On a Stormy Night, the Campus Belle Knocked on My Door Seeking Shelter
Chapter 10: Lying? The Reason

Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Lying? The Reason

Teacher Li had a way about him that made people instinctively trust him.

And when a good-natured person suddenly turns violent, most people’s first reaction would be to freeze, not to run.

That would also explain the near-total lack of struggle marks on Su Yuqing before she died.

A pang of anguish shot through Chen Mo at the thought.

But there was nothing he could do to Li Yan at the moment. After all, Li Yan was still the man known far and wide as a paragon of virtue, and he wasn’t in the middle of committing a crime.

Although he could piece together a rational argument for Li Yan being the killer, Chen Mo still couldn’t bring himself to believe the fact staring him in the face.

He decided to use his criminal investigation skills to probe what exactly Teacher Li was doing out so late at night.

’After all, who would just go for a stroll in the middle of a torrential downpour? He had to have a reason.’

"Teacher Li," Chen Mo called out as he approached.

At the sound of the call, Li Yan immediately looked up, clearly surprised to see Chen Mo. "Chen Mo? How did you get so soaked?"

Li Yan asked with immediate concern, looking at Chen Mo, who was drenched from head to toe and dripping with water.

"I had to run an errand and didn’t expect the rain to get this heavy, so I got trapped here," Chen Mo said with a small smile. Then, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Li Yan and asked, "Teacher Li, what are you doing out so late on a night like this, in such heavy rain?"

As he asked, Chen Mo stared intently at Li Yan’s expression, ready to catch the slightest hint of anything amiss.

And sure enough, he saw it: a clear expression of hesitation and deceit on Li Yan’s face.

"Oh, nothing. Just came out to buy a pack of cigarettes," he said with a small smile.

But Chen Mo knew Li Yan didn’t smoke. At all. He was widely known as a model man who abstained from the three great male vices—smoking, drinking, and gambling. Aside from an occasional, necessary drink, he steered clear of all three.

’He was obviously lying. But why?’

’What was his real reason for being out on a stormy night?’

For a moment, Chen Mo’s thoughts were a tangled mess.

The teacher he respected so much, Teacher Li, might actually be the brutal murderer of a poor, innocent girl. For a moment, he simply couldn’t accept it.

"This raincoat’s pretty roomy. Why don’t you get under here for a bit? I can take you to my place, then you can borrow it to get home." Li Yan didn’t seem to notice Chen Mo’s bleak, grief-stricken expression, continuing to look at him with his usual kind, good-natured face.

’There was absolutely nothing about him that suggested he was capable of committing such a brutal murder.’

’And yet, at this very moment, Chen Mo couldn’t think of a single other possibility.’

’Especially since Li Yan had just lied right to his face.’

He gave a numb nod and ducked under the raincoat Li Yan held open.

As they huddled together, Li Yan’s gaze subconsciously fell on a contraceptive vending machine in front of the empty adult shop nearby.

But he quickly averted his gaze, slinging an arm around Chen Mo’s shoulder and saying with a smile, "We’ll have to squeeze for a bit. My place is just nearby; we’ll be there soon."

Chen Mo was in no mood to reply.

He was lost in a state of profound disappointment.

’The person he most hoped wasn’t the killer was, in all likelihood—or rather, almost certainly—the real culprit.’

With Chen Mo trudging along like a zombie, the two soon arrived at Li Yan’s home.

Before they entered, however, Li Yan suddenly took out his phone to send a message. By the time the dazed Chen Mo noticed, he had already put the phone away.

"I forgot my keys. We’ll have to wait a moment, ha ha," Li Yan said with a chuckle, noticing Chen Mo looking his way.

But Chen Mo had distinctly felt a set of keys hanging from Li Yan’s waist when they were pressed together.

’That was the second time Teacher Li had lied tonight.’

Chen Mo grew even more puzzled.

After a short wait, the door was finally opened.

The one who opened the door was Teacher Li’s wife, Su Huirong. She was a chemistry teacher at the school as well, though she taught a different grade from Li Yan.

Rumor had it that he had been her upperclassman in college.

As Su Huirong opened the door, Chen Mo saw that the belt of her silk robe was tied loosely and in haste. Its collar had slipped down one shoulder, revealing the lace-trimmed strap of a slip below her collarbone.

Wisps of damp hair clung to her neck, as if she had just taken off a hairband. Her cheeks held an unnatural flush, and her fingertips were still slick with traces of rose essential oil.

Warm light from the entryway spilled out from behind her. Chen Mo caught a glimpse of the living room: a red wine bottle lay tipped over on the coffee table, a long matchstick wedged in its mouth still smoldering. The sofa, which should have been covered in lesson plans, was instead piled with a crumpled silk throw, its tasseled corner sweeping across scattered dried rose petals on the rug.

The citrus scent of an aromatherapy candle in the entryway was mixed with the lingering aroma of passion.

In an instant, it all clicked into place for Chen Mo. A series of images flashed before his eyes, and suddenly, everything made perfect sense.

He immediately recalled how Teacher Li had glanced in the direction of the adult shop when he’d held up the raincoat for him to get under.

Chen Mo hadn’t paid it any mind at the time, but now—connecting it with the state of Teacher Li’s wife, with his pretense of having no keys, and with him taking out his phone specifically to send a message...

...all at once, the clues strung together to form a clear timeline of his actions.

Teacher Li and his wife had planned a romantic evening, only to discover they had run out of contraceptives. That’s why he had run out into the rain to buy some.

On his way, he happened to see that the road was flooded. Being the good-natured busybody he was, he always felt compelled to manage these kinds of things.

His old habit kicked in. He went over to the storm drain and discovered a small knife was wedged there, blocking a pile of debris. This had created a small dam, causing the water on the road to rise much higher. And so, he reached down to pick the knife up.

Only then did he unexpectedly see his student, Chen Mo. Now he was too embarrassed to walk to the adult shop to buy contraceptives in front of his student.

Plus, he couldn’t rest easy leaving his student trapped under an awning in such a heavy downpour, so he brought Chen Mo home.

And since Su Huirong was likely waiting for him in lingerie, he didn’t dare to just open the door. That was why he’d pretended to have forgotten his keys—to first send a message giving Su Huirong time to put on her robe.

All at once, in Chen Mo’s mind, all of Teacher Li’s actions snapped together into a perfectly logical chain of events.

’After so many years as a criminal detective, he at least had that much deductive ability.’

"Goodness, young man, you’re soaked! Quick, take this towel and dry off."

Li Yan had obviously given Su Huirong a heads-up in his text, because she was holding a towel when she opened the door and immediately handed it to Chen Mo.

"Thank you, ma’am." Chen Mo didn’t call Su Huirong "Teacher," instead using a term of respect appropriate for her status as Li Yan’s wife. In his heart, he still held deep respect for Li Yan.

He took the towel with another word of thanks and began to dry his hair.

’As he dried his hair, his doubts only grew stronger. If Teacher Li had a justifiable reason for lying... if he was still the same good-natured man as before... if his wife was waiting for him at home to be intimate... would a man like that really, on his way, be suddenly overcome with lust for a female student? Would he attempt to rape her, and then, after failing, use a knife he randomly found to kill her and flee?’

’No matter how he thought about it, the entire chain of motivation for this person’s actions seemed flimsy and illogical.’