CH 28

Ruan Nan’s head immediately whipped around to face Qin Juran. The latter nodded towards her in response and lightly pat her arm. Her eyes seemed to convey the words, “Don’t be afraid.”

Meanwhile, the secretaries and counselor were frozen in place for a long while. “What did you say? You’d write the letter of guarantee?”

“Yes, I will write it. I can attest that this incident wasn’t Ruan Nan’s doing. Please tell me, Secretary, am I qualified to do so?”

Of course she was qualified. Who could have more credibility than the person in question – who was both the supposed victim of the incident and the renowned campus flower?

The deputy secretary’s mouth was wide in shock. She stamped a heel on the ground: “Qin Juran, you should think this over. If you can’t prove who the culprit is, then you’ll be penalized, too. Do you know the full consequences that a disciplinary punishment would mean for you? If that happens, even I won’t be able to do anything to help you!”

With her arm still resting against Ruan Nan, Qin Juran seemed to ponder her question. “Help me? Aren’t you the one threatening the punishment?”

“You!”

Qin Juran let her arm fall and walked straight to the secretary’s desk, asking for two pencils and paper. She pulled Ruan Nan towards the large, luscious sofa and pressed the pen to paper, when Ruan Nan grasped her wrist, her fingers cold to the touch.

Qin Juran looked up. “What is it?”

Ruan Nan peered at her, biting her lips: “You don’t need to do this for me.”

Letting out a small laugh, Qin Juran shook her head slightly and pulled her hand free.

All the while, the secretary, deputy secretary, and the counselor snuck numerous not-so-discreet glances their way. Qin Juran leaned back, asking Ruan Nan in a low voice: “Have you written a letter of guarantee before?”

She shook her head.

“Me neither.” Qin Juran pulled out her phone and shamelessly made a Baidu search, pulling up a webpage with the subheading: “Sample Letter of Reflection/Commitment, Follow This if You’re in Trouble; This Speech Under the National Flag Moved the Principal to Tears.”

Qin Juran placed the phone between them. “Let’s copy this.”

“…..”

Once she finished, Qin Juran confidently signed off her name at the bottom, then gave a satisfied look over the paper. She was just about to stand up to hand it in when Ruan Nan held her back again. Instead of wrenching her arm free, Qin Juran only used her other hand to pick up Ruan Nan’s paper. As she slowly stood up, she whispered by Ruan Nan’s ear, “Trust your Older Sister.”

The two girls left, leaving the secretary with two commitment pledges in front of him, both filled with the same confident handwriting and tone. He felt as if his head was going to explode.

The deputy secretary walked over and spoke, flustered, “That Qin Juran is not acting normal at all. So eager to write a letter defending Ruan Nan from disciplinary action. Isn’t she just showing off that she can do anything she likes since she’s so smart and beautiful? And that lipstick today – what kind of student wears that?”

The old counselor was displeased by her words and glared at her: “And yet you’re supposed to be a secretary with that manicure.”

“Professor Liu!” The deputy secretary didn’t acknowledge him, continuing to sneer, “Secretary, I think we should give them a week. If they can’t find the ‘culprit’ by then, then we suspend them all. Especially Qin Juran; she should realize that our department will be just fine even without her.”

The secretary rolled his eyes and slapped the table, frustrated: “This year’s national academic competition is right at the end of the term – tell me, Secretary Zhang, if we suspend her then who will take her place? You?”

The deputy secretary was shocked. She gestured towards the crisp white papers on the desk: “Then what was the point of making them write those pledges? Just to give them a fright?”

The old counselor made a show of coughing, then stood up slowly, stretching and rubbing his stomach: “Ahh, then it seems the matter is settled. Secretary, I’m going to excuse myself to the restroom now, if that’s all.”

As he spoke, he grabbed the two pledge letters, mumbling, “I forgot paper.” With this, he walked out of the room grandiosely.

When Qin Juran left the office, she found that the forum post had indeed been reposted on social media. She examined the account who posted; most of the posts were anonymous submissions types. The campus forum only targeted a limited audience in the grand scheme of things, so the probability that the incident would’ve traveled outside of the circle overnight was rather small.

That’s why someone purposely re-submitted the post, giving it a boost.

Qin Juran ate a light lunch, then in the afternoon, she found the student in charge during the performance night for a list of all students present. Since the list only included the performer names, Qin Juran also went to each performance group leader to ask for lists of both the students onstage and offstage.

After all, she was the only one who knew how the boy who deceived her looked.

While Qin Juran asked for the students’ pictures one by one, she even received a phone call from Fan Chuan in the process. 1 She considered declining immediately, but in the end decided to pick up. “Hello?”

The boy’s deep voice sounded from the receiver, his tone mixed with coldness as well as confliction, thinking that the poor, lovelorn girl chasing after him had been wronged: “The forum post – is it true?”

“No.” Qin Juran cut him off.

“…..”

“Tell me the truth.”

“Do you have too much time on your hands? We were both locked out, so I’m currently trying to find the culprit behind this.”

“Are you…doing this for Ruan Nan?”

""

“Of course.”

Fan Chuan hadn’t expected Qin Juran to be so confident. After a short pause, he replied, “Alright. Since this whole incident happened because of me, if you need any assistance, you can let me know.”

Qin Juran rolled her eyes, about to refute him, but on second thought, the matter really had started because of him. She hesitated, then answered, “If we really needed it, you’d help?”

“I would.”

“Ok, then I’ll thank you in Ah-Ruan’s place, too.”

Fan Chuan nodded wordlessly. After hanging up, he couldn’t stop thinking about how Qin Juran had changed so much recently. Not only did she publicly declare the end of her love for him, but somewhere along the road, she seemed to have developed feelings for her love rival instead.

He rubbed the back of his head, letting out a snort, then thought no more of the matter.

Meanwhile, Qin Juran painstakingly collected the photos of each student until she finally finished at 9 p.m. After printing out the roster of names, she went down the list, matching the names to the faces and crossing them out one by one until she reached a certain crew worker in the street dance group: Han Xusheng.

Qin Juran froze, sensing something familiar about the name. She clicked on the photo and on closer inspection, it really was the person who tricked her onto the roof that night.

She wracked her mind for where she had heard the name before. Soon after, Huang Ying returned to the dorm. Seeing the image of Han Xusheng lit up on Qin Juran’s laptop screen, she nearly spit out her water: “What are you doing, Juju?”

Qin Juran raised a brow: “What’s wrong?”

Huang Ying rushed towards Qin Juran, using her body to obstruct the view of her screen. Glancing behind her to make sure no one had entered, she exclaimed frantically, “Juju, yesterday you said that you wouldn’t say anything! Why are you looking up his picture out in the open?”

Just then, Qin Juran remembered Huang Ying’s answer to why Feng Jing wasn’t at their dorm. “So you’re saying that this is the guy Feng Jing has been seeing?”

Huang Ying became even more baffled. “You didn’t know?”

Before Qin Juran could continue, she heard the door open, so she quickly closed her laptop shut. Feng Jing walked in, carrying a bag on her back. Noticing the two pairs of eyes looking her way, she asked somewhat uneasily, “What is it?”

Huang Ying: “Nope, nothing.”

Qin Juran peered at her: “You’re not sleeping here tonight, again?”

As Feng Jing changed her clothes and tidied her belongings, she answered, “Mhm, I’m going to stay at home for the next few days.”

Qin Juran watched as Feng Jing pulled out some dirty clothes from the bag, exchanging them with the fresh laundry hanging on the balcony.

Including her undergarments.

Qin Juran tapped her fingers lightly against her laptop. When Feng Jing had just about finished packing, Qin Juran also changed into outdoor clothes. Curious, Feng Jing asked, “Where are you going?”

“Got something to take care of,” Qin Juran replied briefly, then walked out the door.

At 11 at night, Lin Wei finally arrived at the “Crescent Moon” hotel that Qin Juran had sent, after a long drive full of navigation difficulties. He alerted her of his arrival, and moments later, she climbed into the car.

Seeing Qin Jurans’ getup, her hat pulled down low, the turtleneck and windbreaker collar turned up, partially obstructing her face, Lin Wei nearly jumped: “What’d you call me out here for? I won’t do anything illicit behind Sister Nan’s back!”

""

Qin Juran rolled her eyes. “I have a good idea who did it. The guy who tricked me that day is staying here with one of my roommates tonight.”

Taken aback, Lin Wei exclaimed, “So your roommate and that guy were the ones behind it? But why?”

“She likes Fan Chuan. A lot.”

“So she purposely locked you out, then decided to throw the blame on Sister Nan? Talk about killing birds with one stone! I’m going up there right now –”

Qin Juran held Lin Wei back: “Fighting them now isn’t going to do Ruan Nan any good. I took some pictures of them going inside earlier. Let’s wait out here; it’ll be best if we can get some shots of them leaving, too.”

“An eye for an eye?”

Qin Juran raised a brow: “Even you know that saying?”

“…..”

The two of them camped outside the hotel for the entire night. Thankfully, Lin Wei’s car was of an average model, so it was not too conspicuous parked outside. This hotel wasn’t far from the university, with only a few entrances, so they were able to easily capture pictures when the two walked out the next morning.

Lin Wei sat sullenly in the car throughout the night, but upon looking at the pictures, he suddenly perked up. Furrowing his brows, he asked, “Are you sure it’s him?”

“What is it?”

“I remember seeing him before, but he was dating someone in the street dance group, not your roommate.”

“…..”

So this whole time, both of them were just each other’s side flings. Qin Juran scoffed, directing Lin Wei to look into Han Xusheng’s relationship with that classmate. Before long, he sent over an image of the two of them eating lunch together in the cafeteria.

Lin Wei: “Should we post it now?”

Qin Juran: “Wait a little longer.”

For three nights in a row, Feng Jing went to Crescent Moon Hotel. The first two nights, Lin Wei trailed along, but by the third night, he couldn’t endure it anymore. Qin Juran told him to get some rest for the night and was about to forego the trip as well, but in the end, she decided to call a cab there.

Since they spent the first two nights sitting in the Lin Wei’s car, it wasn’t too bad. For the third night, Qin Juran quickly took the pictures then found a quiet bar nearby to sit down at. The singer onstage slurred out in a hoarse voice a song about being far away from home. Qin Juran took a seat in the corner and ordered a Long Island Iced Tea, then comfortably leaned back into the sofa and listened.

The wave of fatigue from the past two days seemed to crash into her all at once, blending in with the slurred song and dim lights. After a while, a young man walked over, holding a drink in each hand. Not knowing who Qin Juran was, he naively tried to hit on her: “Hey beautiful, by yourself?”

Qin Juran peered at him lazily. “I’m waiting for someone.”

The man laughed, about to sit down shamelessly, when his friend nearby recognized Qin Juran and quickly pulled him away. He didn’t want to get involved with the likes of Fan Chuan, Qin Juran, or Ruan Nan.

Qin Juran laughed softly. The alcohol was already starting to have an effect on her; she was starting to fool herself into believing her own lie about “waiting for someone,” and peacefully closed her eyes as if expecting someone.

The dim lights glowed on her face while the led lamps by her feet blew a stream of mist. Letting out a sigh, Qin Juran picked up her phone and took a picture of the half-empty drink glass on the table before her. She opened her WeChat, adjusted the settings so that only one certain person could view it, and posted the image.

After posting, Qin Juran noticed the time on her phone: 2 o’clock in the morning.

To her surprise, the phone suddenly vibrated with a notification.

Qin Juran’s eyebrows jumped up. She opened her phone and saw that there was a message from the viewer of her post:

【Where are you?】

【Bar.】

The other party is typing…

【Regarding the letter of guarantee, I’ll speak to the secretary about it myself. You don’t need to get involved anymore.】

【Miss Ruan, you think I’m drinking because I’m scared of some disciplinary punishment?】

【……It’s so late.】

【Are you by yourself?】

Qin Juran curled her lips: 【Are you worried about me, Miss Ruan?】

【If I recall correctly, we’re not friends yet.】

As Ruan Nan read this message from the other end, her heart stirred a little. Her fingers hovered over the screen for a long moment, but she finally gave in, typing out the word: 【Location.】

The corners of Qin Juran’s curved even higher, as if she’d read something heartwarming. Her fingers briskly typed out the name “Crescent Moon Hotel.”

【Coming?】

The other party didn’t respond for a long while, but Qin Juran only laughed even harder. Her eyes glowed with affection, and she quickly sent out a “Just kidding” before shutting off her phone.

Once the bar closed at 5 o’clock, Qin Juran paid her bill, wrapped her windbreaker tighter around her, then spent the next two hours waiting on an electric bike parked by the hotel entrance.

The October weather was especially chilly this early in the morning. Despite her windbreaker, Qin Juran kept finding herself rubbing her hands together for warmth.

Perhaps because they had class today, Feng Jing and the boy soon walked out. After taking the last shot of them, Qin Juran called a cab and went directly to school.

At 9 o’clock in the evening, Feng Jing entered their room with the same bag, packing her clothes as per usual. This time, Huang Ying couldn’t help asking, “You’re going back home again tonight, Jingjing?”

Feng Jing made an awkward expression: “Oh, yea, my grandfather is ill, so I want to keep him company.”

From the side, Qin Juran couldn’t hold back her snicker.

Feng Jing shot her a look: “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Qin Juran replied, shaking her head. She picked up her phone, opened the chat dialog she had with “Fan Chuan,” and sent a message.

Before long, Feng Jing suddenly received a phone call. After hanging up, she rushed to apply foundation and lipstick, then raced out of the dorm without even remembering to bring her bag.

Huang Ying remarked, bewildered, “She’s not meeting her grandfather anymore?”

Qin Juran laughed coldly as she walked out. “Oh, she’ll meet her maker tonight.”

It was 10 at night. Feng Jing had already been waiting out at the lover’s hill behind the dormitories for a while, looking left and right with still no sign of anybody coming. Just as she’d pulled her phone out to make a call, she noticed Qin Juran’s approaching figure on the slope. Raising a brow, Qin Juran asked, “Waiting for your grandfather out here?”

Once she realized who it was that came, Feng Jing blurted out, “Qin Juran?”

“Surprised?”

The two of them were standing on the far side of lover’s hill, where students rarely passed by. The cool breeze rustled the dense trees, sending a shiver down Feng Jing’s spine as well. She seemed uncomfortable under Qin Juran’s gaze and turned to walk away, not even bothering to make any excuses.

“Why the hurry?”

“It’s not like there are any doors to lock you out over here.”

Goosebumps sprang up along Feng Jing’s back, but she straightened her neck and held firm: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Tch…such a cliche line, as always. Qin Juran curled her lips with disdain: “Whether you know about it or not, by tomorrow morning, you are going to issue a formal apology with evidence, detailing everything about how you got Han Xusheng to trick me onto the roof, how you got your hands on the surveillance footage, and how you made a post framing Ruan Nan.”

Hearing this, Feng Jing immediately panicked, but thankfully she was able to quickly hide it in her face. In a hard voice, she responded, “Qin Juran, are you trying to fight for justice for Ruan Nan’s sake? I never realized that you two were so friendly with each other before.”

“But never mind that, I could care less about the relationship between you two. There’s no need to go to such lengths to try and make me into the scapegoat. I’ve never even met this Han Xusheng you’re talking about.”

“Wow, even after so many days of sleeping with him?” Qin Juran feigned astonishment from behind her.

Feng Jing whipped her head around, making sure there was no one else in the vicinity. She faced Qin Juran and spoke in a deep tone: “What did you say?”

Qin Juran was enjoying Feng Jing’s shameful display. She pulled out her phone, and after a few taps, she had sent a few of the photos to Feng Jing through WeChat. Each photo clearly showed Feng Jing and Han Xusheng entering the hotel together at night, then leaving in the morning. The various days were differentiated by their alternating clothing, and with shots from every possible angle, there was no denying their identities.

“You f**king took pictures of me?!” Feng Jing roared.

Qin Juran clicked her tongue: “Compared to your dirty scheme, I think this is nothing. If you don’t want these photos to be distributed tomorrow, then you better quickly go get everything ready.”

“What the f**k did I do wrong, what’s wrong with these pictures? Why can’t two college students get a room together?”

“There’s nothing wrong with college students getting a room together. But a college student who gets a room with someone else’s boyfriend – that’s where the problem lies.” Qin Juran laughed dryly: “I thought it was going to be harder to find the proof, but who knew that you’d make it so easy for me?”

“No one is going to let a mistress and a scumbag off so easily. So if you don’t want to end up a rat on the street, or get beaten half to death by Lin Wei and his bunch, then you’d best do as I say.”

Feng Jing’s face had gone gravely ashen, and her voice came out with a tremor: “Then if – if I explain everything and apologize, they won’t personally come to harass me?”

Qin Juran nodded. “Mhm.”

Feng Jing seemed to weigh the matter for a long time. By the time she opened her mouth to answer, her voice still trembling, the sweat layering her back had already begun to dry: “Then how am I supposed to come up with the evidence? How do I leave evidence incriminating myself?”

Qin Juran shrugged. “That’s not my problem. But I’ll give you a suggestion: since you contacted the surveillance camera workers before, why don’t you start from there.”

Her words came out like sharp knives, piercing through the cool air. When the blue moonlight hit her face, there was no trace of her prior fragility, only a pair of eyes burning with contempt. It seemed that she had prepared this idea for Feng Jing’s self-sabotage since the beginning.

In that instance, Feng Jing felt that she couldn’t recognize this person standing before her – there was no longer any semblance of her once innocent, docile roommate.

Gripping her arms tightly together to hold back another shiver, Feng Jing fixed her eyes on Qin Juran’s: “This incident…did you suspect me from the start?”

“I knew that you did it. Not only that, but I only also know that you’ve always been in love with Fan Chuan. You were the one who sent him that picture of me. When Ruan Nan went to the tattoo shop looking for me, that was also your doing. When you pestered me to go to Fan Chuan’s National Day party, I’m sure you had already come up with a plan to humiliate me, correct?”

Feng Jing’s eyes were wide with stupor. As she watched Qin Juran walk away, she shouted forcefully: “If you knew all that, then you must’ve figured out that Ruan Nan was the one who told me to do everything!  She’s the one who made me keep track of all your whereabouts!”

Qin Juran nodded. “That’s right, I know that. I can also guess that you made a false countercharge after coming back from the National Day holiday. The reason you decided to use the video to frame Ruan Nan was probably because you originally intended to offer it to Ruan Nan to get in her good graces, but she then said that she would no longer need you to bother me. Isn’t that right?”

“Feng Jing, haven’t you noticed? Why, during the dress rehearsal, I couldn’t recite a single line after Fan Chuan started speaking in Spanish? Why I still couldn’t recite any lines even after staring at the script for so long in our room? And why I even fell for you and Han Xusheng’s silly ploy?”

Without waiting for her reply, Qin Juran stepped closer to face Feng Jing. She held her phone up before her to show the 20-minute-long voice recording that had been rolling. She ended the recording, stared straight into Feng Jing’s eyes, and her face suddenly morphed into a strange, mischievous smile:

“Well, that’s because I can’t speak a word of Spanish.”