Trafford’s Trading Club

Ren Ziling washed the dishes while humming ‘Give the world to you’—the song Luo Qiu had heard previously.

After several months, Ren Ziling was still worrying about her good friends from university days.

“No news from her yet?” Luo Qiu asked while getting a bottle of water from the fridge.

“News?” Ren Ziling was stunned, stopping her work and looking at Luo Qiu with curiosity.

Luo Qiu answered, “I mean Tu Jiaya, weren’t you humming her signature song?”

“No.” Ren Ziling shook her head and sighed, “I was just humming some song, don’t think too much. What is your head made up of?”

“Water, protein, fat… almost the same as yours.”

“…” Ren Ziling rolled her eyes, “You know I don’t mean this… By the way, can you think carefully, did we miss something about the cram school? Like what Old Ma said, a bystander may see things more clearly.”

She grabbed Luo Qiu’s arm, forgetting that she was washing dishes. Her gloves still had bubbles on them.

Boss Luo slapped her hand away, then washed his arms and walked to the living room with his cup.

Ren Ziling chased after him, asking with a hurtful face, “Can’t you give me some support?”

“That rumor.” Luo Qiu sat down, turning on the TV and watching news, “Repeat it again.”

Ren Ziling took off her gloves, sitting down and thinking, “It states that there is a teacher, who could improve the scores of any kind of students, even if they are inferior students.”

“What do students think of the rumor?”

“I think they are still dubious. Most of them know the rumor, but this topic does not seem to be the main focus of the students in the cram school… Of course, we know that’s because part of them can improve their scores in another way, which is better—I mean by trading for the exam papers.”

Ren Ziling shook her head, “If the teacher is so skillful, he should have become famous earlier. Even if he is modest, many high-scoring students he taught should understand his capabilites.”

“Then why is such a rumor spreaded?” Luo Qiu continued asking.

Ren Ziling was stunned for a moment and frowned, “Yeah…Why does this rumor exist at all? It feels like somebody purposely spread it.”

“Why would they want to make it well known?”

“Why… because they want people to notice it.”

Ren Ziling followed this thought and suddenly said, “The leading actor is the mysterious teacher, but nobody knows his real identity… Then, think about it, if the police came to investigate the issue, they would easily be leaded to finding out the teacher’s identity… Is somebody intentionally leading us to chase after the ‘teacher’?”

“What’s the motivation?”

“For reducing the possibility of them receiving investigation…” Ren Ziling turned to Luo Qiu, “It says the mysterious teacher can improve their scores, so he must be experienced in teaching, or be a person like Xu Zhao, who can secretly get the test paper… We also investigated following this lead. But in all probability, this teacher may not know how to teach at all!”

Luo Qiu didn’t reply, he just listened to Ren Ziling’s monologue.

“…A staff of the cram school that doesn’t know how to teach but can get access to the information of all the students.” Ren Ziling recalled all the details, “There are many offices in it, and the staff in each office only owns the keys to their own office. Besides that, the police checked all the surveillance cameras but didn’t find anybody sneaking into other offices…”

Ren Ziling subconsciously wanted to pick up the teacup, which was actually not beside her. However, she still made the gesture to ‘grasp’ it.

Boss Luo pushed the cup to her.

So, Subeditor Ren successfully took up the teacup, sipping it, and considering the issue.

“…Xu Zhao didn’t admit he was involved in the students’ death but the police have reasons to believe that he and Dai Youcai threatened the students with the evidence. Furthermore, teenagers scare easily and are immature, so they chose to commit suicide…”

“Luo Qiu, do you think this rumor is a lie concocted by the real criminal to escape?”

Ren Ziling raised her head, “After all, if the scandal of the cram school can affect many famous… even some officials…”

Luo Qiu said calmly, “Don’t know how to teach, is not a teacher, but have all students’ information, does such a kind of person exist?”

“Yes… there is. And I have seen her!”

Ren Ziling deeply breathed, “That female receptionist! She can get all information about students! And she knows more than any other one! Think about it, she even knows clearly the time Xu Zhao and Dai Youcai show up and she makes tea and pour water to them. If she heard something… My god, she may be the most suspicious person! Brat, you helped me out again this time!”

With her words, the excited Subeditor Ren held Boss Luo Qiu face and was about to give him a kiss.

But unexpectedly, a bottle of water stopped this woman’s violation.

“F*ck! Don’t you like my reward?” Ren Ziling felt hurt.

Luo Qiu said, “Forget about the reward. If you want, go wash dishes, don’t delay it until tomorrow.”

“Well… ok, I’ll do it.”

…

…

“That’s what my boy reminded me off last evening.”

In the café near the police station.

It was an old café with a decade of history. It was also the place Ren Ziling kept in contact with the police… before Luo Qiu’s father died. There were more memories there.

Ma Houde opened his mouth after a while, “In reality, we had put the receptionist into our investigation list, just as Luo Qiu said.”

He shook his head then, “But before investigation, Xu Zhao became crazy and came for confessing his crime… Anyway, she is suspicious, but we didn’t understand her motivation… Well, I’ll order them to follow the receptionist.”

Ma Houde’s phone rang suddenly. After that, he said an officer wanted to meet him and then paid the bill.

…

“Let me introduce, this is Wang Yuechuan from the provincial public security.” His leader, Old Liu, introduced a man in suit around 28.

Ma Houde had seen countless of people before and easily found slight hint of arrogance from him—but on the other hand, it was reasonable for him to be arrogant as a provincial officer.

“This is Ma Houde, the most experienced guy in our station. He keeps this area quiet and peaceful.” The leader, Old Liu, said with satisfaction.

“Really?”

Wang Yuechuan said indifferently, “But I heard several students committed suicide here. And it shocked the provincial public security. Earlier, there were some homicide cases and a kid’s dead body was dug out at a surrounding university… Is it quiet and peaceful?”

Old Liu felt awkward; he cleared his throat and looked at Ma Houde, “Officer Wang came to investigate the issue of the cram school. Ma Houde, give assistance to Officer Wang, don’t be lazy, understand?”

Officer Ma… Ma Houde just listened to his words, nodding weakly.