"You two made a special trip here this ti. Is it because that kid Zhu Guangming caused trouble, or did he do sothing over the line?"
Hearing him ask that,
with that faint, distant tone,
Luo Fei was a bit surprised.
"Mr. Zhou, just now you said the na sounded unfamiliar. How co you suddenly changed your tune?"
Zhou Mingwen smiled as he explained.
"Officer, my wife has taught so many classes of students. A small number left a deep impression, and we might still keep in touch afterwards."
"But in fact, most students might never contact us again in their lives."
"However, this Zhu Guangming is actually quite morable."
As he spoke, Zhou Mingwen took an album out from under the TV cabinet.
The album had a clear sense of age.
Gold-stamped characters, with butterfly and mandarin duck patterns on it.
The cover had yellowed a bit; it was heavy and old.
And as Zhou Mingwen opened the album,
Luo Fei saw it too.
On the first day of school,
Zhu Guangming was standing right next to Teacher Zhang Lanyun.
"Back then he was the class monitor, and Chen Shufen was the vice monitor. The two of them had been competing with each other from that ti on. Whether it was physics and chemistry, or history and geography, they studied very hard and were always trying to outdo each other."
"But later, because of his weak health, plus the fact that he was always being ostracized by his classmates, quite a few parents ca to my wife hoping she would replace this ’unqualified’ class monitor."
"But my wife never agreed to do that."
As he spoke, Zhou Mingwen frowned, as if he’d recalled sothing unpleasant.
"And afterwards, did Zhu Guangming ever show signs of schizophrenia, or, say, did he exhibit any abnormalities under extre stress?"
Hearing Luo Fei ask that,
Zhou Mingwen’s response was ambiguous.
"Mr. Luo, you’re not wrong. This Zhu Guangming did have so ntal issues. When he was provoked or mocked and ostracized by other students, he would often start talking to himself. Sotis he would hide alone in a corner and talk to a friend he’d imagined."
"At first, when so parents told about this, I didn’t really believe it. Until one ti, I went to pick my wife up."
"That ti, Zhu Guangming perford poorly on an exam. He could usually score over ninety, but ended up with only a little over sixty. My wife criticized him, and he got so mad he pushed her to the ground..."
As he spoke, Zhou Mingwen hesitated.
He seed torn between speaking and keeping quiet, as if sothing had suddenly co to mind.
Luo Fei also realized
that Zhou Mingwen had probably never imagined that the child Zhang Lanyun valued so highly would one day hurt her.
This had caught Zhou Mingwen completely off guard.
He clearly found it hard to accept.
"What happened after that?"
Hearing Luo Fei ask,
Zhou Mingwen chuckled and shook his head.
"Mr. Luo, I did suggest to my wife that she should send Zhu Guangming away. From a certain perspective, his unstable temperant was very dangerous. But my wife wouldn’t agree."
"She said she’d already been teaching for more than ten years, and in all those years she’d never given up on a single student. This ti would be no exception."
What Zhou Mingwen said was within Luo Fei’s expectations.
Because before coming here,
he had already learned a bit about Zhang Lanyun’s life,
knew what kind of person she was,
and knew she was soone who never admitted defeat and never easily gave up.
So she was unwilling to give up on any student,
even on Zhu Guangming.
"Fortunately, in the end Zhu Guangming graduated smoothly. But my wife was always worried that he might do sothing extre."
"Later she even went to visit his family."
"And not long after that, his parents had their accident. That really does make one suspect, to so extent, whether he was directly involved in what happened to them."
This assessnt made Luo Fei exchange a glance with Li Yu.
"Mr. Zhou, if possible, we’d like to et your wife and hear more details from her. I just don’t know if we’ll have that chance?"
Seeing Luo Fei looking at him with so expectation,
Zhou Mingwen sighed.
"I’m very sorry, Mr. Luo, but for now that probably won’t be possible. My wife’s in poor health and has been hospitalized recently. So if you want to see her, it might be better to wait a while and visit then."
"As for the contact information for the relatives of Zhu Guangming’s adoptive parents, I’ll go find it for you now."
A mont later, when Mr. Zhou brought over an address book,
he gave the contact number to Luo Fei, who said gratefully,
"Thank you, Mr. Zhou. The clues you’ve given us are really a big help to our investigation."
Seeing his grateful expression,
Zhou Mingwen waved his hand.
"Mr. Luo, I know you’re solving a homicide case. And this case most likely has sothing to do with Zhu Guangming, doesn’t it?"
When he said that,
his tone was very calm,
but his expression was sowhat complicated.
Luo Fei couldn’t help asking,
"Mr. Zhou, from your expression, it seems you’re not all that surprised about this sort of thing?"
Seeing Luo Fei looking at him with a hint of confusion,
even a bit puzzled,
Zhou Mingwen simply smiled and shook his head.
"Mr. Luo, back when we were still at the school, I told her once."
"I said that soone like Zhu Guangming was bound to cause trouble sooner or later."
"But my wife said that her job was to teach and nurture people. Now that she had a chance to help soone, there was no way she would pass up such a good opportunity. Even if there might be sothing wrong with him, she still wouldn’t easily give up on a student. That’s always been her way of doing things."
After hearing this explanation,
Luo Fei nodded.
"Mr. Zhou, thank you for the information. We’ll get going now, and we’ll co back later to ask you more questions."
...
A while later,
after Luo Fei and the others got into the car,
he noticed
that Li Yu seed to be in a complicated mood,
her expression a bit off.
"Li Yu, you okay? Why the long face?"
At Luo Fei’s remark,
Li Yu hurried to explain.
"Ah? I’m fine, Mr. Luo. I was just thinking—judging from what we heard, Zhu Guangming might really have so ntal issues."
As Li Yu spoke, she trailed off.
Seeing how conflicted she looked,
Luo Fei said casually,
"That’s nothing, really. It’s a pretty normal thing. Don’t take it too much to heart, Li Yu."
But when he saw Luo Fei comforting Li Yu,
Su Jianfan couldn’t help feeling very curious.
So he asked,
"Sister Li Yu, just now I noticed you got a bit emotional when facing Zhu Guangming. Does that an you might have gone through sothing yourself?"
No sooner had the words left Su Jianfan’s mouth
than Li Yu frowned.
That made Luo Fei clear his throat beside them.
"Su Jianfan, put your attention back on the case, alright?"
"As for Li Yu’s situation, she’ll talk about it when she feels like it."
Luo Fei’s reminder
left Su Jianfan a bit embarrassed.
"Sorry, Yu, I didn’t an to pry. Please don’t take it the wrong way."
Seeing Su Jianfan looking a bit abashed,
clearly at a loss,
Li Yu just shook her head.
"It’s okay."
Noticing that Li Yu was indeed a little uncomfortable,
Luo Fei simply made a suggestion.
"It’s getting late. Why don’t we ask Yang i out and go grab so late-night food?"
"My treat."
A while later,
with Yang i arriving together with Han Tiesheng and Su Manying,
Luo Fei saw
that Han Tiesheng was holding his jaw,
wearing a pained expression.
"Old Luo, my jaw’s ssed up. I can’t eat anything and have to wait a few days for the swelling to go down. You might as well not have called this ti, right?"
"Otherwise I’ll be sitting there drinking plain porridge while you lot eat skewers and drink beer. How am I supposed to feel about that?"
Seeing how Old Han seed a bit bothered,
Luo Fei said,
"Old Han, I didn’t ask you here just to eat. This is to make things easier for the subsequent investigation. So just tough it out for now."
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