I Might Have Fallen in Love With My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 36 - 33 Rumors Abound

Chapter 36: Chapter 33 Rumors Abound

No one knew why Xie Ying’an suddenly rushed out during Old Wu’s class.

All they knew was that Xie Ying’an returned only in the last lesson of the afternoon, and after coming back he just opened his textbook to study and reverted back to his usual self.

The teenagers around sixteen and seventeen were at an age of intense curiosity, especially Ruan Ruan, who was almost painfully anxious.

As soon as the school bell rang, Ruan Ruan couldn’t wait to go with Qingran to the canteen together.

Huang Qianyu sat in her seat, bitterly watching their departing figures, her fingertips clenched into fists, ultimately not daring to stir up more trouble.

Li Qingran was right, she had also inquired about their families and found them to be equally matched; if they really competed, it would just be mutually destructive, and she was accustomed to an excellent life, unable to even imagine a day without money.

However, the fact that Li Qingran smashed her nose with a book and made her lose face wasn’t something she could easily let go of.

Sun Xin came over to her: "Qianyu, let’s go eat."

Huang Qianyu gave her a glance, snorted coldly: "Eat what? I have no appetite, you go eat by yourself."

Sun Xin paused, "What’s wrong? Qianyu?"

Huang Qianyu didn’t look at her, turned her head to Chen Xiweng and Zhang Li, "Let’s go, we’ll go to the snack shop."

Chen Xiweng and Zhang Li looked at each other, followed behind Huang Qianyu with giggles, and left the classroom.

Leaving Sun Xin standing there, with an extremely ugly expression on her face.

Shi Fanfan lifted her head from the book, glanced at Sun Xin, then lowered her head to continue reading; her mother was right, Sun Xin and Chen Xiweng willingly followed Huang Qianyu because she was generous with her ’sweeteners’.

But Fanfan’s family was not lacking these things.

Most of the classmates were following the school forum; the recent tumultuous events had them intently consuming the drama.

However, this incident directly pushed Qingran and the school beauty Luo Lan into the spotlight.

Thankfully, just as every story has a twist, when Song Shize posted, and then the ill-intended poster was exposed, some students sighed in relief knowing it was all a misunderstanding.

Yet, there were still some students with impure motives, who couldn’t stand others doing well, spreading rumors that this incident was definitely not that simple.

"Think about it," a girl in Grade 11, Class 7, with a ponytail, sitting at the desk, turned her head to talk to a few classmates behind her: "If this was really just a misunderstanding, why isn’t the spoiled rich kid coming to class till now?"

A few girls exchanged looks.

One of them nodded, "Right, what Xiaobing said makes sense."

Seeing her point being accepted, Tan Xiaobing immediately became more animated, she propped her feet on the chair she was sitting on: "And think about this, why would that man target the school beauty?"

More people agreed this time, "I think so too, flies don’t sting seamless eggs, Song Shize targets the school beauty because he’s fickle-hearted, then that man must be..."

Several girls exchanged a significant glance, laughing among themselves.

Tan Xiaobing lowered her voice, "I also heard that our school beauty comes from a poor family, didn’t she have a stack of money in her hand in the photo that day? Now you guys should guess the reason, right?"

"Oh~" a sound of realization.

"So," Tan Xiaobing concluded affirmatively, "it must be that the school doesn’t want this scandal to leak out, so they deliberately suppressed it, thinking they can fool us all."

"Eh? Xiaobing, if that’s the case, what about Li Qingran?" a girl with short hair asked.

"Yeah," the girl next to the short-haired girl, who didn’t agree with Tan Xiaobing from the beginning, retorted: "I heard Li Qingran is good in academics, looks, and has a good family background, she definitely doesn’t need to mingle with the likes of spoiled rich kids, right?"

Tan Xiaobing’s expression darkened momentarily, her slim eyes blinking twice before she said, "Su Chan Yi, do you really know Li Qingran?"

Su Chan Yi leaned back against the desk, lifting an eyebrow: "I don’t know Li Qingran, but I know you."

Someone who just loves spreading rumors and talking nonsense!

The atmosphere turned tense.

Tan Xiaobing slammed her hand on the desk, "Su Chan Yi, I’m talking to you seriously, what do you mean by that?"

Su Chan Yi couldn’t be bothered to argue with these kinds of people and stood up to walk out, her androgynous attire making her silhouette resemble a boy’s.

After walking quite a distance, her voice carried back: "Sorry, I don’t feel like speaking nicely to someone like you."

Disgusted to speak.

Tan Xiaobing was known in Class 7 of the second year for being talkative, and she would badmouth anyone she didn’t like. She fell out with Su Chan Yi because she once commented behind Su Chan Yi’s back that she was mannish, which led to many classmates secretly calling her mannish as well.

There are no walls without chinks in the world, especially in a class with so many people. It didn’t take long for Tan Xiaobing’s words to reach Su Chan Yi’s ears.

Su Chan Yi is a straightforward person who generally doesn’t fuss over things with others, but this made her start disliking Tan Xiaobing.

"Ah!" The remaining girls went to pull on Tan Xiaobing’s arm.

The girl with short hair comforted Tan Xiaobing: "Don’t be mad, don’t be mad. Su Chan Yi is just like that, next time we’ll talk without her."

Tan Xiaobing snorted coldly, "I wouldn’t get upset over someone like her."

The girls gathered again and continued their previous conversation, the slightly chubby girl on the far right said: "Do you think Li Qingran might like the spoiled rich kid? After all, his family background is great and he’s also quite handsome."

"Possibly," the girl with short hair nodded twice, "otherwise, Li Qingran wouldn’t have bothered with him."

Tan Xiaobing denied: "Impossible, don’t you guys know why the spoiled rich kid transferred to our class?"

The girls instantly became curious, "Isn’t it because his grades were too bad?"

"Of course not," Tan Xiaobing laughed, "come here, let me tell you in your ear."

——

On Saturday, while Ruan Ruan was still pestering Qingran about why God Ji had come looking for her, rumors suddenly started flying around the school.

Some were about the school’s beauty Luo Lan, saying she was fundamentally a gold digger.

Others were about Qingran, claiming she didn’t like Song Shize yet still led him on to satisfy her own vanity.

Posts about these speculations were non-stop on the school forum, to the point where Ji He and Fang Jin’s hands were sore from deleting them.

The only ones who seemed pleased by the rumors in Class 1 of the second year were Huang Qianyu and her group of girlfriends.

Ruan Ruan was so angry that her hand trembled as she gripped her pen, "Damn it, who the hell spread these rumors? If I find out, I’ll kill them myself!"

Wen Shiyi also frowned, she suspected her step-sister, but as a person of integrity, Wen Siqi seemed to disdain speaking ill of others behind their backs, as she was often the subject of such backbiting herself.

However, Qingran was undaunted, utterly disregarding the slander.

The notes Xie Ying’an made for her were more detailed than the ones she usually did herself, and at the moment, she was looking at the physics test paper Xie Ying’an had studied the previous night.

Nobody knew what had exactly happened when Xie Ying’an had abruptly left that day. Strangely, Old Wu didn’t even investigate afterwards.

Tomorrow would be the weekend, and Xie Ying’an asked Qingran if she wanted to go out somewhere.

Qingran shook her head, "I took a few days off recently, and I’ve fallen behind on quite a bit of homework. I’ll stay home and catch up tomorrow."

Xie Ying’an hummed in response, then turned his head away, ceasing the conversation.

The rumors about Qingran in school were actually relayed to Xie Ying’an by Su Chen during the lunch break.

Since becoming desk-mates with Qingran, Xie Ying’an had also picked up the habit of napping. The sight of the two, with similar style pillows, resting on the desks was quite picturesque.

So much so that their classmates followed suit, didn’t they see even the top students needed rest? Work and rest needed to be balanced.

Su Chen tapped Xie Ying’an, signaling him to come out. On the corridor, Su Chen showed Xie Ying’an screenshot posts from the school forum.

Xie Ying’an skimmed through a few images, his dark eyes chilling, he pinched his brow and asked Su Chen: "Do you know who posted first?"

Su Chen shook his head.

"That’s fine," the young man suddenly pulled a thin, malicious smile, "Let’s kill the chicken to warn the monkeys."

Su Chen shivered. Xie Ying’an was not someone to be trifled with, having barely suppressed his intense aura after being with his grandfather for two years. These fearless ones, why they must provoke him and the people he cares about.