Chapter 79

Xu Yan walked to the back of the classroom, found a secluded corner with few people, and sat down, picking up a book to read. At this moment, the students for the class also started to arrive one after another. When Xu Yan looked up, he saw an acquaintance enter, Chen Yaoyu, who was chatting and laughing with a few girls as they walked into the classroom.

Being rejected by Gong Xueting was the most embarrassing thing in Xu Yan's life. Now, the people who witnessed the incident had also arrived, which made Xu Yan even more uncomfortable. He quickly lowered his head, holding a statistics textbook in front of his face, silently praying that Chen Yaoyu wouldn't see him.

But things in the world often work this way: the more you worry about something, the more likely it is to happen. Xu Yan had clearly lowered his head and hidden behind the book, and Chen Yaoyu hadn't seen him, but when she and the other girls casually chose a row to sit in, it just happened to be the row where Xu Yan was sitting. Moreover, Chen Yaoyu walked to the front and sat down right next to him.

Only after sitting down did Chen Yaoyu turn to look at the boy next to her, and she met Xu Yan's wry smile.

Suddenly seeing Xu Yan, Chen Yaoyu was startled, "Xu Yan? Why is it you?" Then, she immediately realized and laughed, "I mean, why are you here?"

Xu Yan blinked his eyes and forced a smile, "Hello, Chen classmate, what a coincidence!"

Chen Yaoyu said cheerfully, "Yes, what a coincidence! I didn't expect to see you in the statistics class... Didn't they say you were hiding at home, cutting your wrists and trying to commit suicide after a breakup? You're out of the hospital so soon? Are you feeling better?"

Xu Yan's smile immediately turned into a bitter expression—Chen Yaoyu was really too sharp-tongued, always bringing up the worst topics! The few girls who came with Chen Yaoyu also heard her words and gave Xu Yan strange looks, whispering to each other, "This is the boy from the economics and management department..."

"That's right. I heard he pursued Gong Xueting, was rejected, and then went back to the shower room to cut his wrists and try to commit suicide... They said he bled a bathtub full of blood!"

"Wow, that sounds scary. But he doesn't look bad, actually quite refined. I thought he would be ugly."

"You don't know. Many perverts look refined too—don't judge a book by its cover!"

...

Listening to the girls whispering, Xu Yan's face grew long—he had hoped that his breakup wouldn't be known by too many people. But it turned out that not only did his classmates in his own department know, but it had even spread to the international trade department.

Xu Yan's face was full of sorrow: now, his reputation was really ruined, and he was infamous throughout the school!

Now, Chen Yaoyu was smiling at the disgraced Xu Yan, and she could see his embarrassment and discomfort. She had a bit of a conscience and didn't continue to dig into his wounds. Instead, she changed the topic and started chatting with Xu Yan about recent events at school—like activities organized by the student council, events in the department, and news from the dormitory. She was considerate and didn't mention Gong Xueting's name, even deliberately avoiding it, which made Xu Yan feel a bit itchy inside. He really wanted Chen Yaoyu to talk about Gong Xueting—this was a subtle mentality of a man in a breakup, even if he was rejected, hearing news about the girl he admired was still good, like quenching thirst by looking at plums.

Suddenly, Chen Yaoyu looked Xu Yan up and down, her eyes full of doubt.

Xu Yan felt uncomfortable and protested, "Chen Yaoyu, what are you looking at?"

"Huh? Yanzi, which hospital were you admitted to recently? Did you also get some cosmetic surgery done?" Chen Yaoyu's eyes lit up, full of curiosity. "After a few days, your skin has become much whiter and smoother, your eyes are brighter, and even your nose seems to have become more defined... Your skin is even better than ours! Tell me, which hospital did you go to for cosmetic surgery, and give me the doctor's phone number!"

At this point, even the other girls joined in, pointing at Xu Yan's skin, marveling, and asking him what cosmetics or skincare products he used. Chen Yaoyu, however, insisted that it wasn't the effect of cosmetics, as she remembered Xu Yan's facial features before, and his nose and eyes had changed slightly. She believed that Xu Yan must have secretly gone for minimally invasive cosmetic surgery.

Xu Yan was at a loss. After the bone and marrow transformation by Zhu Youxiang, he had already noticed the subtle changes in his body when he looked in the mirror. After removing the toxins and impurities from his body, he seemed to have become whiter and more handsome, with brighter and more spirited eyes. But Chen Yaoyu's remarks still made him feel embarrassed. He quickly declared that he was a man and had no interest in or intention to undergo cosmetic surgery.

But Chen Yaoyu refused to believe it and even mentioned the names of several famous experts in Jincheng City: "Come on, did you see Director Liang Shuang or Professor Zhao Ke? Or maybe Du Qiuping? To do such a good job in just a few days without any visible signs of surgery, it must have been done by a skilled expert! Tell me, who was it?"

No matter how Xu Yan explained, Chen Yaoyu wouldn't believe him. He was just getting frustrated when his phone rang.

Xu Yan quickly used the phone call as an excuse to get away from Chen Yaoyu. He picked up his phone and saw an unfamiliar number: "Hello, who is this?"

A middle-aged man's voice came from the phone: "Xu Yan, where are you now?"

The voice sounded familiar, but Xu Yan couldn't immediately recognize it: "Who is this, please?"

"Oh, I'm Huang Dawei from your department."

At this point, Xu Yan finally recognized the caller as Deputy Director Huang, one of the department leaders. He immediately became more polite: "Hello, Director Huang! I'm at the third teaching building, preparing for class. Is there something you need?"

"Is that so... Are you in class now?" Director Huang paused for a moment, as if he was talking to someone else. Then he said, "In that case, come to the department office right away. We need to talk to you about something important."

"Ah?" Xu Yan was quite surprised. He instinctively explained, "But I'm about to start class, and the teacher will be here soon."

"Class?" Director Huang's speech paused again, as if he was covering the microphone to consult with someone. Then he asked, "Xu Yan, which classroom are you in?"

"I'm in classroom 3203 in the third teaching building—Director Huang, what's the matter? Is it urgent?"

"Oh, if that's the case, never mind." Director Huang answered irrelevantly and quickly hung up. Xu Yan was left holding his phone, puzzled.

Chen Yaoyu noticed Xu Yan's unusual behavior and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. Director Huang from the department said he needed to talk to me, but when I asked what it was about, he wouldn't say. He just asked where I was. I told him I was in class, and he hung up, saying it wasn't important—really strange."

Chen Yaoyu laughed, "Maybe the department leaders want to have a heart-to-heart talk with you."

"Heart-to-heart? About what?"

Chen Yaoyu glanced at Xu Yan and smiled subtly, "About what? You need to have the right worldview and values, and a correct understanding of life and love. As young college students, you should maintain your integrity and determination even after a breakup. It's really unbecoming for a young man to cry and talk about suicide over a little emotional issue!"

Chen Yaoyu's imitation was spot-on, and the girls laughed. Xu Yan's face turned red, and he worried: if Director Huang really called him for a heart-to-heart talk about this, it would be really embarrassing.

The bell for class rang, and the statistics teacher hurried into the classroom.

He glanced at the students and cleared his throat, about to start the class, when he suddenly froze: looking out the window, he saw a scene rarely seen on campus—several police officers in uniform appeared in the corridor, walking quickly toward the classroom door.

Seeing the police officers standing at the classroom door, the teacher was very surprised. He paused, then quickly walked to the door and asked, "Comrades, what's the matter?"

The police officers remained silent, expressionless. The lead middle-aged officer nodded slightly but didn't speak, instead turning to look behind him. It was then that the teacher noticed that behind the police officers were several teachers from the school, including the security office staff and teachers from the economics and management department.

Among them, Deputy Director Huang of the economics and management department cleared his throat and said, "Teacher Zhang, I'm sorry to interrupt your class. These are comrades from the city police department, and they need to talk to one of your students—our department and the student affairs office are aware of this matter."

"Oh, in that case, please come in—whom are you looking for?"

Deputy Director Huang walked in, looked around the classroom, and then his gaze settled on Xu Yan. He waved at him, "Xu Yan, come out for a moment."

When Xu Yan saw the police officers at the classroom door, he had a bad feeling that they were there for him. When Deputy Director Huang really called his name, Xu Yan wasn't surprised at all. He calmly packed his bag and got up to leave.

As he was about to leave, Chen Yaoyu gently tugged at his sleeve, stopping him. The pretty girl stared at him, her eyes full of surprise, and she whispered, "Xu Yan, what's going on? Why are the police looking for you? Did you get into trouble outside?"

Xu Yan smiled bitterly—after meeting Zhu Youxiang, he had done so many illegal things that he couldn't even figure out why the police were looking for him. He whispered to Chen Yaoyu, "I don't know..." Then he reassured her, "It should be fine." He nodded and quickly left the classroom.

Seeing Xu Yan being taken away by the police, the classroom erupted in chaos. The students were buzzing with excitement—seeing a student being taken away by the police, a scene usually only seen in TV or movies, was quite thrilling. They whispered to each other, trying to find out the name of the boy who was taken away and what he had done wrong.

Since Chen Yaoyu had just spoken to Xu Yan, she became the focus of the students' inquiries. The girls who came with her bombarded her with questions, but Chen Yaoyu ignored them all, sitting there in a daze. After a while, she suddenly stood up and, to the surprise of the entire class, rushed out of the classroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you Xu Yan?"

"Yes, I am."

"We need to talk to you about something. Please come with us."

There was no small talk, no greetings, no conversation—just these simple two sentences. Xu Yan was escorted by the police down the teaching building, dazedly got into the police car parked downstairs, and was seated in the back, flanked by two police officers. At this point, Xu Yan's mind was still in a fog—what was happening? Was he being arrested? But for what? Why weren't they putting handcuffs on him?

He glanced at the two police officers, both strong and silent, with a serious demeanor. Xu Yan swallowed hard, not daring to ask too many questions, but his mind was racing: why were the police looking for him?

What Xu Yan was most afraid of was the incident where Zhu Youxiang killed five criminals. But there were many other things that made him nervous and afraid to face the authorities: his impersonation of a quack doctor, the two million yuan he received from Chen Yaoyu—had Secretary Li realized he was cheated and sent the police to arrest him? Or had the fake household registration he asked Zheng Qiuyi to forge been discovered, and the police were now investigating?

There were too many things to worry about, and Xu Yan's mind was in a mess. The more he thought, the more his head hurt. Finally, he gave up on guessing and resigned himself to fate—what will be, will be. Since the matter had come to this, there was no point in overthinking it. Everything would become clear in due time.

The police car drove through the city for about an hour. Xu Yan couldn't recognize the roads they passed, but he could tell from the scenery that they were getting more and more remote, gradually moving from the city center to the outskirts. If it weren't for the police officers in uniform next to him, Xu Yan might have suspected he was being kidnapped. He couldn't help but ask, "Comrades, which police station are you from? Where are you taking me?"

The police officer driving the car seemed to ignore him, and the two officers next to him also pretended not to hear. After a while, a middle-aged officer in the front seat turned to look at Xu Yan and coldly said, "You'll find out soon enough."

The car drove for over an hour, then turned onto a dirt road with wild grass and entered a gate without a sign, stopping under a tree in the yard.

The police officers got out of the car first, and Xu Yan followed. After sitting in the car for over an hour, his legs were a bit wobbly. He looked around and saw a large courtyard that looked like an abandoned rural elementary school. There were large green trees, a football field, and a basketball court overgrown with weeds. The basketball hoop was almost rusted away, leaving only an empty iron frame. In the distance, there were a few two- or three-story buildings, the walls of which had turned yellow and black, with slogans like "Disciplined, Cultured, Idealistic, Moral" still visible, though faded and blurred by the elements.

The abandoned campus gave Xu Yan a sense of being left behind by time, a relic of a bygone era.

What was this place?

"Follow us."

The middle-aged officer said expressionlessly. Before Xu Yan could react, the two police officers had already flanked him and pushed him forward, leading him toward the abandoned classrooms.

As they got closer, Xu Yan noticed that the old classrooms and dormitories were not deserted. There were still many people coming and going, mostly police officers in uniform, but more were soldiers in military uniforms—Xu Yan noticed that many of the soldiers carried assault rifles or had pistols on their hips. People were moving quickly, looking busy, and even when they saw Xu Yan being brought in, no one paid him any attention.

The police officers brought Xu Yan into an old classroom and pushed him into a separated room that looked like a duty room. Inside, two soldiers in military uniforms were already there, with two assault rifles on the table. One soldier was cleaning a gun, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of gun oil.

Seeing the police bring Xu Yan in, the soldier stood up, and a young sergeant with dark skin asked the police, "Who is this? Why did you bring him here?"

Hearing the soldier's question, Xu Yan perked up his ears—he really wanted to know why they had brought him here.

The police officer glanced at Xu Yan and answered calmly, "He's the one 401 wants. Just arrange for him."

"401 boss personally wants him?" The sergeant seemed skeptical, "Just a kid—what's his name?"

"He's surnamed Xu, Xu Yan." (To be continued)