Yuanyuan, barely managing to keep her balance, tightened her grip on the tray. Holding her breath, she summoned all her strength to steady herself as the food soared into the air.

As the food floated above her, Yuanyuan somehow managed to lift the tray just in time, catching it all perfectly.

The other kids, afraid they’d get splashed, had already scattered, retreating as far as possible while watching Yuanyuan’s high-stakes performance with wide-eyed amazement.

Even Gu Beiyan, who had been waiting for a chance to show off, was stunned by Yuanyuan’s unexpectedly swift reflexes.

Yuanyuan’s face puffed up like a little chipmunk storing food for winter, her short arms holding the tray high above her head to keep the food from spilling.

But despite her best efforts, some of the soup couldn’t be saved—it splattered into the air and rained down on the nearest target: Wen Zifei, who had just tripped her.

He barely had time to withdraw his foot before the soup came splashing down on his head, drenching him completely.

For a moment, the dining hall was silent.

It was so quiet that it could have been a graveyard instead of a cafeteria.

Every student, lunch server, and teacher stood frozen, staring at the scene in front of them.

Wen Zifei, his smile stiffening, slowly realized what had happened as the soup dripped from his hair. His smile twisted into a grimace, and with a loud wail, he broke down into sobs.

“Yuanyuan, you little villain!” he cried, his voice echoing through the cafeteria.

With soup dripping from his head, Wen Zifei stood motionless, too angry and too humiliated to move, sobbing like a fountain.

Hearing the commotion, Teacher Su rushed over, her face turning pale when she saw the mess. She hurriedly grabbed some napkins and tried to clean him up, quickly deciding to take him to change out of his dirty clothes.

But Wen Zifei, furious and humiliated, shook off her hand and pointed angrily at Yuanyuan, shouting, “Teacher, it was her! She threw her food at me on purpose!”

Teacher Su glanced down at the ground. From the look of things, it did seem like the mess came from Yuanyuan’s tray.

Yuanyuan’s little fingers were still damp with soup, and it looked like the evidence was undeniable.

But instead of jumping to conclusions, Teacher Su first cleaned up Wen Zifei before gently pulling Yuanyuan aside. “Yuanyuan, can you tell me what happened? Do you know how Wen Zifei ended up like this?”

“He… he blocked me with his foot, and I didn’t see it. My tray flew up!” Yuanyuan explained, her big eyes looking earnestly at Teacher Su. She could tell the teacher was being serious, just like how her dad acted when discussing something important. This made Yuanyuan instinctively straighten up and behave. “But I caught most of the food! I didn’t waste it!”

As she spoke, Yuanyuan’s eyes darted back to her tray.

Seeing a piece of food about to slip off the edge, she quickly raised the tray and slurped the leaf into her mouth, then stood up straight again, her expression one of pure innocence.

Teacher Su stifled a laugh, realizing just how much Yuanyuan cared about her food.

“I didn’t do anything! She stepped on my foot and spilled everything on me!” Wen Zifei protested, sniffling with anger. His fists clenched as he tried to twist the story in his favor. “She did it on purpose! Just like when she blew that bug into my mouth!”

Gu Beiyan stood to the side, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. This kid’s performance is unreal, he thought. There’s no way I could keep a straight face with an act like that.

“Teacher, isn’t there a security camera?” Chu Qi interjected, raising her hand and pointing to the small white camera in the corner. “We can check it to see if Wen Zifei is telling the truth.”