Gu Xingyue sent a message: 【It's inconvenient, please tell me via text message.】
Liang Shi remained vigilant, fearing that Yang Jianni was using Gu Xingyue's phone to reply. So he suggested to Gu Xingyue that they add each other on WeChat, saying that he wanted to ask about Rainbow's usual performance at school.
She did it flawlessly, and then Gu Xingyue added her on WeChat and sent her the first message: "Rainbow usually behaves very well, but she was stuck in the sports equipment room today, which might leave a psychological scar. Please remember to comfort her tonight."
Is Rainbow trapped in the equipment room?
Trapped?
These two words are very spiritual.
Liang Shi replied: 【Okay, thank you, Professor Qi. I appreciate your help.】
Immediately afterwards, I called Zhou Li to verify with Rainbow. Rainbow firmly said, "I'm not trapped. We don't have PE class today, but a boy from a senior class was playing soccer and broke the glass in our classroom."
Liang Shi said he understood and asked her a few more questions about her daily life, which Rainbow answered one by one.
Before she could ask Qi Jiao about her recent situation, Rainbow took the initiative to ask, "Sister Liang, is Teacher Qi having something on her mind lately?"
"What's wrong?" Liang Shi asked.
Rainbow asked doubtfully, "She was drinking in the office; there was alcohol in her water glass... and she suddenly cried during class the day before yesterday."
Liang Shi asked in surprise: "The day before yesterday?"
Wasn't that the day before Gu Xingyue called her?
“Yes, her eyes were all red from crying,” Rainbow sighed. “We tried to comfort her, but it didn’t work. It seems like she’s been through something terrible…”
Liang Shi said in a deep voice, "I understand, thank you Rainbow."
“Oh, right,” Rainbow said, “there’s one more thing.”
"What?" Liang Shi asked.
“Last week, Ms. Qi came to class limping,” Rainbow said. “She said it was from a bump, but I saw marks on her ankle, like marks from being tied with nylon thread.”
"Nylon thread?!" Liang Shi and Zhou Li exclaimed in surprise at the same time.
Liang Shi was surprised because she thought Yang Jiani was absolutely capable of doing something so crazy, but Rainbow was surprised that she could accurately describe something like nylon thread.
Zhou Li's complaint was that someone strangled her with a nylon thread, which is clearly a crime!
"Are you sure?" Liang Shi still hadn't fully accepted Rainbow's genius girl persona. After all, she was only a five-year-old child. Lingdang didn't even know what nylon thread was, while Rainbow could accurately describe objects based on the marks left by the thread. So, just to be on the safe side, she asked again.
Rainbow said, "I'm not sure, but I feel it's either nylon thread or tape, because I only saw it briefly and didn't get a good look."
Zhou Li said in a deep voice, "You can trust her judgment. Her father is a mystery enthusiast."
This was the first time Liang Shi had heard Zhou Li mention Rainbow's father. Rainbow had previously mentioned that her father was from overseas and that she was of mixed race.
However, since Zhou Li said so, Liang Shi believed her.
Rainbow's judgments have never been wrong.
After confirming with Rainbow, Liang Shi looked at her phone screen, which still showed her conversation with Gu Xingyue.
Gu Xingyue said Rainbow was trapped in the sports equipment room today, but Rainbow said that someone broke their classroom window today.
—This must be the message that Gu Xingyue conveyed.
She dared not make any rash moves.
As she pondered the connection, Xu Qingzhu came out of the bathroom after washing up. She was drying her hair with a towel in her hand and casually asked about Gu Xingyue.
Liang Shi immediately blurted out the information like beans spilling from a bamboo tube, leaving Xu Qingzhu speechless.
"Don't you even need to hesitate?" Xu Qingzhu said, "After all, this is a very private matter."
Liang Shi: "..."
"Do you still need it?" Liang Shi urged. "Teacher Xu, you're smarter, can you sort this out? Right now, all I can think of is that Gu Xingyue is trapped, but if she's really locked up, she wouldn't be able to send me a message. So what message is she really trying to send me?"
Xu Qingzhu walked to the sofa, sat down on the carpet, leaned against the sofa, casually draped a towel over her shoulders, her half-wet hair sticking up, and without having time to fix it, she took out a piece of paper from the cabinet and asked Liang Shi for his phone.
Liang Shi opened the chat page and placed it in front of her. Xu Qingzhu swiped through it and copied down the few sentences.
Then he asked Liang Shi, word by word, what Rainbow had said.
As Liang Shi spoke, Xu Qingzhu took notes.
As Liang Shi spoke, he picked up the towel from Xu Qingzhu's shoulder and began to dry her hair.
Xu Qingzhu suddenly gasped, and Liang Shi paused in his work. "What's wrong? Have you come up with an idea?"
"You've given me the creeps," Xu Qingzhu said. "Do you think I could possibly do that?"
Liang Shi: "..."
She slowed her movements and whispered, "I'm sorry."
Xu Qingzhu continued to read through the messages while Liang Shi dried her hair, also lost in thought.
A few seconds later, the two suddenly spoke at the same time, "Gu Xingyue tried to resist but was discovered by Yang Jiani?!"
Xu Qingzhu turned around, and the two met eyes.
Then Liang Shi gestured for Xu Qingzhu to speak, and she listened quietly.
Xu Qingzhu connected these pieces of information: "What was originally a destructive incident of kicking and breaking glass, Gu Xingyue said was that Rainbow was trapped in the sports equipment room. So she was telling us that if she was locked up, it was very likely that she was locked up in a place with a lot of clutter. Moreover, Rainbow said that her leg was sprained a few days ago and there were marks on her foot, indicating that she had been abused recently. And why did Yang Jianni abuse her? It's because she did some destructive things, such as resisting, which Yang Jianni found out, so Yang Jianni abused her again."
"And why did she suddenly cry in class? As a teacher, crying in class is a big no-no." Xu Qingzhu was puzzled here. "She has suffered long-term abuse from Yang Jianni, so she shouldn't react to this kind of thing. She wouldn't cry in class just because she was abused. What major event triggered her? And pouring wine into her water glass and drinking it, this rebellious behavior that suddenly happened to her, could it be related to Dean Gu and the others?"
Liang Shi suddenly thought of someone, and she pursed her lips: "Perhaps it's also related to other things."
She took out her phone and scrolled through her blacklist. Just as she was about to remove Cheng Ran's number from the blacklist, an unknown number called.
Liang Shi answered the call, and Xu Qingzhu remained silent, but moved her head slightly in Liang Shi's hand, indicating that she should continue drying her hair.
Liang Shi dried her hair with one hand and answered the phone with the other, "Hello?"
The voice on the other end of the phone was a bit muffled, and there was a lot of background noise. Liang Shi put the phone on speakerphone and said to the other person, "I can't hear you."
Suddenly, a furious roar erupted from the other side, "All of you, shut the hell up!"
Liang Shi, who had the hands-free mode on: "..."
She and Xu Qingzhu were startled almost simultaneously. Xu Qingzhu looked at her with a resentful gaze, and Liang Shi gently patted her head to comfort her.
Xu Qingzhu remained seated on the carpet with her arms crossed, and both of them recognized who was opposite them.
After Cheng Ran yelled that, her voice was hoarse when she spoke again, "Hello?"
Liang Shi hurriedly said, "I'm here."
"Damn." Cheng Ran clicked her tongue. "Liang Shi, you're so well-behaved, I'm really not used to it."
Liang Shi: "..."
"Speak quickly if you have something to say, otherwise I'm hanging up," Liang Shi said irritably.
Cheng Ran felt relieved. She spoke very quickly, sounding a little embarrassed, but it was so mumbled that it took a lot of effort to understand what she was saying. "Have you seen Qi Jiao recently?"
Liang Shi: "..."
Liang Shi was silent for a few seconds, then said coldly, "Can you speak normally?"
Cheng Ran: "...I'm asking if you've seen Qi Jiao recently. Don't you know her?"
Liang Shi: "Tell me first, have you broken up with Qi Jiao? Or did she see you playing around with another woman?"
There was a two-second silence on Cheng Ran's end, followed by the sound of a cigarette being lit. "You really can't hide anything from me."
Liang Shi: "..."
Liang Shi gritted his teeth, "So which one is it?"
Cheng Ran paused for a moment, "Both. She came to see me the day before yesterday, and I was... and then she broke up with me."
Liang Shi: "..."
Cheng Ran scoffed, "But the problem is that she mentioned breaking up with me once a while ago. We haven't seen each other since we got back together. I must have some needs... Liang Shi, you should understand."
Liang Shi couldn't help but blurt out a curse: "...I don't know anything."
Chapter 92
Liang Shi understood what Cheng Ran wanted to say, but she couldn't accept it.
Cheating should not be made noble just because it is disguised as a matter of physical desire.
Cheng Ran on the other end of the phone paused, then chuckled, "Fine, you've reformed, and I'm trash."
Liang Shi remained silent.
After a while, Cheng Ran coughed, probably from the smoke, and asked in a dry voice, "Have you seen Qi Jiao recently?"
"No," Liang Shi said. "Why are you asking her? Can't you find her?"
"Nonsense," Cheng Ran scoffed. "If I could find it, would I need to ask you?"
Liang Shi: "When you ask someone for a favor, you should have the right attitude."
Cheng Ran: "..."
"Who the hell is asking for favors?" Cheng Ran still had that arrogant attitude. "I was just asking casually. If I've never met her, that's fine. Anyway, it's not like I absolutely need her."
Liang Shi gritted his teeth, "Cheng Ran, are you crazy?"
Cheng Ran: "?"
"Liang Shi, what are you pretending for?" Cheng Ran's voice was accompanied by a strong wind, making her voice sound fragmented. "You don't think that losing your memory will change all the scum you did before? When we were hanging out together, we weren't this morally upright."
Liang Shi opened his mouth, but did not refute.
Cheng Ran's voice was extremely cold, filled with disdain and contempt: "Once you're trash, every time you're trash. Don't think of yourself as some noble good person."
Liang Shi: "..."
A few seconds later, Liang Shi said, "If you don't have anything else to say, I'll hang up."
"Wait," Cheng Ran called out, but remained silent for a long time.
The wind coming from her end was very loud, whistling through Liang Shi's quiet living room.