Mr. Wang remembered that morning—the last meal he had shared with his daughter. She had been wearing her clean school uniform, her long hair tied back. When she left with her backpack, she had called out to him: “Father, goodbye.”

“Half past six in the morning.” Mr. Wang’s face was streaked with tears. “Cailing’s classes started at eight o’clock every day, I went to work at seven-thirty, and breakfast at home was always served promptly at six-thirty.”

“What did she say before she left?”

“Nothing in particular. But her mother found a note when she was tidying up—it said she was going to stay at a classmate’s house for a couple of days.”

“Is the note still around?”

“It should be. My wife put it away somewhere. You’d have to ask her directly.” Mr. Wang lowered his gaze. “She’s in a very bad state right now. Please don’t upset her.”

Shi Ting decided to let the Wang couple calm down first—only a clear head could recall useful details.

After arranging for the couple to be taken home, he immediately began deploying his team. Zheng Yun led a group to canvass the reservoir area for eyewitnesses, while Bai Jin was sent to the Cailing family home to gather evidence.

Shi Ting returned to the autopsy room, where Yan Qing and E’Yuan had already completed the autopsy report. Yan Qing pressed her fingers to her temple. “I’ve been thinking about the question you raised earlier. I believe it’s a key point—if we can unlock it, we may be able to uncover the cause of Cailing’s death.”

“The killer used scissors to cut the undergarment ties?”

“Yes.” Yan Qing set down her steel pen. “It may seem like an unremarkable detail, and perhaps the two of us are overthinking it, but my instinct tells me this is crucial to the case.”

“Cailing’s father just told us that her last meal was shared with the whole family, at six-thirty.”

A look of excitement crossed Yan Qing’s face. “We can now confirm that Cailing was killed at approximately ten-thirty in the morning on the tenth.”

“Are you tired?” he asked suddenly, the question having nothing to do with the case.

Yan Qing paused. “I’m all right.”

“I’ll have someone take you home first. Don’t worry about the rest.”

“I’m not tired.” Yan Qing understood his concern. “Let me come with you to Shun Cheng University. Investigating the cause of Cailing’s death needs to start with her social connections.”

“All right.” Shi Ting’s pleasure at her decision to stay was plain to see.

~

Shun Cheng University was a public institution—and the only university in Shun Cheng.

The university had a women’s college, attended exclusively by female students. Cailing was a second-year student there and was known among her classmates as the beauty of her class.

Shi Ting pushed Yan Qing’s wheelchair along the campus path, drawing the attention of a number of young women who stopped to whisper among themselves.

Yan Qing remarked with a smile, “They’re all looking at you.”

Shi Ting kept his gaze straight ahead. “What is there to look at?”

“It seems Director Shi hasn’t quite grasped the effect of his own appearance.” Yan Qing laughed. “Look at the intensity of their stares—someone will be asking for your contact information any moment now.”

But people of this era were not yet so bold or open. Even if curious, they only dared steal glances from a distance—no one came forward.

Before long, two middle-aged men in Western suits strode over. The shorter, rounder one wearing glasses reached out his hand to Shi Ting. “Director Shi, good day. I’m the dean of the women’s college—just call me Old Hu.”

He then introduced the man beside him. “This is Director Xi from the academic affairs office.”

Shi Ting turned to Yan Qing beside him. “This is Yan Qing, forensic consultant for the Military Police Bureau.”

Both men quickly moved to shake Yan Qing’s hand.

“Dr. Yan looks so young—practically the same age as our students, ha!” Director Xi’s tone made his skepticism about Yan Qing rather obvious. Though one could hardly blame him—anyone who saw Yan Qing would struggle to connect her with someone who worked with the dead.

Dean Hu said, “Let’s go discuss this in the office.”

Once they were seated, Director Xi poured tea for the two of them. “Director Shi, we’ve all heard about the Cailing incident. The university takes this very seriously and will cooperate fully with the Military Police Bureau.”

“Thank you.” Shi Ting said. “May I see Cailing’s file?”

“It’s all prepared for you.” Director Xi, efficient and thorough, had already retrieved the file and handed it over.

“Cailing was an excellent student in both character and academics. We are deeply saddened by what happened to her.” Dean Hu shook his head with genuine regret. “The campus is rife with rumors right now—all kinds of speculation. We hope the Military Police Bureau can resolve the case quickly and put an end to it all.”

Shi Ting flipped through the file in his hands. “Could you please summon the students who were closest to Cailing? I have some questions for them.”

“Of course, of course.” Director Xi quickly brought in two young women.

These two were Cailing’s close friends in life—one named Xiaoqiu, the other Nannan. Both girls looked visibly startled when they first saw Shi Ting.

Even during questioning, their eyes kept drifting toward his face.

Shi Ting, in full uniform with his cap on, had refined features that drew the gaze of women and men alike—it was simply impossible not to look.

“Cailing didn’t board at school,” Xiaoqiu said. “Her home is close by. She went back every day after class.”

“Where were you at approximately ten-thirty in the morning on the tenth?”

“We were in class.” Xiaoqiu glanced over at Nannan. “Ten-thirty is the last period—everyone was in class. Isn’t that right, Nannan?”

Nannan seemed to have drifted off in thought. Only after Xiaoqiu called her name twice did she answer, “Yes. We were in class at ten-thirty.”

“You don’t think we killed Cailing, do you?” Xiaoqiu asked in disbelief, pointing at herself.

“Routine questioning,” Shi Ting said.

“Officer, you have to find whoever killed Cailing.” Xiaoqiu’s voice was agitated.

“Besides the two of you, who else was Cailing particularly close to?”

“She had an easy-going nature—she got along with everyone.”

“Did she ever have a falling out with anyone?”

Xiaoqiu shook her head. “I never saw her argue with anyone, and I never heard anyone say they had a grudge against her.”

“May I see your dormitory?”

“Of course!” Xiaoqiu rose to her feet. “I’ll take you there.”

The women’s college dormitory was a two-story building. Since it had been recently constructed, all the furnishings were new.

Xiaoqiu and Nannan shared a room with six other students—four bunk beds in total.

Since it was class time, the room was empty. Xiaoqiu pointed to her own bunk and said, “This is mine.”

As she said the word “bunk,” she glanced shyly at Shi Ting.

Shi Ting crouched down and carefully examined her bedsheet. It was white—worn in places from extended use, with patches yellowed with age.

In the lower right corner of the sheet, printed in red in a curved arc, were the words: Shun Cheng University First-Year Women’s Dormitory.

Shi Ting thought of the sheet that had been used to wrap the body. The three characters still legible on it were “Cheng,” “Yi,” and “Bu.”

All three of those characters appeared on this bedsheet.

He and Yan Qing exchanged a glance, a silent understanding passing between them.

Yan Qing asked, “You’re in your second year now—so why does your sheet still say ‘first year’?”

Xiaoqiu answered readily, “This one was issued to me during my first year. The second-year sheet I have is in the wash—it’s hanging out on the balcony. That’s how everyone does it here. The first-year sheets don’t get thrown away; they’re kept as spares for laundry rotation.”

Shi Ting turned to Nannan, who was standing to one side. “What about you—is it the same?”

Nannan started slightly. “Yes. But my first-year sheet got torn a long time ago. I threw it out.”

After leaving the school, the two of them stopped beneath a row of willow trees along the road. The summer sun beat down relentlessly, and the flowers and plants lining the road had all drooped listlessly under the heat.

“Something’s off about that Nannan,” Yan Qing said, frowning. “I keep feeling like she’s hiding something. Could the sheet used to wrap Cailing’s body be a dormitory sheet?”

“The font style is similar, but the placement of the characters is wrong.” Shi Ting had initially thought it was a lead, but when he mentally overlaid the two sheets, discrepancies emerged. “If you try to fit the characters from the dormitory sheet into the gaps on the body sheet, there’s one extra character that doesn’t have a place.”

Yan Qing had only memorized that three characters—”Cheng,” “Yi,” and “Bu”—remained legible on the body sheet. She hadn’t paid attention to their positions relative to one another.

“So, the sheet wrapped around the body didn’t come from the student dormitories.” Shi Ting was certain of this. He closed his eyes briefly. “Nannan is coming.”

Nannan walked out of the school building, glanced around, and then walked straight toward the willow trees.

“I think Xiaoqiu is hiding something.” Nannan came to stand before them and spoke directly. “On the tenth, Cailing didn’t come to school. Xiaoqiu and I both looked for her and eventually assumed she must be sick. The next day, I asked Xiaoqiu why Cailing still hadn’t shown up—and she looked flustered, almost as if she already knew Cailing wouldn’t be coming back.”

“On the morning of the tenth, at ten-thirty, did you see Xiaoqiu in the classroom?”

Nannan nodded. “She sits right next to me. She was there the whole time.”

“Cailing died at approximately ten-thirty on the morning of the tenth. Xiaoqiu had no opportunity to commit the crime.”

“Maybe your judgment is wrong. Can you really determine the time of death from just one body? I don’t believe it.”

Yan Qing smiled gently. “I can assure you that Cailing was killed at approximately ten-thirty on the morning of the tenth. You don’t need to question that. Now think—is there anything else you can tell us? Has Xiaoqiu shown any unusual behavior lately, for instance?”

“I always had a feeling that Xiaoqiu and Cailing were keeping something from me. They’d been spending time alone together lately, all secretive about it. I thought they were pulling away from me—I was even upset about it for a while. But Cailing reassured me that I was still her closest friend; she said there was just some private matter between her and Xiaoqiu.”

Shi Ting and Yan Qing exchanged a glance. It seemed Xiaoqiu was indeed concealing something.

“Did Cailing have a boyfriend?”

“She did—the principal’s son. But recently they’ve been having arguments about breaking up. I saw them fight a few times, quite intensely.”

Shi Ting’s brow furrowed. “Why didn’t you mention this earlier?”

Nannan pursed her lips. “The principal told us not to say anything—which is exactly why I came out after you. I was worried about being seen.”

The fact that the principal’s son was now involved—and that the principal had chosen to conceal rather than cooperate—made Shi Ting furious.

In the principal’s office, Shi Ting’s cold expression had the principal trembling. The man knew perfectly well that the person standing before him was not only the director of the Military Police Bureau but also the commander-in-chief’s son—a figure far beyond what a small-time principal could afford to cross.

Faced with the crushing weight of Shi Ting’s authority, the principal relented. “Director Shi, I wasn’t trying to hide anything on purpose. I can swear to you that my son has absolutely nothing to do with this case. I stayed silent only because I didn’t want his reputation damaged—and you know how rumors are. People can spin a story out of thin air.”

“If he is the killer, your silence makes you an accomplice. And complicity carries its own punishment.”

“I understand, I understand.” The principal wiped his brow. “I’ll call him in right now.”

—