Where did it go wrong?
I’ve never been able to figure it out.
“We’re not far from Hu Xiaoyu’s high school. Why don’t we finish what we need to do, and you can go home and think about it slowly.”
“Alright.”
This high school is steeped in history; it’s a key high school in Beijing. Jiang Kexin, Hu Xiaoyu, and Shi Ying all attended high school here, and these three girls were in the same class.
Yu Xiaoluo and I found Hu Xiaoyu’s former homeroom teacher. The teacher was white-haired and on the verge of retirement. Yu Xiaoluo identified herself and explained the reason for their visit. Upon hearing that Hu Xiaoyu had been brutally murdered, the old teacher’s eyes welled up with tears. He sighed, “Such an intelligent and beautiful child, why was her life so short!”
In the old teacher’s eyes, Jiang Kexin, Hu Xiaoyu, and Shi Ying were all distinct personalities. Even though they had graduated years ago, the teacher still remembered them vividly.
Jiang Kexin was mischievous and clever, Hu Xiaoyu was gentle and endearing, and Shi Ying, though only half a year older, was steady in her conduct and had even been a class cadre in recent years. If they had been bullied? The old teacher didn’t think so. In her memory, these three children were quite assertive; they were more likely to bully others, not be bullied.
Hearing the old teacher’s words, Yu Xiaoluo and I exchanged a glance. She gestured for me to ask, “Teacher, do you recall if Hu Xiaoyu had any friends who were constantly being oppressed?”
The teacher shook her head, “Hu Xiaoyu was a lively child, but she didn’t have many friends. Most of the time, the three of them were inseparable. Speaking of the three of them, Shi Ying was perhaps the most pitiable. Her family was doing well, but unexpectedly, their fortunes declined. In her senior year, due to family reasons, her grades plummeted. I don’t know what school she ended up attending?”
“What happened to Shi Ying’s family?”
“I’m not entirely sure. It seems her family was in business, but her father was a drug addict and ruined the family. Shi Ying’s mother had passed away early. After her father started using drugs, her stepmother also emptied the family’s assets. Alas, poor child. How is she doing now?”
“She’s doing well.”
“That’s good, that’s good. I’m sorry, officers, that I couldn’t be of much help. Alas, I truly don’t know who had a grudge against Hu Xiaoyu. Even if there were minor disputes, they were just the confusion and ignorance of adolescence. It wouldn’t escalate to murder. After all, a school is a place for moral education before academic instruction.”
I agreed with the old teacher’s sentiment. Perhaps we had been on the wrong track from the beginning. The person who killed Hu Xiaoyu would not be someone from her high school days. It seemed I would have to trouble Yu Xiaoluo to help me investigate Hu Xiaoyu’s social circle. Normally, Da Zhou would be more adept at such matters and it would be within his purview, but Da Zhou wasn’t planning to cooperate with me anymore.
After walking out of the school gate, Yu Xiaoluo looked at me, dejected, and smiled, “Tang Nan, you’re good at being The Schemer. You can navigate through intricate plots with ease. But when it comes to solving cases, you’re far from it. Solving cases is like searching for a needle in a haystack; often, there are no rules, no established methods. Moreover, criminals are not ordinary people, and normal logic won’t always apply. Frankly, your methods only work on people with rigorous logic. In reality, you need to understand the most fundamental things.”
“Sister, I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Everyone’s moral compass is built on a simple belief, and crime is no different. Bullies who commit crimes, their most basic psychology is that they believe every group has a fool. This group can be a family, a class, or a school, even a company or a department. Within a group, as long as there is competition, there is human nature, and human nature is inherently base and cruel. For instance, someone who wants to advance must defeat the weak, and they first target the fool within the group. By attacking others, they gain confidence and benefits. Once they succeed, they will do it many more times, gradually adopting a self-serving psychological principle. Then, these self-serving criminals will continue to offend, and they won’t experience any self-condemnation for their actions, or rather, they lack the capacity for self-condemnation. They believe this aggressive behavior is right. This is the basic psychology of crime.”
Hearing Yu Xiaoluo say this, I looked at her as if she were a stranger. She seemed to sense that she had spoken too intellectually today and blushed, a rare occurrence. She glared at me, “What? You don’t believe your sister?”
“I believe the logic you’re speaking, I just don’t quite believe these words are coming from you.”
“Are you asking for a beating?”
“This is the real Yu Xiaoluo! But, who exactly did you hear this from?”
“Recent training.”
“Was the trainer Teacher Wang Ren?”
“Yes, Section Chief Wang Ren. She said that our Special Crimes Unit deals with extraordinary criminals, so we need to understand the inner workings of human brutality.”
“Do you think you understand it?”
“Who do you think you’re looking down on? Of course, I understand it. But understanding it or not is secondary. In reality, my main responsibility is with the action team. It’s just that currently, there are no special cases, so I’m just participating in the training and learning as a regular police officer.”
…
I knew it. The only thing Yu Xiaoluo could truly boast about was her formidable athletic ability. However, when it came to investigations, Yu Xiaoluo also possessed experience and methods. She was right. Without established methods or predictable patterns, criminals can sometimes truly feel like needles in the vast ocean.
After the ‘Southern Faction’ case concluded, I decided I would definitely leave the life of being The Schemer.
…
Old Tie came to Beijing to watch the Olympics with his wife and child. His wife was quite plump, and despite wearing designer clothes, she didn’t exude much presence. However, Old Tie married her when he was at his lowest ebb, which speaks to a man’s true character. Regardless of how much money he has now, he remains devoted to his wife.
Old Tie saw me and threw an arm around my shoulder, saying, “My phone was off on the plane. Before I boarded, Xu Xiaoting found me.”
Xu Xiaoting! The belle of our class. It was her husband, Qingzi, who introduced me to Ke Yingying, which led to my complex connection with the four-colored old K. Now, Xu Xiaoting should be living happily with Qingzi. Weren’t Ning Caichen’s numerous dumpling restaurants enough to keep them busy?
“Does she need something?”
“It’s not that she needs something; she wants to help us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t we looking for Chen Ling? She knows Chen Ling’s whereabouts, so she came to me.”
“Chen Ling has been found.”