Chapter 30

Chapter 30

After lunch, the old woman in the neighboring bed and her daughter began their afternoon nap.

Nan Mu changed out of his hospital clothes and put on a different set, layering on a cardigan and pulling a hat over his head.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt like there was a faint, fresh scent on the clothes, somewhat similar to the scent on Wen Miao.

He pulled his hat down just above his eyes and put on a mask. Once he was certain that even the doctors and nurses wouldn’t be able to tell he was a patient, he balled up his hospital gown and stuffed it under the covers. He then slipped out of the hospital and hailed a taxi to Pingyang High School.

He knew, of course, that given his current physical condition, he shouldn’t be running around. But the time he could spend in this timeline was limited; every moment he spent resting brought Wen Miao one step closer to danger.

He couldn’t wait…

Calculating backward from Gu Zhishu’s age, he should have been in high school between 2015 and 2017.

It wasn’t difficult to find the homeroom teacher for Class 5, Grade 12 from that time, but the trouble was how to convince the teacher to let him see the student records from those years.

Nan Mu had finally come up with a perfect excuse, but then…

“Gu Zhishu? You must be mistaken; I’ve never had a student by that name.” A female teacher in her forties stared at the photo Nan Mu provided for a long time before speaking decisively. “Even though five years have passed, I never forget a student I’ve taught. Even if I can’t recall their face clearly, I would never forget their name. Besides, the name Gu Zhishu isn’t very common. I’m certain he wasn’t my student.”

It felt like a heavy blow. Her certainty left Nan Mu in a state of deep self-doubt.

Did he get the class wrong, or the school? Or perhaps…

“In City A… are there any other schools called Ping High?” Nan Mu asked hesitantly.

“You aren’t looking for Pingqiao High School, are you?” The teacher laughed. “We are Pingyang High School. The students like to call Pingqiao High School ‘Big Ping High’ and Pingyang High School ‘Little Ping High.'”

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By the time Nan Mu rushed from Pingyang High School to Pingqiao High School, it was already 3:30 PM.

“Gu Zhishu? Yes, he was my student.” A portly male teacher immediately recognized the name. “Tall and thin, the one who had surgery because of an illness, right? Around April… I remember his father called to ask if I’d been in contact with him recently. But speaking of which, who are you?”

“Hello, my name is Nan Ke. I’m a private investigator.” Nan Mu pulled a business card he had printed at an ad shop earlier from his pocket without batting an eye. “I’m sure you’ve heard from Gu Zhishu’s father that he ran away from home. His family has commissioned me to help find his whereabouts. I heard he had two very close friends, Su Yu and Zhaodi, so I wanted to find their contact information through the school. I’m hoping to pay them a visit so we can bring Gu Zhishu home as soon as possible.”

“Oh…” The male teacher nodded in realization. He didn’t doubt Nan Mu’s story, but he still looked troubled. “It’s not that I don’t want to help, but school regulations state that student information cannot be disclosed. How about you try talking to the school administration?”

Nan Mu groaned inwardly. If he had to follow official procedures, his identity would be exposed.

“I understand.” Nan Mu lowered his gaze and handed the teacher a cigarette, his expression appearing particularly somber in the shadows.

The teacher took the cigarette, and suddenly heard Nan Mu start making small talk. “I heard that before Gu Zhishu ran away, his health was already failing. Sigh… a parent’s love is truly a tragic thing.”

“It is.” The teacher’s heart grew heavy at Nan Mu’s words. He remembered when Gu Zhishu was still in high school; after all, he had been the boy’s teacher from tenth grade through twelfth grade. How could he not feel any attachment?
“You know Gu Zhishu was diagnosed right before the college entrance exams, right? The symptoms started after the surgery, and it’s been three years now. I heard that when it flares up, it’s agonizing-like ants are biting inside your brain. People end up rolling around on the bed, but there’s absolutely nothing that can be done. I’ve visited hospitals, talked to doctors, nurses, and many other patients in the same ward. They all told me this disease is a slow torture… to put it bluntly, it’s a living hell. Many people heard him; they said a young man in his twenties was rolling on the bed in pain, slamming his head against the wall, screaming that he didn’t want to live anymore…”

Listening to this, the male teacher felt a wave of unease and took a heavy drag of his cigarette.

“I told his parents back then. I figured Gu Zhishu probably didn’t want to continue treatment, which is why he ran away on his own.” Nan Mu also took a puff, his expression filled with grief. “It costs a lot of money to hire our company to find someone. I actually wanted to tell them to forget it. After all, the guy doesn’t have many days left to live, so why waste the money? But the Gu Family parents just wouldn’t stop crying. They said the child was so pitiful-he’d had no parents since he was little and was adopted. Even if he’s going to die, shouldn’t he be allowed to die with dignity at home? Having someone to prepare his body and handle the funeral arrangements would at least fulfill their bond as father and son, wouldn’t it?”

The teacher nodded, feeling a deep sense of empathy.

“It really is tragic. I’ve been searching for so long and haven’t found a single lead on Gu Zhishu. If he really has passed away and is just lying somewhere… the world is so big, how could I ever find him?” Nan Mu exhaled a cloud of smoke. “That’s why I came here. I thought, since he was planning to run away from home, maybe he mentioned something to a friend? Don’t you think?”

Nan Mu glanced at the teacher. Seeing the man’s heavy expression and apparent hesitation, he decided to add more fuel to the fire. “You know how the official process goes… sigh, it’s just so slow. People don’t care if it’s not their business, I get it. But I’m truly afraid that by the time the higher-ups approve the request, he’ll already be gone. I can’t help with much else. I can only say I’m doing my best to find him a bit sooner. That way, when I look back, I won’t have to say it was because of me that his family never got to say goodbye…”

Upon hearing this, the teacher’s expression shifted abruptly. He thought about it-Gu Zhishu wasn’t that old; where could he go after leaving home? He would surely need to find a few friends for help, whether for a place to stay or to borrow money. If Gu Zhishu really was with one of those people and he refused to give the contact information, wouldn’t that be his fault?

They had three years of history as teacher and student, after all, and it wasn’t like the information was being used for something bad. Gritting his teeth, he moved closer to Nan Mu and whispered, “I’ll help you look through the records. But we have a deal: you can’t take the files with you. You can only view them here in my office.”

Nan Mu was overjoyed. “Great, I won’t take them!”

The teacher made a phone call to someone to get an account and password, then led Nan Mu to a computer and logged into a database system. It contained the archival information of students from over the years.

Fortunately, it was a digital system with a search function. If it had been paper archives, it might have taken three days without any guarantee of finishing.

Nan Mu first searched for Zhaodi. Quite a few results came up, but they were either too old or too young, not matching the description Gu Zhiyu had given. In contrast, finding Su Yu was relatively simple. Likely because ‘Yu’ was a less common name, he easily found one who was in the same grade as Gu Zhishu, though not in the same class.

Since the registered phone number belonged to the parents, Nan Mu couldn’t be certain it was the right person. However, since there was only one student named Su Yu, Nan Mu used his phone to take a photo of Su Yu’s picture and address. He also took a photo of Gu Zhishu’s student ID picture while he was at it.

Having obtained the address, Nan Mu bid farewell to Gu Zhishu’s teacher and immediately rushed toward the address for Su Yu’s home.