Lin Lu’s final words seemed like a joke, yet also like some unbreakable spell.

The work in the equipment management room was indeed quite leisurely.

In the afternoon, a total of six classes had physical education.

Except for when students borrowed and returned equipment before and after class, Lin Wanxing had little to do most of the time.

At 4:00 in the afternoon, the fragrant smell of rice cooking wafted over from the school cafeteria.

Lin Wanxing was organizing the equipment inventory at her desk when student Qin Ao suddenly appeared before her.

Lin Wanxing looked up, surprised.

“Teacher, what do you mean by this?”

The boy’s eyebrows were slightly raised, his gaze fierce. He approached aggressively, throwing something onto her desk.

Lin Wanxing looked down. On the desk was a pack of cigarettes.

The cigarette pack was wrapped in gift paper covered with red and blue hearts. The paper was very wrinkled, suggesting that Qin Ao had been gripping it tightly all the way here, filled with anger.

She wasn’t concerned about the student’s brazen act of slamming cigarettes on her desk but instead picked up the crumpled wrapping paper.

There was a pink handwritten note on the paper: 【Are you confused about your life? Do you still not know where your future is heading? Teacher Lin from the Eighth School specializes in treating difficult cases such as school weariness, truancy, unwillingness to learn, poor academic performance, and other difficult problems. Address: Sports Equipment Room, Hongjing City Eighth Middle School Phone: 18953418080】

At that moment, Lin Wanxing could hardly believe what she was seeing.

She didn’t know where Qin Ao got this pack of cigarettes, why her name and address appeared on it, or how the phone number listed could be the same as hers.

But she quickly controlled her shock and didn’t loudly explain anything to Qin Ao.

The wrapping paper was wrapped around the cigarettes. Her gaze moved to the pack of “Red Nanjing” on the desk.

The bright red pack had the golden character “Nanjing” printed on it. The lid was half open, with half of the plastic seal remaining. She could see that the cigarette pack seemed to be stuffed with many shiny things.

Lin Wanxing opened the cigarette pack.

With a rustling sound, a large bundle of shiny colored paper burst out of the cigarette pack—gold threads, silver threads, red threads—covering the entire desktop with a festive atmosphere.

The “surprise” came suddenly, but Lin Wanxing was even more confused about what was going on.

She first looked up at Qin Ao. The boy was still staring at her intently, his face still showing uncontrollable anger.

Perhaps because the student was so angry, Lin Wanxing instead became calm.

She suppressed her bewildered emotions and gathered the fallen items together.

There were still several intact cigarettes in the pack.

She took out one cigarette, turned it around, and realized that someone had replaced the tobacco with colored paper confetti inside the cigarettes.

So, Qin Ao had somehow received this gift-wrapped pack of cigarettes.

He opened the cigarettes to find it was a prank and then rushed angrily to confront her.

As Lin Wanxing thought this, she suddenly discovered another line of pencil writing on the inside of the unwrapped cigarette paper: 1 Persistence.

She looked at Qin Ao in confusion. The boy’s eyebrows were raised, clearly having also discovered the writing inside the cigarette paper.

Lin Wanxing continued to unwrap another cigarette. 7 Self-Improvement

And another… 8 Perseverance creates brilliance

It looked like some kind of inspirational collection of motivational phrases.

She unfolded the cigarette papers. Each of the three cigarette papers had a different inspirational message written on them.

Although each paper contained different content, the round, cute handwriting, along with the colorful paper on the desk, clearly suggested it was the work of a girl with a secret crush, preparing a small gift to persuade a boy to quit smoking.

“Where did you find it?” Lin Wanxing continued to look at the next cigarette.

“Didn’t the teacher put it in my desk drawer?”

“Do you think I’m the kind of person who would do such a pointless thing?” Lin Wanxing asked.

“You are,” Qin Ao said firmly. “18953418080 is your phone number, right? If I call it now, will your phone ring?”

“It won’t, my phone is on silent during work.”

Lin Wanxing unwrapped another cigarette. “Even if my phone number is listed here, it doesn’t mean I did this.”

Qin Ao sneered.

Lin Wanxing looked down: 5 The path to knowledge begins with diligence

This cigarette paper had another similar sentence.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Lin Wanxing arranged the nine cigarette papers she had just unwrapped in order, unable to guess who had placed such a pack of cigarettes in Qin Ao’s desk drawer, and even more puzzled about why someone would frame her for this.

“If I put this pack of cigarettes in your desk, why wouldn’t I admit it now? Don’t you find that strange?” After thinking for a while, this was all Lin Wanxing could say.

“Not strange, because the teacher likes to do things like this.”

A clear young voice came from the doorway. Lin Wanxing looked over. Chen Jianghe was standing at the door, having listened for an unknown length of time.

“Chen Dog?” Qin Ao spoke, surprised by Chen Jianghe’s sudden appearance.

Chen Jianghe didn’t respond. The young man walked directly to her desk and threw the “Free 100 Times Ball Borrowing Card” on her desk. “This was also done by you, right, Teacher?”

“What else did the teacher do?” Qin Ao asked, confused. He picked up the homemade “Free 100 Times Ball Borrowing Card” and examined it. Finally, he cursed, “This is childish!”

Chen Jianghe’s face turned ashen, showing none of the docility from last night when eating beef noodles, once again returning to his distant coldness.

“You not only sent ‘little gifts’ to me but to Chen Dog as well?” Qin Ao suddenly realized, looking at Chen Jianghe. “This fool believed it and came to borrow a soccer ball from you. How naive!”

“What exactly are you trying to do?” Chen Jianghe, provoked by Qin Ao, became more fierce. “Are you trying to discipline us or save us? But we’re just garbage students, please stay away from us.”

The young man left without looking back.

Seeing that Chen Jianghe was genuinely angry, Qin Ao turned and chased after him.

The young men pulled and pushed each other, arguing outside the door.

The desk was a mess of paper scraps.

Lin Wanxing lowered her head, hearing their arguing voices in the background.

The handwriting on the ball borrowing card and the wrapping paper were very similar, most likely from the same person.

Someone had lured these two boys to the equipment room.

But why?

Her thoughts were chaotic. The summer breeze from outside blew into the room, scattering the colorful scraps, shimmering with golden light.

There was still one last unwrapped cigarette left on the desk.

She picked up the cigarette and slowly unwrapped it… 10 □□□

The characters on this last cigarette paper were unexpected.

Lin Wanxing pondered for a moment, then suddenly stood up and called out to the backs of the two boys, “Wait.”

Qin Ao and Chen Jianghe paused but continued walking forward, clearly pretending not to hear.

Shouting “Listen to my explanation” would be useless, so Lin Wanxing simply said, “Get back here, or do you want me to personally come to your classroom to get you?”

A few seconds later, Chen Jianghe and Qin Ao returned to their desk.

“Why are you running? You come to the teacher’s desk to throw things, and you want to leave halfway?” Lin Wanxing asked.

The two boys stood stiffly, saying nothing.

The colorful paper scraps on the desk were blown into a mess. Lin Wanxing picked up the “cigarette papers” and the “ball borrowing card” from among them and said, “I have evidence to prove that I didn’t make either of these things.”

The room was silent for a few seconds.

“What… evidence?” Chen Jianghe squeezed these words through his teeth.

“First, this handwriting is different from mine. Of course, you could say I had someone else write it. So first answer me, when did you get this ‘Free 100 Times Ball Borrowing Card’?”

“Wednesday afternoon.”

“How did you get it?”

“I also found it on my desk.”

“Last Wednesday?”

“Yes.”

Lin Wanxing took out her phone, opened her calendar, and showed it to them. “Wednesday was September 4th. I only started working at the school on Monday, September 9th.”

Chen Jianghe’s stern brows furrowed.

Lin Wanxing then opened the train ticket purchasing interface and said, “I only took the high-speed train from Yongchuan to Hongjing on September 8th. When you received this card, I wasn’t even in this city.”

Chen Jianghe was speechless. His thin lips tightly pressed together, as if deep in thought.

Lin Wanxing turned to look at Qin Ao.

Qin Ao tensed up, unconsciously putting his hands in his school uniform pockets.

“You just said you found the cigarettes in your desk drawer?” Lin Wanxing asked.

“Yes,” Qin Ao answered.

“Then may I ask student Qin Ao, in broad daylight, how could I secretly go to your desk drawer to place a pack of cigarettes without being discovered?”

“It was just during PE class, and besides, Teacher, you look like a student,” Qin Ao said.

“Thank you very much!” Lin Wanxing was almost amused with frustration. “But I have a question. What’s the most crucial aspect of a crime? It’s motive, right? May I ask, what reason would I have to do these things?”

Both students fell silent.

Lin Wanxing looked at Chen Jianghe. “Like you said, I want to be a good teacher who saves students?”

She raised her head and introduced herself, “I personally graduated with a master’s degree from Yongchuan University, was the provincial top scorer in the humanities track of the college entrance exam, published 9 SCI papers, first author on 6 of them, and received the National Scholarship for 7 years. May I ask, if I didn’t just want to idle away my time, why would I be sitting here?”

Chen Jianghe and Qin Ao were completely stunned. By the end, both young boys’ faces showed a trace of confusion.

Chen Jianghe asked, “What’s SCI?”

Qin Ao said, “Isn’t it inappropriate for you to brag about yourself like this?”

“It’s not something to be ashamed of, what’s inappropriate about it?”

Chen Jianghe and Qin Ao gradually blushed, creating an awkward atmosphere.

Qin Ao rubbed his hands along the seams of his pants. “Then Teacher, this… wasn’t you…”

“It wasn’t me.”

“Then I’m sorry,” Chen Jianghe apologized decisively.

“It’s not your fault. Someone is playing tricks,” Lin Wanxing said. “Now the question is, who did it, and why would they do this?”

The two boys stood woodenly, looking at each other, seeming to have no clue.

“There are a few points of information that are certain,” Lin Wanxing held up her fingers. “First, someone made some very strange items for you; second, someone deliberately guided you to this sports equipment room.”

“Why come to your place? Could it be that there’s some ‘treasure’ in your equipment room, and we’re supposed to come ‘treasure hunting’?” Qin Ao asked.

“That’s not impossible,” Lin Wanxing said.

Qin Ao froze. Under the puzzled gazes of him and Chen Jianghe, Lin Wanxing spread out the last cigarette paper.

10- □□□

The two boys leaned closer to the desk, bending over to study the cigarette paper for a long time.

“What’s interesting about this?” Qin Ao finally asked.

“…Three squares?” Chen Jianghe began to frown again.

“Not three squares, but ’10-□□□’,” Lin Wanxing corrected. “All the others have inspirational quotes, why doesn’t this one?”

“They forgot to write it!” Qin Ao said.

“There’s 1-9, but 10 was forgotten?”

Qin Ao struggled. “Then I don’t know either!”

Chen Jianghe suddenly looked up, his gaze clear. “Is it a fill-in-the-blank?”

“Fill in what?” Qin Ao was a bit confused, then his gaze moved to the three small squares on the cigarette paper. “Are you saying 1-9 are clues, and 10 is something I need to fill in?”

“That’s certainly a possibility,” Lin Wanxing nodded, accepting Chen Jianghe’s guess.

“Are there any other possibilities?” Qin Ao asked.

“I can’t think of any at the moment,” Lin Wanxing answered.

“Then what should be filled in here?” Qin Ao asked.

“I haven’t figured it out yet,” Lin Wanxing replied.

“Teacher, aren’t you a Yongchuan University master’s graduate, provincial top scorer in humanities, first author of three whatever papers, and a university academic star who received the National Scholarship for 7 years?” Qin Ao asked with a grin.

“Are you waiting for me to solve it?” Lin Wanxing smiled.

Qin Ao fell silent.

Chen Jianghe, like a little old man, was still frowning. “Did someone lure me and Qin Ao here to find you? But why just me and Qin Ao? Why did only we receive these?”

“It must be because you and Qin Ao have something in common. And perhaps other people will come to me as well,” Lin Wanxing said.

The room grew quiet again.

The cigarette papers that had been unfolded on the desk curled back halfway, like the kind of soft-bodied creatures that retract their heads at the slightest touch.

“So what should we do now?” Chen Jianghe asked.

“First, think about who around you might do something like this.”

“I can’t think of anyone. Did you offend someone, Teacher?” Qin Ao asked.

“I wasn’t even here a week ago, so I have even less of an idea,” Lin Wanxing said.

The equipment room fell into silence again. They seemed to have reached a dead end.

The whole thing seemed like some prank. Someone had posed a question—a trivial one, but you still wanted to know the answer.

Lin Wanxing pondered briefly. “At this point, it seems all we can do is try to solve the puzzle?”

Lin Wanxing arranged the cigarette papers one by one. “Each person copy a set and study it on your own.”

“But what if this isn’t a fill-in-the-blank question?” Chen Jianghe asked.

“Then consider it handwriting practice,” Lin Wanxing said.