Chapter 40: Prelude to Face Slapping
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“The first few pictures are indeed with friends, but as for the last few pictures, I don’t know where they’ve found them,” Chi Shuyan said calmly.
Zheng Shujun and Li Xiaoting had been in contact with Chi Shuyan recently and had some knowledge of her character, so they didn’t believe the news on the forum at all. However, many held the belief that there was some truth to those pictures. Furthermore, since they knew nothing about Chi Shuyan, they easily listened to one side.
During breaks, someone would stand outside Cla.s.s 5 and whistle from time to time, and occasionally suddenly shout ‘Who is Chi Shuyan?’ A number of people pushed and shoved, giggling and hee hawing, jeering rowdily outside and causing extreme discontent among the senior students of Cla.s.s 5.
“What’s the fuss about? We all have the college entrance exams coming up, so whoever stirred things up, go fix it!” w.a.n.g Wanting slammed her pen down and complained disgruntledly, her eyes sweeping towards Chi Shuyan.
“Right, just because of someone, our whole cla.s.s is being watched like monkeys. The college entrance exam is fast approaching. I don’t really know what’s going on here, but someone’s been up to something.”
“It’s really annoying. No wonder the cla.s.s teacher had the foresight to transfer her, she’s purely a troublemaker.” Many girls muttered under their breaths.
Not to mention the subject, Chi Shuyan, even Li Xiaoting and Zheng Shujun were on the verge of flaring up. They were obviously having fun before, so how could they have changed faces when things went wrong?
When Li Xiaoting was about to rise up to defend Chi Shuyan against the injustice, Chi Shuyan pressed her down and shook her head. “Do your homework, there’s no shortage of those who strike someone when they’re down.”
Chi Shuyan immediately stood up after she spoke. w.a.n.g Wanting and the other girls stiffened, threw their pens down, looked at each other sharing the same annoyance, and crossed their arms on their chests while sneering, thinking that Chi Shuyan would quarrel with them. Thus, they braced themselves to meet the enemy.
But Chi Shuyan stood up, put both hands in her jacket pockets, and went straight to the door, towards the group making a ruckus. Then, she snapped a few photos with her phone.
w.a.n.g Wanting and several girls were momentarily stunned. Even the male students outside who were jeering rowdily didn’t expect that Chi Shuyan would dare to come out.
“Please leave immediately,” Chi Shuyan said indifferently.
“This isn’t your home. Do you think we’ll just because you told us to? We just love the view from here, right?” Retorted an uproarious rascal.
“Yeah, who are you to tell us what to do? And what are you filming us for? It’s a violation of our portrait rights.”
Chi Shuyan ticked her lips into a shallow smile. “Then, it’s up to you. I’m quite petty and vengeful. There’s a lot of you, so of course, I have to take pictures to remember you. What if you dare not to admit it?”
After Chi Shuyan spoke, the faces of several rowdy boys turned dark.
“Who’s afraid of you and dares not to admit it? Shoot whatever you want.”
“We’d like to see what you’re going to do.” Several of the boys laid down their words.
Chi Shuyan nodded, put her hands in her jacket pockets, and returned to her seat. She edited a few messages on WeChat attaching the photos she had just taken and sent them to Su Yeran, asking him to help her check out the anonymous ID who posted those explosive allegations. He quickly replied and even Yang Hongsheng called in concern.
When Chi Shuyan answered the call, the cla.s.s went quiet and held their breath, obviously wanting to hear who was calling Chi Shuyan. Disappointingly, Chi Shuyan hung up quickly, but many students heard a male voice.
Chi Shuyan was oblivious to all kinds of varying gazes and did what she had to do. The experiences of her past life had forged her strong heart, though she felt as troubled as a housefly for all rumors and slanders. But in fact, it caused her no substantial harm or pressure.
Many Cla.s.s 5 students, who sneaked peeks at Chi Shuyan, saw her relaxed, but were unable to detect anything. And with the imminent college entrance exam, they had no extra energy to pay attention to her, so they all lowered their heads and went through some of the exam exercises.
“Shuyan, did you read the post? I can’t believe they’re saying you’re being kept!” A sad and indignant female voice rang out, and Feng Yanli hurriedly walked in, full of anxiety. “Who did it? They’ve gone too far! Even if you’re often out of school, they can’t slander anyone like this.”
Feng Yanli’s arrival was like a drop of oil splas.h.i.+ng in the already calm boiling water, stirring up 1,000 waves.
Chi Shuyan secretly rolled her eyes. Was Feng Yanli thinking that the matter wasn’t loud enough and afraid that others hadn’t heard the rumor about her being a mistress?
“Shuyan, don’t worry, I’ve hired someone to delete the post, and this will be over soon.” Feng Yanli feigned comfort. “Who hasn’t done anything wrong? Why are they being so harsh? Shuyan, whether it was you or not, I’ll always be on your side, regardless if you did it.”
Chi Shuyan almost laughed in exasperation listening to her. At this juncture, was it better to delete the post? People would take it as her guilty conscience. Besides, what did she mean by ‘who hasn’t done anything wrong?’ and ‘Whether it was her or not?’ Such ambiguity and inconsistent words were really Feng Yanli’s specialty.
“Yanli, why don’t you help me find out who was behind the post?” Chi Shuyan spun her pen and smiled deceptively.
“Shuyan, I’m sorry. I can’t find out for the time being. Blame me for being too weak.” Feng Yanli shook Chi Shuyan’s hand as she apologized.
Just as Chi Shuyan was about to shake her off, frame after frame of images appeared in her mind. She saw Feng Yanli in a cafe with a familiar woman, a n.o.blewoman around her thirties. As soon as Feng Yanli let go of her hand, these images immediately disappeared.
Chi Shuyan was astounded. She couldn’t care less what Feng Yanli had said and quickly grabbed her arm. Soon, those images appeared clearly again and she instantly recognized that the woman with Feng Yanli was Wu Wenyun’s mother, Yang Yuzhen, who handed Feng Yanli a bunch of photos. Feng Yanli looked at those photos and smiled slyly.
“Shuyan, what’s wrong with you? Don’t scare me!” Feng Yanli said with righteous indignation, “Shuyan, don’t take things too seriously. It’s completely the fault of those framing you. Why shouldn’t they talk about those men, but just you? Besides, it’s the 20th century, so what if you’re no longer a virgin?”
“Hey, hey, are you here to help or discredit her?” Li Xiaoting instantly sniffed something fishy.
Feng Yanli immediately covered her mouth, looking frightened as if she had blurted out the wrong words. Her actions fueled others’ imaginations even more.
It was these words that Chi Shuyan registered when she snapped back to her senses. She just chattered endlessly, so she didn’t know how much she’d smeared her. She swiped on the forum and sure enough, because of Feng Yanli’s words, posts slandering Chi Shuyan had multiplied.