Under Clear Skies Chapter 83: Systemic

Chapter 83: Systemic

Translated by Fefe of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

 

“What does this have to do with him?” An Yun screamed.

“You’re the one who told me,” Li Yuechi put his phone away and took a step back, “he’s not very… stable.”

“Xiaoqin was killed by Tang Guomu—and you’re still worrying about Tang Heng?! Did Tang Heng die too?!”

An Yun tackled Li Yuechi and dug into his pocket. Li Yuechi twisted to the side, avoiding her hand. She grabbed Li Yuechi’s collar and yelled with crazed fury, “Give me your phone! Give me! Li Yuechi, if you’re a man—”

“What’s all the yelling about?”

Tang Guomu’s voice sounded outside the door.

An Yun froze, her eyes wide.   

“Lao An, I’m going up to find the dean.” Tang Guomu spoke slowly. He sounded very composed. “I have an undergrad class tonight in 4022. Can you do it for me?”

An Yun charged at the door, but Professor An stopped her with all his might. Li Yuechi walked over and opened the door.

Tang Guomu stood 5-6 meters away from them.

He sighed softly. “Xiao Li, don’t feel stressed, alright?”

“What about you?” Li Yuechi trained his eyes on him. “Are you stressed?”       

“Of course I am.” Tang Guomu shook his head with a regretful expression. “Such a good kid and then… Ah, I didn’t do my job well. I should’ve taken more care of Xiaoqin.”

His regret was so sincere as if he truly felt a pained loss for Tian Xiaoqin’s death. Li Yuechi thought back to when he saw him last night. He had said so regretfully, It was my mistake. You and Xiaoqin are both good kids… Nausea rose up in Li Yuechi’s chest like tossing waves. Tang Guomu had just raped Tian Xiaoqin when Li Yuechi had seen him last night. He couldn’t imagine how proud that man had felt at the time.

Tang Guomu nodded at him and went upstairs.

Li Yuechi returned to the office. Even Professor An couldn’t stop An Yun anymore. She pounced again, like a hysterical beast. “Li Yuechi, I’m begging you, you know if Tang Heng finds out you did something like this, he’ll look down on you.”

“…”

“Li Yuechi!”

“Let me think about it.” Li Yuechi closed his eyes and rasped out, “…Let me think about it.”

A short while later, An Yun’s mom came too. An Yun collapsed in her mom’s arms and sobbed. Finally, her parents brought her home. Before Professor An left, he patted Li Yuechi’s shoulder. “I’ll leave my office to you. You can stay here if you want.”

They were the only two left in the office now. Li Yuechi clutched his phone and looked up at Professor An. “If I hand over the texts, will it be able to convict Tang Guomu?”

Professor An didn’t reply. He just heaved a long sigh.

 

He left. Li Yuechi sank into the leather sofa, his limbs gone weak. He covered his eyes, feeling very, very dazed. All of this had happened too suddenly. He even wondered if this was a nightmare. When he woke up, Tian Xiaoqin would still be that Tian Xiaoqin, getting ready to take the civil servant exams, and Tang Heng would be in Beijing, complaining how tired it was to go on shows. Even if—even if he and Tian Xiaoqin really had to pay the school 100,000-kuai, that would be okay too.

It would be okay too if they were expelled.

 

He’d almost told the police that he had seen Tang Guomu last night. Tang Guomu had just succeeded at that time. So close, it had been so close, just a few seconds. If the dean hadn’t come back suddenly—but after hearing An Yun’s words, Li Yuechi had ducked back pathetically. Tang Guomu and Fu-ayi had designed the equipment matter together. He knew that if he confessed everything, Tang Heng would lose both of them at the same time. They were Tang Heng’s closest family in this world. He knew that he should be seeking justice for Tian Xiaoqin and he might be the only person in this world that had witnessed the complete truth. He knew that compared to the death of an innocent girl, even Tang Heng’s breakdown would mean nothing. He knew, he knew too much. Why did it have to be him? Why did Tang Heng have to be his lover, why did Tian Xiaoqin have to be his classmate?

Now, he also knew that if he handed over the texts and pictures—he would lose Tang Heng, no matter the result.

You wouldn’t date someone who convicted your uncle as a rapist and your mother as an accomplice, right? Probably not.

You wouldn’t date someone who slandered your uncle as a rapist and your mother as an accomplice, right? Probably not.

But Tang Heng, An Yun was right. If I choose silence, you’ll look down on me too. Even if you don’t know anything, I already accept the fact that you’ll look down on me.

If I live on silently with these sins, what right do I have to be with you?

 

Li Yuechi shot to his feet and threw the door open. His left hand was still in his pocket, clutching his phone tightly. He’d never run so fast before, climbing the stairs swiftly with a light leap. He didn’t even have time to compose his sentences, but he felt like it wasn’t needed, because he was the only one in this world who had witnessed the complete process.

The complete process of Tian Xiaoqin getting hunted and killed.

The door to the dean’s office was open. It reeked of cigarette smoke.

Tang Guomu and the dean sat at their own desks. No one else was in the room.

“Oh, Yuechi.” Tang Guomu saw him. His voice was still so composed. “What’s wrong?”

Li Yuechi ignored him. He stared at the dean and asked, “Where’s Officer Wang?”

“He left.” The dean waved his hand. “The girl just didn’t want to live anymore.”

“She was raped by Tang Guomu.”

When Li Yuechi said this sentence, he felt like all the blood stopped flowing in his body. The air and cigarette haze froze in the office too. He stared at the dean’s face; he couldn’t even hear his heartbeat.

But the dean just glanced at Tang Guomu subtly and said, “Don’t speak nonsense. Do you have proof?”

“Yes.” Li Yuechi pulled out his phone.

“Yuechi.” Tang Guomu didn’t move from his seat. “I indeed have partial responsibility for Tian Xiaoqin’s death, but you can’t slander me like this.”

Li Yuechi handed his phone to the dean. It didn’t take long to look at the four pictures.

“She sent me this last night,” Li Yuechi said clearly. “She sent it to me after she was raped by Tang Guomu.”

The dean was silent for a moment. He lit another cigarette. “But she’s the only one in the pictures.”

“There are texts too. She said—”

“It’s true just because she said it? What if she wanted to drag someone down with her?” The dean tapped his cigarette as if he was very distressed. “Kid, the dead can’t provide answers.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Tang Guomu’s phone rang.

“Hello? Yes, I am… Oh, as soon as possible… That soon? Okay, okay!” He hung up and said to the dean, “The funeral parlor asked when they should cremate her.”

Li Yuechi froze for two seconds. Then he grabbed the dean. “You can’t cremate her! There are marks on her body!”

“Xiao Li, we understand how you feel.” Tang Guomu smiled behind him—cold and compassionate. “But the body has already been sent into the cremator now.”

“Li… Yuechi, right?” The dean pushed Li Yuechi’s hands away. “I heard that you were close to that girl. Everyone is sad about this matter and it must be difficult for you too. I understand, but after our investigation, we made a basic decision of how to handle this.”

“How?” Li Yuechi asked blankly.

“The main reason why Tian Xiaoqin committed suicide was because she couldn’t take the psychological pressure. You know, there was a problem with your batch of equipment from Dawu… Also, we learned that there were some rumors in the school, saying that Tian Xiaoqin and Teacher Tang had an inappropriate relationship. This also caused her stress.” The dean’s voice was monotone as if he was reading his thesis abstract at some academic conference. “All in all, Tian Xiaoqin was Teacher Tang’s student. Teacher Tang has inescapable responsibility and he will be punished accordingly.”

A phone rang just as the dean finished speaking. He answered the phone, uttered some mn‘s, and finally instructed, “You must stabilize the family. Any compensation is fine. Just don’t let them cause a scene…”

The dean pocketed his phone. “Let’s go. Teacher Tang will see Tian Xiaoqin’s parents with me. Xiao Li, don’t worry about this anymore. What you said today—let’s leave it for now, okay? You see how busy we are right now.” 

“You can go down first.” Tang Guomu finally stood up. Smiling, he said, “There might be some misunderstandings between Xiao Li and I. We’ll chat for a bit.”

 

The dean left. It was past five p.m. now and the sky was even darker now. A gust of wind blew in through the open window, making the curtains flap. It was the gentlest post-spring, pre-summer wind, but Li Yuechi felt like the wind made his blood run cold.

He watched as Tang Guomu walked towards him. Tang Guomu was wearing a gray collared shirt of exquisite workmanship. It was buttoned up to his chin. At this close distance, Li Yuechi could see the age spots on his face.

He was like a ghoul. Literally, he really, truly, looked like a ghoul.

“Child, are you disappointed?” he said softly. “Disappointed at everything, right? Do you remember a unit we had last semester, called—systemic corruption? One person can become corrupt, not because of himself, not because of a few people, but because of the entire institution. I am telling you clearly now—it was not I who killed her. It was us, this department, this school, this system, understand? There’s no need to only hate me.

“I am sad too, really. She was a good kid, but she just wasn’t brave enough. I didn’t do this on purpose—why would I want her to die? I only wished for her to accompany me until she graduated. I could even help her find a good job. In the end, who would’ve guessed?” He sighed.

Li Yuechi couldn’t stand it anymore. He pulled his arm back and punched Tang Guomu’s face.

He fell to the ground with a thud, but he climbed up immediately.

“How dare you?” Tang Guomu grimaced in pain and his expression darkened. “You don’t accept this, right? You can’t swallow it, right? What else do you plan on doing? Giving the pictures to the police or the media?”

Li Yuechi’s hands were still clenched into fists and his arms trembled. “You deserve to die.”

“Before I leave, I’ll tell you some other things. This is a chance.” Tang Guomu sneered and retreated to the other end of the room. “You can report me however your heart desires. It doesn’t matter, because if I’m ruined, I can drag Tang Heng down with me. Have you thought about this? Tang Heng’s letter of recommendation for going abroad was written by a rapist. What school would accept him? How many projects has Tang Heng worked on with me? He’s my blood-related nephew, haha. If you want to escalate this matter, do it! Have all the schools in the world know that Tang Heng is my nephew!        

“And Tang Heng is a celebrity now, right? I heard from Xiao Fu that he stayed in China just to be with you? That kid is stubborn just like his dad. If his company finds out about this, do you think they’ll still dare to cooperate with him? Oh, not just me. There’s also Xiao Fu. After his dad died back then, Xiao Fu ran a business by herself—it was so difficult. Do you think she could reach her current position without my help? You think the money that Tang Heng uses is clean? Anyway, I don’t mind telling the media about this.

“Tang Heng gave up on going abroad for you. Are you going to destroy everything he has? His studies, his career, his family… He won’t have anything.” Tang Guomu stood and straightened his collar. He walked past Li Yuechi’s side as if he was sure that Li Yuechi wouldn’t dare to do anything to him. “I never noticed before that Tang Heng likes men. If I’d known… Haha.”   

 

Author’s note: We’re finally here. Let me explain my thoughts: 1. It’s not the teacher but the entire system and a group of people who killed a student. This was what I wanted to express from the start of this story. Maybe a passerby could’ve saved Tian Xiaoqin, such as Professor An, but everyone turned into a part of the murderer. This is also what I feel as a student. 2. Many people said “You can ask the police for help” “Classmates could be witnesses” “There must be a fair ruling” Or even “Tian Xiaoqin should’ve been more aware and careful.” I want to say, first, stories have their own specific situations. If every possibility is included, it would be a legal case study instead of a story. Second, this story takes place in 2012 and the main characters are all in their early 20s. They have their own limitations. 3. If I can’t convince you, you don’t have to keep reading. Don’t bash me, thanks.