Chapter 1

A high-school boy reportedly took his own life after his teacher rejected him.

On his phone, we found hundreds of intimate photographs of two people. Only the boy's face was visible.

Then I recognized something.

“The other man is his physics teacher. I saw the scar on his neck this morning. It's exactly the same.”

I found a glass bottle washed up on the beach.

There was a note inside.

[Sir, do I have to give you my body to come first?]

I thought it was someone's sick joke and threw the bottle back into the sea.

Three days later, I returned to work. A colleague told me we had a difficult case.

He pointed to a photograph.

“A high-school student fell for his teacher. Got rejected and jumped into the sea.”

“A boy?”

I looked up and repeated it doubtfully.

“Yes. Li Yun. Eighteen.”

“His teacher's a man too.”

He handed me a clearer photograph.

“Good-looking kid. Apparently, he was an excellent student. Always top of his year.”

The boy wore his hair in the fashionable style, his fringe covering his eyebrows. Beneath it, his eyes were dark and brooding.

He had the kind of striking face you remembered after a single glance.

I went through the rest of the file.

My colleague poured himself a cup of hot water and clicked his tongue.

“His classmates say he's gay. Kept pestering his physics teacher.”

“The teacher turned him down. Then he did badly in his latest exams. He jumped.”

“After the interschool exam results came out on the nineteenth, he walked up and down Fuhai Beach a few times. At seven that evening, he disappeared.”

“The rescue team still hasn't found his body.”

Fuhai.

The name caught in my throat.

I remembered the bottle I'd found.

Clear glass.

A handful of sand and a scrap of paper inside.

[Sir, do I have to give you my body to come first?]

The handwriting had been bold and decisive. Probably a fountain pen. The ink had soaked through the paper.

“Where's his teacher?”

“Still teaching at the school.”

My colleague put the file away.

“We don't have any evidence yet. We can only investigate.”

I was about to speak when my mentor came out.

A veteran detective, he'd solved countless difficult cases. The bureau relied on him.

“School must be finishing soon,” he said.

I glanced up at the wall clock.

“It's five.”

His face was grave.

“You two. Come to the school with me.”

“Let's meet Li Yun's teacher.”

Physics had never made much sense to me.

In high school, I'd always come last in it. The teacher was forever calling me out.

Then, in my final year, we got a new physics teacher.

He was refined, wore gold-rimmed glasses and had a full head of hair. No bald patch.

Young and handsome.

I liked him very much. My physics marks gradually improved.

Li Yun's teacher reminded me of him.

Forty-one. Good-looking, neatly dressed.

He wore glasses too, though his frames were black.

His voice was gentle and unhurried. I couldn't imagine him shouting at a student.

“Li Yun is an intelligent boy. Very good at physics. Naturally, I paid him a little more attention.”

The corners of his mouth dipped. He sighed.

“I only learned what happened today... I'm devastated.”

My mentor studied him, his gaze sharp enough to cut through a man.

“Liu Changming? Mr. Liu?”

Liu nodded.

My mentor looked around the office. His eyes settled on the trophies beside the computer.

“Are these all physics awards you've won?”

Liu paused, then gently shook his head.

“My students and I won them together.”

I gripped my pen and hurried to keep up with their conversation.

My mentor pointed to a trophy.

“Was Li Yun involved?”

Silence.

Even the air seemed to slow.

“Yes.”

Sadness flickered in Liu's eyes.

“He entered more competitions than any of my other students.”

“Did you spend much time alone together?”

“Occasionally. Private coaching when he was preparing for competitions.”

“Did you know he was gay?”

My mentor watched Liu's face closely.

“Why do all his classmates say he was harassing you?”

I held my breath. My pen stopped above the paper.

Liu gave a rueful smile.

“I knew. He told me himself.”

“As for harassment... I think the other students misunderstood.”

His voice remained slow and calm.

“He once confessed his feelings to me in front of the whole class.”

Liu adjusted his glasses and fell silent for a long time.

“But I didn't feel the same way. I turned him down in private.”

My mentor asked nothing more. He offered his hand.

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

Liu bowed slightly.

“Of course. It's the least I can do.”

My mentor turned to leave.

I shut my notebook, slipped my pen into my pocket and followed.

“Are we heading back?”

“Let's see Li Yun's classroom.”

The year director was waiting in the corridor. He hurried over as we emerged.

“Officers, is there anything else you need?”

“Where's Grade Twelve, Class Nine?”

“I'll show you.”

The director smiled ingratiatingly and led us downstairs.

At the end of a long corridor was Class Nine.

He pushed the door open.

“It's Saturday tomorrow. They've all gone home.”

The room was empty. Every desk was piled high with books and study materials.

Homework was still written in a corner of the blackboard.

Chinese:
[Write an essay on the theme of Courage.]

“Where did Li Yun sit?”

The director pointed to the back row beside the window.

“There.”

I blinked.

“If his marks were that good, why was he at the back?”

“He asked to sit there. He wasn't nearsighted. He could see the board.”

“Rare these days,” my colleague remarked. “All these screens, and his eyesight was still fine.”

We walked to Li Yun's desk.

It had been cleared completely. Not even a scrap of paper remained.

“Where are his things?” my mentor demanded.

Sweat broke out on the director's forehead.

“His family took them,” he said quietly.

“The desk was cleared the afternoon the exam results came out.”

“We have security footage! We haven't destroyed any evidence!”

My mentor ran a hand over the desktop and sighed.

“Let's see the footage.”

As we left the classroom, the director's phone rang.

He moved a few steps away and spoke in a low voice.

A minute later, he hurried back, looking apologetic.

“I'm sorry. Something urgent's come up. Straight ahead, then left, and you'll find the security room. Someone's there.”

He rushed off.

“What kind of school is this? Nobody seems to care,” my colleague complained.

He trailed behind us, grumbling.

Then he abruptly fell silent, clutched his chest and stepped back.

“Jesus! You scared me!”

My mentor and I turned together.

“What is it—”

“Are you investigating what happened to Li Yun?”

A thin girl had appeared in front of me.

She wore a school uniform, her hair in a high ponytail. Her eyes were red and wet.

“Li Yun... he didn't want to die.”

My mentor frowned and lowered his voice.

“Who are you? Why do you think he didn't want to take his own life?”

She wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

“I'm his girlfriend.”

My eyes widened. I stared at her.

“I thought Li Yun was gay?”

“No!” she cried. “No!”

“He was just a normal boy!”

I glanced at the name badge on her chest.

Lu Yu.

Her eyes were bloodshot, her cheeks streaked with tears.

She kept repeating it stubbornly.

“Li Yun wasn't gay...”

“Then why did he confess to his physics teacher?”

My mentor moved closer, his presence imposing.

“Your classmates say he was harassing him.”

Lu Yu's shoulders shook. All her strength seemed to drain away.

She bent over, covering her face.

“Someone forced him...”

Frantically, she unzipped her uniform jacket and took a phone from an inside pocket.

She pushed it into my hand.

“It's his. I took it from his house without telling anyone.”

She clasped her hands, pleading.

“Please, can you help him?”

My throat was dry. I opened my mouth, but someone interrupted.

“Officers! Over here!”

A school administrator hurried toward us, waving.

I turned to look at him.

Enjoyed this story?
Discover more completed short romance stories at NovelPotato.asia.