Chapter 5

After Dong Chenghai left, Wang Hong sat on the office chair, looked at the couch that Dong Chenghai and the three of them had just done and thought quietly for a while, and then notified Xiao Zhang to come in through the phone line.

"Xiao Zhang, there are four things I need you to help me do. First, I will write a brief report on Sima Yuanying's situation later, you can take it to President Li's office, if President Li is not there, you can first take it to President Li's secretary and ask him to transfer it to President Li; Second, you are responsible for contacting all the teachers in the department and informing them that they will hold a temporary emergency meeting in the conference room at 2 pm tomorrow. Third, find a way to help me collect Sima Yuanying's whereabouts on July 18, the more detailed the better; Fourth, you can contact Mr. Zhou Xiaobo and ask him to come to my office in the afternoon. ”

"Okay, Director, I'll contact the teachers right away." Xiao Zhang stood in front of Director Wang's desk, holding a notepad in his left hand and a pen in his right hand to record everything Wang Hong commanded.

Wang Hong didn't seem to hear Xiao Zhang's words, she played with the signature pen in her hand, and after a while, she raised her head and looked at Xiao Zhang and said, "Xiao Zhang, you are a good girl and an excellent assistant secretary, you must understand what you can say and what you can't say to anyone." ”

Xiao Zhang gasped, in her impression, Wang Hong would only tell her such things when she encountered something more important. "I understand, Director."

"Okay, you go out first, I'll call you later."

"Okay, Director." After Xiao Zhang finished speaking, he turned around and left the department head's office.

When Xiao Zhang closed the office door, Wang Hong also turned on the computer monitor, created a new word document, looked at the blank screen, and fell into deep thought.

As a senior administrative staff, it is not that she does not know how to report Sima Yuanying's situation to Principal Li, but that this incident happened so abruptly and weirdly that she has no way to fully digest it. On the other hand, whether Sima Yuanying is a fugitive murderer or a victim, it is not a matter of opinion for the school, she has to control the development of the situation from the overall situation, and even act against her will.

At the same time, Wang Hong is not ignorant of some things about Sima Yuanying in recent years, at least she knows that there has been a purely personal matter in Sima Yuanying, but it is completely invisible, what she is most afraid of is that Sima Yuanying has some kind of connection with that incident no matter what role she plays in this case, because she knows that as long as it is related, it will cause a lot of shock, whether it is for the school, or for the parties, or even for the whole society, it is an embarrassing thing. At this moment, Wang Hong suddenly found a familiar face in her mind, and she had always recognized this face, but in this moment, this face was suddenly drawn with X in her heart.

After a while, Wang Hong's hands began to skillfully tap on the keyboard, and she had already made a decision on what to say and not to say......

Zhou Xiaobo is an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at Mingchuan University, where he is the main teacher of the history of Western philosophy course for undergraduates and the German philosophy of conceptualism for graduate students. Although I have been supported by an associate professor for several years, I don't have much opinion on not being able to be rated as a professor, and after a long time in this system, I naturally understand the unspoken rules, since I can't convince myself to "bend my waist for five buckets of rice", I can only lower my own demands, live my own life, teach my favorite classes, and live my favorite life.

Li Mingchuan University, the community where Zhou Xiaobo's family lives, is not very far, and it takes 15 minutes to walk along the coastal road to Mingchuan University from the entrance of the community. At this moment, Zhou Xiaobo is walking along the sidewalk on the left side of the coastal road to the school, and the recent weather has not intended to cool down and return to normal, it is noon, the hot ultraviolet rays are enveloping Zhou Xiaobo's body, and his T-shirt is soaked by the sweat of his appearance. For a middle-aged man who has passed the age of confusion, this is not an intolerable thing, and he is thinking about why Wang Hong, the head of the department, asked him to meet so urgently.

"Teacher Xiaobo, I'm sorry, I'm bothering you to run to school in such a hot summer." Zhou Xiaobo sat in the middle of the couch where Dong Chenghai and the three of them sat in the morning, and Wang Hong poured Zhou Xiaobo a glass of water and smiled slightly apologetically.

"Director, it's okay, it's exam week, I won't be invigilated today, and there's nothing to do at home." Zhou Xiaobo smiled back and continued; "I just don't know why the director specially called me over?"

Wang Hong took a sip of the water in the thermos cup and asked, "A few days ago, that is, on July 19, a corpse appeared on the Yellowstone Beach south of our school, have you heard?" ”

"Well, I heard from my lover that it is said that the corpse was corroded beyond recognition by strong acid, which made many police officers at the scene nauseous and vomited."

"By the way, you are Sima Yuanying's deputy mentor, right?"

"Well, what's wrong?" Regarding Wang Hong's sudden change of topic, Zhou Xiaobo was a little unexpected, and muttered in his heart: Aren't you talking about the murder on Huangshi Beach, why did you suddenly ask Sima Yuanying? In the moment of muttering, he suddenly had an ominous premonition, he couldn't tell what he was afraid of, but he could clearly feel the acceleration of his heart.

"There's bad news I think I should have told you, this morning, the criminal police from Binhai New Area came to look for me......" Wang Hong said this, deliberately paused for a while, and looked at Zhou Xiaobo's expression, Zhou Xiaobo unconsciously held his breath when he heard Wang Hong's words, staring straight into Wang Hong's eyes. A few seconds later, Wang Hong continued: "Judging from the questions asked by the criminal police, it is very likely that the deceased is a student of our department - Sima Yuanying. ”

Zhou Xiaobo only felt that his head exploded with a "boom", and for more than ten seconds, his mind was blank, and he didn't even know where he was, so he sat there stunned, motionless, and his eyes were suddenly bloodshot, as if he had been greatly frightened and surprised. It took a long time for Zhou Xiaobo to come back to his senses, instinctively raising his hand but not knowing what to do at all, and finally he could only pick up the water on the coffee table, and then he really realized that his hands holding the water cup were trembling so much.

Wang Hong just looked at Zhou Xiaobo quietly and didn't speak again, she knew that Zhou Xiaobo needed buffer time, because Sima Yuanying was not just a student to Zhou Xiaobo, his love for Sima Yuanying was also the care of friends and even his father. At the same time, looking at the middle-aged man in front of him who was trying to control his sadness and shock, Wang Hong felt a huge sadness and distress in her heart, and her eyes gradually reddened.

"How could this happen, Yuan Ying, a student, is very individual, but how could a person who is obsessed with living alone in his own world be so brutally killed by others!" After a long time, Zhou Xiaobo controlled his emotions a little, and after drinking the water in the disposable paper cup, he still asked in disbelief, but it was not so much that Zhou Xiaobo was asking Wang Hong, but that he was muttering self-suggestion.

"I was also shocked and didn't want to believe such a fact, but according to the criminal police in the morning, Sima Yuanying's wallet and ID card were found at the scene, and after investigation, they confirmed that the wallet was indeed Sima Yuanying's. Although they did not explicitly affirm that the deceased was Sima Yuanying, it was obvious that they were currently investigating with this assumption. ”

"......" Zhou Xiaobo listened quietly and did not speak.

"I asked Xiao Zhang to collect Sima Yuanying's recent whereabouts, and the result was that Sima Yuanying has basically appeared in the dormitory, library, canteen, Yellowstone Cliff and Blue Moon Community recently, and the time is basically fixed, especially every night around 7 o'clock will stay on the Yellowstone Cliff for an hour."

"Well, I know this, I asked him why he ran to such a remote and dangerous place before, he smirked and told me that a quiet place has the most beautiful scenery, and it is more helpful to think, I think that as an adult, he also knows how to pay attention to safety, so I didn't say anything except to tell him to be careful, but I didn't expect that something would happen in the end, and I should have stopped him from going to that kind of place in the first place." Zhou Xiaobo said this, shaking his head reproachfully.

"Mr. Xiaobo, it's not your fault, Won Young is an adult, he has his own freedom of behavior, and none of us can imagine or believe that such a thing will happen."

"What a good young man, just say no, it's gone." Zhou Xiaobo couldn't help but sigh again.

"What do you know about the Blue Moon Community?"

"Yuan Ying has rented a house in the Blue Moon Community for more than a year, and he started renting it in the first half of 2016."

"Are you saying he's been living outside?"

"No, according to Yuan Ying, it is a one-bedroom house, although it is suitable to move in, he usually rarely spends the night there, on average only a few days a month, and the house is more used as his personal library."

"It's a bit of a surprise, at first I thought he was in the same place, and I guessed that he often went to the Blue Moon Community because his object lived there."

"No, Yuan Ying has no object, he once told me that he doesn't get along with people, especially not with girls, and he basically doesn't know the female classmates of the class of 2015."

"That's also very strange, obviously he rented a house outside, and that house also has living conditions, why does he still live in a dormitory?"

"There are two reasons for this: on the one hand, because he has not checked out of the school at school, he feels that it is more appropriate to live in the dormitory; On the other hand, he doesn't want to feel like he doesn't exist in this world. ”

"Not in this world?" Wang Hong was a little puzzled.

"I was also puzzled when he said it, people like him who like to live alone generally live alone since they have the conditions to live alone, so I teased him at the time, but he said that he didn't want to get along with people, and his sense of existence was low, and if he lived outside alone, he really had no sense of existence."

"Mr. Xiaobo, you have the most contact with Yuan Ying, do you think you know him?"

Who is John Glat? Zhou Xiaobo said a little helplessly.

“Who is John Glat?” Wang Hong raised his unusually neatly trimmed eyebrows, expressing puzzlement.

This is what Yuan Ying often says, meaning that no one can answer something that no one knows. According to him, this quote is from Ann Rand's novel "The Fountainhead". “

"Ann Rand? It seems that he really likes philosophy. Wang Hong couldn't help but sigh.

"By the way, in the morning, the criminal police asked me for the contact numbers of Yuan Ying's parents and mentor, as Yuan Ying's deputy mentor, I also gave him your contact number, and they may contact you next."

"Okay."

"Because you are Yuan Ying's deputy tutor and have been in contact with Yuan Ying for a long time, the main purpose of asking you to go back to school today is to tell you the news in advance, and I also want you to know more about Sima Yuanying." Wang Hong paused, rubbed his hands and continued: "In addition, I reported this matter to Principal Li in the morning, although Principal Li has not yet replied to the handling opinions, but after all, we are students of our school, so we should all take it seriously and focus on the overall situation in everything." ”

"Director, don't worry, I understand." Hearing Wang Hong say this, Zhou Xiaobo frowned, and felt sad in his heart, subjectively speaking, he didn't like this kind of administrative values that put the interests of the unit above life, although he also understood that from a rational point of view, since the incident had happened, it was a wise decision to minimize the possible negative impact. He just felt that such a cold-blooded mentality had hit his warm heart, but if it weren't for the fact that this person was Sima Yuanying, but someone else, maybe he wouldn't have felt this way.

When Zhou Xiaobo left Mingchuan University, it was already 16:35, which happened to be the rush hour. He walked on the side of the coastal highway blankly and tiredly, looking at the bustling traffic, the sultry weather mixed with the strong car exhaust and the impetuous hustle and bustle of the whole city made him panic and chest tightness for a while, he suddenly felt strongly the impermanence of the world and the fragility of life, he deeply realized Lao Tzu's sentence "Heaven and earth are not benevolent, and all things are dogs; The saints are unkind, and they use the people as dogs. The truth behind it.

At the intersection, Zhou Xiaobo stopped on the sidewalk and waited for the green light, and naturally took out his mobile phone to see the time, but his fingers subconsciously opened WeChat, clicked on the chat record with Sima Yuanying, and saw the last WeChat message sent to him by Sima Yuanying on July 17: "Teacher Zhou, after you are busy for a while, we will meet when we have time during the summer vacation, I want to ask you about Heidegger's 'presence' and 'absence'", Zhou Xiaobo felt sad again......