The discussion went from a single voice to a chorus, as fast as a spark igniting an oil field and setting the wilderness ablaze. In front of the other male protagonist of the incident, the students began to chatter:
“I told you, last time I clearly saw Zhen Huan coming out of the teachers’ dormitory at night, she could barely keep her legs together!”
“Actually, it’s not surprising. Look at Zhen Huan’s parents, that scoundrel-like behavior, you can imagine they couldn’t raise a good daughter.”
“I wonder whose baby it is?”
“Of course it’s the chemistry teacher’s…”
“Not necessarily, besides the chemistry teacher, Zhen Huan was close with several other guys. Without a DNA test, how can you just decide the biological father?”
Ji Xun listened to the various discussions from the students, looking at Chi Wenlan.
The chemistry teacher, who looked like he was about to collapse, seemed to draw a final breath of life amidst these unbearable discussions and revived. Lava poured down from his head, his fair face turning bright red, and within that redness surged only flames and ashes.
“Don’t…”
“Stop talking!” someone screamed from the crowd. The sharp voice drowned out Chi Wenlan’s and attracted everyone’s attention, including Ji Xun’s.
The speaker was also a student, a female student.
She screamed: “She’s already dead, and you’re still talking. Are you all crazy?!”
“Chen Chen—” her female classmate called out to her.
But after shouting, she buried her head and rushed out of the crowd. Her companion could only hurry after her.
Ji Xun didn’t recognize these two people, but it didn’t matter because the remaining students didn’t stop at all. They talked even more enthusiastically, their words dripping with sarcasm:
“Tch, two from Class A.”
“They only tell us to stop talking after the person is dead. What’s the use? Didn’t the rumors start from Class A in the first place? Class A was so happy spreading them, spreading them around until the person died, and now they’re starting to act like good people.”
“Hey, isn’t she Chen Ya? The one who first saw Zhen Huan walking towards the river.”
“Oh yeah, that’s her!”
Amidst the chaotic voices, Ji Xun looked towards Chi Wenlan again, but unexpectedly saw a group of teachers with school security guards behind Chi Wenlan, rushing over menacingly under the cover of night.
A thought struck him, and he quickly patted Student Zhou’s shoulder, motioning for him to look towards Chi Wenlan. They exchanged a look of perfect understanding and, before anyone else noticed, slipped away without a word.
After they had slipped away seven or eight steps, the group of teachers with security guards arrived. The voice of the leading middle-aged female teacher scolding them was clearly audible even from ten meters away:
“All of you, shut up! What are you shouting about? What are you yelling about? What are you looking at? The bell for study hall has rung several times and you’re still here. You don’t study properly all day, just engaging in these empty rumors. No wonder your grades don’t improve! Did your parents spend money to send you to school for this? Huh? You’re nothing but leeches, clinging to your parents and the school, useless parasites who only know how to suck blood and produce nothing!”
She was going too far.
Ji Xun couldn’t help but look back.
“That’s the homeroom teacher of Class A,” Student Zhou’s voice sounded by his ear. “Be careful, there’s a garbage truck ahead.”
Ji Xun quickly turned his head back and realized that by walking and looking back, he had almost bumped into an oncoming garbage truck. He dodged to the side and asked Student Zhou:
“Is she always this irritable?”
“Not too sure,” Student Zhou hesitated slightly. “She doesn’t teach our class, and I don’t usually run into her, but there are no bad reviews about her in school. Today should be an exception.”
“Oh…”
Ji Xun replied. He watched as the middle-aged woman with her hair in a neat bun and wearing glasses hysterically cursed the students present, then directed the security guards to herd the students back to their classrooms like a flock of ducks.
Finally, she walked over to Chi Wenlan, who was still at the scene, still stern-faced and sharp-tongued.
But this time her voice was much lower. Ji Xun couldn’t hear, only see Chi Wenlan silently lower his head, as if tamed… but this was just an illusion.
Ji Xun thought.
He could still see the flames and ashes on the man, flames burning ever more fiercely, ashes piling ever higher, filled with rolling despair.
What does Chi Wenlan want to do?
After looking at Chi Wenlan a couple more times, Ji Xun and Student Zhou’s pace slowed down. As luck would have it, among the crowd walking from behind was Jiang Jie’s group.
Their eyes met. Ji Xun’s heart skipped a beat, and he quickly turned his head, but it was too late. Jiang Jie was already pointing at him and shouting: “It’s you! The one from the other school!”
Her shouting not only made her group of cronies look over, but even the teachers following behind showed signs of being attracted.
Crap… a fight isn’t scary, but if a teacher finds out and kicks me out of school…
Ji Xun’s scalp tingled, his mind racing to find a way to escape.
At this moment, Jiang Jie was already striding forward menacingly without a second thought: “Grab him! Why is someone from another school allowed in our school? Maybe he’s here to steal something—”
Before Ji Xun could make a decision, the silent Student Zhou suddenly took two quick steps, went to the campus janitor’s cart, grabbed a black plastic bag, tore it open, and threw the garbage inside at Jiang Jie and her group.
Amidst the shower of miscellaneous garbage, Student Zhou grabbed Ji Xun’s hand and pulled him into a run.
Ji Xun: “…!”
He was stunned.
The people behind were also stunned. Amidst the chaotic curses, Ji Xun heard a loud roar from Jiang Jie:
“Huo—”
But there was nothing more. Student Zhou had led him down a small path. The sheltering trees concealed their sound, and the rustling of the leaves also masked the sounds from behind.
In this garden path, an octagonal pavilion loomed in the darkness. Cobblestones formed steps of varying sizes, and a few lights hidden among the trees cast a deep, enchanting green glow.
Student Zhou ran very fast at first, but then seemed to hear no sounds of pursuit or shouting from behind, and his pace gradually slowed. Ji Xun followed him step by step, and in the surrounding silence, slowly heard the faint panting and heartbeat of the boy in front.
In the end, Student Zhou led Ji Xun to a classroom.
He skillfully opened the door with his ID card, drew the curtains, and turned on the lights.
Ji Xun squinted for a moment, realizing that he had stepped too far when he entered and was now face-to-face with David’s tilted head. He and the statue were only 2cm away from kissing each other.
“Excuse me,” he said politely to David, looked around, and wasn’t surprised to find it was an art classroom.
“Alright, this is the top floor of the academic building. Usually, no one comes up here. Even if someone sees us, we can say we’re art students doing extra practice,” Student Zhou panted slightly.
“Your running speed just now was good,” Ji Xun praised him first. Tonight, he was somewhat impressed by Student Zhou. “Good physical fitness. Eat healthy, exercise well, and in the future, even if you can’t win a fight, you can outrun them.”
Student Zhou pursed his lips, which seemed like the shadow of a smile.
But Ji Xun then noticed his lips were pale and chapped, with faint traces of blood at the cracks, looking terribly dehydrated.
Ji Xun handed over his own bottle of mineral water, which he had opened and taken a few sips from: “Have a drink.”
“Mm,” Student Zhou replied, took it, unscrewed the cap, and took two large gulps, finishing half the bottle. Then he licked his lips, which finally had some moisture on them.
“How long has it been since you drank water?” Ji Xun couldn’t help but ask. “Why don’t you buy water if you’re thirsty?”
“I…” Student Zhou squeezed the water bottle, many things flashing through his mind—the drugs floating in the water cooler like ghosts, invisible and silent, but ever-present.
And then, whenever he saw mineral water, whether from the school, outside, in barrels, or in bottles, the first thing that came to mind was that invisible toxin.
Except for the bottle in his hand…
“By the way, what did Jiang Jie shout at the end?”
Ji Xun’s voice interrupted his thoughts. He quickly glanced at Ji Xun, then lowered his eyelids, screwed the cap back on the water bottle, handed it back, and said in a low voice: “I don’t know, I didn’t hear clearly.”
The two didn’t stay in the art classroom for long. Student Zhou went down for evening study hall and was lucky enough not to be reprimanded by the teacher—the teacher was busy scolding the students who had been crowding around the bulletin board.
As for Ji Xun, he still wanted to know what Chi Wenlan would do, so he didn’t leave the school immediately. Without the interference of Jiang Jie and her group, he simply pretended to be a teacher and strolled brazenly through the school’s academic buildings. When he encountered patrolling security guards or passing teachers, he would nod, smile, and walk past without anyone suspecting a thing.
After loitering like this for a while, Ji Xun finally got what he was waiting for.
At 8:55 PM, the school broadcast:
“…This is Chi Wenlan.”
When these words sounded, the evening study classrooms, which had been buzzing with some noise, fell so silent you could hear a pin drop, leaving only the staticky electric sound from the broadcast.
The human voice, mixed with the static, sounded slow and choppy.
“It is now five minutes into the third period of evening study hall. I will take up five minutes of everyone’s time to talk about what you most want to know.”
What’s this?
Ji Xun peeked into the classroom. However, the teacher in the classroom also seemed not to have been informed in advance, wearing a similarly confused expression as the students, also looking at the speaker on the wall, listening to the voice coming out.
“There have been many discussions and speculations in the school about me and student Zhen Huan. Now, I myself will tell you the whole truth.”
“Student Zhen Huan and I… were indeed a couple.”
The academic building was like a pot of boiling porridge, bubbling over!
The teachers, who were initially confused, were now certain that this was definitely not arranged by the school. For a moment, nine out of ten of them walked out of their classrooms to discuss with nearby colleagues. Even the teachers originally in the grade-level office came out. The grade-level head’s face was livid with anger:
“Who let him speak! Who gave him the key to the broadcasting room! Call him immediately, tell him to shut up! Duan Huiwen, is this the excellent teacher you recommended? Are you blind?!”
The teacher being harshly scolded by the grade-level head was the very same Class A homeroom teacher who had been loudly berating students in front of the bulletin board. She fumbled for her phone, but then said in despair:
“I can’t get through, his phone is off!”
“Go to the broadcasting room and stop him!” the grade-level head stomped his foot.
However, it was impossible to be in time. During their commotion, the broadcast didn’t stop at all. Chi Wenlan continued: “But the truth is not that she pursued me, but that I pursued her. I fell in love with student Zhen Huan at first sight, and I confessed my feelings and pursued her again and again. Student Zhen Huan was kind-hearted, pure, and innocent, and she accepted my pursuit. We…”
As he spoke, Chi Wenlan choked up several times, unable to form complete sentences:
“We were truly in love…”
“Truly in love, my ass!”
A sudden curse came from behind Ji Xun. Ji Xun turned around and saw the grade-level head, furious.
“Just look at all the trouble he and that student have caused!”
