Zhou Ning didn’t have ti to think when the observation room’s door swung open swiftly.
Xu Dayuan stretched out his hand and yanked Zhou Ning inside. This sudden action made Zhou Ning’s eyes widen, and before he could react, he wondered what Xu Dayuan was up to.
Zhou Ning didn’t dare resist and was dragged by Xu Dayuan straight to the one-way mirror. Seeing the expressions on the faces of the people present, Zhou Ning knew that sothing must have been uncovered.
"What happened?"
"Last night, they arrived at Qindao after twelve, and Liu Yufei brought the person here for interrogation. This individual blathered nonsense, initially very uncooperative. When I ca over at five and saw no progress, I thought about how Liu Yufei didn’t know about Xu Qingshu’s situation. I went in and told her, managed to find the person who took the photographs."
Of course, I also showed her photos from the death scenes of Liu iling and Li Li, as well as the double grave without any inscriptions. That scared Zhang Fangfang, and her attitude wasn’t as tough as before. She confessed how she had co to know Xu Qingquan and so other things, but she didn’t know who Shi Yun was."
Mr. Zhao pursed his lips, crossed his arms, and stood beside Liu Yongxin, muttering under his breath.
"I ca early, heard it all. Director Xu went in and gave her a verbal barrage, slamd the desk, and shouted at Zhang Fangfang, laying out all the facts, including past photos and negatives as well as other evidence, all of which were shown to Zhang Fangfang."
"With that speed, it was impossible to grasp anything. Our leader said that the protection the police could offer was limited, especially when the person involved was uncooperative. It’s not possible to follow and protect you twenty-four hours a day for the rest of your life."
"If you don’t want to confess, sign a docunt voluntarily waiving police protection, and declare that the events of that year have nothing to do with you, that you had no close interactions with Li Li and Liu iling, and that you do not know Xu Qingquan. Once the signature is down, a plane ticket will be imdiately provided to send you away. In Huining, do whatever you wish."
Xu Dayuan glanced at Mr. Zhao, who shrank back his neck and stopped talking.
"Alright, listen up, Zhang Fangfang should be able to say sothing useful now."
Zhou Ning didn’t speak and took the headphones that Xu Dayuan passed to him. Inside the interrogation room, Liu Yufei asked sothing, and Zhang Fangfang, biting her lip and probably having been silent for a long ti, looked up at Liu Yufei pushing the mineral water bottle away and said:
"On October 1, 1998, Li Li asked and Liu iling to go play near the First Seaside Bathing Beach. We went after dinner, and by the ti we got there on our bikes, it was past five. There were many huge rocks around, and we walked on them away from the shore, not noticing the tide was coming in."
"When we wanted to return, it was already too late. By then, it was beginning to get dark. Li Li suggested wading through the water to get back since there wasn’t much standing room. She slipped into the water and was swept away by a wave in an instant."
"Liu iling and I were terrified. We started screaming for help, but we were too far from the lifeguard tower at the bathing beach. People on the shore shouted along with us, but in the panic, Liu iling also fell in. I was horrified. I saw soone by the sea and, abandoning my bike, ran towards the water."
"In just a few steps, I was in over my waist. Only then did I realize how deep the water was here. Teacher Shi swam towards us. He lifted Li Li, who had sunk down, and pushed Liu iling in my direction. Holding Li Li’s collar, he pulled her onto the shore upside down with soone’s help."
"Seeing Li Li rescued, I beca frantic and didn’t notice that I was slipping. I sank into the water. Although I could swim, the waves were too strong, sothing I couldn’t handle. My mind went blank in that instant. Then, soone lifted my chin, bringing my head above the water."
"By the ti I ca to, I had thrown up a lot of water. Teacher Shi threw onto the sand. I knew he was exhausted; he didn’t really an to throw . I rember a woman rushing over, wanting to interview Teacher Shi, but he drove her away with harsh words."
"He said that since we were all his students, if such a story got out, we’d face trouble at ho. It was looking for trouble. She should delete the photos imdiately because we can’t talk about this incident. Then he began to scold us."
Here, Zhang Fangfang paused noticeably.
"Back then, I was young and felt terribly embarrassed that we’d almost drowned during a leisure outing and even faced a scolding from the teacher. Now, I realize he was truly worried about us. Towards the end, Teacher Shi asked us to bring our parents to the school after the holiday."
"Don’t think that just because he wasn’t our horoom teacher, he couldn’t manage us. Safety has no small matter, he said. Then he told us to hurry ho. His bike chain had co off, and he left with a little girl."
Liu Yufei raised her hand, and Zhang Fangfang stopped.
"The girl Teacher Shi was with, do you recognize her?"
Zhang Fangfang thought for a mont and then nodded slightly.
"Yes, but I don’t rember much. She was Teacher Shi’s child, very skinny and underdeveloped, like a little kid. She seed half a head shorter than us and very pretty. She looked extrely thin, probably a picky eater, I guess. As for anything else, I can’t recall."
"That night, all of us went to Li Li’s house. After washing our clothes there, we didn’t go ho until they dried the next day. Of course, we discussed all night what to do about the incident, and by the ti school started on the fourth day, we still had no solution."
Although there was an English class that day, it seed as if Mr. Shi had forgotten the incident from before. During class, he didn’t bring up the matter of calling our parents, nor did he give us any additional glances. When I got ho that evening, our landline phone rang.
Liu iling said that a girl had co to her house, a very beautiful girl, who seed to be from so newspaper. She was the one who had taken our photos at the seaside while Mr. Shi was rescuing soone. After thinking it over, she decided to bring over the photos and negatives. As for what could be seen in the photos and what to do about them, that was up to us.
My mom overheard so of this and quickly took over the phone. The three mothers talked until late into the night. After the TV reported on the rescue, many people at school started whispering about us. My mom and the others couldn’t stand it, so they went to the school.
They handed the photos to the principal and even started distributing them at the school entrance, stirring up the parents, especially the parents of the girls in their class. No one wanted a teacher who might use any excuse to fool around, teaching their children. They all demanded an explanation from Mr. Shi.
The situation escalated, and the school directly disciplined Mr. Shi. Even the information about Mr. Shi’s spouse got leaked. By then, it was beyond the control of the three families. Many people surrounded the municipal hospital, and his spouse died from cuts to the neck caused by broken glass on the door due to the crowd.
By this point, we were all scared; after all, soone had died. However, Mr. Shi didn’t call the police. The day after his spouse’s accident, Mr. Shi went to the school, apparently to submit a self-criticism to the principal. But instead, he went straight to the rooftop, without seeing the principal, and after leaving a suicide note, he jumped off the building.
After this incident, everything returned to calm. No one caused trouble at the school anymore, and no one talked about it following the news. The school leadership didn’t expend any energy dealing with everything. The matter just passed, and no one brought it up again. The only thing was, I heard that his daughter also disappeared, and no one knew where she went."
Liu Yufei twirled her pen, stopping her motion upon hearing this.
"The school, the parents, the students, no one dealt with it, but I checked the departure records from the police station at that ti. Gulou District Experintal Middle School didn’t have a report of an ergency; how was the body handled?"
Zhang Fangfang suddenly beca serious, her face wearing a guarded expression.
"I saw it. After Mr. Shi jumped off the building, soone called 120. The doctors arrived and pronounced him dead. Later, I heard that his wife also died in an accident the previous day, and it was the doctors from the municipal hospital. They took the body away directly. As for how it was handled and whether a report was made, I don’t know about that."
"Don’t know? Fine, then tell sothing you do know. How did you et Xu Qingquan? When you t, did you know about his dealings with Li Li and Liu iling?"
"Don’t tell you weren’t close. We have the car purchase records, the hotel room reservation records, all of it. More importantly, we found Xu Qingquan’s excrent at Li Li’s house. Think carefully before you answer. I need to know the details, and of course, I want to hear the truth."
Liu Yongxin poked Xu Dayuan’s arm, and Xu Dayuan looked at him with a questioning face.
"What’s up?"
"Aren’t you going over? I’m afraid Liu Yufei’s presence isn’t imposing enough."
"No need, before Zhang Fangfang wasn’t scared because we were in Huining and because we hadn’t uncovered such detailed past events. Now it’s different; after all that’s been revealed, there’s no need to hide anything. After all, no one wants to die."
Zhou Ning said nothing, staring at the space next to him. Since Zhang Fangfang had started speaking, she wouldn’t hide anything, just like Xu Dayuan said. When it ca to life and death, these things were no longer important.
Sure enough, after a brief silence, Zhang Fangfang, who was fiddling with the amber bracelet on her wrist, looked up, indicating to Liu Yufei that she wanted to use her phone. She found the WeChat chat history and turned the phone toward Liu Yufei to show her.
"Last Spring Festival, we organized a reunion, ten years after graduating from high school. It was one of the biggest gatherings we’d had. Many people showed up, and lots of classmates we hadn’t been in touch with got each other’s contact information. Of course, I t Li Li and Liu iling again, as if the ten-plus years had never separated us.
After dinner, we had all had quite a bit to drink and weren’t ready to stop, so we went to a karaoke bar to sing. Li Li called Xu Qingquan, and I think they had just started their relationship not long before, and then we exchanged contact details. The next day, back in Hesheng City, I received a call from Xu Qingquan."
"As he spoke, he showed up right in front of , which shocked . He said he was not a good person, but the mont he saw , he claid to have fallen in love with and wanted to reach as quickly as possible. With Xu Qingquan’s looks, coupled with such sweet nothings, who could resist?
"Naturally, we got together. He didn’t hide his relationships with Li Li and Liu iling from , and even shared the details of their intimate monts, the characteristics of each person, and what he found most srizing about . Hard to imagine, right? But I thoroughly enjoyed it all.
"When Xu Qingquan wasn’t around, I thought about ending this absurd relationship. After all, I had beco the kind of person I despised most. But once I saw Xu Qingquan, I lost all control. I even suspected he had given so kind of love potion.
"As for the three of us, although we each knew about the other’s relationship with Xu Qingquan, none of us made it explicit, nor did we have a falling out. After all, once you’re an adult, you lose the innocence of the past. Who can genuinely give themselves to soone else unconditionally?"
Zhang Fangfang paused, and Liu Yufei handed her a freshly opened bottle of mineral water, saying:
"Don’t rush, just keep talking. Think back, among the people you knew, were there any unmarried won of the sa age, or anyone who might have so connection to Shi Yun?"
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