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墨書 Inktalez
In Li Liangcai's diary, she recorded the following words:
Ever since she accidentally discovered my secret, she has been haunting me like a ghost. She wants to tell everyone—my classmates, my teachers. I had thought I was fully prepared for this moment. But I was wrong. When I saw the excitement and disdain in her eyes, I understood that if this were to be exposed, I would forever live under the gaze of that contempt mixed with excitement.
I can endure disdain, but that kind of excitement is unbearable. It is not the gaze of a human looking at another human; it is the gaze of a human looking at an animal, as if a scientist has just discovered a new species, filled with curiosity and excitement, yet accompanied by a sense of superiority.
I think I was mistaken; not everyone like me can face such things so calmly. This world does not operate on the principle that existence equals justification. There are too many outcasts in this world who cannot walk in the sunlight with ease, who cannot live like ordinary people. Our world has no sun; it is forever shrouded in darkness.
She uses this matter to threaten me, demanding money, asking me to wear pretty clothes, even treating me like her pet, summoning me at her whim. Ge Dongyun has ways to deal with such people; I just need to wait for her to resolve it. I trust Ge Dongyun because she is the kind of person who can handle anything.
But I still don’t know what she will do. I hope this matter can be resolved properly.
This was the last entry in Li Liangcai's diary. After this, for reasons unknown, Li Liangcai never wrote another entry.
The date of this diary entry was just before the bullying incident occurred.
Although the diary did not name the person who threatened her, after reading it, everyone inevitably thought of one person—Xiao Xuanmiao.
Old Shao spoke up: "At Ge Dongyun's house, I noticed a clue. It was just one clue that didn’t help with the case at that time, but now everything makes sense regarding Ge Dongyun, Xiao Xuanmiao, and Li Liangcai."
"What clue?" Xu Yiman asked, scratching her head.
"The clothes," Old Shao replied. "At Ge Dongyun's house, did you notice a detail? When Jiang He opened Ge Dongyun's wardrobe, it was filled with clothes covering an entire wall—far more than Li Liangcai had."
Xu Yiman recalled the scene and nodded: "But what does that mean?"
"Although Ge Dongyun has many clothes, almost all of them are unisex, and there are only one or two pieces that lean towards femininity, like short skirts and shorts." Old Shao walked over to Li Liangcai's wardrobe. "What was Ge Dongyun's motive for bullying Xiao Xuanmiao? It was because Xiao Xuanmiao borrowed her skirt and didn't return it, so she decided to bully her."
"But think about it," Old Shao continued, "Ge Dongyun usually dresses very neutrally. There are no skirts like that in the cabinet, and that light yellow dress is quite feminine; it really doesn't fit Ge Dongyun's style." He turned to look at everyone.
Xu Yiman said seriously, "That's true. However, Ge Dongyun has always been a strong and assertive person, so her unisex style is quite normal. But if that dress doesn't belong to Ge Dongyun, then she must have lied. The problem is, Ge Dongyun has always acted as if she handles everything on her own; why would she need to lie?"
Old Shao turned back to the wardrobe and slowly spoke, "All lies are essentially meant to cover up the truth. Once we understand what truth she is trying to hide, we will naturally know why she wants to conceal such facts."
"And that reason is written in Li Liangcai's diary." Old Shao looked at Li Liangcai's diary.
Old Shao sat down, resting his chin on his hand. "The person who discovered Li Liangcai's secret is Xiao Xuanmiao. She might have accidentally seen Li Liangcai wearing women's underwear and used that as leverage to make him listen to her. Although Li Liangcai wanted to reveal this 'quirk' of his, when it actually came out, he lost his courage."
"This light yellow dress was most likely a gift from Ge Dongyun to Li Liangcai. Xiao Xuanmiao comes from a poor family; as she herself said, she wants to seize every opportunity. If others have nice things, she wants them too. She envies others for having beautiful clothes and more pocket money, so she blackmails Li Liangcai into giving her money for nice clothes."
"When we investigated earlier, we found that although Xiao Xuanmiao was in the same class as Ge Dongyun two years ago, she has actually been in the same class as Li Liangcai for a longer time. However, Li Liangcai and Ge Dongyun are good friends; Ge Dongyun might be the only one who knows about Li Liangcai's quirk."
"Ge Dongyun needed to handle this situation but couldn't let Xiao Xuanmiao expose Li Liangcai's secret. When we asked those people before, aside from Ge Dongyun, no one knew why she bullied Xiao Xuanmiao. They just thought Ge Dongyun came from a wealthy family and thus joined her side."
"The only ones who know the reason are Li Liangcai and Ge Dongyun. Then Zhuang Qinyun invited Xiao Xuanmiao out under the pretense of having hot pot; Xiao Xuanmiao quickly agreed. Given how Xiao Xuanmiao had previously behaved—being frugal and filial—she shouldn't have spent a lot of money on hot pot; thus her money must have come from an improper source."
"Unexpectedly, after that outing, the fates of the seven of them changed forever. Ge Dongyun used this extreme method to tell Xiao Xuanmiao that if she wanted to bully Li Liangcai, she had to get past her first. So Ge Dongyun led the way in stripping Xiao Xuanmiao of her clothes and shoes, sending her home in just her underwear."
"It was just unexpected that things would end up like this."
Old Shao suddenly recalled what Wang Liguo had said not long ago in the kitchen—"I believe Ge Dongyun would never do such a thing; if she treated her that way, it must be because she did something wrong."
Old Shao recalled the encounter between Xiao Xuanmiao and Li Liangcai in the corridor as seen in the surveillance footage.
If everything was as Old Shao suspected, then the entire situation was different. In the corridor, Xiao Xuanmiao must have had another conversation with Li Liangcai, which led him down the path of suicide.
Although Li Liangcai did not name anyone in his diary, it was clear from the context that he was undoubtedly referring to Xiao Xuanmiao.
When Wang Liguo pressed Xiao Xuanmiao for the details on stage, Old Shao answered on her behalf, responding with the erroneous motives that Ge Dongyun had shared with everyone. Xiao Xuanmiao followed along with Old Shao's incorrect answer seamlessly.
Old Shao finally understood why Ge Dongyun lied; she wanted to protect Li Liangcai's secret and prevent anyone from discovering it.
Xiao Xuanmiao recognized this as well. She was certain that Ge Dongyun and Li Liangcai would never reveal her secret, and as those involved began to die one by one, she grew increasingly emboldened. By the time Li Liangcai also died, everyone who knew the secret had vanished.
Because of her poverty, Xiao Xuanmiao might have been looked down upon by her classmates and possibly isolated. She had always been the one who was bullied. However, once she grasped Li Liangcai's secret, she did not empathize with him; instead, she exploited it, using him as a stepping stone to try to lift herself out of her predicament.
Li Liangcai and even those few people in the video were all mere stepping stones for Xiao Xuanmiao's ascent.
When everyone pointed fingers and misunderstood Ge Dongyun, she remained silent until she finally wove a lie. She bore all the blame, insults, even doxxing and death threats. Yet even in her final moments, she still kept this incomprehensible secret about Li Liangcai safe.
In his years of struggle, perhaps at the moment he jumped from the building, Li Liangcai finally understood that there were many things in this world that could not see the light of day. Even though he would not harm anyone or pose a threat to society, and despite it being his own affair, it still could not be exposed.
He was just a middle school student who thought all struggles were as simple as opposing his parents. Although his parents disagreed with him and would scold or even hit him in the end, in their eyes, he was never an outsider; they never saw him as a pervert to his face. Only after death would he be labeled as such to numb himself.
Amidst that anger, helplessness, and even sadness lay a love that was thicker than blood—an unbreakable bond.
The physical pain was far less severe than the mental anguish. Ultimately, Li Liangcai chose to escape from a world that could not accept him, leaving behind a darkness that felt insurmountable.
His best friend Ge Dongyun was dead, and Wang Liguo was also dead, yet Xiao Xuanmiao seemed completely unaffected, perhaps even mocking him in the hallway.
Xiao Xuanmiao's dream was to become an actress. In front of the camera, she was kind, filial, and her every gesture exuded a sense of purity. She might truly be a good actress; Old Shao had never doubted from the beginning that Xiao Xuanmiao had done anything wrong.
Was the truth captured in the video really the truth? Was what people saw with their own eyes truly undeniable?
What if the video showed Xiao Xuanmiao bullying Li Liangcai? What would the outcome be then?
There were no "what ifs." Among the eight people in the video, two had moved away and lived under assumed identities, one was missing, and five were dead.
Eyes could be deceiving. Most people's notions of justice were merely one-sided violence, a violence that could drive someone insane and take a life.
Old Shao recalled Xiao Xuanmiao's words:
"Li Liangcai may seem honest, but he often bullies me."
"Jiang He," Old Shao suddenly said to Jiang He, "let's go to the school right now and see how the teachers and students evaluate Xiao Xuanmiao and Li Liangcai."
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