It’s Him – Ch35

Conspiracy

Zhao Xin was Li Xun’s homeroom teacher when he transferred halfway through his studies. He didn’t know much about Li Xun’s situation.

He only knew that Li Xun was two years older than other students of her age, having started school later than others due to an incident in her childhood, which was a normal situation.

Li Xun’s previous homeroom teacher knew more about her. The two of them had a good working relationship.

Zhao Xin’s right hand was temporarily immobile, so he could only use his left hand to make the call.

The other person said they would ask another teacher, and Zhao Xin didn’t push but simply thanked them for their help.

He then added, “I suspect she might have been abducted by her mother, so I want to find out exactly what’s going on.”

The person on the other end immediately understood. Unlike other teachers, he trusted Zhao Xin and didn’t think he was a murderer.

Zhao Xin hung up and began to think about how to find that boy.

The boy who had attempted suicide was a student from the nearby private high school, so Zhao Xin posted a reward about the boy on their school’s forum.

Within a few hours, he received a response. It seemed the management at their school was somewhat lax.

“Is there really 1,000 yuan?”

“That depends on the value of your information.”

“I’m his best friend, there’s nothing I don’t know.”

“Transfer 200 yuan first. This is a deposit, I’m not lying. If you give me useful info, I’ll pay based on its value.”

“I think I know what you want to know, but you can’t say I told you.”

“I don’t know who you are.”

“True, anyway, I’m not the only one who knows about this.”

“First, tell me why he tried to commit suicide.” Zhao Xin narrowed down the scope to avoid wasting time.

The person quickly replied, “I just know about it, but I wasn’t involved. I heard them talk about it. Even if you report it, it’s useless. It happened a long time ago, and he still hasn’t woken up.”

“Let’s get to the point.”

“He tried to commit suicide to give his life back to that girl.”

“What girl?”

“I heard them boasting that once, Luo Ge had a conflict with his family, was short of money, and went to borrow some from a girl at Pingcheng High School. When she refused, Luo Ge pushed her, and the girl fell into a lake…”

A lake? Zhao Xin vaguely remembered, there had indeed been an incident where a girl fell into a lake after class one winter, and her body was never recovered.

There were rumors circulating that the lake’s shore was covered in marks left by girls trying to climb out, causing students to avoid walking near it.

Instinctively, Zhao Xin asked, “Was he standing by the shore, not letting her get back up?”

“At that time, Luo Ge just thought it was fun and wanted to tease her, but he didn’t expect she wouldn’t get back up. Afterward, Luo Ge got a girlfriend and became a completely different person. He spent every day regretting not studying well, not living well, saying that only through learning could one find happiness and only by doing good deeds could one achieve a sense of accomplishment. He started going out to do good deeds, and once, someone even came to our school to give him a banner of honor. Luo Ge was really happy then. His grades improved, and he became more popular.”

Zhao Xin understood immediately. He had raised a person to a position of prominence, giving him an identity filled with honor.

“What happened after that?”

“Then someone posted a video of Luo Ge pushing that girl into the water, and Luo Ge committed suicide, saying he was giving his life back to her.”

After saying this, the person asked, “Is this worth 1,000 yuan?”

Zhao Xin transferred the 1,000 yuan and began searching for the girl’s name and the time the incident happened.

As expected, after the incident, Li Xun came to their school, joining the class of the girl involved. Three months later, the boy attempted suicide.

Even though Li Xun seemed like she hadn’t done anything, Zhao Xin understood the feeling—she appeared to do nothing, but her opponents only had one way out: death.

Zhao Xin began searching for reports about the girl from that time.

Soon, he found a crucial piece of information.

The girl’s photo had been on the list of rescued abducted children. On the same list, he saw a picture of the thin and small Li Xun.

At this moment, Li Xun’s previous homeroom teacher shared her information with him.

Zhao Jing had just received the news that his father had been stabbed when he was on his way to a part-time job at a shopping mall.

He hung up the phone and called his supervisor to say he couldn’t make it.

He began rushing back.

It was different from the first time his father had gone missing; at that time, his anxiety and urgency were genuine.

Now, after countless stimuli, he had become somewhat numb. When he received the call, he was even a bit irritable.

Here we go again!

He didn’t have enough money on hand, so he had to call Qin Li.

He hadn’t wanted to have too much financial interaction with his mother before. He subconsciously didn’t want her to use money to compensate for him, preferring that she always felt indebted to her son.

But now, he had a different thought. Since she already owed him, why not use it?

Qin Li received the call. She had suspected that Zhao Xin was a murderer ever since the day they met, and she hadn’t dared to meet him again since.

She began to reflect on the events that happened then and grew increasingly uneasy. She even recalled once when she was doing laundry, she noticed blood on his pant leg…

Because of this, she installed surveillance cameras at her home. Her caution was necessary—how many murderers had killed their wives?

Now, hearing that her ex-husband had been stabbed, though he was fine, his right hand had been severely injured and he could no longer hold a pen, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Qin Li said, “I didn’t know. Your dad didn’t call me either. What are you planning to do? Are you coming back?”

She was afraid he might make a decision, so she quickly added, “Don’t come back, I’ll go see him.”

She thought to herself, his right hand is seriously injured, he can’t hold a pen, maybe this isn’t a bad thing.

Her son still said, “I’ll come back. Dad’s hand is inconvenient. I’ll take care of him.”

Qin Li seemed to have no position to persuade him further. She understood in her heart that since her son was fine and called her specifically about this matter, he was probably hoping she would buy a plane ticket.

She didn’t want to buy it, but then she remembered something else—

The turning point in their divorce was when her son had beaten up another student at school.

At that time, she thought her son was influenced by her violent temper.

Now, thinking back, maybe it was because the Zhao family had a tendency for violence. After all, many murderers had killed their mothers.

Since that was the case, Qin Li decided not to offend him and said, “I’ll buy the ticket for you. Come back safely and call me when you arrive.”

She still had to put on a facade. There had been plenty of news about sons killing their mothers.

She had truly been scared lately.

But a day later, her son called again.

“Mom, do you have money?”

Qin Li: “…What’s wrong?”

“My dad’s hand, the doctor said if he goes to Beijing to see an expert, there’s hope to fix it.”

Qin Li immediately understood and asked, “How much money is needed?”

“About several hundred thousand.”

“Does your dad have that much money?”

“My dad doesn’t have that much. He’s been spending all his money on raising me. Mom, can you lend me some?”

Qin Li: “I don’t have that much money.”

Her son replied, “Mom, this money counts as me borrowing it from you. My dad’s been raising me, spending almost all his salary on me. If it weren’t for me, he could have saved that money.”

Qin Li gritted her teeth and said, “…I really can’t take it out.”

She wasn’t lying. She only had 50,000 yuan in savings, which she had used to buy a storefront.

She was in business. Previously, she had rented the storefront, and life had been tough, especially during the pandemic. The store closed intermittently, but rent still had to be paid. Even during the off-season, she was anxious about the rent. During that time, she met an old friend whose store was her own, so she didn’t have the pressure of rent. She could do activities or give away gifts as she pleased, and her customer relations were very good.

She wasn’t young anymore. Back then, she thought about buying a store, and now she was running her own business. When she got older, she planned to hire a few apprentices. Although she had a son, he was unreliable, so this would be her retirement insurance.

Coincidentally, last year she came across a store that was up for sale, and she bought it right away.

Buying the store, renovating it, and purchasing equipment—everything cost money. Her savings were nearly spent, and now she only had 50,000 yuan left, most of which was pre-deposited by clients and couldn’t be touched.

On the other side, her son said, “Mom, I’ll write an IOU. I won’t go for graduate school anymore. I’ll find a job, and I’ll send you my monthly salary. With Dad’s age…”

Zhao Jingzheng was speaking when he started crying. When he returned home, he saw his father lying in bed, looking much thinner, with white hair and wrinkles on his face. He had aged.

Before he came back, he was impatient, but now he felt guilty for his impatience and wanted to do something to help his father.

“My 50,000 yuan is the clients’ deposits, so I can’t touch it. I’ll borrow from someone else,” Qin Li had a hard time refusing.

Zhao Jingzheng knew she had money; she had bought the store. But since she didn’t mention it, he understood that she wouldn’t help him or his father.

Zhao Jingzheng was completely disappointed. To him, she was still that woman from years ago, so selfish, only caring about herself, and never considering him as her son.

He hung up the phone and returned to the hospital room. His father was holding a phone in one hand, looking at something. His hand was awkward, like an elderly person’s.

Zhao Jingzheng felt a pang in his nose and quickly went over.

“Dad, let me help you.”

He took the phone, and on the screen, there was a document.

He glanced at the main information:

Li Xun, originally named Zhong Mian…

He didn’t look further.

“Dad… Didn’t you say it was a mistake made by her mother?” Zhao Jingzheng asked. “She couldn’t do anything about it, she was about to take the college entrance exam, don’t target her…”

“College entrance exam?”

Zhao Xin took the phone, swiped it down with one hand, and handed it back to his son.

“Son, take a look again.”

Zhao Jingzheng took it.

The chat log showed someone saying: “Didn’t I tell you before? She used to be a student at X University, then dropped out and came back to redo high school.”

Zhao Xin wasn’t the initial homeroom teacher. He knew that Li Xun was two years older than the other students, but she wasn’t the oldest in her class—there were students three years older than her. Plus, Li Xun had mentioned her childhood accident, which delayed her schooling until she was eight.

Zhao Xin said to his son, “She entered X University at 14, majoring in criminal psychology. She dropped out in her senior year, and then passed the exam for Pingcheng High School to return and redo high school. Do you think she cares about the college entrance exam?”

X University was a prestigious school.

Zhao Jingzheng didn’t understand, “Why did she drop out?”

Zhao Xin replied, “Don’t think about her motives, look at her results.”

Zhao Jingzheng still didn’t understand.

Zhao Xin had only just figured everything out!

Li Xun’s appearance was a coincidence! The girl who was murdered was probably her friend, and she came back for revenge. After completing her revenge, she encountered him.

She realized his identity and started using him in a conspiracy.

Zhao Xin said, “She, her mother, is part of a gang. All of this is for money.”

“How can they make money doing this?”

If Zhao Xin wasn’t short of people, he definitely wouldn’t continue explaining this to this fool.

“Think about it, what was it at first? Someone posted about the past lives, claiming I was the murderer, and how coincidental it was that I just happened to be Li Xun’s homeroom teacher? In fact, Li Xun is the central figure, and she chose me as the murderer.”

“I still don’t get it. Her mom even went to prison, how does that make any money?”

Zhao Xin gritted his teeth and continued explaining, “They want to establish the theory of reincarnation. Once it’s confirmed, they’ll make another move. Do you believe it? Soon, Li Xun will be confirmed as the reincarnated child of the Qian family. At that point, the money she can get—do you still think it’s not worth it?”

Zhao Jingzheng sat down next to his father. He still didn’t understand.

“So it’s all just for money? They created such a big scheme.”

Zhao Xin reminded him, “That’s money that others could never make in their entire lives.”

Zhao Jingzheng, who had just been troubled by money, inexplicably understood this statement.

Zhao Jingzheng thought of another question.

“If the past lives and reincarnation are part of their plot, how do they know there’s a body down there?”

Zhao Xin said, “They must have discovered the body down there by accident. As long as they collaborate with the family of another victim, the other side will insist it’s their child.”

Zhao Jingzheng still wasn’t convinced, “But… but the police confirmed it.”

Zhao Xin couldn’t convince this blockhead and could only repeat, “There absolutely wasn’t a victim’s body down there.”

Zhao Xin was very sure about this.

Because all the victim’s bodies were in the same place.

Zhao Jingzheng looked at his father, so certain. Why was he so sure?

A chill swept through his body.