Chapter 10

Except for the time when school just started, An Ning hasn’t been on the campus forum for a long time. He had never been interested in viewing forums since it felt pointless and a waste of time. However, in the past two days, he was a little worried rumor would spread that Xiao Pang was a peeping tom. He logged in to the campus network and went on the forum to check, however, he didn’t expect his worries to come true. The homepage of the campus forum had a post discussing voyeurism, which was already popular.

It was rare for him to spend some time reading a post. He found that not only the law department, but also the liberal arts and foreign languages departments had similar incidents. It seems that Qin Weihang had a pretty good guess. This peeping tom had been committing crimes for some time now. The one who posted it was a girl from the law department, and most of the replies were girls from other departments. One reply said: It is truly the girls from the law department that are strong. They’re brave enough to confront this person head on. We couldn’t do anything about this scumbag, so we told the boys in class about it. Yet, they just laughed and didn’t take it seriously. We don’t even know if this peeping tom is just one person or a group of people. It’s just so disgusting!

The girls of the foreign languages department were also deeply disturbed. Even after checking the surveillance, they couldn’t find out anything. The situation of each department were different. The surveillance of the new buildings were relatively inclusive. The old buildings only set up surveillance on the stairwells and the gates. This was the case for the law department, the liberal arts department, and the foreign languages department. However, regardless of it being a new building or an old building, the vicinity of the restroom was a blind spot for surveillance cameras.

Even though the person who wrote the post did not explicitly say that the suspect was Xiao Pang, the rumors still spread through word of mouth within a few days. The girls from the law department contacted girls from other departments to make the matter a big deal, because such an incident didn’t just happen once. Despite all the efforts to prevent it, the problem still persisted for a long time in A University and even other nearby universities. The girls suffer greatly from this, yet couldn’t do anything about it. This time, the long-drawn-out oppression had finally erupted.

Although the campus looked relatively calm, but online had completely gone chaotic. An Ning discovered that even Liang Shenghan had deliberately kept a distance from Xiao Pang. Normally, Liang Shenghan and Xiao Pang would go to the Internet café at noon. But these days, Liang Shenghan went back to the dorm alone and played games by himself. An Ning knew that the situation wasn’t good.

After gym class the next morning, Liang Shenghan asked him to eat together, but did not invite Xiao Pang. An Ning turned around to call Xiao Pang, but Liang Shenghan said, “He doesn’t eat at the cafeteria.”

That was true. Xiao Pang seldom goes to the school cafeteria to eat, saying that he was not used to eating food in the cafeteria. He was a famous foodie on their floor and had eaten everywhere around the university town. He had eaten at all kinds of stalls, and even the spicy skewers on the side of the street have not been spared. This even caused him to have a stomach problem. An Ning remembered that at the time, Lin Shenghan took Xiao Pang to the hospital in the middle of the night.

Behind Liang Shenghan’s shoulders, he saw Xiao Pang trudging alone behind the crowd. It seemed that he didn’t want to keep up with the large crowd. Although they usually didn’t eat together, they at least walked together after class. Xiao Pang must be suffering greatly in such a situation.

At lunch that day, Liang Shenghan asked him: “Did you read the posts on the campus forum?”

An Ning put down his chopsticks and said sternly, “It’s not him.” Then he told Liang Shenghan the whole story.

Liang Shenghan didn’t say anything after hearing it, but just nodded silently. An Ning knew that there wasn’t anything else he could do. He said everything that should be said, but it was beyond his control whether others believe it or not.

Unexpectedly, during dinner that day, An Ning actually saw Xiao Pang in the cafeteria of the law department’s dorm. He didn’t know why Xiao Pang suddenly came to eat in the cafeteria at this time, but watching him sitting alone in the lively crowd as if it was nothing out of the ordinary, he thought that Xiao Pang had quite a backbone.

An Ning grabbed his meal, taking the tray and walking to sit across from Xiao Pang.

Xiao Pang looked up and saw him, his eyes a little surprised.

An Ning smiled and asked him: “Why did you come to the cafeteria? Didn’t you say you were not used to eating here?”

Xiao Pang looked at him, his eyes were a little red after a while, and whispered: “You’re probably the only one who is willing to talk to me right now. “

An Ning couldn’t say anything. He didn’t know how to comfort him.

Xiao Pang lowered his head, poked the rice with his chopsticks, and said dispirited: “Maybe this will implicate you. After all, you were there at the time. They might say that you were deliberately covering up for me.”

An Ning didn’t think so much when he sat down to eat with Xiao Pang, he just felt that he was too lonely. Xiao Pang just said it casually, but An Ning was actually a little scared—he was afraid that the rumors and strange looks would be on him.

Although he was with Xiao Pang for dinner that day, An Ning couldn’t help but pay attention to other people’s stares, so he didn’t have much communication with Xiao Pang. Originally, An Ning wanted to comfort and encourage the other party, but in the end he was persuaded by him. He felt ashamed of himself, but couldn’t get rid of the fear of malicious gossips. Perhaps, his cowardice made Xiao Pang even more sad.

He laid in bed at night, tossing and turning and unable to sleep. It shouldn’t have turned out this way, it really shouldn’t. Why do people know that they’re doing the right thing but don’t dare to speak up?

Xiao Pang was absent for English class the next day. Two morning classes passed and An Ning stayed to clean the classroom. The people in the classroom gradually disappeared, but Liang Shenghan hadn’t left yet.

An Ning was a little puzzled, and asked: “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I was about to go.” Liang Shenghan packed up his things, got up slowly, and walked to the door of the classroom. He stopped with an expression of hesitation and called out, “An Ning.”

“Huh?” An Ning looked back.

Liang Shenghan sighed, scratched his hair and walked back inside, saying: “Sigh, I don’t know how to say this. Just take it as…me reminding you. For the time being, don’t get too close to Xiao Pang. I know you sympathize with him, but are you really sure that he is innocent?”

An Ning looked at him. Liang Shenghan was willing to remind him of this, so he was deeply moved. It meant that Liang Shenghan really regarded him as a friend.

“We’re all studying law,” Liang Shenghan said. “If you were a lawyer, then it’s fine if you want to accept his case. Whether he was wronged or not, as a lawyer, you have to believe him even if you actually don’t. However, you aren’t a lawyer. To put it bluntly, you’re just a bystander. Do you understand what I mean?”

An Ning nodded: “I understand. I know you’re saying this for my own good, but I’m different from you guys—I really saw that peeping tom.” He stood on the steps of the classroom and looked at Liang Shenghan. He thought about it all night last night, and he finally thought it through, “If you think that Xiao Pang is the peeping tom just because he happened to come out of the men’s bathroom, and he happened to be tanned and wearing dark clothes, then I think the person I saw was more suspicious than Xiao Pang. You guys didn’t see that person, but I did. If I also doubt Xiao Pang like you guys, then it’s not real suspicion, but because I’m a coward. You can act this way because you don’t know the truth, so your doubt is reasonable. On the other hand, I can’t, because it’s wrong for me to do that.”

Liang Shenghan was speechless for a long time. He found that this top student was a bit foolish. It had come to this point, yet he was still fighting with himself on what was reasonable and unreasonable. Still, An Ning may be foolish, but it made Liang Shenghan admire his bravery. Facing such silly courage, it was really useless to say anything. Finally, he nodded, waved his hand and left.

In the evening, An Ning came back from self-studying in the library. Once back to the dorm, he looked at the room of Liang Shenghan and Xiao Pang next door. He wondered how they were doing. He knows that the peeping tom was not Xiao Pang, but he was the only one who had seen the real peeping tom… No, it was not only him, but also Qin Weihang. Qin Weihang said that he would recognize him as long as he saw that person, but it had been over two weeks and Qin Weihang had only been to school for six days, yet he still hasn’t found the peeping tom. An Ning was really worried that Qin Weihang had forgotten.

Just as he was thinking of Qin Weihang, his WeChat rang. It happened to be Qin Weihang. He sent a photo with two words: It’s him.

This WeChat was sent at 6:15 in the afternoon. He didn’t know if it was because of the internet connection that caused the delay, but it popped out only now.

An Ning quickly zoomed in on the photo. The photo was taken at the gate of the school. Although it was a bit far away, Qin Weihang’s shot was decent and clear. In the photo was a guy with skin that was a little tanned, and he was not tall. The guy looked as though he was shorter than An Ning. He really didn’t expect that Qin Weihang would run into the guy, but An Ning also didn’t recognize the person in the photo.

An Ning only just realized that he and Qin Weihang were the same. He usually worked or go to the library. Except for his classmates, he couldn’t recognize any other people in the same year, let alone the entire law department.

Suddenly another WeChat message popped up.

[Chief]: Do you want me to catch him?

An Ning was so scared that the toothbrush in his mouth fell. The time for this one was 6:20. He ignored the toothpaste bubbles in his mouth, and hurriedly responded to Qin Weihang with his voice: “Qin Weihang, you didn’t really catch him, did you?!”

After he finished sending this, he waited for a while, but didn’t get a reply. He brushed his teeth anxiously while waiting for a reply. Although Qin Weihang could easily subdue the little peeping tom in terms of physique, the point was that he had no evidence…

WeChat rang again. It was a voice message sent by Qin Weihang: “No, you didn’t reply to me, so l didn’t bother.”

An Ning bit his toothbrush and breathed a sigh of relief. He clicked on the voice button and replied: “That’s good, don’t startle me. I’ll go ask Liang Shenghan if he knows this person. Anyway, thank you!”

Qin Weihang didn’t reply to him, he was used to it. After washing, he took the photo and went to the room next door. He was going to ask Xiao Pang or Liang Shenghan about it. Xiao Pang opened the door for him. Liang Shenghan wasn’t there, no wonder the room was so quiet.

When Xiao Pang heard that Qin Weihang ran in to the real peeping tom, he was excited. He clicked on the photo and found that he didn’t know the person: “This person isn’t someone from the law department…”

An Ning asked him, “Are you sure?”

Xiao Pang looked at it again and shook his head: “In any case, he isn’t in our year.”

An Ning remembered the post he read on the campus forum that day. Since the peeping incident has not happened only once but happened in other departments, maybe this person was not a law student: “Is it possible that they are from another department and came to class at the law department. The course time may be the same as ours. We can check it out.”

The two of them did what they said. They sat in front of the computer and checked the class schedule for a long time. They found that on that day, there were two lectures being held in their building. The two group of students that came were from the Faculty of Foreign Languages and the Faculty of Liberal Arts. This time, the scope was even smaller—the elective courses were only available during the second year for law students. So, they narrowed it down to the second year students of the foreign languages department and the liberal arts department.

An Ning said, “Both the foreign languages and liberal arts departments are possible. Let’s think it over for a while.”

As soon as he said this, the door of the room opened. Liang Shenghan came in and said boldly, “No need to think it over. I know some female seniors from foreign languages and liberal arts. I’ll help you ask them.”

Xiao Pang heard this and couldn’t help but sniffle and say in a muffled voice, “I just knew Liang-ge* still cared about me…”

[*TN: Ge means older brother/bro. Can be used among close friends, though.]

Liang Shenghan saw that he was about to cry and stepped forward to pat him on the shoulder. He said, “Ge is sorry, I suspected you before.”

Xiao Pang immediately gave him a bear hug. Liang Shenghan was not as tall as Xiao Pang, so he felt like he was holding a big dark-skinned German Shepherd—one that was big and stupid. The top student was still standing beside them with a motherly smile. The scene was really too cringy…

Liang Shenghan asked someone to inquire about it. Without much effort, he found out that the person was a second year in the foreign languages department. Xiao Pang was so angry that he gritted his teeth and said, “This stinky rascal, harming laozi by making me carry the pot!!*” He immediately wanted to confront him. Liang Shenghan grabbed him and said, “Why are you in a hurry? Do you have evidence?”

[*TN: He’s using the arrogant “I/me.” Carrying the pot means being the scapegoat.]

Xiao Pang then calm down and sat down with a grim face. He said:” You’re right. What should we do?”

Liang Shenghan raised his eyebrows and said, “I have an idea.”

Then, the three individuals pooled together money to buy more than a dozen miniature cameras online. The plan was to hide the cameras outside the women’s restroom and wait for the peeping tom to take the bait. On the day the equipment arrived, the three of them unpacked the box together. Xiao Pang looked at the bunch of cameras and said nervously, “Ge, is this illegal?”

An Ning said without lifting his head, “Technology is a double-edged sword. It all depends on how you use it.”

Liang Shenghan gave a thumbs up: “The top student said it well!”

Xiao Pang watched these two people burying their heads and rustling around. He couldn’t help but feel like he was watching two criminals.

After the constitution class that day, An Ning found the study committee member, Chai Meng, and told her about installing cameras to catch the peeping tom. Chai Meng said she has no problem with helping, so An Ning handed the prepared stack of notices to Chai Meng. Chai Meng found two female classmates and posted the notices together in the stalls of the women’s restroom. It was a reminder to everyone that cameras were installed outside the restrooms, but they shouldn’t tell the boys.

At first, An Ning was still a little worried that this would provoke resentment from the girls. Unexpectedly, this move received strong support from the female students. Within a day, all women’s restrooms in the law department’s building were equipped with cameras. The notice was also posted.

When they were half-way done, Xiao Pang was so moved that he said, “Ge, both of you are too awesome!” He was about to go for another bear hug when Liang Shenghan hurriedly stepped away. Xiao Pang ended up hugging the slow An Ning. An Ning was hugged by him and his glasses became crooked. He smiled awkwardly and straightened his glasses from Xiao Pang’s back. Although Xiao Pang was not fat anymore, his height and physique were still there. Between An Ning, Xiao Pang, Liang Shenghan, and Qin Weihang; Xiao Pang was second in height. Being hugged like this made his back feel constricted.

Liang Shenghan suddenly said next to him: “No way, you’re really crying…”

An Ning quickly let go of Xiao Pang and saw that Xiao Pang’s eyes were really full of tears. When An Ning looked at him, the teardrops fell.

“Don’t cry!” He wiped Xiao Pang’s tears from his cheeks, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. He was already this old, yet still acted like a child. How could he be a peeping tom?

Xiao Pang threw his head up and the tears fell down for a while. Then he lowered his head and said, “I’ll stop crying. Let’s go! Ge, I’ll treat you guys to a meal!”

An Ning said, “We better wait until the person is caught before you treat us.”

“No way.” Xiao Pang took them both in his arms and said, “This time I’ll treat you to a small meal. Next time I’ll treat you to a big one!” Then he suddenly gripped An Ning and said, “An Ning-ge, do you have work today?”

An Ning originally wanted to say that he planned on studying in the library, but it was difficult to refuse, so he didn’t say anything that would disappoint him.

It was really hard to keep up with unexpected changes in life…

The three of them went downstairs while chatting, but didn’t expect to meet Qin Weihang downstairs. An Ning felt Xiao Pang’s hand that was gripping his hand immediately let go. As soon as Xiao Pang saw Qin Weihang, he had mercilessly let go of him and Liang Shenghan. An Ning thought, why does he have to treat them so differently…

“Qin Weihang, just in time!” Facing the big school grass, Xiao Pang seemed more attentive than facing the school flower, “We’re going to eat, let’s go together! It was thanks to you that we found that peeping tom!

Qin Weihang glanced at An Ning and asked them, “Have you been cleared of suspicion? “

“Almost!” Xiao Pang said confidently.

Qin Weihang said lightly: “That’s good. I won’t go eat with you, the counselor is looking for me.”

Qin Weihang walked upstairs after speaking. Xiao Pang turned around and shouted unwillingly: “We can wait for you!”

Qin Weihang said “No need.”

The corner of Xiao Pang’s mouth drooped: “But I really want to thank you.”

Liang Shenghan also said: “Let’s go! Let’s have a casual meal at the school gate!”

An Ning also shouted: “Qin Weihang…”

Qin Weihang stopped on the stairs.

From behind, An Ning quickly said in one breath: “The counselor’s office is at the end of the second floor!”

Qin Weihang was stunned. He turned his head and looked at An Ning, who was at the bottom of the stairs and showing him the way. He didn’t know what his own expression looked like right now. Qin Weihang was a little amused in his heart, yet he also seemed a little angry. He turned silently and walked a few steps, then he suddenly stopped. He turned around and asked, “Then wait for me for ten minutes?”

The three people under the stairs immediately said in unison: “Okay!”

…Why are you saying okay? Qin Weihang walked over three steps of the stairs in two steps and reached the second floor. He shook his head and thought, did you even invite me?*

[*TN: For this paragraph, I think he’s talking about An Ning since he didn’t say anything when the other two were inviting him.]

An Ning watched Qin Weihang disappear upstairs in two to three steps. Xiao Pang chatted next to him: “Do all people with long legs skip many steps like this? It feels like a waste of energy.”

Liang Shenghan smiled at him: “It’s not like it’s because he couldn’t wait to eat with us. If he doesn’t walk like this, then it’s a waste of his long legs. Unlike you who grew so tall, yet you still walk like a girl. When you’re tired, you even need to hold your waist…”

Xiao Pang retaliated: “What’s wrong with holding my waist? Don’t you still moisturize and use toner every night? An Ning-ge, you don’t know, he has more skin-care products than my sister…”

Liang Shenghan flushed: “Nonsense! You’re exaggerating!”

An Ning thought: How nice. In these four years, both of you can just happily get along with each other like this.