Chapter 160: Not Holding Back
"Grace Winslow, cut the act! Others might not know your true colors, but I do! All that hard work is just a performance! You’re nothing but a social climber. Why else would you have come to Crestwood University?"
Wendy Quinn spewed insults for a long time, but Grace Winslow completely ignored her.
Humiliated and enraged, she rushed over, yanked off Grace’s headphones, snatched her tape recorder, and smashed it violently on the floor.
The tape recorder shattered into pieces.
At that moment, the entire classroom fell completely silent.
Grace glanced at the broken tape recorder, stood up, and swung her hand, landing a hard slap across Wendy Quinn’s face.
The force of the blow snapped Wendy’s head to the side, a bright red handprint immediately appearing on her cheek.
She lifted her head, about to speak, but Grace raised her hand again and delivered another slap.
Wendy clutched her face, staring daggers at Grace.
Grace shook her hand, which now stung from the slaps, then lifted her foot and kicked Wendy squarely in the stomach, sending her stumbling back.
"I really don’t like to resort to violence," Grace said, "but I also know that when words fail with some people, force is the only option."
"This tape recorder of mine wasn’t expensive—three hundred yuan. The cassette inside is probably broken too. That one I borrowed from the school library. I don’t know how much it costs, but I will report this to the librarian exactly as it happened. So many people in this class saw what you did. You can’t escape responsibility."
"And another thing, Wendy Quinn. Not everyone is like you, obsessed with romance and thinking about nothing but men."
"Someone like you doesn’t belong in a school. Shouldn’t you just go home, get married early, and have kids?"
"Who will come with me to the professor’s office?"
"Who’s going to the professor’s office?" Just as Grace finished speaking, a familiar voice sounded from the doorway.
Everyone instinctively turned to look at the door.
They saw Claire Dunn walking in, a stack of books in her arms.
The students all shut their mouths, not daring to make a sound.
Grace spoke up immediately. "Professor Dunn, I want to file a complaint against Wendy Quinn. She has been maliciously slandering me for no reason, and just now she intentionally smashed my tape recorder and my English tape."
At this point, Wendy Quinn had completely lost it. "Grace Winslow, have you no shame? You’re the one who seduced my fiancé and became a homewrecker! If you hadn’t done something so shameless, why would I be targeting you?"
"You keep saying I stole your fiancé. Where’s your proof?" Grace looked at Wendy.
Wendy froze.
’Proof?’
"What more proof do you need? I saw you walking with him with my own two eyes! Isn’t that enough?" The memory of what she saw that day made something in her mind snap.
Hearing this, Grace couldn’t help but laugh. "I walk with many people every day. Does that mean I’m dating all of them?"
"Wendy Quinn, if that thing on your neck isn’t for thinking, you should donate it. Are you just using that big head of yours to make yourself taller?"
"Wendy Quinn! Do you have any idea what a serious offense it is to maliciously slander a fellow student without any proof?" Claire Dunn’s expression was grim.
Grace was one of the most promising students in their class, someone the department was grooming for success.
The department heads had already given strict orders.
After all, people from the Ministry of Diplomacy had taken a keen interest in Grace.
They were particularly impressed by her calm and composed demeanor when dealing with foreign dignitaries—never overly fawning, never too cold, she handled every situation with the perfect degree of tact.
That level of emotional intelligence was a major asset in diplomacy.
If Wendy’s slander caused Grace’s grades to drop, or worse, affected her future prospects, Claire Dunn really felt like she could kill someone.
Besides, anyone who had lived through the darkest of times despised malicious slander and false accusations.
And Claire Dunn loathed it more than anything.
"I didn’t! She was clearly being intimate with Archer Rhys! Many people on the street saw it. Are you going to deny that?" Seeing that Claire Dunn didn’t believe her and was siding with Grace, Wendy flew into a rage.
Josephine Joss chimed in to support her. "Professor, you can’t just side with Grace because she gets good grades, can you?"
"Good grades don’t mean she’s a good person. What if she’s really two-faced and seduces other people’s fiancés behind their backs?"
"Otherwise, how could a girl from the countryside afford such nice clothes?"
Claire Dunn shot Josephine a glare. "And what business is this of yours?"
"Couldn’t she have earned them herself?"
"Instead of thinking about how to study hard and improve your grades, all you do is sit here and badmouth your classmates. Is this what I taught you? Is this what your parents taught you?"
"After all those years of arduous study to get into university, what was it all for?"
"Was it to come here and scheme against each other like this?"
Claire was thoroughly disappointed in Wendy and Josephine. "Wendy Quinn, apologize to Grace!"
"I won’t apologize! I did nothing wrong! She doesn’t have the guts to admit what she did, and you’re deliberately siding with her! I’m not wrong!" Wendy’s attitude was resolute.
Grace flexed her wrist.
Seeing the movement, Wendy jumped back in fright, retreating several steps and watching Grace warily.
"Relax, I’m not going to hit you. With a brain like yours, hitting you would be a waste of my energy. If I thought I could slap some sense into you, I wouldn’t mind giving you a few more, but you’re a lost cause."
Grace shot Wendy a sidelong glance.
’I originally thought Wendy Quinn had some sense in her head.’
’Turns out I’m really not a good judge of character.’
’Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been deceived by Caleb Forrest and Ivy White for so many years.’
"Don’t you want to know what the relationship is between me and Archer Rhys? Let’s call him and have him come over. Then everything will be clear, won’t it?"
"What’s the matter, Wendy Quinn? Don’t you have your own fiancé’s phone number?"
"You don’t? That’s fine. I do."
"Professor, I’m sorry, but this might take up a bit of everyone’s time. Could I trouble you to make a phone call for me?"
Archer Rhys arrived quickly. He was there in less than half an hour.
With him was a middle-aged man.
The man bore a slight resemblance to Archer, with a noticeable scar on his temple that gave him a fierce look.
The two entered one after the other.
Claire Dunn saw the patch on the middle-aged man’s shoulder, and her expression changed slightly. She started to step forward to greet him.
But the man waved his hand, dismissing the gesture.
Archer had already walked up to Grace and Wendy.
"Archer..." Wendy Quinn said, her eyes red as she teetered on the verge of tears.
Grace had to fight the urge to roll her eyes.
’Such great acting. It’s a real waste she isn’t an actress.’
’Why study foreign languages? She should be at a film academy studying performance.’
"Comrade Wendy Quinn, it would be best if you were more careful about how you address me. I am an only son, I have no sister, and we are not familiar with one another. I hope you will address me as Comrade Archer Rhys." Archer’s handsome face was devoid of expression, and his voice was terrifyingly cold.
"As for the matter of an engagement between us, your father maliciously reported my parents, leading to their deaths. Your grandfather broke his word; seeing that my family was in trouble, he came to our home to personally cancel the engagement and retrieve the betrothal keepsakes. Our two families have had no relationship for ten years."
"Between me and your Quinn family, there is only hatred, no affection."
"And yet, you spread malicious rumors everywhere, claiming I am your fiancé, and in the process, you slandered an innocent person. I have already submitted a report to my superiors to launch an investigation into your Quinn family. If you go home now, you might just be in time to see your father off."