Wei Zijin's gasp caught in her throat.
"I heard... I heard someone in your dorm jumped off a building, but I never thought... never thought it was..." Wei Zijin's voice trembled. "And he was your best friend. Xiaoliang, why didn't you tell me? Something this serious-why didn't you tell me?"
She lifted her head from Wang Xiaoliang's shoulder, cupped his face, and forced him to look at her.
"From now on, no matter what happens, happy or unhappy, tell me everything, okay?"
Wang Xiaoliang smiled and nodded.
"The old is past, the future hasn't come. Let's leave it at that!"
"What?"
"I said, it's all in the past."
"How did you... feel back then?"
"Scared."
"Terrified."
"And... a little... envious."
As he uttered that last word, Wei Zijin shuddered, her face instantly turning deathly pale.
"Envious?" she cried out. "Xiaoliang, no! You can't think like that! Absolutely not!"
Wang Xiaoliang nodded and continued.
"It wasn't just me. The moment Old Third jumped, our dorm... was finished."
"Fourth Brother was scared out of his mind on the spot."
"Literally."
"He lost control of his bladder and bowels. His pants were soaked. When the ambulance came, he didn't recognize anyone. He just kept mumbling things I couldn't understand."
"The doctor diagnosed him with schizophrenia. He said his IQ was too high, he thought too much, and his family already had too many serious problems."
"What about our eldest roommate?"
"He threw up right there, and that night, he sobbed his heart out. He said whenever he closed his eyes, all he could see was Fourth Brother's smile and Old Third's blood."
"See? What a joke. The four of us just fell apart like that."
"Later, the university arranged for us to meet Old Third's parents."
"That was the first time I'd met