Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 173: Spreading Rumors, Stirring Up Trouble

Chapter 173: Chapter 173: Spreading Rumors, Stirring Up Trouble

A new day, a new beginning. Gu Fan arrives at school and heads straight for the teacher. He bumps into Lu Yi on the way and cheerfully greets him without any signs of depression.

"Morning!" Lu Yi replies, while glancing at Gu Fan who doesn’t look any different. Somehow, a strange feeling was taking over him.

Gu Fan and Lu Yi enter the classroom and sit in a corner. During their conversation, they spot Lin Xi walking in with her dorm mates, holding her books and laughing.

"No way..." Both Gu Fan and Lu Yi are taken aback. They can’t figure out why Lin Xi is even attending class.

Lin Xi appears oblivious to Gu Fan’s gaze, and continues to chat with her dorm mates, further disappointing Gu Fan. He wondered why Lin Xi was even bothering to attend class, given she had nothing to gain from it.

Throughout the entire class, Gu Fan stealthily observes Lin Xi, and finds that she is taking her studies seriously, even actively participating in class discussion — behavior that is visibly different from before.

"This is unbelievable. This isn’t the contrast I was expecting," Gu Fan scratches his head, trying to understand why a reincarnated ancient queen would bother pretending to be a college student.

The class finally ends, and Lin Xi leaves with her dorm mates. After some hesitation, Gu Fan immediately follows her, to Lu Yi’s surprised gaze and the question, "What’s he trying to do?"

Ignoring all else, Gu Fan approaches Lin Xi, and says, "Excuse me, miss, can I speak with you for a moment?"

Lin Xi’s dorm mates assume that she and Gu Fan are still a couple and politely leave them alone. Lin Xi, however, just continues to ignore him and attempts to leave with her friends.

"Wait a minute." Gu Fan grabs Lin Xi’s wrist and pulls her aside to a quiet place.

"What do you want? Stop touching me!" Lin Xi seems agitated, her face showing clear annoyance.

Once they are in a secluded area, Gu Fan makes sure no one is around, and asks sternly, "What’s going on? Du Jun has gone abroad for studies. Why are you still here? Shouldn’t you be studying abroad?"

Lin Xi looks at him, baffled, "Du Jun is Du Jun, and I am me. Why should I go abroad just because he did? Your logic is flawed."

A bit frustrated, Gu Fan continues, "We go to college to get a degree, to find a job and support ourselves. What’s the point of you attending college?"

Once again, Lin Xi shows her disdain, "Your logic is flawed again. If Du Jun, who is a rich second generation, can attend college, why can’t I? I am currently a college student. Of course, I have to study!"

"Well..." Gu Fan is left speechless, although he feels something is wrong with Lin Xi’s argument.

Lin Xi intensifies her tone, "Besides, we have officially broken up. So, from now on, stop grabbing me. Or else I’ll show you what it feels like to be roasted alive." She raises her hand, producing a fireball, that quickly dies out.

Gu Fan looks at her, understands the threat, and then nods, "I’m sorry, miss. I was out of line earlier. Since we are classmates, I apologize. Please forgive me."

"Well, that’s better." Lin Xi replies and walks away, showing no hint of reluctance to leave.

Watching Lin Xi’s back depart, Gu Fan is lost in thought before sighing dismally. After all, there is no point in dwelling on the past once it’s lost.

Thereafter, Gu Fan heads to his dorm to find Lu Yi and Jie, but upon his arrival, he’s met with strange stares, as if something is off about him.

He checks himself but finds everything normal. He wonders why people are looking at him so intensely.

Once he reaches the dorm, a bunch of people he knows huddle around him with ambivalent faces, "No way, Gu Fan. Did you really break up with Lin Xi? You guys were perfect together. If you two could break up, what hope is there for the rest of us?"

"What? This is..." Gu Fan mutters, at a loss. As he looks at Lu Yi and Jie sighing in regret, he comes to the realization that word of his breakup with Lin Xi must’ve spread across the whole school, which explained the strange stares he’d been getting.

Gu Fan wonders who the unscrupulous person was who had the audacity to spread the news around campus about their breakup. He figures there must be many guys who are delighted to hear that Lin Xi is now single, and available for pursuit.

The guys around him couldn’t help but ask again, "Is it true? Have you and Lin Xi really broken up?"

Left with no choice, Gu Fan accepted the truth. He first noticed the looks of pity on the faces of the boys around him. They all seemed to be in sympathy with him. After a moment, their true colors revealed, as they all grew excited as if anticipating something.

Gu Fan knew well what they were thinking, so he said, "If any of you are brave enough, feel free to make your moves."

"How could we? We hardly stand a chance against such a beauty queen." The male students just thought to themselves but dared not put their thoughts into actions.

Gu Fan added, "Alright, alright, I’m heartbroken now, but I’m not that upset, so please give me a break and stop crowding around me."

"Heartbroken? Don’t tell me Lin Xi has dumped you, not a mutual breakup?" The boys expressed disbelief. One of them even said, "No way, you two looked so in love not long ago. Lin Xi seemed to rely on you heavily. What on earth did you do to make her suddenly break up with you?"

Badgered by their endless questions, Gu Fan was about to collapse. He hastily ushered them out of his dorm room, leaving only him, Lu Yi, and Jie to discuss their next steps.

Gu Fan asked outright, "What do you guys think of Lin Xi’s return to school?"

Lu Yi stated, "I always had the feeling that Lin Xi didn’t come back to school just to study and earn a degree. There might be some conspiracy."

Jie agreed, "Don’t forget that this school has been helping Du Jun, and Du Jun does all for Lin Xi. In other words, the school has a significant association with Lin Xi."

"She needs no study at all, then. After graduation, a mere diploma could be granted. Why would she put so much effort into studying?" Gu Fan looked puzzled – Lin Xi’s decision to study seemed illogical.

Lu Yi pondered for a while and said, "Could Lin Xi use an ordinary life to cover her real identity?"

"That could be a possibility." Gu Fan thought hard but found no clue. At this moment, he received a call from Leng Le who bought him a small present and asked him to pick it up at the school gate.

Gu Fan spared no thought on Lin Xi’s real purpose, left the dorm room excitedly, mounted his bicycle and dashed to the school gate.

Leng Le waited at the school gate for a while until Gu Fan arrived. She handed him a small gift she carefully selected - a brand new phone with a tracker already installed.

"Oh my god, the latest model!" Gu Fan felt thrilled at getting the phone but hesitated as he thought that a man should not rely on a woman for gifts, so he decided to return it to Leng Le.

However, Leng Le seemed unhappy. "I bought you this phone because I wanted to, not because I’m supporting you. Please don’t be so macho."

Hearing this, Gu Fan finally accepted the gift. He promised to get her a present later in return. Of course, Gu Fan was oblivious to the tracker hidden in the new phone and thought Leng Le was a fantastic girlfriend.

The couple chatted and laughed at the school gate, giving each other occasional hugs until they had to part ways – one heading back to the office, the other to the classroom.

However, the scenes of Gu Fan and Leng Le together were witnessed by passing students. Rumors about Gu Fan’s break up with Lin Xi swirled around every corner of the campus – that Gu Fan dumped Lin Xi because he found a new love interest.

Soon, these rumors morphed into multiple versions. In one version, Gu Fan met a new woman who was more beautiful and elegant than Lin Xi. Hence, he secretly involved with her behind Lin Xi’s back. After Lin Xi discovered the truth, she couldn’t tolerate it and decided to break up.

Some even speculated that Lin Xi fell ill after Gu Fan dumped her for another woman, which was why she was absent on the first day of school.

Walking along the road after class, Gu Fan felt uneasy under the strange gazes from others and longed to escape those eyes.

Lin Xi felt the same. While walking back to her dormitory, she had to endure the odd looks and whisperings from various people. This made her wish for a loophole to hide in, cursing at those rumor spreaders and warning herself not to bump into any of them, otherwise...

"You bastards. You are lucky that I’m not the queen anymore. Or else I would have ordered to slay the whole city. How dare you spread rumors about me! Wait and see!" Furious, Lin Xi then messaged Gu Fan, scolding him to take care of this issue immediately or else there would be serious consequences.

After sending the message, she was still fuming when she thought about the rumor that Gu Fan found a new girlfriend. "When did this happen?" she pondered. She had only just seen Gu Fan yesterday, and suddenly today, he had a new love interest. It seemed too quick.

"It’s impossible, it can’t be so fast..." Lin Xi was certain that Gu Fan must have been seeing his new girlfriend for a while. It was highly possible that Gu Fan found another woman after Lin Xi had gone missing.

"Good job, Gu Fan! We haven’t officially broken up yet and you’re already in a hurry to find my replacement." Lin Xi snorted indignantly, wondering about Gu Fan’s new girlfriend, if she was indeed more beautiful than her.