"Some students at the junior department will stay after school every Friday to make up missed lessons. But I found these students are very reluctant, even scared of making up classes. Some will be terrified hearing others unintentionally speak the words 'making up lessons.'"
Cheng Yan led Ming Shu to the junior department. "The head of the junior department is Pan Zhiguo, who is having an affair with Shi Yaxin. I followed him several times. Before, when you saw me in the school, I was trailing him. And the two voices you heard that second time, it was Pan Zhiguo and Shi Yaxin."
Cheng Yan finished talking, but then found Ming Shu was eating with rapt attention, not listening to him at all.
"Stop eating, we're about to arrive at the junior department," Cheng Yan reminded her.
Ming Shu looked up and put away the snack. "What kind of dirty business did you find them doing?"
"… Nothing yet." Sometimes Pan Zhiguo and Shi Yaxin went to the old teaching building, but he found they were just having secret trysts.
Under the amused gaze of Ming Shu, Cheng Yan felt somehow a little awkward. He had been investigating this matter for some time, but failed to make any significant progress.
It was Friday and the school had been closed for the weekend holiday. All the doors in the junior department were locked. Ming Shu and Cheng Yan climbed over the wall to get in.
It seemed the security guards here were more numerous than in the senior department. Before walking further, they met two security guards patrolling around the school.
School was out now, but the security guards were still patrolling, which was too unscientific.
"It's over there." Cheng Yan pointed at a teaching building. The students were all making up lessons in that building.
"Isn't that the library?" They made up lessons in the library instead of using classrooms, were they out of their minds?
"It is. Classes are made up in the library every week. There's only one entrance, which is guarded, so I haven't entered," Cheng Yan explained in a whisper.
The students were still in there when it grew dark. Ming Shu crouched in the flowers while eating the WantWant Crunchy Rice Balls. She was a little impatient as a result of hunger.
Her snacks were eaten up.
Forget about this, I'm going to look for some food.
Ming Shu stood up and was about to leave. Cheng Yan pulled her back by the wrist. "Shh!"
Some students started to come out of the library. Most of them walked toward the dormitory building in silence. The atmosphere was particularly depressed.
Following the students, Shi Yaxin left the library with a stack of textbooks in her arms. Some slow students were frightened to see her, like mice running into a cat. They hurried to catch up with the students further ahead.
"Follow her." Ming Shu stared at Cheng Yan's hand which was pulling on her clothes and said, "Let go of me."
Cheng Yan calmly released her clothes. "I've followed her but didn't find anything."
"That's because you're stupid."
"…"
...
Cheng Yan felt it was a mistake to agree to work together with Ming Shu. He thought she wanted to follow Shi Yaxin to find some clues, but it turned out—
Cheng Yan witnessed Ming Shu back Shi Yazhan into the corner of a dark alley. Was it too late for him to wear a silk stocking on his head?
"Are you students of the senior department?"
Great, it's too late now.
"What do you want?" Shi Yaxin was fairly calm. "If the school finds out you're harassing a teacher in the dark, do you know what the consequences will be?"
"I don't know." Ming Shu studied Shi Yaxin from head to toe and answered with a smiling tone, "Teacher Shi, there's no need to be nervous. Regardless, you are not a good person either."
Not a good person…
"This student… Are you the Lu Meng from the senior department?" Shi Yaxin had a small impression of this girl. She was cute and was an excellent student at the senior department. "What do you mean?"
"You know it very well in your heart, don't you, Teacher Shi?"
The smile on Ming Shu's face was too glaring, which made Shi Yaxin feel a bit flustered. Does she know something?
Ming Shu reached out to grab Shi Yaxin's handbag.
"Student Lu Meng, what are you doing!" Shi Yaxin clutched her handbag tightly. "You are a good student, how can you rob someone?"
"If a teacher can do bad things, why can't I?" Ming Shu didn't know what Shi Yaxin did, but she was good at making up things to casually rave about.
"You…" Shi Yaxin felt even more alarmed in her heart. She unintentionally loosened her grip.
Ming Shu put more strength into her own, nabbing Shi Yaxin's handbag.
Shi Yaxin was startled back to herself, but it was too late to take the bag back.
Ming Shu dug out the cell phone from her handbag. It was locked by fingerprint. Ming Shu then violently forced Shi Yaxin to unlock the phone
There was nothing special in the phone, but several numbers were dialed shortly after school ended.
Ming Shu called one of the numbers.
"Hello? Teacher Shi, my child has gotten home, thank you for your concern."
Shi Yaxin leaned against the bumpy wall behind her, her heart pounding uneasily. She didn't know what the smiling girl in front of her wanted to do, but she had a very bad feeling right then.
Hearing the voice over the phone, Shi Yaxin relaxed a little unreasonably.
Ming Shu dialed three numbers in succession; they were all answered by parents. It seemed Shi Yaxin was confirming whether the students had gotten home.
Just as Ming Shu was about to dial the fourth number, a text message came with a ding dong sound.
"Student Lu Meng, what do you want to do!?" Shi Yaxin roared. "I'm not your teacher, but I'm a teacher at this school. Aren't you afraid of me going back to tell the headmaster about this?"
"Well, if so, Teacher Shi has to muster the courage to tell on us." Ming Shu smiled and held the phone up before Shi Yaxin.
A picture was shown on the screen, in which a little girl was standing in shadow. Below read a couple of sentences:
Today's goods were great. Money has been transferred into the account, don't let me down next week.
The momentum Shi Yaxin just drummed up slowed and weakened as soon as she saw the words. Her face turned pale instantly.
"I don't know what that is. It must have been sent by mistake." Shi Yaxin defended herself in vain.
"Well, maybe the girl happened to be in our school's uniform and in our school's library as well." Ming Shu spoke in a gentle voice. "Teacher Shi, do you believe that?"
Dim lights shone on Shi Yaxin. With half of her face hidden in darkness, she kept silent at first. But faced with Ming Shu's inquiry, she started to cry aloud, hands holding her head.
"Teacher Shi, are you feeling pained? You can put an end to this pain yourself." The gentle voice of Ming Shu seemed to be bewitching her. It lightly burrowed to the bottom of her heart, planting roots of confession.
Shi Yaxin looked up and stared at the lovely girl opposite her. Those two smiling eyes seemed to carry all of her deepest secrets.
...
Shi Yaxin was from the countryside. Her family was in poor financial condition. Thus, despite the fact she was admitted to a famous university, ultimately she went to a normal university for her younger brother.
After graduation, she worked in a primary school. The salary was very low. Worse yet, the headmaster was a rogue who repeatedly harassed her. Finally, at a staff gathering, he got her drunk and brutally raped her.
She wanted to eliminate the headmaster, but he had a tough background. In the end, she not only failed to punish him, but was also slandered for seducing him shamelessly. She was submerged in endless criticism.
When she was about to kill herself to prove her innocence, she met Pan Zhiguo, the man who led her onto an even more terrible road.
At first, Pan Zhiguo was good to her. He didn't mind what happened to her and arranged for her to teach junior students. She also thought she had met a good man. She would chuckle to herself, thinking about how she'd forget the past and live a happy life with Pan Zhiguo.
However, life again chose to play a huge joke on her.