South of Chutian

When Li Yuechi woke up, it was still raining in Wuhan, and the sky was dark, so he couldn't tell what time it was.He pressed the phone, but there was no response, and then he remembered that the phone was turned off last night and hadn't been charged yet.

Li Yuechi sat up slowly and rubbed his temples.He knew that he had slept for a long time, but after waking up, he didn't feel refreshed, but rather dizzy, like the sky outside the window.

Charge the phone, wait a few minutes, and turn it on.

Tang Heng's old mobile phone was a new model from Nokia last year, and it started up very smoothly.But this time, for some reason, the screen went black for two seconds after the boot animation was played.There was a "bang" thunder outside the window, and Li Yuechi's heart trembled unpreparedly.

The phone screen lit up, and Li Yuechi opened his eyes wide, seeing one after another missed calls, text messages and even MMS messages pouring into the main page. Every time a notification popped up, the phone vibrated in his hand. At this moment, the phone seemed to be wound up. The alarm clock buzzed non-stop.

Li Yuechi put down the phone in a daze and looked at the screen.

Tian Xiaoqin, Professor Tang, roommate, An Yun, Jiang Ya, counselor, mother... and Tang Heng.

Li Yuechi quickly grabbed his phone and dialed Tang Heng's number.

Another shutdown.

Missed calls and unread messages still kept popping up. Li Yuechi had an intuition about what happened, and before he could take a closer look, he called An Yun again.

An Yun seemed to be guarding the phone, and picked it up the moment the signal was connected: "Li Yuechi?!"

"It's me," Li Yuechi said, "You're looking for me?"

"...Where are you?" Her voice was extremely hoarse.

"My house in Donghu Village, my phone ran out of battery last night and was turned off."

"Oh, you don't know yet."

Li Yuechi felt his chest sinking: "What?"

"Tian Xiaoqin," An Yun said in a trance, "I jumped off the building this morning."

At [-]:[-] p.m., Li Yuechi saw the cordon downstairs in the dormitory.Under the gloomy sky, several bright yellow warning lines are particularly bright.They surrounded the place where Tian Xiaoqin fell from the building, but there was nothing on the ground, because any traces had been washed away by the rain.

I don't know who put a lily beside the cordon.Many girls stood in the open space a few meters away, and Li Yuechi heard their conversations.

"I'm scared to death, I'm going out to rent a house, I don't live here anymore..."

"My God, I'm sure I won't dare go to the bathroom in the middle of the night."

"Why on earth is she? It is said that she is only a graduate student, and she hasn't written a graduation thesis yet."

"Think about her roommate, she is really unlucky, how much psychological shadow does this leave?"

"It's unlucky for us to live in the same building as her!"

"Okay, don't look at it, bad luck."

"Hey, what is there to miss?"

Li Yuechi stood silently among them, a few girls left, and new onlookers came over.There was light rain in the sky, and the crowd gathered numbly like an ant colony, and then dispersed.

After an unknown amount of time, there was a sound of hurried footsteps behind him.

"Yuechi!" The roommate tugged at him, "So you are here... let's go, the counselor is looking for you."

Li Yuechi said, "Looking for me?"

"Hmm..." The roommate's tone was a bit awkward, "I just said that I wanted to ask about Tian Xiaoqin's situation...you will know when you go."

Li Yuechi nodded, and finally glanced at the open space surrounded by the cordon, then turned and left.The police car stopped not far away, and his roommate patted him on the shoulder, and said with relief, "Don't be afraid, the school will call the police for such things."

Li Yuechi boarded the police car and came to the counselor's office.

"Li Yuechi, Xiao Li, right?" A 40-year-old police officer sat opposite him with a gentle attitude, "Don't be nervous, we just want to ask you for some information, because we heard that you and death... Tian Xiao Qin, are you on a good relationship?"

Li Yuechi said expressionlessly, "You can ask."

"Well, Tian Xiaoqin's roommate said that she left the dormitory at 40 o'clock yesterday afternoon, and then returned to the dormitory before the gate control, and has been sleeping since then. Three roommates went out this morning. At [-]:[-], Tian Xiaoqin Qin fell from the building," the police officer paused, "Now we don't know where Tian Xiaoqin went last night, but we heard that you didn't go back to the dormitory last night?"

"I went to find my junior. He lives in the school, and my roommate took me there with an umbrella."

"Oh, did you see Tian Xiaoqin last night?"

"No."

"Have you contacted her?"

"No, the phone is out of battery and turned off."

"Can I see your phone?"

Li Yuechi was silent for two seconds: "It's not very convenient."

"Why? What's the inconvenience?" The counselor sitting on the side couldn't help but say, "You are a student, is there something invisible on your phone?"

"Hey, Mr. Cao, don't get excited," the police officer said, "Young people, there may be some text messages or something, sorry to show us."

"Li Yuechi, you have to cooperate with the investigation! Now is not the time to be embarrassed, Tian Xiaoqin is a good girl, there is no one left..."

"Teacher," Li Yuechi said in a low voice, "it's really inconvenient."

"Forget it's inconvenient," the police officer smiled, "Then where did you go after looking for your junior?"

"Donghu Village, I rented a house there."

"Oh—" the police officer drew his voice, "You live with your girlfriend?"

"Do not."

"live alone?"

"Ah."

"Isn't your family's condition very difficult?" The counselor frowned, "Where did you get the money to rent the house?"

Li Yuechi said: "I'm gay and I'm not used to living in a dormitory."

As soon as these words came out, both the counselor and the police officer stared wide-eyed, their expressions stunned.For a few seconds.The police officer coughed and said with some embarrassment, "So that's what happened."

Li Yuechi said in a low voice, "I met Teacher Tang at school last night."

"and then?"

"He was driving a gray VW, like he just got back from a trip, and it was ten o'clock at night—"

A knock on the door interrupted Li Yuechi. The counselor opened the door and said nervously, "You're back...Officer Wang, this is the dean of our School of Social Sciences."

"I was in Changsha for a meeting today," the dean wiped the sweat from his brow, "I rushed back as soon as I got the call, but I came back late...Officer Wang, I want to know the situation, please come to my office and talk .”

They got up and went to the dean's office. Before leaving, the counselor said to Li Yuechi: "Keep your mobile phone turned on these days, don't be stressed."

Li Yuechi asked: "Can I go together?"

The counselor patted his arm and said softly, "Go back first."

The dean's office was on the top floor. After they left, the whole floor suddenly fell silent.Every door was closed tightly, and the air was heavy, as if it could block all sounds.Li Yuechi walked very slowly from one end of the corridor to the other, and then heard the sound of arguing from behind a closed door.

He knocked on the door, and Professor An's voice came from inside the door: "Who?"

"Li Yuechi."

"..."

After a while, An Yun opened the door.

She looked very, very embarrassed, her hair was disheveled, her eyes were red and swollen, and her jaw was slightly swollen, perhaps from a fall.An Yun looked at Li Yuechi, and said in a hoarse voice, "Didn't you promise me to take care of Xiaoqin?"

Li Yuechi said: "You will know at that time."

"I don't know!" An Yun yelled suddenly, "If I knew this was the case, would I not have helped her?! I was just skeptical at the time, because Tang Guomu had rumors with the female students, I was just skeptical." Tang Guomu..."

"An Yun!" Professor An interrupted her with a livid face, "Stop talking!"

"Tang Guomu has long had rumors with female students, including female doctors and masters." An Yun ignored her father's words, "Xiaoqin came to me before, and she wanted to change her supervisor, and asked if I could change to my supervisor. Dad here, my dad agreed, the condition is that I will stop playing band with them and study hard.”

An Yun turned her head and glanced at her father, her eyes were full of resentment: "Originally, I can change in April, but he said that he wants to evaluate the Yangtze River Scholars, so he has to ask Tang Guomu to help, or we should wait until the evaluation is over before mentioning the matter of changing the tutor."

"Did I kill her?!" Professor An's veins burst out and he roared, "The reason why Tian Xiaoqin jumped off the building is still under investigation! It may not be because of Tang Guomu!"

"Who else could it be if it wasn't him? That company—Sanke—you clearly know that it's his own company!"

"Sacred Branch," Li Yuechi murmured, "Tang Guomu's company?"

"Sanke was originally a small company. It went bankrupt and reorganized at the beginning of this year. Aunt Fu invested in this company," An Yun closed her eyes. "Did Tang Heng tell you? Aunt Fu's business is called 'Tianheng'. Now Shengke is a subsidiary of 'Tianheng', but the corporate legal person is not Aunt Fu."

Professor An growled: "An Yun!"

"I know you're with him, right?" An Yun looked at her father indifferently, "I just... I just found out too late."

"Even if Tang Guomu did it, what do you think your little evidence can explain?!"

"I don't believe the police can't find out—"

"I have evidence."

An Yun and Professor An looked at Li Yuechi at the same time.

Li Yuechi took out his phone, and when he pressed the keys, his fingertips were trembling.From 02:30 last night to 5:[-] in the morning, Tian Xiaoqin called him [-] times, but his mobile phone was turned off, but he didn't answer any of them.Later, Tian Xiaoqin probably gave up and sent text messages instead.

In this world, the last three text messages Tian Xiaoqin sent to him read like this:

Yuechi, don't worry, the matter of the instrument has been resolved.I don't want to lie to you, Teacher Tang told me to "stay with him" tonight, so I went, I probably knew what was going to happen, I did it voluntarily.

I feel that I was cheated by Teacher Tang, because he promised me that if I accompany him this time, the previous things will be wiped out, and he will change my tutor.But he took photos of me, and he said he would contact me in a few days... Yuechi, I hope you are well, you take these photos, if he threatens you in the future, don't be afraid.

It turns out that you and Tang Heng are dating, so that's how it is.bless all of you.

After these three text messages, there were four MMS messages.

Tian Xiaoqin's skin was covered with dark red traces of bondage.From her slender neck, to her small breasts, to her thin thighs.Li Yuechi couldn't imagine how she felt when she was tied up by Tang Guomu, it was really impossible to imagine.But when he was in his hometown, he had seen the villagers butcher pigs. A very vigorous boar was tied up with rough hemp ropes, and it really couldn't move.But Tian Xiaoqin is Tian Xiaoqin, and a boar is a boar, why should he treat people the same way he treats pigs?

Professor An only glanced at it, then backed away again and again, and sat down in the office chair with a "plop".After reading the four photos, An Yun stared straight, as if her soul had been taken away.A few seconds later, she shuddered and rushed out: "I killed him—"

Li Yuechi grabbed her waist: "Don't go."

"I, I will never let him go, you let Li Yuechi go, you let go—"

"You can't go."

An Yun looked up at Li Yuechi, tears streaming down her face: "Why?"

Li Yuechi looked directly into her sad and angry eyes, and said calmly: "I will not hand over these photos to the police." The next sentence, the next sentence stuck in his throat, like a piece of red-hot iron, it was going to burn a hole in his throat , he knew that when he said this, he would become a sinner, a sinner not much more innocent than Tang Guomu, but what could he do?If he had to make a choice, he chose sin, and for love, he was willing to bear the cross of sin forever.

The name he is most familiar with is like a forbidden spell at the moment.Let's hope it's the last time he has to associate that name with sin, as if he's the one who's soiled the name.

"Tang Heng," Li Yuechi said in a low voice, "what do you want Tang Heng to do?"