Chapter 59

“The sun must be rising in the west! You actually saying something like that!”

Was this still the old Meng Bai? Zhou An looked her up and down, her eyes brimming with amusement.

Just then, Teacher Xu Qin emerged from the teaching building.

The three girls spotted her right away. Xu Zhou nudged Meng Bai’s arm. “Hey, hey, she’s coming. You gonna give her the file?”

Meng Bai fished the storage card out of her pocket, hesitating for a moment before handing it to Zhou An. “You go, Zhou An.”

As class rep, she was more familiar with the teacher.

Zhou An took the card and hopped down from the flower bed, heading straight for Xu Qin while calling out, “Teacher Xu—”

Xu Qin’s gaze shifted over. Spotting Zhou An, the corners of her lips curved up slightly. “What’s up?”

As she spoke, her eyes flicked toward Meng Bai and Xu Zhou.

A silent acknowledgment that she’d seen them.

“Oh, we’re just soaking up some sun.” Zhou An touched the spot behind her ear, wasting no time as she held out the card. “Teacher Xu, this is for you.”

Xu Qin glanced at the storage card, looking puzzled. “What’s this?”

Zhou An pushed it toward her again without answering, simply repeating, “For you.”

Xu Qin glanced around, then quietly pocketed it.

Mission accomplished. Zhou An made a swift exit, tossing out a “Bye-bye!” as she turned and walked away.

The class bell rang. Meng Bai and Xu Zhou jumped down from the flower bed at the same time, and the three of them dashed together toward the teaching building…

~~~

The days dragged on endlessly.

Sunlight spilled across the uneven blackboard, motes of chalk dust floating in the beams like time itself had frozen.

In her ears rang the teacher’s droning analysis of classical Chinese text, the sentences stretched out so long that Meng Bai grew drowsy.

But she couldn’t fall asleep, not really.

Her mind wandered to so many things. These past days felt like a dream. Ever since she’d met Miao Bai, it was as if a tangled knot had formed in her hands—one she couldn’t unravel.

The more she picked at it, the messier it got.

She thought of Ye Hong, of Xu Jinghe, of the nameless victims Miao Bai had mentioned.

Just how many people had been hurt?

The faces of those devils—besides Zhang Gou and Baldhead, who else hadn’t shown their true colors yet?

Meng Bai twirled the neutral pen in her hand and glanced toward Xu Jinghe. He looked as listless as ever, like his soul had flown off somewhere.

She decided to talk to him after class, whether he wanted to or not. She’d at least give it a try.

~~~

The last period was PE, and Meng Bai wanted a chance to speak with Xu Jinghe alone.

He agreed.

During free activity time, the two of them headed up to the rooftop of the teaching building.

The sun was unusually bright that day, and the warmth intensified once they reached the top.

Leaning against the railing beside Xu Jinghe, Meng Bai squinted into the sunlight, waiting for him to speak. But he showed no sign of opening up.

So she went first. “How are you holding up?”

He glanced sideways at her. “How do you mean?”

“Your mood? Your body? Everything?”

Xu Jinghe rested his elbows on the railing and let out a sigh. “Not great. My asshole hurts like hell.”

His expression was flat, a stark contrast to the words coming out of his mouth. Meng Bai’s heart clenched. She wanted to say something—anything—but the words caught in her throat.

“What did Yellow-Haired Zhou Chuxing tell you all?” Xu Jinghe asked, glancing at her again before answering his own question. “He said Baldhead… you know, did that to me, right?”

“Yeah.”

That was all Meng Bai could manage, though inwardly she wondered, Isn’t that what happened?

“No.” Xu Jinghe caught the doubt in her eyes. He paused, then added, “Not entirely.”

“Can you tell me about it?”

He nodded. “I’ll only tell you, though. Don’t go spreading it around, okay?”

“Okay.”

Just as he’d said, that night he had gone looking for Zhang Gou, Baldhead, and their crew.

But it didn’t match up with what Zhou Chuxing had described.

That night, Baldhead hadn’t actually raped him. What he’d done was far worse—a deep humiliation of his very person.

Those guys were rotten to the core. Regular assault wasn’t enough to sate their twisted tastes anymore, so they’d chosen something even more depraved.

“Baldhead made me stand in front of the table and shoved a beer bottle into me. Right there in front of everyone.” That was Xu Jinghe’s first revelation.

“They all watched and laughed at me.” His second.

“Some of them laughed while taking pictures. Zhang Gou got some shots too.” His third.

“Now, whenever I zone out, that image flashes in my head. Their laughter echoes in my ears, buzzing like ghosts.” His fourth.

Before he could get to a fifth, Meng Bai cut in. “I don’t know how to comfort you, but let’s think of a way to fix this. Or is there anything I can do?”

“Sigh, Meng Bai.”

She turned to look at him and was stunned to see tears streaming down Xu Jinghe’s face.

She hadn’t expected this when they came up, hadn’t brought tissues, didn’t even know how to console him.

She’d assumed bringing it up would just make him sad. But before she could muster any words, he said:

“How well did you know Ye Hong?”

Ye Hong.

“To be honest, I knew her better in death than I did in life.”

Real tears were falling from Xu Jinghe’s eyes now.

Meng Bai felt at a loss. She had no idea how to comfort a crying guy.

“I liked her—” Xu Jinghe covered his face and sobbed. “Did you know? That day, she jumped from right here. Right here.”

Liked her?

Meng Bai hadn’t realized Xu Jinghe had any connection to Ye Hong at all.

“It was Zhang Gou. Zhang Gou forced her to jump.” Xu Jinghe said it with utter conviction.

Meng Bai’s heart thudded hard. “How do you know?”

“I saw it with my own eyes.”

“You saw it?” Meng Bai grabbed his arm. “Tell me everything.”

~~~

When you’re secretly in love, the world has no storms or dark clouds. Seeing her is like seeing the sun itself—every day a good mood.

Xu Jinghe wasn’t much for academics, but he loved going to school because that’s where he could see Ye Hong.

Catching sight of her every morning, backpack slung over her shoulder as she arrived at school, was pure bliss.

But that particular morning, Ye Hong didn’t look happy. She went straight to her seat, set down her bag, and reached into her desk drawer. She froze for a moment.

Xu Jinghe sprawled over his desk, watching her.

It was his habit to steal glances at Ye Hong like this. While everyone else thought he was slacking off or zoning out, he was really just looking at her.

First love was awkward and innocent. He’d never even considered confessing his feelings or anything like that. Just seeing her every day made him happy.

That day, Xu Jinghe noticed Ye Hong acting strangely. It looked like she’d seen something in her desk drawer, and then she headed out of the classroom.

Xu Jinghe figured she was going to the bathroom, so he waited in the classroom. But she never came back.

Finally, he stepped out and grabbed a classmate who was leaning against the hallway wall. “Have you guys seen Ye Hong?”

“She just ran upstairs.”

Instinctively, a wave of unease washed over him. He bolted upward.

Second floor, third floor, fourth floor, fifth floor, all the way to the rooftop—

He reached out and pushed.

The rooftop door was locked tight.

What greeted him was the foul stench of rust.

At this point, Xu Jinghe turned and pointed at the door. “That’s the one. That door. That morning, it was locked from the inside.”

Meng Bai’s heart skipped a beat.

Locked from the inside? So how had Ye Hong gotten up there? The only explanation was that she’d gone up and locked it herself.

“What about Zhang Gou? How did you know he was involved?”

“I heard a man’s voice from behind the door—faintly. He said, ‘If you’ve got the guts, jump. If you don’t, you’ll be mine sooner or later.'”

Just that one sentence was enough to make Xu Jinghe see red. He nearly pounded on the door.

But right before he lost it, he heard a thud.

Then screams erupted from downstairs.

In that moment, Xu Jinghe knew it was over. Everything was over.

“After hearing the sound, I instinctively ran downstairs. I wanted to see if it was Ye Hong. By the time I reached the second floor, my legs were like jelly. But then it hit me—I couldn’t go down. I had to intercept that guy. So I turned back around. On the fourth floor, I saw Zhang Gou running downstairs, pale as a ghost, on his phone the whole time. I tried to block him, but he didn’t even glance at me—just shoved me aside and yelled not to get in his way. Yeah, it had to be him up on the rooftop. He’s the killer.”

Meng Bai frowned. “But that’s weird. The police didn’t find any evidence of him on the rooftop.”

“The cops didn’t arrive until twenty minutes later, and all the students were herded out of the building right away. I don’t know if anyone tampered with anything during that time, but I do know one thing.”

Meng Bai felt her heart tighten. “What?”

“As we were being evacuated, I saw Teacher Xu go into the classroom. She stopped at Ye Hong’s desk.”

Xu Jinghe had caught sight of Xu Qin’s figure from the stairwell, peeking through the doorway at an angle. The whole thing lasted maybe a second.

“You’re sure it was Teacher Xu?”

“Positive. She was the only one wearing that white skirt.”

Meng Bai fell silent.

God, what did Teacher Xu know?

“So when you went to see Zhang Gou and the others, was it really just to earn some internet cafe money, or was there more to it?”

Xu Jinghe snorted. “Do you think I’ve got the headspace for online games right now?”

Meng Bai apologized.

“But last night was weird, you know? That Baldhead dragged me into the bathroom trying to force himself on me. I had a little knife in my pocket—ready to go all in. But then he lost it first.”

Meng Bai thought, thank goodness he hadn’t pulled the knife. If he’d stabbed back, there’d be no turning back.

“Oh, got it.”

“Chilling.” Xu Jinghe rubbed his arms.

“What was chilling?”

“When Baldhead flipped out, it felt like someone was right there with me. My hairs stood on end, ice-cold all over. But I didn’t see a thing.”

Ice-cold.

Was it because of Miao Bai?

Meng Bai wanted to change the subject.

But Xu Jinghe beat her to it. “So where were you last night? Zhou An said you were snapping photos from some hidden spot.”

“Oh, I was—” The words stuck in her throat. She was scrambling for an excuse when shouting erupted from downstairs.

They both looked down.

A police car had pulled up at the school gate. Several officers stepped out, led by a middle-aged man in plainclothes. He scanned the area, asked a few questions to nearby students, then headed toward the school building.

Meng Bai was baffled. “What’s going on?”

Xu Jinghe shrugged, playing it cool. “No idea. Whatever.”

Meng Bai felt a prickle of unease.

“Should we head down?”

Xu Jinghe didn’t let it drop. “You still haven’t told me where you were yesterday.”

Meng Bai brushed it off. “Can’t say right now.”

“What’s so secret? I trust you completely.”

Their conversation stalled. Meng Bai didn’t want to lie, but she couldn’t spill about Miao Bai either, so she stayed quiet.

“Fine, keep your secrets.” Xu Jinghe didn’t push. “Stubborn as hell. Let’s go downstairs.”

Meng Bai breathed a sigh of relief. They turned to head back.

They’d barely taken a few steps when footsteps echoed up the stairwell. Zhou An came rushing up, out of breath.

“Xu—Xu Jinghe—”

Xu Jinghe: “?”

Zhou An: “The people downstairs… I think they’re looking for you.”