"Seigetsu, what are you talking about?"

Despite being mentally prepared, Sun Xiaofang couldn't help but feel a panic.

"In the morning, I was called by the teacher."

Zhu Seigetsu answered calmly, speaking softly.

"Of course, they didn't criticize anyone, they didn't say it directly. But your private spreading of rumors undoubtedly caused me trouble, and made the teachers feel very distressed. It's better to stop early."

"You... I understand. Are you talking about the rumor about early romance?"

Sun Xiaofang took a deep breath and forced a smile.

"I did hear about it, but I didn't take it seriously at all. I know you are focused on studying and have no intention of dating. I think no one would take it seriously... right?"

Sun Xiaofang turned to the people around her, seeking their help.

"Yeah, Xiaofang is right. No one in the class would believe it..."

"Is it Xiaofang who spread it? No way, class monitor, are you mistaken? She's your friend, there's no benefit for her to do this."

"Don't pay too much attention to what others say, Seigetsu, nothing will happen."

The girls responded one after another.

In fact, they had heard and discussed this matter, and when they excitedly discussed the topic, not many people cared that Zhu Seigetsu was not present.

It can't be said that they were malicious or deliberately trying to cause trouble; it's just that, objectively speaking, their behavior did indeed contribute to the spread of rumors about early romance in the entire class.

In fact, due to the high popularity of classmate Zhu Seigetsu, soon, even students from the neighboring class heard about it.

"No problem...?" Zhu Seigetsu shook her head, the smile on her face becoming even stronger.

"I don't think so. Everyone should be very clear that if we just keep silent, the rumors won't stop."

When the flames of rumors began to spread among the crowd, if not dealt with seriously and suppressed in time, the situation would quickly develop to an uncontrollable extent.

What's worse, fabricating and spreading a rumor is very easy, and doesn't require too rigorous logic - in fact, if the logic is too tight, it will be ignored by people because it's hard to understand.

What rumors really need to focus on is emotion. When it touches on a certain aspect of people's emotions, they will subconsciously choose to believe it.

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This emotion can be a positive expectation, or it can be a subconscious aversion.

To be more specific, in her case, it may be out of curiosity or unconscious jealousy that the rumor of early romance quickly spread within the small group in Class 5.

Because of this nature, rumors are difficult to refute. Once they spread, even if someone can come forward to clarify, they may not be believed, let alone stop the trend of spreading rumors.

In summary, Zhu Seigetsu felt that in order for the process of clarifying the truth to be more convincing than the rumor itself, there needs to be an event that is more discussable and impactful than the rumor itself -

"I, I understand, Seigetsu." Sun Xiaofang nodded quickly, "We will all help..."

"Xiaofang, you may not have heard clearly just now, but I actually came to talk to you about this."

Zhu Seigetsu smiled.

"I hope that the result of this matter will leave a deep impression on everyone, more memorable than the rumor itself, so that this matter can be completely put to rest. So..."

She pointed to the platform, the meaning was very clear.

"Xiaofang, can you do me a favor and, when everyone is here, go up to the stage and explain to everyone, admit that you spread it yourself? After all, it's your fault, you should take responsibility to resolve it, right?"

The girls fell silent.

Staring at Sun Xiaofang, who was standing still, with strange looks, her face turned pale and then red. She soon showed an angry look.

"...Seigetsu, I know someone is spreading rumors about you having an early romance, causing you to be called by the teacher. You may feel very angry, but why do you say it's me? Don't you think this is also violating my reputation?"

"Only you would do such a thing."

I don't know when, but the classroom of Class 5 slowly filled up with people.

One after another, students from Class 5 returned to the classroom. They naturally noticed the strange and tense atmosphere here, and saw the confrontation between Zhu Seigetsu and Sun Xiaofang.

After quietly asking others, or observing for a while, everyone quickly understood the situation, and whether male or female, they tacitly chose not to speak.Seigetsu Zhu looked around at the curious gazes of her classmates and reminded Sun Xiaofang in a soft voice, "Look, everyone is back. Now is a good time. Xiaofang, please come up to the podium."

Realizing that everyone was watching and the situation was becoming more and more tense, Sun Xiaofang's face turned even redder. She clenched her fists and glared at Seigetsu Zhu, as if to cover up her own guilt, and shouted with a strained voice, "The reason you accused me is because you're feeling guilty yourself, isn't it? I've only heard about your early romance, someone saw you dating when you were at the cram school, but didn't say who you were dating!"

Seigetsu Zhu fell silent for a moment and replied softly, "I think you should have already told the teachers about this. Otherwise, they wouldn't have come looking for me."

At this point, she couldn't help but smile again. "Well, if I were just dating an ordinary boy, the teachers might worry, but they wouldn't be so nervous as to call me to the office."

In my opinion, even if I were to indulge in early romance from now on and not want to study at all, it would take some time to regress.

Seigetsu Zhu thought to herself, but didn't say it out loud.

"I think, Xiaofang, after you reported to the teachers, you left room for yourself, thinking it didn't matter if you didn't say the other side in front of your classmates..."

"Alright, if that's the case, aren't you afraid? Not afraid that I'll reveal who you're dating?"

"In that case," Seigetsu Zhu said, "are you ready to admit it?"

Sun Xiaofang was momentarily speechless, but she didn't give up. Instead, she raised her voice even louder. "I told you, I didn't spread rumors about you! But if you keep pushing me like this, I'll really say it! Because I know who you're dating, and I saw it with my own eyes when I was at the cram school!"

"…Sigh."

Seigetsu Zhu sighed softly.

It seems that verbal persuasion is really useless, and it even backfires. She originally thought that this kind of thing needed to be dealt with as soon as possible, the sooner the better. If it were to drag on for another day, who knows what it would turn into, and whether the other party's mouth could be kept shut during that day was also an unknown; if it were to be said before it was dealt with, her situation would be even more passive.

"Friend," huh, "friend."

Such a thought came to Seigetsu Zhu's mind.

If Xu were here now and saw Sun Xiaofang's attitude towards her, he should understand why she sighed when he mentioned "you are very popular among your classmates and won't lack friends," right?

It's a pity, she originally thought that Sun Xiaofang did something wrong because she was too flustered. Confronting her face to face, on the one hand, was to seize the time, and on the other hand, it was to give the other party a chance to correct themselves.

As a result, the other party unhesitatingly abandoned the friendship between them. Is it really so difficult to apologize for the mistake she made?

The two girls confronting each other in the classroom seemed to have attracted the attention of students from other classes.

Seigetsu Zhu's gaze glanced slightly out the window.

Someone was standing on the windowsill, looking inside curiously.

If Sun Xiaofang really said it here...

Her gaze returned, and she found the girl with braided hair blushing, her mouth moving as if she was really about to say that sentence.

Actually, Seigetsu Zhu could guess what the other party was thinking. But she still felt that this approach was really unwise.

If you want to spread rumors, just say it all from the beginning, why leave half of it? Saying it's to leave room for yourself, in fact, it's not good for both sides, right?

Xiaofang is really a foolish girl, she thought.

...But, forget it.

She didn't care in the first place.

When she made this choice, she had already anticipated this possibility.

Seigetsu Zhu quietly watched Sun Xiaofang, who was about to shout out loud, but had no intention of stopping her.

Under her coercion, the other party seemed to have given up. Even if discerning people could see that she was the one who reported and spread rumors, once that sentence was spoken, the impact on Seigetsu Zhu would definitely be greater.

Of course, in reality, it was Sun Xiaofang's misunderstanding. Since it was a groundless matter, combined with Seigetsu Zhu's special nature, the school should try to cover it up. After all, if the matter were to escalate, it would be a disgrace for the school. Otherwise, the teachers wouldn't be so nervous just from hearing a rumor; in addition, they would have to wait for the official announcement from the police before the true situation could be explained.However, even if the school could keep it a secret, it couldn't stop the students from talking; once the bad influence occurred, it would be hard to erase, like ink stains spreading, no matter how hard you wash, it will leave a mark, and it may even accompany her until the end of high school.

So, for Zhu Qingyue, her real reason for not caring is...

The girl doesn't actually care about her reputation.

She thinks she has found what she wants, so it doesn't matter to abandon other things, as long as her true friends won't misunderstand.

Even, in order to get closer to each other, it might be better to be a victim of rumors that keep people at a distance. Her past image is a bit too perfect, making it difficult for others to approach...

Zhu Qingyue has considered even this kind of thing.

In the face of this determination, everything else seems insignificant.

"I was going to a remedial class, I finished lunch and was going to take a walk nearby, and then I saw you and—"

"Move aside."

Before Sun Xiaofang could finish her sentence, a cold voice suddenly came from the corridor.

The voice was not loud, but it seemed to carry a chilling air, freezing the atmosphere in an instant.

Sun Xiaofang didn't have a chance to speak, and she seemed to be at a loss, staring blankly out the window.

Several students standing in front of the window made way.

A girl with long black hair walked from behind them, deftly opened the window, one hand grabbing the window, and one leg stepping directly onto the windowsill. With a slight push, she stood on the windowsill, looking down at the surroundings.

The other students in Class Five all stared at her in astonishment.

Starry Lin had no reaction to this, no matter how surprised others were, it was all irrelevant to her. She gracefully jumped down from the windowsill and walked straight towards Sun Xiaofang.

Sun Xiaofang saw the long-haired girl approaching expressionlessly and subconsciously took a step back.

Although she was taller than Starry Lin and had a stronger physique, in front of Starry Lin, her momentum was weakened.

"Starry... what are you doing here?" Zhu Qingyue looked surprised.

Starry Lin glanced at her, did not answer, and instead kept her eyes on Sun Xiaofang.

"When I was having lunch, I heard someone say that 'Zhu Qingyue was dating someone at the remedial school'...," she said to everyone, but her gaze was fixed on Sun Xiaofang the whole time.

"Originally, this had nothing to do with me, but I really hate being misunderstood, so I came to explain. That day at noon, Zhu Qingyue and I were together, and she was not with anyone else."

"..."

Zhu Qingyue blinked innocently, not agreeing.

In fact, the mood of the students who were watching was very surprised.

No one expected her to suddenly barge into the classroom just to say this.

If it were anyone else present, they would have felt embarrassed at this point. It's good to stand up for someone, but making the atmosphere so tense was completely a personal issue.

However, the person standing here was Starry Lin.

The girl did not "bravely" stand up for anyone, but as she said herself, she just wanted to explain the situation.

She wanted to say, so she said, it's that simple.

It was Sun Xiaofang, who had been stared at by Starry Lin, who was biting her teeth and trembling as she said, "If you say she was with you, should we believe it? Who knows what your relationship with Qingyue is, are you lying—"

At this moment, Starry Lin, who had been about to leave, stopped in her tracks when she heard this.

She looked coldly at the girl with braided hair.

"Are you doubting me?"

"I..."

For some reason, Sun Xiaofang's words were stuck in her throat and she couldn't bring herself to say them.

At the same time, Sunny Xu happened to walk in from the door, looking a little annoyed at Starry Lin who had barged into someone else's classroom.

So why didn't she come in through the main entrance...

But, it had to be said that Starry Lin's unconventional style had indeed stunned the room.

As he mused in his mind, Sunny Xu walked towards the three girls in the center of the crowd, discreetly taking out a crumpled envelope from his pocket.

And when Sun Xiaofang inadvertently caught sight of this letter, her eyes widened suddenly.