Dragon Emperor, Martial God

Chapter 423: Malicious Rumor

Hearing that Ling Yun would be coming to class today, Zhang Ling dressed up exquisitely. She spent over half an hour just to choose her outfit. Hence, she arrived at school a little later than usual.

When Zhang Ling arrived at school, she could hear her schoolmates discussing Ling Yun’s arrival. Overjoyed, she was just short of dashing straight to her classroom. Exhausted, she panted as her breasts jiggled vigorously like waves.

Bending her waist, she caught her breath as she rested her hand on her chest. Without hesitation, she rushed straight to Ling Yun’s seat.

“Ling Yun… ha… ha… you, have you really come to class today?” Zhang Ling stood beside Ling Yun’s seat, her eyes shining with excitement.

Ling Yun admired Zhang Ling’s bouncing breasts as he smiled and said, “Am I not sitting here now?”

With Ling Yun’s stare, Zhang Ling’s face flushed pink as she recalled the day he hugged her at Linjiang Gardens in front of thousands of people. An inexplicable joy glowed in her heart as she remembered that day.

Long Wu sat calmly in her seat, her facial expression remaining stoic. As if nothing had happened, she continued reading her fashion magazine naturally. She treated the two people next to her as if they were thin air.

“Hey, can’t you help me out and leave for a moment? I want to talk to Zhang Ling for a while…”

Ling Yun patted Long Wu’s shoulder lightly and couldn’t help but think that she had a really pretty shoulder.

Hearing this, Zhang Ling’s lips concealed a hint of a smile as she blinked arrogantly at Ling Yun, giving him a pleasant look.

Closing her magazine lightly, Long Wu glanced at Zhang Ling before staring at Ling Yun. Then, she stood up elegantly as she said to Zhang Ling, “Please move aside…”

She was stunned; Zhang Ling didn’t expect Long Wu to really give up her seat so readily. Immediately, she stepped back to let Long Wu walk past her.

Holding her fashion magazine in one hand, Long Wu flexed her tight waist as she walked to the corridor outside the classroom with her toned legs.

Ling Yun appreciated Long Wu’s gait as he patted her warm seat. Smiling, he said to Zhang Ling, “Don’t be afraid of her, let’s sit and talk.”

Zhang Ling chuckled as she sat down. Tossing her heavy bag onto Long Wu’s desk, she patted her busty chest and said, “I’m so tired!”

Feeling a surge of laughter, Ling Yun teased Zhang Ling. “There’s still twenty minutes before class starts. You’re not even late. Why are you in such a rush?”

Zhang Ling rolled her eyes at Ling Yun as she whined. “Isn’t it all because of you? Tell me, why didn’t you come to class yesterday?”

Responding with a half-truth, Ling Yun said, “My aunt came yesterday, and mom wasn’t home either. So, I had to play host for her…”

“So, it’s like that… huh?” Zhang Ling’s eyes popped wide open. “Did you say your aunt?”

Ling Yun wondered if it was it so strange that he had an aunt. Without any sentiment, he nodded in acknowledgment.

“But you haven’t talked about her before! I thought your family didn’t have any relatives.”

“Just because I haven’t talked about it doesn’t mean I don’t have any…” His family not only had relatives, but they were huge figures. If he really talked about them, he would scare everyone!

“Then, why didn’t you call me at all? Even a text would have been fine!” Zhang Ling pouted her thin lips as she grumbled.

Ling Yun said slightly apologetically, “It’s all my fault. I just got back a while ago, and I’ve been too busy to call. After so many things happened, you have to let me settle them first, right?”

“Where have you been all this time? If you disappear again, lots of people… will be worried about you!”

Zhang Ling spoke directly and eloquently. Without hiding her feelings, she conveyed her thoughts to him.

Ling Yun nodded. “I know already. That’s why I have something important to ask you. After Cao Shanshan left, has she contacted you at all?”

When Ling Yun asked about Cao Shanshan, Zhang Ling’s gaze revealed worry and gloom. Furrowing her brow, she shook her head and said, “No, I haven’t been able to reach her phone at all. I’ve sent lots of messages on QQ, but she hasn’t replied to any of them. After she went back to the city, she hasn’t been online at all.”

Hearing this, Ling Yun’s heart sank immediately. Cao Shanshan’s problem seemed to be more serious than he had imagined.

In order to deal with her own matters, Cao Shanshan had returned to her family. If the Cao Family refused to acknowledge their relationship, it would be natural for her to break off relations with him. However, if even her closest friend couldn’t contact her, it meant that there was a huge problem.

After her words, Zhang Ling continued contemplatively, “But, I feel that our form teacher should know what Cao Shanshan is up to…”

“Oh? Then I’d better find a chance to ask her about it…” Ling Yun’s face lit up in joy. He was unafraid of bad news. He was only worried if there was no news at all.

Zhang Ling turned to look at Ling Yun as her gaze revealed worry. Sighing lightly, she said exasperatedly, “Ling Yun, you still don’t know about it, right? When you disappeared, something big happened in school. It has to do with you and Teacher Kong…”

Ling Yun was just about to ask her about that. Hearing this, he furrowed his brow immediately. Gou Junfa and Xie Junyan were definitely planning to use a series of ploys to deal with him. One ploy must have linked to the next. Ling Yun was sure about this, and he already had plans in his heart to deal with them. However, this matter even involved their form teacher, Kong Xiuru. This left Ling Yun feeling a little uncomfortable.

“Tell me.” Ling Yun’s expression turned cold and grim.

However, he wasn’t panicking. Right now, they were still in school. No matter what, it couldn’t be a matter larger than the Sun Family.

Furthermore, Gou Juna and Xie Junyan were so scared that they dared not come to class. Ling Yun believed that no matter what happened, he would be able to deal with it easily.

Zhang Ling hooked her pinky with Ling Yun’s as she told him to lean down. Whispering into his ear, she said softly, “There are two matters. Firstly, when you disappeared last Thursday, the school made the decision to expel you from the school register.”

Hearing this, Ling Yun laughed lightly. Right now, wasn’t he in school and sitting in class as usual?

“Secondly, because you were missing at the time and nobody could reach you, our form teacher didn’t approve of the school expelling you just like that. She went to the director and Principal Zhang to confront them. She said that if they dared to remove you from the school register before you returned, she would resign from being a teacher…”

Hearing this, Ling Yun felt very touched. He thought that Teacher Kong was amazing!

However, even though he was touched, doing such a thing was something normal for Kong Xiuru. It wasn’t exactly a huge matter…

Ling Yun was just about to ask more when Zhang Ling continued, “The problem was that when she went to the principal’s office to confront them, another rumor circulated in the school.”

“What’s that?” Ling Yun couldn’t help but think that this was the crux of the issue.

Lowering her voice even more, her cheeks flushed red as she said, “Didn’t our form teacher give you a one-to-one English lesson before? Someone spread a rumor that the form teacher and you… have something going on. On the night of April 2nd, she took you to her room and… did it with you…”

“At the time, that rumor went wild and traveled through the entire school. It was a rumor that had lots of details attached to it. That’s because no man has ever entered the form teacher’s single-room before. The fact that she was willing to take you back was because she wanted to do it with you. Otherwise, why would she put her job as a teacher at stake to create a huge scene at the principal’s office?”

Ling Yun’s defined brows furrowed while his gaze lit with killing intent. His face was as gloomy as the darkest oceans as he said in a deep voice, “Then, did everyone believe that? Does anyone know who spread it?”

Zhang Ling sighed as she said, “Ha… naturally, most of our classmates didn’t believe it. But you know what the students in our school are like. Even if there was nothing going on, the person who spread the rumor chose the most opportune time to spread it. It sounded even more real than the truth. Back then, you weren’t here, and our form teacher couldn’t outtalk hundreds of people at once. Even if she had pure logic on her side, nobody listened. And for such a matter, the more you tried to explain, the worse the rumors would get…”

Naturally, Ling Yun understood Zhang Ling’s words. A relationship between a man and a woman was something that had always been questionable. The more people thought about it, the more complicated it would get.

Kong Xiuru had taken him to her room, and the two of them had spent the entire time revising two chapters. A man and a woman were alone in a single room. If nobody talked about it, it would be completely fine. However, if a person intentionally decided to stir up a rumor and mixed it with thousands of students’ imaginations, anything would have become a huge issue!

The person who decided to spread the rumor had chosen a perfect time for it. At the time, Ling Yun had been missing for four days. The people by his side were all in trouble while Gou Junfa and Xie Junyan were throwing their weight around in school. Using their relations, they placed pressure on the school to expel Ling Yun. Under such a situation, Kong Xiuru went to confront the principal and director on her own…

When this rumor began to spread, how would Kong Xiuru be able to clarify the matter on her own? Unless she announced that she was a virgin on the spot and allowed them to verify it, there was no way she could. Furthermore, Kong Xiuru was definitely not willing to do that for such a matter.

Furthermore, even if she could verify it, it would be useless. The person who spread the rumor could still insist that Ling Yun had a relationship with her, just that they hadn’t reached that step yet.

“What happened then?” Ling Yun was perplexed as he continued to ask Zhang Ling.

Zhang Ling replied in an embarrassed manner, “A relationship between a female teacher and a male student is one of the biggest taboos in any school. The moment something like this began to spread, the school immediately had Teacher Kong in their hands. After that, they announced your expulsion for acting in a manner unfitting for a student. Using the loudspeaker, they made an announcement to the entire school and gave our form teacher a strict warning. They even relieved her from all her duties. Right now, she’s still under the school’s watch. However, since we are about to graduate and changing a teacher would influence our examinations, they allowed her to continue teaching our class. Otherwise, she would have already been stripped of being a teacher here…”

Hearing this, Ling Yun was enraged. He said in a deep voice, “What kind of principal and director are they? Aren’t they just grasping at shadows now? They took a rumor to be the truth without investigating the matter at all. How could they decide just like that?”

Zhang Ling said, “Ling Yun, don’t be mad, listen to me first! Don’t forget, there was still Gou Junfa and Xie Junyan pushing the matter forward! You didn’t see how arrogant they were at the time. They acted together with the Education Bureau Head’s son, Lu Chengtian, who seemed to hate you a lot too. He wanted to stir something up…”

“Hmph!” Ling Yun scoffed coldly without saying another word.

Gou Junfa’s hate for Ling Yun didn’t need any words. In order to win Ning Lingyu over, Xie Junyan had even beat Tang Meng up to that extent. Before he went to the crater, he had gotten two-hundred thousand out of Lu Chengtian as well. After Ling Yun disappeared, it was obvious how arrogant they would be.

The three were thinking of ways to deal with him. When that rumor happened, it would be strange if they didn’t fully exploit the situation.

“But since they’ve already expelled me, why am I still here in class?” Ling Yun asked curiously.

Zhang Ling laughed with a “pfft” as she said, “After you returned, you tore down the demolition office and demolished two mansions. You even stood your ground against the Public Security Bureau Director. You were even more powerful than any other bully, who would dare to expel you now?”

“Yesterday, you didn’t come to class. At this time yesterday, the loudspeaker made seven announcements clarifying that your expulsion was simply a misunderstanding and their investigation shed light on the issue. You are still a student in our school. Why else would those students be worshipping you now…”

Exhaling a puff of air, Ling Yun scoffed quietly as he thought about how the directors in the school really knew when to change sides!

He continued, “Then, what about our form teacher? Was she reinstated?”

Zhang Ling said perplexed, “If she were, it would have been great. But, the school had already announced it in school, and it’s something that everyone already knew. Even if they reinstated her position, there’s no way to clear her name…”

Once a name was soiled, it wasn’t something that could be cleared up so easily.

Ling Yun asked in a deep voice, “Then, do you know who started this rumor?”

Zhang Ling grit her teeth as she guessed, saying, “Our classmates were all angry too. They swore to find the person who started the rumor. Everyone felt that it must have been spread by someone from our class, the only question was who!”

Ling Yun’s gaze was as sharp as a knife as he scanned the entire classroom coldly. When his gaze landed on Wei Tiangan’s back, he paused for a moment before turning away.

“You’re fine now, but our form teacher is in the worst situation. The latest news is that the executives in the school are investigating the issue now, but they haven’t come to a conclusion yet.”

Ling Yun’s lips curled to reveal a confused smile. “What’s there to investigate? I’ll go look for them now…”

Ling Yun’s eyes were clear as he said this and stood up.

Zhang Ling was so anxious that her delicate figure quivered nervously. Grabbing Ling Yun’s elbow, she said, “Ling Yun, don’t be rash. Think about it, if you go now, it’ll be harder to prove her innocence… Going now will just get her in deeper trouble, won’t it?”

“Ugh…”