My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

The monthly exam was suspended, students were asked to return to their classrooms and the forum was shut down. However, it still couldn't block the speed of how gossip spread. By the time when the bell signified the end of first class rang, the whole school had already known that a third year student Li Qing had committed suicide.

Because all of the teachers were busy in the meeting room, the students became more and more rowdy and unruly.

Countless speculation popped up.

First, she committed suicide on the day of monthly exam, was it too stressing that she could only seek death to escape? But it couldn't be ah. Sangzhe High had been here for quite a long time but there hadn't been any terrifying case like this before!

Second, everyone in the school more or less had heard of Li Qing's name after the dissing thread about Shi Nian came out. Even though the announcement said that the culprit was still unknown, they thought that it would surely be Li Qing who did it.

Now that she had committed suicide, was it due to this? Because she wanted to prove her innocence?

The two theories were widely discussed and the majority was inclined toward the latter.. Not only the people who didn't really know Li Qing believed that, but Mo Ling also did. In this case, maybe she was the most shaken one. 

She couldn't stop crying and now, she was lying limply in Chen Jiawei's arms, eyes swollen and hair messy. "It's my fault…it's all my fault. If I don't accuse her in front of everyone, if I ask her with a better way, if I just curb my temper a bit, would she not resort to something so stupid like this?"

Chen Jiawei was silent, because she also didn't know what to say.

Yes, she was mature and yes, she had a high sense of responsibility and justice. But in the end, she was still a seventeen years old girl who hadn't even stepped onto the ladder of society yet.

The burden of someone's life was too heavy, overly heavy for them to carry.

Someone who sat by the window glanced down and muttered. "Li Qing's parents have arrived…"

Silence reigned inside the classroom. Everyone hung their heads low, depressed. If the forum was the main reason of Li Qing's suicide, then they weren't innocent at all. They also had a hand in pushing Li Qing toward the abyss.

Chen Jiawei sighed, took off her glasses and rubbed her face. She inadvertently turned sideways but didn't see the person who sat behind her. Stunned, she asked, "Where is Shi Nian?"

Everyone looked at each other, no one realized where she went or when she was gone.

***

Shi Nian walked across the empty hallway. Even then, she could hear the loud voices from the closed classroom. People were discussing Li Qing's death, speculating the cause and bringing up the matter of the forum which had been deleted.

There wasn't any expression on her face, but her bloodless lips spoke of thousand words.

If she glanced out from the window, she could see the yellow police line around the courtyard, the dried blood stain, crouching forensic investigators and the white chalk which made out the corpse's body shape. Li Qing's body.

The girl who was laughing so bright in the cafeteria a few days ago could no longer be found from this day onward.

Shi Nian braced herself and walked through the direction she had kept in mind. Moonlight Pavilion was used to connect Sangzhe High and Sangzhe University. It was a small five storey building which was painted creamy white, similar to the building in the Mediterranean era. Hence the name 'pavilion' came from.

There were two doors on each side of the building, connected by short bridges. If one wanted to go there, then they could choose one of the two paths. First, directly entered from the front door and second, from the connecting bridge on the second floor of the west building.

Shi Nian's classroom was on the fourth floor of the west building. Thus, she had to descend two flights of stairs to reach the connecting bridge. The teacher's office on the second floor was empty and it was expected that they had all gathered in the meeting room. However, there were security guards and police officers patrolling around.

Shi Nian plastered herself onto the wall and stuck her head out to find no one around. Heaving a sigh of relief, she stepped onto the second floor amidst the muffled and loud voices that came from somewhere in the classroom.

She hadn't had the chance to walk around the school yet and wasn't familiar with the second floor. Based on the map she saw, she had to go through the row of classes, pass the toilets and music room, then turn in a corner to reach the bridge.

With the fastest speed imaginable, she ducked her head and ran across the hallway of classes and reached the girl's toilet. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone inside. She calmed her heartbeat for a bit then continued, turning into a corner and saw the door of the music room…

Her pupils shrunk. In front of her was the balcony and a door leading to the bridge. But the door was currently locked! The huge lock reflected on Shi Nian's eyes and she knocked her forehead, how could she be so naïve to think that she could sneak to the Moonlight Pavilion at this moment?

The worst thing had yet to come as in the next moment, she could hear the sound of several footsteps approaching and the voices of patrolling police officers!

"…let them be for a while. The principal is almost here. I heard that he's in Bangkok last night."

"Then, he could only get the latest flight early in the morning, right? How could he be so fast?"

"He's powerful, of course he has another powerful friend. Someone lent their private plane for him—"

Shi Nian couldn't register what they were saying because she was panicking! Where could she go? In front of her, the balcony door was locked and if she wanted to return to the girl's toilet, then they could catch sight of her!

Cold sweat broke out on Shi Nian's back and she paced back and forth, anxious to death.

However, before the police officers could reach the corner she was in, suddenly someone grabbed her arm from behind and yanked her into the music room!

The heavy double door shut down with a muffle bam.

The police officers halted in their tracks. "Did you hear something?"

They looked at each other and ran forward, but in front of them, there was only an empty hallway, not even a soul could be seen.

They scratched their heads, confused. Before they could investigate further, their talkie walkie buzzed and a command sounded out. "All members, gather at the assembly point on the track field. I repeat, all members—"

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A/N: Romance will be absent in the next few chapters as we will focus on the investigation on Li Qing's death. Jiang Jinyan will appear later on so please be patient and enjoy the case ne~