A Good-for-Nothing

100. An Oddity in a High School (2)

Translator: Dragon Rider

“What’s going on here?” He Zheng cast a glance at the middle-aged woman at the front, feeling that she looked somewhat familiar.

Qin Huai replied, “That woman is wife of the current patriarch of Xu family.”

He Zheng, who used to spend most of his time socializing with rich so-and-sos’ sons and daughters, vaguely remembered that people of Xu family had made their fortune by doing some kind of business. Their business was not large, but Xu family and Zhou family, which was the biggest real estate family in the Coastal City, were connected through their female relatives. This middle-aged woman seemed to be a daughter of the old patriarch of Zhou family.

After hearing this, He Zheng came to understand. Qin Huai’s niece and the son of Xu family had been in puppy love. Now Xu family’s son had died, so naturally, people of Xu family came to the school to seek justice.

“What kind of connection could there be between your niece and this woman’s making trouble here?”

Qin Huai shook his head and replied heavily, “I suspect that there’s something wrong with this school — with the place that boy of Xu family died, to be precise. My niece seems to have been possessed by some ghost. As long as she’s awake, she will walk in the direction of this school, yelling ‘Give me my life back’ or something like that.”

Qin Huai felt a cold shiver of fear run through him. “Jesus, it’s really creepy. Even I am scared. You have no idea how spooky a fair and delicate-skinned little girl with two widened bulging eyes could be. If it weren’t for the fact that I saw her grow up, I might not be able to believe she’s my niece… ” Qin Huai complained long-windedly.

Suddenly, there was a change of situation between the two confronting groups. As if having been angered, Mrs. Xu raised her hand and unhesitatingly slapped the middle-aged man dressed like an executive across the face. The slap sounded almost sharp enough to perforate people’s eardrums. “Have that goddamn woman come here! Or else I’ll have all people in this school pay with their lives for my son’s death!

Who do you think you people are?! How dare you kill my son! None of you are going to get away with this! If the law cannot give me justice, I’ll kill each and every one of you myself!” The woman was reduced to yelling, as if having taken leave of her senses.

“Your school winked at that bitch’s crazy deeds and shielded her. She first vilified my son for stealing money — he would never have given a shit about that pathetic amount of money — and then you people connived in her act of revenge, allowing her to kill my son! All people in this school are evildoers. You conspired with that bitch, holding a candle to the devil!

You scumbags, dregs of society! Your existence is an insult to the word ‘teacher’! Go to hell! All of you! You’re a bunch of filthy rats on your last legs in a sewer!”

Distantly, He Zheng watched this scene. Childe He was never a busybody, but he simply couldn’t bear the sight of an unduly arrogant person like this woman. “This woman is pretty cocky.”

Given her loss of a son, she did deserve some understanding, and it was also understandable that she was reduced to hurling abuse in a fit of rage, but there was manifest superiority in her tone, as if other people’s lives were as worthless as dirt in her eyes, which was beyond the pale.

“Money twisted her mind filling it with condescension.” Qin Huai shook his head. “Had my family not been powerful enough, this woman would probably have gone to my home to make a scene as well. You know what? That female teacher’s family was almost turned upside down. Apart from the female teacher who’s in temporary police custody, both of her parents have been through terrible ordeal inflicted by this woman. She claimed that she wanted them to pay with their lives for her son’s death. The female teacher’s parents are literally dying.”

On hearing this, He Zheng went even more displeased. Seeing He Zheng suddenly fish out his cellphone, Qin Huai thought that he was going to call Li Zong.

Unexpectedly, He Zheng said, “Hello? Is it 110? Some people are making trouble at the side entrance of the First High School. Yeah… Now they’re resorting to violence. A woman threatened to kill all people in this school… Okay. No problem. Goodbye.”

After reporting this incident to the police, He Zheng impassively pocketed his cellphone and said to Qin Huai who was open-mouthed, “We need to find out the ins and outs of the matter first. Leave this woman to the police. Let’s go inside and take a look.”

Qin Huai was still experiencing a carry-over of astonishment. ‘The He Zheng I knew was never a busybody.’

“Bro, what did you just do?” Qin Huai suspected that He Zheng had had a transsexual operation.

“It’s none of your business. If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll leave.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll stop.” Qin Huai followed in He Zheng’s wake. In order not to attract anybody’s attention, the two of them detoured to the main entrance. All security guards of the school were plagued by imaginary fears. No matter how hard the two of them tried to convince the security guards at the gate, they still refused to let the two of them in for fear that they might bring trouble.

Consumed with anger, Qin Huai directly made a phone call to the principal. Since the principal was acquainted with Qin family, and Qin Huai’s niece was a student of this school — in the same class as the victim’s, to be precise — he hurriedly instructed the security guards to let them in.

He also said that he would go to the scene himself later.

Thus, the security guards let them into the school.

Originally, He Zheng had had no acquaintance with yin and yang (In Chinese philosophy and medicine, yin and yang are the two opposing principles in nature, the former feminine and negative, the latter masculine and positive); or the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire and earth, held by the ancients to compose the physical universe and later used in traditional Chinese medicine to explain various physiological and pathological phenomena), but in the handbook left to him by Xuanqing, there was information about a lot of exorcism circles, so now he had a superficial knowledge of these things now. On top of that, Xuanqing had opened his Yin Yang Eye. Though sometimes it didn’t work very well, it still enabled him to see a lot of things that common people were unable to.

The First High School of Coastal City was a city-level key school and staff members had done a very good job in greening it. Tracts of wood of luxuriant ancient trees could be seen everywhere, amid which there were a forest of teaching buildings and dormitories.

The two of them walked past a fountain inside which there were a couple of statues of white cranes, ascended a flight of steps and were greeted by a huge administration building, which were flanked by teaching buildings on both sides. Teacher’s offices were in it as well.

“This way.” Qin Huai led He Zheng towards a teaching building on the left. The two of them went to the third floor by elevator. Before they exited the elevator, Qin Huai’s cellphone rang. It was from the principal. Qin Huai answered it, made a few remarks and then hung up.

He Zheng cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at him. Qin Huai explained, “The principal said that he’s waiting for us in that classroom.”

The two of them walked towards that classroom on the third floor. There were no students having class in any of the classrooms on this floor. As the two of them approached, a babble of voices were heard, one of which sounded familiar to He Zheng.

“… All you need to do is tell me the whole story exactly as it happened. I’ll conduct an investigation and handle the rest.”

‘Zu Zhichong?’

The voice sent He Zheng into amazement. ‘How did he come to be here?’