The person on the ground performed a fake resurrection on the spot, and boos erupted all around.
Zhen Huan’s father, unable to save face, viciously pushed Ji Xun and said to him, “Get lost, you brat! You messed up my internal organs with all that random pressing just now. Pay up and come with me to the hospital!”
“To be so full of life and energy with damaged internal organs, it’s truly a medical miracle,” Ji Xun said leisurely.
Laughter immediately broke out in the surrounding crowd. Even the usually cold Student Zhou lowered his head and chuckled.
It was likely the first time Zhen Huan’s parents had endured such pressure. Their usual booming voices became much quieter. Zhen Huan’s mother managed to mutter, “Don’t be fooled by them. We’re not here to cause trouble. Our house was burned down by their daughter. I’m just here to demand an explanation. We can’t just stay silent after they killed someone and burned down our home, can we?”
Ji Xun’s spirits suddenly lifted.
Zhen Huan’s parents spoke well. If they had really left without a word, he couldn’t have run up to stop them. But since they were still being stubborn, it gave him an opportunity:
“Did you see Xu Shijin?”
“Of course, we saw her!” Zhen Huan’s mother said, still feeling justified.
“To catch a thief, you need the stolen goods. Why didn’t you grab her at the time?”
“Well…” she faltered.
Ji Xun didn’t give her a moment to breathe, continuing directly, “You didn’t catch her because you didn’t see her at all. You didn’t give this testimony to the police who responded at the time either, did you? Otherwise, the police would have come to Xu Shijin’s parents to investigate and confirm her whereabouts. As for why you didn’t say anything, it’s certainly not because you suddenly forgot such an important detail, but because you know that committing perjury is also a crime. No matter what, you have to weigh the pros and cons, count your fingers and toes; you can’t make a losing deal, right?”
As Zhen Huan’s parents’ faces turned the color of pig’s liver, the people who hadn’t left yet burst into roaring laughter.
The scene instantly turned into a sea of joy.
In the crowd, the only two people who didn’t look happy were Xu Shijin’s parents.
Just then, red and blue police lights approached from a distance. The police had arrived.
With the police here, the scene was under their control. Ji Xun took a step back, melting back into the crowd to become an outside observer. The facts of the scene were very clear, and Zhen Huan’s couple had provoked the anger of so many onlookers. Everyone was just waiting for the police to take them away and detain them to vent their frustration.
However, at this moment, Xu Shijin’s parents made a surprising decision.
They were willing to forgive Zhen Huan’s parents.
This way, Zhen Huan’s parents wouldn’t have to be detained.
“What the…!”
“The police are here, what are you still afraid of?”
“Scoundrels like them should be sent to the station for a few days, or they’ll come and bother you every day!”
The crowd of onlookers grew restless, each one appearing more anxious than the victims, Xu Shijin’s parents. But Xu Shijin’s parents seemed to have made up their minds. They just smiled apologetically at their neighbors, saying they had troubled everyone today and that after this was handled, they would treat everyone to a meal and tea.
The offer of tea and a meal managed to shut the neighbors’ mouths.
For the second time in a short period.
It was like this when the onlookers were laughing at Zhen Huan’s parents, and it was the same when the police came and questioned them. Anyone who didn’t know better would think they weren’t enemies who had just fought, but friends… Although this couple seemed a bit concerned with face, in a situation where they had already lost all dignity, was saving face really meaningful?
Halfway through this thought, something suddenly clicked in Ji Xun’s mind.
Initially, the couple rushed down to fight for the sake of face. Now they were swallowing their anger and choosing to reconcile, perhaps because…
Maybe they weren’t friends, but a community of shared interests?
He looked forward again. At this point, under the pressure of the police, Zhen Huan’s parents finally left.
The police then took out a form for Xu Shijin’s parents to fill out.
While they were writing on the form, Ji Xun saw Xu Shijin’s parents hesitate with some concern.
“Will this be kept on file? Can other people see it?” Xu Shijin’s father looked embarrassed. “We both have respectable jobs. If something like this becomes public knowledge, we won’t be able to get by…”
“Don’t worry,” the police officer said. “This is just to prove we came and the mediation was successful. As long as you don’t show this to others, the police department won’t randomly show it to anyone.”
“Thank you, thank you,” Xu Shijin’s parents said repeatedly.
The police left, and the surrounding people also dispersed. In the deep night, lights turned on in one home after another. They stood outside the lobby of Building C, and as the last group of people entered the elevator, even the lobby’s motion-sensor lights dimmed.
Under the dim, indistinct streetlights, a shadow of the night veiled everyone’s face. No one could see anyone else clearly.
Ji Xun didn’t speak, nor did he leave.
Student Zhou, standing beside him, accompanied him, also not speaking, also not leaving.
In a moment of silent awkwardness, Xu Shijin’s mother had to force a smile: “Students, thank you so much for your help this time. Do you have classes tonight? I can give you a ride back to school…”
“No need. But we haven’t had dinner yet,” Ji Xun said with a shameless smile.
“Then…”
“Uncle will treat you to a meal to thank you for your help tonight,” Xu Shijin’s father spoke up.
“Eating and all that is not urgent,” Ji Xun said. “Actually, I came here with a purpose. It wasn’t purely to act out of a sense of justice.”
He patted the person behind him.
The boy was still in his growth spurt, his shoulders thin but already taking shape, like a young white poplar that could be bent by the wind but not broken.
“We are actually Xu Shijin’s classmates. We came mainly for our classmate Xu Shijin, who has been absent from school for a while, and we also want to know…”
He said abruptly:
“Did student Xu Shijin really start the fire?”
The faces of Xu Shijin’s parents changed drastically.
In that instant, their daughter’s grim, teeth-gritting vow as she left replayed in their minds:
“I will, I will definitely get revenge on you, and make all of you regret it!”
“Weren’t Zhen Huan’s parents just trying to extort them?” On the way back, Student Zhou rarely spoke up.
Tonight, apart from stepping forward when Ji Xun was performing “CPR” on Zhen Huan’s father, he had seemed detached from reality the rest of the time, merely staring at the chaos with eyes hidden behind his hair, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
“Well, Zhen Huan’s parents probably thought so,” Ji Xun said.
“?”
“I went to the fire scene to check. Their messy kitchen faces the hallway, the window was open, and the fire started in the kitchen. From my probing during the day, the cause of the fire should be related to a cigarette. And Zhen Huan’s father has black teeth, bad breath, and yellowed fingers—all signs prove he’s a long-time heavy smoker. The fire was caused by a cigarette butt that Zhen Huan’s father forgot to put out, or didn’t extinguish completely. This should be the official answer, and also the answer Zhen Huan’s parents believe. With this preconceived notion, in their view, they were indeed here to extort money.”
“You don’t think so?” Student Zhou frowned slightly.
“Because starting a fire is very simple,” Ji Xun said. “A kitchen window facing the hallway left unattended for a long time, and it’s normal for some cooking oil to be spilled in a messy kitchen. All it would take is for someone passing by to light a cigarette and gently toss it inside… and wouldn’t that be enough?”
“Oh,” said Student Zhou. “You think Xu Shijin started the fire?”
“I can’t say for sure,” Ji Xun shrugged. “But I think Xu Shijin’s parents believe so. Who do you think recorded the tape?”
He suddenly threw out a question.
“Xu Shijin,” Student Zhou answered without hesitation.
“Ha, that’s about what I thought,” Ji Xun said. “To be able to record something so hidden, one must be able to frequently enter and exit the Xu house and move freely through all the rooms. Xu Shijin started the fire, getting revenge on Zhen Huan’s parents who came to extort them; then she threw in the recorded tape, getting revenge on her own parents with whom she had conflicts…”
“Why would she want revenge on her own parents?” Student Zhou asked.
“To be honest, that’s hard to deduce for now. But you agree that Xu Shijin had conflicts with her parents, right?”
Student Zhou agreed.
It was obvious. If there were no conflicts, why would Xu Shijin have run away from home?
“Since there are conflicts, and considering Xu Shijin’s consistent personality, her starting the fire, recording the tape, and poisoning the class can all be seen as having some foreshadowing. Let’s count, she has now taken revenge on her parents, Zhen Huan’s parents, and the students of Class E…”
Ji Xun pondered.
“Next up, the origin of the conflict… Class A. Will she go and take revenge on the students of Class A?”
Ji Xun guessed the outcome correctly, but got the target wrong.
When he and Student Zhou rushed back to school, they saw a crowd gathered three layers deep around the school’s bulletin board, with students letting out gasps of shock.
It was such a familiar scene. Ji Xun quickly pulled Student Zhou along and squeezed into the crowd again.
But this time, the crowd was much denser than before. After squeezing for a moment, Ji Xun felt that the wrist in his hand was too slender; with a little more force, it felt like it would snap.
He stopped, and the unprepared Student Zhou bumped into his back.
“What’s…?” Student Zhou’s muffled voice asked.
He turned back, raised his arms, and pulled the person directly into his protective embrace before moving forward again.
This time, all the pushing and shoving from the outside was blocked by his arms. He protected the person, safely reaching the very front to see what was posted on the bulletin board.
Student Zhou struggled out of Ji Xun’s embrace.
His hair was a bit messy, revealing the eyes he usually kept hidden underneath.
Brushing his hair aside also seemed to brush away the gloom that clung to his eyes. He seemed very unaccustomed to his current state and instinctively sought something that could put him at ease. That pair of beautifully curved eyes, with slightly upturned corners, looked up at Ji Xun with a hint of a small animal’s bewilderment.
He first saw the slight, straight line of Ji Xun’s lips, then followed Ji Xun’s gaze to see what was posted on the bulletin board.
A printed copy of Zhen Huan’s autopsy report.
Inside, there was a sentence: The deceased was three months pregnant.
Suddenly, with a “clang,” the sound of a thermos flask hitting the ground echoed through the scene.
Ji Xun, along with the other students, turned to look in the direction of the sound and saw a tall, thin man standing behind the crowd. His face was deathly pale, his expression stiff and cold, like a statue covered in cracks that would be blown to dust by another gust of wind.
Amidst the buzzing whispers of the crowd, Ji Xun heard his identity and name.
The new chemistry teacher, the subject of the rumors with Zhen Huan, Chi Wenlan.
