Chapter 76 The Truth

"Has Tao Guangxiao been found?"

Ji Duo answered the phone. He only listened to one sentence and then turned to look at Lin Qiao.

Lin Qiao also stood up from the sofa, "When did you find it?"

Ji Duo listened to the phone call, "This afternoon, he returned home yesterday and was discovered by our people."

At least they have evidence to prove they found someone to impersonate Shaozhen.

Lin Qiao and Ji Duo looked at each other. Without her saying anything, Ji Duo said to Su Zheng on the other end of the phone: "That's right, I was going to call you too."

Less than two hours later, a car slowly stopped at their doorstep in the darkness. Mr. Gu had come in person.

Ji Duo and Lin Qiao both went out to pick someone up. "It's so late. If you have anything to say, just tell us and we'll come over."

Mr. Gu said nothing. He gently squeezed Ji Duo's hand, then squeezed Lin Qiao's.

Su Zheng beside him was a little embarrassed, "This is my fault. I couldn't hold it in and told Mr. Gu directly."

After more than ten years, we finally had clear clues and a clear target. No wonder Mr. Gu couldn't wait any longer and came over early in the evening.

The couple led everyone into the living room, poured some water, and the four of them sat on the sofa together.

After a pause, Mr. Gu raised his eyes and looked at Ji Duo, "What did the fifth son of the Yu family say when he came to see you this afternoon?"

Ji Duo did not mention the details that made people angry. "He said that he, Dai Cheng from the Dai family, the second and third sons of the Tang family, and... all participated in bullying Shao Zhen back then."

Hearing that her granddaughter had suffered so much bullying in places she couldn't take care of, the old lady's face shuddered and her hands began to shake.

Not just anger, but also guilt and self-blame, "I didn't take good care of her."

Children without parents are prone to being bullied, and he was the one being given special treatment at the time, so no one could take care of him.

Su Zheng was afraid that he would be hurt, so he changed the subject and asked Ji Duo, "Do you think what he said is credible?"

"Whether it is credible or not, just ask and you will know." Ji Duo did not make a conclusion.

In fact, he had discussed this matter with Lin Qiao before. The families mentioned by Yu Wu just happened to overlap with the ones he suspected, and they were all close to Yu Wu back then.

Shao Ping's case doesn't seem like a conspiracy, because the more people know about it, the greater the risk of exposure. It's hard to keep it a secret for so many years and keep it a secret. But even if Shao Ping's case has nothing to do with them, Yu Wu was able to pull these people out to share the blame, so they are probably not innocent in Shao Zhen's case.

"Then go ask. I'll go ask in person. Since the people haven't arrived yet, let's distract them first."

The next day, Mr. Gu personally visited each of the families on Yu's five names.

He had been a recluse for many years and rarely interacted with others. When he suddenly visited, several family members were a little confused.

After hearing his purpose, the family members only had one thought in their minds -

This damn Yu Wu!

He is asking for trouble, why bother with their children? He has to use a back-up plan, right?

Some people immediately cursed and swore that Yu Wu was making false accusations and that their child was very honest and would never do such a thing.

Some people felt their faces burn and immediately called their children over to ask the old man in front of him.

To be honest, those who were able to hang out with Yu Wu back then were all relatively young, the oldest was sixteen or seventeen, and the youngest was only fourteen or fifteen. Now they are all in their thirties.

When we asked about Dai Cheng from the Dai family, he had just picked up his four-year-old daughter from kindergarten. The little girl was sitting in the baby chair on the back seat of his bicycle, with her eyes round and her little face tilted up to look at the visitor curiously.

Mr. Gu couldn't help but take another look at her. "Time flies so fast. In a blink of an eye, your daughter has grown up so much."

Dai Cheng's face froze. After he carried the child out of the car and coaxed him inside, he asked Mr. Gu awkwardly, "What can I do for you, Mr. Gu?"

Knowing that it was unnatural, Mr. Gu got straight to the point, "Don't you have anything to say about Shaozhen back then?"

Gu Shaozhen, this name seems to be very far away.

It seems like I’m never far away…

Dai Cheng's eyes drifted away for a moment, then he pulled them back and lowered his head, "I was sorry for what happened back then."

This was the only one among all the stores that Mr. Gu visited who admitted his mistake without even saying anything.

Mr. Gu didn't say anything, and Dai Cheng turned his head to look in the direction of his home again.

His wife was cooking in the kitchen. The window was open and the tender voice of a little girl could be faintly heard.

Dai Cheng lowered his head. "When we first arrived in Southern Province, we suddenly had to live such a hard life. We were not used to it. The local people were not nice to us either. They either rolled their eyes or scolded us. I was timid and afraid of being bullied, so I found someone to stick together with. I followed them in whatever they did."

"So they bullied Shaozhen, so you bullied Shaozhen too? She's only nine years old, what did she do wrong?"

Dai Cheng was speechless after hearing what Mr. Gu said.

People are naturally bullies who only bully the weak and fear the strong. They dare not provoke the locals, but they would feel a little uncomfortable if they provoke people like Ji Duo and Su Zheng, who are very domineering.

Gu Shaozhen was the only one left, she had no parents and only one brother. Her grandfather was in a worse situation than anyone else. Even if she was bullied, she dared not go home and tell him, for she was afraid that he would beat her brother if she didn't behave. Every time, she would just look at them with tears in her eyes, calling them brother, hoping that they would soften their hearts and let her go.

But at that time, in order to hug each other, he still pushed her forward despite her pleading eyes.

Now that he is a father and has a daughter, Gu Shaozhen's appearance should have been vague in his memory, but it has become clearer and clearer in the past two years.

Every time he looked at his daughter's innocent eyes, he would inexplicably think of Gu Shaozhen, worrying that his daughter was also suffering the same bullying where he couldn't see, and he didn't know.

So he always had to pick up his daughter from kindergarten in person, and every time he gave his daughter a bath, he would ask his wife to check if she had any injuries...

Now that Mr. Gu had come to him, it was both a punishment from fate and a kind of relief for him. He closed his eyes and said, "I'm sorry."

Mr. Gu didn't say anything. It took him a long while to calm down his excitement. "Do you know how Shaozhen got lost?"

"Maybe they chased him up the mountain."

Dai Cheng was not quite sure, but this time he looked into Gu's eyes and said, "That day they said they wanted to play a trick on her and asked her to run on the mountain. If she could outrun them, they would not beat her. I had diarrhea that day and could not run, so I did not go with them."

A group of teenagers were chasing a little girl, watching her run away for fun. It was a shame for them to do such a thing.

Gu Lao was so angry that his hands were shaking, but he still tried to control himself, "What about Shao Ping? Does he know about this?"

Dai Cheng was silent for a long time, then suddenly took a step forward and said in a very low voice, "Gu Shaoping actually came to see me on the day he disappeared."

"Did Shao Ping go to see Dai Cheng before the accident?"

After returning, Mr. Gu told Su Zheng and Ji Duo the news he had obtained, and Ji Duo told Lin Qiao.

Lin Qiao had just got off work and was eating a watermelon. Hearing this, he stopped and said, "What you mean is that Shao Ping knew that someone was bullying Shao Zhen. He might have something to do with this incident?"

"Yeah." Ji Duo saw juice on her lips and handed her a handkerchief.

Lin Qiao took it himself, so he withdrew his hand and said in a deep voice: "Dai Cheng is timid. When he heard that Shao Zhen was missing, he didn't dare to go out. Shao Ping must have discovered something and ran to find him. He asked him if Shao Zhen was lost by them and punched him."

"Has he told Shao Ping everything?"

"He said that it included bullying people and driving them up the mountain. Shao Ping left him and went to look for Yu Wu."

"And then you never came back after looking for it?"

"Um."

Apart from Gu Shaoping and Dai Cheng, even Yu Wu probably didn't know about this, otherwise how could he have mentioned Dai Cheng's name himself.

But what's the use of saying it, Shaozhen is still missing, Shaoping is still dead, such young lives were ruined by these scumbags.

Mr. Gu has been living in pain and self-blame these years, but they are enjoying their lives like ordinary people.

"He told Mr. Gu that he also thought Shao Ping committed suicide. He was ill at the time, so he didn't tell anyone until Mr. Gu came to him."

Dai Cheng was indeed ill at the time and had a high fever. He almost couldn't be saved given the medical conditions there.

But whether he was really sick, or was suffering from regret, or was frightened, is unknown.

Anyway, he was not a very courageous person to begin with, and after he fell ill, he lost all his energy and spirit. After returning from Southern Province, he cut off all contact with those people he had known before.

Ji Duo's cold tone revealed some sarcasm, "He also gave Mr. Gu a list of those people at the time, which was two fewer than what Yu Wu said. Mr. Gu asked him if he was willing to testify in court if he had other evidence, and he agreed."

If you agree to go to court to testify for Mr. Gu, doesn't that mean you still have doubts about Gu Shaoping's death?

He didn’t tell anyone when Shaozhen was lost, and he didn’t tell anyone when Shaoping died. Now that I’m a father, I get scared when I think about it.

And those who have no regrets until now can actually sleep well at night.

Lin Qiao wiped her fingers one by one with a handkerchief, wiping a little hard because of the anger in her heart.

"There will be retribution." A big hand reached out and held her.

The man's palm was broad, with distinct knuckles. There was a firm strength in his grip. He repeated in a deep voice, "Everyone will get their comeuppance."

The retribution that finally began after many years, the first to be sought was the Yu family.

The old man of the Yu family never expected that his son was not only stupid but also quick-witted. He didn't keep an eye on him for a moment and he let out so much information.

As soon as the man was brought back, he was beaten up with a belt, and the next day someone came to their house to settle the score.

"You can be stupid if you want to, but why bother involving these people? Are you afraid that we haven't offended enough people and no one will come to step on us?"

Having just lost a grandson, the son has now caused such trouble. The old man of the Yu family is already several years old.

"Didn't I think the law doesn't hold people responsible and they can't do anything about it?"

Yu Wu wanted to defend himself, but was hit on the head by the old man of the Yu family with a water cup, "You are really stupid. Gu Chengye only has one grandson and granddaughter. Do you think he dare not drag all these people down?"

A bump immediately appeared on the corner of his forehead, but Yu Wu didn't dare to rub it. He just lowered his head and listened to the scolding.

In the end, it was his eldest brother who came up to help the old man, "Dad, calm down. Don't let your anger harm your health."

The old man then sat down, calmed down his emotions, and looked at his youngest son whom he once loved the most, "You should go to Hong Kong City to hide."

"Me? Why?" Yu Wu couldn't believe it.

He had heard that in Hong Kong, the Y countrymen had the final say and they had no status there and had to look at other people's faces. It was not like here, where everyone had to look at his face.

The old man was furious when he heard this. "You did it yourself, how dare you ask why?"

"Didn't you say there was no evidence? Yu Wu saw with his own eyes how his father made Ji Duo speechless that day.

"What if Gu Chengye goes crazy and is willing to kill you at the cost of his own life?"

The old man of the Yu family no longer wanted to talk to him. He turned to look at his eldest son and said, "You make arrangements. Send him there the day after tomorrow, no, tomorrow!"

Just as the eldest son of the Yu family responded, someone suddenly knocked on the door. "Is Yu Zhenzhong here?"

He frowned and was about to question the nanny about what was going on when she let someone in casually. When he opened the door, he saw two police officers.

His heart sank. The old man inside also looked unhappy, but he didn't show it. He smiled and asked, "Who are the two comrades?"

The other party directly showed his ID and said, "Yu Zhenzhong is involved in a cross-provincial fraud. We are taking him back for investigation."

"Fraud?" Yu Wu obviously didn't react.

The old man of the Yu family suddenly thought of something, and seeing that no one could stop him, he comforted his younger son first, and then went back and asked his eldest son to inquire about the situation.

As expected, the younger son took the initiative to find Tao Guangxiao and was arrested. The old man from the Gu family used him as an entry point and sued them for gang fraud in an attempt to steal his property.

As long as the person gets in, with his intelligence, it won't be difficult to pry open his mouth.

"Go again and try to contact Lao Wu and make him shut up. Don't confess anything. I'll find other people..."

The old man of the Yu family spoke quickly and hastily, and he fell down holding his chest without catching his breath.

When Su Zheng received the news, he called Ji Duo first, "What a coincidence! He also has heart disease. He is still living in the same ward where Mr. Gu lived before."

Yu Wu did all these things in order to make Gu Lao angry to death, but he didn't expect that he would become sick because of anger.

But he became his father.

Actually, this was Ji Duo's idea. Since there was no evidence of what happened back then, he decided to find another way. There must be evidence that Yu Wu hired someone to impersonate Shao Zhen and deceived Mr. Gu, right?

As soon as Tao Guangxiao was found, they showed each other his photo and had already confirmed Yu Wu's identity. When Gu Lao visited those families one by one, they were not idle either. They took advantage of the fact that Yu's family's attention was diverted to investigate Yu Wu's whereabouts at the time, and sent him and the evidence to the public security agency.

Ji Duo didn't care what happened to the old man of the Yu family. He just asked, "Did Yu Wu tell you?"

"Not yet, but my psychological defenses are about to collapse." Su Zheng said, "This guy really doesn't have any brains, he just has a good father."

If it weren't for the old man of the Yu family to cover for him, with his IQ, he would have exposed himself long ago.

"I remember that covering up murder is also a crime." Ji Duo's voice was cold and without any warmth.

Su Zheng's tone was equally cold, "I know. Since they dared to do it, don't blame us for investigating it thoroughly and finding out everything about them."

Ji Duo didn't say anything else. "Then hang up. I have something else to do here."

"Something?" Su Zheng was stunned. Before he could ask, Ji Duo had already hung up the phone.

On the other side, at school, the next day was the holiday before the college entrance examination. Lin Qiao walked into the classroom without taking anything and taught the students this last class.

In 1981, not all students were eligible to take the college entrance examination. Those who ranked low in several placement tests had to go directly to work after graduation.

But as separation was imminent, all these people came, including Li Xiaoqiu, who had been successfully admitted and did not need to take the exam.

When they saw Lin Qiao come in, everyone stopped writing. Some people who were whispering in the back row also stopped talking and all their eyes were on her.

Lin Qiao tapped on the desk with his fingers, "Why is no one whistling? No one is making a sound?"

All the students below laughed, and then felt a little sad.

Li Xiaoqiu was the most emotional person here. As soon as Lin Qiao opened his mouth, her eyes turned red.

Lin Qiao scanned these familiar faces one by one, "Since you don't say anything, I will say a few more words. I have made a lot of papers for you to do in the past two semesters. I believe that many classmates don't like me anymore and are waiting for the college entrance examination to be over so that they can say goodbye to me completely. Am I right?"

The students laughed again.

Lin Qiao's expression softened. "In fact, even if you don't study, there are still many ways to go in life. But the hardships you will experience in the future will probably be more than what you have experienced in these years of school. The teacher never expected that every one of you could get into Peking University or Tsinghua University and go to college. I just hope that you can have more room for choice at the forks in your life."

"I know, the teacher is doing this for our own good." Li Xiaoqiu looked at her, covered her mouth and began to cry.

The soldier in the back row also sensed that the atmosphere was not right and couldn't help but speak up to mediate, "Does that mean that if I don't do well in the exam, Teacher Lin won't blame me?"

"Well," Lin Qiao said with a smile, "but the teacher can't guarantee that your father won't beat you."

The soldier was choked all of a sudden, and the people around him laughed.

But he was usually a heartless person, scratching his head, "Actually, I also think I may not pass the exam."

He paused for a second, then looked up again, his eyes becoming more serious. “But I have made a lot of progress. I will be able to pass the exam next year after studying for a year.”

"Go to military school?" Lin Qiao asked him.

The soldier nodded, "I always remember what my master's wife said, to go to military school."

Lin Qiao took out a piece of chalk and said, "Come up and write on the blackboard."

The soldiers ran forward, leaving behind a few traces of dog crawling.

Lin Qiao asked the others, "If anyone else has plans for their future, please come up and write about them."

The person who raised her hand this time was Li Xiaoqiu, who has always been introverted and not one who likes to show off.

"I want to be a physicist." The girl wrote on the blackboard very seriously.

As she left, another student raised his hand and stood up, "I want to be a people's teacher like Teacher Lin."

"Then you have to go to National Tsing Hua University like Teacher Lin." Someone shouted from behind.

The student paused, turned around and glared at the other person, but still took the chalk and wrote on the blackboard.

Some wanted to be soldiers, some wanted to be teachers, and some wanted to be doctors... the blackboard was filled with them.

Because Lin Qiao took them to several social practice classes this school year, some of them even went to specific positions.

Lin Qiao finally looked at Qi Huaiwen.

The boy looked at her with his peach blossom eyes for a moment, then stood up, took the chalk, and left behind a beautiful and elegant handwriting - "Live for yourself from now on."

Lin Qiao was close by and heard him say very softly, "I still won't forgive him."

Who cares? It’s his own life from now on anyway.

Lin Qiao took the chalk back, glanced at the different handwritings on the blackboard, and was about to say something when the boy suddenly turned around and hugged her.

Next came Li Xiaoqiu who was sitting in the front row, "Teacher Lin, I can't bear to leave you."

Many of them came up and hugged Lin Qiao and cried. They were even more reluctant to leave than they were at this time last year. They probably would never meet such a respectable and amiable teacher like Lin Qiao again.

This was the scene Ji Duo saw when he arrived at Class 4.

His young wife, who seemed less than 20 years old in his eyes, was surrounded by them and had become a guiding light for many people.

In the future, she will fly to a wider world, stand on a bigger stage, and shine more brilliantly...

Ji Duo watched quietly without saying anything until the soldier sitting not far from the back door noticed him and whispered, "Master's Wife?"

He turned around and went to the corridor to carry in a foam box. "Take it and divide it up. I'm here to pick up your teacher Lin after get off work."

The soldier opened it and quickly called out to everyone in the class, "Don't cry, the teacher's wife is here to see our teacher Lin and treat us to ice cream!"

The students cheered, and Lin Qiao looked up, and saw a particularly tall man in the back row of the classroom.

The box used to pack ice cream was later taken by Ji Duo to Lin Qiao's office, where it was filled with miscellaneous things that Lin Qiao had collected from her work over the past year.

When walking out of the school gate, Lin Qiao couldn't help but look back, not knowing whether he was looking at the campus or the people in the campus.

Ji Duo stood beside her the whole time, without saying a word, let alone offering any words of comfort. He just silently carried the suitcase and walked with her all the way.

Early in the morning of July 7, Lin Qiao took more than 30 students from her class who were going to take the college entrance examination and set off from the school bus.

It was also on this day that Dai Cheng's confession dealt Yu Wu the final blow. He finally couldn't bear it anymore and confessed everything.

Shaozhen's disappearance was indeed related to him, but he did not lose her on purpose.

They chased her to the mountain that day. The little girl was probably scared of being beaten, so she found a place to hide and they couldn't find her.

Later, when it got dark, they all went back home, but they never expected that Gu Shaozhen would disappear.

They were all teenagers. No matter how vicious the person was, they were afraid. They had helped to search for him in the mountains before.

But I just couldn't find it, and gradually, escape overwhelmed my regret and fear.

They couldn't help but think that they were just playing a joke, driving her to the mountains, and didn't ask her to hide, so they got themselves lost.

Just when this mentality prevailed, Gu Shaoping found him.

"I didn't want to kill him. He just came up to me and beat me like a madman, asking me where I had taken his sister."

The interrogation over the past few days has broken down Yu Wu's psychological defenses. He cried in the interrogation room, "I just resisted a few times, but I didn't expect him to be so fragile. He just stopped moving after a few hits."

"He hasn't slept for two days trying to find Shaozhen. Can he beat you?" Su Zheng's eyes were red and he almost rushed forward.

Several police officers rushed to stop him, but they could not stop the anger that was bursting out of his heart.

Ji Duo was also enduring, unable to bear the fact that such a good man like Shao Ping had lost his life at the hands of such a scum.

But he still had some sanity left, "Ask him carefully who helped him cover up this matter."

He returned to the troop in silence all the way. When he reached the door of his home, he asked Xiao Fang to turn around and go to the market to buy a bag of shrimps.

After he finished, he found that his body was stained with oil. He went upstairs and found a clean shirt in the closet. He had just changed halfway when he heard Liu Cuiying's panicked voice downstairs.

"Oh no! Something happened to the car I was taking the test on!"