The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful (translated)

chapter 24

"I know this person." Li Xiang anxiously indicated towards Bei Ye's photograph. "It's him!"

"You've seen this person before?"

"He's been stalking Chen Nian for some time now."

Zheng Yi exchanged a glance with Senior Yang and the form teacher. The form teacher confirmed with Li Xiang once more, "You've taken a close look at the photograph? Are you sure it's him?"

"Of course I've looked at the photograph closely. I've seen him twice, and on both occasions, he was acting in a furtive and suspicious manner whilst trailing behind Chen Nian. Chen Nian didn't even realize that she was being stalked!" Li Xiang launched into a detailed account of the two stalking incidents.

When Li Xiang concluded his testimony, Zheng Yi nodded at Li Xiang, indicating that Li Xiang was free to leave.

Senior Yang opened his notebook and began recording the information which they have obtained from Li Xiang. With Li Xiang's testimony, the police officers now have a new piece of objective evidence on hand which pointed towards Bei Ye's guilt.

Afterwards, Xu Miao was summoned to provide her testimony as well. Xu Miao mentioned that she had seen Bei Ye once at the entrance of the school – he had been brazenly staring at me, his lips curved upwards in a deprecating smile. The special attention showered onto her by Bei Ye had caused Xu Miao to wonder if Bei Ye was interested in her.

Xu Miao concluded, "He must have been looking for his next target...."

As the police officers continued the questioning of the various students, they began to amass an increasing number of eyewitness accounts testifying that Bei Ye had continuously hovered around the area surrounding the school, and that he was frequently found staring at various girls. In some instances, Bei Ye had even made several attempts to stalk such girls.

The news of the arrest of the raincoat man spread like wildfire within the student population. When the students who had been selected and summoned for questioning by the police officers returned to their respective classrooms, they would be quickly surrounded by the wave of students clamoring for greater amounts of detail and information regarding the arrest of the raincoat man.

In the midst of all of the hullabaloo, Chen Nian sat quietly at her desk and focused on her revision. It was as though she couldn't hear all the excited and noisy chatter around her. Chen Nian glanced at the calendar – there were only two days left till the graduation exams; but, at this precise point in time, she could no longer muster any excitement or enthusiasm for the graduation exams.

All of a sudden, she overheard her classmates' discussion about the raincoat man.

"The raincoat man is currently being detained at the police station, but he's not allowed to have any visitors."

"Oh well. It's not like he has any parents, so there isn't anyone who would be the least bit interested in visiting him."

"What? What happened to his mum? Did she pass away too?"

A classmate let out a cold, derisive chortle before responding, "Now that I think about it – isn't there a saying 'Like father, like son,'? Little wonder the son of a rapist turned out to be a rapist."

"And the son even went to get himself an upgrade – into a murderer!"

Ah, speech is truly one of the most amazing things on earth. Although the classmates were commenting on the case in quiet, hushed tones, like civilized and educated people, the callous and cruel words which were actually utilized served as knives and daggers, easily chilling one to the bone.