Chapter 986: Beautiful Girl (31)

 “But Senior, have you ever thought about this? Some wounds, once inflicted, can't be erased with an apology.” The smile faded from Tang Guo's face. “They're the ones who made the mistake, not you. Your apology means nothing.”

Chang Zhan fell silent. His gaze grew complicated as he looked at her before asking, “Do you want to transfer schools? Leave this place. I can help you find an even better high school in another city. With your grades, I can guarantee you'll get into a good university.”

Tang Guo smiled again.

“Then what does that make me?”

“What do you mean?”

Tang Guo lowered her eyes, the corners of her lips curling faintly.

“I've done nothing wrong. I've never done any of the things they're accusing me of. Yet because of these rumors and everyone's attacks, I'm the one who has to leave. I have to go somewhere else where nobody knows me. Even though I haven't done anything wrong, I'm the one who has to run away, the one who has to avoid everything. One day, when they mention my name, they'll still remember me as that girl who was kept by rich men, who sold herself, who spent an entire vacation being shared by two wealthy heirs, and who couldn't bear it anymore and transferred schools during the second semester of her second year.”

“At class reunions, they'll bring it up again. They'll discuss it and ask each other, ‘Do you know what happened to that girl named Tang Guo?’”

“Maybe they'll say that since she was already being kept in high school, she must've been the same in college. After starting work, she probably climbed the ladder through sleeping with people, right?”

“In their mouths, the girl called Tang Guo will spend her entire life stained and filthy, never escaping those rumors.”

“And that's not even the most frightening part.”

“The truly frightening thing is that this girl named Tang Guo follows your suggestion. She transfers to the school you picked, starts over, gets into university, graduates, and secures a stable, high-paying job.”

“But one day, someone from her old school recognizes her and happens to work at the same company. They spread those rumors again—rumors that never existed in the first place.”

At that, Tang Guo lifted her head and looked directly at Chang Zhan.

“Senior, do you think the people at her company would believe what her former classmate says?”

“How do you think her coworkers would look at her?”

“As long as these rumors continue to exist, as long as nobody clears my name, then no matter where I go in the future, if someone recognizes me and decides to spread lies again, I will never know peace.”

“And the most terrifying thing is that no one will believe me. They'll all think that smoke doesn't rise without fire. They'll think, if I had no problems, why would such rumors exist in the first place?”

“The people spreading those rumors are my schoolmates. Nobody will think my classmates are lying. One classmate would be bad enough, but Senior, I have countless schoolmates in this school. So many people talk about me every day that I've lost count. Most of them, I don't even know.”

“People who barely know me can destroy my life with rumors and simply walk away as if nothing happened.”

“So why should I leave?”

“Why should I be the one to leave?”

“I've done nothing wrong.”

Chang Zhan found himself unable to argue.

Following her words, he imagined the future she described, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized things would probably unfold exactly as she said.

Even if no one ever met her again in the future, the damage caused by these false rumors and the attacks she was suffering now could never be solved simply by walking away.

“So…” Chang Zhan fixed his eyes on the girl's clear, untainted gaze. “Is there anything you need me to do?”

“I can help you.”