"Manman, what are you doing?" Flustered, Lin Yumeng grabbed her phone and said to Su Chen, "Brother Chen, don't listen to her. I don't believe a single thing about the post. I know you wouldn't do that to me."
"Mengmeng, what are you guys talking about? What is going on?"
Su Chen was still confused, but he got the feeling that something had happened.
Lin Yumeng was lost for words.
She had received an anonymous message out of the blue when the last class today ended. The message contained the photo posted in the forum.
She naturally chose to trust Su Chen. She believed that it was sent by someone who intended to sow discord between her and Su Chen.
After all, there were lots of girls who had a crush on her boyfriend. Women must have been hoping that Su Chen would break up with her so that they could swoop in.
She did not take the message seriously at all. She just deleted it, along with other spam messages. Then, the photo was posted on the university forum and wreaked havoc in the school.
Although some computer geeks analyzed the photo and confirmed that it was real, and many people left comments to condemn Su Chen, she still trusted Su Chen.
However, Qian Manman and Li Jia believed the post and were mad at Su Chen. That was why Qian Manman grabbed her phone and yelled at Su Chen.
"Okay, I'm almost at your dormitory. We'll talk face to face," Su Chen said quickly and hung up the phone as he noticed that she was reluctant to talk about it.
"Mengmeng, are you an idiot? Everybody knows about that now, but he didn't even explain. He's feeling guilty!" Qian Manman bellowed in rage.
Li Jia did not say anything, but she looked extremely unhappy. She folded her arms, and her expression turned ice-cold.
In the innermost corner of the dorm room, Meng Lu, who sat on her bed, scrolled through her phone. Scorn glimmered in her eyes.
"This silly girl still trusts Su Chen!" she said to herself.
Originally, she wasn't going to do anything because she had lost interest in Su Chen.
However, when Su Chen became popular in the university again after he defeated the instructors with his bare hands, everywhere she went, she could hear girls who were envious of Lin Yumeng talking about him.
Moreover, that silly smile hung on Lin Yumeng's face every day.
Somehow that annoyed Meng Lu. How could she still be so happy when her boyfriend was cheating on her? And those girls, they thought that Su Chen was Prince Charming.
Therefore, she got herself a burner phone and sent the photo to Lin Yumeng.
To her surprise, Lin Yumeng did not believe a single thing in the photo. She even deleted the photo.
She was angry, but at the same time, she found it funny, so she steeled herself and posted the photo on the university forum.
"No, Manman you don't know Chen. He wouldn't do such a thing. I trust him, seriously. It must be a misunderstanding," said Lin Yumeng in a confident tone. "Chen is on his way. I will go down now."
"I'll go with you. I'm gonna ask him in person what happened. If he did cheat on you, I'm gonna…" Qian Manman wanted to talk tough, but when she recalled how good Su Chen was at martial arts, she did not dare to continue.
Su Chen had defeated more than ten instructors. Given her tiny arms and legs, he could take her down with merely one finger.
"We'll first hear him out. Perhaps it is indeed a misunderstanding." Li Jia finally opened her mouth. She did not believe that Su Chen would cheat.
The three girls left their dorm room together.
Meng Lu did not go with them, but after some consideration, she got out of her bed, stood by the window, and looked down.
Just as the three girls reached the lobby, Su Chen quickly walked toward them. Anxiety was written all over his face.
"Mengmeng, what happened exactly?" asked Su Chen. He was puzzled when he saw that both Qian Manman and Li Jia were glaring furiously at him.
When he was on his way to Lin Yumeng's dormitory, many passersby threw him strange looks. He was more certain that something had happened.
"Su Chen, you are still pretending to be innocent!" Qian Manman grew mad again when she heard what Su Chen said.
Everybody was talking about the post in the forum. How could Su Chen not know about it?
"What exactly happened? I stayed in my dorm room all day playing video games. I don't know what happened at all." Su Chen scratched his head. His face was clouded.
"Brother Chen…" Lin Yumeng saw how he reacted, she knew that she was right, but she did not know where to start.
"Look at this first." Li Jia handed him her phone.
In doubt, Su Chen took the phone and looked at the photo, his face darkening. He scrolled through the post and had the situation figured out immediately.
"Now, there's nothing left for you to say," Qian Manman said coldly.
She had a one-track-mind; she would rather believe what she saw.
"Mengmeng, if I tell you this is all a misunderstanding, would you believe me?" asked Su Chen while looking at Lin Yumeng earnestly.
"Hm! I do trust you, brother Chen. I always do." Lin Yumeng nodded. "An anonymous number sent this photo to me this afternoon. I deleted it right away. I had no idea it would be posted in the forum."
"A misunderstanding? Then tell us everything that did happen, or you are so gonna get it from me!" Qian Manman squawked at him furiously.
Su Chen glanced at her and said calmly, "This girl is Liu Shishu. She is a librarian. Recently, I have been going to the library often, so we got to know each other after some time, but we are only friends. That day, I was reading a book to learn some medical knowledge, and I tried my skills on her. I took her pulse, that was all."
Su Chen's side of the story stupefied the three girls.
Many students followed Su Chen to the girls' dormitory and surrounded them. Some of them came to look on and wanted to know the truth.
When they heard what Su Chen said, they looked at each other in blank dismay.
"That's a f*cking sh*tty lie."
"Yeah, that's outrageous. Just come clean and apologize. He's still making excuses."
"Argh! All this time, I have been barking up the wrong tree."
"How could my Prince Charming do this? It's so disappointing."
"..."
"Learning medical knowledge? Who are you kidding? You can gain medical skills by just reading? That's ridiculous! You're lying," Qian Manman thought that he was talking rubbish, and that fueled her rage.
"I am telling the truth!" Su Chen scratched his head in distress. He could indeed learn medical skills through reading, although this did sound a little out of bounds, but he couldn't tell anyone about his PCM system.
At that very moment, his phone rang.
Su Chen took his phone out and looked at the caller ID. It was Liu Shishu. Delight crossed his face, and he answered instantly.
"Hi, Su Chen. My friend showed me what was going on in the forum. It's all my fault. I will write a post to clear things up." Liu Shishu's voice was heavy with regret.
She was attracted to Su Chen, but it was more like she was curious about him instead of wanting to develop a romantic relationship with him. Plus, she knew that Su Chen had a girlfriend, so she would not come between them.
"No hurry on the post. I am now with my girlfriend. Can you first explain to her what happened?" Su Chen quickly reacted.
"Sure, give her the phone." Liu Shishu agreed.
"Here you go." Su Chen handed the phone to Lin Yumeng.
Lin Yumeng took it, put it on speakerphone, and greeted, "Hi!"
"Hi, you must be Su Chen's girlfriend. What Su Chen did that day was only taking my pulse. The things they said on the forum are incorrect. Please don't believe them. I swear, there is nothing between me and Su Chen." Liu Shishu spoke with a serious tone.
Lin Yumeng was relieved. She had trusted Su Chen since the beginning, but when there was solid proof, it felt like a heavy stone had been removed from the pit of her stomach.
The students around them stopped talking immediately.