When suicide becomes homicide, the nature of the matter is completely different.
In the condensed air, Jiang Sui was the first to speak. He looked at Qin Zhao with a serious expression, his voice sharp and cold.
"Is the news true?"
He had never doubted Qin Zhao, and rarely asked such questions. Qin Zhao, knowing the gravity of the matter, nodded.
"It's true. I've visited the auxiliary police officer from back then."
Qin Zhao was going to serve in the army, so he would have some compulsory labor to do. He was already an adult, unlike them, who were still minors. Being an adult was often a very valuable status.
As soon as Qin Zhao said this, everyone knew it was almost 100% accurate.
This was the strangest part. At the time, Su Qing had reported the case to the police, claiming homicide, but the case was ultimately closed as suicide.
Hu Yifan frowned. "Su Qing, she doesn't seem like the type to lie."
The girl looked gentle and soft, quite pretty, but her eyes were stubborn. He had seen a light in Jiang Sui's long, silent gaze.
Jiang Sui narrowed his eyes. "I saw Su Qing once in my sophomore year of high school in teacher's office. The police were there too."
Hu Yifan's eyes widened. So, Wuzhen No. 1 Middle School wasn't the first time he'd seen Su Qing. Did they have a long history?
"At the time, the police seemed to be investigating whether Li Xu had brought a knife to school. Su Qing was the one who reported it. There were other people in the office at the time, and everyone unanimously said they hadn't seen anything."
His eyes were filled with longing, his mind etched with the image of that pale little face, looking up with a look of helplessness and disbelief as it gazed at the witnesses. He later learned that they were the instigators, but when the chips were down, they all turned against her.
After hearing him say, "I saw it," her misty eyes darted towards him with a vibrant gaze, his figure alone.
The delicate little face stared at him in astonishment, staring with a look of unfeeling shyness. Jiang Sui remembered it for a long time, even dreaming of the woman whose face it was.
The clarity of that side of things was palpable. Later, he learned a great deal, both consciously and unconsciously, about Li Xu's recent girlfriend, someone close to him. Jiang Sui's interest immediately waned, and he even felt that his words in the office that day had been a bit too impulsive.
She probably didn't even know who he was, which was why she hadn't recognized him during their meeting in Wuzhen. He'd been tempted to play a trick on her, but he hadn't anticipated her being already trapped, unable to escape.
She, a cautious person, had been driven to report Li Xu for taking a knife. Imagine the depth of her pressure.
Jiang Sui could never have imagined it.
The words that followed made his heart sink to its core.
"She reported it in her second year of high school. Hu Ruanruan's suicide happened in her freshman year. Later, Li Xu began pursuing Su Qing, and everyone in the class shunned her like the plague. Some even thought she'd killed Hu Ruanruan for Li Xu."
The story was so complicated, there was no clear path forward.
"So, Su Qing didn't have a good time during those two years at Jiangcheng No. 1 High School. Finally, there's another story: Li Xu went after her family to get her. I heard that her father dropped her off at the hotel entrance."
Qin Zhao tried to be subtle.
Hu Yifan was the one on the verge of exploding.
"What a scumbag!"
Although the family had arranged numerous marriages over the years for profit, not many people would do something as cheap and humiliating as simply delivering someone to someone else's doorstep.
It was too humiliating.
Jiang Sui's face was ashen, his eyes dark.
How could he possibly imagine Su Qing's despair at that moment? He knew Qin Zhao had been subtle enough. Initially, he had only wanted to hear about her past, but now, after hearing it, his heart tightened uncontrollably.
"What else did you find out?"
Jiang Sui looked at Qin Zhao, his thin lips moving slightly in a soft voice, almost weightless.
Qin Zhao couldn't bear it, looking at the boy, whose face had now grown somewhat pale.
"Su Qing's mother learned what had happened to her daughter and had an argument with Su's father at home. Su's father accidentally stabbed her, leading to her father's imprisonment for domestic violence and Su Qing's transfer to another school."
Su Qing transferred to Wuzhen No. 1 High School in her senior year of high school, as everyone knew.
Jiang Sui had met Su Qing's mother. She looked delicate, quiet, but very motherly.
Jiang Sui had never imagined that the suffering he'd endured would befall a young girl. He'd hypothesized countless times that it was simply because Li Xu had failed to force her, leading to the subsequent events. He hadn't expected so much more to unfold.
A long silence fell, everyone silent.
Hu Yifan's heart, tormented by the thought of having once wanted to tell Jiang Sui that Li Xu had played a trick on her, and the indignation he still felt for Jiang Sui, was now rife with sympathy.
The young man's sympathy overflowed, and he looked at Jiang Sui cautiously, words choking in his throat, unable to come out.
Jiang Sui, his eyes cold and his head lowered, silently lifted the glass in front of his seat. Without a word, he drank it all in one gulp, then stood up and walked out.
Hu Yifan wanted to call out, but Qin Zhao, sat beside him, held him back.
"Let him think about what to do next. Let's not bother him."
Qin Zhao had the look of someone who had experienced it. Hu Yifan pursed his lips and said nothing, only taking a few drinks as well.
Jiang Sui had no idea how he'd made it to the hospital's downstairs.
He didn't see Su Qing among the figures coming and going. The hospital, the place closest to death and redemption, was filled with the pungent smell of disinfectant.
Jiang Sui found a spot and sat on the flower bed, watching the phone call from Mei Yeqin that morning.
His own words echoed in his mind.
There is nothing between us anymore. This moment tormented Jiang Sui deeply.
She didn't want to bother him. Even when she needed him most, the girl hadn't called. From morning till night, Jiang Sui stood at the hospital gate, but Su Qing hadn't called.
The young man lowered his brow and made a call.
Mei Yeqin wasn't surprised at all when she answered the phone.
She'd even known about Su Rao's condition long beforehand, but that knowledge hadn't deterred her from speaking rashly.
In the silence, the young man's voice was gravelly.
"Auntie, is it a serious problem?"
He used the word "problem" to evade his fear of death.