"Qingqing, don't be angry. An Hong didn't mean anything by it. I'll talk to her about it in a bit."

As they went downstairs, Qian Manduo spoke up for An Hong.

Ye Qingqing smiled. "I'm not angry. It's normal for An Hong to be suspicious. Only the three of us know about this. The two of you can't possibly tell anyone. The only one left is me. Why don't you suspect me?"

Qian Manduo shook his head firmly, "You won't."

Ye Qingqing felt a warmth in her heart and gently patted her shoulder. Just for those words, she had gained another friend.

"Of course it wasn't me. I suspect it was someone from the Hu family. Don't worry, I'll definitely find out. Let's go down and see who came looking for you." Ye Qingqing suspected Hu Zhiwei. This family is like a bunch of rotten rats; they're very likely to do such despicable things.

There were many students coming and going downstairs. When they saw Qian Manduo, who was currently at the center of the storm, they all gave her strange looks. Although Qian Manduo appeared calm on the surface, she was feeling very upset inside, and her hands clenched unconsciously.

"If you're upright, you have nothing to fear. Don't be afraid," Ye Qingqing comforted her.

Qian Manduo nodded. She would hold on; these rumors wouldn't defeat her.

Xi Murong stood at the door. When he saw Qian Manduo coming down, his eyes lit up and he rushed over to greet her. Qian Manduo was very surprised. She guessed that he was a fellow villager, but she didn't expect it to be this guy.

"What do you want from me?" Qian Manduo was getting impatient. She was already fed up and didn't have the patience to deal with this guy's pestering.

Xi Murong hurriedly said, "I...I wanted to tell you..."

After stammering for a while without saying anything, Qian Manduo became even more impatient and turned to leave. Xi Murong became even more anxious and blurted out, "I believe you. Don't pay attention to those people's nonsense. Rumors stop with the wise. If you ignore them, no one will say anything after a while."

Ye Qingqing tactfully stepped aside. She was also surprised that this guy was quite loyal, coming over to support Qian Manduo at a time like this. Even if they couldn't become boyfriend and girlfriend, being good friends would be great.

Qian Manduo fell silent. She was actually touched, or rather, warmed.

Xi Murong was the first person to come to her after the rumors started and tell her that he believed her.

Although it was just a simple sentence, it was more precious to her than a timely help. She had initially been somewhat averse to Xi Murong, but now she shared Ye Qingqing's opinion that he was a friend worth having.

"Thank you, I'm going up now."

Qian Manduo muttered something in a low voice, preparing to return to her dormitory. There were too many people coming and going below, and everyone passing by was staring at her, which was particularly annoying.

"I...I have something to do...Can we talk outside?" Xi Murong asked hesitantly, his expression becoming more serious as he worried that Qian Manduo might not agree. "It's something very important."

Qian Manduo thought for a moment, then said, "Okay."

Ye Qingqing thought they were talking about private matters and didn't intend to follow, but Qian Manduo dragged her along, so she had no choice but to go. Xi Murong didn't say anything, seemingly not caring that there were outsiders present.

The three of them went to the lotus pond. There weren't many lotus flowers there, and the environment was quiet and peaceful. Xi Murong glanced at Ye Qingqing, scratched his head, and said awkwardly, "If I said something wrong, you...you don't have to be angry."

"Hurry up and say it!" Qian Manduo urged, as he hated people who dawdled the most.

Xi Murong was that kind of person. He was tall and strong, and apart from being good at long jump, he was very slow at everything else. In anatomy class, he would take forever to open a viscera. Once, she was assigned to dissect a corpse with him, which made her very anxious. He was slower than the oldest person in her village.

“Here’s what I’m thinking: those people are spreading rumors that you did *that*, but you only had a minor car accident. So I think the best way is to produce evidence to shut them up,” Xi Murong said hastily.