Teacher Qin Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Could It Be This Girl?

The intermittent sound of typing echoed through an office in the Linqi County Police Station. A man named Bai Yang, dressed in his police uniform, stared at the computer screen with his sword-like brows slightly furrowed.

A knock at the door made Bai Yang relax his expression. He looked away from the screen and toward the door. “Come in.”

The person who entered was a young man who looked much greener than Bai Yang. He gave a sharp salute before stepping forward to hand over a USB drive. “Senior, here is what you asked for. I went to check it out myself. The security guard is an elderly man; he is quite old and could not tell me much.”

Bai Yang took the USB drive, nodded, and plugged it into his computer. The drive contained a recording—the footage captured by the security cameras at the entrance of the Experimental Middle School on the day of Tang Ya’s incident.

The sound of pitter-pattering rain filled the room, accompanied by the slightly noisy static of the recording. Two figures soon appeared, shielded by umbrellas. Bai Yang moved the mouse to zoom in on them. Looking closely at the backpack one of them was wearing, he could tell it was indeed Tang Ya.

Bai Yang shifted his gaze to the person beside Tang Ya. She was dressed in the typical uniform of an Experimental Middle School student. From her silhouette, she was a girl. Her face was hidden by the umbrella, and she was clutching her backpack against her chest.

The two walked side-by-side and quickly moved out of the camera’s range.

“Have we questioned this girl? Does anyone recognize her?” Bai Yang straightened his back, his brows furrowing again.

The young officer shook his head. “The old security guard said he did not remember. It was raining hard that day and they were holding umbrellas, so he did not pay much attention. He just assumed they were students who had been kept after class by a teacher.” After speaking, the young man looked at Bai Yang. “Wasn’t this case closed a long time ago? Do you think something is wrong, Senior?” He scratched the back of his head, looking confused.

Bai Yang did not say a word, but his thoughts drifted back. He did indeed feel that something was off about this case. Based on what they knew, the victim, Tang Ya, came from a very happy family. Her parents had her late in life, so they had always doted on their only daughter.

According to Li Yulan’s statement, she had indeed punished Tang Ya that day for not handing in her homework. Bai Yang remembered Li Yulan saying, “Tang Ya is quite proactive in her studies and never misses an assignment. That day, I thought she had just forgotten to bring it. I asked her several times after class, but she was hesitant. Finally, she just said, ‘I didn’t write it.’ I thought if she had written it but forgotten it, that would be excusable. I could have just called her parents to bring it over and would not have made her copy vocabulary words.”

Furthermore, Li Yulan had given Tang Ya plenty of time; there was no reason for her to stay at school just to finish her lines before going home. At the same time, aside from Tang Ya’s personal belongings, no umbrella was found at the crime scene. The victim’s family was well-off; since it was raining, there was no reason for her not to take a taxi home.

What felt even more wrong to Bai Yang was the direction Tang Ya had taken. No matter which way she went home, she would not have passed the tunnel near the Old Plaza. To head in the opposite direction of her home on such a rainy day suggested a high probability that someone had lured her there.

Could it be this girl?

Bai Yang pulled himself out of his thoughts and fixed his gaze once more on the paused image on the computer screen.

“What, still think something is wrong?” A deep male voice suddenly came from the doorway. The man’s surname was Zhou, and he was the one who had gone to Li Yulan’s house with Bai Yang. The hair at his temples had already turned white, and wrinkles were clearly visible at the corners of his eyes when he spoke. He was currently leaning against the doorframe, holding a glass and looking in their direction. As he spoke, he took a sip from the glass, the goji berries and red dates inside bobbing with the movement.

Bai Yang and the young officer both looked toward the door. “Captain Zhou.” Bai Yang stepped aside, revealing the computer screen, but remained silent.

The man glanced at the computer and then walked in with a smile. “It is a good thing for young people to have drive and ideas.” He reached out and patted Bai Yang on the shoulder, but his tone shifted in the next moment. “But Xiao Bai, in our line of work, you must remember that everything depends on ‘evidence.’ I will leave it at that. Don’t obsess over this case anymore. That lunatic has been caught, and the victim’s parents have already applied to close the case. It is better for that girl if she does not remember.”

Bai Yang pursed his lips. It was true. Tang Ya had been so traumatized by the incident that her memory stopped at the day before it happened. For her, this was for the best. Rather than being haunted by that shadow for the rest of her life, her parents naturally preferred that she forget. That was also why they had rushed to close the case.

“Yes, Captain Zhou,” Bai Yang replied with a smile, going along with the man’s words. Only then did the man nod in satisfaction and leave.

Once the man had completely left, the young officer breathed a sigh of relief and grumbled, “What was that? He is just afraid you will steal his spotlight again. He sure closed this case quickly. Don’t let it get to you, Senior. If you want to keep investigating, I will help! If it weren’t for the fact that your seniority can’t match his, that Captain position would have already—ouch!”

Bai Yang reached out and rapped the young man on the head, shaking his head helplessly. “Say less of that in the future. Captain Zhou is a senior after all. I’ve only been here for two years; my seniority really isn’t enough, and I still have a lot to learn.”

The young officer pouted and rubbed his head in pain. “Fine, fine, I won’t say it. I’ll just keep it to myself. So, Senior, are we still investigating this case?”

Bai Yang paused but eventually shook his head. It was not that he did not want to continue, and he would indeed keep looking into it, but he did not want this Junior to get into any conflict with Captain Zhou’s side. Moreover, the case was officially closed; if he wanted to investigate, he could not use police resources.

Although newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, since the boy called him Senior, he had to look out for him.

The phone on the desk suddenly vibrated. Bai Yang picked it up and opened a photo. Below the photo was a voice message: “Yangyang, this is your Auntie Yu’s sister-in-law. She is a few years younger than you. You are not getting any younger yourself. Take a look! Your father and I are both hoping for a grandson!”

Bai Yang felt a headache coming on. He tapped on the photo; the person in the picture was holding a teddy bear and smiling sweetly.

The young officer quickly leaned in and said with a grin, “Senior, your mom is setting you up on another blind date!”

“Go, go, don’t you have work to do?” Bai Yang pushed the young man out of the office. He sat back down and played the voice message. “Mom, don’t worry about this. It will happen when it is meant to happen.”

A reply came back quickly. “How can I not worry? What do you mean ‘when it is meant to happen’? You… sigh, no, you have to go meet her this time. I’ve already settled it with your Auntie Yu. She is a teacher! And you are still being picky!”

Bai Yang massaged his temples. “Mom, it is not that I am being picky, it is that she might not even like me. Alright, I have things to do here. We’ll talk about this later.” As soon as he finished, another message flew in, as if she would not stop until he agreed. “Yangyang, let me tell you, she just moved back. She is a teacher at Experimental Middle School now, very gentle and elegant…”

What followed was a stream of praise. Whether his mother had heard his message or not, her compliments soon shifted to Bai Yang himself. He set the phone aside as his mother’s voice continued to extol his virtues. Bai Yang’s lips curled into a helpless smile.

The curve of his lips soon flattened. Bai Yang let go of the mouse, his gaze burning with intensity.

A teacher at Experimental Middle School?

In the quiet classroom, only the sound of Qin Qing’s high heels could be heard. With her hands behind her back, she held a weekly test paper. Since it was a quiz, Qin Qing was at leisure, wandering aimlessly around the room. She paused occasionally by a desk to observe.

The rhythmic clicking of her heels drew closer and eventually stopped beside Gu Yuwei’s desk. Gu Yuwei’s right hand continued to move across the paper, seemingly unaffected by Qin Qing’s presence.

Her chin-length student haircut remained bowed over the paper. Qin Qing shifted her stance, leaning down to see how the girl was filling out the test. Sensing the movement, Gu Yuwei’s brow furrowed slightly beneath her bangs. She quickly flipped the paper over with her left hand, folding it in half, while her wide sleeve intentionally or unintentionally blocked the area where she had been writing.

Qin Qing stopped moving. Gu Yuwei breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the woman would walk away. However, a faint fragrance suddenly drifted from behind her, followed by a fair, slender hand. The hand landed purposefully on the back of Gu Yuwei’s hand, guiding it to move aside.

In this position, it looked as if Qin Qing was embracing Gu Yuwei from behind.

The spot that had been deliberately hidden was now clearly visible to the person behind her. Qin Qing stared at that spot for a moment—a moment that felt incredibly long to Gu Yuwei.

Because she was leaning over, nearly half of Qin Qing’s long hair fell across Gu Yuwei’s desk, the test paper, and her shoulder. Qin Qing let go of Gu Yuwei’s hand and smiled, pointing at a specific word. “It is very good that you thought of this word, but check it again. Is this how it is spelled?”

Her gentle, slow voice sounded right in Gu Yuwei’s ear. Perhaps afraid of disturbing the other students, Qin Qing had lowered her voice significantly.

Gu Yuwei felt an inexplicable heat—a heat she had not even felt while wearing her long-sleeved school uniform in the middle of summer. Her breathing hitched for a few seconds, as if she were afraid her breath would disturb the person so close to her.

“Mhm,” Gu Yuwei finally managed to squeeze out a single word after Qin Qing finished speaking.

The surrounding fragrance vanished instantly, so quickly that Gu Yuwei felt a sudden, impulsive urge to reach out and grab it. The sound of high heels moved away once more, the rhythmic clicking echoing through the classroom, yet it felt as if each step landed directly on Gu Yuwei’s heart.

Gu Yuwei’s eyes flickered as she stared at the test paper. After a long while, the heat on her face faded, and her racing heart gradually returned to a calm rhythm.

Time at school always slipped away unnoticed. Gu Yuwei continued her routine, attending school during the week and going to Lu Fei’s place on the weekends. In truth, Gu Yuwei did not know much about Lu Fei. Back when she had just started Grade 8, she was still underage and no one dared to hire her. Lu Fei was different; not only did she not ask questions, but she had agreed to take Gu Yuwei in immediately.

Qin An’an’s transfer was set for the next semester, which would be Grade 9.

Life seemed to have returned to its usual dullness until a sudden, unheralded murder case cast a shadow of darkness over the small county once again.