[Chen Shiyou had a girlfriend?]
The counselor took several minutes to wrap his head around the news.
He was a bit intimidated by Gu Yingzhou, but since it concerned his own student, he had to ask for clarification.
This time, Gu Yingzhou finally answered him. “We found him dead in his home. He died three days ago.”
The counselor’s heart jolted. Realizing he had just been badmouthing Chen Shiyou moments ago, fine beads of cold sweat broke out on his forehead. “Was it su—suicide?”
“Preliminary assessment: homicide.”
“…”
The counselor’s eyes widened in horror. He shakily raised the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow. Whether it was suicide or murder, as Chen Shiyou’s teacher, he carried a certain level of responsibility.
While juniors indeed had far fewer classes than before, to keep students engaged, there was usually at least one major-specific course every two days. Chen Shiyou hadn’t asked for a leave of absence these past few days, and because the counselor had grown accustomed to the student skipping class, he had relaxed his oversight… Who could have guessed that this time, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to come, but that he couldn’t?
Now that the police had come to the school, the counselor knew he wouldn’t be able to escape the university administration’s accountability. The only thing he could do now was cooperate fully with the police to find the killer as quickly as possible.
Slumping back into his seat, despondent, the counselor’s voice lost its energy. “Officers, go ahead and ask. As long as I know it, I will cooperate.”
Gu Yingzhou tapped his fingers on the desk. “Usually at school, were there groups of people who picked on Chen Shiyou?”
Lu Ting’an knew exactly what Gu Yingzhou was getting at; he was asking about campus bullying. Bullying has existed for ages, but before the internet era, this issue—which affects the psyche of so many students—hadn’t received much serious attention. In fact, the term “bullying” didn’t even start appearing frequently in academic literature until the 2010s.
Chen Shiyou’s personality made him a misfit, making him an easy target for bullies.
However, after a moment of blankness, the counselor shook his head firmly. “No one bullied him. Our students are all high-achieving ‘good kids’ with excellent character; they wouldn’t just bully someone.”
This sounded a bit like “the merchant praising his own wares.” Gu Yingzhou’s expression remained indifferent, his eyes clearly signaling his disbelief.
The counselor grew anxious, patting his chest in a guarantee. “Officers, to be honest with you, I worried about that during his freshman year. After all, Chen Shiyou didn’t get along well with his roommates. But facts proved that while the boy was proud and aloof, there wasn’t really any conflict between him and his classmates. Think about it—every time he came to school for class, he left for home the second it was over. What chance did he have to clash with anyone?”
“What about those roommates he lived with freshman year? Any of them hold a grudge?”
The counselor thought carefully before shaking his head again. “Them? Even more unlikely.”
According to his description, although Chen Shiyou had complained to him three times about his roommates during his freshman year, no actual shouting matches had occurred in the dorm.
Chen Shiyou was generous with his money. When he first entered school, he treated his roommates to dinner a few times to establish some “ground rules,” and occasionally bought things for them when they were out together. Because of this, his former roommates had a good impression of him and were even disappointed for a while when he moved out.
The ratio of boys to girls in the art major was roughly one-to-one. Chen Shiyou was handsome and had that “detached” artistic temperament that art girls liked, so the girls in the class generally thought well of him. At the very least, one could guarantee that Chen Shiyou hadn’t faced any isolation or discrimination at school due to his personality; some even admired him, feeling that a wealthy, handsome guy should be melancholy and solitary like that.
…
The questioning of the counselor ended. Gu Yingzhou and Lu Ting’an hadn’t gained much useful information.
Currently, leads were scarce, but temporarily ruling out the students as suspects allowed them to relax slightly.
The wealth gap in Hong Kong was actually massive. The ratio of poor to rich was roughly 6:1, with the remaining 3 being the middle class—ordinary people who could eat and dress well but spent their days struggling to pay for houses and cars.
Correspondingly, highly educated individuals were few and far between. Gangming University was one of the few elite institutions. Getting into this university required passing through layers of screening for both family background and academic ability. The “ordinary” students here were very likely the future elite of society once they entered the workforce.
As a public servant, Gu Yingzhou hoped the one who killed Chen Shiyou wasn’t a student. However, the questions had to be asked, and the procedures had to be followed.
Gu Yingzhou turned toward the office door and nodded to the counselor. “Please find us two students who were relatively close to Chen Shiyou.”
This stumped the counselor. “He… he didn’t really have any close friends…”
Lu Ting’an added timely, “The class monitor, and the head of his original dorm.”
The counselor finally nodded and, as if having found a target, hurried out of the office.
Ten minutes later, he returned with a young man and woman. He had likely briefed them on the situation on the way, as both students had expressions of awkwardness and trepidation as they entered.
Lu Ting’an observed their small movements and micro-expressions: the stiff backs, the restlessness, and the deep breaths were all signs of nervousness. However, when their eyes met his, they didn’t show guilt; after awkwardly looking away, their eyes didn’t dart around suspiciously.
They likely knew nothing about Chen Shiyou’s death, nor who was involved in the murder.
Sure enough, after Gu Yingzhou conducted the routine questioning, the answers from the two were identical—not much different from what the counselor had just said.
Gu Yingzhou didn’t waste much of their time. Once he had a general idea of Chen Shiyou’s image in the eyes of his peers, he waved them away.
The class monitor and the former dorm head looked relieved. Just as they were about to leave, the monitor suddenly remembered something.
“Officer, during the two semesters of sophomore year, I actually did see Student Chen walking with a girl, but I’m not entirely sure about their relationship. I don’t know if that’s worth mentioning?”
Gu Yingzhou felt as if a ray of light had suddenly shone into a blocked path. He beckoned to the monitor. “Come over and tell us the details.”
The monitor was a girl with a very cute and sweet appearance, an art major wearing a set of soft pink autumn clothes and a checkered headband—young and radiant.
It’s only human nature to be unable to look away from beautiful people. When she first walked in, she thought these two officers were incredibly handsome. Now, seeing them up close, she realized the handsome one didn’t even have visible pores!
The girl’s face flushed for a second, but she quickly realized now was not the time to be a fangirl; she was here to provide leads for Student Chen’s case.
She immediately straightened up and spoke with a serious expression: “We’ve been in class together for over two years. Several girls in our class have confessed their feelings to Student Chen in private, but he always rejected them very bluntly. That kind of thing is pretty awkward, but since no other girls ever appeared around him, everyone eventually got over it and started treating those confessions as a joke. That is, until last year—I saw a very beautiful girl walking with Student Chen on two occasions, and they seemed to be very close.”
Gu Yingzhou asked, “Do you know who she is?”
The class monitor nodded. “I do. She’s the ‘Department Beauty’ of the Foreign Languages Department. She’s a sophomore.”
It was like a messy, tangled ball of yarn where the end of the thread had finally been found. The police could finally follow the trail and dig deeper into the truth.
Gu Yingzhou then had the counselor summon the girl’s head teacher to the office. Soon, the two of them learned exactly what kind of person this “Department Beauty” was.
Her name was Xu Xinxue, a sophomore, and she was what many people called a “White, Rich, and Beautiful” [1] Bai-fu-mei jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1673994_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1673994_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
Unlike Chen Shiyou, Xu Xinxue wasn’t just beautiful; she was incredibly popular. Her teacher said that while her grades weren’t the absolute best in the class, she was the class monitor, elected by a majority vote. She was gentle and had high emotional intelligence—the boys saw her as a goddess, and the girls all wanted to be her friend.
Upon learning about Chen Shiyou’s death, Xu Xinxue’s teacher shook her head repeatedly, saying with regret, “It’s tragic that something like this happened to a student from the Fine Arts Department, but I know my student. It’s impossible for Xu Xinxue to be involved in this.”
Gu Yingzhou remained impartial. “Whether she’s involved isn’t for you to decide. Where is Xu Xinxue? We need to see her.”
The head teacher of the Foreign Languages Department looked hesitant. “Officer, I’m afraid today won’t work.”
“She’s not here?”
The teacher hummed in affirmation. “She always asks for leave on Friday afternoons to go to a piano lesson off-campus. Right now happens to be her class time.”
“Where is her lesson, and what time does it end?”
“Jiangzhou Rongli,” the teacher answered, checking her watch. “It only started a little while ago. It probably won’t end for another two hours or so.”
‘Jiangzhou Rongli?’
As soon as those words were spoken, a weird silence fell over the office for a few seconds.
Chen Shiyou was found dead today in his home at Jiangzhou Rongli, and Xu Xinxue was at Jiangzhou Rongli today for a piano lesson.
While several days seemed to separate Chen Shiyou’s time of death from today, once you placed their relationship into the equation, everything seemed to be inextricably linked.
After giving a few formal instructions, Gu Yingzhou immediately led Lu Ting’an away from Gangming University.
Security at the Jiangzhou Rongli complex was strict; there was only one main entrance for coming and going. Since Xu Xinxue lived in the dorms and students weren’t allowed to stay overnight elsewhere, as long as she was truly studying piano there, waiting for her at the complex gate would be a simple task.
Gu Yingzhou headed downstairs with long strides. Just as he was about to turn out of the office building, he realized belatedly that the person walking beside him had vanished.
“Lu Ting’an?” He called out toward the stairs, his voice echoing through the winding stairwell.
The slow, dragging footsteps above paused, followed by Lu Ting’an’s faint reply: “Yeah.”
Gu Yingzhou tapped the handrail as a sign of urgency. “What’s taking you so long?”
Lu Ting’an: “…Go on ahead.”
Gu Yingzhou frowned curiously but didn’t move.
Lu Ting’an’s habits regarding sleep and diet had always been terrible. In his previous life, he would livestream all night, often engaging in “revenge” all-nighters. With his sleep schedule a mess, his meals were equally chaotic—either feasting or starving.
Back then, his physical constitution was decent enough that, aside from the occasional hunger pang that sent him scavenging through the house, he didn’t have major issues. This meant he had never fixed that bad habit of skipping meals.
He had forgotten that the original owner of this body was a “weakling” who caught a minor illness every three days and a major one every five. And judging by the hidden liquor rack in the corner of his room, he was an alcoholic to boot! Such a body combined with those habits was a recipe for disaster.
The Little Mermaid gave up her tail, and every step she took on land felt like walking on knives. Lu Ting’an felt like he was experiencing that pain firsthand right now. With every step down the stairs, his stomach felt like it was being twisted by a hemp rope—one turn for every step, tightening an inch with every move.
It hurt! It hurt so much he wanted to just lie down and roll down the stairs.
He hadn’t noticed it while his mind was focused, but now that his attention had wavered, his senses were forced to concentrate entirely on his stomach.
After struggling down to the ground floor, one agonizing twist at a time, Lu Ting’an was about to catch his breath when he noticed Gu Yingzhou staring at him with a strange expression three meters away.
Lu Ting’an’s deep breathing became more subtle. He had never liked showing his vulnerable side to outsiders, especially to a man he considered his equal.
“Why haven’t you left yet?”
Gu Yingzhou looked at his face, which was so pale it was almost transparent, and strode over. “I’d still have to wait for you even if I left. What’s wrong?”
Lu Ting’an quietly lowered the hand he was using to clutch his stomach and said calmly, “Nothing. Just a bit hungry.”
Gu Yingzhou had already checked the time—it was 2:30 PM. It was indeed past a normal lunch hour, and even his own stomach felt a bit empty.
But would being “just a bit hungry” leave someone unable to walk?
Gu Yingzhou didn’t miss the way he had been clutching the painful spot; he naturally guessed his stomach was bothering him. No wonder he hadn’t said much in the office. Realizing that a member of the logistics staff had followed him on field duty multiple times, a faint sense of guilt welled up in his heart.
“Sorry, my oversight.” He stiffly extended his arm toward Lu Ting’an’s side. “Let’s go eat first.”
Lu Ting’an’s footsteps paused as he looked down in surprise.
What was this? Was the great Captain Gu, who had always kept his distance, finally showing some conscience?
Lu Ting’an looked up at the sky and murmured, “I thought the sun was going to set in the east today.”
Gu Yingzhou: “…Stop wasting time!”
The pain was severe, so Lu Ting’an reluctantly allowed the other man to support him. With someone to lean on, walking was indeed a bit more comfortable.
After a few steps, he thought of something and let out a light laugh.
Gu Yingzhou glanced at him sideways. “What are you laughing at?”
Lu Ting’an straightened his back and enunciated with perfect clarity, “Officer Gu, don’t you think you supporting me like this looks a bit like a palace eunuch attending to an Imperial Consort in the old days?”
Gu Yingzhou: “…”
His expression turned icy, and he retracted his arm with lightning speed.
“Wait—” Lu Ting’an wobbled.
Before he could react, his arm was snatched up in the next second. With a surge of force from Gu Yingzhou, he was hoisted up like a scrawny chick. With one shoulder higher than the other, half of his body was practically being lugged along…
It didn’t aggravate the painful spot, but wasn’t this posture a bit too… ungraceful?
Just as he was about to protest, a cold sneer sounded in his ear. “Is this better, Your Highness?”
Lu Ting’an: “…”
Had he known this man was so petty, he wouldn’t have let his tongue slip. Now he’d done it.
“…It’s great.” Lu Ting’an twitched the corner of his mouth and closed his eyes under the collective gaze of the surrounding college students.
‘Dying right here wouldn’t be so bad either.’
References[+]