The sky is big, the ground is big, but high school seniors are the biggest.
Jian Jing and Ji Yunyun parted ways and immediately called Ji Feng to come out.
On the other end of the phone was a loud and clear male voice saying, "We must fully...maintain order...". He was probably in a lecture or training session.
Ji Feng's voice was very low, like a thief's: "In a meeting, what's up?"
Jian Jing explained the situation from beginning to end.
"Damn!" He cursed, "Send me the location, coming right away."
Coming right away meant half an hour. Considering his usual situation, this was unprecedentedly efficient.
"What the hell?" Ji Feng sat down and started complaining immediately, "The college entrance exam is coming up soon, what is she thinking?"
"She knows you would say this, that's why she'd rather investigate on her own than ask you for help." Jian Jing slowly sipped on her iced coffee as she retorted him, "Tsk tsk, big brother you're like this."
Ji Feng rolled his eyes and calmed down, "What's the case?"
"If you're busy, just making a phone call will do," Jian Jing said deliberately, "I can investigate on my own."
Ji Feng didn't even take the bait. He asked directly, "Do you think it's a homicide?"
"Not necessarily, but if we don't investigate, she definitely won't be at ease. The college entrance exam is coming up soon, this can't keep preoccupying her mind, right?" Jian Jing took a sip of coffee and asked, "Are you coming? If not, at least lend me the case file to take a look."
"Nonsense." Ji Feng's answer was no surprise, "I'll come pick you up tomorrow. We'll go to the school."
"I don't want to go with you." Jian Jing rejected, "I have my own ways."
Ji Feng looked at her for a bit: "What are you scheming?"
"I'm not telling you," she said.
The next day, Monday. Nothing happened. The atmosphere in Senior Year Class 5 was as depressing as always.
Ji Yunyun sat in the second to last row, occasionally glancing at the empty seat in the third row. That was Miao Tong's seat. Her desk was now completely empty. The notebooks that used to be filled with notes, the piles of test papers, and the colorful stationery had all disappeared.
With the crowded state of the classroom desks, this vacancy was especially conspicuous.
Ji Yunyun believed that she was not the only one who would stare at that desk.
She unconsciously pressed the button of her fountain pen - click, click, click. The boy sitting next to her lifted his elbow and nudged her arm, "Annoying."
Ji Yunyun ignored him.
"Why do you keep staring at the class president?" The boy next to her asked as he scooted closer.
"None of your business." Ji Yunyun pushed him away, grabbed some test papers, and forced herself to concentrate on the math problems.
Math is so freaking hard!
When will Teacher Jian start investigating?
And that annoying brother, he'll definitely get scolded again. But as long as we can get to the bottom of this, he can say whatever he wants.
What if Miao Tong really didn't kill herself?
Ugh, this is so annoying.
She daydreamed the whole day and didn't even finish the test papers. She had no choice but to pitifully go back to the dorm and continue under the light of her flashlight.
Several times, Ji Yunyun almost cracked and wanted to send someone a message, but she endured.
On the third day, Tuesday, she attended class with dark eye circles.
During the second period, the math teacher who was their class teacher came in and said, "Let's switch the music class to this period and have the safety education class this afternoon. Everyone line up and go to the auditorium."
Ji Yunyun's heart shuddered as she looked at Xiao Xiao.
The two good friends silently held hands.
The students were not surprised. With someone jumping off a building, the school must do something - psychological counseling, safety education, parent meetings... Only some whispered.
"Another wasted class."
"Boring."
"Waste of time, might as well give us PE."
But no matter the complaints, the school was very strict. All 30+ senior year classes came.
Ji Yunyun sat down and immediately saw her brother glaring at her from the stage. Glare all you want, I won't lose any meat. She scolded him inwardly and glared back fiercely.
But two girls in the back row became excited, "Wow, is that police officer? So handsome!"
Ji Yunyun: Other than being handsome, completely useless.
Girls: "Uniform temptation!"
Ji Yunyun: The quality is so poor, I have to sew his loose buttons back on myself.
Girls: "Wonder if he has a girlfriend?"
Ji Yunyun: Obviously doesn't.
After a round of mental retorts, strangely, Ji Yunyun's raised heart gradually settled down, and the anxiety that had enveloped her body swiftly retreated.
Slowly, she calmed down.
The safety education lecture was hosted by a sweet-voiced beauty from the security brigade, responsible for safety education at the school and community.
The lecture was not long. The main point was "cherish life, study hard". The students listened drearily.
After half an hour, the lecture ended. Everyone returned to their classrooms for the next lesson.
Ji Yunyun was pushed along by the crowd, returning for an English class.
But she knew this was not over yet.
"I've repaid my favor to you this time." The security brigade beauty put her hands on her hips, "Emergency overtime, do you know how late I stayed up last night?"
"Alright alright, thanks a lot." Ji Feng said, "I'll treat you to a meal another day."
"Another day means no next time." She said, "Treat me to lunch today."
Ji Feng: "The cafeteria?"
Beauty: "You're taking a girl to the cafeteria?"
"There's more than just the cafeteria at school right?" He packed up the materials, "Then another day it is. I still have something to investigate."
Beauty: "......"
Just as the two were about to leave, they suddenly saw the custodian bringing in standing signs, pull straps, posters, and several boxes of new books from outside.
"Ah! Teacher Jian's lecture?" The beauty stopped in her tracks and quickly asked the custodian, "Is it today?"
"Next class." The custodian said, "But it's for 10th and 11th grade."
The beauty did not leave and said to Ji Feng, "Cafeteria it is then. I'll go back after eating."
Ji Feng: "For Teacher Jian's autograph?"
"Signed editions are rare, especially autographed ones. Opportunities are hard to come by. Teacher Jian holds very few signing events." The beauty happily calculated. Her anger from being made to work overtime early in the morning had completely disappeared without a trace.
Ji Feng couldn't understand the enthusiasm of fans and shook his head as he retreated.
The Sciences building was on the other side of the auditorium, about the same height as the classroom building, totaling 4 floors. Behind were the basketball court and badminton court, and in front was the office building.
The layout was approximately as follows:
Girls Dorms.....Boys Dorms
..Cafeteria.....Gym.....Courts
Classroom A.....Track.....Courts
Auditorium....Sciences Building
Classroom B..........Office Building
Classroom C
Senior Class 5 was located in Building A. At the time of the incident, they had PE self-study. For Miao Tong to rush from Building A all the way to the Sciences Building to commit suicide was indeed somewhat unreasonable.
But there was evidence to classify this as a suicide case.
The colleague from last time's investigation had already recorded all eyewitnesses and indirect witnesses.
No one actually saw Miao Tong jump down, but no suspicious person was seen entering or leaving either.
There were a total of 6 people in the Sciences Building at the time of the incident.
The chemistry teacher preparing for next period's class on the first floor, the custodian mopping on the first floor, and 4 10th grade students preparing for the National Chemistry Competition in the lab.
The Sciences Building had a total of 2 entrances/exits, one on the left and one on the right.
At the time, the custodian was mopping the floor on the left side of the first floor. According to him, he had heard footsteps about 10 minutes before Miao Tong’s fall.
Afterwards, he stayed in that area until Miao Tong jumped. He did not leave or hear/see a second person enter or exit.
The right entrance was near a long, quiet corridor connected by a overpass to the front office building. Usually no one was there.
Two Class 5 students were there memorizing vocabulary words. They said they did not see anyone enter or leave.
Additionally, behind the Sciences Building was the badminton court. Ji Yunyun and her classmates were there.
They said they saw Miao Tong walking towards the Sciences Building and assumed she was going to use the restroom - the ones in the gym and classroom buildings were too far. So they didn't think much of it.
They also did not see any other people entering or leaving.
So a map can tentatively be outlined as follows:
.....Girls Playing Badminton......
........Sciences Building........
..Custodian..1st Floor...Vocab Students.
Let’s look at the 5 people inside.
The 4 10th grade students preparing for the competition were boys and girls unrelated to Miao Tong who stayed in the lab the whole time doing experiments. No suspicious.
The teacher who was preparing for the chemistry class was newly recruited this year to teach first-year high school students. He did not even know the student Miao Tong, let alone have a motive to kill her.
Besides, although the dust accumulated from the rain the previous day was washed clean by the rainwater, and the next day's sun had dried it without leaving any footprints or other traces, there was nothing particularly noteworthy either.
Under such circumstances, it was reasonable to determine that Miao Tong committed suicide.
But if it was murder... Ji Feng was thinking, when he suddenly heard a roar of cheers coming from the auditorium next door. The huge sound of hundreds of people cheering together was as if it could blow off the ceiling.
"Tsk, the writer is as popular as a celebrity." He muttered to himself, then walked up to the rooftop on the fourth floor.
The rooftop and the stairwell were separated by a door, which had now been replaced by a large lock, but in the photos in the archives, it was just an ordinary small lock.
The key was threaded onto a key ring along with other keys in the lab, which was kept by a teacher in the office building.
However, the lock on the scene had been pried open, and it was unclear who did it. After all, no one would run to the rooftop for no reason.
Ji Feng scrolled to the bottom of the archives and found no mention of the two people Xiao Xiao was concerned about.
Xiao Xiao’s roommate, the nervous girl thief Tong Molli.
The student council president of Class 5 Senior Year 3, rumored to be the victim’s ex-boyfriend and her competitor for the recommended admission quota, Wu Jingcheng.
He decided to ask their head teacher.
On the way past the auditorium, he could clearly hear the students' screaming.
Ji Feng was reminded of when he was an intern and was assigned to be responsible for a celebrity's concert. The stadium that night was just like this, noisy enough to hurt his ears.
He admitted that Teacher Jian was smart and beautiful and talented, but still not to this extent, right?
"Ah ah ah—" There it was again. These kids knew nothing.
Ji Feng raced into the teaching building. Before he reached the head teacher's office, he heard students protesting, "Why do the first and second graders get to go, but we don't?"
"Yeah, we want autographs too," the girls pleaded. "Teacher, please make an exception for us."
Those who dared to come to the office to make requests were all teachers' darling students, top ten in grades. Their opinions were what the teachers were usually very willing to listen to.
Considering that a student had just committed suicide, although the teachers felt it would easily distract the students, they still said, "How about this, let me ask if we can spare a period in the afternoon for everyone to get signatures and whatnot, but on the condition that you don't fall behind on studies."
"Yay!!" The students cheered.
The children filed out one after another.
Only then did Ji Feng knock on the door and politely ask, "Teacher Chen, may I trouble you for a moment?"
Author's note: Sorry for the late update today, I went to the hospital.
Mwah!
