68 The Coward

 

They asked Lee Taida why he was laughing. Lee Taida told them it was the only way to deal with the state of the world. That was the first and last time Zhou Guo was called to the discipline office. From that day onwards, he fell in love with Zhang Xue. Also, from that day onwards, no one dared to bully Zhang Xue and Zhou Guo anymore. The 5 of them became fast friends. One day, the five stayed after school and sneaked onto the rooftop. Someone brought beer and they had too much to drink. That night, they didn’t go home but stayed up there up in the sky, chatting and sharing.

Lee Taida explained he hated men who hit women the most because he grew up watching his father beat his mother. His mother eventually had to escape and Lee Taida admitted that he missed her a lot. Zhao Erming sighed and shared his tale. He was the son of a prostitute. Every day his mother told him to come home only after 12 midnight, after her business was closed. Zhao Erming wanted to hate her but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. Lin Rou downed the canned beer and showed her wounds too. She had a young brother, and their family was still locked in the era where boys were valued more than girls. Her father and grandmother treated her like air, in fact, when she was 3, her grandmother dumped her inside a trash can. If she didn’t crawl out by herself then, she would be dead by now. However, Lin Rou didn’t hate her little brother, in fact, she loved him. He was a cute little thing.

Zhang Xue told them about her sadistic father who raped her. She couldn’t summon the energy to hate anyone, she just wanted to have a peaceful sleep. Zhou Guo had a sad story to share too. Zhou Guo didn’t like to fight and he would never tattle on anyone because of his mother. His mother was bedridden. She suffered from paralysis and only half of her body could move. His mother eked out a living by doing sewing and embroidery. He didn’t want to cause trouble for his mother. It was not that he didn’t know how to fight back, he worried that if he did, the parents of the other students would demand compensation.

None of them said anything but raised their cans in unison. Everything unsaid was in that cling of cans. They might come from different backgrounds but their stories were so similar. The 5 young people found solace in each other, they talked about their past and their future, but how would their future look like, would people like them still have a future?

Lee Taida wanted to buy a house for her mother, and then they would move in together; Zhao Erming wanted to travel the world; Lee Rou said her dream was to open a café and be her own boss; Zhang Xue wanted to leave this city, to start over at a place where no one knew her; Zhou Gou’s dream was for his mother to recover. Other people’s dreams were dreams but there was a chance for them to come true but it was not the case with Zhou Guo. Zhang Xue had met Zhou Guo’s mother, she was in a late stage of her condition. She was only 40 but she looked 50 plus. There was no cure for her, now it was all up to God to see how much longer she needed to suffer on Earth.

That night, the 5 of them drank until they were drunk. They looked up at the sky, each star seemed to wink down at them. Each of them had their own dreams and hopes but they were all connected in a unique bond. That night, Zhang Xue said, “Sometimes, I wish to just say goodbye to this world. I only need to jump down from here, don’t I? It sounds so easy. I’ll then be free of all the pains and troubles.”

Zhou Guo looked at her. “Why would you do something like that? You could just move to somewhere no one knows you, just like in your dream.”

“How? But at the very least, you need money to dream.” Zhang Xue looked at this young man who loved her stubbornly through hazy eyes. “That’s right!” The others concurred. Indeed, what kind of dreams in this world didn’t require monetary support? They drifted away to dreamlands on the rooftop that night, perhaps in their sleep, all of their dreams came true. The group made a promise that they would come back 2 years later on the same day to meet up and drink again.

…

Soon it would be time for middle-year exam. Zhang Xue was devastated because it meant that they would have to split up and go their separate ways. There were too many uncontrollable things in one’s life. Some lived in the dark but never cow towards it; some bathed in light but surrendered their lives easily. I wonder how was this group of teens connected to our suicide victims. I sent messages to my colleagues, telling them to stop the tracing on the teens if they didn’t find out anything new. I told Zhang Xue, “I can help you, I will arrest your father.”

Zhang Xue nodded and then posed this sudden question. “Is life always this hard, or is it when you’re a kid?” I was silent because I didn’t know how to answer. This was a quote from the classic Leon: The Professional. Zhang Xue must have seen it and knew that the answer given by the main character was, ‘Always like this’. But I couldn’t bring myself to say that.

Instead I said, “It’ll take a lifetime to answer that question, in fact, it’ll take your full lifetime to truly make sense of it.”

Zhang Xue shrugged and then stood up to walk towards the kitchen. She took down an apron, and looked like she was preparing to cook. “One minute!” I shouted. “What’s wrong?” Zhang Xue jolted from the shock. I stood up, looked at her and then asked, “Who taught you how to tie the knot on the back of this apron?”

Zhang Xue was confused but she answered, “Zhou Guo taught me this. He said the people from Southern America always use this kind of knot to hook the fruits down from fruit trees. This knot is very firm and it wouldn’t loosen easily. But when you want to undo it, you just need to place your finger into one of the knot rings and pull lightly. It’s very convenient. He’s always coming up with strange trivia like this.”

My brain buzzed. This knot was similar to the knot on the noose that killed Wang Yiman. I didn’t expect to find the same knot at Zhang Xue’s home. Could the cowardly boy have done something like this?

I was suddenly reminded of something. “When you two were cornered inside the class, Zhou Guo never budged when he shielded you?”

“Yes.” Zhang Xue smiled. “That idiot. He’s such a coward, but he did his best to protect me.” So Zhou Guo was truly the bravest one. “Where is Zhou Guo’s home? You said you’ve been there before.” I asked Zhang Xue. She gave me the address. I opened my GPS and keyed in Zhou Guo’s address. When the location popped up, everything cleared in my mind. When I analysed the killer’s behavior, I noted the location of the first 3 victims and predicted the next victim’s location but I was wrong.

I kicked myself because when the 4th victim was found, I should have seen it. The death locations for the 4 victims were all along the trail of Subway Route 1. The 4 locations were exactly between Zhou Guo’s home and Yu Cai High School. With that in mind, my heart chilled. I turned to look at my inbox. Both Gu Chen and Xiao Liu had replied but not Guan Zhenglin. Perhaps like me, she was discovered when she was on Zhou Guo’s trail but instead of being invited for water, she was killed by Zhou Guo?

I hurriedly called her but no one answered.

“I need you to call Zhou Guo now!” I ordered. Seeing my stern expression, Zhang Xue obliged but similarly no one answered.

“Stay at home. I’ll be leaving now. I promise to follow up on your father.” Then I dashed out from her house. As I ran towards the address, I sent a message to Xiao Liu and Gu Chen, “Xiao Liu, contact the station, I’ve already confirmed the suspect. It is Zhou Guo. Gu Chen, I need you to go to his home now. The address is An Ning Street West Number 47. Guan Zhenglin may be in danger.”

Of the 5 people, the first to interact with the cyanide was Zhou Guo. If he had lied from the beginning, the rest of the crew wouldn’t have known how much he stole from the lab. The amount was how much Zhou Guo said it was. Zhou Guo had once attended Gao Rui’s biology tuition and had a good relationship with the man. Perhaps that was how Zhou Guo got close to Gao Rui. If he wanted a biology lesson, the good teacher wouldn’t have said no even after he was fired.

Lee Taida and Zhao Erming were bad at their studies, they might not have even attended one chemistry class. They probably didn’t even know that cyanide was toxic. Zhao Erming said he heard about cyanide from someone, that someone was most likely Zhou Guo. But something didn’t add up. Zhou Guo must have known about Lee Taida’s hatred towards his father. Lee Taida was Zhou Guo’s good friend, would he allow his friend to really kill Lee Xian, and spend his life in jail as a murderer?

I quickly called Lee Xian, “Lee Xian, do you remember me?!”

Lee Xian paused before adding, “I do, you’re my son’s teacher, aren’t you? Isn't that bastard locked up already? The bastard wanted to kill me but thankfully I was called away that day. See, gambling can save lives. It saved mine.”

“Who was the one who called you?” I asked.

Lee Xian said impatiently, “Why do you want to know? But it’s my gambling buddy. He used to be so poor but recently he won the second prize in the lottery, 20,000,000 RMB. Perhaps he sold his soul to the demon to get it. But either way, if not for him footing my bill, I wouldn’t have agreed to come to the casino with him. Hell, I guess he saved my life.”

“Then is he…” Before I could say anything, Lee Xian cut me off, “I don’t have time to chat, my round is starting. Hang my bastard son if you want. I don’t care.” Then Lee Xian hung up.

“Fuck!” I cursed.

I hopped into the subway. Zhang Xue’s home wasn’t that far from Subway Line 1 but even so it still took me 1 hour to get here. My phone vibrated. It was a call from Gu Chen. I heard Gu Chen saying through heavy breaths. “I’m already at the address. After I got into the door, I saw both Guan Zhenglin and Zhou Guo lying in bed, completely motionless…”