It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

"Is there anything more outrageous?!"

Even worse?

Agnes was overcome with grief and trembled with genuine emotion as she said, "He... he even forced me to do advanced math problems!"

Lavoisier asked in confusion, "What are these Olympiad math problems?"

Agnes explained, "They were really, really difficult math problems. I couldn't solve a single one in a whole day. I could only guess at the options one by one!"

This was something Li Cheng was capable of doing, and Lavoisier felt a little more certain of its credibility.

The problem is... taking a little girl into the men's restroom sounds pretty perverted, but Li Cheng doesn't seem to have done anything seriously wrong, so he doesn't seem to be in a position to take responsibility. At most, he'll have to apologize...

Seeing that Lavoisier's attitude was wavering, Agnes gritted her teeth and finally played her trump card: "He, he once poured me a lot of strong liquor and lied to me that it was just juice, and got me drunk!"

Chapter 244 I'm a Good Person

Taking a deep breath, Lavoisier pushed open the bedroom door.

Li Cheng lay sprawled on the bed, casually flipping through a black-covered notebook—a draft he had left over from his previous research on commercial law. He was just flipping through it out of boredom, and he felt quite accomplished.

Hearing the door open, he closed his notebook on the bedside table, sat up straight, and smiled, "You're back. Who was knocking?"

With somewhat heavy steps, Lavoisier walked to the bedside and stood two body lengths away from him, saying, "You can guess."

"Guess?"

Li Cheng rested his chin on the back of his hands, looking thoughtful: "Emmm... since you would ask that, then the person who came must be very special."

“It is very special,” Lavoisier said.

"Okay, so let's rule out Lyon first, he's unlikely to come back and knock on the door again. Then let's rule out Smith and David..."

Having thought this far, Li Cheng shook his head, a hint of annoyance in his eyes: "Wait, I almost forgot about the way that bastard knocked earlier. That way, we can eliminate most of the possible guests."

"Such a rough knocking style, another unexpected guest... I guess it's Annie? The interesting (and troublesome) guy I mentioned to you last time, you should remember him."

"wrong."

Lavoisier vetoed it.

She knew Annie and had even visited her once. Although Li Cheng seemed to have a close relationship with her, she intuitively judged that the two were just good friends.

"That's true. If it were her, she would probably rush into the bedroom to find me."

Li Cheng nodded, then shook his head in confusion: "I really can't guess. Can you give me a hint?"

"hint?"

Lavoisier stared at the red-haired man before her, who was earnestly playing a guessing game. A trace of sadness was reflected in her pupils. She couldn't understand why he would do such a terrible thing; she truly couldn't comprehend it.

Li Cheng was still engrossed in guessing the question, but Lavoisier was no longer willing to beat around the bush, so she decided to be direct and say, "The other party is a very young girl."

"A very young girl?"

Li Cheng was stunned upon hearing this: "Newton???"

Holy crap, did I get caught cheating this time? Even though I cleverly booked a two-bedroom suite, the fact that two people are sharing a room is already suspicious enough!

He nervously reached out to grab Lavoisier's wrist, but Lavoisier dodged him with a sidestep.

Li Cheng: ?

"Not Newton."

Lavoisier did not offer an explanation for his avoidance, but instead denied Li Cheng's speculation.

"That's good..." Li Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, then asked in confusion, "Besides Newton, I don't know any other little girls. Louise has no idea I'm in Lincoln, and besides, she's very polite and would never knock like that."

"You really don't recognize me?"

"I really don't know her. I'm not a teacher, nor am I a lolicon. Why would I spend all my time getting to know little girls?"

"Agnes, have you heard of this name?"

Lavoisier uttered the name as if it were the bottom line, while staring intently at Li Cheng, not missing a single movement.

"Agnes?"

Li Cheng pondered the name. Compared to a mere supporting character like Leon, this kind of character, who is described in terms of appearance and has his own storyline, is undoubtedly more memorable.

He immediately recalled the unruly child and said with a headache, "What do you mean? Was that the one kicking the door just now? Where is she now?"

“I kicked her out, saying you weren’t at the hotel, you were out running errands.”

Lavoisier told a little lie; in fact, she had secretly hidden Agnes in her room, preparing for a confrontation between the two sides.

Li Cheng breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good—by the way, she didn't say anything to you, did she?"

However, in Lavoisier's eyes, his performance only increased the suspicion surrounding him.

"He didn't say anything—is there some problem between you two?"

"There's nothing seriously wrong."

Li Cheng summarized: "Agnes is Smith's daughter. I met her a few times when I went to Smith's house. Perhaps she was deliberately trying to go against Smith, as she was always trying to sneak out of the house."

"I thwarted some of her escape plans and gave Smith a lot of advice on disciplining her unruly children, so she holds a grudge against me and may say some bad things about me."

He didn't go into too much detail, because who the hell would dare mention something as trivial as getting angry with a brat in the toilet and having them pull down their pants to pee?!

To be fair, Li Cheng's words were not problematic; in fact, they were a fairly objective assessment.

However, people often have preconceived notions. As the saying goes, "If you suspect your neighbor of stealing your axe, then you're suspicious." After Agnes instilled some distorted facts in Lavoisier beforehand, Li Cheng's explanation sounded highly dubious.

No, not just suspicious, extremely suspicious.

According to Lavoisier, after confirming Agnes's absence, Li Cheng first attempted to create a "mischievous and naughty child" persona for Agnes to reduce her credibility. Then, using the pretext of a conflict between them, he laid the groundwork for Agnes to speak ill of him.

This is what is meant by "children talking nonsense, don't believe it."

Looking at Li Cheng, who was trying to "clear his name" and prove that he was a good person, Lavoisier showed a disappointed expression.

You're clearly a wolf, yet you're pretending to be a good citizen!

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and a hint of anger appeared on her face. She said directly, "Are you telling the truth?!"

"Of course it's true."

"Then I'll ask you a few questions, and you have to answer them truthfully."

"Ask away."

Lavoisier took a deep breath and said coldly, "Did you coerce Agnes under the pretense of helping her escape?"

"No."

Li Cheng was quite frank: "She's talking complete nonsense, don't believe her."

Lavoisier sneered and continued, "Fine—so it's nonsense that you went to the men's room with Agnes and relieved yourself in front of her?"

Holy crap?!

Li Cheng immediately felt an urge to swear. That brat was truly a handful, daring to spout such nonsense. Did he think he wouldn't send Smith another set of Olympiad problems?!

But the most important thing right now is to explain the cause and effect clearly, he said somewhat hurriedly:

"Let me explain, it's not what you think..."

At this moment, words seemed so pale and powerless; Li Cheng's explanation contained absolutely no points that could be believed. Seeing his hurried explanation, Lavoisier gave a deathly smile—finding evidence should have been a cause for celebration, but she felt utterly devoid of joy.

Why do such a thing?

She let out a breath, as if relieved, and said, "One last question, what did you do after you got drunk at the banquet that day?"

Chapter 245 Even my dad has never hit me!

"One last question, what did you do after you got drunk at the banquet?"

Li Cheng thought this secret would remain buried in his heart for the rest of his life, never to be discussed with anyone else, but at an unexpected time, it was suddenly brought up directly by Lavoisier.

Could it be Agnes...?

He was deeply taken aback.

But in his moment of surprise, Li Cheng suddenly realized that something was amiss.

Judging from Lavoisier's previous questions, the main person she was asking should have been Agnes, so why did Veronica suddenly appear? They have absolutely no connection!

If we think about it from this perspective, the complete statement of the whole problem should be:

[One last question: What did you do to Agnes after you got drunk at the party?]

Having reasoned to this level, Li Cheng's panic lessened considerably.

Because he didn't do anything wrong! That brat was just messing around! And now he's even messing around with him! This is unbearable! If I hadn't run away fast, I would have stopped him and given him a good beating!

Why aren't you saying anything?

Lavoisier asked.

"I."

Li Cheng was about to speak when he realized he didn't know what to say.

It seems that the only explanation for my actions is admitting that I'm a petty person who's sulking with a child...

I'm a little reluctant to admit it...

Seeing Li Cheng remain silent, Lavoisier looked as if she had been betrayed by a close friend or family member, or stabbed in the back at a crucial moment. Her eyes flashed with sadness, doubt, and anger, and her two bloodless lips were tightly closed, as if she was worried that further questioning would only hurt her.

Even so, her expression remained calm, as if she was unwilling to show her inner emotions.

There's no other way now.

"Ugh."

Li Cheng let out a long, sorrowful, and pained sigh, and then spoke.

"Professor Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier".

He deliberately used formal terms in an attempt to calm Lavoisier down: "I think from a researcher's perspective, you should respect objective evidence and deduce the truth from multiple angles, rather than simply believing one person's one-sided story."

Lavoisier's expression softened slightly.

She finally opened her mouth: "But you just admitted it yourself."

"I also"