Chapter 154: Rumors Ferment
“Ainuo, I heard that your family club president and your childhood sweethearts are secretly isolating the people from Caida Affiliated High School. Is that true?”
“……What thing?”
Seven days before the school anniversary opening, at noon Ainuo ran into members of the Information Technology Club on the way to the canteen to get food. When he sat down with everyone holding their meal boxes to try the taste of the steak paired with chicken noodle soup that would only be available starting Monday, he was suddenly asked this question out of the blue.
His first reaction was: These guys aren’t going to tease him again, are they?
No way around it, the previous incident was too traumatic, so every time Ouyang Yating and Nancy mentioned relationship topics, they couldn’t avoid bringing up his fake confession to Xiang Chuan, and then they both gave him cold looks without prior arrangement.
Ainuo had thought about fighting back, but he worried that making a big fuss would lead to “loving education” from his parents, so he could only silently endure it.
The first-year high school students in the Information Technology Club also seemed to know this matter wasn’t very honorable, so they hadn’t brought it up much when coming to find Ainuo lately, and they even rarely steered the conversation toward Xiang Chuan herself.
What’s going on today? Itching for trouble again? Ainuo pondered in his mind whether to give his two childhood sweethearts a heads-up in advance to distance himself early.
“Haven’t you heard the news lately?”
“What news?” Ainuo took out the small packet of pepper powder he always carried, sprinkling a pinch into the chicken noodle soup. Pepper mass production was still in the works; currently, only relevant personnel from Yue Xiang Group could achieve pepper freedom. The Li Family, responsible for ingredient production and transportation, cooperated with Yue Xiang Group, and plus their personal connection with Xiang Chuan, everyone in the club could have a bit of “pepper freedom.”
Normally, the folks in the Information Technology Club wouldn’t hesitate to envy, jealous, and hate on Ainuo before staging a Tianyuan Era 20,000-year version of robbing the rich to distribute pepper.
But facts proved that gossip’s attraction was even greater.
“Everyone’s talking about it,” the Information Technology Club member looked at him with shining eyes. “This is the most widely circulated version. There are also ones saying your two childhood sweethearts fought over you out of jealousy and deliberately sabotaged your confession, or that you and your family club president have known each other since childhood and privately promised lifelong marriage, and also…”
“Enough, enough, stop.” Ainuo’s eyelids twitched.
Ainuo wasn’t the first to hear about these things.
On the same day at different times, everyone in Class 1-8 of Nongda Affiliated High School heard these rumors.
That day at noon during lunch break, the class group chat’s message scrolling speed directly hit the record high since the start of school. Everyone was so stirred up by these sudden rumors that they couldn’t nap.
A certain A Bite of China Club President who didn’t usually communicate much with students outside the class still only learned about it at noon when returning to the dormitory from the hastily arriving girls from Class Eight.
Xiang Chuan twitched the corner of her mouth: I knew there was nothing good behind those gossiping looks from the Caida Affiliated High School kids earlier.
Noon, 12:30.
Due to the school anniversary preparation work entering the final tense stage, whether local school students or those from Caida Affiliated High School temporarily staying in the dormitory building all needed to rest up for the afternoon plans and itinerary, so they napped early.
And at this time, the class group chat of Class 1-8 of Nongda Affiliated High School was already buzzing.
Xiang Chuan sat at the head of the bed, yawning as she looked at the more than thirty video windows in front of her. At first, everyone was just texting in the class group chat, but the scrolling was too fast—Xiang Chuan hadn’t finished reading one line before three or four dozen more appeared below. Class President Lu Daiqing probably felt chatting like this was too inefficient, so he used class president privileges to directly open a group video chat window for all class members.
According to modern network usage regulations, the number of simultaneous personal video windows cannot exceed ten. Exceeding ten requires submitting a usage application to the government. Of course, without special reasons, such applications are audited within five minutes. Government agencies and educational institutions can apply for permanent usage rights; individual enterprises can apply for usage permissions for certain periods based on scale.
In school, this permission is generally held by the homeroom teacher and the class president, but usually there’s nothing major at school, so everyone thought this function wouldn’t be needed in first-year high school. Unexpectedly, not even two months since the start of school, it was already being used.
Nancy [From the current situation, this rumor seems to have several versions. The one I heard is that this kid Ainuo has been privately promised lifelong marriage with Xiang Chuan since childhood. After we two cut in to steal the love and lost to Xiang Chuan, we repented and now obey her every command.]
Chou Manman [What we heard is that Xiang Chuan was the first to fall for Ainuo, but because of Nancy and Yating, she didn’t dare to make her feelings public, so she could only secretly flirt with Ainuo.]
Mandy [Yours is still mild. The version we heard is that you three all have feelings for this guy Ainuo. Ouyang Yating and Nancy, you two have had a crush on him since junior high, but Xiang Chuan used her club president status to bully Ouyang Yating and Nancy.]
……
Watching everyone chattering about various versions of the rumors, Xiang Chuan, Ouyang Yating, and Ainuo—as three of the four people involved—could only stare at the screen with nearly dead eyes.
——If possible, please don’t say it in such a gossipy and enthusiastic tone.
——And Nancy, as one of the people involved, why are you getting more excited the more you talk?
Xiang Chuan, the professional gossip consumer who had never been gossiped about in her previous life, was now being openly fed fake gossip by everyone and didn’t know what reaction to make for a moment.
Fortunately, this chattering discussion stopped after ten minutes.
Before returning to the dormitory, the various small groups in the class had already had intense discussions, plus the screen-flooding in the class group chat. Now with the class-wide video chat open, there wasn’t much desire left to discuss.
One push forward with full vigor, then weakening on the second, exhaustion on the third. This saying applies to gossiping too.
Nancy [So, do you see any issues?]
With Nancy’s words as the dividing line, the class-wide discussion atmosphere instantly turned serious.
Lu Daiqing [The rumors don’t mention anyone else from our class at all, all focused on Classmate Xiang Chuan, Classmate Ouyang Yating, Classmate Nancy, and Ainuo Classmate.]
Fu Chengkai [The topics basically revolve around romantic relationships, and several versions mention Ainuo’s previous fake confession.]
Ouyang Yating [This kid’s fake confession was gossiped about by other classes at the start of school, and now this fake confession rumor is suddenly spreading on a large scale. It’s hard to say the spreaders are our school’s students.]
Nancy [Those from Caida Affiliated High School?]
Ouyang Yating [Very possible, but it’s not entirely impossible for local school students to be spreading it.]
Xiang Chuan yawned, rubbed her eyes, and said: “There’s also the biggest issue—what’s the reason for releasing this rumor.”
Ouyang Yating [Assuming it’s local school students, they want to distract us, create internal conflict so we can’t manage the school anniversary preparations?]
Long Xiaoxian [But at normal speed, they should anticipate that by now we’ve already built the overall framework. If the purpose is sabotage, they should have released the rumor earlier.]
Fu Chengkai [Following this line of thinking, the possibility from Caida Affiliated High School side is higher, but what’s their purpose?]
Everyone fell silent.
Nancy snorted coldly [Won’t it be those people like Sasha up to tricks?]
Lu Daiqing frowned [If it’s them, the spearhead should point at us class cadres. Why drag in Classmate Xiang Chuan and the others?]
Yeah, why? Everyone fell silent again.
Xiang Chuan propped her chin with one hand, looking at the screen as an idea gradually formed in her mind. These modern kids’ methods are still a bit immature. Old corporate slave auntie Xiang Chuan secretly laughed in her heart.
She said: “Public opinion groundwork and manipulation.”
Seeing the few people on the other side of the screen, including Ouyang Yating and Nancy, instantly widen their eyes, Xiang Chuan suddenly felt no pressure.
There are still people in the class who get it, so no need for her to step in personally. It’s 30,000 years later; the methods modern kids can use are far more than what those short video-loving brats from back then could manage.
Wrong chapter has been replaced. Very sorry for the poor reading experience caused to all readers.
