Chapter Thirteen: Separation

  Liu Chong's wife Wang He is a teacher at Lincheng University and looks like a scholar at first glance.

  Wang He is a person who attaches great importance to the quality of life, and everything he uses is carefully selected. His colleagues and students at school have a high evaluation of Wang He, who is a person with good interpersonal relationships and moral character.

  Wu Hui and Guo Yining met her in Wang He's office, where the office was extremely clean and simple. On the desk, there were only books for class and a computer, as well as a glass of water. At the entrance, there was a water dispenser with full water inside. Next to the water dispenser was a bookcase filled with academic research books.

  Kuo Yining felt a bit strange when she came in, the office was too empty and too tidy, it seemed like the newly renovated office, the owner of this place had just arrived for the first time.

  "Hello, we are police officers and there are some things we'd like to ask you." Guo Yining took out his ID card and showed it to Wang He.

  "Is there anything I can help you with?" Wang He's voice was as gentle as her appearance, like a spring breeze on a Buddha's face, very comfortable. She just took a glance at the documents in Fang You's hand and didn't take them over.

  Guo Yining saw that Wang He didn't suspect his identity, so he took back the documents and put them in his pocket. "We want to ask you something about your husband Liu Chong."

  Upon hearing that it was about Liu Chong's matter, Wang He slightly furrowed his brow. The expression wasn't one of surprise, but rather a hint of disdain. "Liu Chong, what happened to him?"

  "I'd like to ask, where was your husband on November 23rd?" Guo Yining looked around and found no place to sit, so she stood up.

  "Sorry, my office is usually empty, so I didn't prepare any chairs." Wang He only then realized they had nowhere to sit. Wang He was a person who disliked being disturbed, whether it was her home or office, she didn't like receiving guests.

  "It doesn't matter, we can talk standing up." Guo Yining finally understood the strange feeling she had when she first entered the office. There was no sofa in this office, not even a stool. This didn't seem like a teacher's office at all. Wouldn't she need to have students come in for consultations?

  Wang He thought for a moment about that day, "November 23rd, it was Monday, I had class that day, and when I went back home in the evening, I didn't see Liu Chong, but the next morning when I was having breakfast, he was at home. As for what time he came back, I'm not very clear."

  "What time did he come back at night? Didn't you notice or hear the sound?" Guo Yining was somewhat puzzled, how could a wife not know when her husband came home late.

  Wang He is currently dealing with his divorce from Liu Chong, so she didn't pay attention to his affairs. "I really don't know, actually we two have been living separately recently, I live on the second floor and he lives on the first floor, so I'm not clear when he comes back."

  "What about November 30th? Do you have any impression of this time?"

  "November 30th, Monday, I'll be staying at my mom's place over the weekend and going straight to school from there, so sorry, can't help you guys out."

  "It doesn't matter, we still have another issue, which is Liu Hui's case 15 years ago."

  When Guo Yining mentioned Liu Hui's name, Wang He was taken aback for a moment, not expecting that after so many years had passed, someone would still ask about Liu Hui. "Liu Hui? What's going on? Isn't she already dead for many years? Why are you asking about her?"

  "It's like this, because after Liu Hui passed away that year, a person named Fan Sai went missing, are you aware of this?" Guo Yining asked.

  Wang He didn't immediately respond to Guo Yining's words, lowering her head as if recalling something. After a while, she raised her head, with some tears in her eyes. "Back then, Liu Hui was deceived by Fan Sai and became pregnant. Fan Sai took no responsibility, so she had to go alone for an abortion. She was worried that her family would find out, so she secretly went to a black clinic... and the result..."

  Wu Hui took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Wang He, who hesitated for a moment before taking the handkerchief. Wu Hui then stepped back to his original position, "Please accept my condolences."

  Wang He wiped away his tears and smiled at Wu Hui, "Thanks, back then Liu Hui and I were very close, she would tell me everything that happened to her, but this one thing she didn't tell me, that's why things ended up like this."

  Guo Yining saw that Wang He was no longer heartbroken and continued to ask: "Have you ever seen Fan Sai, how much do you know about this person?"

  "Of course I've seen him, he's a teacher at our school. At that time, I didn't know about his relationship with Liu Hui, if I had known, I would never have let Liu Hui get so close to him." Wang He and Fan Sai were not from the same department, but they were both teachers at this school. Although she couldn't say she understood Fan Sai well, she still knew a thing or two about him.

  "Why did you say that?" Guo Yining asked.

  Although Wang He was very well-educated, when it came to that man who had ruined Liu Hui, he couldn't hide his hatred for him. "I've only heard others talk about Fan Sai, but from what I know, he's a cunning person who is very aware of the students' situations in his class. If their family has power and influence, he'll try to curry favor with them; if they don't have any power or influence, he won't bother with them. Later on, for some reason, he hooked up with the principal's daughter, and I heard that the two of them are preparing to get married."

  Wu Hui glanced at Guo Yining, how did Wang He know about Fan Sai's engagement? This matter was known to very few people, and Wang He and Fan Sai were not even teachers in the same department. "What happened to him later?"

  Wang He shook his head, "I don't know about this, I guess it's because people found out about the despicable things he did and he didn't have the face to stay anymore."

  Liu Hui can be said to be Liu Chong's closest relative, Fan Ze indirectly killed Liu Hui, and Liu Chong will definitely not let him go. "In those years, Liu Chong didn't settle accounts with Fan Ze, after all, something big happened to Liu Hui?"

  Wang He recalled that at the time, Liu Chong was like a madman, determined to kill Fan Sai to avenge Liu Hui. If Wang He hadn't dissuaded him, something big would have happened. "Originally wanted to wait until after Liu Hui's funeral to find him and settle accounts, but who knew he actually ran away."

  Wu Hui stared at Wang He, and Wang He did not evade Wu Hui's eyes. "What does Teacher Wang think about the recent school rumor of prostitution?"

  Wang He replied to Wu Hui's question without any evasion, "It's just some rumors, no basis, don't believe it if you don't want to."

  Waiting for Wang He's response, Wu Hui smiled and didn't ask further.

  "Alright, thank you, if there's anything else, we'll come bother you again." Guo Yining saw that Wu Hui didn't have any more questions, so he decided to leave.

  "Alright, I won't see you off then." Wang He escorted the two of them out of the office door and stopped there.

  Wu Hui stood at the school gate, saw Guo Yining drive over and open the car door to get in. Guo Yining handed him a cigarette, Wu Hui took it and lit it up.

  Kuo Yining spat out a mouthful of smoke, "This couple is really strange."

  Wu Hui nodded silently and didn't speak again, puffing on his cigarette one mouthful at a time. Guo Yining saw that Wu Hui had no intention of continuing the conversation, so he also fell silent, driving while thinking back on the events of this period of time.

  Wu Hui occasionally looked back through the rearview mirror of the car, and he had a very strange feeling since just now, as if someone was following him.

  In the car behind sat an elderly couple, who seemed to have no idea what was going on. But this feeling was all too familiar to him - had that person appeared again?

  Guo Yining felt Wu Hui's unease and found that he kept looking at the rearview mirror, thinking that there might be a problem with the car behind, just as she was about to turn her head to look, she was stopped by Wu Hui.

  "Don't look back!" Wu Hui's whole body was tense, very nervous. Guo Yining had never seen Wu Hui like this before, he always looked lazy and careless.

  "What's wrong, what happened?"

  Wu Hui had nothing to hide from Guo Yining, his voice trembling slightly, "That person seems to have appeared."

  When Guo Yining heard Wu Hui's words, she immediately understood what he meant. The steering wheel in her hand almost slipped out of her grasp, and the car nearly ran off the road. "What?"

  Wu Hui looked at Guo Yining, hoping he could hold on to his calmness. Although he tried hard to conceal the tension in his heart, his tightly clenched hands on the car door gave him away. "Don't be nervous, drive carefully and don't let him notice anything."

  Guo Yining took a deep breath and extinguished the cigarette in his hand, slowing down the car speed as well. "Are you sure? Is it that car behind us?"

  Wu Hui's cigarette in his hand had not been smoked, the burning ash was already very long and was about to break off. "No, I don't know which car he is sitting in, but he must be following us."

  Guo Yining drove while also looking back through the rearview mirror, "When did you discover it?"

  "When I came out of school, I felt it, but there were so many people at the school gate that I couldn't find him." Wu Hui was a bit disappointed. He had been looking forward to seeing that person again, but when he really appeared again, he couldn't find him.

  As a veteran detective for many years, Guo Yining didn't notice that he was being followed at all, which made him feel very embarrassed. "He's been following us the whole way, what does he want to do?"

  "I don't know." Wu Hui tried hard to lock onto the person's location, "Huh? Where did they go?" But this feeling had vanished.

  Kuo Yining hastily pulled over to the side of the road, "Gone?"

  Due to Guo Yining's sudden braking, the cigarette ash in Wu Hui's hand fell off and landed on his palm. Feeling the heat on his hand, Wu Hui finally came to himself, hastily opened the car door, got out of the car, and looked at the vehicle speeding away from beside him.

  When Wu Hui got off the bus, Guo Yining also followed suit. He didn't know who was following Wu Hui, so he didn't know what to do, but he still got off and tried his best to identify the people in the cars passing by in front of them.

  Wu Hui gritted his teeth in hatred, "He's escaped again!"