Can following the rules be called rebirth?

Chapter 198, Section 196: Rumors are like knives.
Nanhu University, Law School Administration Building.

The November sun was no longer intense, casting dappled light and shadows through the window.

Shen Yunrong walked down the hallway, dressed in a perfectly tailored beige suit, her makeup and hair exuding meticulous elegance.

She straightened her back, raised her chin slightly, and pressed the elevator button in front of her.

Ding!
The elevator doors were as smooth as a mirror, reflecting her always dignified figure.

The door opened, revealing two young lecturers from the law school, chatting and laughing softly in a relaxed atmosphere.

However, for some reason, the moment they saw Shen Yunrong, the atmosphere became strangely subtle.

Good morning, Teacher Shen!

Smiles instantly appeared on their faces, stiff as cheap masks.

Strangely, the moment his gaze fell upon Shen Yunrong, he hurriedly jumped aside.

"morning."

Shen Yunrong nodded, then was swallowed up by the hum of the elevator and the silence.

"The weather's nice today, isn't it?"

"It's alright."

For a moment, no one spoke; the air seemed to freeze, filled with an indescribable awkwardness.

What's going on with these two people?

Normally, I'd love to chat with myself endlessly, but what's gotten into me today?

Shen Yunrong keenly sensed something was amiss and felt that something was abnormal.

Pushing open the elevator door and returning to the counselor's office, Shen Yunrong was about to focus her attention on the student information on the computer screen when her thoughts were interrupted.

"Teacher Shen~"

The door was gently pushed open a crack.

The administrative secretary poked half her head in, her eyes darting around: "Um... the dean wants you to go to his office. He says there's something he needs to discuss."

"Okay, okay, I'll go right away."

Shen Yunrong's heart skipped a beat, but she remained expressionless.

The dean is looking for me?
Why are you looking for me at this time?
What good news has Jieyou Media made this time?

Doesn't seem right either.
If it's about Jieyou Media, then at least Kong He should be reminding himself of it.

She stood up, picked up a black leather notebook, and inserted a marker into the first page, her movements still elegant and composed.

To get to the dean's office, you have to walk through a long corridor lined with offices on both sides.

Stepping onto the road, the corridor was eerily quiet.

The sound of Shen Yunrong's high heels clicked, and the office doors, which had been slightly ajar, quietly closed a little.

Several colleagues who were hurrying past carrying documents stopped abruptly when they saw her. Their eyes quickly swept over her face, and then they nodded quickly, greeting her by sticking their noses against the wall.

Further away, two familiar associate professors stood at the door of one of the offices, whispering to each other.

"Old Liu, you still don't know?"

"This gossip is spreading like wildfire!"

As Shen Yunrong approached, one of them seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, his words abruptly stopped, and then the two of them turned around at the same time with remarkable tacit understanding, and pushed open the door to enter the office.

With a soft click, the door lock clicked shut.

The movements were so fluid and fast that Shen Yunrong couldn't even catch their final lip movements.

But the moment the door closed, a barely audible sneer stubbornly crept into her ears.

"A law school professor got scammed out of money, what a joke! He's lost so much face."

The laughter was like a poisoned needle, piercing Shen Yunrong's eardrums.

Blood rushed to my head, then receded completely in the next second, leaving me feeling confused.

Who are the professors talking about?

Could it be referring to yourself?
Has the news gotten out?

Didn't we agree to keep it a secret?!

She gritted her teeth, took a deep breath, forced herself to keep her eyes straight ahead, and continued walking forward. Every step felt like stepping on red-hot coals or sinking into a gelatinous swamp.

Clench all ten fingers tightly until they turn bluish-white.

The surrounding air seemed to be sucked out, and all sounds faded into the distance. She could almost feel countless gazes coming from the cracks, from behind the door, and from around the corner.

Their gazes were filled with pity, disdain, curiosity, and schadenfreude.

The gaze was like an invisible laser, piercing through her carefully constructed armor bit by bit, leaving behind a bloody mark.

Who is Shen Yunrong?
That counselor who was completely scammed by an online dating scam!
After calming herself down, she knocked on the dean's door.

In fact, the dean's talk to her had absolutely nothing to do with this matter.

We mainly talked about the routine work of student psychological surveys, and my tone was normal, as if there was nothing unusual about it.

"Xiao Shen, it's also important to raise students' awareness of legal and anti-fraud measures. The school will work with the local police to develop a plan, and you'll be in charge of implementing it."

"Yes, Dean, no problem."

Shen Yunrong bit her lip and nodded gently.

Everything was peaceful.

But with a woman's inexplicable sixth sense, she vaguely sensed that the dean's gaze towards her was strange today.

There was an added, almost imperceptible, scrutiny, and perhaps... sympathy?

For the first time, she felt that a gaze was more unsettling than words.

She left the dean's office almost as if fleeing, her emotions and anger escalating.

Who exactly leaked this information?

Mingli Company!

It must have been Mingli Company that leaked the information!
Back in her office, Shen Yunrong thought for only a few seconds and effortlessly located the perpetrator.

As a party involved in the case, she secretly followed the progress more than once, carefully reading all the interviews, positive, negative, and other reports.

Over this period of time, Mingli has given countless interviews, from ordinary employees to senior management, and his exposure has been increasing day by day.

Maybe one of the staff members got carried away by the cameras and microphones and casually mentioned something that revealed their personal information.

Zhou Mingyuan!
That damn Zhou Mingyuan!

Do bosses not even know how to manage their company employees?

I'm still his counselor!

Shen Yunrong was so angry that her hands trembled, and she suddenly felt thirsty and desperately needed a cup of hot water to calm her surging emotions.

She picked up her phone from the table, found Zhou Mingyuan's WeChat account, and disregarded her own status, sending him seven or eight accusatory messages in one go.

Then, holding the thermos, he let out a long sigh and walked towards the tea room at the end of the floor.

The door to the tea room was ajar, and the voices coming from inside were not loud, but every word was piercing.

"I have connections at the bank! Apparently, the police checked Shen Yunrong's bank statements a long time ago, and they all used our salary cards—a full 100,000 yuan! My God, Shen Yunrong always seemed so shrewd, how could she..."

The voice was like that of the notoriously loudmouth from the finance department—sharp and excited, with the thrill of sharing a shocking secret.

"Sis, could you please keep your voice down? Her office is on this floor."

This is another slightly nervous female voice, which sounds quite familiar.

"What are you afraid of? You think you can't say you're capable?"

"Everyone knows now! And it's not just me who knows; many family members of employees in our unit from the High-tech Zone branch know about it all already!"

The woman in the finance department lowered her voice, but her gloating only intensified.

"I heard those scammers carefully selected photos of rich, handsome men—the epitome of all good looks! Tsk tsk tsk, no wonder our high-achieving Shen fell for it. Even heroes can't resist a beautiful woman, and beautiful women can't resist a man who's just made up! Hahahaha!" *Pfft*

Suppressed giggles could be heard coming from the break room.

"If you ask me, who's all that high and mighty attitude for all this time? Behind my back, I'm just a simp!"

The voice continued, and the following words became even more offensive.

Bang!

Shen Yunrong felt a sudden "boom" in her mind, and could no longer bear it. She abruptly pushed open the door to the tea room.

She had never used such an exaggerated movement before; the door slammed hard against the wall with a piercing thud.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Three people were sitting in the tea room.

Chen Min, the gossip from the finance department; Sister Wang from the academic affairs department; and another person, Xiao Liu, a young lecturer of similar age who messages Shen Yunrong every few days.

With a loud crash, the instant coffee packet that Chen Min had just torn open fell to the ground, scattering brown powder all over the floor.

Sister Wang was holding a water glass when her hand trembled, and the scalding hot water spilled out, almost burning the back of her hand.

Xiao Liu's face flushed red instantly, and he almost buried his head in his chest.

The air was eerily still, with only the water dispenser making a gurgling sound as it boiled water.

Shen Yunrong stood at the door, her face as pale as paper, her lips pressed into a bloodless line.

The story of the 100,000 yuan scam, a "pig butchering" scheme, has been widely circulated. It involves a man who is essentially a packaged man.

These words, like a red-hot branding iron, with the lingering echo of a sharp voice, repeatedly seared Shen Yunrong's nerves.

She could even smell the suffocating aroma of coffee powder in the air.

Shen Yunrong did not speak.

She couldn't say a word.

The immense humiliation and anger crashed against the dam of her reason like a tsunami, almost drowning her.

She just stared intently at Chen Min, her eyes vacant, causing Chen Min to instinctively take a step back, her lips trembling as she tried to explain, "Teacher Shen, this..."

"Sister Chen, watch your mouth!"

Shen Yunrong's eyes reddened, and she turned around abruptly, her high heels making a messy sound as they stomped on the floor tiles.

He staggered out of the tea room, forgetting even to take his water cup.

She did not return to her office.

At this moment, she needs an absolutely quiet, relatively secluded place.

A place where she could temporarily escape the overwhelming gazes and whispers.

So she rushed into the most secluded women's restroom on the floor below and locked the door to the innermost stall.

The space was cramped, and the familiar smell of disinfectant filled the air.

She leaned against the cold partition, her body trembling uncontrollably, gasping for breath, and finally tears streamed down her face.

surge out.

Shen Yunrong bit her hand hard, not daring to utter a single sob, while large tears streamed into her mouth.

So salty.

Just then, the sound of the same high heels came from outside the door.

Accompanied by a voice she knew all too well, it was the loud voice of Ma Li, the dean of academic affairs, as she made a phone call.

"You know, Shen Yunrong is always so arrogant. So many talented young men in the courtyard are pursuing her, but she doesn't even give them a second glance. And what's the result?"

"You were fooled by a pretty boy you met online with just a few words and sent him 100,000 yuan?"

"Ten thousand could buy several Hermes bags! What a brain!"

"Oh dear, that's why I say, women who are too aloof and arrogant are more likely to suffer a big setback!"

"you do not say!"

Ma Li's voice carried a sense of smugness, as if she possessed core secrets.

“My husband told me this when he came back. He’s in the special task force. What gossip wouldn’t he know?”

"She used our school's salary card to transfer the money, and the transaction records are crystal clear! Shen Yunrong has completely disgraced our law school this time!"

"Let's see how she'll ever be able to sternly reprimand students again, or how she'll behave in the school."

The roar of the flushing water filled the air, drowning out the even more offensive words that followed.

Inside the cubicle, Shen Yunrong's body had stopped trembling.

She forgot about cleanliness and propriety, slowly sliding down to sit on the floor, the cold tiles seeping into her bones through her stockings.

The tears had all dried up, leaving only a numb, cold feeling on my face.

Everyone knows.
Everyone knows
Disgracing the Academy
Every word was like a dull knife, repeatedly cutting into her heart.

Yes, what secrets can remain hidden within the system?
Even if only one person catches a whiff of something, the gossip will quickly spread throughout the entire school.

It turned out that the painful experience she was desperately trying to bury had already been spread around by her colleagues.

It became the subject of ridicule throughout the college and even the entire school.

She thought she had only been leaked by some part of Mingli Company, but she never expected that the source was actually here.

These colleagues, who might normally be polite to her, have now become megaphones for spreading rumors.

She was like a clown stripped naked and put on display in front of everyone, and she didn't even know when the tickets for the exhibition would be distributed.

Her makeup was ruined, her hair was a mess, and her once neatly ironed pencil skirt was now completely wrinkled.

Summoning her last bit of strength to maintain her composure, Shen Yunrong returned to her office in a daze, feeling like a soulless shell.

The atmosphere in the office became even more eerie.

The other colleagues either pretended to be busy or had their eyes wandering.

As it was nearing the end of the workday, Sister Wang, who always considered herself a "helpful older sister," came over to Shen Yunrong's workstation with a small box of exquisitely packaged almond cookies.

She smiled and said softly.

"Little Shen, come and try this."

"Daoxiangcun's almond cookies, the new flavor, are especially fragrant! Let me tell you, sweets are the best way to relieve stress!"

"that."

Sister Wang paused, her eyes flickered, and her voice lowered even further, almost a whisper.

"There are a lot of scammers online, and they're really clever! Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, cough cough, don't take it too seriously! Try to relax, try to relax."

"Thank you, Sister Wang."

"Sister Wang will introduce you to another promising young man later! I guarantee she knows him inside and out!"

The other person's words struck Shen Yunrong's heart precisely.

She forced a smile, staring intently at the blinking cursor on the computer screen, her nails digging deep into her palms.

nausea!

That's fucking disgusting!
The older woman's condescending sympathy and suggestive language completely shattered Shen Yunrong's psychological defenses.

Finally, it's time to get off work.

Colleagues in the office got up one by one and left their workstations.

The last rays of the setting sun shone through the curtains, casting long, thin lines on the floor, resembling a golden cage.

Shen Yunrong was the last to get up, walked to the door, and turned off the main light.

She stood alone in the halo of light, her shadow stretched long and thin.

(End of this chapter)