Chapter 58: Suspicious Teacher

Translator: Azza

Editor: Conspiracing

After the questioning, Lin Dongxue indicated that Wang Jinsong could leave. As he was about to leave, Wang Jinsong asked, “Police Aunty, was Du Lei raped?”

Lin Qiupu almost sprayed out the tea is his mouth and chastised, “You kid, don't say it!”

Lin Dongxue added, “And, I am not an aunty!”

Wang Jinsong left after pulling a funny face, and Lin Qiupu shook his head. “The children nowadays!”

Lin Dongxue asked, “It is still early in the day, do you want to question the teachers?”

“Well, okay!”

The teachers came in one after another. Regarding Du Lei, the information they provided was that the child was diligent and obedient. He was a good boy. A teacher also showed the results of the mid-term exam from last month. Lin Dongxue glanced at it. Du Lei actually ranked third; It seemed that his results were truly impressive.

She curiously looked for Wang Jinsong's name and found that the child was actually at the bottom of the list. She wondered how could the two have been so close given such a difference in grades.

Lin Dongxue queried, “Why did Wang Jinsong test so poorly? Did he just not score well this time around?”

The math teacher informed, “He has always been scoring somewhere around this mark. He has steadily been ranked in the bottom five or six in the class.”

“Okay.”

Lin Qiupu looked at the list. “Why didn't the language teacher come?”

“He may be still in class. I will call him over.”

They waited until noon and everyone was starting to get impatient. Finally, the Chinese teacher came in. When they saw the face with the aquiline nose[1], Lin Dongxue suddenly opened her eyes wide. This man was the man whom she saw outside Unit 4 last night for a brief moment.

The information provided by the language teacher was similar to that of the other teachers. Suspicious, Lin Qiupu pressed, “Shouldn't you know more about Du Lei?”

The language teacher smiled. “We didn’t communicate with each other much. We’ve only really made contact when I assigned homework or distributed assignments. We are a private school so some teachers leave after teaching their respective classes. Some teachers even work outside of class hours to earn some extra money. If you have any questions, you should ask his class teacher.”

“Okay...”

Lin Dongxue suddenly asked, “Do you live in Unit 4 of the dormitories?”

Cold sweat began to form on the language teacher’s forehead, but he immediately restored his smile and composure. “Yes, yes.”

Lin Qiupu’s eyes moved from looking at his face to Lin Dongxue’s face. Lin Dongxue continued to probe. “When I was at the scene last night, you seemed to have come out and then gone back in again.”

“Oh? It was you last night? Oh... Nothing, I forgot to close the door when I went out. I suddenly remembered, so I went back to lock up... Officers, you wouldn’t doubt me because of this, right?”

Lin Qiupu developed an interest in this person. “How are your faculty dormitory buildings arranged? Do teachers of the same grade live together?”

“No, they are all mixed. The accommodations provided by the school mostly house the teachers who have come from out of town. Many of our teachers are from other places.”

“Some students say that Du Lei hates you a little.”

“Who said that?!” The language teacher became nervous, but then blew it off. “Students are like that. Hating a teacher is normal. Not that it means much though.”

“Can you let us take a look at your dormitory?”

“Sure!”

“Then let's go.” Lin Qiupu got up.

The language teacher panicked again. “We’re going now? My dormitory is very messy. Let me clean up first!”

“No need, it’s not like we’re going in for a house inspection. We are just going to take a little look at it. Can I please trouble you to lead the way?”

Everyone went out as Lin Qiupu whispered to Lin Dongxue. “This guy has a cat’s tongue.”[2]

Lin Dongxue simply replied with “Oh.” If Chen Shi hadn’t given her a shot of immunity with his advice, she would probably have thought so as well. However, she firmly believed Chen Shi's analysis that the murderer was not located in the school.

Lin Qiupu questioned, “I haven't asked you how I should address you.”

“My surname is Li.”

Teacher Li took them to the front of the dormitory. Before entering the door, Teacher Li smiled shyly. “Officers, I am a bachelor. It is normal to have some personal hobbies. Please don't tie this to the murder case. I swear to God that this matter is not related to me.”

Lin Qiupu felt that he was more and more suspicious, so he even changed his tone to become sterner. “Whether there is a relationship is for us to judge. Please open the door!”

Teacher Li looked awkward. When he took the key and tried to insert it in the lock, he failed several times before he finally turned it. When he opened the door, the police officers gave a low-pitched exclamation. If they didn’t know, they would have thought that it was the house of an otaku.[3]

In the room of less than 20 square meters, the wall was covered with cartoon posters, all of which were little anime lolis[4] that were very exposed and sexualized.

On the computer desk, there were some little loli dolls that hadn’t been colored yet.

There were also a few used fleshlights thrown in the sink. Cartoon lolis were painted on the cups. It was just left like that, uncleaned. Lin Dongxue felt disgusted to her core.

“You... Are you a pedophile?” Lin Qiupu asked.

“Lolicon! Lolicon!” Teacher Li laughed in an ashamed manner. “I am a single male. I like these cartoons. Is there any problem? I can swear to God, I only have perverted thoughts. I have never done anything out of line in real life.”

“Can such a person be a teacher?” Lin Dongxue whispered.

The two began to investigate the scene. When Lin Qiupu wanted to open a drawer, Teacher Li gasped and tried to stop him. Lin Qiupu shouted, “Get off!”

Teacher Li babbled with cold sweat running across his body, “Officers, allow me to retain some privacy. Do you guys know that as a lolicon, I am scorned to be at the very bottom of my own small social circle? In the eyes of you ordinary people, I can’t display anything on the table...[5] You came in and started searching, it’s like tearing off all my clothes to look at me. I’m already so embarrassed. I swear that there’s nothing in the drawer that’s related to the case. It’s ordinary stuff that shouldn’t be seen in public. Please just let me off.”

Due to his words, Lin Dongxue imagined the uncle naked and felt even more disgusted.

“Wow, you really are a language teacher[6]. Where did you graduate from?”

“Our province’s Private University!”

“Just stand aside. Rest assured, we won't laugh at you.”

Teacher Li was very embarrassed but stepped aside. The drawer was full of suspicious discs. Without any cover, only a simple number was written on them with a marker.

Lin Qiupu turned on the computer and played one of them. Teacher Li tried to block the whole process without success. In the eyes of everyone, he was no different from scum.

Suddenly, a lewd voice played on the speaker. Everyone looked at the screen upon hearing it. It was not an ordinary CD with porn. The video was clearly of a greasy, perverted uncle and a girl who was a minor having sexual intercourse. From the angle and perspective, it could be inferred that this video was taken secretly.

Teacher Li lowered his head and sweated a waterfall.

“Disgusting!” Lin Qiupu slammed the computer monitor down.

“I swear... I only looked at it at home. I only have the perverted thoughts...” Teacher Li stuttered.

“How many oaths have you made since we came in? Where did you obtain these from?”

“I downloaded these AVs from the Internet.”

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

“Who are you trying to fool? This type of stuff is illegal in any country!”

“Okay, okay, I confess. I ordered these from an online forum.”

“Do you know that it is illegal to make and spread such things? And she’s still a minor. It is a crime on top of another crime.”

“I just collect them. Collect them! That’s not illegal! I can report that forum; You can catch them!” Teacher Li implored with a forced smile.

Lin Qiupu looked at him coldly for a long time and suddenly ordered, “Arrest him!”

1. A type of nose shape that is also called an “Eagle Hook Nose” in Chinese. A picture reference: http://chinesehoroscop-e.com/face-reading/pictures/eagle-nose-meaning.jpg

2. He is hiding something and is being sly about it. A bit of a trickster and/or manipulator. The reason for this expression is because cats like pungent things, so they may rummage and steal items that hold these scents they like. This means that they are doing things in the shadows like a thief who is hiding something.

3. He used this word even though it’s used to describe people in Japan normally, considering it’s a Japanese word. However, this word has become more internationalized with anime and manga becoming more widespread. Otaku refers to a person who is obsessed with anime or other hobbies related to pop culture to the detriment of their social skills. They are also referred to as “weebs”.

4. Lolis refer to the Japanese discourse pertaining to the attraction of young looking girls who are cute. They blend slightly erotic characteristics in, but refers to Lolitas. Lolicon is the contraction for those with Lolita complex. The term derives from a novel called Lolita that described sexual obsession and subsequent abuse of a minor.

5. He must hide everything.

6. He’s expressing that the teacher is very eloquent.