Jiang Ling never imagined she could be this popular.
Thinking back, the last time she had felt so many eyes on her was during the long-distance race at the University sports meet, where she had tripped right at the start.
The scene now was exactly the same.
Inside the club, it had been noisy at first, but Ji Qingyan stepped in to calm things down.
After witnessing her intensity, the girls kept their mouths shut, not daring to speak.
However, some looked on with even brighter eyes.
Jiang Ling overheard someone whisper, “Wow, it’s the cold, black-haired beauty versus the passionate, proactive blonde beauty.”
Jiang Ling felt herself turn to stone, her eyes becoming lifeless.
‘Shipping? Is that all you people have in your heads?’
Was this reality or the internet?
“If you are here to visit the club, please be quiet. If you have questions, come to me. If not, please leave on your own,”
Ji Qingyan said.
Her voice was cool, yet it carried a faint tremor that was hard to notice.
Jiang Ling looked over silently and saw Ji Qingyan’s small hand gripping the edge of her skirt.
She was actually incredibly nervous.
After all, this was her first time dealing with such a situation.
Ji Qingyan’s words were effective.
Most people were just joining the crowd to see what the heroine of the rumor looked like before leaving.
Those who stayed, for whatever reason, queued up to ask Ji Qingyan questions about the club.
Some even tried to strike up a conversation with Jiang Ling, who sat to the side trying her best to shrink her presence.
Her lips were pressed tight.
She only responded to questions with a nod or a shake of her head.
Most of her attention was focused on the people waiting in line.
Jiang Ling suddenly realized they might not need to put up the club recruitment poster anymore.
She saw several girls inquiring seriously, seemingly intent on joining the club.
She felt a small sense of relief; at least the rumor hadn’t brought only bad news.
‘Wait a minute.’
Jiang Ling suddenly spotted a few familiar faces among the remaining girls.
Two of them seemed to be stealing glances at her.
When she caught their eyes, one of them turned away with a bright red face, looking as if she wanted to bury her head in the ground.
The more Jiang Ling looked at them, the more familiar they seemed.
Then her pupils dilated.
These two girls were the two witnesses from the hallway!
Jiang Ling stood up abruptly.
Everyone noticed her movement and turned to look.
Her body stiffened, and she gave an awkward smile, but she glared fiercely at the two girls.
She walked to the classroom door, preparing to block the exit.
She had finally caught the two culprits.
Soon, only those two girls remained in the club.
Jiang Ling had politely asked anyone else who was lingering to leave.
She shut the door with a click and locked it before returning to her seat.
She sat there, staring at the two of them.
Knowing they were in the wrong, the girls didn’t try to run.
They stood before Jiang Ling with their heads bowed, seemingly having come to apologize in the first place.
If an outsider saw this, they would think Jiang Ling was interrogating criminals.
“What is going on?”
Ji Qingyan asked in a low voice, looking at the three of them in confusion.
Jiang Ling let out a cold laugh, feeling the satisfaction of finally catching the culprits.
She said, word for word, “These two are the two witnesses I saw in the hallway that day.”
Ji Qingyan finally understood.
No wonder Jiang Ling’s demeanor had changed so suddenly.
However, since Jiang Ling was the primary victim of the rumor, she sat quietly to the side and organized the club applications they had just received, waiting to see what Jiang Ling would do.
“Identify yourselves!”
“Ding Rui.”
“Xia Yu.”
The two girls spoke with trembling voices.
“Tell me, why did you spread those rumors!”
Jiang Ling pointed her finger at a fairly cute girl with a ponytail who was slightly shorter—Xia Yu.
This girl hadn’t dared to look her in the eye since entering the room, and her face was beet red.
She was definitely the pioneer of the rumor!
“Senior, I’m sorry,”
Xia Yu stammered.
“We were just curious. We accidentally let it slip while we were chatting. I’m very sorry for troubling you.”
As if to show her sincerity, Xia Yu bowed.
Ding Rui, standing beside her, didn’t move at first until Xia Yu pulled on her arm, signaling for her to bow as well.
‘They seem quite sincere.’
Actually, the moment Jiang Ling realized they hadn’t run away after being discovered, her anger had already started to dissipate.
Now that they had apologized, most of her resentment was gone.
Still, she kept a straight face and turned to ask for Ji Qingyan’s opinion.
“Qingyan, tell me, how should we punish them?”
Ji Qingyan blinked.
She hadn’t expected to be involved, but seeing Jiang Ling secretly wink at her, she understood the intent immediately.
She pretended to hesitate and think.
“Hmm…”
“We were wrong to cause you trouble, but you shouldn’t have been doing that in the classroom…”
Ding Rui, who had been silent until now, muttered under her breath.
She was quite stubborn.
Jiang Ling glared at her, but to her surprise, Ding Rui remained defiant.
She continued to grumble right in front of them, “It’s true, though. No matter how much you love each other, you shouldn’t do things like that in a classroom. Anyone who sees it is going to be curious.”
Xia Yu pulled on her sleeve, her expression anxious as she tried to stop Ding Rui from speaking.
However, Ding Rui grabbed her hand instead and said to her, “Besides, she clearly wrote back to you saying she had no interest in dating right now. How did she end up with someone else so quickly?”
“What!”
“What reply letter?”
“Stop talking!”
Three distinct voices rang out.
Jiang Ling, Ji Qingyan, and Xia Yu all spoke at once, startling Ding Rui.
Seeing that Xia Yu looked like she was about to cry, Ding Rui realized she had let the secret slip.
She guiltily apologized and fell silent, looking dejected.
Jiang Ling truly hadn’t expected that Xia Yu was the girl who had written her the confession letter!
Her gaze toward Xia Yu became complicated.
She had thought the confession incident was completely over and never expected it to be dragged up again like this—especially when the person involved, Xia Yu, was standing right in front of her.
Jiang Ling felt conflicted.
Ji Qingyan, on the other hand, was completely dazed.
Jiang Ling had suddenly gone silent, Ding Rui was hanging her head like she had done something wrong, and Xia Yu’s face was as red as a ripe tomato—all because of the words “reply letter.”
So, Ji Qingyan repeated her question, “Exactly what reply letter?”
No one answered her.
After a long moment, Jiang Ling sighed and took the initiative to explain what the reply letter referred to.
Ji Qingyan was slightly surprised to hear the truth.
She looked at Xia Yu.
Sensing that Jiang Ling’s ‘official girlfriend’ was looking at her, Xia Yu’s face turned even redder, and her eyes began to moisten.
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Ji Qingyan reached under the table and patted Jiang Ling’s leg.
When Jiang Ling looked over, Ji Qingyan gestured toward Xia Yu and Ding Rui, who were still standing.
Jiang Ling sighed.
She was right; she couldn’t just keep them standing there forever.
“Tsk, I feel like we need to sit down and have a proper talk. There are a lot of misunderstandings here.”
Jiang Ling felt a bit irritable and tugged at her collar.
“Actually, Ji Qingyan and I aren’t what you think.”
She decided to skip over the confession for now and focus on clearing up the rumor.