Chapter 47: Three Graves 10
CW: mentions of suicide
Lin Chen didn’t think what he casually said could become a prophecy.
Captain Jiang had yet to return from the station’s office when the people looking for him arrived at the duty room.
A round-faced little officer barged in, face red, shouting, “Boss, Boss, not good, Wang Shi Shi’s mother is making a ruckus at the school! The school security room can’t hold them back, they’re asking us to go help.”
Lin Chen was still sitting on the bed, reading over the autopsy with the forensic expert. Hearing this, the forensic expert looked towards the door and reprimanded him, “Ma Han, can you stop being startled at every little thing? What happened? Slow down!”
Lin Chen turned to look at Xing Cong Lian, face full of disbelief, “What does Ma Han have to do with your Wang Chao?”
“They’re all living treasures.” Xing Cong Lian smiled, organizing the files on his knee.
What a proper summary…
Little comrade Ma Han said, “I can’t slow down, I can’t slow down! If I go any slower, someone will die! The reporters are there, where did our Boss run off to?!”
“I’m right here!”
Hearing that, Ma Han stiffly turned around to see Vice Captain Jiang with a cigarette, a hand against the door frame, and a look that said “Why the hell are you looking for me?”
Ma Han cleverly clung onto Jiang Chao, shouting, “Boss, something is happening at Yong Chuan College. The victim’s mother called the reporters saying the school’s teachers and students caused the death of her daughter. She wants the school to give a statement. I heard her methods are very professional, she might have a background in healthcare disturbance. How scary!”
T/N: Healthcare disturbance, aka Yi Nao, is “the organized disturbance of hospitals/medical staff, usually to obtain compensation for actual or perceived medical malpractice.” – From Wikipedia
“Wang Shi Shi’s parents are both lawyers.” Lin Chen volunteered.
“Fuck, this is scarier than healthcare disturbance!” said Jiang Chao, now understanding the situation. He pried the little officer off of himself and said to Xing Cong Lian, “Ol’ Xing, let’s go!”
Xing Cong Lian nodded, put on his uniform and stood up swiftly. At the same time he buttoned his last button, Lin Chen also finished getting out of bed and tying his shoelaces.
“Do you think our station is more normal?” He looked back to ask.
“Indeed.” Lin Chen said after some thought.
———-
Yong Chuan College, entrance.
Under the towering white marble sign, two groups of people stood in a confrontation.
One of them, wearing navy uniforms, were the school’s security guards. The other, wearing grieving linens, held a banner and had Joss paper and pictures scattered around the floor.
T/N: Joss paper, aka ghost or spirit money, are sheets of paper burned at funerals (and other ceremonies) to give the deceased money in the afterlife.
Their cries filled the air.
Vice Principal Xu Guo Qing stood under the sun with a splitting headache.
When he saw Lin Chen, he only thought of him as bothersome, but seeing this woman now, he finally understood the meaning of “hard to deal with”.
Truth be told, it’s not like he hasn’t seen parents cause a scene. It’s a big school, students are bound to get into situations like this. Something happens to their child and parents come running to make trouble, to put it bluntly, for money.
But Wang Shi Shi’s mother is different. This woman, from the beginning, did not once mention money. She only wanted justice, she wanted the school to give her justice.
The woman looked distraught, kneeling on the floor, hair in a mess, eyes red. In her hand, she held a portrait of the deceased. She didn’t cry, she only sat in silence, making people feel even more distraught for her.
Above her head was the white marble sign Yong Chuan College erected when it was built. On it was carved the two words “Just and Peace”. That woman just so happened to be sitting below “Just”. The weather was great, the sun was shining, but the shadow of the marble sign covered her. Because of that, the scene gave a very shocking impression.
Beyond the two groups of people were the lenses of the reporters. They were all aimed at the woman in the marble sign’s shadow, shutters clicking nonstop, thinking about how to write this news article to have maximum impact.
Xu Guo Qing cleared his throat, speaking once again, “Wang Shi Shi’s Mom, you bringing people here to cause trouble has interfered with the school’s normal operations. This is illegal, you know?”
Mother Wang viciously lifted her head and sternly replied, “Law? You want to talk to me about law? I entrusted my daughter’s life to you, and now she has died in the school. Is this Yong Chuan College’s law?”
She spoke like she was in a courtroom. Xu Guo Qing was speechless. The crowd of witnesses also started to increase.
Not only the newspaper reporters there, even the television reporters had started to appear. The cameramen carried their cameras from the car and ran towards Wang Shi Shi’s mother, getting 360 shots of the situation.
Xu Guo Qing’s tone could only soften, “Then how about this? You say you want justice, then you need to give the police time to investigate. No matter what the issue is, whether Wang Shi Shi committed suicide or was murdered, we need to listen to the police…”
“My daughter committed suicide. She was pushed to death by the teachers and students of this school!” Wang Shi Shi’s mother stood up from the ground. Her left hand held her daughter’s portrait, while her right hand pointed at the words “Yong Chuan College” above the school gate, “All you have in this century old, renowned school, are disgusting imbeciles!”
She stood straight up, with a graceful demeanor. When accusing the school, she looked brave and fearless, like a statue. The shutters at the scene once again started clicking nonstop.
At that moment, the school doors that had been shut tightly suddenly opened. Someone was walking out from the school.
It was an old person, wearing reading glasses and a very typical old person outfit. He walked to Wang Shi Shi’s mother, with his hands behind his back, and asked, “What’s going on here?”
His tone was very calm and gentle, as if it were an old man asking a young child by the road why they were crying.
Wang Shi Shi’s mother inhaled, but realized she couldn’t bring herself to raise her voice at this old man. Her gaze darted to Xu Guo Qing, only to see Principal Xu also shocked about the appearance of the old man. She finally asked, “Who are you?”
“Me? I’m one of the old professors at Yong Chuan College.” The old man turned around and arrived in front of the security guard. He patted the head security guard on the waist and asked, “What are you guys doing here, blocking the entrance?”
The head security guard bowed towards the old man, “Principal, what are you doing here?”
“Me? I heard there were a lot of people at the school entrance, so I came to check it out.” The old man laughed.
The security guard called him Principal, yet it wasn’t Principal Zhang or Principal Li. So that means, the old man must be Yong Chuan College’s only headmaster.
“Su An Zhi! You are Su An Zhi!” Wang Shi Shi’s mother thought for a bit, then pointed at the back of the old man and said loudly, “You’ve finally appeared!”
“Aye…It’s me, it’s me.” The old man turned around again, calmly facing the woman’s accusing finger.
When Lin Chen arrived, that was the scene he saw.
His teacher standing in the middle of a crowed, a middle-aged woman pointing at his face, cameras flashing from the sidelines, and cameramen filming the scene.
Jiang Chao stopped the car.
He opened the car door, about to get off, but Xing Cong Lian held down his hand.
“You’re not fit to appear in this situation.” Xing Cong Lian said.
Hearing that, Lin Chen glanced at the old man at the school entrance, then turned around to glare at the face of the mixed-race young man.
Lin Chen’s expression was very serious, maybe even a bit nervous. Xing Cong Lian had never seen this before. He looked at the old man standing with his hands behind his back at the school entrance and realized, perhaps, the old man might be the “Ol’ Grandpa” Lin Chen and Fu Hao always mention. And the woman pointing and reprimanding the old man, unsurprisingly, was Wang Shi Shi’s mother.
“Don’t worry, leave it to me.” He gave Lin Chen’s shoulder a pat and exited the car.
The arrival of the police was like water in a pot of oil, a spark in dry tinder. The school entrance instantaneously exploded.
The reporters already heard about the three bodies found under a tree near Yong Chuan College’s pond. However, the school’s security was tight and prohibited reporters from entering the school to investigate. The police spokesperson also kept their lips tight about the matter, so the reporters were quite worried about the lack of an information channel. Now, the police were here, the reporter running the criminal line took one look at the license plate and knew it was the car of Captain Jiang of the second branch. He quickly swung the camera around to aim at the two officers getting ready to get out of the car.
“What’s happening, what’s happening? Why are there so many people gathered around the school entrance? School is a sacred place, a place where knowledge is broadcast. Everyone needs to show some respect to each other.” Jiang Chao was a wily old man. He didn’t ask for any explanation, he just acted like he didn’t know why there were so many people around the school entrance. He lifted his hand to shoo people away.
“Captain Jiang, Captain Jiang, can you reveal some details about the case?”
“Has there been a huge breakthrough in the case?”
“Were the three victims found in the school murdered or did they commit suicide?”
“The mother of the victim Wang Shi Shi just revealed to us that the culprit is in the school. Is the culprit one of the school’s teachers or students?”
Jiang Chao looked at the reporters surrounding him and mysteriously beckoned with his hands, “Come, come, let me tell you.”
The reporters, seeing this, all gathered around.
“Just write it like this, our reporters, citing a police spokesperson, say, ‘This case is being investigated with the utmost efforts, information about the case cannot be revealed at this time’.”
Jiang Chao finished and didn’t stick around to see how the reporters reacted. His expression darkened and came face-to-face with Wang Shi Shi’s mother. Xing Cong Lian followed him without saying a word.
Wang Shi Shi’s mother, whose combat power is naturally superior, was also very methodical. She didn’t face Jiang Chao head-on, rather, she targeted the old man in front of her and shouted, “What? You’ve called the police here? The teachers and students of your school pushed my daughter to death, and now you won’t even let me speak?”
Jiang Chao stood behind Wang Shi Shi’s mother, since she wouldn’t look at him. He was able to handle reporters with ease, but against such a headstrong woman, he felt a little helpless.
Xing Cong Lian glanced at Jiang Chao and stepped up, “Ma’am, if you have any issues, you can report them to us police officers.”
Hearing that, Wang Shi Shi’s mother turned to scan Xing Cong Lian from head to toe.
Without waiting for her to speak, Xing Cong Lian said, “If you have some key evidence, I hope you won’t mind sharing them with the police to help speed up the investigation.”
His tone was even and the scene gradually quieted down. The reporters once again aimed their cameras at Wang Shi Shi’s mother.
People like to gossip, even the bystanders’ gazes eagerly observed, as if to say, “If you have evidence, then show it.”
Xing Cong Lian’s words lightly pushed Wang Shi Shi’s mother to the front of the stage again.
The bystanders’ gazes were uncomfortable.
The woman clenched her jaw, as if she had made a decision, her tone was firm, “My daughter committed suicide. She was forced to by the school!”
“Oh? Do you have evidence of that?” Xing Cong Lian followed.
“I…I…” The woman stopped, face flushed, and finally, she cried out, “These beasts! They spread my daughter’s nude photos around the school! My daughter couldn’t stand the shame, and that’s why she killed herself!”
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