TTS Chapter 41

Before investigating Meng Qingjun, everyone had thought the biggest mystery in her case was how she had appeared in Yang Ling’s villa, and whether she was connected to Yang Yongfeng and Dong Zijin.

 

But as the investigation deepened, more and more suspicious details about her surfaced.

 

“The time Meng Qingjun searched for Dong Zijin in her browser was the afternoon before her death,” Xia Ling said. “According to her family, she should’ve been at her tutoring class at that time. But the tutoring teacher said she never showed up that afternoon.”

 

Ling Yue frowned. “She skipped class, and the tutor never informed her parents?”

 

Xia Ling replied, “The tutor said that before class started, they received a leave request from Meng Qingjun’s mother in the parents’ group chat, saying Meng Qingjun wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t attend class. But Meng Qingjun’s mother said she never asked for leave for her, and Meng Qingjun left home on time that day to attend tutoring.”

 

“So the tutor was lying?” Zhang Tianhua asked.

 

“No,” Xia Ling stated. “The tutor showed me the group chat. An hour before class, Meng Qingjun’s mother really did @ the tutor and ask for leave, saying Meng Qingjun was sick. The tutor said parents usually asked for leave in the group chat, and Meng Qingjun had taken leave that way many times before. But here’s the problem, her mother insists she never once requested leave for Meng Qingjun.”

 

“So Meng Qingjun requested leave for herself.” Kong Qinmao concluded.

 

Wen Yu nodded. “Sister Ling asked me to check whether any messages had been deleted from Meng Qingjun’s mother’s account in the tutoring group. I recovered the deleted chat history. There really were messages from Meng Qingjun’s mother asking for leave, and the tutor approving it. But her mother has no memory of sending them. Most likely, Meng Qingjun used her mother’s phone to ask for leave, then secretly deleted both the request and the tutor’s reply afterward.”

 

Ling Yue frowned. “Why would she do that?”

 

Xia Ling continued, “I also found out that she had an abortion three months ago. Her mother still doesn’t know.”

 

“Teen romance?” Ling Yue blurted out, “Ate the forbidden fruit?”

 

“Her teachers and the classmates closest to her all said there were no signs of her dating anyone,” Xia Ling shook her head.

 

“She secretly asked for leave in her mother’s name,” Kong Qinmao said, “then left home like normal. So where was she actually going?”

 

“No idea,” Xia Ling replied. “All her classmates said they never met up with her during those periods when she skipped tutoring. Since they usually bought snacks whenever they hung out, transaction timestamps are showing when they met, and none match those dates.”

 

Kong Qinmao muttered, “Tutoring classes only last about two hours. What could she even do in that time?”

 

“More than two hours. The tutoring center was close to Meng Qingjun’s grandmother’s house,” Xia Ling continued. “Her mother said that after tutoring, Meng Qingjun usually stayed overnight at her grandmother’s place and only returned home the next day. It was only after Meng Qingjun died that her grandmother revealed something else; after tutoring, Meng Qingjun had supposedly been attending dance classes in West City.”

 

“She loved dancing,” Xia Ling continued, “but her mother thought dancing had no future and was just a youth-based career, so she refused to let her learn. Her grandmother doted on her and secretly gave her money for dance lessons this past year after Meng Qingjun kept pleading with her.”

 

“Several times, Meng Qingjun even told her grandmother that she danced so well her teacher wanted to take her to competitions out of town, so she wouldn’t come home at night, and asked her grandmother to help cover for her. Before her death, the excuse she gave for staying out overnight was that she’d gone to an out-of-town competition with her teacher.”

 

“But I checked,” Xia Ling said coldly. “Meng Qingjun never attended any dance classes. The competition photos she sent her grandmother were either Photoshopped or downloaded from the internet.”

 

“That’s one hell of a cover-up,” Zhang Tianhua sighed.

 

“Who was the father of the aborted child?” Han Huaixiao asked, but Wen Yu shook her head, reporting, “Couldn’t find anything. I went through all her communication records, but there weren’t any suspicious conversations with male contacts.”

 

At that, Xia Ling added, “She went alone to a private clinic for the abortion.”

 

“So the most important thing now is figuring out where she went during the times she lied to her parents and who she was meeting,” Zhang Tianhua summarized.

 

“Xia Hang, Xia Ling,” Han Huaixiao said, “you two go to Meng Qingjun’s school.”

………………

When Xia Hang and Xia Ling arrived at No.1 High School, classes were still in session. Meng Qingjun’s homeroom teacher, Teacher Liang, looked devastated when she saw them.

 

“Qingjun was such a well-behaved child,” she said sadly. “She got along well with everyone. Her grades were always near the top of the class. Based on previous admission rates at our school, getting into a top university shouldn’t have been difficult for her. She was about to enter her final year… I never imagined something like this would happen.”

 

Xia Ling asked, “Teacher Liang, do any students in your class, or perhaps students from other classes, or even teachers have homes in the Langhu villa district?”

 

“That’s a wealthy area, isn’t it?” Teacher Liang shook her head. “I don’t think any students from our class live there. Probably no teachers either. I haven’t heard of anyone from other classes living there, but I can ask the school to investigate for you.”

 

“Thank you,” Xia Ling said. “Teacher Liang, do you know much about Meng Qingjun’s social life outside school?”

 

“…Not really,” Teacher Liang hesitated.

 

Xia Ling continued, “Would it be possible to call over the female classmate closest to Meng Qingjun? I’d like to ask her a few questions.”

 

“Of course,” Teacher Liang nodded, “but regarding Qingjun’s death… we still haven’t informed the students yet…”

 

“Don’t worry, Teacher Liang, I…”

 

The girl who came over was named Jiang Yi. The moment she heard Xia Ling ask about Meng Qingjun, her eyes instantly reddened, asking, “Officer… did something happen to Qingjun?”

 

Xia Ling and Teacher Liang exchanged a glance as Xia Ling asked, “Where did you hear that?”

 

Jiang Yi sniffed. “My mom added Qingjun’s mom on WeChat during the last parent-teacher meeting. She saw Qingjun’s mom posting really sad things on Moments.”

 

Teacher Liang gently patted Jiang Yi’s shoulder, comforting her. “Something did happen to Qingjun. The police are investigating. Since you were her good friend, telling the officers everything you know is helping her.”

 

As soon as she heard that, Jiang Yi burst into tears, and it took her a while to calm down.

 

“Ask whatever you need,” she said hoarsely.

 

“Was Qingjun particularly close to any boys?” Xia Ling asked.

 

“Qingjun was really pretty,” Jiang Yi shook her head. “Lots of boys liked her, but she never accepted anyone’s feelings.”

 

“Did she simply not like them?”

 

“No,” Jiang Yi said softly. “She said they were all very nice, but that she didn’t deserve them.”

 

“Why would she think that?” Xia Ling frowned.

 

“I asked her before. I told her she was beautiful and kind, that she was more than worthy of anyone. But she just smiled and changed the subject.”

 

“Did she have contact with people outside school?”

 

“I don’t know. Probably not.”

 

“Did you ever notice anything unusual about her?”

 

At that, Jiang Yi thought for a moment before answering, “One time, she wore this really beautiful bracelet. I’d seen it online before; it was Tiffany, worth over twenty thousand yuan. I casually asked who gave it to her, but she suddenly got nervous and immediately took it off. She said it belonged to her mother and she was just borrowing it. After that, I never saw her wear it again.”

 

“Anything else?”

 

“There’s also… also…” Jiang Yi glanced at Xia Hang and hesitated.

 

Xia Hang immediately understood that some things might be inconvenient to say in front of him, so he casually found an excuse and left the office.

 

Only after he left did Jiang Yi continue in a low voice, “She secretly asked me before… whether I ever felt like hugging boys when I saw them. Whether I ever wanted to… wanted to have sex with them.”

 

“Do you know why she asked you that?” Xia Ling asked gently.

 

Jiang Yi glanced shyly at Teacher Liang, whispering, “I didn’t ask. Sometimes I’m curious about sex too.”

 

“Curiosity is normal,” Teacher Liang said calmly, “if you want to understand these things, you can look up information or ask your mother. As long as you don’t hurt yourself.”

 

Jiang Yi nodded obediently. “Mm.”

 

Xia Ling asked, “Do you know of anything else unusual about Qingjun?”

 

Jiang Yi thought again. “There’s one more thing, though I don’t know if it counts. There was a period when Qingjun was really unhappy because her exam scores dropped. I tried comforting her, but she stayed depressed for a long time. I suggested she talk to the school counselor. I don’t know whether she actually went.”

 

“Thank you,” Xia Ling said.

 

After Jiang Yi left, Xia Ling went outside to find Xia Hang.

 

It was now break time. She spotted him on the basketball court downstairs, playing with several male students.

 

Because they’d come to a school and didn’t want to alarm the students, neither she nor Xia Hang was wearing a police uniform, just T-shirts and long pants. Standing among the boys in school uniforms, Xia Hang somehow didn’t look out of place at all. He didn’t carry much of the air of a working adult.

 

He intercepted the ball, dribbled down the court, sprinted, jumped, and scored in one smooth sequence. After landing, he shook his head twice to fling away the sweat about to drip into his eyes.

 

The string of handsome, effortless movements immediately drew cheers from the students crowding the school corridors to watch.

 

Xia Ling uploaded a video of Xia Hang playing basketball with the high school boys to the Major Crimes Squad group chat, then followed it with another message:

 

[Youth really is wonderful, ah! I suddenly miss high school.]

 

Wen Yu: [Now I miss my high school days too. Also, my Brother Hang totally has campus heartthrob vibes once he steps onto school grounds!]

 

Ling Yue: [Brother Hang’s basketball skills are insane. Haven’t played in ages. Once this case is over, how about we form a team and play against the SWAT guys?]

 

Kong Qinmao: [I’m in.]

 

It was scorching hot outside, and Xia Hang hadn’t intended to play basketball at all. After leaving the office, he went to the convenience store to buy water. On the way back, class had just ended, and as he passed the court, a basketball suddenly flew toward his head. He caught it reflexively and was about to toss it back when one of the boys playing called out:

 

“Handsome, are you the new trainee teacher? Wanna join us for a game?”

 

The moment the basketball touched his hands, Xia Hang suddenly felt the itch to play. The last time he’d played seemed to have been with Han Huaixiao.

 

Back then, he’d been playing with his roommates. When Han Huaixiao came looking for him at the court, the roommates had just left to eat. Xia Hang had already started packing up, planning to go eat with Han Huaixiao too, but Han Huaixiao had suddenly gotten interested and insisted on playing a match with him.

 

Before the game started, Han Huaixiao had looked eager and ready for a real showdown. Xia Hang had thought they were actually going to compete seriously, but it turns out Han Huaixiao was a complete hooligan.

 

The second they stepped onto the court, he stopped following any rules at all. He wasn’t trying to compete; he was using the excuse of “playing basketball” to flirt shamelessly and take advantage of every chance for physical contact.

 

After Xia Hang finally managed to steal the ball from him, Han Huaixiao hooked an arm around his waist as they brushed past each other and stole a kiss on his cheek. While Xia Hang was still stunned, Han Huaixiao snatched the ball right back.

 

When Xia Hang jumped for a shot, Han Huaixiao grabbed his waist midair, throwing off his aim.

 

When Xia Hang dribbled down the court at full speed, Han Huaixiao whistled behind him like some street punk and shamelessly commented on how good his ass looked.

 

Furious, Xia Hang hurled the basketball at him.

 

Han Huaixiao didn’t dodge.

 

Xia Hang had only thrown it because he knew Han Huaixiao could avoid it easily. Seeing him stand there and let the ball slam into his chest instead, Xia Hang panicked and rushed over.

 

“Did it hurt?”

 

Han Huaixiao just looked at him and smiled, grabbing his hand.

 

“Didn’t hurt. Want to throw another one and vent a little more?”

 

That smug, irritating expression made Xia Hang itch to grind his teeth.

 

The memory made his hand pause midway through tossing the ball back. Instead, he started dribbling and joined the game. While scoring his second basket, he heard one of the boys say:

 

“Teacher, tons of girls are watching you. Even Ye Zi from Class One is staring!”

 

Xia Hang had just been about to deny being a teacher when another boy chimed in:

 

“What’s so strange about Ye Zi watching? She’s always watching guys play basketball. If you could get Meng Qingjun to watch, that would be impressive. I’ve never seen her watch boys play.”

 

“That’s because she likes daddy-type boyfriends,” the tallest boy among them suddenly snorted. “You guys lost the moment you were born too young.”

 

Hearing Meng Qingjun’s name, Xia Hang immediately asked, “How do you know she liked older men?”

 

The boy replied, “My family owns Shuntai Club. I saw her there once, holding onto some older guy’s arm.”

 

Xia Hang frowned inwardly.

 

Shuntai Club… Wasn’t that the same club that had transferred money into Yang Xiaoyu’s account before?

 

So he pressed further, asking, “Do you know the man she was with?”

 

“No,” the boy shook his head. “I was too busy staring at her to pay attention. I was just trying to confirm whether it was really her.”

 

“What did the man look like?”

 

“Teacher, why are you asking so specifically?” The boy gave him a strange look.

 

At that, Xia Hang pulled him aside and showed him his police ID.

 

“I’m investigating a case. Can you tell me everything you remember?”

 

The boy’s eyes immediately lit up.

 

“So you’re not a teacher?”

 

“No.”

 

The boy thought for a moment.

 

“I only saw part of the guy’s side profile. Looked around fifty. About half a head taller than Meng Qingjun. He looked like some successful businessman type. That’s all I know.”

 

“Do you remember the date?”

 

“Probably the Saturday before last.”

 

“What time? Which floor of the club?”

 

“Around three in the afternoon. Third floor.”

 

Xia Hang wrote down his number and handed it over.

 

“If you remember any other details later, give me a call.”

 

The boy held the slip of paper, staring at the refined, handsome Xia Hang with burning eyes.

 

“And if I don’t remember any new details,” he asked meaningfully, “can I still call you?”

 

“What, you want to hear crime stories?” Xia Hang blinked.

 

“Xia Hang, can we go now?” Xia Ling’s amused voice cut in.

 

She’d been standing there for a while already. After overhearing the conversation and realizing Xia Hang had uncovered a new lead, she hadn’t interrupted.

 

But by the end, especially seeing the obvious way the boy was trying to flirt with Xia Hang, Xia Ling nearly burst out laughing at Xia Hang’s completely oblivious response.

 

Unable to resist, she opened the Major Crimes Squad group chat again and sent another message:

 

[@Wen Yu, not sure about campus heartthrob, but he’s definitely popular. Some high school boy is subtly trying to ask your Brother Hang out right now.]

 

Wen Yu: [I demand live updates!!!!]

 

Xia Ling: [Can’t. Your Brother Hang’s coming over.]

 

Xia Hang handed the bottle of water he’d bought to Xia Ling, asking, “Sister Ling, ready to go?”

 

“No,” Xia Ling replied. “We’re heading to the school counseling office first.”

 

As they walked side by side, Xia Hang said, “That boy said he saw Meng Qingjun at Shuntai Club. She was holding onto an older man’s arm.”

 

“Shuntai?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“We’ll look into it later.”

 

The school counseling office was next to the infirmary. There was only one counselor there, a young woman surnamed Feng.

 

“Teacher Feng,” Xia Ling said, “did Meng Qingjun ever come to you for counseling?”

 

“She did.”

 

“What did she talk to you about?”

 

“Even though this is a school counseling office, we still have a responsibility to protect our students’ privacy.”

 

“We understand,” Xia Ling replied gently. “But Meng Qingjun is dead now, and we suspect her death wasn’t simple. Don’t worry, we won’t publicize anything about her private life.”

 

Teacher Feng froze in shock before finally speaking.

 

“She came to see me three times. The third time, she finally gathered the courage to tell me what was bothering her.”

 

“She said she felt like there was something wrong with her body. When she showered, just the water from the showerhead hitting her chest would make her whole body go weak. Seeing an attractive man would do the same. She said her underwear was often wet, that she couldn’t control her body’s reactions, and that she felt her body was… obscene. She was very distressed about it.”

 

“I advised her to go to a hospital for a checkup, but I don’t think she ever went.”

 

“Did she ever tell you she’d slept with someone?”

 

“No, she never mentioned that.”

 

“Did she tell you anything else?”

 

“No. Just what I already told you.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

After leaving No. 1 High School, Xia Ling and Xia Hang headed to Shuntai Club, but the moment Manager Liu saw Xia Ling, his face darkened.

 

“Officer Xia,” he said bitterly, “why are you here again?”

 

Xia Ling smiled.

 

“Guess we’re just destined for each other.”

 

“Fine,” Manager Liu sighed. “What is it this time?”

 

Xia Ling said, “We’d like to see the surveillance footage from your club’s third floor from last Saturday afternoon, around three o’clock.”

 

“…”

 

“Officer Xia,” Manager Liu replied, “you may not know this, but our club isn’t an ordinary club. Not just anyone can come here. We provide high-end services, and the third floor is the VIP area among VIP areas. Clients like that value privacy immensely. There isn’t a single camera on the third floor. If you don’t believe me, you can go check yourselves.”

 

Xia Ling and Xia Hang went upstairs to take a look, and sure enough, there wasn’t a single surveillance camera. As for Manager Liu, when he escorted them out, there was a trace of mockery in his eyes.

 

Xia Ling rolled her eyes and said to Xia Hang, “Every time I run into this kind of lapdog abusing borrowed authority, I especially miss Captain Han’s sharp tongue. If Captain Han were here, he’d roast him so hard he’d start questioning his entire life.”

 

“No bloodshed,” Xia Hang nodded, “but straight to the heart.”

 

At that, Xia Ling burst out laughing. “Hahaha…”

 

Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives… Han Huaixiao tagged the two of them in the work group chat:

 

[No overtime tonight. Once you’re done questioning people, go straight home.]

 

As Xia Ling replied to the message, she said, “See? You really can’t talk behind people’s backs. The moment Captain Han’s message popped up, I suddenly felt guilty.”

 

Spotting a bus stop ahead, Xia Hang pulled the car over, saying, “Sister Ling, you drive home directly. I’ll take the bus.”

 

“Come on,” Xia Ling protested, “buses are too slow.”

 

“It takes less than twenty minutes from here to my place by bus,” Xia Hang disagreed. “It’s quick.”

 

Seeing that he insisted, Xia Ling could only get out and move into the driver’s seat with a “Then be careful on the way.”

 

“You too.”

 

Xia Hang waited at the bus stop for less than two minutes before the direct bus to his neighborhood arrived. Surprisingly, the bus wasn’t crowded at all, and there were plenty of empty seats. He walked to the back and chose a window seat.

 

He liked watching the streets while riding the bus; pedestrians, shop signs, traffic flowing past his eyes, while letting his mind empty completely, thinking about nothing at all.

 

At the next stop, two middle-aged women got on and sat in the seats directly in front of him. They looked very similar, probably sisters. Once seated, they started chatting without lowering their voices, and Xia Hang could hear every word clearly from behind them.

 

At first, his mind was still blank, and none of it registered, until his ears caught words like “high school” and “puppy love.” Only then did he unconsciously devote a sliver of attention to listening.

 

The older sister sighed. “My niece behaved herself for sixteen years and never caused me trouble. And now? She dropped this massive headache on me, dating in high school! I’m losing my mind!”

 

“No way,” the younger sister said. “Sisi’s grades are so good! If she were dating, wouldn’t her grades drop?”

 

“I wouldn’t have believed it before either,” the older sister said. “But I saw the chat records with my own eyes. The boy called her ‘baby,’ said he loved her, and Sisi said she loved him too. ‘Good morning, girlfriend,’ ‘good night, boyfriend’… the entire screen was full of it! Ironclad evidence.”

 

“Then when I get home,” the younger sister immediately said, “I’m checking Tingting’s WeChat and QQ too! But she guards her phone tightly and won’t let me or her dad touch it. She keeps saying we need to respect her privacy. How did you even get Sisi’s phone?”

 

“Their chats showed they’d been dating for months…” the older sister snorted. “Do you know why I only found out now? Because she always left her phone lying around casually and even told me the password! She acted completely unafraid of me checking it. Twice, I even jokingly looked through her chats with other people right in front of her, and everything was about studying or celebrities. So I never once suspected she was secretly dating!”

 

“So they weren’t chatting on WeChat or QQ?” The younger sister frowned. “Then where were they talking? Text messages?”

 

“The day before yesterday was a friend’s birthday,” the older sister replied. “My phone broke, so I borrowed Sisi’s to order flowers from a livestream shop. After opening the short-video app, I accidentally tapped the messages section. I was about to back out when I suddenly saw, right in the middle of the screen: ‘Baby, I love you. Good night.’ So I clicked in out of curiosity, and oh my god… it was all conversations between the two of them! Who would’ve thought they weren’t using WeChat, QQ, or text messages?! They followed each other on a short-video platform and used DMs as a chat app! If I hadn’t accidentally borrowed her phone and mistakenly tapped the messages section, I probably would’ve stayed in the dark forever!”

 

The younger sister stared wide-eyed. “You can even chat like that?!”

 

An auntie sitting on the right side of Xia Hang’s row had originally been scrolling through short videos herself. At some point, she’d locked her screen and started eavesdropping. Hearing this, she eagerly chimed in, “That’s nothing! Haven’t you seen what people say online? Some men use all kinds of methods to hide their affairs. Like registering seller accounts on shopping platforms and pretending to be customer service while chatting with their mistresses. Or using the chat windows in payment apps… they can chat there too, and there’s even a whisper mode that automatically deletes the messages after they’re read, leaving no trace at all…!”

 

“Oh, my god!!” The sisters gasped together.

 

Xia Hang, who was practically a fossil when it came to internet trends, couldn’t help marveling inwardly, too.

 

Can you do that?!

 

But after the shock faded, Meng Qingjun suddenly came to mind.

 

She’d had an abortion, yet everyone around her insisted she’d shown no signs of dating. They hadn’t been able to figure out who got her pregnant.

 

Could it be that Meng Qingjun had also been contacting someone through methods like these?

 

The next stop was Huixian Residential Complex, but Xia Hang didn’t stay on the bus. The moment he got off, he hailed a taxi straight back to the Municipal Bureau, retrieved Meng Qingjun’s phone from Evidence, put on gloves, and began examining it.

 

Xia Hang himself rarely used social media, so before checking the phone, he first searched up which platforms young people currently liked to use, then looked up how following each other and private messaging worked.

 

Only then did he begin his inspection.

 

Meng Qingjun had downloaded three social apps.

 

On the music-note app, she followed thirty-five creators. None followed her back, and there were no messages. He opened the pink app next, but found nothing suspicious there either.

 

Finally, he opened the big red app.

 

Meng Qingjun followed fifty-four accounts there. Three were mutual follows. Two were classmates, with completely normal chat histories, mostly about celebrities.

 

But the third mutual follow had no chat history at all.

 

Xia Hang clicked into the profile, seeing it was completely empty. The avatar and username were still the default ones, never changed, and the account only had one follower.

 

Meng Qingjun.

 

Instinctively, Xia Hang felt that this mutual follower was suspicious.

 

“What are you looking at?” Han Huaixiao suddenly appeared behind him.

 

Xia Hang was startled. When he’d come upstairs earlier, the office lights had been off, so he’d assumed everyone had gone home. He hadn’t expected Han Huaixiao to still be there. His hair was half wet, though, probably from coming back from the training grounds.

 

“Meng Qingjun’s social media,” Xia Hang replied.

 

At that, Han Huaixiao walked over, asking, “Why’d you suddenly think to check her social media?”

 

Xia Hang repeated everything he’d overheard on the bus. Leaning against the desk, Han Huaixiao looked at him. “So instead of going home, you took a taxi back to the bureau?”

 

“How did you know I took a taxi?”

 

“With my toes,” Han Huaixiao said lazily. “Looks like I guessed right.”

 

“…”

 

“Found anything?”

 

Xia Hang explained everything he’d just discovered. “I think this account with the unchanged avatar and username is suspicious. Should we ask Wen Yu to see if chat records were deleted?”

 

“Everyone’s been too busy lately.” Han Huaixiao shook his head. “Wen Yu hasn’t slept properly in days, so she’s probably asleep by now. Let’s take it to Tech Investigation and have whoever’s on duty look at it.”

 

So the two of them brought Meng Qingjun’s phone over to the technical investigation department. After examining it, the technician said it would take some time.

 

Han Huaixiao noticed Xia Hang still standing there motionless and said, “Don’t stand around here getting in the way. Come on.”

 

Xia Hang followed behind him and watched as Han Huaixiao pushed open the lounge door and lay down on one of the beds.

 

Han Huaixiao closed his eyes almost immediately after lying down. Sensing that Xia Hang was still standing there, he said, “Planning to stand there all night?”

 

Xia Hang lay down on the other bed. He hadn’t slept properly in many days either. The moment he closed his eyes, exhaustion surged over him like a tide.

 

Just as he was about to fall asleep, he suddenly heard Han Huaixiao ask, “You played basketball with those high school boys today?”

 

“Mm,” Xia Hang mumbled. “Played for a few minutes.”

 

Han Huaixiao didn’t speak again.

 

Xia Hang forced his sticky eyelids open and waited a while longer. After confirming Han Huaixiao wasn’t going to say anything else, he finally let his eyes close completely.

 

Then Han Huaixiao suddenly spoke again.

 

“A high school student hinted today that he wanted to pursue you?”

 

Xia Hang forced his eyes open with every ounce of willpower he had left. “Pursue me? No.”

 

“Xia Ling making things up again?”

 

“Hm?” Xia Hang muttered groggily. “What did Sister Ling say?”

 

“Check the group chats yourself.”

 

Slowly and sluggishly, Xia Hang fumbled out his phone and opened the group messages, squinting hard to make out the words on the screen. Just as Han Huaixiao thought he’d already fallen asleep, Xia Hang’s sleepy, slurred voice finally sounded:

 

“I gave that boy my number so he could call me if he remembered any other clues. Then he asked if he could still call me even if he didn’t remember anything else. That doesn’t mean he wanted to pursue me. Sister Ling probably just misunderstood.”

 

His voice grew softer and softer until, before he even finished speaking, he had already drifted off to sleep.

 

Han Huaixiao opened his eyes and looked over.

 

Xia Hang was still clutching his lit-up phone in his hand. The dark circles beneath his eyes were obvious.

 

Han Huaixiao got out of bed and walked over. He gently took the phone from Xia Hang’s hand, originally intending to turn off the screen so Xia Hang wouldn’t accidentally press anything in his sleep.

 

His finger was already on the lock button, but for some reason, he suddenly wanted to check Xia Hang’s call history.

 

He opened it.

 

There were no unfamiliar numbers.

 

Xia Hang lay curled on his side. Han Huaixiao placed the phone beside his pillow, then remained bent over, quietly staring at Xia Hang’s refined side profile for a long time.

 

Only before finally straightening up did he murmur softly:

 

“Idiot. Can’t you even tell when someone’s trying to pursue you?”

………………..

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