Standing across only one desk from Yan Qing was no stranger — it was her schoolmate and closest friend, Jing Lan.
“Yan Qing, you’ve misunderstood.” Jing Lan’s face didn’t so much as flicker. “I never went near your desk, let alone touched your bag. I really was looking for my water cup.”
“Jing Lan, your stomach condition isn’t an ordinary ailment — it’s a chronic affliction carried over from the chaos of the war years, and it requires long-term use of a specific medicine: WAKAWOTO Stomach Powder. This type of chronic stomach condition is extremely difficult to manage. Without consistent medication, the stomach lining gradually ulcerates, ultimately spreading throughout the body. The trouble is that WAKAWOTO Stomach Powder is an imported medicine. While not prohibitively expensive, it’s difficult for ordinary people to come by through normal channels — even with money, it’s nearly impossible to obtain.” Yan Qing’s gaze drove straight at her, relentless. “You say you are alone in the world with no one to rely on. Yet from the time I met you until now, I have never once seen your stomach condition flare up. So tell me — how have you been managing all this time?”
“Yan Qing, I’m more confused by the minute. What on earth are you talking about?” Jing Lan wore an expression of total bewilderment. “I just have ordinary indigestion. I’m careful about what I eat — avoid spicy and cold foods — and take care of myself. Of course it stays manageable. As for this WAKAWOTO Stomach Powder you keep mentioning, I honestly have no idea what that is.”
“All right. I know you won’t admit to it. But can you tell me why you took Yu Xiaozhen’s papers?”
“I really didn’t take any papers.” Jing Lan insisted patiently. “Yan Qing, have you been so obsessed with searching for those papers that you’ve started seeing suspects everywhere?”
Yan Qing shook her head slowly, her gaze deep and still. “Jing Lan, take out that paper right now and look at it. Is it or isn’t it Yu Xiaozhen’s paper?”
She pushed her wheelchair forward slowly. “Yesterday you stayed and helped me in the records room, but we came away empty-handed. This morning when I went back to the records room, I found that the papers had been disturbed. Clearly someone had gone through them again after I left, and the pages belonging to Yu Xiaozhen had likely already been taken.”
“So you’re suspecting me? I was only trying to help.”
“Yes — only trying to help. Even when Director Shi suspected you, I kept finding reasons to defend you. I told him that the upper half of the records room door is a glass pane — anyone passing through the corridor could see inside, so you weren’t the only one who knew. So you see, Jing Lan, I wanted to clear your name. I wanted to prove to Director Shi that you were not the killer behind these serial murders.” A mist began to gather in Yan Qing’s eyes, soft and trembling. “So I found an old exam paper, told you I had deduced from it that Yu Xiaozhen had a younger sister, and then tucked the paper into my bag right in front of you. Jing Lan — do you know? The moment I looked up on the sports grounds and you were gone, I truly hoped you had only slipped away to use the toilet, and not that I would find you here in this classroom, standing in front of my desk.”
Jing Lan looked at her in silence. A flash of panic moved through her gaze — the surface of her eyes like a sea beneath a sky crowded with dark clouds, swept by a sudden gale.
“Do you want to take it out and look? That paper — the one supposedly belonging to Yu Xiaozhen.”
Jing Lan reached instinctively into her pocket and slowly drew out a yellowed, aged sheet of paper that still carried the inky smell she so disliked.
It was a paper from a year ago. On it, written clearly and unmistakably, was the name of someone neither of them knew.