Chapter 2

“Get back to your revision!”

Our homeroom teacher was a short, middle-aged woman with a formidable presence.

A few words scattered the crowd of spectators.

She scolded the class for wasting the little time left before the university entrance exams and told them to learn from me.

One of the troublemakers objected, pointing at me.

“Liu Feng started it! You can’t keep protecting him!”

The teacher raised an eyebrow, came over and looked from me to Liu Ruyan.

She didn’t ask what had happened.

She simply ordered us both to her office.

I wasn’t annoyed. I obeyed without complaint.

In my previous life, she had been the only person to try to talk Mom down from the roof.

She had also posted Mom’s letter online and helped look for evidence of my innocence as the case continued to attract attention.

Liu Ruyan launched into another tirade.

“You old hag! You’re obviously protecting that animal Liu Feng!

“He got into Peking and made you look good. That’s why you want us in your office—so you can cover for him!”

Even classmates who disliked me now looked at me with a mixture of sympathy and amusement.

Of all the lunatics to get tangled up with.

The teacher frowned.

“Liu Ruyan, I won’t protect Liu Feng just because he gets good grades.

“If he’s done something wrong, he’ll be punished.”

Liu Ruyan pointed to the red handprints on her face.

“He slapped me twice!

“A big, strong man hitting a defenseless girl! Do you know how much damage you’ve done to me?”

I didn’t deny it.

“You didn’t look very defenseless when you were tearing up my books.”

The teacher looked at the books and papers strewn across the floor, then at Liu Ruyan’s face.

“My office. Both of you.”

Even after living a second life, I didn’t dare meet that stern gaze.

No wonder everyone was afraid of her.

She soon silenced Liu Ruyan too.

Liu Ruyan glared at me and marched angrily out.

In the office, we explained what had happened.

The teacher looked at me doubtfully.

“Liu Feng, when a classmate is in trouble, you should help… Never mind. I can’t force you to do a good deed. But you could at least have called the police.”

Taking that as support, Liu Ruyan looked triumphant.

“My whole future is ruined, and it’s all your fault!”

I spread my hands.

“But I really didn’t hear anything, Miss. If I didn’t hear or see what was happening, how was I supposed to help?

“Besides, look at her attitude. If I’d saved her, I doubt she’d have thanked me. She might have blamed me for arriving too late—or even turned around and accused me.”

Liu Ruyan flew into a rage.

“You animal! Do you think I’m as inhuman as you?”

Inhuman didn’t cover it. Calling her an animal would be a compliment.

I kept that thought to myself.

The teacher looked Liu Ruyan straight in the eye.

“Then we’ll call the police.”

“The police? No!”

Liu Ruyan tensed.

“That would ruin the rest of my life! Who’s going to take responsibility for my chastity?”

“The man who assaulted you. You aren’t the one who committed a crime.”

The teacher’s answer was firm.

She had taught in this small county for years and seen more than enough. Situations like this were nothing new to her.

Liu Ruyan’s eyes shifted. She said nothing.

I agreed with the teacher.

“You’re right, Miss. We should go straight to the police.

“Whoever committed the crime should be arrested and punished.”

Liu Ruyan was reluctant, but by now she had little choice.

If she refused to report it, there might be even more rumors.

That was how small places worked.

A woman was victimized.

And somehow, when the insults started, the victim always got her share.

Why wasn’t she a saint? Why did she have a blemish? Why couldn’t she be a flawless model of virtue?

“All right…”

Liu Ruyan agreed weakly.

Our teacher drove us to the police station.

After hearing the account, the police immediately assigned officers to investigate.

The case had nothing to do with me.

I didn’t even count as a bystander.

After a few questions, they told me I could leave.

Liu Ruyan was furious. She grabbed an officer’s sleeve and demanded shrilly:

“Officer, that scumbag Liu Feng ruined my future. How can he be innocent?

“Are you covering for him because he gets good grades?”

The officer was speechless. Remaining professional, he didn’t pull her hand off him.

He answered calmly.

“Liu Feng hasn’t committed a crime. He was passing by. He didn’t even realize you were being assaulted—”

“He’s obviously pretending!” she cut in.

“When I called for help, I saw him turn toward me. He knew I was in danger. He knew I was being assaulted. He deliberately refused to help!”

After repeated interruptions and her increasingly unreasonable attitude, the officer’s expression darkened.

“Leave aside whether he saw you. Even if he did, there’s no law that makes failing to intervene a criminal offense.

“If your attacker had a weapon, trying to save you could have put him in danger too. The best approach would have been to call the police at once and shout from a safe distance to try to stop the assault—assuming he’d seen it in the first place.

“And you don’t get to decide whether he saw it.”

His expression was difficult to describe.

Perhaps he was thinking the same thing I was.

With someone like Liu Ruyan, staying out of it was the wisest choice.

When she didn’t get what she wanted, she dropped onto the floor and began sobbing again.

“You think I’m easy to bully because I’m a woman!

“It’s Liu Feng’s fault for not saving me!

“My future is ruined! He has to compensate me! He has to take responsibility!”

She looked like a wild boar rolling in mud.

The officer’s face darkened further.

“This is a police station, not a marketplace!

“You may be a victim, but if you keep causing a disturbance, we can detain you. Consider this your first warning.”

His hand went to the cuffs at his waist.

Startled, Liu Ruyan scrambled up and reduced her performance to quiet sniffling.

Her hiccuping sobs made her sound as though she could barely breathe.

The officer sighed.

“We won’t let the people responsible get away. We’ll get to the bottom of this for you.”

I could barely keep from smiling.

Watching this woman get nowhere was immensely satisfying.

Liu Ruyan stayed at the station to provide information that would help the police catch her attacker.

I rode back to school with our teacher.

As I got out, she spoke pointedly.

“Liu Feng, a guaranteed place at Peking doesn’t mean you can slack off.

“Getting into university isn’t the finish line. You’ll be in a completely new environment, surrounded by people even more gifted than you.

“Don’t let this business distract you. Understand?”

Her tongue was sharp, but she really did care about me.

I nodded solemnly.

“I understand.”

I went back to class and carried on studying.

I thought that would be the end of it for a while.

But the next day, she brought the police into our classroom again and pointed me out.

Everything seemed to have returned to the beginning.

“Him! He’s the one who molested me in the alley the other day!

“He threatened to kill my whole family if I told the truth!”

Liu Ruyan looked on the verge of tears, as though she had suffered the greatest injustice imaginable.

Exactly like my previous life.

The class erupted. Students from next door gathered at the doorway, craning their necks and whispering.

“Our top student molested Liu Ruyan? Is that why she came looking for him yesterday?”

“I heard our teacher took them to the police station yesterday. Was this what it was about?”

“Liu Feng, a molester? Funniest thing I’ve heard all year.”

The discussion raged.

But something was different.

This time, some people didn’t believe her.

Everyone had seen yesterday’s confrontation.

And I wasn’t about to freeze up as I had before, unable to defend myself while Liu Ruyan invented whatever she liked.

Yet one of the two officers strode coldly up to my desk. After showing his credentials, he said:

“Liu Feng, you’re suspected of involvement in a sexual-assault case. Come with us.”

He took out his handcuffs.

I frowned.

Something was wrong with this attitude.

“Stop!”

Before I could move away or challenge him, a shout came from the door.

Our teacher had heard the news and come running.

She stood in the doorway, panting, evidently having raced up the stairs.

Before she’d caught her breath, she demanded:

“Which station are you from?

“I took these students to report the case yesterday. It was established that Liu Feng had nothing to do with it. Why are you here doing this again?”

She shot Liu Ruyan a questioning look.

Liu Ruyan avoided her gaze, plainly uneasy.

After thirty years of teaching, our teacher knew how to command a room. When she got serious, anyone who was—or ever had been—a student thought twice.

The officer lost some of his bluster. His voice dropped.

“After further investigation, we’ve established that Liu Feng was very likely the assailant.”

Seeing her eyebrow rise, he hastily added:

“Of course, he’s only a suspect. We don’t yet have proof. That’s why we need him at the station to assist with the investigation.”

She wasn’t impressed.

“Nonsense! Everything was clear yesterday. Why do you keep changing your story?

“And you said ‘assist with the investigation,’ didn’t you? Then why have you got your handcuffs out? He may be legally an adult, but he’s still a student! No warrant, no evidence—what gives you the right to handcuff my student? Do you know what that would do to his reputation and mental well-being?

“This is a school, where the country’s future is nurtured. Not somewhere you can do whatever you please!”

The officer floundered, unable to reply.

An older officer stepped forward with a conciliatory smile.

“You’re right. We should have been more considerate. But this is a serious criminal case. Handcuffs or not, Liu Feng must come with us.

“Please don’t obstruct us in the performance of our duties, or…”

Soft words, backed by a hard edge.

On the surface, every sentence sounded reasonable.

For the moment, even our teacher struggled to answer.

I stood and thanked her for speaking up for me.

Then I turned to the officers.

“I can come with you.

“But we went to report the case ourselves yesterday. An Officer Chen took the report and handled the investigation. If you want me to cooperate further, that’s fine. But I insist that Officer Chen conduct the interview.”

The younger officer frowned.

“Liu Feng, you’re a suspect. You don’t get to make demands!”

“Enough of that bureaucratic tone!”