The Way to Put Rumors to Rest
"I..."
Min Xinrou wanted to say she was scared.
Looking at Wu Chen, she suddenly felt all the grievances in her heart come flooding up at once. Her eyes reddened, and she nearly burst into tears.
She hadn't even felt like crying just moments ago.
But just as her tears were about to fall, someone gently pulled her into an embrace.
A pleasant fragrance of osmanthus enveloped her, making her feel as though she had been transported in an instant to the shores of West Lake in the golden autumn of October. It was warm and reassuring, and the feeling that she was about to fall apart instantly faded away.
She turned her head and met Jiang Nan's gentle gaze.
"It's all right. The security office is already on its way."
Jiang Nan patted her back as she spoke.
"O-okay. Th-thank you, Teacher Jiang..."
Min Xinrou stammered her thanks.
Then she took a deep breath and explained in a low voice, "Teacher Wu, Teacher Jiang, j-just now, Yang Yuanjing was spreading rumors that Teacher Wu and I were..."
But she stumbled over her words several times and still couldn't bring herself to say "in a relationship."
Jiang Nan and Wu Chen, however, had already learned what had happened from the discussions around them and signaled for her to put her mind at ease.
Watching Wu Chen standing with his back to her and his hands clasped behind him, and breathing in Jiang Nan's fragrance, Min Xinrou felt a peace she had never known before.
She actually had a lot of questions, such as why Wu Chen and Jiang Nan had suddenly appeared in the cafeteria, and why Yang Yuanjing had suddenly made up stories about her.
But none of that mattered now.
The clamor of the cafeteria gradually faded away. Like a little animal that had finally found shelter, she had someone to lean on.
A few minutes later, the security office staff and Zhou Fan, the deputy director of academic affairs, hurried over.
They didn't know Wu Chen, but they all knew Jiang Nan.
"Teacher Jiang, what happened here?"
When Zhou Fan saw the mess, his head immediately felt twice its size.
He first had the security guards disperse the students, then turned to Jiang Nan with a grim face.
"Two students had a disagreement and accidentally bumped into each other."
Jiang Nan spoke calmly.
"It wasn't a bump! She hit me!"
Yang Yuanjing had been lying on the floor, bawling her eyes out. After the security guards arrived, she stayed on the floor and pretended to be hurt, putting on a weak appearance.
But when she heard Jiang Nan taking the other side, she immediately grew anxious and couldn't help shouting.
Zhou Fan didn't spare her another glance, however. Instead, he said disapprovingly, "Get up first and straighten yourself out. Then come to the academic affairs office!"
"I-I'm hurt! I demand compensation! My roommates all saw it!"
Yang Yuanjing hadn't expected the teacher to be so indifferent.
She looked up at her roommates, only to find them keeping to one side, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Wu Chen found it a little funny.
The girl was still too young. She didn't know that the people in the academic affairs office were either relatives of the leadership or slackers who had given up trying. They rarely showed ordinary teachers a friendly face, let alone students.
Besides, Zhou Fan was in his forties and a seasoned hand. He had probably seen at a glance that Yang Yuanjing was trying to stage an accident for compensation; after all, there were plenty of students like her every year.
Sure enough, Zhou Fan's face darkened, and he was about to give her a scolding.
But suddenly, someone at the back of the crowd called out in a disguised voice.
"Is the school going to cover up the fact that this girl is dating a teacher?"
The words sent the crowd, which had just quieted down, into an uproar again.
Young people were at the age when their blood ran hot. When they saw an injustice, they had to shout about it.
And with Yang Yuanjing lying on the floor looking miserable, she had won the sympathy of quite a few newcomers who had come to eat melon.
Once someone took the lead, the crowd began talking all at once again.
"Why aren't they handling it on the spot? Isn't it because there's something fishy going on?"
"Leaving the facts aside, hasn't the teacher done anything wrong?"
"Exactly..."
Just as the situation was about to spiral out of control again, with no one listening even to Zhou Fan and a disturbance about to break out, Wu Chen stepped forward and raised a hand.
"Everyone, please quiet down. I'd like to clear something up."
His voice wasn't loud, but it was deep and powerful, carrying a persuasive force.
It was the confidence he had gained from more than a decade of research in his previous life, from mastering cutting-edge technologies time and again.
Now, displayed in his young body, that confidence didn't seem out of place at all.
Even Zhou Fan nodded to himself, full of admiration for the young teacher.
Steady, composed, calm, and gracious.
What a promising prospect!
The other students gradually calmed down as well, wanting to hear what the person involved had to say.
Under everyone's gaze, Wu Chen spoke calmly. "Someone said I have an improper relationship with a female student. That's impossible."
Someone immediately called out from below, "Why?"
Wu Chen turned and pointed at Jiang Nan, who was comforting Min Xinrou behind him.
"Because I'm pursuing this teacher. How could I do something inappropriate right under her nose?"
The entire crowd fell silent for a moment, then erupted in noise. No one had expected Wu Chen to steer the conversation in that direction.
But...
That actually sounds pretty convincing?
Seeing herself suddenly become the center of attention, Jiang Nan's eyes flashed with a hint of helplessness.
She was already used to Wu Chen occasionally making off-the-wall jokes.
Like inviting her over to see his cat do backflips, or asking whether there were any young, beautiful rich women in Xiaoshan.
But she could also clearly tell that Wu Chen wasn't being serious when he said those things.
Now that he had said it in public, however, she couldn't ignore it as she usually did.
So Jiang Nan adjusted her expression and spoke calmly.
"That's right. So I can testify that there's definitely nothing going on between Teacher Wu Chen and any other girl. These so-called rumors are nonsense, and we'll hold those responsible accountable."
But someone still objected. "Then what about them eating together?"
Jiang Nan glanced at the speaker and said, "If you have questions you want to discuss with a teacher after class, I believe the teacher would also be happy to talk with you over a meal."
"But wasn't she crying too? Why would she cry while discussing a question?"
A contrarian continued to argue.
This time, however, Wu Chen answered him.
"That concerns the student's private affairs, so it wouldn't be appropriate for me to answer. But I can tell you for certain that it definitely had nothing to do with a romantic relationship.
"Because if someone were dating me, I would never let her shed tears over a meal."
A moment later, everyone headed toward the academic affairs office in Jianxing Building.
Wu Chen fell a little behind the crowd and said to Jiang Nan, "Teacher Jiang, thank you for just now. I'll treat you to a meal sometime."
"There's no need for a meal, but once this is dealt with, you need to come to the factory with me and resolve all the technical problems we talked about last time."
"No problem. I guarantee I'll carry out the leader's orders."
Wu Chen gave her a salute.
Jiang Nan rolled her eyes at him in return.
Min Xinrou walked beside Jiang Nan, listening to them with envy.
She wanted to be able to talk to others as comfortably as they did.
But every time she opened her mouth, she suddenly felt dull and boring, and became very nervous.
After a while, she no longer wanted to speak. She became the gloomy weirdo in other people's eyes, able only to sneak glimpses of the happiness under the sun.
A few minutes after they arrived at the academic affairs office, the following people arrived.
The deputy chief of the school security section, the director of the student affairs office of the School of Information Engineering, the counselor for the class of 2006, the deputy secretary of the school's party committee, and the dean, Wang Hongfa, all hurried over as well.
When they saw Wang Hongfa, Wu Chen and Jiang Nan exchanged glances, both a little surprised.
Under the school's "Emergency Response Plan for Unexpected Student Incidents," this matter only required a level III response. There was no need at all for the dean himself to come.