Chapter 580: Cowardly Justice

Chen Shi drove the car so fast that it was as though they were flying. Lin Dongxue told him, "Slow down! Slow down!"

He had learned from Tao Yueyue that she had found a witness, and Chen Shi’s excitement was beyond description. When he arrived at the appointed place, he called Tao Yueyue and asked her where they were. Tao Yueyue said, "In the animation shop with the red signboard."

He turned around, and Tao Yueyue waved at him from behind the window.

Upon seeing Chen Shi, Cao Rui hurriedly hid behind the shelf in fear and looked towards the street. Tao Yueyue whispered, "He’s afraid of being retaliated against."

Chen Shi said across the shelf, "Do you want to talk in the car?"

"..."

"The informants in the movies all talk in the car. It's very safe."

"There are also ones who are killed as soon as they get out of the car! Or the bad guy has set a bomb in the car and will kill us all with an explosion."

Chen Shi thought to himself that the boy was really timid. He said, "We’ll drive the car to the corner of the street, and Yueyue will bring you over, okay?"

"…Okay!"

After a while, Cao Rui and Tao Yueyue got into the car together. Cao Rui held a small Batman figurine in his hand. He was very nervous and said, "Hello!" His eyes moved from Chen Shi to Lin Dongxue and his cheeks flushed slightly.

"Were you the one who called the police anonymously?"

"I was the one who made the call."

"Do you know that if the identity of the witness cannot be verified, the testimony cannot be used in court?"

"I... of course I know. I thought that I would provide some clues for you and you’d solve it in no time. How would I know that you’d take Teacher Liu away today. Are you playing me for a fool?"

Chen Shi was taken aback for a moment and exchanged glances with Lin Dongxue. Both of them smiled. It turned out that the boy had misunderstood.

Lin Dongxue explained patiently, "We didn’t arrest Teacher Liu in the afternoon, we just brought him back for questioning. He has gone back now."

"In that case, do I have to be taken to the bureau for questioning too?"

"No, you can just talk here!" Chen Shi took out his phone. "Can I record this?"

"Go ahead!"

"What's your name?"

"Cao Rui..."

After he had given his basic information, Chen Shi asked, "That day was the eve of the holiday. Why did you stay behind in school?"

"Do I have to tell the truth?"

"Of course!"

"You won’t tell the teacher?"

"Protection of witnesses is the duty of the police."

"That day, Teacher Xu took my Zelda card pack. I didn't play with them in class at all. He saw the card pack peeking out of my school bag, so he stretched out his hand and took it. Don’t you think that he’s despicable?”

"We won’t comment on this."

"Despicable Old Xu ‘stole’ my cards and even humiliated me from the podium. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I don’t know how much effort it took for me to collect them. Many of them were particularly difficult to find. So after school I borrowed some junk cards from my classmates, thinking of secretly swapping them back. Despicable Old Xu doesn’t understand these cards, so he wouldn’t find out. As a result, I heard Teacher Yan and Teacher Lin arguing in the office, so I had to wait outside..."

"Where did you wait?"

"The back door of the classroom next to the stairs."

"Continue."

"They kept quarreling and she said something about how she had misjudged Teacher Yan and it turned out that he was that kind of person. Teacher Yan said that people had to look out for themselves or the heavens and earth would destroy them. I was wondering if Teacher Yan had cheated on her. At first, I was quite excited listening to them, when there was a sudden bang followed by silence. Then I heard Teacher Yan crying woo woo woo... It sounded as if he was crying softly while covering his mouth. I felt that something was wrong at the time and I was terrified. I was really afraid that Teacher Yan would kill me as soon as he came out... So I ran away. I went down the other stairs, but I didn't dare to leave through the sports field. I was afraid that Teacher Yan would see me from upstairs. So I just hid and trembled under the stairs! I don’t know how long I had waited when I saw Teacher Yan carrying a sack through the sports field. From my angle, I could see the corner of the parking lot. He stuffed the sack into the boot and then there was a light illuminating his car. It might have been headlights. Teacher Yan was in a daze and as was I. I thought that he was going to kill people to tie up loose ends. He stared at the light and then walked over, as if he was talking to someone..."

"Don't you know who it was?"

"Teacher Zhou Tiannan!"

"Did you see his face?"

Cao Rui shook his head. "After the two of them finished their conversation, Teacher Yan drove away first, and then Teacher Zhou's car came out of the parking lot. I paid special attention these past two days before I found out that the car was his."

"Do you have a photo?"

Cao Rui took out his phone and retrieved a photo. After seeing it, Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue were shocked. It was a back view of Yan Ke carrying the sack across the playground. The photo was very blurry as Cao Rui's hands were shaking tremendously, in addition to the deepening dusk. However, this wasn’t a problem. The mobile phone had more pixels than a security camera, so it just needed a little technical processing.

Cao Rui said, "I was really scared when taking the photo and I was afraid that Teacher Yan would suddenly look back! I was afraid that I’d forgotten to turn off the flash!"

Chen Shi said, "Child, you’ve helped us a lot. Now, the whole case is missing a key testimony. Your testimony is more critical than the photo. Thank you for your bravery."

Cao Rui blushed, "Actually, I could have said it earlier. That- Do I have to testify in court? What if Teacher Yan retaliates against me? I don't want that. I don’t want that! I don't want to testify in court!"

"Coward!" Tao Yueyue ridiculed him.

"I'm not a coward! I’m just... just..." Cao Rui looked embarrassed, as if he was particularly concerned about Tao Yueyue's evaluation. After all, she was someone of the same age and opposite sex.

Chen Shi ended the recording and sent it to Lin Qiupu. "I’ll send you home!"

"Thank you, uncle!"

When Cao Rui arrived home, he first rolled down the car window to look outside before he dared to get out of the car. When he was about to leave, he suddenly stuffed the Batman figurine into Tao Yueyue's hands and blushed, "My family has a bigger one. I’ll give you this one!"

Cao Rui ran and disappeared inside the housing district. Lin Dongxue smiled, "Yueyue, he seems to like you!"

"Ah? What does he like about me?" Tao Yueyue pouted and looked at the figurine.

Chen Shi was reading his text messages. Lin Qiupu replied with three exclamation marks and said, "Great! Hurry up and bring the kid in to do a written statement."

Chen Shi called back, "Captain Lin, the kid didn't want to come to the Public Security Bureau. He was afraid of being retaliated against."

"Explain it to him clearly. Does he think that the police can’t protect him? It's not enough to have a recording. We have to have a written statement!"

"Okay, I'll negotiate it with him now."

Chen Shi hung up the phone and asked, "Yueyue, where does he live?"

Tao Yueyue found Cao Rui's ID photo, read out the address on it, and the three of them got out of the car.

Cao Rui didn't expect them to come back again. His family only consisted of him and his grandmother . At that time, he was sprawled on the table drinking the mung bean soup made by his grandma. The deaf grandma with blurred vision saw the guests and greeted them, "Are you Ruirui’s classmates?" Come in and drink some mung bean soup."

"They won't drink it." Cao Rui ran over and lowered his voice. "Why did you come here?! What if I get retaliated against?"

Tao Yueyue snorted, "Who would retaliate against you, coward!"

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