I Heard You Liked Me First - Chapter 27.2
In the conference room, a department head frowned at her. “Ms. Gu, this is an internal matter. The awards ceremony’s canceled, so please leave.”
He paused, tone growing colder. “Also, Ms. Gu, the last person Song Jiaxuan spoke to was you. She said something to you before jumping. Shouldn’t you be at the police station?”
Gu Nan had been silently scrolling through her Weibo feed, but at that, she looked up, her gaze icy and sharp.
“I’m the largest shareholder of the Gu Corporation,” she said evenly. “You think I don’t have the right to sit here?”
“The surveillance and recording of my conversation with Song Jiaxuan were already handed to the police by Chi An. They didn’t take me in so who exactly do you think you are to suggest it?”
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The department head’s face turned bright red.
How could he have forgotten Gu Nan had inherited her father’s estate, owning twenty percent of the Gu Group’s shares.
He also hadn’t expected Chi An to be that sharp back then to have recorded the video of Gu Nan persuading Song Jiaxuan.
“Shall I start the meeting now?” Chi An looked toward Gu Nan. “President Gu.”
Everyone in the room froze. None of them knew which “President Gu” she meant Gu Nan herself didn’t even realize but from the way Chi An spoke, everyone understood clearly: Gu Nan was someone they couldn’t afford to offend, someone Chi An would protect.
The meeting began.
The admissions director spoke first. Assistant Chi, our top priority right now is controlling public opinion. With the art entrance exams coming up, if this incident spreads any further, it’ll severely hurt enrollment.
The student affairs director added, Exactly. Even though our teachers have tried to contain it, some students still posted about it online. The publicity department is already working to suppress the spread, but to completely resolve this, we’ll need intervention from the parent corporation.
The dean chimed in, “And this could cause panic among students and parents.”
Chi An listened in silence, her expression unreadable. When they finished, she let out a cold laugh.
“The last time a campus bullying case reached me and I came to handle it, you told me it was already taken care of.”
“Now someone’s dead, and your only thought is to suppress the news? What about responsibility? Anyone stepping up for that?”
Silence fell over the room.
After a long pause, the dean, sweating under the pressure, said, “Once things are settled, the school will handle the people involved.”
“Our primary concern right now is protecting the enrollment rate. Universities around the world all deal with tragedies like this.”
Gu Nan had been scrolling through her Weibo followers, trying to find Song Jiaxuan’s account, but couldn’t.
Listening to their words, she slammed her phone down on the table.
“Are you saying her death was uncontrollable?”
The room fell into an even heavier silence.
Gu Nan gave a low, bitter laugh. “When she said her work had been stolen, did the academy take her seriously? Did anyone even investigate?”
Again, no one spoke.
Chi An’s calm voice cut through the tension. “Answer her.”
The dean forced out, “Professor Zhang has been with our academy since its founding. He’s always been one of the most popular teachers. Many of his works have won awards, big and small.”
“That student lied often. We never expected her to act so rashly.”
The admissions director added, “Besides, we still don’t know whose painting it really was.”
Gu Nan let out a sharp, humorless laugh.
Then the publicity director spoke nervously, “Assistant Chi, the topic’s already trending. If we don’t take action, it’ll blow up even more.”
Chi An said nothing.
The publicity director hesitated, then said quietly, “Some students are saying it was Gu Nan’s words that pushed Song Jiaxuan to jump.”
Gu Nan’s eyes snapped toward him. “Are you trying to provoke me?”
He immediately lowered his head, not daring to meet her gaze.
Gu Nan gave a cold smile. “Do you think I’m the type to suppress this just to protect my reputation?”
“Sorry to disappoint you. I won’t. I watched her jump with my own eyes. I’m the only one who knows what she was thinking at that moment. How could I let this get buried?”
“Plagiarism, theft do you have any idea how disgraceful that is in the art world?”
“What’s even more disgraceful is that instead of investigating, you all passed judgment on the victim based on your assumptions.”
She rose to her feet, picked up her phone, and threw out her final words. “When she jumped, she was wearing a red dress. Did you notice? Do you understand why she chose that color? When you sleep tonight, aren’t you afraid she’ll come to you in your dreams?”
Her words sent a chill through the room. A few people instinctively shivered, their spines cold and rigid with fear.
Gu Nan turned to look at Chi An.
Chi An said softly, “I’ll have someone take you home. I’ll stay and handle this.”
Gu Nan nodded.
She trusted Chi An trusted that she would handle it the right way, that she wouldn’t reduce this to a matter of profit and enrollment statistics.
Unlike the Gu family, Chi An wasn’t driven by greed.
After Gu Nan left, Chi An faced the group. “We owe the public and our students an explanation.”
A murmur of panic rippled through the room.
“Assistant Chi, you can’t! The losses will be massive!”
“This could even affect the company’s stock prices the shareholders won’t allow it!”
“Please, Assistant Chi, think carefully. Students dying in school isn’t uncommon. Don’t make a scene over this.”
Chi An’s gaze turned icy. “I’ll handle the external pressure. What I need now is for this academy to show me the right attitude. Are you telling me you can’t even do that?”
The room filled with uneasy glances.
Then the vice dean and the head of the academic affairs office both stood.
“I’ll take responsibility,” said the vice dean.
“I’ll make sure the students get a proper explanation,” added the academic affairs head.
Chi An nodded. “Good. You’ll both take charge of this. And listen carefully one is to post or say anything on the academy’s official accounts without my approval.”
“Every statement related to this incident goes through me. Anyone who disobeys, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”
With that, she left the conference room, bringing the two with her to discuss the plan in detail.
The moment the door closed, the others exchanged uneasy looks.
“Is she serious?” someone whispered. “She’s really going to do this?”
The dean rubbed his thinning hair. “But the Gu family’s matriarch will never agree.”
The student affairs director said, “You’re forgetting when the matriarch interfered once before, she nearly tanked a project and almost derailed the Gu Group’s IPO. Since then, she’s stayed out of company matters.”
“And President Gu you all know he’s nothing like his older brother. He’s hands-off with everything. Chi An’s the one running the show now.”
She doesn’t own shares, but the board trusts her management. And Gu Nan she’s on her side. She holds twenty percent of the shares.
The room fell silent again.
Ever since Gu Hongfu’s death, when he passed his shares to his daughter, the Gu family had become… complicated.
And now, it seemed, the time to choose sides had arrived.
Would they stand with Gu Nan and Chi An or with the rest of the Gu family?
No one dared to decide.
In their hearts, there was no thought of the dead only self-preservation.
Only when night fell and they were alone did fear creep in an unease coil in their chests, hard to shake.
Because the more you suppress something, the harder it explodes in the end.
Chi An understood that. She wanted to handle this properly for the students and for Gu Nan.
Gu Nan had already endured too much death in her life.
Chi An didn’t want every new tragedy to drag her deeper into despair.
Gu Nan had recognized Song Jiaxuan’s depression immediately, and Chi An didn’t believe that was just because she was good at reading people.
It was because she’d been there herself. She knew that darkness too well.
After finalizing the response plan with the vice dean and the academic head, Chi An sat alone in her office for a long time.
She opened her computer and watched as the online discussions spread.
“They say Gu Nan said something to her, and right after that, the girl jumped.”
“Yeah, she sat there for hours before. She only jumped after talking to Gu Nan.”
“Maybe Gu Nan provoked her?”
A few who knew more tried to explain:
“But Song Jiaxuan really liked Gu Nan, she was a fan.”
“Right. Gu Nan looked really anxious. I saw her running into the dorm building. She looked panicked.”
“She must’ve been trying to save her.”
“I heard Gu Nan was the first one to see her sitting on the balcony, she was trying to help.”
But rumors never die that easily.
“Exactly! That’s the problem because she idolized her, Gu Nan’s words meant even more. A single comment could crush her.”
“Yeah, Gu Nan always seemed arrogant. People that talented usually have bad tempers.”
“We’ve been demanding answers on her Weibo for ages. Why hasn’t she responded? Feeling guilty, maybe?”
“If she really tried to save her, she should just say so publicly!”
Every word felt like a knife, cutting into Chi An’s heart.
She quickly messaged the vice dean:
“Post the official statement as soon as possible.”
By then, the hashtag #ArtAcademyStudentInRedDressJumpsFromDorm# had already reached the top of the trending list.
More and more people flooded into Gu Nan’s Weibo, searching for answers.
But she still hadn’t replied.
Until late afternoon.
Sitting alone in her car outside the Gu estate, Gu Nan finally posted:
@GuNanNanNan: Found you. @WishingToBeADandelion_Xuanxuan
She had scrolled for hours.
and finally found the account of the one who was gone.