Chapter 55: Old Things

Lin Qiao had this doubt for a long time, but Mr. Gu's nephew came so suddenly that he never had a chance to ask.

After all, Mr. Gu’s nephew never came early or late, but they came as soon as he fell ill. Isn’t it too coincidental?

And judging from the situation, the other party knew that Mr. Gu was in poor health and came to inherit his property after his death. But Mr. Gu had not been in contact with his hometown for many years. His nephew obviously had a local accent and did not look like a native of Yandu. How did he know that he was sick?

After Lin Qiao finished speaking, Su Zheng's original giggling expression disappeared. He looked at her for a moment, then suddenly turned to look at Ji Duo.

Lin Qiao was a little confused. Was there something wrong with what she said?

You can't be thinking she's meddling, right?

If someone is more patriarchal and overbearing, he might really dislike Ji Duo's wife for interfering with their childhood sweetheart affairs, but Su Zheng is obviously not that type.

Su Zheng was actually mostly surprised. Lin Qiao brought him more surprises today than in all his previous dealings combined.

When he first heard that Ji Duo was going to get married, that his wife was nine years younger than him, came from a rural background, and that the marriage was arranged by her parents, he was shocked.

After all, Ji Duo seemed to have made up his mind not to find a partner and would not look at anyone who introduced him to someone. None of the above points seemed acceptable to him.

But Ji Duo not only accepted it, the first time he heard Lin Qiao from Ji Duo's mouth, it was Ji Duo who wanted to help Lin Qiao find smuggling. He paid more attention to her, and his impression of Lin Qiao only stayed on that she was generous and interesting to talk about, and she didn't look like a 19-year-old girl.

I didn't expect that when I first met Lin Qiao today, she slapped him without hesitation and then arranged for the nurse to arrest him. Her calmness, courage and sharpness were revealed.

After doing all this, she was still able to calm down and think carefully, and then come down to remind them.

If she is like this, then it doesn't seem so difficult to understand why Ji Duo would choose to accept this marriage...

Su Zheng retracted his gaze and nodded to Lin Qiao, "Ji Duo had already told me about this before you came." His expression was very serious.

Ji Duo actually told him?

Lin Qiao looked at the man and found that he was also looking at her. Because of the backlight, most of his handsome face was in shadow, making his eyes look particularly deep.

This seemed to be the second time that the two of them had the same idea without any intention. The first time was when they helped Lao Zhou come up with ideas to cover up the scratches.

This made Lin Qiao feel a little weird. After all, she had seen a lot of disagreements and people sticking to their own opinions since she was a child. It was rare that someone else could think of what she thought of.

But it was only a moment, as a car had already parked downstairs of the hospital and the elderly security team had arrived.

"You two go up first,

There must be someone over there." Su Zheng pressed the brim of his hat and stepped forward, "I'll keep an eye on this side."

Ji Duo understood what he meant. He was worried about the nanny that Mr. Gu had used for many years and didn't want Mr. Gu to be alone before he got to the bottom of the matter.

He nodded tolerantly, "Leave a few to help you judge the people, and I'll take the rest with me."

The well-trained guards stood at the door, so even if someone wanted to cause trouble, they couldn't get in. Lin Qiao and Ji Duo knocked on the door and found that after half a day of tossing and turning, Mr. Gu could no longer bear it and fell asleep. He was obviously not feeling well, his breathing was weak, and his eyebrows were tightly wrinkled in his sleep.

Sister Du was very caring and had even tucked the quilt carefully. When she saw the two people coming in, she sighed softly.

"If you are tired, take a rest. We will watch over here." Lin Qiao said to her with a smile.

Sister Du shook her head and said, "This is my job. Why is it so tiring? But you guys still have to go to work tomorrow."

Then he sighed again, "If I had known I would not have let them in. I saw that they looked quite similar to Mr. Gu, and I thought... who knew they would be like this, like this..."

She tried to describe it for a long time but couldn't come up with an answer. Finally, she simply lowered her head and looked at Mr. Gu lying on the bed without saying anything.

Lin Qiao chatted with her for a few sentences and found that this person spoke even less than Aunt Zhang, and was even a little dumb. It was obvious that she had little education and had not come into contact with many people.

She exchanged glances with Ji Duo and shook her head very gently to indicate that she didn't think so.

Ji Duo didn't show anything, but frowned, grabbed her wrist, turned her hand over, took a look, and put it down as usual.

"What's wrong with my hand?" Lin Qiao also put it in front of him and looked at it, but couldn't see anything. At this time, someone suddenly knocked on the door outside the ward, interrupting Ji Duo's words.

The man walked over, opened the door, and found it was Su Zheng.

Su Zhengren was standing at the door of the ward. Seeing that Mr. Gu had fallen asleep, he lowered his voice and said, "I've found out." He also glanced at Lin Qiao inside.

This glance obviously also meant to inform Lin Qiao. Ji Duo noticed it, looked back at Lin Qiao, closed the door and went out with him.

The two chatted somewhere and came back together not long after. Su Zheng immediately rushed Ji Duo and Lin Qiao and said, "I'm the only one here. You two should go back quickly. The ward is so small. Why are you crowding in here? There's no room for everyone."

I guess it’s mainly because they feel that they are far away from each other and it’s inconvenient.

Ji Duo did not refuse, "Then we'll go. Call me if you have anything."

When the two of them left the hospital building, it was already very late at night outside. The temperature difference between day and night was large in autumn, and the cool breeze made Lin Qiao shrink his neck.

She subconsciously went to look for Xiao Fang's car, but the man next to her took off his military jacket and put it on her. He himself, wearing only a thin shirt, walked nearby and knocked on the window of the jeep.

In the night, the man had broad shoulders and a wide back, and a straight posture. He looked just like the time when he rescued someone in the rain on the road, as if he was completely unaware of the cold.

Lin Qiao tightened her clothes. The car drove over quickly and the two got on the back seat. Ji Duo didn't say a word during the whole process.

After they entered the house and went upstairs, the couple simply washed up and prepared to go to bed. He wiped his face with a towel and said, "They really didn't think of it suddenly. Someone wrote to them and said that Gu was seriously ill."

"Someone wrote them a letter?" Lin Qiao stopped brushing his teeth and pondered the answer. He was not surprised. "It was an anonymous letter, right?"

In this day and age, as long as the address is accurate and a stamp is attached, the letter can be delivered. This is how Lin Wei sent letters home during the past few months he was away.

However, the letter is anonymous, so it is difficult to trace its source. Since the other party dared to write the letter, the handwriting he used is definitely not his usual one.

As expected, Ji Duo said, "Gu Lao's nephew said that the other party asked them not to leak the news, otherwise he would send them a letter or deal with them in other ways. After reading the letter, they burned it."

When Su Zheng and the guards were questioning the three people, they questioned them separately.

After all, Mr. Gu's nephew and niece-in-law were older and more experienced, and they insisted that they were just worried about their uncle's age and wanted to come and see him. However, his nephew was still young and had not seen much of the world, so he was frightened and told everything.

I don’t know if this family was too stupid or too greedy. They believed something so obviously wrong with the cat and traveled all the way to Yandu.

Lin Qiao put the rinsed toothbrush into the toothbrush holder and said in a very calm, even cold voice, "This guy asked them to come here. Does he want to piss off Mr. Gu to death?"

She is really smart. Just give her a little information and she can unravel the matter and deduce the general truth.

Ji Duo rarely spoke to anyone so easily. His eyes, which had always been as calm as a deep pool, shone with a faint light, which fell on Lin Qiao's face. "Maybe it's because Mr. Gu recently looked for Shaozhen and brought up the old things from more than ten years ago. Someone is worried."

Lin Qiao understood what he meant almost instantly, "Are you saying that there is something wrong with the disappearance of Gu Lao's granddaughter, or..."

"There is something wrong with Shao Ping's death."

Ji Duo confirmed her guess, took the things from Lin Qiao's hand, put them away, and pulled Lin Qiao into the house.

Lin Qiao was about to go to the desk, but the man had already pulled a chair and sat down facing the bed, pointing opposite and motioning her to sit down beside the bed.

This time they actually changed the location. She thought it would be the same as the last meeting, with two people sitting on either side of the desk.

Ji Duo also remembered the last meeting, and subconsciously did not want to go to the desk, but chose the bedside, so that there was no distance between them. "Shaozhen was lost on July 13, 1967. Shaoping went out to look for her. She disappeared on the night of the 16th. When she was found on the mountain on the 18th, she was already a corpse."

This means that Gu Shaoping met with an accident because he went out to look for his sister...

Lin Qiao pondered, "Where was the person found? Didn't you check carefully at the time?"

If the person died in an accident, Ji Duo would not say there was a problem; but if he did not die in an accident, the case would not have been left unresolved.

After that, Ji Duo didn't answer for a long while, and the look in his eyes when he looked at him gradually changed from calm to murderous.

"When Shao Ping was found, he was hanging from a tree by a belt."

The man spoke briefly, but his voice was full of coldness, like a sword unsheathed in winter. "When Mr. Gu heard the news, he fainted. My parents were in a bad situation at the time, so Su Zheng and I went to report the case. The people who came checked it out and said it was suicide."

"Suicide?"

Lin Qiao knew without much hesitation that there was probably something fishy going on.

As expected, the man sneered and said, "Su Zheng and I reported the case in the morning, but someone showed up in the afternoon and the case was closed on the same day. As for the reason why Shao Ping committed suicide..."

"Because I didn't find my sister, I felt ashamed to face my elderly and deceased parents, and I just couldn't get over it?"

Since it was a suicide, it was not that hard for Lin Qiao to guess. But even she herself felt that this reason was nonsense.

Any normal person, no matter how sad or self-blaming he is, should know that his sister has been in trouble, and he, the only grandson who takes care of the old man, must not have anything happen to him again.

Moreover, only if the person is still alive can we continue searching and have hope of finding the person. How could he hang himself with a belt?

Ji Duo obviously didn't believe it either. "Shao Ping was clearly injured and his clothes were covered in blood. Su Zheng and I brought it up, but they said he fell when he was looking for Shao Zhen. They also thought we were just kids making trouble, so they kicked us out. Su Zheng refused to leave, so he rushed over to argue with them and got beaten up."

Those were chaotic times, and they followed their parents to undergo labor reform. Even if someone died, there was no place to seek redress.

Even thinking more darkly, if the person was really beaten to death, then who beat him to death and whether it was related to those people is hard to say.

It’s just that some things were not thoroughly investigated at the time, and when we wanted to investigate later, it was impossible to do so because it was so long ago.

Ji Duo was obviously still brooding over this matter. He took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it for himself, his eyes drifting towards the deep darkness outside the window. "Over the years, I have been wondering whether it was that gang that did it, or the people who went through the reform together who did it. I used to be more inclined to the former, but now..."

In fact, this man is not a heavy smoker. Except after sex, he usually reads books or newspapers and never smokes in the bedroom.

It was obvious that he needed something to calm down today, so Lin Qiao said nothing and continued thinking about what he had just said.

If there hadn't been that letter, and if her nephew Gu hadn't come to make trouble, she would have been more suspicious of that group of people, not to mention Ji Duo.

After all, that group of people acted recklessly, and those who went with them to undergo reform were also in a bad situation and could hardly protect themselves.

But so many years have passed, and Mr. Gu has long returned to Yandu. It is probably more difficult for those people to know Mr. Gu's current situation than for Mr. Gu's nephew, who are thousands of miles away.

It's not a secret for a long time. If you ask around, you can find out most of it.

Thinking again about what Mr. Gu did before he was hospitalized, I guess someone saw that Mr. Gu was still thinking about looking for his granddaughter and was afraid that it would bring up other things that happened in the past, so they took desperate measures.

After all, if Mr. Gu really died of anger or became seriously ill, no one would keep an eye on those things that happened back then.

But the act of writing a letter is too flawed and could easily lead to alarm.

I really want to make sure that Mr. Gu can't investigate this anymore. There are many ways to do this. Asking someone to get angry at Mr. Gu is the stupidest way. Since this person was able to keep it a secret at the beginning and was able to keep it a secret for so many years, he shouldn't be so stupid...

When she looked up while thinking about it, she found that the man had withdrawn his gaze from the window and was looking at her straight in the eye.

Lin Qiao thought he had something else to say, so she quickly showed an attentive look, but the man looked at her and suddenly asked, "Is your hand okay?"

hand?

Lin Qiao was stunned for a moment before she realized that he was talking about the hand she used to hit people. Then she thought of the moment in the hospital corridor and the way he looked at her hand in the ward.

So that's what he wanted to ask her. Her face usually didn't show any emotion, so she didn't even think about it...

Lin Qiao simply stretched out his hand to show the other party, "It was a little red at the time, but it's fine now. It's not me who got beaten..."

Before she could finish her words, her hand was grasped by the man's big hand.

Ji Duo is more than 20 centimeters taller than Lin Qiao. When the two of them stand together, Lin Qiao always has to look up to talk to him, so his hands are naturally much bigger than Lin Qiao's.

Under the light, the slender and fair body is wrapped in strength and power. The man's skin has a healthy tan color, with distinct joints, and you can see the thin lines on the fingertips and the blue veins on the back of the hand.

Lin Qiao was surprised, and Ji Duo also subconsciously looked away, but soon his gaze returned to her. "I want to investigate Mr. Gu again. Even if we can't find any clues, as long as Mr. Gu is fine, we can continue to investigate. He might do something wrong if he has something to hide."

As for some things, we are not afraid of what the other party will do, but we are afraid that the other party will do nothing. Only actions will reveal traces.

After all, it involved Gu Shaoping's death, so it was normal for a man to be emotionally unstable. Didn't she put her hand on the back of his hand to comfort him when they were in the car?

Lin Qiao didn't care. Instead, he looked back with a firm gaze, "Since the other party has revealed traces, he is not completely invulnerable. I believe you can find it."

The little hand in my palm was soft, and had no strength when I clenched it. I would never have thought that just a few hours ago, it had been thrown violently on someone's face.

Ji Duo clenched his fingers and found that this time when Shao Ping was mentioned, after being angry and cold, he calmed down faster than any other time before.

If he hadn't looked back today, if he hadn't pulled her into the car...

Ji Duo is a calm person who never indulges in useless emotions. The thought flashed through his mind before he said, "I was the one who moved the person."

People? What people?

The topic changed too quickly and without any beginning or end, and Lin Qiao had a hard time keeping up.

"As for the matter at your school, I am the one who can do something to her lover."

"Did you really move it?"

Lin Qiao had never expected this. After all, she had only mentioned it briefly to the man at the time and didn't say much else.

Ji Duo shook off the ashes, leaned back in his chair and looked at her, "His wife touched my people, but I am not allowed to touch him? If he has done nothing wrong, why would he be afraid of anyone investigating?"

When the man said this, he was still wearing his military uniform, but his tone was very similar to the day when he was disheveled and leaning against the table and said, "I married my wife in a formal ceremony, why shouldn't I sleep with her?"

His domineering attitude was completely hidden under his usual serious and self-restrained appearance, and Lin Qiao subconsciously avoided his gaze.

Ji Duo noticed it, and stared at her for a long while with his dark eyes, but he said nothing, and the grip he held on her did not loosen at all.

Lin Qiao quickly turned his gaze back and said frankly and sincerely, "Thank you."

Although she noticed something a little strange for a moment, Ji Duo had just finished talking about Gu Shaoping, and his emotions were very agitated, which was not much different from what a man said in bed. And as everyone knows, what men say in bed cannot be trusted, and when they get off their heads, they may even forget it.

Judging from Lin Qiao's attitude, it was obvious that he was still the same as before. However, after this trip to the hospital, Ji Duo's mood had completely settled down.

Go back and continue to live the lives of superiors and subordinates?

Don't even think about it.

If it doesn't work, just keep trying. Anyway, they are already married and have slept together. Can she still ask him to return the goods?

But it was already late today, and they had to go to work tomorrow, so it was obviously not the time to waste time on these things. Ji Duo let go of her hand, "Go to sleep."

He didn't pull Lin Qiao aside to talk about this. Lin Qiao had already prepared to go to bed, and went straight to turn off the lights when he heard this.

But too many things happened that night and she fell asleep quickly. When she tossed and turned in bed, the old man's face even appeared in her mind again.

"Can't sleep?" the man next to her asked, and from his voice it was obvious that she wasn't sleepy at all.

Lin Qiao responded, "A little bit."

The man didn't say anything else, but turned around and hugged her in his arms as he usually did afterwards, and touched her head.

This action is a bit like coaxing a child, but the weather is getting colder, and it is indeed more comfortable to lean on the man's arms than to warm the bed by herself. Lin Qiao leaned on him and gradually felt sleepy. When she opened her eyes again, it was already daylight outside the window. The man was standing by the bed wearing a military jacket, "It's time to get up."

In the following days, Ji Duo went to the hospital several more times, but Lin Qiao was unable to spare the time because the school had started its midterm exams.

She was both a subject teacher and a class teacher, and was busier than anyone else. After working non-stop for four or five days, the results of each class in the second year of high school were finally out.

Qi Huaiwen maintained his momentum of rapid progress and this time moved up more than ten places to rank 43rd in the grade.

The teachers were all prepared, but they didn't expect that Junzi's grades would improve so much, from being at the bottom of the grade to being in the middle of the class.

Lin Qiao knew something, because Qi Huaiwen had just returned two review materials and notebooks from the first semester of the first year of high school to her, and Junzi came to borrow them, borrowing more than Qi Huaiwen. The boy was a little embarrassed, "Sun Tiejun left, Qi Huaiwen also started studying, I don't read books anymore, it seems that I have wasted this extra year."

Because Lin Qiao paid enough attention, the atmosphere in the class was not as bad as before, and Class 4 also made some progress in other subjects.

What made Team Leader Gao feel relieved was that, thanks to his efforts, Class 1 did not fall behind Class 3 and become the last one, but instead got one step closer to the average score of Class 4.

"It seems that all this reading was not in vain." He patted the teaching guide on his desk and said with emotion, "Since Xiaolin came, not to mention the students, I have to start studying too."

Lin Qiao is like a catfish in a water tank. She runs too fast and chases too fiercely. If you don't want to be caught up by her, you have to keep making progress.

Unfortunately, Team Leader Gao didn't feel relieved for long. After two days of classes at the Party School, he came back with a face as long as his body.

This time, the sophomores who came were all the heads of the arts and science departments. Lin Qiao didn't know what was going on. When she saw him coming in and drinking water with his head down, she couldn't help but ask him a question.

"I went to class this time and ran into No. 21 Middle School," said Team Leader Gao. "You should know their school. Apart from a few affiliated middle schools and No. 14 Middle School, they have the best science scores and are always among the top ten in the city's joint exams. But they are not included in the first batch of national pilot projects this time."

Lin Qiao understood what he meant. "Are they crowding out our school?"

"It's more than just squeezing us out. They're just short of pointing fingers and scolding us for relying on nepotism. They're even saying it's just waiting for the final exam to make fun of us."

Because there is a college entrance examination in the second semester, the city-wide joint examination for middle schools is scheduled at the end of the first half of each school year. At that time, all middle schools in the city will take the same test paper, rank together, and calculate the average score together, so it will be clear at a glance which school teaches well and which school teaches poorly.

Because of Lin Qiao, their school was specially selected as one of the first batch of chemical experiment pilot sites in the country. It was an honor, but it was also a bit too eye-catching.

It would be fine if they could produce results, but if not, Lin Qiao's statement that doing experiments can help improve students' enthusiasm for learning would become a joke.

As their school is one of the first experimental pilot schools in the country, if their chemistry results are not ideal, it is hard to say whether there will be a second or third batch.

Not only will they be laughed at, but those schools waiting for government funding to build laboratories will also scold them. This is what Team Leader Gao is mainly worried about.

Lin Qiao also knew this, so after thinking for a moment, he asked, "What was our school's chemistry ranking in the last city-wide joint exam?"

"We are in grade 78, and the grade of the previous year was 74."

That's really low, not much better than those remote township middle schools. At least it can be ranked every year.

Among the top ten and twenty-one, they do have the capital to make a joke of themselves.

Team Leader Gao was obviously very upset, but Lin Qiao didn't seem too upset after hearing this. "Can you get the papers for their school's midterm exam?"