Passed away
When Liang An returned to the classroom, he did not see Ling Xiao. Only a few students were resting in their seats.
He walked to his seat and saw an exquisite lunchbox in the center of the desk, with a note next to it in elegant handwriting.
"A lunch specially prepared for you—Lingxiao"
Liang An opened the lunchbox, and a rich aroma of meat mixed with warm steam wafted out. Tender stewed beef lay on top of rice, sauce seeping through the grains, and vibrant green broccoli garnished the sides. At the bottom were two peeled braised eggs—his favorite beef rice.
The aroma of the food soothed his anxious heart. He picked up his chopsticks, first taking a bite of the tender, juicy beef, then picking up a floret of broccoli. The crisp texture, infused with the fragrance of garlic, perfectly balanced the richness of the beef. The moment the sauce coated the rice and entered his mouth, warmth spread from his palate into his stomach, and a feeling of happiness instantly spread to every nerve ending.
The delicious food Ling Xiao had meticulously prepared instantly soothed the anxiety and fatigue of the morning. Liang An couldn't help but squint; indeed, good food and love were not to be taken for granted.
After finishing lunch, Liang An carefully washed and put away the lunchbox, but then he could no longer hold on and slumped down in his seat to relieve the pain in his head and the tightness in his chest. He felt drowsy and listless.
When Ling Xiao returned to the classroom, the bell rang for the first class of the afternoon. He saw Liang An with his hands folded over, slumped on the desk, his expression unreadable, and his whole body exuding a listless and dejected air.
Ling Xiao did not deliberately wake Liang An, and silently returned to his seat.
-----------------
The rumors about Li Yuwen intensified. Like a plague, the gossip spread silently.
By Wednesday, almost the entire grade was talking about it. Some people claimed to have seen her loitering outside the maternal and child health hospital; others dug up a photo of her from a month ago on social media and analyzed her "obviously plumper belly"; still others began speculating about who the child's father was.
"Could it be the sports representative from the next class? They've done club activities together before."
"It could also be someone from outside the school. She's only been in high school for a short time, she shouldn't be pregnant so quickly."
"I've always felt something was off about her; her school uniform was way too flashy..."
Li Yuwen returned to school on Friday. The moment she walked into the classroom, all the whispers ceased abruptly, replaced by countless probing gazes. She lowered her head, quickly walked to her seat, and didn't say a word or look up at anyone all morning.
During the break between classes, Li Yuwen didn't go to the playground. Liang An saw her at the corner of the water fountain; she was leaning on the railing with her arms crossed, her shoulders trembling slightly.
Just then, two girls walked by and deliberately raised their voices:
"I've heard that abortion is extremely painful, is that true?"
"That depends on the stage of pregnancy, but it will definitely be much easier than when I was pregnant."
Li Yuwen suddenly raised her head, her eyes red and swollen, her lips trembling. She looked at the two girls, said nothing, and silently turned and went back to the classroom.
That was the last time Liang An saw Li Yuwen alive.
Li Yuwen's death was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, breaking the tranquility of the campus.
According to the surveillance footage, she climbed to the top floor of the main teaching building at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday. The sunlight that day was exceptionally bright, with golden rays streaming into the corridor, making even the swirling dust particles clearly visible. No one noticed the pale-faced girl in her blue and white school uniform walking step by step towards the edge of the rooftop. According to her classmates who last saw her, Li Yuwen appeared calm and even nodded to a teacher walking towards her in the corridor.
Then she jumped.
Twelve minutes later, the ambulance arrived with sirens blaring, but it was too late.
The death certificate stated "multiple organ ruptures due to a fall from a height," but everyone knew that what truly killed Li Yuwen was not the height of the seven-story building.
Tuesday's fall was like a bomb, causing brief shock and discussion on campus before being quickly suppressed by the school authorities. The principal emphasized at a faculty meeting the need to "protect students' mental health and avoid excessive discussion of the tragedy."
The entire campus fell into an eerie silence. The noise from the corridors ceased, and everyone seemed preoccupied, as if an unyielding dark cloud hung over the campus.
In this atmosphere, Li Yuwen's father, Li Wei, came to the school.
He was a quality inspector at a pharmaceutical company, an honest, middle-aged man. His wife passed away from illness a year ago, and he and his daughter had been living together ever since.
He stood outside the principal's office, dressed in faded work clothes, demanding a clear investigation. The academic affairs director, Ms. Wang, received him, her attitude polite but distant: "Mr. Li, we understand your feelings, but the school has cooperated fully with the police investigation. Li Yuwen is a good student, and we are all very saddened by what happened..."
“My daughter won’t commit suicide,” Li Wei said hoarsely.
"Teenage girls are sensitive, sometimes..."
"She's pregnant!" Li Wei suddenly raised his voice. "Someone at your school got my daughter pregnant! That person is still at large, but my daughter is dead!"
Students were already curiously peeking in outside the office. Director Wang's expression changed, and he lowered his voice: "Mr. Li, please don't make such baseless accusations. We don't know about Li Yuwen's private life, but the school bears absolutely no responsibility..."
"Private life?" Li Wei's eyes widened. "My daughter is sixteen! She's still a child! Something happened in the place where she spends eight hours a day, and you say you have no responsibility?"
The meeting ended unhappily. Li Wei was "escorted" out of the campus by security guards.
But he didn't give up. For the next week, he came to the school gate every day after work, holding a handwritten sign that read: "Give me back the truth about my daughter." Initially, when reporters came to interview him, the school refused to respond, citing "protection of minors' privacy," and the matter gradually lost its momentum.
Li Wei's behavior began to escalate. He attempted to break into the school and clashed with security guards; he posted a long article in the parents' group complaining, but was removed from the group chat; he even contacted the education bureau, but the response he always received was "under investigation".
Despair clung to the middle-aged man like vines. He quit his job and devoted himself entirely to uncovering the truth. Through fragments of information from Li Yuwen's close friends, he pieced together some clues: it was an older man, and Li Yuwen seemed very afraid of others knowing about it.
But he needs a name. A proper name.
Li Yuwen's phone was emptied, and his diary was burned before his death. The police determined that this was a "voluntary act caused by psychological pressure," but Li Wei did not accept this conclusion.
-----------------
Liang An and Ling Xiao had met Li Wei several times. He held up a handwritten sign at the school gate, looking ten years older than his actual age, with sunken eyes and fingers trembling incessantly from long-term anxiety. He looked so angry and desperate, as if a single straw could break him.
On Friday, the school bell rang on time. Due to the Li Yuwen incident, the school and the parent committee have paid extra attention to student safety. Campus security has been upgraded, surveillance cameras are installed in every corner, and teachers no longer extend class time.
The school gate was packed with parents picking up their children. These high school students, who usually walked arm-in-arm after school and complained about their parents picking them up, now had to put aside their pride and cooperate obediently. The Li Yuwen incident hung like a dark cloud over the hearts of every parent.
"Xiao Xiao..."
As Liang An and Ling Xiao walked to the school gate, they saw a middle-aged, refined gentleman in a suit waving at them.
“This is my dad,” Ling Xiao said. He led Liang An toward the middle-aged man and introduced him, “Dad, this is my classmate Liang An.”
"Hello, Uncle!" Liang An greeted.
"Hello, what a very handsome young student!" Ling Xiao's father said with a hearty laugh.
"Dad, what brings you here?"
"It's not that your mother was worried, so she asked me to pick you up. Tonight, the three of us will have dinner together."
Ling Xiao frowned and glanced at Liang An with concern.
"Then I'll be going now, Ling Xiao, see you tomorrow," Liang An said immediately upon seeing this.
"Liang An, let's go have dinner together, okay? My parents are easy to get along with," Ling Xiao said earnestly to Liang An. He knew something about Liang An's family situation and was afraid of upsetting Liang An.
"No need, I have other plans! Goodbye, Uncle!" Liang An said, then turned and walked towards the bus stop. He lowered his head, feeling a little down, wanting to hurry home to light three sticks of incense for his parents.
He followed his usual route and had just stepped into the familiar alley when a figure darted up behind him and covered his mouth and nose with a wet handkerchief. Before Liang An could even struggle, he collapsed into his arms.
Li Wei calmly looked at Liang An and quickly dragged him into the rented van. Opening the door, he found Wen Zhi slumped unconscious in the back seat, his mouth taped shut, his hands and feet tightly bound. Li Wei dragged Liang An into the van, placed him in the front seat, taped his mouth shut again, bound his hands and feet, closed the door, quickly opened the driver's seat, started the car, and drove away from the alley.
As the van drove away, dusk was approaching. The setting sun dyed the sky blood red, just like the morning two weeks earlier when Li Yuwen jumped.
The car drove towards an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city. Liang An woke up on the way and found his hands tied behind his back. The ticking sound in his mind was rapid and piercing, blood dripped down his nose, and his limbs were weak and powerless.
He had another nosebleed. Ever since the plot indicator on his bracelet crossed 20%, the frequency of his nosebleeds had been increasing. His throat was swollen, but thankfully he could still breathe, and his chest wasn't feeling suffocated.
The story bracelet on his left wrist was slightly warm, that familiar feeling... He turned his head to look behind him and met Wen Zhi's terrified eyes.
"Sigh, I still couldn't escape the plot of being kidnapped along with Wen Zhi in this life." Liang An was filled with despair and helplessness.
Ignoring Wen Zhi's terror, he saw the driver's face through the rearview mirror—it was Li Wei, who was driving silently with bloodshot eyes.
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