Daniel heard the student in front say someone had committed suicide and asked, "Which class?"
The girl replied, "Class 7. I heard she used to have pretty good grades, but I don't know why they've dropped recently. Maybe it's because the pressure has been too much lately."
Daniel poked William, who was playing with his phone, and said, "William, a girl in Class 7 committed suicide."
William's fingers paused on his phone, then he turned off the screen and asked, "Class 7?"
"Yes, Class 7," Daniel confirmed.
The two exchanged glances, and William confirmed his suspicion that the girl who committed suicide must have been the one from the other day.
The hallway was crowded with people, and an ambulance was parked downstairs at the school.
Mr. Johnson had also heard about the incident and sighed. Seeing the students standing outside, he said, "Stop watching, class has started, hurry up and get inside."
The students in the class then gradually came in from outside.
"Students, if you have any stress or problems, you must talk to teachers, parents, or friends. Don't keep it to yourself; holding it in for too long can lead to serious issues."
William and the others were very clear that it wasn't because of academic pressure; it was clearly because of that incident, which had caused her psychological trauma and left an indelible psychological shadow.
————
Emily was saved.
She opened her eyes and saw a white hospital room.
Jessica's eyes were swollen from crying. Seeing her wake up, she said, "Why did you suddenly cut your wrist? Are you stupid? Doesn't it hurt?"
A nurse quietly reminded her, "The patient has just woken up and may be emotionally unstable. It's better not to provoke her."
Emily looked lifelessly at the ceiling, then at her bandaged hand. She hadn't died; she had been saved again.
After a while, she called out, "Mom."
Jessica held her wrist and said, "Mom is here. I won't force you to study anymore. I just wanted you to study hard, get into a good school, and have a good future. I never thought I put so much pressure on you."
Emily said, "It's not because of that."
"Then what is it? Tell me, I'm your mom."
Emily pursed her lips, and tears slid down her cheeks.
"Are you being bullied by classmates at school? I'll go ask the teachers."
Emily shook her head, "No." Originally, William had done a good deed by saving her, but because of her situation, he was subjected to those unfounded rumors for no reason. She mustered her courage and said, "I need to tell you something. You might get angry and feel that I've disgraced you, but I still have to say it."
After hearing what Emily had to say, Jessica cried so hard her whole body trembled, and then she hugged Emily on the hospital bed, saying, "Are you stupid? Why didn't you tell me about such a thing? Why didn't you tell your mom?"
Emily said, "I was going to tell you, but you insisted I had to go to school, and then I gave up on telling you."
Jessica listened, regretting that she wanted to strangle herself for not listening to her that day. She said, "I'm going to the school to tear him apart. How dare he treat my daughter like this?"
"If it weren't for the three boys who came, I would have been raped."
Jessica listened, her heart aching, and kept blaming herself for not listening to her that day.
Emily asked, "Mom, do you think I'm a disgrace to you?"
"How could this be your fault? It's clearly his mistake. I'm going to call the police. That bastard is still sitting in class, and my daughter is lying in a hospital bed. Why? Why hasn't he received the punishment he deserves?"
"Mom, don't you think calling the police would disgrace you?"
"Silly girl, don't think about it, just go to sleep."
————
The ambulance had just left, and soon the police car arrived.
The sound of police sirens echoed throughout the campus.
Everyone was curious about what had happened at the school that had attracted the police.
A man in a police uniform suddenly came to Class 17 and said, "I'm looking for William from your class."
Mr. Johnson was in the middle of teaching and was taken aback to see the police. He said to the class, "Someone is looking for you outside."
William still looked sleepy and somewhat fierce as he stood up from his seat and walked out.
Daniel and Hao Ming had a pretty good idea of what was going on and followed William, saying to Mr. Johnson, "We'll go with him too."
"Hey," Mr. Johnson called out, then sighed and said to the class, "Let's continue with the lesson."
————
The police officer looked at the three young men who walked in and said, "Have a seat."
William glanced at Matthew and sat down.
"Were you three witnesses at the time?"
William responded with a simple "Yeah."
"Describe the situation at the time."
William's voice was light, his tone unhurried and steady, with no particular inflection: "We were passing by the playground when we heard some noises, and then suddenly someone shouted for help from inside, so we broke in." He finished and looked at Matthew, saying, "We saw him trying to do something inappropriate to a girl and taking private photos of her."
The police officer nodded and jotted down what he said, which was quite similar to what the girl's parents who reported the case had said.
Matthew said, "Officer, they are clearly framing me. I never did those things to that girl. We hardly interact in class; how could I do such a thing to her? Besides, I spend all my free time studying; I don't have time for this kind of thing."
The police had also learned this from the head teacher of Class 7; the two usually had no interaction, and Matthew's grades were excellent. He said to Matthew, "So how do you explain the complainant saying you tried to molest her and took private photos of her?"
Matthew pointed at William and said, "He usually loves to fight and cause trouble; it's clearly him who threatened Emily, which led to Emily's suicide. Moreover, they bullied me; all the injuries on my face were caused by them. I have nothing to do with this matter."
Matthew was best at pretending to be a good student. When William deleted the photos from his phone, he had no evidence to prove it happened. As long as he denied it and there was no evidence, there was nothing they could do to him.
Daniel was amused by his ability to distort the truth and said, "Matthew, stop pretending. What you did, you know very well. Now you're playing the good student card here."
Matthew pretended to be a bit scared and sat back, saying, "The police are here; you can't lay a hand on me."
William didn't want to waste words with him and simply said, "I have evidence."