Chapter 385: The So-Called Truth

2022-05-20

When you’ve ruled out every impossibility, whatever remains—however unlikely—must be the truth. And that means Hu Ningning has been lying. Teacher Gao never lied, but nobody believed him. Gu Hui lied, but everyone believed her.

I should have realized this sooner, and honestly, so should the villagers. But with such innocent faces on those little kids, no one ever thought to look elsewhere. For a whole year, Teacher Gao argued and defended himself, yet no one ever listened.

If he held a grudge and wanted revenge, would he really have waited a full year to kill someone? Even if he waited to avoid suspicion, wouldn’t Hu Ningning be his first target? She was the one who started all this. Why would Teacher Gao kill Gu Hui instead of going after Hu Ningning?

It just doesn’t add up. Chances are, Gu Hui wasn’t killed by Teacher Gao.

So then, who did kill Gu Hui?

It was pouring rain that day. Teacher Gao did leave the house—his shoes were splattered with both fresh and old mud, showing he went out multiple times. But there was someone else that day whose clothes were caked in mud—no, not just mud-splattered, but completely covered. That means Hu Ningning also went out, and she must have been outside for a while.

An image flashed in my mind: what would a kid have to do to get so entirely soaked in muddy water? If she’d just been standing, the mud would only be on her calves. If she’d run, maybe some would be flung onto her back. If she’d fallen, the mud would streak down one side.

But Hu Ningning’s clothes had mud on both the front and the back.

So maybe she was walking, lost her footing, and fell right into a pit, muddying herself all over. I shut my eyes, trying to recall that pit. It’s narrow—if Hu Ningning had fallen in, her hands probably would have been braced on the outside. For Gu Hui, the pit was so tight she was wedged in and couldn’t get out, but for Hu Ningning, it likely wouldn’t have been too hard to climb out again.

Or maybe—someone helped her out.

Thinking this, I headed out of Teacher Gao’s place, making my way toward the spot where we’d found Gu Hui’s body. The rain was still coming down, though not as hard as before, and water streamed steadily into the pit. It hadn’t filled up completely yet.

I stared into that pit. It was broad at the top, narrow at the bottom. Suddenly, it hit me—maybe it wasn’t Gu Hui who fell in first, maybe it was Hu Ningning. The idea startled me, but the more I considered her size and the shape of the pit, the more certain I became.

Hu Ningning lied from the very beginning. A year ago, she made up her story, which means what Teacher Gao said is actually the truth. That would mean Hu Ningning hurt herself and then pinned it all on Teacher Gao.

Still, after a forensic exam, there was no physical evidence tying Teacher Gao to anything, so he was released on the spot. But not long after, Gu Hui casually dropped a comment about witnessing the whole thing firsthand.

So even without evidence, the pressure from public opinion crushed Teacher Gao. He lost everything.

Gu Hui lied too. She couldn’t have just made all this up for fun, so someone must have put her up to it. And the only person who fits that role is Hu Ningning. She told Gu Hui what to say to frame Teacher Gao.

All of it started because Hu Ningning liked Teacher Gao—she wanted to get close to him.

She’s just a little girl, no more than ten, but she’s manipulative beyond her years.

Li Xiaoyan once said Hu Ningning smashed a window and blamed Li Jun, but Li Jun didn’t even react. He’s usually a schoolyard bully—no way he’d let that go if he was wronged, especially when he even picked on girls.

Then there’s Liang Zhengkun, who tried to return a game console with Hu Ningning’s name on it. But it wasn’t him who borrowed it; it was Liang Zhengyu. So how did Liang Zhengyu know Hu Ningning had a game console and manage to borrow it?

And that Optimus Prime Transformer that Guo Li’s mom mentioned—it was a gift from a female classmate. But it belonged to Zhang Zuochen. So unless Guo Li lied and snatched it, then maybe a girl did actually gift her one. Who could that girl be? Was it Hu Ningning?

There’s one more person we haven’t checked out—Yang Ting. If she’s connected with Hu Ningning too, then Hu Ningning is definitely not as simple as she seems.

Suddenly, I remembered—lots of people said those four once formed a little group. The leader?”—a mysterious girl nobody ever really saw. I’d thought it was Guo Li, the only girl among them, but now I’m not so sure. Could that leader have been a girl barely ten years old?

Even as a ten-year-old, Hu Ningning is clever—almost frighteningly so.

Thinking that, I called Mary. “Mary, there’s no way this case is over. I know I said not to investigate Yang Ting, but it turns out that these four kids are all connected by one person. They’re not from the same class, not even the same grade, but three of them are tangled up with Hu Ningning.”

“You mean, the so-called leader is this Hu Ningning?” Mary caught on quick. “Did I get it wrong, or are you saying that every time these kids bullied someone, Hu Ningning was behind it too? Did she take part in the bullying?”

I answered slowly, “And maybe it’s even more than that. Gu Hui’s death could be tied to Hu Ningning too. Is Gu Chen around? Have him pick up the phone.”

“Hold on.” Mary said.

Moments later, Gu Chen’s voice came over the line. “Wu Meng, what did you find out?”

I hesitated, unsure whether to lay out my theory to Gu Chen when I had no hard proof. Judging by what we know, Gu Hui’s death—and maybe even the deaths of the other four—are all somehow linked to Hu Ningning. But is that really the truth?

And even if it is, what can we possibly do about a nine-year-old like Hu Ningning?

Or maybe, just maybe, there’s another version of the story: the vengeful Teacher Gao lying in wait for years before finally killing Gu Hui for her lies. That’s the story everyone knows. It’s what people have told themselves for a year—the version they find easiest to accept.

It’s easy to pin the blame on the dead so nobody else has to feel guilty.

“Wu Meng?” Gu Chen called when I didn’t respond.

“About your niece—I’ve got a new theory. It might be right, or it might not. I need to check one last thing. The rain’s getting heavier, so looks like we’re spending the night at your place. Try to head back soon.”

“Alright,” Gu Chen replied firmly.

Once I hung up, I headed back along the village path. My target was Hu Ningning’s house. By the time I got there, I was soaked through. When I pushed open the door, I found her family cooking dinner. They all looked stunned to see me come in.

“Did you go out and play in the mud?” Hu Ningning’s grandfather asked.

I said, “I was out following up on a few things. By the way, we’ll probably have to eat here tonight. Gu Chen’s on his way too, you all know him, right?”

He nodded. “I watched Gu Chen grow up—I definitely know him!”

Then he shouted toward the kitchen, “Hey, make a little extra dinner—we’re having guests tonight! Look at you, soaked right through. Come with me, I’ll find you something dry to wear. It’s all just my son’s regular clothes, nothing fancy, so don’t mind, alright?”

“Of course,” I replied, shaking my head.

Hu Ningning’s grandfather led me to the west room. When he opened the door, I saw it was a storeroom—packed with sacks of rice, flour, corn cobs, jugs of cooking oil, a bicycle, all sorts of odds and ends.

He pulled out a travel bag from the corner, unzipped it and showed me. “See if anything fits, they’re all clean.”

I nodded and started digging through the clothes. But as I reached in and pulled out a few items, my hand froze. I’d just found something that tied all the clues together.

I felt myself stiffen as I pointed to an old box in the corner. “Where did that come from?”

Hu Ningning’s grandfather frowned. “That one? It’s just a box of old toys, been sitting there for ages. Kids these days can’t be bothered with them—all about the phone now. Those toys are outdated.”

I looked closer. The box in the corner was covered in a thick layer of dust.

One of the toys was so gray with dust it practically looked colorless. It had been left untouched for a long, long time.

Suddenly, everything clicked into place.