Traveling Through Those Years Of Farming (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 31

History theory is a large class, and in the eyes of many students, it’s also considered an easy class. With one or two hundred students in each lecture, the teacher can’t notice every little movement from each student.

Therefore, it’s very common for the teacher to be teaching at the front while the students chat or watch things below.

Baobao listens attentively, with her textbook and notes in hand, but the gossip queen, Fang Xiao from the next dormitory, isn’t idle. After two classes, she has already investigated the details of their elegant and handsome history theory teacher.

“Teacher Gu’s hometown is in the northwest. When he was in college, he had a lot of state subsidies, so he didn’t have much to spend. His family conditions were very poor. I heard that the round-trip fare was raised by his fellow villagers. And he was good-looking, so he was favored by the eldest daughter of a family in his class. She chased him for four years until he finally agreed to be with her when he graduated.”

That evening, Fang Xiao came again with an apple. “Tsk tsk, it turns out that ideals can’t beat reality. Teacher Gu probably didn’t really like that young lady, or else why didn’t he agree to her years ago? But he agreed once the university started assigning jobs. Did you know that Teacher Gu’s wife is the daughter of the vice president? That year, the school had two spots for teachers to stay. Although Teacher Gu is excellent, he might not have been the best, but the young lady must have worked hard to keep him in school.” Fang Xiao tsks twice, sighing at the fickleness of the world.

“Why can’t it be true love? Maybe the girl’s persistence moved Teacher Gu,” Fang Xinxin feels a little uncomfortable. As a young lady, she feels somewhat implicated by Fang Xiao’s words.

“Xinxin, you’re so naive. I really worry that you’ll be deceived one day,” Fang Xiao says, looking at her affectionately.

“I heard from a freshman that Teacher Gu had a girlfriend at the time. She was from the same hometown and also very beautiful. They were childhood sweethearts, and everyone who saw them said they were a perfect match. The young lady pursued him fiercely back then. The more positive gossip said that she was persistent, frank, and passionate in love, while the more critical ones said she was shameless and trying to steal his girlfriend.” Fang Xiao clicks her tongue again. “But that girl disappears after graduation. If she hadn’t disappeared, maybe Teacher Gu would still be struggling with whether to marry her.”

“Disappeared?” Several girls, including Baobao, are curious about this. Baobao, in particular, feels that this matter is important.

Fang Xiao enjoys the attention and thirst for knowledge. She doesn’t keep the secret and shares all the gossip she has heard from the senior sisters. “Actually, this incident caused a big stir at the time. Not long after the girl disappeared, her parents came to the school, claiming that someone had killed their daughter and demanding 200,000 yuan from the provincial university.”

At that time, 200,000 yuan is an astronomical amount. While human life can’t be measured by money, the usual compensation for a worker’s death on a construction site was around 18,000 yuan. The parents asking for 200,000 yuan only shows that they aren’t concerned about their daughter’s life, but are likely trying to blackmail the school.

The Public Security Bureau intervenes, but back then, monitoring equipment isn’t as widespread, and long-distance transportation isn’t using real-name systems. If someone wants to disappear, it’s difficult to find clues.

In the end, the girl is treated as a missing person, and the public security can’t determine her cause of death.

Her parents are particularly unwilling to accept it and cause trouble at the provincial university, claiming the school is responsible because their daughter went missing while studying there. Eventually, the school gives them 2,000 yuan just to avoid further conflict.

The parents probably feel they can’t get more money, so they take the 2,000 yuan and leave, not caring about their daughter’s fate.

“That girl was miserable,” Fang Xiao continues. “I heard her family didn’t even want her to study at first, but she has excellent grades. The teacher visited her home multiple times, persuading her parents that if she went to college, she could bring more benefits to the family. Eventually, her parents agreed. To go to college, she signs a contract promising that two-thirds of her future monthly salary will go to her family, even after marriage. These aren’t parents, they’re basically blood-sucking parasites. If it were me, I would’ve run away the moment I got my diploma.” Fang Xiao sighs. “Luckily, I’m an only child. I’m thankful for the country’s family planning policy.”

Girls are more emotional, and after hearing Fang Xiao’s words, Fang Xinxin and the others feel pity.

In that era, it’s true that university graduates are guaranteed jobs, but if they don’t like the assigned position, they can still take part in social recruitment. Moreover, computers aren’t yet widespread, and many identity records aren’t connected to the internet. Someone can live in peace as long as they hide in a place where no one knows them.

“Has anyone ever considered that the girl might have truly been in trouble?” Baobao, who speaks at this time, seems a bit unsettling, and hearing those words late at night makes people shudder.

“Puh, puh, puh.” Lin Lan hugs her arms and rubs them, spitting several times. “How can you curse like that? That girl must be living well somewhere else by now. Maybe she’s married and has kids.”

Even the usually rational dormitory sister seems a bit emotional at this moment.

Late at night.

A girl from one of the dormitories on the third floor gets up to go to the bathroom. Most of the people living on this floor are freshmen this year, and not everyone is aware of the strange occurrences in the bathroom on the east side of the third floor.

The girl’s dormitory happens to be diagonally opposite the bathroom. She yawns without thinking and walks over in a sleepy haze, pulling down her pants to relieve herself.

Dong——

A heavy knocking sound echoes from nearby. Having just woken up from the urge to urinate and still not fully awake, the girl doesn’t take the sound seriously.

Dong-dong-dong-dong.

Three more knocks follow, and her mind starts to clear up a little.

Dong, dong, dong, dong, dong!

The knocking grows faster, and the girl starts to panic. She quickly pulls up her pants and cautiously opens the small door of the squat toilet just a crack.

Dong dong dong dong dong dong dong!

The sound comes from the wall near the washbasin. The entire wall seems to vibrate, and along with the violent knocks, the girl thinks she hears a high-pitched scream.

“Ah—!”

Unable to hold it in any longer, she screams and then loses consciousness.

An hour and a half later, two other girls come to the toilet and find the unconscious girl next to the squat toilet.

They quickly inform the dormitory manager, and within ten minutes, an ambulance arrives and takes her to the hospital.

The next day, news spreads about the girl fainting in the east toilet at midnight, and once again, the campus legend surrounding the east toilet on the third floor resurfaces.

Sitting by a flower bed at the provincial university, Jixing overhears a conversation between two girls passing by and learns what has happened in the east toilet at midnight the night before.

He smirks with satisfaction.

“Grow up quickly, my child…”

Baobao finally locates the ward where the girl is staying and goes to visit her with a bag of apples.

Before Baobao arrives, the school teachers and police have already spoken with her separately. They are dismissive of her statement, even suggesting that she has auditory hallucinations or some sort of mental issue, and ask the doctor to conduct a psychological evaluation.

After being repeatedly doubted, the girl starts to wonder if what she has seen the previous night was just a dream.

So, when Baobao visits, the girl still looks listless and unenergetic.

“Did you see anything in that toilet last night?” Baobao hesitates before quietly asking.

“You saw it too!” The girl immediately thinks that Baobao has witnessed the same strange occurrence in the middle of the night. “The wall was shaking, bang bang bang, as if someone was knocking on the wall behind me. I heard it, I saw it, but they didn’t believe me.”

Finally finding someone who has experienced the same thing, the girl seems somewhat relieved.

Baobao comforts her a little more and leaves with the answer she has received.

Now, Baobao is pretty sure that the weirdness in the east toilet is coming from the wall near the sink.

She even considers a possibility.

But what should she do?

Call the police? Without evidence, they wouldn’t believe her. Report it to the logistics department? The toilet faucet has been broken repeatedly for years, yet the logistics department hasn’t done anything about the entire pipeline. Now, as an ordinary freshman, if she goes to tell them there’s something wrong behind the wall, they’ll probably dismiss it as a prank and ignore her.

Thinking it over, only one rough and direct approach comes to mind.

That afternoon, after leaving the hospital, Baobao goes to a hardware store and waits patiently until the early morning.

Late at night, when the other roommates sleep, Baobao quietly climbs out of bed and retrieves a large hammer she bought earlier from the cabinet.

The whole corridor is silent, with only her slightly heavy footsteps echoing.

The door to the east bathroom is ajar, and the two overhead bulbs look dim. As Baobao enters the bathroom, the bulbs flicker, crackling with the sound of struggling to stay on.

Baobao focuses on the wall near the washbasin. “I hope my guess is right. I’m here to help you,” she whispers softly, sighing before closing her eyes to recall the strange scene she encountered in the East Toilet for the first time.

After a few breaths, she stops thinking, raises the hammer in her hand, and swings it at the wall with all her might.

The construction these days is solid, with high-quality materials. The entire dormitory building is made of solid blue bricks, reinforced with cement and tiles. The wall is about 25 to 35 centimeters thick. If it is load-bearing, it could be even thicker. It won’t be easy to break through.

But if her suspicions are correct, there might be a hollow interlayer in the wall, making it easier to smash.

Bang——

The first hit!

Bang——

The second hit!

The light bulbs flicker even faster, and something invisible, dark, and evil begins to surge in the room.

Unfortunately for those things, they can’t get near Baobao. They disintegrate into flying ashes the moment they get close.

In the dead of night, any noise is deafening. Soon, the girls on the third floor and those above and below are awakened from their sleep.

The dormitories near the east-side women’s bathroom can feel the direction of the sound. Coupled with the rumors circulating about the bathroom, the girls are terrified.

They believe the bathroom might be “haunted.” After all, a girl fainted there the previous night. The possibility of a second “unlucky ghost” is high.

The noise is so loud that no one can tell if the girl is still alive.

Eventually, kindness prevails. Many girls from the dormitory gather, some dressing up and others grabbing flashlights. Together, they cautiously make their way to the bathroom, hoping to check if they can help the “unlucky ghost.”

When they reach the dormitory door and see students from other dorms, their courage grows.

Bang——

The thirteenth hammer strike!

Finally, a hole appears in the thick wall, making it much easier to proceed. Baobao continues working tirelessly, and a pile of bricks falls away.

This wall is made of two layers of bluestone bricks. She hasn’t smashed through the entire thing, but there are some hollow spaces in it, and behind those hollows is yet another wall.

Baobao hits the wall again near the hole, causing another layer of bricks to fall.

And then, in front of her, a rotten corpse appears. Its eyeballs have already decomposed, leaving empty eye sockets that stare back at her…

Despite mentally preparing herself, Baobao feels a chill run down her spine at that moment.

Most of the body has been buried in the wall with cement, leaving only the right hand and part of the head visible. The right hand is raised, as though it had been in the act of knocking.

“Ah——”

A group of girls, who had been preparing to rescue someone, freeze in place as they see the female corpse embedded in the wall. Screams erupt one after another.

Baobao turns her head at the sound. Her face is covered in dust from smashing the wall, making her look a little gray. The dimming light adds to the eerie atmosphere. Holding the hammer in her hand, she turns, and behind her, the sight of another dead body appears—its position reminding one of a butcher from a rainy night, a story once published in the newspapers.

The girls, who had been screaming moments before, are now terrified into silence.

Any incident that occurs at school is a big deal, especially when it involves murder.

The police arrive quickly, not long after Baobao calls them.

Some of the frightened girls have been comforted by others who have arrived later, while the girls who fainted are sent to the hospital and are gradually regaining their composure.

“How did you know there was a body behind the wall?” As the one who discovered the body, Baobao is left alone for questioning by the police.

“Because I had a nightmare. The corpse in my dream asked me to help her, to dig her out of the wall,” Baobao says innocently.

“Be serious.”

If the case hadn’t been so serious, the police might have laughed at her.

Who would smash a wall just because of a dream? Her explanation sounds too fantastical. If ghosts really existed, and if they could send dreams, why would they target an uninformed freshman girl? They could have sent their dreams to the police and identified the murderer that way.

“I’m telling the truth.” Baobao suddenly misses Uncle Lin Zhong. With him around, she wouldn’t have to pretend to be an innocent little girl.

“Boss, this girl is from Lanshui County. The body has been dead for at least three years. At that time, she was still studying in her hometown. It’s impossible for her to have come to the provincial university to commit murder.”

A policeman has already checked Baobao’s academic records and whispers to the officer in charge of questioning.

The location where the body is found is too secluded. How could an ordinary person have been bored enough to smash the wall of the bathroom in the school dormitory? Based on the police’s many years of experience, the person who found the body might be involved in the victim’s death or have some connection to it.

But Baobao’s age and her place of residence suggest that she has no relation to the deceased. Of course, all conclusions have to wait until the victim’s identity is confirmed.

“Boss, this toilet really is strange. We just interviewed several girls, and more than one reported hearing strange noises when they used the bathroom in the middle of the night. Yesterday, a student got so scared she fainted and was sent to the hospital. I reviewed the statement from the girl. According to her, she heard someone knocking on the wall from the other side.”

The officer can’t help but swallow as he speaks.

If the student isn’t lying, then was the one knocking on the wall human—or something else?

“First, look into missing persons from the past three years and try to find someone related to the Provincial University.”

It can’t be a coincidence that the body is buried in the Provincial University’s female dormitory. The officer’s many years of experience suggest that either the victim or the murderer has ties to the university.

“Three years ago, a senior girl from our school disappeared. Her name was Liu Zhaonan. You can check if the female corpse is her.” Baobao suddenly interrupts.

The Liu Zhaonan she mentions is the ex-girlfriend of Gu Yuan, the history teacher.

“Did the deceased tell you this in a dream?” The older officer raises his eyebrows, his worldviews shifting in response.

“No.” Baobao shakes her head. She isn’t completely sure the body belongs to Liu Zhaonan.

“Hmph, your actions aren’t without consequences,” the officer says, frowning. “Do you realize you knocked on a load-bearing wall? If you hadn’t discovered a murder case by chance, have you ever considered how your actions might have endangered the safety of all the students living in this dormitory?”

He exaggerates the harm for emphasis. The load-bearing of a dormitory building doesn’t rely solely on that wall. Moreover, the area Baobao damaged is small, and the steel structure inside isn’t compromised. If a professional structural engineer were hired to repair it, it wouldn’t affect the building’s structural integrity.

However, education is necessary; otherwise, the child may become more lawless.

“I’m sorry, I was wrong.” Baobao sincerely admits her mistake.

The police lecture her a bit more, instruct her not to leave the provincial capital for the time being, and to cooperate with any future questioning. They then release her.

The discovery of a female corpse, dead for about three years, embedded in the wall of the female dormitory’s toilet is too significant. The school leaders are woken up by a phone call in the middle of the night. They are more concerned about the identity of the corpse and how it ended up in the wall of the dormitory.

They need the police to come up with answers quickly to provide an explanation to the public, students, and parents. As for whether the student who has found the body by knocking on the wall should be punished, it is no longer their primary concern.

Perhaps Baobao’s record that morning makes a deep impression on the police, as they quickly begin investigating Liu Zhaonan, who has been reported missing three years ago.

Through interviews, they identify several classmates who had been close to Liu Zhaonan, including her ex-boyfriend, Gu Yuan, who comes to the police station to identify the body.

Because most of the body has been sealed in cement, the female corpse is well preserved, and some of the clothes on her body still reflect how she appeared back then.

Gu Yuan is the first to recognize her as his girlfriend, Liu Zhaonan, who disappeared without a trace three years ago.

Afterward, Liu Zhaonan’s former roommates confirm that it is likely her.

With the forensic doctor’s confirmation, and based on the victim’s height and body shape, which match the records in Liu Zhaonan’s file, the police reach out to her parents for a DNA comparison, which fully confirms her identity.

The police handle the case quickly. By the fourth day after the body is found, they solve the homicide from three years ago.

The location where Liu Zhaonan’s body is found—the toilet in the girls’ dormitory building—is very unusual, and initially, the police treat it as a key clue.

According to statements from students previously interviewed, the faucet in the third-floor bathroom of the dormitory often malfunctions, but the logistics department prefers replacing the faucet repeatedly rather than fixing the pipes by chiseling through the wall.

The deputy director of the logistics department is the current wife of the deceased’s boyfriend. Three years ago, she aggressively pursued Gu Yuan and was a rival to Liu Zhaonan. Her identity is sensitive, and she obstructed the wall repair efforts. She was a prime suspect back then.

The most damning evidence is a fingerprint found on the cement wall. After hiding the body, the murderer is too panicked and leaves half of her palm print on the cement. When the cement dries, the fingerprint is perfectly preserved.

Perhaps the evidence is too conclusive, as the murderer admits to the crime, dejectedly.

It turns out that she found Liu Zhaonan on graduation day and tried to persuade her to leave Gu Yuan. The two meet in the still-under-construction female dormitory. When Liu Zhaonan refuses and accuses the murderer of being despicable, the murderer becomes enraged. She strikes Liu Zhaonan in the head with a brick, causing her to faint.

Thinking that if Liu Zhaonan disappears, Gu Yuan might accept her, the murderer uses cement to seal the body in the wall.

When the workers arrive the next day, they find no clues and continue with their work.

Liu Zhaonan is not dead yet. After regaining consciousness, she is pressed down by the solidifying cement, suffocating to death in agony.

Her right hand is still knocking on the wall, but she never makes it until the first worker arrives. Instead, she is sealed in that wall for three years.

This news overshadows Baobao’s act of smashing the wall. The story of love and hatred from three years ago spreads once again among students and teachers.

Jixing, after retreating for a few days, finally can’t resist coming to the school to see the aftermath of the incident.

What he doesn’t expect is that the ghost he nurtured is gone, and the body has been taken away by the police.

He wanders around the campus and hears the full story.

“Too much!” Jixing is so angry that he nearly vomits blood. “We are all people of the Xuanmen sect, practicing Buddhism and Taoism. How can we call the police when we encounter ghosts? This little ghost from the Hua family doesn’t follow the rules at all. It’s despicable, truly despicable!”