Chapter Thirty-Six: The Rumormonger

At noon the next day, Bai Mengqing came to find Chen Xin again, and this time she was truly furious.

“That girl makes you want to slap her twice,” Bai Mengqing fumed. For someone as composed as her to be driven to violence, the girl must have done something outrageous.

“Do you know what she did? She went around the school spreading rumors that Zhang Zhang is your son, a bastard child with an unknown father, and that you only claim he’s your sister’s son to cover it up. Otherwise, why wouldn’t his grandparents raise him themselves, instead of leaving him with you? I was so angry when I heard it, I almost ran over to beat her up. If people hadn’t stopped me and she hadn’t run so fast, you’d have seen how I dealt with her.”

Chen Xin’s face darkened, anger surging within her.

It was one thing for the girl to gossip about other matters, but dragging Zhang Zhang into her lies was intolerable. Bai Mengqing had come to tell her precisely because she feared the rumor would spiral out of control and hurt Zhang Zhang.

“I’ll go to the school authorities. If they don’t give me an explanation, I’ll go straight to the press.”

Chen Xin never shied from confrontation. This needed to be stopped, or the girl would invent even more outrageous tales.

Just as she was about to send Zhang Zhang to Grandpa Liu’s for safekeeping, Zhou Hao arrived.

“What did you say? Someone’s spreading rumors about Zhang Zhang’s parentage?” Zhou Hao’s expression turned grim. “Let me handle this. You’re still a student; stirring up trouble won’t be good for you. I’ll speak to your principal and intervene on behalf of the military district. Don’t worry, you’ll get a proper resolution.”

Indeed, Zhou Hao was the right person for the job, especially since he was responsible for such matters and happened to be visiting. Knowing about this, he couldn’t let it slide, lest he disappoint others who trusted him.

Chen Xin spent the afternoon at home, unable to concentrate on anything, frustration simmering inside her, ready to erupt. Bai Mengqing had gone out to find someone, but Chen Xin didn’t ask who; her mind was an anxious jumble.

Three hours later, Zhou Hao and Chen Xin’s class advisor arrived together.

“After deliberation, the school leaders have decided to issue a warning to the girl and notify the entire school. Also, we have a registry for families of martyrs. Although you aren’t one, you’ve taken responsibility for raising a minor orphaned by a martyr. So, the school has decided to grant you a monthly financial subsidy. The money is a minor issue; more importantly, this officially affirms Zhang Zhang’s status, leaving no room for rumors to take root.”

Chen Xin’s advisor was a person of integrity. He had just had a fierce argument with the girl at school; for the first time, his ordinarily refined demeanor gave way to open fury, reducing the rumor-mongering girl to tears. Zhou Hao, too, spoke righteously, saying they’d forgive her this first time, hoping she would correct herself, but if she continued, the military district would file a defamation suit.

The girl was not very clever; she didn’t realize Zhou Hao’s intervention was somewhat unconventional. But her actions were so disgraceful that previously, classmates who had no connection to Chen Xin believed her lies. Now, with the school and the military district debunking the rumors, her character was exposed, and her peers universally despised her.

After Zhou Hao and the teacher left, the aftermath was unclear, but students began gossiping about something new: the girl had tried to land a wealthy husband, but out of jealousy toward Chen Xin, she spread rumors, eventually shamelessly admitting she was interested in the boy’s family background, revealing her pure gold-digging nature.

The school was a relatively innocent place, especially in the late 1990s. Though materialism was on the rise, students in their ivory tower still had simple minds and clear distinctions between likes and dislikes. People like that girl were rare, and even those who existed tried to hide their true nature; she was the first to so brazenly and shamelessly display it.

The spread of these new rumors was linked to Bai Mengqing. She wasn’t foolish enough to deliberately fan the flames, but her righteous indignation and accidental slip of the tongue gave others the impression that something juicy had happened. Afterwards, she refused to answer any questions.

But their dinner the previous night hadn’t gone unnoticed. With fewer people on campus, gossip flourished, and soon everyone involved in the dinner was approached for the real story.

Clearly, they all sided with Chen Xin, but only hinted at the girl’s actions, mindful to spare Mao Xiaohong some dignity.

Yet no one expected that before dinner, Mao Xiaohong, upon hearing the news, went straight to the girls’ dormitory, demanding the girl come down and explain herself. He made no effort to hide his scarred face, saying she was free to look down on him, but had no right to distort facts and slander a classmate. He said she looked innocent, yet her heart was vile and filthy—more ruined than his face.

After Mao Xiaohong spoke, most students broke into applause, though a few felt he’d gone too far, criticizing a girl outside her dorm, leaving her no dignity.

“Mao Xiaohong, you thought highly of Zeng Zeng when you pursued her, but now you treat her like this for another girl? You’re too much!” Zeng Zeng’s roommate rushed downstairs, indignantly accusing Mao Xiaohong.

“First, it was Zeng Zeng who pursued me, not the other way around. You all know that; you were the ones creating opportunities for her to spend time with me. Second, there’s no problem with breaking up—she can dislike my face, and I won’t argue. But she can’t expose her motives and then malign other classmates—that’s a matter of character. Yesterday, she volunteered to join the dinner invitation with me and others, and no one objected. Yet once there, she interrogated our host about her family, prying into her private life, and then spread rumors that the child wasn’t an orphan of a martyr. So what, just because the state recognizes it, she gets to say otherwise? She can arbitrarily assign someone a shameful background and call it truth?”

Mao Xiaohong spoke loudly, pointing out Zeng Zeng’s most egregious misdeed.

“So now the military district visited, learned about this and contacted the school. It all started because I brought her along—so isn’t this my responsibility? Don’t I have the right to question her? Or do you think, just because she’s a girl and I’m a boy, I should let her get away with it? Both are girls, yet the aunt and niece are orphans, much more vulnerable than her. Why does she get to bully others? Your double standards are unbelievable!”

The girl’s face flushed. She’d come down, moved by Zeng Zeng’s tears, to confront Mao Xiaohong, but hadn’t considered that Zeng Zeng was at fault from the start and she herself had neither the position nor the reason to defend her.