Rumors Escalate

Rumors Escalate

After Chen Ming and Dugu Yan had each returned to their respective dormitories, rumors about the two of them quietly began spreading across the campus.

Teacher Niu, who was responsible for guarding the Poison System Mimicry Training Ground, sought out Qin Ming. Under the pretense of discussing something, he dumped the entire matter on Qin Ming before Qin Ming could even figure out what had happened, forcibly dragging Qin Ming, who had been resting at home, into the mess. The two then went together to report it to the three Education Committee Members.

Niu Dali had only seen Chen Ming carrying Dugu Yan out, so he reported only what he had witnessed, with particular emphasis on how Dugu Yan had glared at him.

Although he had not embellished anything, his personal bias was far too obvious. As a result, the first thing the three Education Committee Members of Heaven Dou Royal Academy thought of was that the two were dating, rather than that something unexpected had gone wrong.

Thus, the three Education Committee Members began assigning people to secretly investigate exactly what Chen Ming had done. They also searched for witnesses along the way to find out what those people had seen.

Once the news leaked even slightly, the extent of its spread surpassed everyone's imagination.

As the number one noble academy of the Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou Royal Academy lacked no elites. However, most of its students were genuine vermin and humanoid creatures.

What these humanoid creatures could do would always surpass the imagination of ordinary people.

Some had merely passed by and originally did not care in the slightest about who was carrying whom. Yet once questioned, their interest was piqued. Others had already seen Chen Ming carrying Dugu Yan, and after being questioned, their hearts began to itch even more.

Those who had seen it said they had seen it. Those who had not seen clearly said they had seen it. In the end, even those who had not seen anything claimed they had witnessed it. What they claimed to have seen also became increasingly outrageous.

Watching drama without fearing a bigger mess was a shared instinct of all intelligent creatures, and these noble students were especially the type who feared no trouble.

The originally normal account grew more and more mysterious and absurd with each retelling. At first, it was merely that Chen Ming had carried Dugu Yan, whose face was full of shyness. Later, it had outright become Chen Ming carrying Dugu Yan while publicly making love in broad daylight before the students.

Though those few truly brainless idiots who had deliberately steered the matter in a lewd direction were quickly tracked down by the three Education Committee Members, had their parents summoned, were taken home, hung from the rafters, and whipped with rattan canes like spinning tops—

In some people's eyes, that reaction was practically the same as burying their heads in the sand, making them believe those outrageous rumors even more.

"Have you heard? Dugu Yan and that new student..."

"Have you heard? Dugu Yan and some boy by the main road..."

"Have you heard? Poison Douluo's granddaughter and some wild man..."

Heaven Dou Royal Academy had only five hundred students in total, yet within a single night, half of them were discussing the matter. The other half did not discuss it mainly because they lived in Heaven Dou City and had not heard the news from the academy.

But that would soon change, because several noble brats who were useless at everything except stirring up trouble had already rushed through the night toward Heaven Dou City, intending to share the matter with their "outdated" "good friends" in the city.

The urge to gossip could not be stopped. The three Education Committee Members could not personally step in, and merely having their subordinates suppress the matter was nowhere near enough to quell the students' curiosity. Moreover, while the Education Committee Members' subordinates obeyed their orders, they could not possibly be devoid of feelings. Though they were responsible for suppressing the spread of the matter, they were secretly listening to all sorts of rumors as well.

In private, when no outsiders were around, these people entrusted with such an important task by the three Education Committee Members discussed it quite enthusiastically too.

Entertainment on the Douluo Continent was scarce. As for food, drink, and amusements, those living near Heaven Dou City had more or less experienced them all. Aside from the once-every-five-years Continental High-level Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, the only thing that could bring them mental pleasure was all manner of gossip.

Unexpectedly, early the next morning, someone from Dugu Bo's residence quietly arrived at Heaven Dou Royal Academy. After informing the three Education Committee Members, he directly took Dugu Yan away.

Yes, although Dugu Bo was currently away from his residence, there were still people managing it.

By seniority, he was Dugu Bo's Brother-in-law and Dugu Yan's Granduncle. Though he had no Soul Power and was not a Soul Master, because of his relationship with Dugu Bo, he had served as Dugu Bo's Head Butler for decades, managing affairs large and small in the residence and keeping everything in perfect order.

Ordinarily, someone like that should not have so easily lost his composure because of rumors. But unfortunately, this Head Butler had personally witnessed Chen Ming carrying Dugu Yan.

Yes, he was the old man who had gotten extremely agitated after seeing Chen Ming and Dugu Yan embracing on the road, whom Chen Ming had assumed did not want to chase after them.

Was it that he did not want to chase them? He simply could not catch them!

Forget Soul Elders, Soul Ancestors, and Soul Kings—he was not even a Soul Master! He was merely somewhat well-maintained, and because he had spent years handling all sorts of affairs for Dugu Bo, he only appeared rather profound.

The moment he saw Chen Ming and Dugu Yan, he had wanted to chase after them. Not only had he failed to catch them, he had nearly exhausted himself to death. By the time he finally climbed to Dugu Yan's dormitory, Dugu Yan had happened to be hiding beneath her blankets, playing with her fingers. He searched for ages and still could not find her.

When he finally struggled down the mountain, he was full of anger and grievance, yet did not dare tell anyone.

By the time he finally returned to Dugu Bo's residence, it was already midnight. He had to find a way to contact Dugu Bo and deal with Dugu Yan's affairs as well. In the end, he did not sleep all night, and early the next morning, he brought a group of House Servants to fetch her.

He had thought he had moved quickly enough and that the matter had not yet fermented. Yet the moment he reached the foot of the academy mountain, he heard a group of students gathered together and whispering about it, nearly fainting from rage on the spot.

After much persuasion, he got the three Education Committee Members to agree to let him take Dugu Yan back. Yet Dugu Yan herself was playing ostrich and did not want to see him, her elder. He had to expend tremendous effort before finally persuading Dugu Yan to return with him.

After returning home, he soothed Dugu Yan, then immediately wrote several letters in succession to Dugu Bo and sent people to place them at the location he had arranged with Dugu Bo.

But the problem was that Dugu Bo had only read his letters a few days ago. Thinking nothing major had happened, he had entered a period of deep recuperation these past few days, hoping to finish recovering soon, return to Heaven Dou City, and remain by his granddaughter's side.

No matter how many letters were sent at this time, Dugu Bo himself would have no chance to read them.

As the matter grew increasingly out of hand, the gossip had spread throughout the nobles of Heaven Dou City. News of it even reached the ears of Xue Ye, Xue Xing, and Qian Renxue, who was disguised as Xue Qinghe.

Faced with this piece of gossip, Qian Renxue, who had not originally paid much attention to Chen Ming and had only intended to casually cast a wide net, was also taken aback. She immediately ordered her subordinates to raise the invitation and meeting gift prepared for Chen Ming by another tier, and she found herself looking forward to their upcoming meeting with a few more traces of amusement.