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"Ha ha! No, right? That's because she doesn't have any relatives; she's an orphan." Hao Hongtao chuckled, looking somewhat dejected.
The girl widened her eyes in surprise. She had asked this question before, but each time, Zhuo Xiaoman would cover it up with various excuses. After asking multiple times, she stopped inquiring.
"Then why would you treat her like that when she's so pitiful?" The girl glared at him angrily.
"Hmph! After I found out she was an orphan, I didn't look down on her at all; in fact, I treated her even better. But unexpectedly, she said I looked down on her and wanted to break up with me. I loved her so much that I obviously wouldn't agree. But then she threatened to kill herself to make me leave her. I couldn't understand and wanted her to explain why, but she just wouldn't say anything. So, I followed her to see what she was doing."
"What? You followed her?"
"Yes, I loved her so much. To prepare a birthday gift for her, I practically ran all over the city. But then she told me she had another boyfriend. What do you want me to do? Pretend I know nothing and continue dating her? Hmph! Even though I love her, I also have my pride."
Listening to Hao Hongtao's words, Su Jin'er and the others were stunned. They had only seen Zhuo Xiaoman's photo; she was a very delicate-looking girl and didn't seem at all like what Hao Hongtao described. However, there was no evidence yet to prove the truth of his words.
"Aren't you the one who has a new girlfriend now? And isn't she very pretty?" The girl seemed unconvinced that her best friend could be like this and was trying hard to defend her.
"My heart has always only had her; where would a new girlfriend come from?"
"Then who is Qin Yu to you? Recently, I saw you two together almost every day."
"Qin Yu? Hmph! We all know she likes the new Chairman of the Student Council. You said she's very pretty; how could she possibly like me? It's just that my cousin wanted to learn singing but was too shy to approach the teacher. She wanted me to talk to Qin Yu for her, so that's why I went to find her. I'm not a fickle person."
"I don't know if you're fickle or not, but your words have no evidence; I don't believe you." After saying this, the girl stood up and prepared to leave.
Su Jin'er smiled satisfactorily; it seemed this girl was quite clever.
"Wait a minute; let me show you something, and you'll believe me." With that, he took out something that looked like a photo from his pocket.
The girl hesitated for a moment, but still took it. She only glanced at the photo before nearly collapsing to the ground, then dropped it and ran out of the cafeteria, repeatedly saying, "Impossible."
Su Jin'er and Ruan Hongmei both stretched their necks to see what was in the photo that had frightened her so much.
However, due to the distance, neither of them could see anything.
Captain Xing signaled for them to catch Hao Hongtao. They saw Hao Hongtao stand up and prepare to leave, so they walked over with their trays. While talking, they deliberately avoided looking in Hao Hongtao's direction. Just as they were about to pass by him, Ruan Hongmei pretended to trip and bumped directly into Hao Hongtao, causing both of them to fall to the ground. At that moment, Captain Xing rushed over, pretending to help them up. Then several people half-pulled, half-threatened Hao Hongtao out of the cafeteria. The other students only glanced over when they heard the noise before returning to their meals or conversations.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Hao Hongtao was suddenly bumped into and then threatened, feeling quite frustrated. However, when he saw Captain Xing, he immediately fell silent and lowered his head like a child who had done something wrong.
"We heard your conversation just now; we just don't know if what you said is true." They spoke as they walked, with Captain Xing deliberately putting an arm around his shoulder and applying slight pressure to remind him that he was currently under control.
"What I said is all true; if you don't believe me, you can investigate." Hao Hongtao seemed quite concerned about others not believing him.
"What did you show that girl just now?"
"A photo."
No one spoke further as they all headed toward the Student Council Office together.
The Student Council Office temporarily became Captain Xing's interrogation room. The lights were still on inside, but there was no one there; Chu Feifan had not returned yet.
"Alright, now you can tell us everything you know. However, you'd better be honest; otherwise, I won't go easy on you."
Hao Hongtao nodded and then recounted everything he knew.
He met Zhuo Xiaoman during their freshman year, and they were both curious about everything around them as they had just entered university. Zhuo Xiaoman was in the same class as Hao Hongtao, who fell for her the first time he saw her. However, he was too shy to confess his feelings. As they gradually became familiar with university life, many people who secretly admired her confessed their feelings, but all were rejected. He himself did not dare to confess until one day, on Zhuo Xiaoman's birthday, they went out together. That day, Hao Hongtao drank too much and, fueled by alcohol, confessed his feelings to her. To his surprise, she agreed, and they began dating. He treated her very well, and Zhuo Xiaoman had a gentle personality and was also very kind to him. They were seen as the model couple in their class until last month when Zhuo Xiaoman suddenly changed. She no longer treated Hao Hongtao as she used to; she was cold towards him, even less than a classmate. At first, he did not pay much attention to it, but later she told him that she had developed feelings for another guy and wanted to break up with him. It was then that he realized he was about to experience heartbreak. In an effort to save their relationship, he tried hard to win her back, but she refused to reconsider. Eventually, he discovered that she returned to the dormitory late at night and decided to follow her. He found out that she was an orphan and worked at a bar to keep her background a secret. If it were just working there, it would be fine, but he discovered that she was going to hotels with men who could be like a father to her. How could he not be angry?
At this point, he took out a photo—a picture taken at the hotel entrance—showing an older man with his arm around Zhuo Xiaoman's waist as they approached the front desk.
"Where did you get this photo?"
"I took it myself. At first, I couldn't believe she was that kind of person; she was so gentle and treated me so well that I couldn't accept she would do something like this. So I followed her and took this picture. Even though I saw it with my own eyes, I still couldn't believe it. I waited outside that hotel all night for her to come out but she never did until the next morning when the man left first and got into a car. Only then did Zhuo Xiaoman come out of the hotel and get into another car. I took a taxi and followed her back to school."
"But if she stayed out all night, shouldn't her best friend know?" Su Jin'er asked in confusion.
"She didn't know; it's just that Zhuo Xiaoman was too good at hiding things. She would go home every week and said her family lived nearby, so we never doubted her words. It seemed normal for her not to go home on weekends," Hao Hongtao replied, lowering his head again.
Su Jin'er looked at the photo again; the timestamp showed it was Saturday night at nine.
"Did you have any intimate relations with Zhuo Xiaoman?" Captain Xing suddenly asked.
His question made both girls and Hao Hongtao blush, but they were even more surprised when Hao Hongtao shook his head.
"I knew about Zhuo Man's pregnancy. That day she also told me a secret—this secret made me completely give up on her."
"What secret?" Ruan Hongmei seemed very interested in secrets and asked excitedly.
"She had undergone five abortions in the past two years, and this time she was supposed to have another one. But the doctor told her that if she aborted again, she would never be able to get pregnant again. Zhuo Man is a very kind girl; she begged me to drop out of school and marry her so that she could keep this child. But I refused; I simply couldn't accept a woman who sold herself as my wife."
As he spoke, Hao Hongtao shed tears: "If I had known she would attempt suicide, I would have agreed."
It seems that Hao Hongtao truly loves her. Perhaps if Zhuo Xiaoman hadn't committed suicide, he might have ended up with her after all.
After hearing his story, their mood became heavy. It can only be said that money led Zhuo Xiaoman to lose her true self; she sold out the love that originally belonged to her. Or perhaps it was her own pride that harmed her. No one would look down on her for being an orphan, but she didn't believe it herself. She viewed those around her through colored glasses, which led to her downfall. If she could have opened her heart and shared her true background with those around her, maybe none of this would have happened, and she would have been a very happy person. But it was already too late; a life in the prime of youth was lost just like that.
Captain Xing took the photo from Hao Hongtao and then let him leave.
"It seems we were overthinking this; it really is just an ordinary suicide case," Ruan Hongmei said, propping her head up with her hand.
"Maybe," Captain Xing replied, looking at the photo.
After a while, Su Jin'er suddenly said softly, "Can we really believe that Zhuo Xiaoman committed suicide just because of a photo and a story? Perhaps we should ask that girl."
"I think so too," Captain Xing said.
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