Chapter 10: Spreading Rumors

This matter was quickly posted on the school forum. Some people in the know commented, intentionally or unintentionally mentioning Jiang Luoyu. Although they didn’t explicitly state it, the implication in their words was satirizing him for being jealous of Xu Muzhou to do such a shameless thing.

Jiang Luoyu’s family was nouveau riche, so they weren’t afraid he would do anything if angered. Originally, they were already sour about his close relationship with Fang Chuning. Now that they had a chance, they fanned the flames.

Various hurtful and even insulting words appeared in the comments.

Dependent Person: “It must be because he was jealous the vice president could perform with the president, so he did this disgusting thing.”

Cute Jiu Jiu: “Lol, he probably thought the president would actually take a liking to him. It’s all your fault for spreading rumors before, making him think he had a chance. He should look in the mirror – compared to the vice president, he’s nothing.”

Sweet Wine Tangyuan: “Agreed with above. I feel the president and vice president look super compatible together!”

Can’t Date Too Early: “Really? I actually feel they’re too well-matched, so not that suitable…”

A Young Man’s Dream Who Dares Not Proclaim Loudly replied to @Can’t Date Too Early: “Hmm… why does that sound a bit sour?”

Can’t Date Too Early replied to @A Young Man’s Dream Who Dares Not Proclaim Loudly: “You don’t have to agree. I’m just stating my own view.”

A Young Man’s Dream Who Dares Not Proclaim Loudly replied to @Can’t Date Too Early: “I can smell the bitterness through the screen.”

In a certain grade’s classroom, Tang Jiali squeezed his phone after reading this reply, not engaging further. He exited to the main interface and clicked into a game. The top intimacy friend’s avatar was still gray.

He dejectedly quit the game and clicked back to the forum to continue scrolling through the comments in the hot posts.

“Jia Jia, are you also browsing the forum?” His deskmate, a boy, peeked over.

Tang Jiali nonchalantly switched interfaces. “No, just casually looking.”

The boy extended his own phone in front of him, eagerly sharing gossip with him. “Did you see this? That boy’s family situation was all dug up. Heard his family is nouveau riche. Before they had money, they even lived in the slums. And now he’s become the president’s rumored boyfriend. So impressive!”

Hearing the last sentence, Tang Jiali’s hand paused in its scrolling, unhappily saying: “Can you not randomly spread this kind of rumor? The two of them have never acknowledged it. You doing this can easily cause trouble for people.”

The boy didn’t expect him to react so strongly, feeling a bit dejected: “Why are you being so loud? It’s not like I’m the one saying it.”

Tang Jiali impatiently lay on the desk facing the window, eyes still on his phone, perfunctorily apologizing: “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything else by it.”

The post’s comments increased, the vast majority condemning the “culprit” who shredded the outfit. And although this “culprit” wasn’t directly named, certain words were equivalent to putting the person under the spotlight.

Jiang Luoyu wasn’t having a good time at school. There were always people in class looking at him with strange gazes. At first, he pretended not to mind, until later these gazes turned into actual targeting.

Someone carrying a cup of hot water walked past his seat, then “accidentally” poured the water on his hand.

“Ah, sorry,” the boy apologized, but his smug face held no remorse.

Jiang Luoyu clutched his scalded red hand, looking at him with reddened eyes.

Being stared at made the boy a bit guilty, but he quickly assumed a self-righteous air: “I already said it was an accident. It’s just a little scald, who are you putting on a show for?!”

After speaking, the boy quickly glanced at the empty seat in front of Jiang Luoyu, feeling even more emboldened. “Don’t even think about tattling to the president, or else you’re done for!”

After the boy left, Jiang Luoyu looked around. The other people in class were all watching him with schadenfreude. Even the male classmates he had gotten along well with before were staying far away from him, faces full of coldness.

Jiang Luoyu lowered his head, biting hard on his lower lip, trying to make himself feel less miserable.

He knew about the things on the forum, but he really didn’t do it and had no way to defend himself. Others wouldn’t believe him anyway.

During break, Jiang Luoyu stopped Xu Muzhou, who was carrying assignments to the office, in the hallway. He looked straight into his eyes.

Xu Muzhou’s pretty eyes revealed confusion. “What is it, classmate Jiang?”

The young man’s innocent, unaware appearance made Jiang Luoyu’s heart fill with disgust. “I didn’t ruin your outfit. I never even touched it.”

Jiang Luoyu directly stated his intention, not beating around the bush with him at all.

The young man’s hands tightened around the assignments he was holding, his brow full of apology. “I also think it shouldn’t have been classmate Jiang who did it… but when I told them, they didn’t believe me…”

That delicate, pitiful appearance instead made people feel he was the victim, making them want to immediately stand up and seek justice for him. Jiang Luoyu wasn’t fooled by his act. “Since you know it wasn’t me, then you should clear things up for me!”

The young man seemed frightened by his forceful tone, his face paling slightly. Under his glasses, his lashes trembled fearfully, his voice weak: “I’m sorry…”

For a moment, Jiang Luoyu almost believed this deceptive face of his, thinking he really was a mild-tempered person easy to bully.

“Go on the forum and clarify for me. I never touched your outfit at all.”

Xu Muzhou lowered his eyes and nodded slightly in agreement.

Afterward, Jiang Luoyu always felt uneasy. He stared at the forum homepage, continuously refreshing until the next day when he finally saw a pinned post in the hot topics.

The ID was exactly New Star Vice President. The name even had a silver crown icon on top.

The gist of the post was telling them not to have excessive suspicions about this matter, as it could easily cause trouble for people. At the end, he even politely wrote “Thank you”.

The wording seemed to exude the poster’s shyness and kindness. Those who had seen Xu Muzhou could almost hear the young man’s soft voice thanking them in their ears. Female classmates who originally weren’t very interested in this matter suddenly became energized.

The comments below exploded.

Game King: “Since the president has already said this, you boys shouldn’t be so gossipy. It’s none of your business anyway.”

Like Meow Meow: “You girls don’t understand. We’re just feeling injustice on the president’s behalf.”

That’s Right I’m a Rich Second Generation: “Are you feeling injustice for the president or targeting someone? You know in your hearts.”

Eat That Ice Cream: “So in the end, is the ‘culprit’ him or not?”

Of course, “him” referred to Jiang Luoyu. The post didn’t clarify who the “culprit” was. They were curious too, but didn’t care if someone was wronged. They only cared if that person was Jiang Luoyu.

This post had only been in the hot topics for a short while when another post was suddenly pinned. The two posts’ publishing times were only half an hour apart.

The pinned post was a video. In the video, two boys faced each other. From the filming angle, only the boy wearing glasses could be seen. He was holding thick assignments. He seemed to hear something, his face gradually turning pale. His frail figure looked like it would topple over in a light breeze.

The video had no audio, so it was unclear what they said. But from the young man’s expression, one could guess the other party must have said something terrible.

Adding on Xu Muzhou’s previous post, it made people think too much.

In an instant, the comments once again became one-sided.

More doubt was cast on Jiang Luoyu, along with self-righteous insults not caring about the truth. Even more excessively, some people cornered Jiang Luoyu in the bathroom and locked him in for a whole class period.

The people in class were even more unwilling to associate with him.

Fang Chuning knew nothing of these things. Recently, she had been too busy with matters regarding the arts performance. Not only did she have to rehearse, but she also had to handle the scripts from other classes’ programs. She simply had no time to pay attention to other places.

She only became aware of this matter when Jiang Luoyu was badly bullied and nearly forced to drop out, snapping her back to her senses.

By this time, class had already started, yet the seat behind her was empty. After asking around, she learned the person might be locked in the bathroom. Fang Chuning said a few words to the teacher and ran out.

Arriving outside the men’s bathroom, she hesitated for a few seconds before gritting her teeth and pushing the door open.

It was class time, so no one was in the bathroom. As soon as Fang Chuning entered, she heard faint sobbing coming from a stall.

Without hesitation, she walked over and knocked on the door. “Classmate Jiang?”

The sobbing abruptly stopped. The person inside seemed a bit in disbelief, his voice tentative and tearful: “…President?”

Fang Chuning looked down at the broom blocking the bathroom door handle, her brows furrowing. She reached out and removed the broom. The bathroom door opened from the inside. The boy stood helplessly in the narrow space, his eyes a bit swollen from crying.

“Why didn’t you tell me when something like this happened?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the boy suddenly threw himself into her arms. Fang Chuning was so startled she nearly gave him an instinctive over-the-shoulder throw.

The boy’s frail body shook with sobs in her embrace, his suppressed whimpers sounding pitiable.

Fang Chuning felt their current posture and location was highly improper. If someone came in and saw them like this, who knew what they would think they were doing.

Fang Chuning pulled the person away. “Don’t cry. Let’s go back to class first.”

Jiang Luoyu’s fingers clutched at her school uniform, his tears dripping in aggrieved misery, unable to stop at all.

In the end, Fang Chuning still took him to the student council room to calm down for a bit before returning to the classroom. The moment the two arrived at the classroom door, they were subjected to a baptism of gazes. Jiang Luoyu shrank behind her, closely following her into the classroom.

Passing by Xu Muzhou’s seat, he couldn’t help raising his eyes to look, just happening to meet the young man’s indifferent gaze. Jiang Luoyu lightly pursed his lips and shifted his line of sight, quietly sitting back in his own seat.

After class, Fang Chuning opened her phone and clicked into the school forum. As soon as she entered, she could see the hottest posts pinned at the very top. She glanced at the content, then clicked open the comment section. Scrolling down, it was all sarcastic insulting comments that made one’s eyes hurt.

Fang Chuning logged into her own ID and deleted these posts without hesitation. Her ID was an administrator on the school forum. She rarely paid attention to or managed these things usually. After deleting, she also posted on the forum and pinned it with the comment section closed.

The gist of the post was that blind guessing and discussion about the performance costume matter was not allowed, let alone campus violence. Violators would have to clean all the school’s bathrooms.

For boys, a warning like cleaning bathrooms was undoubtedly fatal, more effective than deducting school points. That gossip immediately quieted down.