I Heard You Liked Me First - Chapter 27.1
The moment Chi An hung up Gu Nan’s call, her voice turned sharp and steady. “Call the police right now. We have a student who’s about to jump. Get the fire department over for rescue.”
She added quickly, “And keep the rest of the students contained in the auditorium. Don’t let anyone near the dorm building, we can’t afford panic.”
The dean beside her blinked, confused. “What student? Jumping? What panic? Why don’t I know anything about this?”
“It just happened,” Chi An said tersely. “You wouldn’t know yet. Move, now.”
As they rushed toward the dormitories, Chi An barked orders into her phone, setting rescue measures in motion.
But word spread faster than they could contain it.
Not every student had made it to the auditorium some lingered outside, and when they saw the girl in red on the balcony, the news exploded across class group chats.
By the time Gu Nan and Chi An arrived, a crowd had already gathered under the dorm building.
“What’s going on? Who is she? She’s not really going to jump, is she?”
“God, if she jumps, our dorm will always be known as the place where someone died!”
“Someone call a teacher, hurry!”
The teachers had arrived, too. Gu Nan and Chi An met eyes for a second before heading straight upstairs.
Just as they reached the entrance, a girl’s trembling voice rose from the crowd. “Isn’t that Song Jiaxuan? The one who was bullied?”
Gu Nan stopped in her tracks and grabbed the girl. “You know her?”
The girl turned around and froze when she saw Gu Nan. “Ah! You’re Gu Nan!”
Come with me,” Gu Nan said, her voice calm but urgent. “Tell me what happened.
The girl’s eyes darted nervously between Gu Nan’s sharp, beautiful face and the ground. “She brought this on herself,” she said in a small voice. She claimed that Mr. Chen stole her painting, but everyone said she was delusional.
“Mr. Chen’s a good teacher… and really handsome too.”
He didn’t even get mad. She was the one who kept bothering him like a lunatic. That’s why no one wanted to deal with her.
That’s not bullying. We just ignored her. Who wants to talk to someone crazy?
As she spoke, the girl’s voice faltered, and she looked up toward the balcony where Song Jiaxuan sat, her face going pale.
Gu Nan’s voice was low. “She wasn’t lying.”
The girl blinked. “What?”
That painting you’re all praising,” Gu Nan said, frowning, “wasn’t his work.
They reached the sixth floor.
The dorm manager was already there, struggling with the lock. “It’s no use,” she said in panic. “She’s bolted it from the inside.”
Gu Nan stepped forward. The girl who’d been speaking grabbed her wrist. “Gu Nan Song Jiaxuan really likes you.”
Gu Nan met her gaze, then gave a small nod. “I know. Thank you.”
The girl let go, watching her idol stride toward the dorm like a warrior heading to face a demon.
At the door, everyone stood helpless, with no way in until the firefighters arrived. The dean looked to Chi An; Chi An turned to Gu Nan.
Gu Nan’s eyes flicked toward the neighboring room. “Open this one. If I can get close enough, maybe I can calm her down.”
They all nodded. Right keep her talking first.
The dorm manager’s hands trembled as she fumbled with the keys. She couldn’t even fit one in the lock.
Chi An took the keys gently, opened the next room, and Gu Nan slipped inside with her.
“Let me go,” Gu Nan whispered. “That girl said she likes me. Maybe I can reach her.”
Chi An hesitated for only a second, then nodded. “Okay. Go.”
Her hand came to rest briefly on Gu Nan’s back steady, grounding.
Gu Nan drew a breath and stepped toward the balcony.
Just then, a shriek erupted from below. Out of the corner of her eye, Gu Nan saw a flash of red move.
She lunged forward. “Wait!”
The girl turned her head.
The ten o’clock sun was dazzling, but on her face there was no warmth.
Gu Nan met her eyes empty, distant. A single tear slid down the girl’s cheek, and in that instant, something inside Gu Nan cracked.
Her chest tightened painfully, and before she even knew she was speaking, the words escaped her lips:
“That painting… the moment I saw you, I knew. It was yours.”
Her words sank into the girl’s hollow gaze like a stone breaking the surface of still water.
For a second, a faint smile flickered across her face.
And then Gu Nan screamed, “No!”
She reached out, half her body leaning over the railing but she could only watch as the girl’s red dress fluttered into the air, bright and soft like a flame against the cold sky.
“NO!”
Chi An’s arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back just in time.
Gu Nan’s forehead hit Chi An’s shoulder, and Chi An’s voice came through, low and steady, “Don’t look.”
Gu Nan’s legs gave out, her voice trembling. “She… she didn’t want to live anymore.”
“I know,” Chi An whispered. “But before she left, she saw you. She heard you. Maybe that made it hurt a little less.”
Gu Nan pressed her face into Chi An’s shoulder and shook. She couldn’t stop crying.
Artists feel too deeply. In that glance, it was as if she had lived Song Jiaxuan’s entire life.
Three minutes later, the dorm building was sealed off.
Ten minutes later, teachers began roll call in every class, warning students not to spread a word.
Half an hour later, the ambulance came to take Song Jiaxuan’s body away.
Gu Nan and Chi An stood silently in the dorm room as police began collecting evidence.
The door had been forced open, but Chi An had kept everyone from touching anything.
Now, as the police entered, they both looked toward the desk neat, warm, lovingly arranged.
The homeroom teacher stood beside them, shaking his head. “She was such a sweet girl. Always smiling. Her desk was always spotless.”
“Depression can smile,” Gu Nan said coldly.
She pointed to the drawings taped above the desk. “Officer, you should have these looked at by an expert.”
“They’re all smiling faces,” the teacher protested. “What’s there to see?”
Gu Nan turned to him, her eyes sharp as blades. “You can’t tell they’re crying?”
The teacher’s face went pale.
Moments later, the police found the suicide note.
Its contents were devastating.
The case was filed immediately. Mr. Zhang the teacher who’d supposedly been plagiarized, was taken away on the spot.
The entire campus erupted in chaos.
Chi An, as assistant to the Gu Corporation’s CEO, had no choice but to stay and manage the aftermath.
Gu Nan stayed too.
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