Heyue led Jiang Meiyi, whose emotions had gradually calmed down, to a quiet spot to sit down.
"Jiang Meiyi, I thought your family background was pretty decent..."
Jiang Meiyi cast a few cautious glances at Heyue. Seeing that the concern in Heyue's eyes didn't look fake, she lowered her head and told the truth.
"My family's financial situation is pretty decent, but that house is no longer my home." Thinking of the grievances she had suffered at home, tears fell nonstop. "After my mother died, my father and my godmother got together. Isn't it laughable? My godmother became my stepmother, and she even gave birth to a little brother for him, which left me with even less status. My stepmother makes all the decisions at home. Forget about giving me allowance; they didn't even want to pay my tuition, saying that girls won't amount to anything even if they study."
The reason Jiang Meiyi chose to reveal these things to Heyue was none other than to win some sympathy, but once she reached the emotional part, she couldn't stop herself.
Hearing all this, Heyue was silent for a moment before letting out a curse word: "They're full of shit."
"Heyue, you actually know how to talk like that?" Jiang Meiyi was stunned. "Are you really Heyue?"
Jiang Meiyi couldn't help reaching out to pinch Heyue's cheek, and the touch felt real.
From the very beginning of this incident, she had felt that Heyue was acting strange—not only had she played along with them to put on a show, but now she was also losing her temper and swearing.
After all, she was no longer eighteen years old. With that thought, Heyue changed the subject: "Jiang Meiyi, you can't let that stepmother look down on you, which is all the more reason for you to study hard. But why go out and earn money this way? Was it Zhou Wenhe who told you to do this?"
Jiang Meiyi fell silent for a long time before slowly opening her mouth.
"There are two kinds of students who end up going to the empty classroom for moral education classes." Her eye rims turned red. "One kind is students like me who have no one to lean on, like me, or Tan Qinqin, whose parents went to work in Shenzhen and who can only rely on her demented grandfather for survival."
Tan Qinqin was Heyue's front-row desk mate. No wonder she had been trembling like that when Zhou Wenhe was angry earlier.
"Do you know how many times a month Tan Qinqin has to go to the empty classroom?" Jiang Meiyi said, growing emotional. "At most over a dozen times, and at least too many to count on one hand. No one has her back, and if she doesn't obey, Zhou Wenhe said he'll put a black mark on her permanent record, making it impossible for her to graduate smoothly. For us girls to become strong, we have to study—that's our only way out."
At this point, even Jiang Meiyi felt a bit of sympathy for Tan Qinqin. "Later on, I found something to lean on: money."
Jiang Meiyi glanced at Heyue's deepening expression and embarrassedly licked her lips. "You know how a lot of people like Luo Yilan, but Luo Yilan doesn't pay attention to anyone. Once, a boy from Huilin asked me to deliver a love letter for him. Such a small thing actually netted me a hundred-yuan errand fee. Heyue, it was one hundred yuan!"
Seeing Jiang Meiyi's eyes light up at the mention of money, Heyue could hardly conceal the sarcasm on her face: "You sold out your classmate for a hundred yuan?"
Hearing Heyue say that, Jiang Meiyi's expression withered, but after thinking about it and feeling that she had been forced into it, she mustered up her courage and continued: "Some people are very generous with their money, so every month I could give Zhou Wenhe two thousand yuan, and I saved the rest myself, hoping that in the future I could go to college somewhere far away from home."
Two thousand yuan a month—one could only imagine how massive Jiang Meiyi's operation had become.
Fearing that Heyue might hit her again, Jiang Meiyi hurriedly covered her face and said, "There's another kind of student who goes to the empty classroom: someone who crosses his path when he's in a bad mood, someone like you."
"Me?"
"That day, he failed to get selected for the provincial excellent teacher award..."
If someone like that got selected, it would be an absolute insult to all those teachers who worked diligently and treated their students with sincerity!
"Just how many people in the entire class have been to the empty classroom?" Heyue asked.
"I don't know. Some people won't talk about it," Jiang Meiyi said. "Zhou Wenhe is formidable. He knows the weaknesses of every single one of us—like me, wanting to graduate properly, wanting to go to university, wanting to escape this home."
Jiang Meiyi was shaking violently, and she grabbed Heyue's hand. "Zhou Wenhe is like Satan, a demon holding all our disciplinary records in his hands. As long as he's unhappy, he'll randomly pick someone to vent his anger on in the empty classroom. But ever since I started giving him money, he hasn't chosen me anymore."
Because this peace of mind had been bought by betraying Luo Yilan, Jiang Meiyi felt somewhat awkward in front of Heyue. "I just wanted to study hard..."
Jiang Meiyi's world consisted of nothing more than her home and the school; she had not experienced the various kinds of people in society. In her flawed perception, the head teacher and her parents were greater than the heavens. She instinctively wanted to protect herself, and Heyue found it hard to blame her too harshly.
"Does Zhou Wenhe know where this money comes from?" Heyue asked, her heart sinking into an ice cellar.
"He knows."
"Ha, you mean he knows he's trading his female students for money?" Heyue laughed in anger.
Jiang Meiyi nodded and fell silent.
Seeing Heyue's ugly expression, Jiang Meiyi cautiously tried to persuade her.
"Heyue, we can't fight Zhou Wenhe. Now that you all know what I've done, if I can't cough up the money, I'll have to go back to the empty classroom. Just let this count as me atoning for my sins, okay? Can you get them to delete the video? I really know I was wrong, and I don't want to go to prison."
Listening to the fear in Jiang Meiyi's words, Heyue silently clenched her fists. There was no logic in conceding defeat before a battle was even fought.
Looking at Heyue's livid face, Jiang Meiyi vaguely realized something. "You couldn't possibly..." Before she could finish, she pulled back the hand she had been using to hold Heyue's. Her attitude made it abundantly clear: she would not help Heyue.
Heyue didn't want to force her either; Jiang Meiyi had her own life, and no one had the right to pressure another person into playing the saint.
Heyue changed the subject: "Did you finish writing what I asked you to write?"
"I finished it." Jiang Meiyi took out the piece of paper covered in names, but she merely clutched it in her hand, hesitating and unwilling to hand it over to Heyue. "What do you guys want to do with this paper? Actually, they aren't going to pay the money back anyway."
Jiang Meiyi was afraid her business would go under and she'd end up having to compensate them with her own money.
Heyue snatched the name list, unfolded it, and scanned it rapidly. "Are you sure none are missing?"
"No. Writing one name or ten names is still selling people out, what do I have to hide?" Jiang Meiyi said.
That was certainly true. Heyue had no choice but to cut straight to the point: "Then do you know a guy named Chen Song?"
Jiang Meiyi thought carefully for a moment and shook her head.
"He should be very wealthy, have plenty of underlings, and dropped out early to run the streets. He probably wouldn't wear a school uniform when trading with you. Think about it carefully."
"If he were as powerful as you say, there's no way I wouldn't remember him."
"That's true..."
Seeing that Jiang Meiyi swore she didn't know Chen Song, it seemed this lead was broken.
Heyue had no choice but to wave her hand. "You can go. I'll tell A-Ning to delete the video."
"Thank you."
Just as Jiang Meiyi stood up to leave, Heyue called out to her again: "Then do you know someone named Wang Xiuya? Perhaps she was also a student who went to the empty classroom."
"There are 53 people in our class. Do you have any idea how many of them have been to the empty classroom?" Jiang Meiyi countered.
Heyue shook her head.
"At least ten." Jiang Meiyi started counting on her fingers. "Zhou Wenhe has been a teacher for twenty-three years. You can do the math yourself and figure out how many people have been to the empty classroom over these twenty-three years."
With a number that large, Jiang Meiyi didn't even know who in her own class had gone; how could she possibly know Wang Xiuya?
Heyue let Jiang Meiyi leave and sat alone on the bench, her red lips pressed tightly together.
She was only eighteen, her parents were far away in another place, and she only had an aging maternal grandfather by her side. She, too, was a student with no one to lean on.
And what about Zhou Wenhe?
Just as Jiang Meiyi had said, Zhou Wenhe truly was like a demon who held their lives and deaths in his hands.
Should she endure it? Going toe-to-toe with Zhou Wenhe clearly wouldn't end well.
"Heyue, what you need to deal with is Chen Song," Heyue told herself. "Stop meddling in other people's business."
Smart people know when to choose to stand aside and watch.