A deep voice, followed by a long silence.
Mei Yeqin didn't know what to say for a moment, but the phone on the other end went busy.
His voice clearly didn't let go easily, despite his words.
Jiang Sui tossed the hung-up phone onto the bed and headed for the bathroom.
The crisp, cold water and shimmering air enveloped the boy's eyes, filled with an inscrutable emotion. Accustomed to cold showers, Jiang Sui didn't react. He wiped the dripping water from his hair as the phone rang again.
"Brother Sui, Ah Zhao's in Wuzhen. Come out soon, let's have a drink together."
Hu Yifan's phone call. Ever since the last time they got drunk, he didn't know what nonsense he'd talked about with Hu Ling. His sister wasn't forcing him to learn about company matters anymore, and she seemed to be too lazy to bother with him. So Hu Yifan went back to the basketball team. His dream was to become a basketball superstar.
"Ah Zhao said he called you many times, but you didn't answer Brother Sui and he went straight to my house."
Jiang Sui held the phone, turned on the speaker, and scrolled through the phone. There were indeed a few missed calls, but he hadn't had time to check them then. Now, he looked through them. There were quite a few missed calls, but none of them were from the person he had his heart set on.
Knowing Jiang Sui was in a bad mood, Hu Yifan softened his tone. He simply wanted Jiang Sui to come out and relax. Since his last drunken stint, he'd visited Jiang Sui several times, but the young man had always turned him away, or was otherwise busy playing basketball.
This time, he wanted to take advantage of Qin Zhao's visit to Wuzhen to get together.
Hearing the sound of a "Ok" on the other end of the line from Jiang Sui and then hung up, feeling relieved. He tilted his head and looked at the young man sitting on the sofa. A brown shirt made his figure look even more muscular. His tanned skin, deep pupils beneath sword-like brows, and thin lips pursed in a half-smile.
If Jiang Sui was the aloof school hunk, then this guy was the real bully. While handsome, he looked far too ferocious. Hu Yifan raised an eyebrow at Qin Zhao.
"Okay, let's have some fun today. Let's go sing, play some ball, and then have a meal."
"How about it?"
He walked over to the sofa and put his arm around Qin Zhao's neck, but was blocked by the boy's arm.
"You guys are such big guys! Where do you get all these obsessive-compulsive people? Enough!"
He was just annoyed by Qin Zhao's cold gaze, so he waved his arm away.
"Okay, okay, okay. I won't talk. You guys like to be clean, and I don't."
Qin Zhao had come to Wuzhen this time to investigate something he wanted to tell Jiang Sui. Feeling that the explanation in the phone wasn't clear enough, he called back and, after failing to get through, came straight here.
Jiang Sui, of course, hadn't forgotten what he'd asked Qin Zhao to find out. He got dressed and headed to the agreed-upon place.
However, Qin Zhao didn't know what had transpired between Su Qing and Jiang Sui. He just watched Jiang Sui walk in and couldn't help but lean over to glance back.
"Why didn't you bring that girl with you so I could see her?"
In Jiangcheng's social circles, a huge uproar erupted. The young master of the Jiang family had fallen for a girl the young master of the Li family had once played with. The two of them fought over her, leaving the young master of the Li family in a labor camp for several weeks, and the young master of the Jiang family exiled.
Various versions of the story circulated back and forth.
However, given the power of the Jiang and Li families, many people dared not offend either. In the end, neither family gained anything.
Hu Yifan patted his forehead, forgetting to tell Qin Zhao about Su Qing. He glanced at Jiang Sui, who had entered with an expressionless face, and couldn't help but kick Qin Zhao, signaling him to stop.
Unexpectedly, Qin Zhao became even more excited, taking a sip from his glass.
"What? Are you having a fight? Isn't it normal for young couples to have a fight? Especially after what happened to her."
He couldn't help but glance up at Jiang Sui. The boy's once childish face had, after six months, become vaguely mature. Qin Zhao couldn't imagine what Jiang Sui would do if he knew.
"Ah Zhao!"
Hu Yifan stopped in surprise, clearly not wanting Qin Zhao to continue. Didn't he see Jiang Sui's face was livid?
"Fine, then don't say. Come over and have a drink."
Qin Zhao's power as a school bully was greater than either Hu Yifan or Jiang Sui, and the youth possessed a maturity neither of them possessed.
"What did you find out? Tell me."
This was a tacit understanding between Qin Zhao and Jiang Sui. Sitting down, Jiang Sui met Qin Zhao's gaze without averting his gaze.
This was what he had always wanted, begged for so long, desperately seeking to know the truth about Su Qing's past.
Qin Zhao glanced at Jiang Sui, folded his arms on the sofa, crossed his legs, and looked careless.
"Then listen carefully."
He was clearly worried that the thing was too much for Jiang Sui to bear, but he still spoke slowly.
"That time, when Su Qing had just started attending Jiangcheng No. 1 Middle School, a classmate had a crush on Li Xu. You know Li Xu, he's always willing to spend money on girls. He lured the girl into his arms with a few words, and the once well-behaved, top-notch student suddenly became a fallen woman."
Jiang Sui frowned, puzzled by how this related to Su Qing, and glanced at Qin Zhao. Hu Yifan, sat beside him, was also suspicious, but he didn't say anything more, just listening intently. As if something had occurred to him, he interjected.
"That girl, wasn't her name Hu Ruanruan? It seems she committed suicide in an off-campus apartment?"
The incident was handled very discreetly, and few people knew about it. It was just that someone died, so it was hard to overstate the situation. Fortunately, it happened outside the school, and the final forensic examination confirmed suicide.
Therefore, the school didn't bear any responsibility. From that point on, they began vigorously cracking down on premature love, leading to a period of intense activity across all schools, all determined to prevent it.
He knew all about this because the girl same as his surname, so he overheard it.
"Why are you investigating this?"
Hu Yifan looked at Qin Zhao and Jiang Sui in surprise, suspecting that Su Qing might be involved.
Comparing the two, they both shared a key piece of information: Su Qing had also been labeled by Li Xu.
"Hu Ruanruan and Su Qing were deskmates. It's said they were close and even lived in the same hostel."
Hu Yifan couldn't help but gasp at this, taking a deep breath, sensing something fishy was going on.
"Back then, Su Qing called the police and said Hu Ruanruan wasn't suicide, but murder."
As expected, everyone present couldn't help but hold their breath after hearing this.
While some of them were school idols and bullies, at their age, they had never heard of anything involving human life.
The three people, realizing that something unusual was happening, all looked very serious.