Chapter 23: I Want Justice Too
Gu Yang placed a hand on the rooftop railing and leaned forward to look down.
Wow. That’s pretty high.
Students were gradually leaving below. Gu Yang even raised his hand to estimate the distance.
“You… classmate, come down first. If there’s something you can’t get past, we can talk about it properly once you’re down.” Liu Hua had already pulled his leg back from the edge. He stared at Gu Yang in panic, terrified that one wrong word would make him actually jump.
If I die, then fine. But why drag another innocent person down with me?
Gu Yang turned his head and asked casually, “If someone jumps from here, would they accidentally hit some unlucky passerby? That thing about parabolas in physics class—how was that calculated again?”
He tried to recall. His mind was blank.
“You wouldn’t! As long as you don’t leap outward—just fall straight down—no, wait!” Liu Hua looked even more distressed, hands flailing helplessly. “Classmate, hurry down! You’re still young—what could be so unbearable?”
“How can you say that to me?” Gu Yang looked surprised. “Weren’t you the one trying to jump first?”
“I—I really don’t want to live anymore.” Liu Hua choked. “You don’t know anything. What’s there to say?”
“And what do you know about me?” Gu Yang asked.
“I—I…” Liu Hua stammered. “Did something happen at home? If you’re having trouble, you can tell me…”
He regretted everything. He should have checked whether anyone else was up here before coming.
Gu Yang leaned forward again, shoulders already past the railing.
Liu Hua’s eyes widened in horror.
Say something!
At that moment, the locked rooftop door was violently shoved open.
Song Yinxing rushed in, panting.
“Someone’s trying to jump—!” Liu Hua shouted like he’d seen a savior.
Downstairs, Yu Bai paused mid-motion. “Did you hear something?”
“It sounded like someone shouting from above.” Xie Wu opened the window to look.
Three floors up, he locked eyes with Gu Yang.
Gu Yang even waved at him.
Xie Wu: “……”
What the hell is Gu Yang doing up there?!
Song Yinxing was slightly lightheaded from sprinting upstairs. He looked at Liu Hua, standing safely aside—then saw Gu Yang turning around.
“Gu Yang?” he blurted, stepping forward. “What are you doing up there?”
Gu Yang’s bangs were blown aside by the wind, revealing delicate brows and eyes.
Song Yinxing suddenly realized—
Gu Yang was actually very good-looking.
Of all thoughts to have right now, that was the first one that surfaced.
His imagination ran wild—until Liu Hua grabbed his arm.
“He suddenly showed up and said he’d jump with me!”
Song Yinxing snapped back to reality.
“Gu Yang, come here.” He extended a hand carefully. “Don’t stand there. The wind’s strong.”
Gu Yang didn’t respond.
Song Yinxing’s heart sank.
He never quite understood Gu Yang’s conversational rhythm. They were always on different frequencies.
Without realizing it, his tone became coaxing—like when he once tried to gently lure an injured stray cat closer.
Gu Yang remembered.
In the original novel, there had indeed been a scene like this.
A scholarship student in their class, bullied for a long time, eventually broke down and jumped from the rooftop.
Investigators later found a suicide note in his drawer. Calmly written, it blamed academic pressure and personal weakness—insisting no one else was responsible.
To protect the school’s reputation, everything had been buried.
[This poor cannon fodder just wanted to expose his bully and get justice, but the whole thing was suppressed. Didn’t he die for nothing?]
[He’s too kind. Even at that point, he only thought of killing himself instead of dragging the instigator down with him.]
The class heard the internal monologue clearly.
Silence fell.
Then—
[…If I jump with him, that would make things interesting, wouldn’t it?]
[Anyway, living isn’t that meaningful.]
The classroom atmosphere instantly turned eerie.
“He’s joking, right? Right?!” Yu Bai laughed nervously.
“But Gu Yang is actually on the rooftop…” Xie Wu muttered.
Chairs screeched violently.
Go stop him!!
Song Yinxing moved closer, holding his breath.
In the last few steps, he suddenly rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Gu Yang’s waist.
Gu Yang blinked slowly. “What are you doing?”
Only after physically holding him did Song Yinxing’s racing heart calm.
“What are you doing?”
“I was napping here.” Gu Yang leaned bonelessly against him. “Then I saw him trying to jump.”
Song Yinxing turned toward Liu Hua.
Right. That’s how it was in the dream.
Liu Hua realized it too.
Wait.
Wasn’t I the one jumping?
How did it become me persuading someone else instead?
This is absurd.
But things escalated quickly. More students arrived. Teachers came.
Eventually, Liu Hua was escorted downstairs.
They moved to a meeting room.
Under questioning, the name came out almost simultaneously from Song Yinxing and Gu Yang—
“Ding Ziyu.”
Later, Ding Ziyu was summoned.
He denied everything.
Until—
A recording played.
Clear as day.
His voice mocking Liu Hua. Threatening him. Admitting to pressuring him to cheat. Threatening his mother’s job at the family factory. Locking him in the restroom and dumping cold water over him.
The room fell silent.
Ding Ziyu lunged for the phone.
A furious shout stopped him.
His father had arrived.
The recording had been heard in full.
The mask shattered.
Apologies. Compensation. Promises of reinstating Liu Hua’s mother’s job.
Everything seemed headed toward settlement.
Song Yinxing noticed—
This wasn’t how it went in the dream.
In the dream, Liu Hua had died.
Now, at least, that tragedy hadn’t happened.
After Ding’s father finished proposing reconciliation—
“I don’t think that’s acceptable.”
Gu Yang, silent all along, finally spoke lazily.
Ding’s father stiffened.
“I’m not talking about compensation,” Gu Yang said lightly. “I’m here to seek justice too. Your son bullied me as well.”
Everyone froze.
What?
Even Song Yinxing frowned.
Ding Ziyu bullied… Gu Yang?
“Ding Ziyu extorted me,” Gu Yang said calmly. “He said if I didn’t give him money, he’d have people block me in an alley.”
“I didn’t!” Ding Ziyu exploded.
“He grabbed my hair. Pulled out a QR code and made me transfer money. Said he’d strip me naked if I refused.”
The room went deathly still.
“One hundred thousand? No. Ten thousand,” Gu Yang corrected casually. “I transferred it to you personally. The record’s still there.”
Ding Ziyu’s face went white.
Ten thousand.
That day.
He panicked.
“That was because I bumped into Song Yinxing on purpose! His coffee spilled on my shoes! That money was compensation!”
He realized too late—
He had just admitted to another wrongdoing.
He turned desperately toward Song Yinxing for confirmation.
Song Yinxing looked at him calmly.
“What coffee?” he said evenly. “I don’t remember that at all.”
