The Hand of Confession – Chapter 111

Volume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School

Zhao Zhuyu

So I won’t take a bath?

Lou Jingmo frankly said: “That’s right, correct.”

Shen Maomao rolled her eyes at her, changed the topic, and asked: “Sister Lou, aren’t we of one mind, actually thinking of going to the same place!”

Lou Jingmo glanced at her sideways, not speaking.

Shen Maomao didn’t feel embarrassed, and with a grinning face told her the news she had just inquired about from Chen Meihan: “Chen Meihan says we’re going to Teacher Zhao’s house for tutoring tonight, one Teacher Zhao will tutor us in mathematics, and the other Teacher Zhao will tutor us in Chinese language.”

“Two Teacher Zhaos?”

Shen Maomao looked toward Chen Meihan, calling out kindly: “Meihan, do you know what both Teacher Zhaos’ names are?”

Chen Meihan shook her head: “I don’t know.”

Lou Jingmo said: “I remember our homeroom teacher is called Zhao Zhuyu…”

Chen Meihan revealed a meaningful smile, but didn’t speak.

Lou Jingmo furrowed her brows, sensing something was wrong: “She’s not called Zhao Zhuyu?”

Shen Maomao didn’t understand: “What?”

“In the clues I found, the teacher who was framed by the troublemaking children was called Zhao Zhuyu, so from the beginning I was prejudiced in thinking Teacher Zhao’s name was Zhao Zhuyu.”

Looking at it now, the instance was indeed playing with them?

Lou Jingmo gave up searching for clues on Teacher Zhao’s desk, her eyes swept across the entire classroom, pausing for a moment at each desk.

Shen Maomao didn’t know what she was looking for, so she clung to Chen Meihan, making small talk: “Meihan, do you want to go back to class?”

Chen Meihan said sweetly: “Have you forgotten, Maomao? This period is physical education, everyone’s playing outside.”

Shen Maomao thought ‘what nonsense’, though her memory wasn’t great, she wouldn’t forget what classes they had on Monday, there wasn’t any physical education that day!

However, she didn’t dare provoke Chen Meihan, so she gave a dry laugh: “Haha, I forgot.”

Chen Meihan said generously: “It’s okay, just remember next time.”

The two chatted about this and that for a while, with Shen Maomao doing most of the asking and Chen Meihan answering. Chen Meihan maintained a good-tempered appearance, answering every question, and directly saying when she didn’t know something.

After chatting for a short while, Lou Jingmo suddenly exclaimed: “Found it!”

Shen Maomao hurried over, craning her neck to see what she had found. Lou Jingmo held a blood-stained photograph in her hand, from her angle it appeared to be a class graduation photo.

“Zhao Zhuyu…” Lou Jingmo’s little finger moved across the photo, finding Zhao Zhuyu’s position according to the corresponding location.

But as luck would have it, Zhao Zhuyu’s face was covered by a thick bloodstain, making it completely impossible to make out this person’s appearance.

Shen Maomao moved to Lou Jingmo’s side, her eyes fixed on the photograph, and uncertainly said: “This Zhao Zhuyu… why does he look like a man to me?”

Lou Jingmo: “Because he is a man.”

This school had two Teacher Zhaos, one male and one female. The female one was their homeroom teacher and mathematics teacher, while the male one seemed to be their Chinese language teacher?

What was the relationship between these two Teacher Zhaos? Father and daughter? Brother and sister? Or elder sister and younger brother?

Everything was still unknown.

Lou Jingmo pointed to another name below for Shen Maomao to see: “This is our homeroom teacher’s real name.”

There written were three characters — Zhao Chunhua.

In the photo, these two teachers were standing very close, Zhao Zhuyu’s face was blocked making his expression unreadable, but Zhao Chunhua’s face was full of smiles, and she was intimately holding onto the man’s arm, her body slightly tilting in his direction.

All of this indicated the intimacy between the two.

Shen Maomao felt very uneasy, feeling like something was going to happen: “So do we wait until evening tutoring?”

“Let’s wait.” Lou Jingmo said, “This whole matter seems inextricably linked to this Zhao Zhuyu, tonight we’ll go meet him.”

The ignored Chen Meihan showed not the slightest dissatisfaction, still smiling as she watched the two, regardless of whether she could understand their conversation.

Lou Jingmo took the initiative to speak to her: “You go ahead first, we’ll see you after school.”

Shen Maomao quickly chimed in: “Yes, yes, we still have things to do, you go play rubber band jumping with them first.”

Chen Meihan nodded: “Alright then, see you tonight.” After saying this, she left the office.

The sense of discomfort that had been constantly present around Shen Maomao lessened considerably. She looked at Lou Jingmo and said: “Sister Lou, is there something special about Chen Meihan?”

Lou Jingmo tucked the thin photograph into her jacket pocket, with a portion still showing because the clothes were a bit small. She held Shen Maomao’s hand, leading her out while saying: “From our perspective, she’s the game’s first victim, nothing special about that.”

From… their perspective?

Were there other perspectives?

Lou Jingmo: “Perhaps she has something to do with Zhao Chunhua’s matter.”

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Until the afternoon dismissal bell rang, they hadn’t been able to find where Golden Retriever had run off to. Just when Shen Maomao thought he might have died [挂了 | guà le | gaming slang for ‘died’], a white light flashed before her eyes, and when she came to, she found herself sitting in the classroom!

The entire classroom was full of people. She first looked to her right side, only breathing a sigh of relief after seeing Lou Jingmo, then began looking around.

Looking around like this, she really did find several familiar faces, including Golden Retriever frantically waving at her from the front row, and Ren Yue and Chen Meihan not far from her. She also found two familiar-looking players in the crowd; apparently, they had fortunately survived until now, she just hadn’t known about it.

After completing her scan, Shen Maomao withdrew her gaze, focusing intently on Lou Jingmo: “Sister Lou, what’s going on?”

Lou Jingmo looked at the photograph she had brought back, carelessly saying: “You ask so many questions.”

Shen Maomao: “??”

Lou Jingmo immediately corrected herself: “I think we’re not far from escaping this instance.”

Shen Maomao: “…” Don’t think she didn’t hear that just because you changed it!

Not long after, the now-normal-again homeroom teacher Zhao Chunhua pushed open the door and entered, saying to the little radish heads below: “To prevent poorly performing students from continuing to drag down our class, after school today Ren Yue, Liao Shi, Shen Maomao, Lou Jingmo… six students must come back with teacher for tutoring. Like last semester, teacher will tutor you for free and provide dinner, so I hope you all can come.”

The six people she named were exactly the six players still alive in this class, not one missing.

Shen Maomao had thought Zhao Chunhua was forcing poorly performing students to pay for tutoring, who would have thought she was offering free tutoring and dinner, this was too good a deal…

—However, this definitely wasn’t what the elementary school students wanted.

Lou Jingmo looked at the blackboard and said softly: “Probably heading for a boss battle.”

Shen Maomao’s heart rate increased: “We’ll definitely find the exit!”

Lou Jingmo’s lips curled up: “I’ll borrow your lucky words.”

“Alright…” after finishing naming the students who needed tutoring, Zhao Chunhua announced: “Other students can go home now.”

The class immediately descended into chaos, with students packing their bags like they were going to war, rushing out of the classroom like mad.

Outside, rain had started falling again at some unknown time, making the already dim sky appear even more gloomy, howling winds arrived, and a storm was approaching.

Shen Maomao shouldered her little schoolbag and walked up to stand before Zhao Chunhua.

Zhao Chunhua reached out and pinched her little face, smiling as she said: “Teacher’s stir-fry is very delicious.”

Her touch was very gentle, and Shen Maomao didn’t feel any pain, instead her mind became somewhat dazed.

The Teacher Zhao now seemed like a completely different person from the fierce and menacing Teacher Zhao from this morning, making her think of Mother Shen.

Mother Shen’s hands were also this gentle…

Chen Meihan walked to her side and took her hand, smiling at Zhao Chunhua: “Teacher, I want to attend tutoring too.”

Zhao Chunhua’s expression stiffened, her demeanor suddenly undergoing a complete transformation, and with a stern face said: “Your grades are already very good, leave the opportunity for students who need it more.”

Chen Meihan said: “But I attended tutoring last semester too? The Chinese teacher really liked me.”

Zhao Chunhua still disagreed: “No, you should hurry home.”

Chen Meihan swung Shen Maomao’s hand again: “Maomao and I are good friends, I want to accompany her, we promised to go together tonight.”

That cold gaze shifted to Shen Maomao, and Chen Meihan beside her also turned to look at her.

Shen Maomao: “?!!” Attacked from both front and back!!

“Maomao, come with me, let’s go tell the parents about the tutoring.”

Fortunately, Lou Jingmo descended from heaven at this moment, rescuing her from this bizarre battlefield atmosphere.

Shen Maomao immediately answered: “Okay!!”

After speaking, the two grabbed Golden Retriever and slipped away together.

Shen Maomao sighed in relief: “What the hell, why am I so popular with ghosts?”

Lou Jingmo said mysteriously: “Because you’re pure…”

The more something grows in dark corners, the more it likes clean and neat things – the ghosts in the instance are like this, and she is too.

“Then should I stop bathing?” Shen Maomao tentatively asked.

Lou Jingmo: “…Then remember to keep more than five meters distance from me in the instance.”

Shen Maomao: “qwq I was just kidding!”

At the teaching building entrance was another row of little black umbrellas. Among the rigid faces, Shen Maomao saw Mother Shen’s smiling face, and like a flower butterfly, she flew into her embrace, saying: “Mama! Teacher Zhao wants to tutor us, asking us to go to her house after school!”

Mother Shen hesitated for a moment, then said: “As it happens, Mama has nothing to do, shall I go with you?”

Although she was an uncertain factor, overall the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. Shen Maomao first looked at Lou Jingmo, and after receiving approval, immediately nodded in agreement: “Then let’s tell Teacher Zhao you’ll accompany me while studying.”

Mother Shen smiled and patted her head.

In the end, eight people decided to go to Zhao Chunhua’s house. Chen Meihan had somehow persuaded Zhao Chunhua and joined the group.

The group walked behind Zhao Chunhua, with her left hand holding Ren Yue, right hand gripping Golden Retriever, talking to Mother Shen who was leading Shen Maomao about school matters, appearing somewhat harmonious…

But throughout the entire time, she never once looked at Chen Meihan.

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