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Another sigh escaped his lips as he said, "You, Teacher Gao, are so well-presented, yet you could do something like this. It truly shows that one can know a person’s appearance but not their heart. Gu Hui is usually a bit mischievous, but she wouldn’t just jump into a puddle like that. I also feel this incident doesn’t seem like an accidental death, but I can’t just assume that Teacher Gao murdered her."
I shook my head helplessly, at a loss for words. People’s perspectives differ based on their positions and affiliations. From my point of view, the likelihood of Gu Hui’s death being accidental seemed much higher. Even I had stumbled into the hole without realizing it; it was entirely possible for a five-year-old girl like Gu Hui to fall in.
After walking a bit further, we heard a loud argument in the distance. As we approached, we saw a crowd gathered, resembling a sumo match in the mud.
"Gao Dafu! If you’re a man, then admit it! You bastard! Are you harboring resentment and killed Gu Hui?"
A man’s voice rang out, filled with anger and tinged with tears.
"My brother," Gu Chen said urgently. "Let’s hurry over and see what’s happening."
We quickened our pace and rushed toward the commotion. As we got closer under the moonlight, I began to discern what was going on. Several villagers were holding onto another villager who was cursing loudly; it was Gu Chen's cousin, Gu Zhi.
Lying in the mud was a tall, thin figure—it had to be Teacher Gao. He was gasping for breath, his face smeared with mud mixed with blood. One of his eyes was swollen shut as he trembled uncontrollably.
"What happened?" Gu Chen asked.
Upon hearing Gu Chen's voice, the villagers turned to look at him. It seemed everyone in the village recognized Gu Chen; after all, as a police officer, he was considered an important figure here. When Gu Zhi saw Gu Chen, tears streamed down his face as he cried out, "This bastard killed Gu Hui! This bastard drove my mother to her grave! Gu Chen, take out your gun and put him down!"
Gu Chen frowned and quickly replied, "You all help Gao Dafu up. Brother, calm down; fighting won’t solve anything. Dad, keep an eye on my brother while you help Gao Dafu into the house. My colleagues and I will investigate the truth."
It seemed that Gu Chen's words held weight in this village; several villagers complied with his instructions.
Before long, Gao Dafu was carried into the house.
Gu Chen stood in front of Gu Zhi and said slowly, "Brother, please calm down. I'll take care of Gu Hui's situation."
Gu Zhi nodded heavily, tears in his eyes. "Brother, I leave everything to you."
Gu Chen glanced at me, and together we walked into Gao Dafu's home. At that moment, Gao Dafu was wiping the mud and blood off his face with a towel.
"We are..." I started to say, but Gao Dafu raised his hand to stop me.
After a moment, Gao Dafu spoke up. "I know who you are. You’re the police. Gu Chen and I were classmates in middle school; we didn’t go to the same high school or university. I know Gu Chen later got into the police academy, and we haven’t kept in touch much since then. I’m afraid Gu Chen might have forgotten me."
I frowned. Just earlier, Gu Chen had mentioned that a teacher named Gao had been fired, but he hadn’t told me that he and this dismissed teacher were classmates. It seemed that Gu Chen wanted to distance himself from their relationship. One was his cousin, and the other was just a former classmate.
Gu Chen sat down on a chair and said, "Of course I remember; the three of us used to play together often."
"Yeah," Gao Dafu sneered. "Your brother once told me we would be lifelong good friends."
I could hear the sarcasm in Gao Dafu's voice. However, when it came to matters of life and death, even family could turn against each other; how much more so for mere childhood friends?
While they talked, I took a slow look at Teacher Gao. Judging by his age, he seemed to be around twenty-four or twenty-five, about the same age as Gu Chen. In terms of appearance, Teacher Gao was quite handsome; it was no wonder many girls liked him.
I surveyed the house and noticed it seemed like Teacher Gao lived here alone.
I asked slowly, "Do you live here by yourself?"
Teacher Gao nodded, wiping the mud off his clothes with a towel as he spoke. "My parents died early. My father passed away when I was in high school, and my mother died during my college years. At that time, I had no money; even the funeral was funded by loans from villagers."
"Otherwise," Teacher Gao continued, "if there were still people in my family, I wouldn't have ended up in this situation. You could say it's all fate. Are we just bored? Why do I have to pick that child up from school? If I had family, would she still be able to slander me?"
I lightly tapped my fingers on the table and said slowly, "So you're saying that a seven-year-old girl slandering you means you didn't violate her?"
Teacher Gao scoffed twice before responding, "How am I supposed to know why she did that? If I could guess, would I dare to be alone with her?"
He glanced at me and continued, "I used to think such things only happened in America. Do you know how far they've gone to protect minors? Adults don't dare to be in the same room with children, they don't let kids sit on their laps, and they don't even dare to tease them because any casual action can be interpreted by malicious people as having a pedophilic tendency."
"When did our village become like this?" Teacher Gao asked me.
I replied, "Stop talking nonsense. Hu Ningning is the one you touched, and Gu Hui can testify to that. How do you explain this?"
Teacher Gao said, "I can't explain it because it's all just the nonsense of two children. One day, Hu Ningning's grandmother went out to play cards and locked the door. I was going to take Hu Ningning to the house where they often played cards, but she wanted to come to my house instead."
"So Hu Ningning came to my house," Teacher Gao said slowly. "Not long after she arrived, she complained of a stomach ache and asked me to rub her belly. At that moment, I didn't think much of it and helped her. Then suddenly, she hugged me and said she wanted to marry me before kissing me."
Hearing this from a man's mouth left an unpleasant feeling in my stomach.
Teacher Gao noticed my puzzled expression and said, "No one believed me when I first told this story, but that's what happened. So I quickly took Hu Ningning back home, and since then, apart from picking her up from school, I've said nothing to her. I know this child is neglected by her parents while her grandparents are busy playing cards; they claim they're taking care of their granddaughter, but what kind of care is that?"
Shaking his head, Teacher Gao added, "Hu Ningning could sense the change in my attitude and began to harass me constantly. I don't know where she learned such behavior from, but can you imagine? A seven-year-old girl who just started first grade doing such things?"
"What did you do?" I asked.
Teacher Gao was somewhat angry as he said, "What can I do as a grown man? I can only hide from Hu Ningning. At that time, I was with my girlfriend, but she was just a figment of a girl's imagination, telling me to ignore it. Am I supposed to announce such things to the world? I've only told the police about this; do you think if the villagers outside heard it, what would their reaction be?"
"I guess they would tear you apart," I replied.
"Exactly!" Teacher Gao slammed the table suddenly and continued, "How could these ignorant villagers believe such an absurd fact? The police think I'm innocent, but those villagers believe I must have some way to deceive them. What means do I have?"
Teacher Gao grew more agitated, his body trembling with suppressed anger. He even began to stutter as he spoke: "They went to my school and caused a ruckus, preventing me from being a teacher. These people have ruined my life! Now a girl is dead, and they place this blame on me. Anyway, I have nothing left; if anything happens, it will definitely be attributed to me, this hypocrite!"
Listening to Teacher Gao's words, I analyzed the possibilities in what he said. Whether a seven-year-old girl would act in such a way was something I couldn't conclude at this moment because this Teacher Gao before me might also be lying. It seemed unlikely that the entire village would unanimously consider him a murderer; there must be some who sympathized with him.
Teacher Gao continued, "You can investigate all you want; I only have one thing to say: I did not kill her. I have no idea what happened. I really don't know what sins I committed in my past life for everyone to target me like this. I've been avoiding and hiding so much; why does this still come back to haunt me?"
"You have a point," I slowly replied. "Haven't you gone out recently?"
"No!" Teacher Gao said. "I've been at home the whole time."
I nodded and asked again, "How do you make a living? How do you solve your meals?"
Teacher Gao answered, "Of course, I go out to buy food, but no one in the village is willing to sell to me. I can't grow vegetables myself, so I have to ask my former colleagues at school to buy some for me every week. And I make a living drawing comics online; I earn about a thousand bucks a month."
"That's good," I said. "Your answers seem fine, but can you explain why there are a pair of rain boots by your wall covered in fresh mud? I've heard that you haven't gone out these past few days."
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