On the way to Su Xiaoyue’s home, Jiang Yi couldn’t stop thinking about the situation.
The WeChat account he’d used was an unregistered black-market account he’d bought. It hadn’t been registered with his own ID, and there was nothing connected to it that could identify him. He hadn’t even sent a single voice message.
Besides, all he’d done was break up with her.
Countless people suffered heartbreak after the college entrance examination. Who would immediately connect a breakup to someone jumping off a building?
More importantly, Jiang Yi had seen plenty of girls like Su Xiaoyue. They might talk about wanting to die, but after crying their hearts out, they would eventually get over it.
It had only been an online relationship.
She hadn’t even seen his face.
Why would she kill herself because of him?
‘Since when did I become this full of myself?’
Jiang Yi went over the logic three times in his head. At last, he felt slightly reassured, and the trembling in his leg gradually subsided.
However, when the old Volkswagen stopped beneath Su Xiaoyue’s apartment building, Jiang Yi glanced through the window, and his heart abruptly sank.
People were everywhere.
The flashing red and blue lights of police cars illuminated the entire alley in alternating bursts. The ladder on a fire truck hadn’t even been fully extended yet, while several firefighters in orange uniforms bent over to set up an inflatable rescue cushion below.
The cushion’s blower droned continuously, filling the air with a deep, oppressive hum.
Three layers of police tape had been erected around the area. Beyond them stood a crowd of residents who had gathered to watch, all craning their necks toward the rooftop and whispering among themselves.
Jiang Yi followed their gazes upward.
On the rooftop of the seven-story building, a slender figure sat at the edge with both legs dangling over the side.
She didn’t move.
She simply sat there as the wind whipped her hair into disarray.
Jiang Yi’s stomach clenched violently.
“We’re here!” Xia Cuihua shoved open the car door and practically leaped out. “Old Jiang, find somewhere to park. I’ll go over first!”
She grabbed Xia Anmian by the wrist, and the two rushed toward the police cordon. Jiang Jianguo shouted, “Be careful!” after them, but they were already far ahead.
Jiang Yi drew a deep breath, unfastened his seat belt, and got out.
The ground was packed with people, yet his attention was immediately drawn to several figures standing inside the police cordon.
A middle-aged man in a white shirt stood at the front with his hands clasped behind his back, his expression grim. Several people who looked like government officials stood beside him in dark jackets, listening attentively with lowered heads.
Farther away, Jiang Yi spotted the short, heavyset principal of their high school. The man stood beside a uniformed officer, repeatedly wiping sweat from his forehead. Even the collar of his shirt had darkened with perspiration.
“What the hell is going on here…” Jiang Yi muttered.
A nearby resident overheard him and replied, “Scary, isn’t it? Even the county magistrate is here. Do you know how many years it’s been since our county produced a provincial top scorer? If she jumps, every official in the county is going to be in deep trouble.”
Jiang Yi said nothing.
His Adam’s apple bobbed.
On the other side of the police cordon, the county magistrate in the white shirt said something. A middle-aged police officer beside him immediately nodded repeatedly before turning around and jogging toward them.
The man rushed up to Xia Cuihua and grabbed her hand, forcing such an ingratiating smile onto his face that it almost looked painful.
“Ms. Xia, you’re finally here! This must be Xia Anmian, right?” As he spoke, he hurriedly stepped aside to clear a path. “Quickly, please go upstairs and talk to her. Student Su is emotionally unstable right now. She won’t let anyone approach her. Student Xia is the only person she’s willing to see.”
Even his voice was trembling, and his entire body was drenched in sweat.
Xia Cuihua froze for a moment. “Officer, you…”
“Don’t worry about me. Just go upstairs! Hurry!” Director Zhao gently pushed the two of them toward the entrance. “No matter what happens, she can’t gamble with her own life! Student Xia is the person Student Su is closest to, so she’ll definitely listen to you. Please, I’m begging you! Whether Old Zhao gets to keep this uniform depends on you!”
Standing at the entrance, he pressed his palms together and bowed twice to Xia Cuihua, bending deeply at the waist. Part of his shirt had even slipped free from his trousers, yet he didn’t have the slightest thought of tucking it back in.
Jiang Yi stood several steps away, watching the scene.
His heart turned cold.
He recognized Director Zhao.
His photograph appeared on the county’s public security bulletin boards.
He was the director of the County Public Security Bureau.
Yet right now, the man was standing there drenched in sweat, his voice trembling as though someone had placed him directly over a fire.
Several middle-aged women among the crowd whispered nearby.
“I heard even the mayor’s office called to ask about this. If something really happens, it won’t just be the county officials getting held responsible. The city officials will be questioned too.”
“Of course. She’s the provincial top scorer, and a girl at that. If she jumps, people all over the nation will be furious.”
“Seriously, what could that child possibly be thinking? She scored so well…”
Jiang Yi stopped listening.
He turned away and followed Xia Anmian and Xia Cuihua toward the entrance.
Xia Anmian had already rushed up the stairs, with Xia Cuihua following closely behind. Jiang Jianguo held the stairwell door open for Jiang Yi and lowered his voice. “Go upstairs and see if there’s anything you can help with. Just don’t cause trouble.”
“Mm.”
Jiang Yi entered and slowly climbed the stairs.
The stairwell was narrow. Half the motion-activated lights were broken, leaving each floor alternating between patches of darkness and dim light. The walls were covered in small advertisements that had been pasted on, torn away, and replaced countless times, leaving layers of sticky residue behind.
The higher Jiang Yi climbed, the slower his footsteps became.
At the fourth-floor landing, he stopped.
Leaning against the wall, he raised a hand and wiped his face.
His palm came away damp.
He couldn’t tell whether it was sweat or something else.
‘…It can’t be that serious.’
He whispered the words to himself, so quietly that they didn’t even produce an echo.
‘All I did was break up with her. We’ve never even met. She doesn’t even know who I am. Why would she kill herself because of me?’
He repeated those words several times.
Only then did the suffocating tightness around his chest loosen slightly.
But when Jiang Yi finally reached the entrance to the seventh-floor rooftop, he saw Su Xiaoyue’s parents collapsed on the stairs inside the stairwell.
The woman was curled into herself. Her makeup had been completely ruined by tears, and her eyeliner had smeared into two dark streaks beneath her eyes. A sheet of paper was clenched tightly in her hand, its corners already frayed from being rubbed between her fingers.
Beside her sat a middle-aged man with his head buried in his hands.
His shoulders rose and fell.
He didn’t make a sound, but his entire back was trembling.
Xia Cuihua crouched beside the woman and gently patted her back. “What exactly happened? Weren’t things going well between you and Xiaoyue?”
The woman slowly raised her head.
Her lips trembled for a long time before she finally managed to speak. “Cuihua, I… I really don’t know… After the exams ended, we stopped controlling her. We let her use her phone, and we didn’t stop her from going out with her friends. We even looked at universities together. I told her that whichever university she wanted to attend, her mother would pay for it…”
As she spoke, she broke down crying again, the words squeezing painfully from her throat.
“She was perfectly fine when she came home at noon. She even said, ‘Mom, I want to eat your braised pork.’ I made it for her… She only ate a few bites before going back to her room. By the time I checked again, she was gone…”
“What did I do wrong?” She suddenly grabbed Xia Cuihua’s wrist. “Whatever I did wrong, tell her to tell me! I’ll change! I’ll kneel down and apologize to her if that’s what she wants! Just please don’t let her do anything foolish…”
Xia Cuihua’s eyes reddened as well. She pulled the woman into her arms and gently patted her back.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. Don’t panic yet. Anmian has already gone up to talk to her. Those two girls are closer than anyone. Everything will be okay.”