Chapter 66 Solved
It was already early in the morning when Zhang Yunqi returned to the dormitory. The door was opened for him by the concierge, Old Liu. When he entered, Old Liu said mysteriously, "Boss, this incident in your class is a bit of a big deal. It has nothing to do with you, right?"

"It's okay, don't worry."

Zhang Yunqi smiled. This old rascal was not worried about him, but was afraid that he was related to the fire. If he was fired, he would lose the extra income of 50 yuan a month.

Humans are animals that seek benefits and avoid harm. When anything happens, the first thing they consider is whether their own interests will be harmed. But is it fun to live like this?
Zhang Yunqi didn’t know and turned back to his dormitory.

The school hadn't called yet, and the dormitory was dark. Wang Xiaokai, Tian Zhuangzhuang, and Yang Wei were all awake. When they heard the noise, they poked their heads out of their covers. Wang Xiaokai said, "You're back?"

Zhang Yunqi said "hmm", took two candles from the cabinet, lit them and placed them on the table. When he was about to take off his clothes, a group of boys pushed the door open. They were the group of people that Jiang Lihua had called into the office tonight. They regarded Zhang Yunqi as their backbone and surrounded him and said, "Brother Yun, what should we do about this? The school won't expel us, right?"

Zhang Yunqi thought for a moment and said, "The law does not punish everyone, so you won't be expelled. After all, there is no evidence to prove that you caused the fire. But the class teacher will definitely talk to you tomorrow, and this time he will talk to you one by one. Go back and think about how to deal with it. My advice is to say what you think in your heart when the time comes."

Zhang Yunqi's last words were meaningful, but he didn't say it explicitly, so everyone left with their own thoughts.

Zhang Yunqi took off his clothes, thought for a moment, kicked the bed board on which Wang Xiaokai slept, and said, "Kaizi, do you know who the girl Lin Cong was having an affair with?"

Wang Xiaokai poked his head out: "I don't know, why are you asking this?"

Zhang Yunqi said: "Then tell me about the day you met Lin Cong and that girl. I want to know more."

Wang Xiaokai said: "It was too dark that night and I couldn't see her face clearly. I just remember that the girl had short hair. It was almost 11 o'clock at night. Normally, all the students would have gone home early. If nothing unexpected happened, the girl should be a boarding student, and I'm sure she was a student in the three classes taught by Lin Cong."

Zhang Yunqi thought for a moment and said, "This girl can't be from our class. You have a wide network of contacts. Tomorrow morning, go to the other two classes taught by Lin Cong to investigate which girls did not come to the classroom for evening self-study last night."

Wang Xiaokai said it.

He knew that Zhang Yunqi already had a plan in mind, and he would not go wrong if he did as he said.

Zhang Yunqi blew out the candle and went to sleep.

The next day, Zhang Yunqi went to the classroom early in the morning.

It was pitch dark last night and I couldn't see clearly. Now looking at the devastated classroom, I feel deeply moved. Such a good classroom was destroyed by a fire. There is not a single white space in the whole room, not a single intact desk. All the books of the students in the class were turned to ashes, and black ashes and carbon chips were everywhere.

After the students in the class arrived one after another, the situation was exactly as Zhang Yunqi had expected. Some were stunned, some were cursing, some were standing in the classroom at a loss, and some were crying while searching for important items in the carbon ash.

But it was of no avail, the fire was merciless.

The classroom of Class 168 has now been destroyed. The Dean of Academic Affairs Luo Dahai arranged an empty classroom for the students. After receiving the notice, the class monitor Lin Yueying took everyone there and asked them to sit according to the original seating arrangement of Class 168. However, everyone's textbooks had all been burned, so they could not attend the class and all sat in their seats dazed.

Wang Xiaokai didn't attend class and ran out early in the morning. He didn't come to the classroom until the end of the second self-study class. He pulled Zhang Yunqi into the toilet and said excitedly: "I have a clue about what you asked me to find out last night."

Zhang Yunqi said: "You say."

Wang Xiaokai told everyone what he had learned.

In addition to teaching mathematics to Class 168, Lin Cong is also the mathematics teacher for Classes 169 and 170. In these two classes, there are only 32 female boarding students. Wang Xiaokai found the students in the two classes who were responsible for counting the number of students during evening self-study and learned that there were 28 girls in the evening self-study last night. Among the four girls who did not attend the evening self-study, only one had short hair, Zhao Yali from Class 4!
Zhang Yunqi had some impression of this girl. She was not very pretty, but had a good figure and was relatively open. Once, he and Wang Xiaokai were standing on the corridor on the third floor chatting, and saw Zhao Yali leaning on the corridor on the second floor. She was wearing a white T-shirt with a deep neckline.

Zhang Yunqi asked: "Are you sure it's her?"

Wang Xiaokai said: "It's almost certain. I have a few good friends in Class 170. They told me that Zhao Yali and Lin Cong are very close. They have seen Lin Cong treat Zhao Yali to dinner outside the school several times."

Zhang Yunqi thought for a while and said, "I understand."

The two returned to the classroom to continue their self-study until the last class, when Jiang Lihua, who had been missing all morning, rushed into the classroom. He briefly mentioned the fire last night on the podium, asking everyone to study with peace of mind, and then called Yang Wei to his office.

All the students' eyes were directed towards Yang Wei. Seeing him leave the classroom in a panic, they inevitably associated him with the arsonist. But soon, Yang Wei came back, and then another boy was called to Jiang Lihua's office.

The situation was exactly what Zhang Yunqi had expected last night. All the boys who attended evening study last night were called out one by one for private talks. When Wang Xiaokai was called out, he patted Zhang Yunqi on the shoulder and said, "You're amazing!" Zhang Yunqi was the last one to be called to the office by Jiang Lihua. He did not ask the students in front of him about the content of the conversation, but he could guess it almost exactly.

Arriving at Jiang Lihua's office, Jiang Lihua pulled a chair for him to sit on. Perhaps because he had too many worries, he didn't say any nonsense and went straight to the point: "During the meeting last night, Teacher Lin Conglin said that you beat him. Is that true?"

Zhang Yunqi nodded and admitted: "Yes."

Jiang Lihua was a little short of breath. No matter how he treated his students in class, he would still try his best to protect his students in public. At the emergency meeting last night, he hit back at Lin Cong's words, saying that his students would not do such a stupid thing and there must be some misunderstanding.

Now Zhang Yunqi slapped him in the face with his own hands. Jiang Lihua slapped the table in anger and said, "Why did you hit him?"

Zhang Yunqi said: "I was directing the firefighting at the time, and the situation was quite urgent. Lin Cong kept interfering with me, causing the firefighting to be interrupted for a while."

This statement made Jiang Lihua feel a little better. Originally, students beating teachers was a very serious matter, but in the face of a fire, it seemed insignificant.

He said: "Lin Cong did not mention this at the meeting last night. I will report it to the school leaders at that time. As long as he was at fault first, I will help you get justice."

Zhang Yunqi nodded: "Thank you, teacher."

Jiang Lihua continued, "Let's talk about the fire now. I know that the fire last night had nothing to do with you, but you are popular in the class. You were also at the scene after the fire broke out. Who do you think caused the fire? Who is the biggest suspect?"

After a pause, he stared into Zhang Yunqi's eyes and said, "It's okay to make a guess."

Jiang Lihua's asking this question showed that he had run out of options. None of the boys who had been talking to him individually before admitted to arson. Zhang Yunqi had expected this result. Although those guys were afraid, they were not stupid. They knew the stakes clearly, so this had become a dead end. Without evidence, no one would admit it.

It is impossible for Zhang Yunqi to sell out his teammates.

In fact, he really didn't know who started the fire, and said: "I don't know, and I can't guess. Teacher Jiang, I want to tell you my thoughts. I think that under the current situation, the two people who accidentally started the fire will definitely not be found. But such a big thing has happened, someone must be held responsible, and the school needs an explanation."

Jiang Lihua glanced at Zhang Yunqi: "Who is responsible?"

Zhang Yunqi sensed a hint of inexplicable expectation in Jiang Lihua's voice. Now that the fire had already happened and the person who caused it could not be found, he knew that Jiang Lihua would have a hard time. He was the head teacher of Class 168, and Lin Cong was the teacher on duty that night. No matter what, they both had to bear some responsibility.

The problem is that the school leaders will also consider how to bear this responsibility and who will bear the main responsibility? This depends on the private operations of the two people. Zhang Yunqi estimated that at the emergency meeting last night, the two people fought openly and secretly.

Zhang Yunqi kicked Lin Cong last night, and considering Lin Cong's behavior towards Chu Jian, killing Lin Cong was his best option. So no matter from which angle, he would support Jiang Lihua: "Lin Cong is a teacher on duty. If he hadn't left in the middle of the evening study session, how could a fire have happened?"

Jiang Lihua's hopes were dashed: "Teacher Lin said he left temporarily because he had to revise some courseware. He was in the office revising the courseware last night."

The No. 1 Middle School in the city allows teachers on duty to return to the office to modify courseware during evening study time. As long as they come to the class to count the number of students and supervise discipline before the start and end of the evening study, it will not be counted as absenteeism.

As long as this reason is valid, it is impossible to put the main responsibility on Lin Cong. Zhang Yunqi is a smart kid, but he is still a little young and childish.

Jiang Lihua sighed and said, "The school will decide who is responsible for this matter. Don't think too much about it. You performed very well when putting out the fire last night. I think the school leaders will reward you. You should make preparations in advance."

Zhang Yunqi didn't know what this award was, but he wasn't thinking about that. He brought the topic back to the topic and said, "Teacher Jiang, are you sure that Lin Cong was in the office editing the courseware last night instead of doing something shameful outside?"

Jiang Lihua got something and looked at Zhang Yunqi and asked, "What else? Can you prove that he did something else?"

"I can't, but there's someone who can."

"Who?"

"Zhao Yali from Class 170, Teacher Jiang, if you can ask the school to privately investigate her relationship with Lin Cong, many problems will be solved."

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(End of this chapter)