Chapter 144 He is not a good person, you are a good teacher
The National Security Bureau was very efficient. In less than twenty minutes, the mobile phone number that Lin Zhuyue had been unable to dial before had called Lin Zhuyue back.
Lin Zhuyue didn't answer.
She sat in the passenger seat, letting her phone ring but not answering it. After a while, she felt it was too noisy and didn't want to disturb Shi Chan, so she muted her phone.
Lin Zhuyue didn't answer the phone until it was hung up.
The next call came tirelessly, but Lin Zhuyue still didn't answer.
It wasn't until the third call came to his phone that Lin Zhuyue answered the call calmly and said:
"I'm sorry, Principal Gong. I couldn't get through to you on the phone. I thought you had no sincerity in resolving the issue and was planning to go home."
Principal Gong on the other end of the phone immediately became anxious and quickly apologized and explained:
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ignore your call, Master... I didn't know it was you calling."
Lin Zhuyue was too lazy to make things difficult for him:
"We expect to arrive at Wuju No. 16 Middle School at 4:00 PM. Please be present along with the relevant school leaders and teachers, especially Zhong Tingbai's homeroom teacher."
"Okay, okay." Principal Gong agreed repeatedly and asked, "Do we need to clear the school?"
Lin Zhuyue rejected Principal Gong's proposal:
"No, let the students attend class as normal. I have something to ask Zhong Tingbai's classmates. I'll clear the school after school this afternoon."
These are all senior high school students, preparing for the college entrance examination. Every point of their scores is very valuable. If Lin Zhuyue misses them, even if it is only a few points, he will be guilty of a heinous crime.
Principal Gong continued to ask:
"Is one night enough? Or tomorrow too..."
The Education Bureau was putting pressure on him, and the school was able to make up classes on the weekends purely because he withstood the pressure. If the master from the Spiritual Master's Mansion said that one night was not enough to solve the problem, he would just follow the Education Bureau's order and suspend classes on Sunday.
Lin Zhuyue interrupted him:
"Whether it's enough or not, we'll judge after we get to the scene."
After saying a few more words, Lin Zhuyue hung up the phone.
Shi Can was driving, but he was multitasking and heard Lin Zhuyue's call clearly. He held the steering wheel and asked without looking away:
"Is this what a normal high school principal looks like?"
Lin Zhuyue was relatively familiar with high school, so she nodded:
"Well, it's like this. Dealing with the conflict between students' academic performance, the school's honor, and the Education Bureau's stress-reduction policy is what forces me into this situation."
"When I was in high school, I was also forced to sign a voluntary self-study form. At that time, I thought the school leaders were despicable. But after leaving high school, I realized that if we hadn't done that, our school's academic performance might not have been so far ahead, and we wouldn't have produced the top scorer in the college entrance examination."
Lin Zhuyue thought of Yuancheng No. 1 Middle School and said,
"For a school like my alma mater, if the top scorer on the Gaokao came from another school, our school would be ridiculed by others. It would be a very shameful thing for the school leaders. And it certainly wouldn't be a good thing for the students either."
"But even though I understand it, it's wrong for the school to do this."
"Really? I don't really understand high school."
Shi Chan expressed his views calmly.
"But I think this Principal Gong is definitely not a good person."
Lin Zhuyue: “Hmm?”
Shi Can said, "It's just a hunch. Let's verify it slowly."
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can arrived at the gate of Wuju City No. 16 Middle School on time.
There were many people waiting here, including Minister Du from the Wuju City National Security Bureau, Principal Gong from No. 16 Middle School, the Dean of Academic Affairs, Zhong Tingbai's grade director, and a couple with sad faces.
This couple wasn't considered respectable financially. Just by looking at their appearance, it was clear they lived a rough life and worked hard. Lin Zhuyue didn't know if they could care for their child, but it was very likely that they couldn't.
Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can got out of the car and greeted the people present.
Just then, a woman not much older than them hurried out of the school on an electric scooter. She was beautiful, intelligent, and had a gentle face. Perhaps she was indeed a very gentle and far-sighted person, right?
Principal Gong asked, "Xiao Zhang, why are you here so late?"
"Xiao Zhang" answered truthfully: "The kids in the class pestered me to explain some questions, which wasted time."
Principal Gong did not blame her, but introduced the late teacher to Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can, saying:
"Um, masters, this is Zhong Tingbai's homeroom teacher, Ms. Zhang Ruyun."
Shi Can said, "I heard your child is still very young."
Zhang Ruyun replied, "The child was born during the summer vacation and is indeed still young."
Shi Chan asked again: "Will it delay work?"
Zhang Ruyun replied, "I almost finished my confinement before school started. Although my child is breastfed, he is bottle-fed, not breastfed. My husband is a stay-at-home dad and can handle most things, so it won't affect my work."
"So, you were working at your job until you were nine months pregnant, and then you returned to work immediately after giving birth and recuperating during the summer vacation. You didn't even take a single day of maternity leave?"
Shi Can felt that this teacher was a bit too strong and asked,
"Don't you think it's hard?"
"It's really hard...but..."
Teacher Zhang Ruyun sighed and said,
"I wasn't originally responsible for this class. When they were in their second year of high school, I was teaching freshmen. Classes are divided from freshmen to sophomores, and with that, the head teacher and many other teachers change. I thought giving birth that summer and then taking a semester of maternity leave would have the least impact on the students, so my husband and I started trying to conceive."
"Then, the previous head teacher of the class I'm currently teaching had a heart attack from working too much and is no longer able to teach. The school wants me to take over the class until the end of the second semester of the sophomore year. The head teachers who only teach the senior year will take over this class after they've sent off the students."
"I agreed."
"But this class is very special. Almost the entire class chose physics, chemistry, and politics. When the class was divided, only seven people were separated. The remaining students, including the head teacher, are all from the original class. The students also have a good relationship with Director Li. In their minds, it's natural for Director Li to teach them until their senior year."
"So, after Director Li left due to illness, these students were very, very lost. After I took over the class, I put a lot of thought into helping them adjust. I felt that the class's situation was not suitable for another head teacher when they were entering their third year of high school. So, I didn't take maternity leave and decided to walk the Gaokao journey with them."
Zhang Ruyun is a mother.
She is not only a mother to her own children, but also a mother to her students. Her love for the children in her class is no less than that for her own children, and may even be more.
Lin Zhuyue praised sincerely:
“You are a very good teacher.”
Zhang Ruyun said, "Thank you. I feel very happy every time I hear such words."
After the greetings, Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can followed these people into the school. They asked Minister Du from the National Security Bureau and the school leaders to go back to the office building first, while the two of them went to the class of Zhong Tingbai, the girl who jumped from the building, to inquire about the situation.
Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can saw in the folder they received from the Spiritual Master's Mansion that the school and the police should have asked their classmates, but Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can insisted on asking again. On the way to the classroom, Lin Zhuyue asked:
"Teacher Zhang, what were you doing on the day Zhong Tingbai got into trouble?"
"I had the flu and was afraid of infecting the students. My symptoms were very severe, so I took two days off for treatment and asked Mr. Wang, my physics teacher, to help me manage the class temporarily."
There was no cry in Zhang Ruyun's voice, but it was filled with gloom and grief. She said,
"I heard it was on the night I asked for leave..."
She gritted her teeth and tears fell.
Zhong Tingbai's mother was the most grief-stricken, and she had probably cried herself dry. Seeing Zhang Ruyun crying, she not only didn't shed a tear, but also took out a roll of toilet paper from her bag, tore it in two, and handed it to her:
“Don’t cry in front of your students.”
The reason why Zhong Tingbai's parents did not go crazy and make a fuss at school was because they knew that Zhang Ruyun was a good teacher who truly cared about her students and they could not make things difficult for her.
Zhang Ruyun thanked him and wiped away her tears with a piece of paper.
After climbing four floors, they finally arrived at Class 3-7 of Senior High School.
Class 7 had two windows facing the hallway. Looking in from the hallway, one could see that this was a typical senior high school class. The small desks were covered in books, and there were storage boxes on the legs, also filled with textbooks, exercise books, test papers, and so on.
Only one table was clean. There was no storage box underneath it, and no books on it. There was only a vase and a bunch of white lilies blooming in the radiator.
Lin Zhuyue asked, "Is that Zhong Tingbai's seat?"
Zhang Ruyun nodded.
A Chinese class is going on in the classroom.
Zhang Ruyun opened the window and shouted:
"Ouyang Jing, come out for a moment."
A petite girl stood up and walked out of the back door of the classroom. She clasped her hands together, looking rather reserved.
"Teacher, uncle, aunt..."
This was obviously not the first time she had been called out for a talk.
Among those present, in addition to the class teacher Zhang Ruyun, she also knew Zhong Tingbai's parents.
She turned to Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can: "You are..."
Lin Zhuyue directly showed his special certificate and said:
"I'm Lin Zhuyue from the National Security Special Branch, and this is Shi Can. We're here to investigate the 'special phenomenon' that led to Zhong Tingbai's death. So, please be honest with yourself in the following questions."
Ouyang Jing was stunned...
Does a department that specializes in dealing with the dead really exist?
Lin Zhuyue asked, "You said that on the day Zhong Tingbai jumped from the building, he saw a white shadow outside the window of the laboratory building. Is that true?"
"Uh-huh."
Ouyang Jing raised her hand and pointed to the window on the other side of the classroom.
"We can see it from our classroom window. We often lie by the window to enjoy the view after class..."
Shi Can directly opened the back door of the classroom: "Point out which window it is."
Ouyang Jing walked into the classroom with her head held high and went around to the window.
Shi Can took a panoramic photo of the experimental building that could be seen from here, handed the tablet and pen to Ouyang Jing, and asked her to circle the window where the white shadow appeared.
Shi Can stopped disturbing the class, took the tablet, and left the classroom with Ouyang Jing.
Lin Zhuyue asked Ouyang Jing some more questions:
"Zhong Tingbai gets along well with his classmates, right? Have you ever had any conflicts?"
Ouyang Jing shook her head and said:
"She has a very good temper and never gets angry with me."
Lin Zhuyue asked again:
"So, how is her relationship with the teacher?"
"That's good too."
Ouyang Jing answered quickly and fluently, but she was frowning slightly, her eyes rolling around and her gaze wandering.
Lin Zhuyue did not expose him, but just made a note at the end of the interrogation record - lie.
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