Chapter 46 He might be plotting something even more extreme...
Days passed by.
Zhou Wenbin seemed to have fallen silent, no longer frequently encountering Li Xiulan, and his experimental field became increasingly barren.
A few days later, Shu Ran taught the children to write the character "棉" (cotton), explaining the growth and uses of cotton using real cotton bolls that Xu Junjun had brought. The classroom atmosphere was lively.
During the break between classes, Shu Ran was sorting through the homework the children had handed in, which included the character "cotton" written on the back of scrap reports with a slate pencil, when Xu Junjun rushed in, looking rather grumpy.
"I'm so angry!" Xu Junjun plopped down on the low stool next to her, picked up Shu Ran's enamel mug, and took a swig of water.
"What's wrong? Who upset our medic Xu again?" Shu Ran asked with a smile.
"Who else? That senior technician Zhou!" Xu Junjun said irritably. "I was just delivering heatstroke prevention medicine to the machine repair team when I passed by that experimental field over at the agricultural research station, and guess what I saw?"
"What did you see?"
"I saw our chief technician, Zhou, throwing a tantrum at his few rows of half-dead wheat seedlings!" Xu Junjun imitated Zhou Wenbin, lowering her voice and speaking with resentment, "'What can you grow in this saline-alkali soil?! A waste of life! A waste of knowledge! It's all garbage!' He even kicked over the water bucket next to him! He was like a completely different person, where was his usual gentle and refined demeanor?"
Shu Ran frowned: "Is he under that much pressure?" She knew that the small experimental soil improvement field that Zhou Wenbin was in charge of had been performing poorly. Zhao Weidong had many complaints about it, feeling that he was just putting on a show and wasting manpower and resources.
"So much pressure can cause this?" Xu Junjun scoffed. "I think it's just revealing his true colors! Later, I ran into Old Zhang from the Agricultural Research Institute who came to deliver fertilizer—the one who used to work at the same institute as Zhou Wenbin. We chatted for a bit. Goodness, I had no idea!"
Xu Junjun leaned closer to Shu Ran and said, "Old Zhang said that Zhou Wenbin is a real pity. I heard that his parents studied abroad in their early years and were quite famous, but later... you know, their backgrounds were complicated. They were impacted at the beginning of the movement, and now no one knows if they are abroad or somewhere else, we can't contact them. As for Zhou Wenbin himself, he was really knowledgeable. He was originally a key talent being groomed at the institute, doing something like breeding, and I heard he was very ambitious."
"Breeding?" Shu Ran was taken aback; this was a rather cutting-edge field.
"That's right! As a result, just because of his family background and his arrogance that offended people, he was sent to this most remote production and construction corps! It was called supporting the construction of the frontier, but it was actually an exile! He couldn't even stay at the agricultural research institute, so he was directly sent down to our company for guidance."
Xu Junjun said with a hint of regret, "Old Zhang said that when he first came here, he was determined to prove himself, but this place... these conditions... his advanced knowledge was completely useless! Plus, I heard that his health wasn't very good either, and he's been taking medicine all the time. That's how people gradually lose hope."
Shu Ran listened in silence. She recalled the aloofness and melancholy that Zhou Wenbin occasionally displayed, which seemed out of place with his surroundings; she realized that this was the story behind it.
A person who harbors ideals of cutting-edge knowledge, whose ideals crumble suddenly, coupled with family misfortunes and personal health problems... this sense of disillusionment is enough to destroy a person.
“Old Zhang also said,” Xu Junjun continued, “that a letter seemed to have arrived from Shanghai a while ago. I don’t know the specifics, but after Zhou Wenbin read the letter, he was completely distraught and lay in bed for two days. I guess… his last resort to return to the city has been completely cut off.”
Shu Ran's heart sank. If the hope of returning to the city was completely shattered, what would a person whose ideals had been shattered and who had fallen into despair do? Was his previous approach to Li Xiulan really just due to emotional emptiness or looking for someone to live with?
“Jun Jun,” Shu Ran’s expression turned serious, “Have you noticed anything unusual about Zhou Wenbin lately? For example, has he been frequently going to places he shouldn’t be? Or asking about things he shouldn’t be asking about?”
Xu Junjun thought about it carefully: "There doesn't seem to be anything particularly unusual. However, he has been going to the regimental headquarters more often recently, saying that he is going to the agricultural research institute to report on his work."
“Jun Jun, we need to be aware of this, but let’s not make it public yet.” Shu Ran calmed down. “Especially Xiu Lan, we need to remind her, but we need to be careful in our approach so as not to frighten her.”
“I understand!” Xu Junjun nodded solemnly. “I will pay more attention to when he goes to the clinic to get medicine, and see if I can find out anything. As for Xiulan, I will find an opportunity to talk to her and tell her to be careful about her image and not get too close to male comrades, so as not to be gossiped about.”
"Okay." Shu Ran nodded. "I'll be more careful too."
In the following days, Shu Ran and Xu Junjun paid extra attention to Zhou Wenbin's movements and Li Xiulan's condition.
Li Xiulan seemed to have been awakened by Xu Junjun's words about "being mindful of the impact," and she clearly and deliberately avoided Zhou Wenbin.
Zhou Wenbin appeared increasingly anxious. The wheat seedlings in his experimental field had almost completely withered and died. He was too lazy to take care of them anymore. He had a gloomy face all day long. Sometimes he would stay in his little dugout for hours on end without coming out, and sometimes he would suddenly disappear for most of the day.
That afternoon, Xu Junjun came to the classroom to find Shu Ran, her face somewhat pale.
"Don't even mention it," she said, taking the water Shu Ran offered and gulping it down. "I just went to deliver medicine to Zhou Wenbin. The headache medicine he asked for last time is ready. I knocked on the door for ages before they opened it. The house smelled weird, stuffy and damp, with a... indescribable sour, rotten odor. It almost made me run away!"
Shu Ran frowned: "Is he sick?" She knew that Zhou Wenbin's health had never been very good.
"Who knows? He didn't look well, all sallow." Xu Junjun pouted. "The room was a mess, books and papers were scattered everywhere. I quickly gave him the medicine and was about to leave when I glanced at the enamel mug on the corner of his table, with something soaking in it... My God, guess what it is?"
"What?"
"A few pieces of tofu covered in green mold!" Xu Junjun said with disgust. "They're the scraps that Xiulan and the others messed up last time. How many days has it been? They haven't thrown them away; they're just soaking in water. The mold looks like... a clump of rotten cotton! I casually asked, 'Technician Zhou, aren't you going to throw away this spoiled tofu? You might get a stomachache.' Guess what he said?"
Shu Ran's heart skipped a beat.
Xu Junjun mimicked Zhou Wenbin's tone at the time: "'Throw it away? This is good stuff! I'm doing some... small experiments. To see how different molds grow on different substrates... Maybe... I'll make some unexpected discoveries.' He even chuckled twice after saying that, which was kind of creepy. I saw that his eyes were a bit fixed on something."
Moldy tofu? A small experiment? Mold? Shu Ran recalled some historical records she had read before, mentioning some extremely primitive and even dangerous biological methods...
“Jun Jun!” She grabbed Xu Jun Jun’s hand. “What color is the water in his tank? Besides the green hair, is there any other color? Like… yellow, black? Or does it have any special smell?”
Xu Junjun was startled by her reaction and thought carefully: "Okay... the water does seem a little yellow... the smell... the room is too cluttered, I can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems to have a faint... bitter smell? Or am I mistaken? Shu Ran, what's wrong? Is something wrong?"
Shu Ran shook her head. "This isn't my major, so I'm not entirely sure. But I have a feeling that Zhou Wenbin is definitely not conducting a simple experiment. A highly educated person filled with despair and resentment can be incredibly destructive if he misuses his knowledge."
Xu Junjun understood what Shu Ran meant; he might be planning something even more extreme.
Some of the speculations were too outrageous for Shu Ran to verify, and she couldn't even tell Xu Junjun directly.
“Maybe we’re overthinking it,” Shu Ran patted Xu Junjun’s hand to comfort her. “When you go to his place in the future, try not to touch anything in his room, and come out as soon as you’ve delivered the medicine.”
Xu Junjun was skeptical, but seeing the change in Shu Ran's expression, she nodded solemnly.
A few days later, when Li Xiulan was helping Shu Ran sort through the homework papers handed in by the children, which were discarded reports with writing on the back, and needed to be smoothed out and folded for reuse, she suddenly exclaimed "Eh!"
“Teacher Shu, look at this one,” she pulled out a piece of paper and pointed to a small piece of paper that had been torn off the edge and then patched up with glue. “This patch looks a lot like the paper in the book that Technician Zhou gave me last time. It’s much thinner and whiter.”
Shu Ran took it and examined it closely. The patching was rough, clearly done as a temporary measure. Crucially, there seemed to be a trace of writing on the torn original paper, made with a hard pen.
She held it up to the light to examine it closely; the deep strokes of the pen across the paper seemed to be part of a chemical formula. There was also an English abbreviation that looked like the code for some kind of compound.
The small piece of paper used for patching was indeed of better quality and whiter.
"Xiulan, are you sure this paper looks a lot like the book that Technician Zhou wrote?" Shu Ran asked.
“Yes!” Li Xiulan nodded affirmatively. “The paper in his book is like this, much smoother and whiter than our report paper. But… who did this patch?” She looked at the name on the notebook—it was Shuanzhu’s.
Shu Ran immediately called Shuanzhu over. The child timidly admitted that a few days ago he went to the company headquarters to hand in a form to Accountant Shi. He tripped and fell on the way, tearing a page from his notebook. Afraid of being scolded by Teacher Shu, he picked up a small piece of paper from the ground and secretly glued it back on.
"Where did you find the piece of paper?"
"It's...it's behind the mechanics team, near the garbage dump next to the row of dugouts where Technician Zhou lives," Shuanzhu whispered.
Shu Ran told Shuanzhu to go back first, and she, Xu Junjun, and Li Xiulan looked at each other in bewilderment.
Shu Ran had a growing sense of unease.
"Jun Jun, Xiu Lan, you must not utter a single word about what you heard or saw today." Shu Ran's expression was extremely serious. "This matter must be reported to the person in charge immediately."
"Looking for Company Commander Ma? Secretary Liu?" Xu Junjun asked.
Shu Ran pondered for a moment, then shook her head. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but this matter involved specialized knowledge and potentially huge risks, so she needed to find someone absolutely reliable who had the ability and authority to take immediate action.
"Find Special Envoy Chen." She steadied herself and made the decision. Only Chen Yuanjiang was the best person to handle this matter. Although she wasn't sure how he would react, her intuition told her she had to do it.
She told Xu Junjun and Li Xiulan to go back first, while she sat in the classroom and carefully went through the clues provided by Xu Junjun and Li Xiulan, as well as her own observations and speculations, to make sure that there was nothing missing or exaggerated.
As evening approached and darkness fell, Shu Ran saw Chen Yuanjiang emerge from the company headquarters, seemingly having just finished a day's work, and heading towards his temporary quarters.
She mustered her courage, quickly followed him, and called out softly a few steps away from him, "Officer Chen."
Chen Yuanjiang stopped and turned around. In the twilight, his eyes appeared particularly deep, his gaze falling on Shu Ran's face with his usual scrutiny: "Teacher Shu? Is something the matter?"
Shu Ran carefully chose her words: "Special Envoy Chen, there is something very important that I must report to you privately. It concerns... Technician Zhou Wenbin. I have discovered some... unusual circumstances that may involve... security issues."
Chen Yuanjiang's gaze sharpened further. He nodded slightly and said succinctly, "Speak."
Shu Ran tried her best to be objective and clear, explaining in detail all the clues she had heard from Xu Junjun and Li Xiulan about the experiment, the chemical formula paper, and her own concerns. She did not add too much subjective speculation, but simply stated the facts and reasonable doubts based on those facts.
Chen Yuanjiang listened silently, his face expressionless, but Shu Ran could sense that he wasn't surprised at all; rather, he seemed to understand it as confirmation.
He didn't speak immediately after Shu Ran finished speaking, as dusk deepened.
After a long pause, Chen Yuanjiang asked in a deep voice, "Where is that patched homework sheet?"
"It's here with me." Shu Ran took the paper out of her pocket and handed it over.
Chen Yuanjiang took it, and in the last bit of daylight, he looked at the patch and the remaining engraving marks, his fingers tracing the chemical formula abbreviation. His eyes were unfathomable.
“This matter,” he finally spoke again, “is over. Don’t mention it to anyone else, including Medical Officer Xu and Li Xiulan. You did a good job, very vigilant.”
He folded the paper and put it in his pocket, then looked at Shu Ran with a deep gaze: "Stay vigilant, and continue with your work and life as usual. Leave the rest to me."
There were no unnecessary words, no doubts, not even a single word of praise. But that calmness and sense of control strangely calmed Shu Ran's anxious heart a little.
"Yes, I understand." Shu Ran nodded.
Chen Yuanjiang nodded again, turned around, and strode away into the increasingly dark night.
Shu Ran stood there, looking in the direction he had disappeared, and let out a long sigh.
Life in the company remained outwardly calm. Shu Ran continued to teach classes as usual, the children were still noisy, Xu Junjun continued to shuttle between the clinic and various construction sites, and Li Xiulan was busy in the tofu shop and the "little sanitation worker" training, her face gradually showing a more grounded glow.
Shu Ran noticed some subtle changes.
Near Zhou Wenbin's dugout, unfamiliar faces appeared, resembling maintenance workers, inspecting old, abandoned wiring while their eyes swept over everything around them.
Behind the company headquarters warehouse, the tractor that frequently broke down had been tinkered with by uniformed workers for two consecutive mornings. Shu Ran recognized one of them as the soldier who had followed Chen Yuanjiang during the enemy operation that day.
On Accountant Shi's side, the approval process for teaching materials seemed to have suddenly become a little smoother. Although it was still tight, every time I went there, Accountant Shi seemed to complain about the difficulties less, and even took the initiative to ask if we had enough pencil stubs.
Zhou Wenbin became even more silent and gloomy, almost like a ghost in the company. He stopped going to the experimental fields, and when he occasionally appeared in the canteen, he would quickly leave after getting his food. Once, Shu Ran ran into him on her way to the classroom, and he almost lowered his head and quickened his pace.
Shu Ran noticed that his collar, which had been fairly neat, had become greasy, and his fingers seemed to have some yellowish-brown stains.
The pressure was gradually squeezing him, like a noose tightening around him. Shu Ran even felt a ridiculous pity, but the thought was quickly suppressed—a soul that had mastered knowledge but gone mad was far more dangerous than an ordinary bad guy.
A few days later, on a windy afternoon, Shu Ran was teaching the children a rhyme about "preventing wind erosion and fixing sand dunes" when the classroom door was gently pushed open a crack. It was Xu Junjun, who winked at Shu Ran.
After settling the children in and having them practice singing and reciting on their own, Shu went outside.
"What's wrong, Junjun?"
Xu Junjun pulled her to a sheltered corner, her voice filled with disbelief: "Zhou Wenbin... went to the clinic just now, not to get medicine, but to treat the injuries on his hands! My God, guess what? There are several fresh ulcers on the web of his right hand and on his fingers! They're not abrasions, they look more like... burns from some kind of highly corrosive substance, the edges are yellow and black!"
Shu Ran was startled. An unexpected incident during the preparation process?
"What did he say?"
“What could he say?” Xu Junjun sneered. “He stammered and said that he accidentally came into contact with waste acid and alkali solution while cleaning experimental equipment. When I cleaned his wound, the smell… even though I used alcohol and iodine, I could still vaguely smell that bitter smell. I pretended not to smell it and treated it as a normal burn, telling him not to get it wet. He panicked terribly and ran away as soon as the gauze was wrapped.”
Preparation was clearly underway, and had reached a dangerous practical stage, in which he had even been injured. Shu Ran felt a chill. She had to tell Chen Yuanjiang this new situation immediately.
However, before she could find a suitable opportunity, another unexpected clue appeared that evening.
After school, Shu Ran kept Adil behind to help him learn more Chinese characters related to livestock diseases, something Old Aken secretly hoped his grandson would learn.
Adili studied much more diligently than usual. By the end, it was already late, and Shuran saw Adili off at the classroom door.
Adil mounted his horse, and after running a few steps, he suddenly reined in his horse and pulled out a small object wrapped in sheepskin from his pocket. He then jumped off the horse and ran to Shu Ran.
“Teacher,” he said, his Chinese much clearer, “I found this. It has a bad smell. Like that person,” he pointed in the direction of Zhou Wenbin’s dugout, “the smell of his house. It’s buried under the gravel slope west of the old wind gap. My dog dug it out.”
Shu Ran took the small sheepskin bag and could feel that it contained several glass bottles.
She moved Adil away from her, placed the things on the ground, and carefully opened a crack with a twig. A strange smell, a mixture of bitterness and rancidity, instantly filled the air; the smell was nauseating.
Inside the sheepskin were three small, corked earthenware bottles. The bottles were unmarked, but the bottoms appeared to be covered in damp mud and crystals. One bottle's cork seemed loose, leaking a small amount of a dark, oily liquid, which was the main source of the odor.
"Adili, when did you find it? Where is it? Has anyone else seen it?" Shu Ran pulled Adili a few steps back.
Adil was startled by her reaction and tried to explain, "I was herding sheep at noon today. The dog kept barking and digging at that slope. I didn't see it buried very deep. Just this. Nobody saw it."
He paused, then added, "That place is behind the rock, with fresh hoof prints, not from our flock of sheep, nor from the company's horses."
A secret hiding place? A handover point? Has Zhou Wenbin already moved some of the finished products out? Are there unidentified accomplices going to check or retrieve the goods?
A series of questions popped into Shu Ran's mind.
"Adil, you did a great job, it's very important!" Shu Ran patted his shoulder, her tone solemn. "Don't tell anyone about this! Don't tell anyone yet! This is very important, it concerns the safety of the company! Understand?"
Adil Shuran nodded immediately, her eyes filled with the solemnity of being trusted: "I understand! I won't say anything!"
"Go back quickly, and be careful on the road!"
After seeing Adil off, Shu Ran didn't hesitate. She immediately rewrapped the sheepskin, stuffed it into an old cloth bag, and hurried towards Chen Yuanjiang's office. She knew that Chen Yuanjiang was usually busy in his office until very late.
This time, she didn't even care about manners and practically barged into Chen Yuanjiang's office.
Chen Yuanjiang was looking at documents on the table when he heard the sound. He looked up and saw the panic on Shu's face and the cloth bag in her hand. He immediately stood up and frowned.
"Officer Chen!" Shu Ran placed the cloth bag on the table and quickly and clearly explained the origin of the items, the location where Adil found them, and the suspicious hoof prints.
Chen Yuanjiang didn't touch the cloth bag immediately. He walked to the door, closed it, and locked it.
He returned to the table, put on a pair of coarse knitted gloves, and carefully opened the cloth bag to take out the sheepskin pouch.
When he opened the sheepskin and saw the leaking bottle, he immediately used his arm to pull Shu Ran back before carefully observing the crystals at the bottle opening and the characteristics of the leaked substance.
“You did a great job, Teacher Shu. Very timely. Go back now and wash your hands thoroughly with soap and running water at least three times. Remember, don’t touch your eyes, mouth, or nose. Forget about tonight’s events completely, and don’t mention them to anyone, including Adil. I’ll handle that.”
He took a thick, airtight metal box from the drawer, put the sheepskin bag and bottle inside, and sealed it tightly.
“He’s already moving the dangerous goods, and he has accomplices to meet him.” Chen Yuanjiang looked at Shu Ran. “Teacher Shu, you should go back now, as usual. Leave the rest to me.”
Shu Ran watched him lock the metal box into the filing cabinet behind him, knowing it was time for her to leave. She nodded, turned and left, her limbs feeling weak. She didn't know if those things or the leaked liquid had produced any toxic gases, or if they would harm her health. But the thought left her feeling lingering fear.
She returned to her dugout and washed her hands repeatedly as instructed. At night, she heard orderly footsteps passing by the door and then quickly disappearing.
That night, Shu Ran slept very restlessly.
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