24 Gao Rui's Plan

 

Gao Rui first laughed then cried. We are all creatures of conflict, no one is an exception. When we saw someone on the road being beaten, we’d get the yearn to help but we’d also worry about getting beaten up ourselves. When we saw a mugger in action, we thought about crying for him to stop, but we’d be silenced by the dagger he held. When we saw a husband hit his wife, we might hope to stop the violence but we’d be reminded by society to mind our own business. Those who dared to do something were definitely heroes but we shouldn’t blame those who did not step forward at the first moment either. They were courageous too, they just needed time to find that courage. At least, they had taken that courageous step in the end.

For Gao Rui, this problem had troubled him for a very long time. He hated Headmaster Zhang for doing so many nasty things with his power, but at the same time, Gao Rui benefited from that knowledge of Headmaster Zhang’s secret. As Martin Luther King once said, “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people”.

That night, when the headless body dropped down from the sky, Gao Rui decided not to be silent anymore. He chose not to call the police but to use violence to stop violence. As Gao Rui followed behind Headmaster Zhang, he could see the image of the teary-eyed female teacher who begged him to keep his mouth shut, and the image of Headmaster Zhang sneaking into Wu Jiajia’s room at night to jerk off while he thought she was asleep. Gao Rui followed him down into the well. Headmaster Zhang’s movement was slow because he had to carry a dead weight. It was easy for Gao Rui to follow him. With each step, the determination to murder Headmaster Zhang got firmer. The darkness of the sewer hid not only Headmaster Zhang but also Gao Rui who was silently staring at his prey.

Tat tat tat. Gao Rui purposely made his footsteps echo against the floor.

“Who is it?” Headmaster Zhang’s terrified voice came from ahead. But when Headmaster Zhang turned back to look, there was only darkness behind him. The underground sewer seemed to stretch into nothingness.

Tat tat tat. The sound continued, it formed an echo chamber inside the sewer. Headmaster Zhang’s heart was already at his throat. He put down the headless body and tightened his grip around the knife. He stood where he was and tried to triangulate the source of the sound. Headmaster Zhang stayed in that pose for a long time. “Motherfucker!” Headmaster Zhang cursed loudly, “I’ve already killed a person, do you think I’ll be afraid of you?!” With that, Headmaster Zhang headed towards the source of the sound.

One step, two steps. The sound came from a fork in the sewer. When Headmaster Zhang was a step away from the corner, he stopped. Headmaster Zhang paused to listen but the sound stopped as well. There was 3 minutes of total silence. Headmaster Zhang chuckled to himself, “It was probably a mouse.” With that in mind, Headmaster Zhang turned to walk back to the dead body.

The next moment, a person appeared behind Headmaster Zhang. He was holding a mug. Headmaster Zhang’s knife dropped into the dirty water and eventually so did Headmaster Zhang himself. Gao Rui made sure he killed the man. Using the mug, he smashed into the back of Headmaster Zhang’s head at least 8 times. He only stopped when the handle of the mug snapped. When Headmaster Zhang was hit for the first time, he already fainted. He had no idea who his assailant was. Headmaster Zhang’s brain matter and blood splattered all over Gao Rui.

Energy drained out from Gao Rui, he collapsed weakly beside Headmaster Zhang. He then realized how difficult murder actually was. However, he did not regret it. This time Headmaster Zhang had gotten the wrong target, but once he realized his mistake, he might kill again. But now, Headmaster Zhang would never have that chance. Gao Rui sat in the sewer for perhaps only 5 minutes but it felt like a century. He suddenly realized that once the moral weight had been lifted off his shoulders, despite the atrocious condition of his surrounding environment, he had never once felt so at peace with himself. He would no longer torture himself over another person’s moral quandary. He believed he had done the right thing, his conscience was silent.

Headmaster Zhang had killed the fake Wu Jiajia, that was the undeniable truth. If Headmaster Zhang disappeared from school, then eventually the investigation would turn towards him. Inadvertently people would discover Headmaster Zhang’s real personality and he was the scary stalker who had been threatening Wu Jiajia. The police would come to the eventual conclusion: Headmaster Zhang had escaped from guilt after killing ‘Wu Jiajia’.

Gao Rui went through with the plan in his mind, as long as Headmaster Zhang was not found, then the case would end up a cold case. Naturally, no one would suspect him, it was perfect. Therefore, Gao Rui carried Headmaster Zhang’s body and went down the sewer. When he reached the end and climbed to the surface, he realized he was already in the countryside. He climbed up the mountain and used Headmaster Zhang’s knife to dig a hole, but since the blade was too thin, it was not good at the job. It was getting late and Gao Rui had to hurry home or else Wu Jiajia might start asking questions. Therefore, Gao Rui had to satisfy himself with a hole big enough to fit Headmaster Zhang’s body. After covering the hole, he dropped the knife at a random location and hurried home. He did not expect Headmaster Zhang’s body to be discovered so soon. Gao Rui knew that once the police found out Headmaster Zhang was murdered, soon the suspicion would fall on him. After all, his fingerprints were all over Headmaster Zhang and the knife. Therefore, he decided to surrender.

…

Inside the morgue.

“Indeed, I found a foreign fingerprint on Headmaster Zhang’s clothes.” Guan Zhenglin said, “After comparison, it is confirmed that they belong to Gao Rui. Furthermore, the marks on Headmaster Zhang’s head match his story. If we can find that mug, I can do further comparison.”

“Tell the officers to split into 2 teams, one shall go into the sewers to look for that mug and the other up the mountain to look for that knife.” I told Xiao Liu. “I want to bring Gao Rui to the building site to meet Ol’ Zhang, to confirm that he was the young person Ol’ Zhang saw that night. We shall split up.”

Gao Rui told me to go to the apartment he shared with Wu Jiajia to take the shirt that he wore that night. Even though he knew that the old guard would have seen him in these clothes and could identify him from it, it was a present from Wu Jiajia and he couldn’t bring himself to throw it away. I sighed and offered, “Do you want to come with? This might be the last chance you get to see each other.”

“Thanks, it’s okay.” Gao Rui said softly.

“Gao Rui asked you to come get a shirt for him?” When I explained my intention for being there, Wu Jiajia looked at me with confusion.

“Yes, the one you gifted to him.” I said with a smile. “I didn’t know I would share so many similar hobbies with him. He’s now playing games at my place.”

Wu Jiajia sought out the shirt and said with some disappointment, “Now that Headmaster Zhang’s body is found, it’s only a matter of time until his killer is captured. There is no need for us to stay together anymore. So when you see him, tell him to come back home, I have something to discuss with him.”

“Okay.” I promised. Indeed, the stalker was already dead, no one would harass Wu Jiajia anymore. Since Gao Rui was a confessed killer, naturally he would be tried by law. However, I couldn’t bring myself to tell Wu Jiajia about that. Her love interest was a killer, and the reason he killed was mainly because of her. How was I going to bring myself to explain that?

“By the way.” I accepted the shirt and enquired. “Did Gao Rui return home very late 5 nights ago?” Wu Jiajia hesitated for a moment as if wondering why I was asking her that. Eventually though, she answered. “Yes, he told me he was only going out for a while but he came home very late that night. When he reached home, he was wearing this shirt and it was very smelly. He said he accidentally tripped and fell into a drain. I remembered washing this shirt for him.” Looks like Gao Rui was not lying. Everything matched.

“Okay, I’ll be going then.”

“Alright.” Wu Jiajia leaned against the front door, like a wife waiting for her husband to return.

…

At the abandoned building site.

“Ol’ Zhang, can you be sure that this is the young man that you saw that night?” I asked Ol’ Zhang.

Ol’ Zhang scratched his head. “He does look familiar. How about this, can he repeat his actions that night?” Before I could say anything, Gao Rui already moved to oblige.

“Yes, yes, yes!” Ol’ Zhang clapped his thigh. “He’s the one. His action is similar to what he did that night and he was also wearing this shirt! That’s him alright!”

I stressed. “You’re sure?”

Ol’ Zhang nodded. “If I get it wrong, you can dig my eyes out.”

“Bring Gao Rui back to the station then.” I told the officer. “I’ll wait for Gu Chen here.”

As I chatted with Ol’ Zhang, I waited for Gu Chen’s team who went down the sewer to search for the missing mug. 1 hour later, Gu Chen surfaced, reeking of horrible smells. He held something in his palm like a prize, it was a mug with a broken handle. “Found it, it was not far from where we found Zhang Mingliang’s body.” Gu Chen said, “And I’m not going down there anymore in my lifetime.”

Soon after we returned to the morgue, the knife was found as well. Guan Zhenglin did tests on everything. The knife was indeed used to kill Zhang Mingliang and the mug was the murder weapon which killed Headmaster Zhang. The injuries matched perfectly with the weapons and both of the weapons had Gao Rui’s fingerprints.

“The motive, timing, evidence and we have a voluntary confession. It’s a slam dunk.” Guan Zhenglin sat on the stool and stared at the ceiling dumbly. “There can’t be another conclusion! But how can the kind and gentle Teacher Gao be a killer? You’ve seen him in class before.”

Gu Chen added, “In this year alone, Gao Rui was selected thrice by the students as the most popular teacher. They say he can bring the most boring subject to life…”

I pulled on my hair. “But nothing explains how Headmaster Zhang managed to hide on the 16th floor without leaving any trace. He would be covered in blood after beheading Zhang Mingliang.”

“Headmaster Zhang is already dead.” Guan Zhenglin uttered tiredly. “Perhaps he’ll visit you in your dreams tonight to tell you how he did it…”