It’s Him – Ch24

So that’s how it is.

The results of the mock exam were quickly released.

Li Xun ranked third in her class and twenty-sixth in her grade.

The school was very competitive, and the score gaps between the top performers weren’t large. Li Xun was very satisfied with her score, and her mother was satisfied as well. Teacher Sun also breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as she wasn’t affected, everything was fine.

It wasn’t just them; Zhao Jingzheng was also worried. He had belatedly realized that he had asked a senior student to help him with so many things. He knew that Li Xun had taken the mock exam and had not come to see him in these past few days, fearing she might have performed poorly.

Now that the results were out, he was finally at ease.

He then shared what he had learned over the past few days with Li Xun.

“I’ve been blacklisted by the school cleaners. Whenever they see me, three or four of them like to gossip about me, but they haven’t been in contact with anyone outside.”

Li Xun thought to herself that no news was the best news.

“My mock exam is also over now, and I’ll have more free time soon. I’ll keep an eye on them for you.”

After she said this, she noticed Zhao Jingzheng avoiding her gaze and dejectedly saying, “Focus on preparing for the college entrance exam, and don’t worry about this matter for now.”

“What’s wrong?”

Zhao Jingzheng sighed, “It’s been half a month now. My mom says I’ve been busy here for nothing, it’s of no use…”

This person really couldn’t hide his thoughts, and Li Xun immediately understood. He had to return and take care of his own matters.

It was actually normal because life had to go on. However, Zhao Jingzheng despised the version of himself that had given up, so he found an excuse for himself.

Maybe his mother really said that, and he was taking the opportunity to step down without feeling guilty.

Li Xun extended an olive branch, “Actually, I was going to say this a week ago. I always felt that Teacher Zhao is a good person, nothing bad will happen. And you’ve been blindly searching for things, making your own life a mess. Teacher Zhao definitely wouldn’t be happy about that.”

Zhao Jingzheng said, “Yes, my dad used to always say that I should lead my own life.”

His guilt lightened a lot.

“Are you leaving tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow, I still can’t get in touch with my grandmother. She wants to have a meal with me, and my mom asked me to go.”

Li Xun still had classes the next day, and even if she didn’t, she couldn’t go. It was unlikely that she would get information from Zhao Jingzheng’s grandmother that he didn’t know, and if Zhao Jingzheng brought a stranger along, it might actually make things more inconvenient for her to talk.

The most important thing was that Zhao Jingzheng couldn’t keep things from her.

Sure enough, the next day, Zhao Jingzheng told her about seeing his grandmother.

He sighed, “No wonder my dad doesn’t recognize them anymore. My grandfather was abusive, and my grandmother took my aunt and ran away. She left my dad behind.”

“My grandmother always said it was because my dad was studying, and it wasn’t convenient for him to transfer schools. My aunt was too young and hadn’t started school at that time…” Zhao Jingzheng stood up for his dad, “But those were excuses. My aunt was only a little over one year old when she was taken away, and my dad was already in elementary school. She was afraid to take my dad because my grandfather had no place to vent his anger and would definitely try to find her.”

Li Xun didn’t comment on who was right or wrong.

She leaned more towards the idea that there were other reasons.

“Did you ask them where they used to live?”

Zhao Jingzheng answered, “In the old city area, near Pingcheng River, in a place called Xingfu Community.”

Li Xun noted down the address. His grandmother wouldn’t have said too much to her grandson.

She would ask the neighbors from back then. Maybe she could learn something.

The next morning, before the second period was over, someone called her.

She quickly held her stomach and raised her hand, pretending to have a stomachache.

The teacher nodded when she saw her acting this way.

Li Xun ran out and answered the phone.

It was an aunt from the neighborhood, someone her mother had once cooked for. She had also tutored the aunt’s child in English, which is how they got in touch.

“Li Xun, your mother fainted. We’re at the hospital. The doctor asked me if your mother has any allergies.”

“No.” Li Xun hurriedly ran out, “Which hospital are you at? I’ll come right away.”

The person told her the hospital and then said, “Your mother woke up and said you don’t need to come anymore.”

She handed the phone to Li Yuguo.

Li Yuguo’s voice sounded weak, “Xun Xun, focus on your studies at school. Don’t worry about me. I’m in the hospital. The doctor said it’s just low blood sugar. I’ll be fine soon…”

Li Xun suddenly realized today was the anniversary of the last victim…

The last victim’s family member was her mother.

Li Xun didn’t care about that anymore.

The clues in her hands could piece together 99% of Teacher Zhao’s background.

But she was missing a piece.

Li Xun took a taxi to the old city’s Xingfu Community.

Xingfu Community was an old neighborhood. When it was first built, the banyan tree at the entrance was small enough for two kids to hug. Now, it would take two adults to wrap their arms around it.

Thank goodness, it hadn’t been demolished.

There wasn’t a gatekeeper or anything. At the entrance, a group of old people were playing mahjong.

Li Xun, with her schoolbag on her back, anxiously looked around.

Within two minutes, an old lady asked her, “Girl, who are you looking for?”

Li Xun replied, “I’m looking for my uncle.”

“Who’s your uncle?”

“He’s Zhao Xin.”

“Zhao Xin? Is there someone by that name in our neighborhood?”

Li Xun reminded her, “His dad went to prison. He got into a fight with someone while drunk, and the other person died, so he went to prison.”

Things like this were memorable even after many years.

“You’re talking about him. Are you a relative of their family? They haven’t lived here for a long time. The father went to prison, and the son became successful, went to university, and never came back to live here.”

Li Xun immediately moved a chair and sat down next to them. “Do you know where my uncle went?”

“Who knows?”

Someone else said, “I’m not familiar with him, but I’ll ask around for you.”

She shouted at the other side, “Old Zhang, didn’t your family have a kid? Someone’s looking for him here.”

Soon, a few elderly people, all over seventy years old, walked out from under a big tree on the other side.

After the situation was explained to them, an old man walked over.

“Why are you looking for your uncle? Where’s your mom and grandma?”

“They’re at home.”

“Your uncle hasn’t come back in years. He’s been teaching at Pingcheng Middle School.”

The elderly people hadn’t gone online and didn’t know what was happening on the internet.

Before Li Xun could ask anything else, someone nearby said, “Pingcheng Middle School? Who’s that? I didn’t know.”

The other person was a middle-aged woman whose child was about to start junior high. She was worried about school issues, hoping to send her child to Pingcheng Middle School’s affiliated junior high but hadn’t found a way in. Hearing that someone in the neighborhood knew a teacher from that school, she immediately asked about it.

Li Xun didn’t expect someone to be so helpful.

“You came too late, and you don’t know what happened back then. There was a man in our neighborhood who used to beat his wife and kids every day. I lived in building 5, and they lived in building 1. They often woke us up in the middle of the night.”

“No one did anything about it?”

“It’s none of our business. Who would interfere in other people’s family matters? Even the police couldn’t do anything.”

“Later, one day, their youngest daughter’s stomach was slashed, and she almost died. The woman called the police again. This time, many police came, and somehow, they found out it was the eldest son who did it. He was in elementary school, and everyone could tell it was the father who did it, but he pushed the blame onto his son to avoid being jailed.”

“After that, the woman ran away with the younger one.”

“Why didn’t she take the older one?”

“If she took the daughter, the man might have let it go, but if she took the son—the one to carry on the family name—what man would tolerate that? He would have gone after her.”

“It’s sad for that kid.”

“The eldest son was so obedient. If I had a son like that, I’d be overjoyed.”

“At that time, all of us in the neighborhood felt sorry for him. We let him stay here for a few days, there for a few days, so he could avoid his father.”

Li Xun listened nearby.

She thought to herself, no wonder she found someone who knew Teacher Zhao. So that’s what happened.

A slashed stomach?

She recalled her mother’s scars.

Whether it was done by a child or an adult, the police should have figured it out, but ordinary people might have been misled by stereotypes.

This explained why only one child was taken back then.

If both had been taken, perhaps only one would have survived in the end.

It also explained why the final victim’s mother and daughter had such a good relationship, completely different from the others.

Her earlier guesses were correct.

However, she still couldn’t understand why Teacher Zhao stopped when he saw Teacher Sun’s situation.

Some elderly people passed her fruit, and she took it. Other old people kept reminiscing about how well-behaved and understanding Teacher Zhao had been, how much they wished he was their son.

Li Xun listened but couldn’t gather any useful information.

Suddenly, it hit her that all this was useful information.

Teacher Zhao’s first case wasn’t the child in the park. That child had only awakened the darkness inside him.

His first case was the one where his sister’s stomach had been slashed.

What was the consequence?

Although the mother ran away with the sister, the police didn’t arrest him. Most importantly, everyone in the neighborhood knew what had happened, but they all still liked him and treated him well.

He had grown up, but much of his childhood had remained in his subconscious. Even though common sense later overshadowed his earlier understanding, the subconscious still left its mark.

It wasn’t until Teacher Sun’s case that the terrible situation appeared in front of him, breaking through his subconscious with all his learned knowledge.

He became afraid and realized it was time to stop.

Li Xun already had a plan in her mind.

At that time, Zhao Jingzheng was already sitting in the airport lounge, his flight was two hours away, and he was returning to school.

He still felt guilty and couldn’t resist checking a few websites to distract himself.

Soon, he came across a video.

He paused.

The anniversary of the last victim’s death was… today?

And the location of the last incident was in the industrial area, not far from here.

Zhao Jingzheng hesitated but decided to follow his instinct.

He refunded his ticket and planned to go and see if the person who kidnapped his father thought of him as the serial killer and would go to commemorate the victim.

Though the hope was slim, he still decided to check it out.

He instinctively felt that doing this might make him feel a little better, as if he had made one final effort.