationship would end, so she came up with this plan. She wanted to sabotage your recommendation. I really never thought..."

"It doesn’t matter if you thought about it or not. The two of you are peas in a pod. This ends here. I won’t kick you when you’re down, but I won’t help you either. Goodbye!"

As the jeep started, with the second sister waiting inside, Lin Jiadong stopped arguing with Li Youmin and got in the car.

Watching his graceful departure, Li Youmin’s eyes widened with rage.

Especially as he casually got into the jeep, just like when they first went to the city for exams; his beautiful and wealthy second sister showed up at the school in the jeep, making a big impression.

He couldn’t help but shout, "Lin Jiadong, you’ve been waiting for this moment, haven’t you? I knew it. You’ve always looked down on us, even though you’re from the countryside too, yet you always have to be above others, Lin Jiadong, why?"

Jia Liang stuck his head out of the car window and sneered, "Because you weren’t lucky enough to choose your birthright, you weren’t lucky enough to choose it and didn’t have a kind heart, because you’re small-minded and short-sighted. Kid, today is just a minor setback for you. Be thankful, because if you continue with this mindset and vision, you’ll have endless troubles in your future life."

He had also heard that this kid’s grades were decent. If he could attend the city’s math competition, he must be a top student at school.

Instead of concentrating on studying, he diverted to such unscrupulous methods, wasting his future potential.

Lin Chuxia thought the same, but she wasn’t concerned with those irrelevant to her.

It was almost noon, so she had Jia Liang drive straight to the Bun Shop.

They planned to eat before taking Lin Jiadong back to school.

Zhang Guilan saw the jeep and came out to greet them.

"Why are you here today?"

Seeing Lin Jiadong behind Jia Liang and Lin Chuxia, she guessed part of it.

"There’s something at school, so Jia Liang and I came to check."

Lin Chuxia walked into the house while asking about the situation at home.

Upon knowing everything was fine at home, she felt relieved.

Zhang Guilan also asked about Qi Qi and Qin Juan.

At this time, it was lunch hour, and there were quite a few guests in the main hall. The rooms upstairs were all occupied too.

Lin Chuxia and Zhang Guilan chatted in the main hall.

Zhang Guilan hadn’t seen Lin Chuxia for a long time and had a lot to say.

The situation at home and the shop didn’t need much saying; anyone could tell everything was fine.

The matters at the food factory were regularly reported to her by Su Wensong, and Zhang Guilan shared some gossip.

During this year’s autumn harvest, a big event happened in Qin Family Village—its vegetable greenhouses were designated as a provincial key project, making the whole village a provincial exemplary model.

Among the several families with successful greenhouses were Qin Liang’s brother and Qin Han.

Additionally, several technicians from the Agricultural Bureau who previously guided the Qin Family Village greenhouses were recognized and praised.

Later, the province plans to promote these greenhouses aggressively, not only having technicians come to their village for on-the-spot learning, but also requiring Qin Liang, Qin Han, and those forestry bureau technicians to be on-site instructors.

This wasn’t a free consultation.

For Qin Liang and Qin Han, being native villagers, it was merely financial compensation for their outings.