Gene Fusion System: Crime Hunter

Chapter 957 - 472: Learning the Past? Concealing Background_2

"You two made a special trip here this time. Is it because that kid Zhu Guangming caused trouble, or did he do something over the line?"

Hearing him ask that,

with that faint, distant tone,

Luo Fei was a bit surprised.

"Mr. Zhou, just now you said the name sounded unfamiliar. How come you suddenly changed your tune?"

Zhou Mingwen smiled as he explained.

"Officer, my wife has taught so many classes of students. A small number left a deep impression, and we might still keep in touch afterwards."

"But in fact, most students might never contact us again in their lives."

"However, this Zhu Guangming is actually quite memorable."

As he spoke, Zhou Mingwen took an album out from under the TV cabinet.

The album had a clear sense of age.

Gold-stamped characters, with butterfly and mandarin duck patterns on it.

The cover had yellowed a bit; it was heavy and old.

And as Zhou Mingwen opened the album,

Luo Fei saw it too.

On the first day of school,

Zhu Guangming was standing right next to Teacher Zhang Lanyun.

"Back then he was the class monitor, and Chen Shufen was the vice monitor. The two of them had been competing with each other from that time on. Whether it was physics and chemistry, or history and geography, they studied very hard and were always trying to outdo each other."

"But later, because of his weak health, plus the fact that he was always being ostracized by his classmates, quite a few parents came to my wife hoping she would replace this ’unqualified’ class monitor."

"But my wife never agreed to do that."

As he spoke, Zhou Mingwen frowned, as if he’d recalled something unpleasant.

"And afterwards, did Zhu Guangming ever show signs of schizophrenia, or, say, did he exhibit any abnormalities under extreme stress?"

Hearing Luo Fei ask that,

Zhou Mingwen’s response was ambiguous.

"Mr. Luo, you’re not wrong. This Zhu Guangming did have some mental issues. When he was provoked or mocked and ostracized by other students, he would often start talking to himself. Sometimes he would hide alone in a corner and talk to a friend he’d imagined."

"At first, when some parents told me about this, I didn’t really believe it. Until one time, I went to pick my wife up."

"That time, Zhu Guangming performed poorly on an exam. He could usually score over ninety, but ended up with only a little over sixty. My wife criticized him, and he got so mad he pushed her to the ground..."

As he spoke, Zhou Mingwen hesitated.

He seemed torn between speaking and keeping quiet, as if something had suddenly come to mind.

Luo Fei also realized

that Zhou Mingwen had probably never imagined that the child Zhang Lanyun valued so highly would one day hurt her.

This had caught Zhou Mingwen completely off guard.

He clearly found it hard to accept.

"What happened after that?"

Hearing Luo Fei ask,

Zhou Mingwen chuckled and shook his head.

"Mr. Luo, I did suggest to my wife that she should send Zhu Guangming away. From a certain perspective, his unstable temperament was very dangerous. But my wife wouldn’t agree."

"She said she’d already been teaching for more than ten years, and in all those years she’d never given up on a single student. This time would be no exception."

What Zhou Mingwen said was within Luo Fei’s expectations.

Because before coming here,

he had already learned a bit about Zhang Lanyun’s life,

knew what kind of person she was,

and knew she was someone who never admitted defeat and never easily gave up.

So she was unwilling to give up on any student,

even on Zhu Guangming.

"Fortunately, in the end Zhu Guangming graduated smoothly. But my wife was always worried that he might do something extreme."

"Later she even went to visit his family."

"And not long after that, his parents had their accident. That really does make one suspect, to some extent, whether he was directly involved in what happened to them."

This assessment made Luo Fei exchange a glance with Li Yu.

"Mr. Zhou, if possible, we’d like to meet your wife and hear more details from her. I just don’t know if we’ll have that chance?"

Seeing Luo Fei looking at him with some expectation,

Zhou Mingwen sighed.

"I’m very sorry, Mr. Luo, but for now that probably won’t be possible. My wife’s in poor health and has been hospitalized recently. So if you want to see her, it might be better to wait a while and visit then."

"As for the contact information for the relatives of Zhu Guangming’s adoptive parents, I’ll go find it for you now."

A moment later, when Mr. Zhou brought over an address book,

he gave the contact number to Luo Fei, who said gratefully,

"Thank you, Mr. Zhou. The clues you’ve given us are really a big help to our investigation."

Seeing his grateful expression,

Zhou Mingwen waved his hand.

"Mr. Luo, I know you’re solving a homicide case. And this case most likely has something to do with Zhu Guangming, doesn’t it?"

When he said that,

his tone was very calm,

but his expression was somewhat complicated.

Luo Fei couldn’t help asking,

"Mr. Zhou, from your expression, it seems you’re not all that surprised about this sort of thing?"

Seeing Luo Fei looking at him with a hint of confusion,

even a bit puzzled,

Zhou Mingwen simply smiled and shook his head.

"Mr. Luo, back when we were still at the school, I told her once."

"I said that someone like Zhu Guangming was bound to cause trouble sooner or later."

"But my wife said that her job was to teach and nurture people. Now that she had a chance to help someone, there was no way she would pass up such a good opportunity. Even if there might be something wrong with him, she still wouldn’t easily give up on a student. That’s always been her way of doing things."

After hearing this explanation,

Luo Fei nodded.

"Mr. Zhou, thank you for the information. We’ll get going now, and we’ll come back later to ask you more questions."

...

A while later,

after Luo Fei and the others got into the car,

he noticed

that Li Yu seemed to be in a complicated mood,

her expression a bit off.

"Li Yu, you okay? Why the long face?"

At Luo Fei’s remark,

Li Yu hurried to explain.

"Ah? I’m fine, Mr. Luo. I was just thinking—judging from what we heard, Zhu Guangming might really have some mental issues."

As Li Yu spoke, she trailed off.

Seeing how conflicted she looked,

Luo Fei said casually,

"That’s nothing, really. It’s a pretty normal thing. Don’t take it too much to heart, Li Yu."

But when he saw Luo Fei comforting Li Yu,

Su Jianfan couldn’t help feeling very curious.

So he asked,

"Sister Li Yu, just now I noticed you got a bit emotional when facing Zhu Guangming. Does that mean you might have gone through something yourself?"

No sooner had the words left Su Jianfan’s mouth

than Li Yu frowned.

That made Luo Fei clear his throat beside them.

"Su Jianfan, put your attention back on the case, alright?"

"As for Li Yu’s situation, she’ll talk about it when she feels like it."

Luo Fei’s reminder

left Su Jianfan a bit embarrassed.

"Sorry, Yu, I didn’t mean to pry. Please don’t take it the wrong way."

Seeing Su Jianfan looking a bit abashed,

clearly at a loss,

Li Yu just shook her head.

"It’s okay."

Noticing that Li Yu was indeed a little uncomfortable,

Luo Fei simply made a suggestion.

"It’s getting late. Why don’t we ask Yang Mei out and go grab some late-night food?"

"My treat."

A while later,

with Yang Mei arriving together with Han Tiesheng and Su Manying,

Luo Fei saw

that Han Tiesheng was holding his jaw,

wearing a pained expression.

"Old Luo, my jaw’s messed up. I can’t eat anything and have to wait a few days for the swelling to go down. You might as well not have called me this time, right?"

"Otherwise I’ll be sitting there drinking plain porridge while you lot eat skewers and drink beer. How am I supposed to feel about that?"

Seeing how Old Han seemed a bit bothered,

Luo Fei said,

"Old Han, I didn’t ask you here just to eat. This is to make things easier for the subsequent investigation. So just tough it out for now."