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墨書 Inktalez
Two questions.
Does the murderer realize they killed the wrong person?
Will the murderer strike again?
To address these questions, we met with Hu Jiajia for the second time, this time at her apartment. In recent days, she had indeed not received any more threatening letters, nor had anyone been following her. It seemed that this stalker, this murderer, had vanished—at least from Hu Jiajia's sight.
Hu Jiajia showed us a photo she had taken of a wall, where three large words were written in red paint: "Don't Push Me."
From the handwriting, it was clear that the stalker's writing was quite decent, much better than the scrawl written by someone at the construction site. Of course, that was not a fair comparison; the state in which those words were written could not be analyzed for handwriting. However, these three words were different.
Next, we saw a letter composed of colorful letters cut out from newspapers: "One day, I will rape you and then cut off your head to write with it."
This letter was received three days ago, on the day before Zhang Mingliang was killed. She had chosen to report it to the police, and they did indeed file a record of the incident. But relying solely on such a letter made it difficult to track down the stalker. Unexpectedly, the very next day, Zhang Mingliang was raped and murdered.
"He has already written three words; why did he choose to use cut-out letters this time?" I wondered aloud.
Indeed, if he used letters from newspapers, we would have no way to trace his handwriting. Perhaps he thought that writing just three words posed no risk, but writing too much would easily lead to his discovery. However, if the murderer believed that leaving behind handwriting was too risky, it indicated something significant.
The murderer feared that Hu Jiajia would recognize their handwriting; they were likely someone familiar to her.
Someone familiar to Hu Jiajia.
At that moment, we heard the sound of a door opening in the hallway. A man entered using a key. Without asking, it was clear that this was the male friend rumored to live with Hu Jiajia.
The man stood at a height of one hundred seventy-eight centimeters, estimated to be around twenty-four or twenty-five years old, with a full beard that was well-groomed rather than messy. His expression was quite serious, exuding an aura of authority without needing to raise his voice. Although he had a lean build, his muscular physique was evident through his short sleeves.
"Guan Zengbin" whispered to me, "Look at him; this is the perfect example of someone who looks slim in clothes but has muscle when undressed. And he's a teacher too—so handsome!"
"Isn't Gu Chen also all muscle?" I countered.
"His muscles are too obvious; it's not attractive!" Guan Zengbin shook his head.
"Gao Rui, you're back," Hu Jiajia said, her expression lighting up upon seeing him.
"This must be your male friend," I teased, elongating the word "male."
Hu Jiajia didn't catch the tone in my voice and continued, "Yes, Gao Rui is my colleague and also a classmate from high school. He took care of me back then and still does now. I'm quite forgetful and often leave my keys behind, so he has a spare key to my place."
"He had that before moving in?" I asked.
Hu Jiajia nodded. "Yes. Gao Rui, these are police colleagues here to help me deal with that stalker."
We all stood up to greet him while I observed Gao Rui's expression. As he changed his shoes, he said, "You all must have worked hard; it's already past ten at night."
"You too; you're back so late," I chuckled.
Gao Rui nodded and replied, "I'm a homeroom teacher for first-year high school students. Their evening study sessions end around ten. I wasn't used to it when I first started, but I've been here almost a year now, so I'm getting used to it."
We asked Gao Rui about the stalker situation again. Since he had moved in later, he wasn't very familiar with the previous incidents. However, he did mention seeing graffiti on the wall and that threatening letter. After reporting it to the police, things had improved; the stalker hadn't shown up again.
As for Zhang Mingliang's death, we didn't plan to bring it up with Hu Jiajia; there was no need to cause her unnecessary panic. Besides, Xiao Liu was already secretly protecting her, so there shouldn't be any major issues. It seemed that this bearded Gao Rui was no weakling either.
"Your phone has been ringing several times. Aren't you going to answer it?" I looked at Gao Rui's phone and said, "We've basically asked everything we needed to."
Gao Rui made a helpless expression and replied, "There's nothing I can do; long-distance relationships are like this. My girlfriend gets upset every few days, and I don't even know what she's angry about. Sorry, I'm going to take this call in my room. If you need me for anything, just reach out."
With that, Gao Rui answered the call and walked toward his room. Just as he took a step, a woman's voice came from inside, saying, "Break up! Why did you take so long to answer my call..."
Every family has its own troubles...
Hu Jiajia looked at Gao Rui's retreating figure and sighed, "I don't think they'll last much longer."
Guan Zengbin, intrigued, patted Hu Jiajia on the shoulder and said, "Sister Jiajia, I think you like Teacher Gao."
Hu Jiajia's face turned red, and she replied, "No way."
"You're even shy!" Guan Zengbin continued. "Teacher Gao is handsome, fit, and he's a teacher—what great qualities! Even I like him. Sister Jiajia, stop pretending. Otherwise, why would you choose to find Teacher Gao instead of moving out when something like this happens?"
"He already has a girlfriend," Hu Jiajia leaned back on the sofa.
Guan Zengbin shook his head knowingly and said, "Did you hear the tone of that phone call? It's only a matter of time before it ends. You need to make an effort! By the way, you two are alone together in one room; hasn't he made any moves on you?"
Guan Zengbin's question was quite bold. Naturally, Hu Jiajia blushed at the inquiry and glanced at the two of us men.
I quickly pretended to admire the scenery with Gu Chen.
I said, "Gu Chen, look at the moon tonight; it's pretty nice."
Gu Chen replied, "Yeah, it's quite round."
Once this woman started talking, it felt as if we had known each other since birth.
Hu Jiajia shook her head and said, "Xiao Bin, to be honest with you, I really liked Gao Rui back in high school. But at that time, Gao Rui was all about studying and didn't want to date. As a girl, I felt too shy to say anything. Three years of high school flew by, and Gao Rui only saw me as a little sister."
"When it came time for the college entrance exam, I wanted to apply to the same school as him, but by some twist of fate, Gao Rui ended up at a non-key university. When I asked him what happened, he said he mixed up the order of his choices. I was so close to crying, you know? But there was nothing I could do; I couldn't go back and change it since that university was our dream school."
"In the end, I got into that university while Gao Rui didn't even pass. Although we weren't at the same school, we kept in touch throughout our four years of college. Later on, I found out that Gao Rui had a girlfriend in college. I was so mad; if I had known earlier, I would have confessed my feelings."
"My family didn't oppose me dating in college, so I just had to wait. But who would have thought that Gao Rui's relationship would last for so many years? Meanwhile, I never dated anyone. I thought since both of us were from the same city, how could I let a girl from out of town win over me?"
"After graduation, Gao Rui came here for an internship while I started my master's program. Now that I've finally begun my own internship, I managed to find an opportunity to intern at the same school as him. But then again, Gao Rui got himself another girlfriend. Oh my God, when is it my turn?"
Guan Zengbin said, "You've liked him for so many years; why not take the initiative?"
Hu Jiajia hugged a pillow and curled up on the sofa, saying with a hint of resentment, "Gao Rui is truly a gentleman. Even though we live in the same place sometimes, I secretly hope for some little surprises to happen. But Gao Rui never does anything like that. During those days when Stalker was bothering me endlessly, I suddenly came up with an idea."
"Stalker likes me—cough cough—specifically my underwear." Hu Jiajia whispered. "I thought I'd test Gao Rui's reaction by leaving a piece of lingerie in the shared bathroom to see if he would touch it... In the end, that piece of lingerie sat on top of the washing machine for an entire week and almost started to mold..."
Guan Zengbin's eyes widened in surprise. "A stoic male god! So did you not try something bolder?"
"He's still a virgin!" Hu Jiajia retorted playfully. "How far can I go? Aren't you one too?"
"I am!" Guan Zengbin replied.
"Damn it! Why do all the beautiful women with great figures like someone else?" I whispered to Gu Chen. "Do you have a sister? Introduce me to someone..."
As soon as I finished speaking, both Hu Jiajia and Guan Zengbin turned their gazes toward me simultaneously.
I felt so embarrassed that I quickly said, "Brother Gu Chen, the moon looks nice tonight."
"Yeah, Brother Wu Meng," Gu Chen replied. "It's quite round."
At half past eleven, the two women reluctantly said their goodbyes. If it weren't for Hu Jiajia having class tomorrow, I think they would have chatted for another couple of hours. However, I gathered quite a bit of information from their conversation.
"Gao Rui already had Hu Jiajia's key," I said. "And I believe whoever is following Hu Jiajia must be someone she knows."
"What?" Guan Zengbin stopped in his tracks. "Are you suspecting Teacher Gao? Come on, think about it—Teacher Gao is living with Sister Jiajia. Why would he need to stalk her? Besides, do you really think Teacher Gao could mistake Hu Jiajia for Zhang Mingliang? Even if Teacher Gao wanted something, he wouldn’t need to force it!"
Guan Zengbin made a good point. I frowned and said, "But can’t Gao Rui tell that Hu Jiajia likes him?"
"Love is complicated," Guan Zengbin shrugged and replied. "It's hard to say. Some people are genuinely clueless, while others pretend to be. Some have slept around without ever being in love, while others fall head over heels without even touching each other. Love is a mysterious thing!"
"You've got quite the way with words—have you been hurt before? Is it because someone rejected you for being flat-chested? It's okay; although I'm not a fan of small breasts, in the dark, it’s pretty much the same," I said, glancing at Guan Zengbin's chest.
"I'm going to fight you today!"
Just as Guan Zengbin and I were joking around, my phone buzzed with a text message.
It was from Mary: "I found the address of that transgender person."
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