May 8th.
"Ring—" The bell rang, signaling the end of the first period.
I had been feeling unwell since arriving at school this morning,my head was dizzy and fuzzy, making it impossible to concentrate.
"Wu Yi, on April 1st, do you remember what time you fell down the stairs? Did you go to the office that day?" Ming hua, sitting next to me, asked.
"I've forgotten all about it." I thought Ming hua was trying to ask me about "Campus Adventures" again and replied somewhat impatiently.
"Wu Yi, look at me and answer my question seriously."
I originally didn't want to pay attention to Ming hua, but he rarely had such a serious expression.
"Are these questions really that important? I really don't know what happened that day."
"Very important!" Ming hua first exclaimed, then probably realizing he lost his composure, quickly lowered his voice and said, "You don't know yet, do you? The USB drive the school uses to store the midterm exam answers is missing. The office security camera captured someone in a hoodie secretly opening the teacher's drawer around 8:30 AM on April 1st."
"What you're saying has nothing to do with me, right?" I rubbed my temples. "But who still uses USB drives to store files these days? Don't we use cloud storage now?"
"Using USB drives to store or backup exam answers is a long-standing practice at our school. After the teacher discovered the USB drive was missing, they immediately launched an investigation and also changed the exam content. Since the investigation hadn't made any progress, the matter was eventually dropped. Ugh, that's not the point! The point is, someone is spreading rumors..."
"...Yesterday evening, at the bus stop and the tutoring center, I heard people saying that you were the one who stole the USB drive."
I was feeling too unwell, so after briefly replying "So what?" to Ming hua, I lay down exhausted on the desk.
"So that's why I'm asking you, where exactly did you go before being admitted to the hospital on April 1st? Is there anyone who can prove your innocence? Tell me, what if this reaches the teachers, and they believe the rumors and question you? How would you explain it?" Ming hua gently patted my shoulder, concerned. "Hey! Are you okay? You looked really pale this morning. Maybe you should go to the infirmary, or ask for leave and go home to rest?"
I remained lying on the desk, struggling against the dizziness in my head, and said, "I'm fine, I just need to rest for a bit."
A moment later, Xin Hui's voice sounded my ear: "Wu Yi, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Then Ming hua's voice followed: "Class President, you try talking to him. He was pale when he came to school today. I tried to persuade him to go home, but he refused."
Then Zi Qian's voice: "Wu Yi, if you're not feeling well, don't push yourself..."
After that, everything around became quiet, and there was no more sound.
Although I wasn't sure if I had fallen asleep or passed out at that moment, I knew I was having a dream, a very realistic one...