Chapter Forty-Three

Tian Yujia asked, “You have so many necklaces and bracelets, which one is it?”
Yun Lei searched as she answered, “The one Kaikai gave me for my birthday!”
Everyone knew about that necklace: a Tiffany platinum and gemstone piece, worth five figures. Even Tian Yujia straightened up in concern. “Hey, you’d better look carefully, that’s over ten thousand yuan. Think hard—where did you put it?”
“I never wear it, I always keep it in this box. The box is still here, but the necklace is gone!” Yun Lei had searched everywhere she could think of, her voice trembling with tears. “Yesterday Kaikai said he wanted to break up with me, and now today the necklace he gave me is missing. Is this fate telling me there’s no way to fix things?”
Tian Yujia tried to comfort her. “You’re a college student, don’t be so superstitious. That’s not it. Try to remember, when was the last time you wore it? Is it possible you left it somewhere outside?”
Yun Lei replied, “The last time was Thursday, I wore it when I went out with Kaikai. That night, while brushing my teeth and washing up in the dorm bathroom, I even took a couple of extra glances at it, so I’m sure I didn’t lose it outside. In the dorm, I always put it back in the box. How could it disappear?”
Tian Yujia said, “As long as it’s still in the dorm, it can’t be lost for good. Let me help you look.”
The two of them turned Yun Lei’s drawers and wardrobe upside down, even climbed onto the bed and searched through all the bedding, but found nothing. Yun Lei broke down, sitting on the bed and starting to cry. “Who took my necklace? Please, I beg you, give it back to me, will you? It’s really important to me—I don’t want to lose it, or Kaikai. I’ll trade you ten thousand yuan in cash for it, isn’t that enough? Just give it back, I promise I won’t pursue it any further.”
Her words made Tian Yujia uncomfortable too. She put down Yun Lei’s clothes and stepped back, exchanging a glance with Feng Xidi.
After a while, seeing that no one said a word, Yun Lei wiped her tears and hardened her expression. “Since nobody’s willing to admit it, don’t blame me for being ruthless. Something this valuable can be reported to the police and investigated—if they find out who did it, there’ll be detention and sentencing.”
Feng Xidi grew annoyed. “You think one of us stole it? We’ve lived together for four years and never lost so much as a single coin. Don’t you trust your roommates at all?”
Yun Lei said, “Not stealing a coin doesn’t mean you wouldn’t steal ten thousand yuan. No one can see inside someone else’s heart. If it were just about the money, I could let it go, but that necklace means a lot to me. I can’t just forget about it—this has nothing to do with the amount.”
Huang Qi, who had already found her book and been reading on the side, spoke up. “Let’s talk about this behind closed doors later. I’m going to return my book and see my boyfriend out. We can discuss it tonight.”
Yun Lei said, “No way. Until this is cleared up, nobody leaves this room. If you go out, how are we ever going to find it?”
Huang Qi was instantly agitated. “What are you implying? You think my boyfriend stole your necklace?”
Yun Lei was blunt. “Everyone in this room is a suspect. And besides, my necklace has been in the dorm for over a month without incident—he comes, and then it’s gone. Isn’t it reasonable for me to suspect him?”
Huang Qi shot back, “The last time you saw your necklace was three days ago. Who knows when it actually went missing? Just now, he was with me the whole time—I was watching him, he never went near your desk! You can insult my integrity all you want, but you have no right to insult my boyfriend! He’s the person I trust most!”
“He may be the person you trust most, but to me he’s just an outsider I’ve only met once or twice and know nothing about! Besides, he’s a migrant worker. If I don’t suspect him first, am I supposed to suspect my own roommates, who I’ve lived with for four years?”

This hit a sore spot for Huang Qi, and she was about to explode when Sha Zhouyin held her back. “It’s getting late; I can’t stay in the girls’ dorm much longer. Tell me, what will it take for you to believe I’m innocent?”
Yun Lei said, “Since everyone’s here, let’s all turn out our pockets.” Seeing Huang Qi about to flare up, she quickly added, “I’m treating everyone the same. If you have nothing to hide, there’s nothing to fear. Tian Yujia, you go first. Don’t say I’m picking on anyone.”
Tian Yujia hadn’t thought that much about it and absent-mindedly agreed. She began checking her own pockets, only to realize she was wearing a long T-shirt and leggings—no pockets at all. “There’s nowhere to hide anything on me. Do you want to check my bag yourself?”
Yun Lei took Tian Yujia’s bag but didn’t search it immediately. Her eyes turned to Sha Zhouyin.
Huang Qi went red with anger. “Yun Lei, what right do you have to search other people’s bodies? Go call the police if you want, let them investigate. I won’t stand for you insulting me and my boyfriend like this!”
Sha Zhouyin tried to calm her. “Let it go—you’re all classmates and still have to live together. Don’t make a scene. I’ll empty my pockets.” He took out his phone, wallet, and keys, placing them on the table one by one. He turned his pockets inside out, removed his jacket to show there was nothing in the lining, even flipped the breast pocket of his shirt inside out for everyone to see, then jumped twice in place. “That’s all the places I could possibly hide something. Want to check further?”
Yun Lei looked him over, making sure there was nowhere he could have hidden anything. “Alright, you can go.”
“That’s it?” Huang Qi leapt up, pointing at Yun Lei. “You accuse someone of theft and subject them to a search, and now you just say it’s over?”
Yun Lei raised her voice too. “What do you expect me to do? I’m the one who lost something, I’m the one who’s been hurt here, and if I can’t find it, I’m even more frustrated! Who am I supposed to complain to?”
The commotion brought students from the dorm next door, who came out into the common area and found their door locked. “What’s going on in there? Open up!”
Sha Zhouyin restrained the furious Huang Qi. “Let it go. Everything’s fine now—no need to make this public. It wouldn’t look good for your whole dorm.”
Theft in a school dormitory was a serious breach of discipline. People had been expelled for it before, and even if the culprit wasn’t found, the whole dorm would be stigmatized as “theft-prone,” causing innocent people to suffer. Tian Yujia went to the door and called through, “It’s nothing, just a small misunderstanding. It’s all resolved.”
Sha Zhouyin half-led, half-embraced Huang Qi out of the room, holding her close as they walked down the stairs and out of the building, still not letting go. Huang Qi fumed, “Xiao Ying! Why did you hold me back? She was so awful to you—why did you let her?”
Sha Zhouyin replied, “What would it accomplish if I hadn’t? Shout at her until she cries? Hit her? Then everyone would know about it?”
Huang Qi couldn’t answer. “But you can’t just let her bully you like that!”
Sha Zhouyin chuckled. “Xiao Qi, you college students are so proud you can’t stand the slightest slight. You call that bullying? You’ve never really been bullied. She’s just a young girl with a bad temper and no social skills. Why should I take her seriously?”
“She’s not that young—she’s older than you!”
“That’s not the point,” he said, smiling. “I could have confronted her and made a scene. But what would that achieve? I’d feel good in the moment, but afterwards, you’d still have to face these girls every day. How would you get along with them then? They already have a bias against me. If I acted more aggressive and showed my ‘migrant worker’ side, wouldn’t their prejudice just deepen?”

Huang Qi complained, “Why are you worrying so much about me? At worst, I could just switch dorms. People who live together are bound to have friction, and besides, graduation is just around the corner. I’m not afraid of a little discord.”
Sha Zhouyin said, “Don’t be angry. I really don’t care. I’ve dealt with things like this plenty of times. I know what’s worth fighting for and what isn’t—like when our wages were withheld, that was something we had to stand up for. But this? It’s trivial. Just solve it quickly and efficiently. If it happened to me, I wouldn’t be upset—so why are you?”
Huang Qi pouted and turned to hug him. Xiao Ying’s outlook was different from hers. He’d been out in the world for years and was already an adult, while she was still a headstrong kid.
After dinner together, she saw him off at the bus station. When Huang Qi returned to the dorm that night, Ye Shuokai was there, comforting Yun Lei in his arms—it seemed the two had reconciled.
Yun Lei, still sobbing, said, “I’ve been searching since this afternoon, over and over, I nearly tore the place apart, even considered dismantling the cabinets and prying up the floorboards, but I still can’t find it…”
Ye Shuokai patted her shoulder. “It’s alright—look on the bright side. Think of it as spending money to avoid disaster.”
“It’s not about the money! You gave it to me. You said it represented your promise, and now I’ve lost it…”
Ye Shuokai said, “Things are just objects, people are what matter. The important thing is I’m still here, and my promise is still here—isn’t that enough? Honestly, I should thank the necklace for getting lost. It brought us back together and showed me how much you care. It’s worth losing.”
But Yun Lei couldn’t let it go, still brooding. “It was lying there safe and sound—it couldn’t just fly away by itself. Someone must have taken it.”
Huang Qi couldn’t stand it anymore. “Will you ever stop? You’ve already humiliated my boyfriend by searching him. Are you going to accuse one of the three of us next?”
Ye Shuokai spoke up before Yun Lei could respond. “Huang Qi, I’m sorry. I haven’t taken good care of Lei Lei these last few days and made her upset. She’s just under a lot of stress—that’s why she’s acting like this. I apologize. You’ve all lived together for four years and gotten along well; don’t let this spoil things so close to graduation.”
As the saying goes, no one can stay angry at someone who apologizes with a smile. After that, Huang Qi couldn’t keep arguing. She just reminded him, “It’s late, and lots of girls like to walk around the corridors in their pajamas. It’s inconvenient—you should head home soon.”
She said it without malice, but Yun Lei took it the wrong way. She thought Huang Qi was still mad about the afternoon’s events, and was now using the rule about men in the dorm as a jab. “With something this big, with something so important missing, my boyfriend can’t even come help me figure it out? Who was it that brought her boyfriend here in secret this afternoon, shut the door, and who knows what you two were up to? As soon as yours leaves, you come after me!”
Huang Qi, still angry, was instantly provoked. “And who lectured me about the school rule that guys aren’t allowed in the girls’ dorm? One rule for others, another for yourself. So the magistrate can set fires, but the common folk can’t light a lamp?”

(To be continued)