Chapter 9

The next day, Qin Weihang came to jurisprudence class. Due to the hot search, there were crowds of people talking when he arrived at school. When he walked into the classroom, everyone’s attention was on him. An Ning saw Qin Weihang look like he was accustomed to it. Ignoring the stares, he walked around the podium with a backpack on his shoulders. An Ning smiled and looked up to greet him. Qin Weihang nodded at him. This time, even Liang Shenghan in the front row was shocked. He turned around and said, “He nodded at you!”

An Ning didn’t know how to explain it. The rest of the class doesn’t seem to know that he and Qin Weihang have…how to say it? Acknowledged each other as roommates? The details behind this were a long story, so he just laughed. “We’re roommates, after all.”

“What roommates?” Liang Shenghan said, “He doesn’t even live with you!” While talking, he glanced at the back row. Wearing an oversize black and white checkered dress shirt, Qin Weihang walked to the last row of seats and put down his backpack on the desk. With a height of 1.86 meters, he stood there and raised his eyelids casually. His eyes swept over the front row inadvertently. Liang Shenghan was like a searchlight, his eyes scanned over Qin Weihang, then he left a sentence, “Your roommate is so cool that it makes people a bit flustered,” and turned around.

During the class break, An Ning stood up and moved around for a while. He took off his glasses and stood in front of the window to look into the distance. He relaxed his eyes for a while. Then, when he put on his glasses, he suddenly saw himself reflected on the windowpane and remembered that Yuan Xiaoye called him a mushroom-headed little frog. He was a little dumbfounded. An Ning stroked his bangs from the reflection of the glass. Does he really look like a mushroom-headed little frog? Next time, he shouldn’t wear green clothes…

When he turned to take a seat, he suddenly found Qin Weihang leaning on the back of his chair, his line of sight was on him. Hey, what line of sight was on him? Actually, this statement was too unconfident. An Ning was no stranger to Qin Weihang now!

Qin Weihang sat there openly looking at him. With a phone in his right hand, he was leaning back in a relaxed manner and looking very casual. He was probably scrolling on his phone earlier. They both made eye contact with each other. Qin Weihang nonchalantly, from a distance of two rows, asked him, “Did you catch the subway yesterday?”

An Ning replied, “I did.” He didn’t know why Qin Weihang asked that. At the time, it was still early, and the subway wouldn’t close until an hour later.

However, he found that he could not see Qin Weihang clearly from this distance. To be precise, he could not see his eyes clearly. Qin Weihang’s eyes were very bright and had a dazzling feeling. It seemed that this pair of glasses should be replaced.

… He pushed up his glasses again. Qin Weihang thought, to be pushing his glasses while looking at me, what does it mean?

After An Ning lifted his glasses, Qin Weihang’s eyes were once again bright and dazzling, brilliant and deep. Just like they were when he first met him. An Ning, however, also noticed that many people in the classroom were watching them at this moment. In fact, that kind of concealed attention was especially hard to hide. After all, humans were creatures that were very sensitive when they were looking at the same thing. As the person being ‘proactively questioned by Qin Weihang’, he suddenly felt pressured. Yet Qin Weihang, who was the main focus, seemed indifferent. After asking him this question, Qin Weihang looked back down at his phone again.

After two jurisprudence classes, An Ning stayed to clean the classroom as usual. When cleaning up to the last row and clearing the garbage in the drawer, he suddenly touched a phone and almost swept it to the ground.

It was a black iPhone. He was not familiar with the types of Apple phones, but he recognized this one because Qin Weihang used this one. He also remembered the appearance of the phone case; it was a very simple black pattern. He looked up to confirm the seat. This was definitely Qin Weihang’s, there was no mistaking it. An Ning didn’t know if it was because Qin Weihang was sleeping during class again that he ended up forgetting his phone. Furthermore, he didn’t expect the phone case to be very delicate when he held it in his hand. He thought it was made of silicone at first glance. He was thinking about putting the phone on the table first, and if Qin Weihang did not come back after he finished cleaning the classroom, then he’ll leave a note and let Qin Weihang come to the dorm to get it from him.

As he was planning to do this, there was suddenly a girl’s scream from the end of the hallway outside the classroom. The scream was really deafening. An Ning was taken aback and hurried out. As soon as he ran out of the classroom, he saw a boy in a dark shirt hurriedly run through the corridor. An Ning only had time to see the back, and vaguely heard the other person laughing.

He rushed to the end of the corridor in confusion. At the end of the corridor was the restroom. Someone ran out of the men’s restroom. It was Liang Shenghan’s roommate, Xiao Pang*. Xiao Pang’s real name was Pang Tao, and he wasn’t fat at all, but later, everyone saw the photo on his ID. They saw that he was a tanned little fatty at that time, so everyone simply called Pang Tao ‘Xiao Pang’.

[*TN: Xiao Pang means Little Fatty. I’ll keep it as Xiao Pang.]

Xiao Pang looked dumbfounded, and asked him, “What’s wrong?”

Immediately, two girls ran out of the women’s restroom, flushing angrily, and said, “Someone was peeping in the women’s restroom!”

An Ning and Xiao Pang asked in unison, “Who?!”

The two girls looked at them suspiciously. Since An Ning was still holding a broom in his hand, the girls turned their suspicious eyes on Xiao Pang.

Xiao Pang widened his eyes and strongly denied it, “I just came out of the men’s restroom. It’s not me! How can you say it’s me…”

One of the girls said, “I saw that the man’s clothes are dark and his skin…was not pale.” She glanced up and down at Xiao Pang as she said this.

Xiao Pang lowered his head in surprise—he happened to be wearing a blue-gray T-shirt. Even jumping in the Yellow River won’t wash him clean.*

[*TN: It’s a famous saying. Basically means that it’ll be difficult to get rid of suspicions and clear yourself of the charges.]

An Ning hurriedly said, “It’s not him. I saw him coming out of the men’s room as soon as I ran out of the classroom. He also ran out to see the situation when he heard the scream.”

“Just because you said it isn’t him doesn’t mean it’s true.” The girl was still angry, so she unhappily retorted, “He might’ve run to the men’s restroom immediately after taking a peek. The women’s and men’s restrooms are really close!”

Speaking of this, An Ning immediately remembered, “Oh, right, I just saw a boy running through the corridor. He was also wearing dark clothes!”

The two girls showed skeptical expressions. One of them said, “An Ning, we know it’s not you, but are you sure that it’s the person who ran away and not him?”

Xiao Pang’s face was close to tears. He angrily and anxiously kept defending himself: “It’s not me. How could it be me! I… Hey, you guys are bullying me too much!” He looked toward An Ning as if asking for help. An Ning didn’t know what to do. He really can’t be sure, nor does he have evidence, thus he could only stay silent.

His silence made Xiao Pang even more uncomfortable. He said, “You don’t believe me?”

An Ning said, “I believe you,” he turned to the two girls, “I really don’t think it’s him…”

“An Ning,” the girl interrupted, “we are all law students, so we have to show evidence. What evidence do you have to prove that it is not him.”

An Ning said, “You can’t rule out the suspicion of the person who ran away.”

The other girl murmured, “We don’t even know if there’s really such a person…”

An Ning stopped talking. He found that even he was being doubted.

“I’m sorry, An Ning,” the girl said, “Although we are sure that it isn’t you, we are not sure that you will make up a suspect to clear your friend of suspicions. If there is no evidence, we don’t believe anyone at this moment…”

She didn’t finish her words and was taken aback for a moment. She raised her head and looked behind An Ning. Both girls looked over. An Ning and Xiao Pang looked back in confusion and saw Qin Weihang coming up the stairs. His appearance eased the current tense situation a bit. An Ning said, “Are you here to get your phone?”

Qin Weihang nodded and asked, “Is it with you?”

An Ning pointed to the classroom. “In the classroom.”

Qin Weihang turned into the classroom and saw his phone on the desk. He didn’t understand why An Ning put it so blatantly on the desk and left.

After taking the phone and coming out of the classroom, the four people at the end of the corridor were still dumbly standing there. He originally didn’t want to pry, but then he saw this weird scene. An Ning was also staring at him with a broom in his hand, looking as if something unexpected happened. In the end, he decided to stay and ask, “What’s wrong?”

The two girls complained more fiercely than before, saying that someone ran into the women’s restroom to peep. The four of them approached Qin Weihang unknowingly. Qin Weihang was surrounded by the four people and was a little surprised after hearing it, his eyes stared at them like a cat. He frowned and asked, “Who?”

The girl subconsciously glanced at Xiao Pang and said, “I don’t know…”

“Why are you all looking at me!” Xiao Pang became even more uneasy when he saw that even Qin Weihang was looking at him. He turned red and stammered, “Qin Weihang, it’s not me. It’s really not me!!”

The girl said to Qin Weihang, “In any case, it was a boy in dark clothes. We can only be sure that it is not An Ning.”

Qin Weihang glanced at Xiao Pang who was looking at him anxiously and said to the two girls, “Don’t come to any conclusions if there is no evidence. It’s definitely not the first time that the person has peeped, so he’ll probably do it again.”

Xiao Pang was so moved that he looked at Qin Weihang with red eyes. Qin Weihang did not respond to his gaze.

An Ning went downstairs with Qin Weihang that day. Xiao Pang was in a depressed mood and left first. An Ning looked at his depressed back and felt a little uncomfortable.

As soon as they reached Cafeteria 1, Qin Weihang suddenly said, “My phone…”

An Ning, who had been walking absentmindedly, let out an “ah” sound. He looked up and asked, “What?”

Qin Weihang looked at him walking completely distracted, and asked, “Are you still thinking about it?”

After being quiet the whole way, An Ning couldn’t help but blurt out, “I really saw that peeping tom. Although I only saw the person’s back, they seemed to think I was trying to cover Xiao Pang. Of course, the back figure I saw may not be the peeping tom. Yet, no matter how you look at it, that person is more suspicious.”

Qin Weihang listened to him speak before saying, “I may have seen the person you mentioned.”

An Ning was surprised. “You saw him?!”

“Was he wearing a dark gray shirt?”

An Ning nodded frantically.

Qin Weihang frowned and recalled, “He bumped into me when he went downstairs.”

“So you saw his face! Who is he?!”

Qin Weihang glanced at the person next to him who was looking expectantly, and said, “I don’t know him.”

An Ning: “…”

Ah, yes, there were not many people that Qin Weihang knows in the law department…

Qin Weihang said, “I should be able to recognize him next time I see him.”

“Do you remember his looks?” An Ning was not very hopeful.

Qin Weihang nodded: “I still remember it now. If you ask me again later though, I may not remember.”

Somehow, Qin Weihang said this, yet An Ning felt a little upset. He thought, back then we met on the stairs, yet you didn’t even remember me. Why do you remember the face of the peeping tom with just a glance? How vexing…

He nodded and sighed, “We might have to rely on you for Xiao Pang’s innocence.”

“It’s not that serious. He was only suspected,” Qin Weihang said.

This reasoning, An Ning also understands. He also understands the feelings of the girls. This was really upsetting for them. They didn’t see the boy who ran away, and Xiao Pang did fit the description of tan skin and dark clothes. From their point of view, they really can’t believe anyone’s words. If he were in Xiao Pang’s shoes, he would also be frustrated for the next few days. If that person can’t be found, doesn’t that mean Xiao Pang will be taking the blame for these four years?

“I wonder—if one of the girls didn’t catch sight of the peeping tom, and I didn’t have a broom in my hand, would I also be suspected… Actually, I really have no evidence to prove that it was not Xiao Pang, but if he also ran out after hearing the girl’s scream, then he was actually doing it out of good intentions. If he was wronged this way, it would really be pitiful.”

After he finished listening, Qin Weihang only said, “It’s not him.”

An Ning widened his eyes and raised his head to ask, “How do you know?”

Qin Weihang didn’t say anything directly, he only said, “Intuition.”

An Ning smiled bitterly: “I thought you were going to become Conan and make a deduction for me.”

“When he was speaking to me, the feeling he gave off reminded me of one of my high school classmates,” said Qin Weihang, “If I didn’t guess wrong, it shouldn’t be him.”

“What do you mean, is there some sort of secret?” An Ning became more curious as he listened.

Qin Weihang glanced at him sideways: “There is, you might understand it later.”

“…So is it the kind of secret that I’m not qualified to understand right now?”

Qin Weihang smiled lightly and said, “Since you still don’t understand, it means it’s not the time yet.”

An Ning looked at his profile. This time, the smile was not short—there was an inexplicable gentle lingering impression, which made his chest pound strangely. It may also be because Qin Weihang dressed very gentle-looking today, no longer that cool style. The oversize checkered dress shirt made him look soft. The cuffs of the shirt were rolled up to his elbows, which made him look delicate like origami. The pure black long sleeves that covered his wrists also made him look a bit gentle.

When they arrived at the cafeteria, An Ning regained his senses and asked Qin Weihang, “Have you had lunch? Do you want to eat together?”

Qin Weihang looked at the bright eyes staring at him from behind the lenses as if looking forward to his answer. He recalled what happened last night, then he raised his eyebrows and said, “That will also have to be next time.”

An Ning looked at the back of the other person who had left freely after speaking. He was puzzled. What does he mean by “also have to be next time”??