Wei Xi and the others stood guard in front of the grass patch behind the dormitory building, conducting a thorough inspection. Afternoon rest time was almost upon them. Several girls were still lined up and meandering through the area, continuously photographing the utterly unremarkable patch of lawn with their phones, and refusing to let any other students approach — as uncompromising as animals staking out territory.
Students from the neighboring class walked past and took in the scene, crying out in indignation.
“Why are they allowed to use their phones in broad daylight like this?”
“Why isn’t the dormitory supervisor telling them off?”
“Does our school have an insect observation class? Don’t say things like that — there’s absolutely no way I’d believe it!”
“Stop shouting nonsense,” Wei Xi said irritably. “There was a thief who climbed in from here, forced open the balcony door, and robbed our dormitory room. One of our roommates has lost a large sum of money. We need to preserve the evidence before the police arrive. There’s nothing worth gawking at here — go back to class.”
Several people asked in surprise: “Who?”
Since the police had already been called, it was impossible to keep quiet. Wei Xi sighed. “It’s Fang Zhuo. The money for her uncle’s medical treatment was stolen. Whoever did this has absolutely no conscience.”
One of the boys next to her blurted out: “Oh! Was that the uncle who — the one who got injured… the good-looking one?”
He had wrenched the subject sideways just in time. Wei Xi shot him a look but didn’t bother engaging.
Bai Lufei, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly spoke up: “How did it happen?”
“Someone just took it from the dormitory!” Wei Xi said. “She tripped outside and the money probably fell out and someone saw it, and then they followed her all the way back to the dorm.”
Everyone listening frowned.
The boy said: “That’s so vile.”
“Didn’t the gate guard stop them? How did they even get in?”
Wei Xi scrolled through the photos on her phone, deciding that every depression in the ground could potentially be a footprint, and muttered distractedly: “If I knew that, would I be standing around out here?”
Bai Lufei hesitated for a moment, then offered tentatively: “Could it be one of the renovation workers who’ve been working on the dormitory building lately?”
Their school’s neighboring plot, originally an empty lot, had been purchased by a developer and was being turned into a gated residential community. Construction had been underway for the past couple of years.
City A Middle School was one of the older schools in the area, and several dormitory buildings had aging facilities that frequently caused water and power outages. The exterior walls looked like condemned buildings, and had drawn repeated complaints from parents.
After deliberating, the school administration had arranged with the construction team next door to have that particular old building renovated at the same time, with the option of repurposing it later.
The workers mostly came during class hours, and students rarely crossed paths with them.
Worried about being misunderstood, Bai Lufei said loudly: “I’m not saying this out of prejudice! I actually saw a man lurking around the school before — creeping about, staring at girls who walked past, acting extremely suspicious. We had an exam today, and I finished early and handed in my paper. When I came over from the teaching building, I happened to see him rushing out from that direction. This isn’t his work schedule. Why would he be sneaking into our school on his own at this hour?”
“Pointing the finger at a migrant worker doesn’t seem right,” Wei Xi said doubtfully. “Which one do you mean?”
“What does this have to do with being a migrant worker? My suspicion isn’t based on his job — it’s based on what I actually saw.” Bai Lufei’s mind was spinning fast in his agitation, and he began to lay it out methodically: “Fang Zhuo lost her things while everyone was in class, which means the thief was almost certainly not a student. The only people who can move freely around campus without raising suspicion are school staff or the renovation workers who have been here recently. Right?”
Wei Xi thought it over. “And then?”
Bai Lufei: “The back of the dormitory building doesn’t usually have much foot traffic. That strip of lawn inside isn’t covered by any of the security cameras. Even if the thief acted on the spur of the moment, he must have observed the area before. I’ve seen that man hanging around this vicinity.”
None of this was conclusive evidence. Even the logical links connecting the points were somewhat stretched — most of it was subjective inference.
Seeing that the others weren’t particularly convinced, Bai Lufei said urgently: “Even if this side has no camera coverage, he came from outside the school — he had to pass by the school shop to get in. If you don’t believe me, go ask the shop owner whether they saw a man in work clothes walk past during the time Fang Zhuo’s money went missing. Or ask the owner whether there’s a security camera at their entrance. I’m not here to wrongfully accuse anyone.”
The others began to waver a little.
Logically speaking, the argument seemed to hold together.
Wei Xi said hesitantly: “But… even if someone saw him passing by from the direction of the dormitory building, we still don’t have direct evidence. We’d need the police to come and collect footprints and everything else before anyone could be arrested and charged.”
“If you wait for the police to come, there won’t be any evidence left,” Bai Lufei said. “That’s money we’re talking about! Is spending money difficult? Once it’s spent, what evidence is there left? Is Fang Zhuo’s name engraved on it? Would any of it come back?”
Wei Xi said: “Our police force has a pretty fast response time.”
As soon as she said it, several figures appeared on the main path — a teacher on duty walking alongside several officers in uniform.
The teacher was talking quietly and pointing things out, explaining the school’s security arrangements. When she spotted the group of students gathered here, her expression tightened. “What are you all still doing standing around?! Get back to class this instant!”
Wei Xi and the others stayed behind to give their accounts. The rest of the students were shooed away.
Bai Lufei left with a few classmates. As they walked, he turned things over in his mind and still felt uneasy about the situation.
By the time the police had finished taking statements and gathering evidence and gone to make an arrest, the person could well be long gone.
Their school’s teaching building had once lost a batch of computer graphics cards worth far more than ten thousand yuan. Even after the evidence was collected, nothing more had ever come of it.
In his experience, once money was gone, it was gone. The probability of recovering it was extremely low.
But for Fang Zhuo — what did ten thousand yuan mean? And this particular ten thousand yuan at that. If it was never recovered, it would leave a shadow over her life she might never shake.
Bai Lufei stopped walking. Before he could even speak, the boy beside him had already put an arm around his shoulders with a knowing look. “I get you, man. You’re thinking about playing the hero, aren’t you?”
Bai Lufei heard this and smiled bitterly to himself, thinking: what kind of hero was he? Even if he managed to get the money back, Fang Zhuo probably still wouldn’t give him a second glance.
She might even consider him one of the shadows on her past.
The boy glanced at his watch. “There’s still forty-five minutes before afternoon classes start. Tell me who the guy is. Let’s go wait for him there. Forty-five minutes should be plenty of time for the police to finish taking statements.”
Bai Lufei started to say something, stopped himself, and finally thumped the boy on the shoulder. “Thanks, man.”
The workers generally lived in temporary dormitories set up inside the neighboring development. A few of the students decided to cut through from the back of the sports field and climb over the wall to check whether this particular worker was still there.
The group made their way quietly to the wall — and found Zhao Jiayou and a few others already there, preparing to do the same.
The two groups stared at each other.
Zhao Jiayou reacted first. “Hey! Fang Zhuo is in our class. What business is it of yours?”
“Bai Lufei is an eyewitness too. How is it not his business?”
“Not scared of getting singled out by the school now, are you?”
“Isn’t that what you model students worry about? Where’s Yan Lie? Too scared to show his face?”
“Stop bickering!” Zhao Jiayou said. “Quick, give me a hand — this guy is completely useless, can’t even pull himself up!”
Shen Musi said in irritation: “You’re going to say that about me? I’m barely recovered from a serious illness, I just got back to school. You’ve got two people and you still can’t pull one of me up — isn’t that your problem?”
The two groups had last exchanged words over a fight. There was no shortage of grievances between them, new and old — they usually couldn’t look at each other without their necks flushing red. This time, without a word, they called a temporary truce, helped each other over the wall, and dropped down into the neighboring development.
They hadn’t gone far when they ran into a worker transporting materials.
The middle-aged man was pulling a small cart. When he saw them, he nudged his safety helmet up and gave a meaningful smile. “Skipping class in the middle of the day? Now I’ve got something to report. Good students, not going to class.”
Zhao Jiayou hastily said: “No, we came to find someone.”
The middle-aged man asked: “Who?”
Zhao Jiayou explained the situation in brief. The man had only heard half of it before giving a cold laugh and cutting him off: “Oh? So you see us and immediately think we’re thieves? You look down on working people, do you? Very impressive.”
Zhao Jiayou waved his hands trying to explain: “That’s not it — one of our classmates actually saw it with her own eyes. Half an hour ago, a man came running out from the direction of the dormitory building. Spiky hair, about this tall, dark skin, eyes set close together…”
The middle-aged man gave a scornful laugh: “Ever heard the saying? ‘A fraying rope always snaps at the weakest point. Bad luck always finds the people who can least afford it.'”
Several students pushed forward heatedly: “What do you mean by that? We’re serious!”
Someone rational in the group put a hand on them and hissed: “Don’t shout — you’ll bring the teachers over.”
The middle-aged man adjusted the direction of his cart and turned to leave.
Bai Lufei kept pace right beside him and spoke quickly: “If it were anyone else, maybe forget it. But our classmate is in a really bad situation. Her family is extremely poor. Her only relative is an uncle with a disability. He’s in the hospital right now, and she somehow scraped together ten thousand yuan — and the moment she brought it to school, it was stolen. Do you know what that money means to her? Don’t you have children of your own? No matter what it takes, we are getting that money back for her!”
Zhao Jiayou: “That’s right! Just tell us who it is and we’ll leave you out of it — we won’t say where the information came from!”
The middle-aged man stopped. He looked at them for a long moment.
Zhao Jiayou saw that he seemed to be considering it, and was about to launch into a fuller account of the hardships of Fang Zhuo’s everyday life — when the man dropped a cryptic “forget it” and kept on walking.
The students swarmed alongside him, talking over one another, hoping to move him.
When they reached the open area in front of the dormitory building, the middle-aged man raised his voice and called out a name that was hard to catch — something like “Songzi.”
And then a dark-skinned man came out of the building in response.
Bai Lufei’s eyes lit up. He pointed immediately: “That’s him!”
The man startled violently, spun around, and ran. The students shouted and gave chase.
“Give the money back!”
By the time the police arrived at the commotion, all they could see was one group of people tangled up fighting and another group trying to pull them apart, everyone grabbing and tearing at each other, impossible to tell who was who or even which side was which.
The lead officer could barely keep a straight face. He said in a stern voice: “Everyone stop! What on earth is going on here?!”
Liu Qiaohong stood in front of the hospital entrance, pacing back and forth, dialing the same number over and over — but it kept ringing through as busy. He guessed Ye Yuncheng’s phone must have run out of battery.
When he checked the time once more, Fang Zhuo and Yan Lie finally appeared at the hospital entrance.
Liu Qiaohong let out a long breath of relief and walked quickly toward them. He put his arm around Fang Zhuo’s shoulder in a brief, gentle embrace, and said: “The surgery is done. It went beautifully!”
Fang Zhuo looked up. The rims of her eyes had grown a little warm.
Liu Qiaohong said in a soft voice: “It’s all right now. Go up and see your uncle.”