5: 5. Teacher Zhou

The call ended, and Lu Feng let out a long sigh of relief, finally feeling like he was out of the woods on this matter.

It was impossible not to worry; he had seen police investigation documentaries before and knew their methods were highly systematic. In the event of a homicide, they would analyze it from multiple dimensions—point, line, and surface—using spatiotemporal trajectory cross-verification. Even for cases with "clear motives," they would maintain tactical skepticism, and anyone appearing on the timeline was a target.

There was an example in one documentary where a seemingly airtight crime of passion was revealed to be about commercial data theft behind the scenes. The investigators' methods were simply beyond what ordinary people could imagine.

He had just turned eighteen and had never even been inside a police station, so the pressure was considerable. However, being young had its advantages; his clean record made many people subconsciously overlook him.

At that moment, his phone vibrated continuously. Lu Feng found that the group chat for his co-workers had already exploded.

"Zhang Biao is dead! Stabbed to death by Li Qiang!"

"What? How could something so big happen? What about the project?"

"I don't know! We still have our hard-earned money in his hands!!"

With the contractor dead, the project was certainly going to be delayed. They even worried whether they would get their hard-earned money back. Anxiously, they agreed to go to the project department to demand payment.

Moreover, local news had already started reporting on it, and videos of Zhang Biao lying in a pool of blood were circulating everywhere on short video platforms.

Lu Feng put down his phone, took out the two hundred thousand from the bag, and laid it on the ground. He stared at the stack of money, lost in thought. Although he had the money, he couldn't deposit it in the bank just yet.

He was, to some extent, a person of interest in this case. If a sudden influx of 200,000 yuan appeared in his account during this sensitive period, and the source of funds couldn't be easily explained, he would definitely be re-investigated as a suspect.

"I can only use it as cash for now," Lu Feng murmured.

With money, his anxiety lessened. He took a refreshing shower, washing off the sour smell, then pulled out a hundred-yuan bill and went downstairs to buy food.

It was almost evening, and he hadn't eaten lunch after being hit earlier. Now, he was starving.

He went to a small, roadside eatery, ordered a few side dishes he usually couldn't afford, and a large bowl of rice. Then he devoured it all, eating greedily until his mouth was slick with oil.

The bill came to thirty yuan, which was usually enough for Lu Feng to eat for two days.

Lu Feng returned, burping contentedly. As he climbed the stairs to his door, he suddenly saw someone standing in front of his apartment, knocking.

"Teacher Zhou," Lu Feng said in surprise.

Zhou Wenmei was startled. She turned around, saw it was Lu Feng, and quickly came over to grab him, checking him up and down. "Are you alright, Xiao Lu? Teacher received a call saying you were injured, so I rushed to the hospital to find you, but you weren't there. Then I heard something happened at the construction site where you work, so I came to your house to check. How are you?"

Lu Feng had always been very grateful to Teacher Zhou. She was arguably the only person in this city who still cared about him.

When he was anxious about his father's illness, Teacher Zhou constantly provided help, giving him meal cards, tutoring him extra, and so on. Several times, when Lu Feng had no money for food, he even ate at Teacher Zhou's house.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry to have worried Teacher Zhou," Lu Feng said with a smile.

"Good, good... It's good that you're fine."

Zhou Wenmei looked to be in her thirties, gentle and refined. She had just given birth a while ago, so her body was still a bit weak. Climbing five flights of stairs was also a bit much for her. Seeing her slightly out of breath, Lu Feng quickly invited her in to rest.

"Oh, Xiao Lu, it's good that you're okay. Have you told your family about this?"

"No, it's a small matter, so there's no need to. Otherwise, my parents would worry again."

Looking at the simple room and the student who was so tanned he was almost unrecognizable, Zhou Wenmei felt a pang of sadness. This student's grades had always been excellent, consistently ranking among the top of his grade, but unfortunately, he encountered family misfortunes.

She placed the bag she was carrying on the table; it contained a stack of books. She said, "You've been out of school for a long time. If you have time, you can't let your studies fall behind. These are the important knowledge points and notes for all subjects this semester. Teacher specifically organized them for you. Read them often when you have time. And..."

Zhou Wenmei pulled out a palm-sized piece of paper: "The college entrance exam is in two days. This is your admission ticket. Listen to Teacher, don't go to the construction site for now. Regardless of the outcome, go to the exam hall and try. This way, you can also identify your weaknesses and prepare for next year."

For an eighteen-year-old student, the college entrance exam was the way out.

She didn't want her student to waste his youth on a construction site. Recently, she had been preparing to apply to the school leadership to see if they could start a fundraiser to help Lu Feng's family.

Lu Feng took the admission ticket, looked at Zhou Wenmei's hopeful gaze, and sighed, "Teacher Zhou, I'll go."

Hearing this, Zhou Wenmei also relaxed. She patted his shoulder, "That's good. Oh, by the way, have you eaten? Why don't you come to Teacher's house to eat?"

"No need, Teacher Zhou. I just ate and I'm full."

Zhou Wenmei thought for a moment, then still pulled Lu Feng downstairs. After buying some fruits and vegetables at a nearby supermarket, she handed them to Lu Feng: "Take these. Remember to read more when you have time. I'm going back now. If anything happens, call Teacher, okay?"

Lu Feng nodded, watching Teacher Zhou leave in the afterglow of the sunset.

The tragic turn of events had shown him the coldness and darkness of society, but it had also revealed some human warmth. It was no exaggeration to say that this "outsider," Zhou Wenmei, cared more than his own relatives.

"Speaking of which, Teacher Zhou's baby is almost five months old. Next time, I should buy a gift and take it to her house for the baby."

As Lu Feng thought this, he walked towards his rented room. Just then, his phone received a message notification. Lu Feng picked it up and saw it was a message from the construction site group chat.

Manager Wang of Tiangong Construction: "Foreman Zhang Biao was a very good person. It's unexpected that he met with such a fate. Life is truly unpredictable. Let us all remember Zhang Biao. In addition, the construction project will be suspended for a few days to cooperate with the police investigation. All co-workers can come to the site tomorrow to settle their wages..."

Lu Feng was speechless. Could the other party really be so kind?

However, he immediately understood after a moment's thought. Zhang Biao was killed for embezzling workers' wages. This incident must have shocked many people. Coupled with police questioning and media attention, the construction company, which had been colluding with him, now dared not act recklessly and quickly settled the payments.

It seemed Zhang Biao's death was quite valuable. But this wasn't enough. Lu Feng remembered the illicit dealings he and Tiangong Construction had engaged in, all stored on that USB drive. This was Zhang Biao's backup plan for himself, and now it all benefited Lu Feng.

After Lu Feng got home, he took out the USB drive. Since he didn't have a computer, he could only go to a nearby internet cafe to use one.

When he opened the USB drive, several folders immediately popped up on the screen.

【Donghai Building Building Materials List (Backup).xls】

【Bribery Gift Ledger (Revised).xls】

【Labor Fee Yin-Yang Contract.pdf】

【Donghai Project Manager Birthday Party Video.avi】

【...】

After confirming that the contents were correct, Lu Feng bought another USB drive to copy a backup. Then he narrowed his eyes and began to ponder how to use these materials.

Should he directly take them to Tiangong Construction as a threat? That would be no different from provoking them directly. Lu Feng hadn't fully grasped his abilities yet, so going there would definitely be dangerous.

Another option was to give them to the client, which was Donghai Group.

As a well-known real estate company in Jiangcheng, if its newly built office building not only had a death but also involved construction scandals, the negative impact on Donghai Group would be significant. The other party probably wouldn't want to see that.

However... who to give them to was also a problem, because for Tiangong Construction to brazenly falsify accounts and use inferior materials, there must be corrupt elements colluding within Donghai Group.

Lu Feng rubbed his temples. The relationships were complex, and for him, a mere student, to try and profit from this truly felt like "throwing an egg at a rock."

However... Lu Feng grinned. He felt his heart pounding violently in his chest, not from fear, but like a release after being suppressed for too long. He found he really liked this strange sense of excitement.

Before today, he was just a poor student whom anyone could bully, but today, he held evidence that could ruin high-level executives of a large corporation.

"Is this what it feels like to control other people's destinies? No wonder everyone wants to climb to the top."