Author: 长洱 / Chang’er
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 52
The sorrow of powerlessness wasn’t comprehensible to outsiders.
In fact, Lin Chen had too many questions to ask Xing Conglian. For example, why did the municipal authorities and the police force participate in the investigation of an international massacre case, or what kind of massacre could leave such a heavy shadow on Wang Chao to this day? In the end, the questions would boil down to two simple ones: who was he, and who exactly were you?
However, he didn’t ask for anything, just as Xing Conglian had always done for him.
Early the next morning, Lin Chen was awakened by a scream.
“Ahhhhhhh!!!”
Wang Chao had woken up at some point and was lying on the carpet, staring at the furnishings of the room, full of shock.
Lin Chen walked up to the teenager barefoot, reached out his hand, and felt his forehead. Fortunately, it wasn’t hot.
It wasn’t until his cold fingertips touched Wang Chao’s forehead that the teenager shuddered and came back to his senses. “Grand hotel. Shit, grand hotel!”
Lin Chen pinched Wang Chao’s soft face and asked, “How are you?”
“So luxurious, so luxurious, so luxurious!” Wang Chao jumped up and ran to the window. He opened the floor-to-ceiling curtains, but the curtains remained motionless.
“Oh, oh. It’s electric!” The boy began to rummage through the room, looking for the remote control.
Lin Chen stood with his arms at his sides while Xing Conglian was scratching his head as he walked out of the second bedroom. He asked bleary-eyed, “What’s wrong with that little brat.”
“Probably sympathetic nerve activity disorder caused by the self-healing process of childhood trauma?”
Xing Conglian: “……”
“Captain, have you finally become a rich man?!”
Wang Chao finally found the remote control. When he looked back, he saw Xing Conglian as he pressed the switch excitedly.
The curtains slowly moved away from both sides, revealing the waterfront outside. Under the sunrise, the mist was like a veil shielding the sparking water.
Xing Conglian yawned as he smacked the back of Wang Chao’s head. “Nonsense. Laozi has always been rich, okay!”
“Then can I order breakfast? A big lobster!”
The boy didn’t seem to realize he had been smacked. Before Xing Conglian could even agree, Wang Chao threw himself on the coffee table and began to search for the breakfast menu.
Naturally, Australian lobster wasn’t served at breakfast.
However, a big, fluffy croissant and delicious chicken mushroom soup could still soothe the stomach as well as a wounded heart.
Wang Chao ordered all the food on the menu and three kinds of drinks, then began to devote himself to eating. Lin Chen made himself a cup of black tea and sat beside him.
The morning light was good as it shone on the boy’s satisfied smile.
Xing Conglian ate two pieces of toast. As if recalling something, he suddenly asked, “Have you thought about finding someone to replace you?”
Wang Chao had just stuffed his mouth full of bacon. He could only look blankly at Xing Conglian and didn’t respond for a moment.
“I heard that BlackJack is very famous. How about him?”
“Fuck, that moron can’t even type properly, okay?!” The boy swallowed the food abruptly as he gave an angry reply.
“Didn’t you say that if it’s about the deep web, you won’t check it?”
“When did I say that?”
“Yesterday, during dinner.”
“But A’Chen has healed me!”
“Wow, so powerful…”
“Okay, okay, Captain, stop talking nonsense. How can you be rest assured if the case is handed over to an idiot like BJ?” Little comrade Wang Chao waved his hand, bit into a croissant, and rushed to the front of the computer. “I’m going to start working. Isn’t it just a shitty video!”
Xing Conglian shrugged but saw Lin Chen looking at him with an intriguing gaze.
“That was a bluff,” Consultant Lin took a sip of tea and said in a low voice.
“Boys have to be spurred on occasionally. How can they think about giving up when they encounter a small problem?” Captain Xing spoke righteously.
Just like the baguette that was eaten clean or the creamy soup that left no traces at the bottom of the bowl, yesterday’s gloom seemed to have been thoroughly swallowed up.
At the end of breakfast, Lin Chen received a call from Fu Hao asking him to meet at the school office.
“Shixiong, come early. Ah, remember to get me an egg scallion pancake at the entrance of school!”
“Have you found all the files?”
“Of course!”
Lin Chen could almost imagine Fu Hao patting his chest at the end of the line, pretending to be relaxed.
“But why did you wait to call me until now?”
Fu Hao’s tone wasn’t right, so Lin Chen thought for a bit and inquired deeper.
“It was too late yesterday!”
After Fu Hao finished speaking, he hung up.
Lin Chen put down his teacup. Usually when people lie, they tend to become chatty, but his shidi was a bit special.
Sure enough, when children grew up, they all had their own little secrets…
Then, as a democratic parent, he certainly couldn’t ask for everything.
Lin Chen raised his eyes and said, “Then let’s call Xu Haozhen.”
“Why?”
“To watch the video together.”
——
Yongchuan University maintained a good custom of recording the self-introduction of freshmen. Although it was for archiving records, it was mainly used for scientific research tracking.
When the sample size was large enough, these freshman admission data could not only represent the general characteristics of a certain generation of students, but it could also be used as a starting point for longitudinal research to observe those college students who started as a blank canvas to see what they would look like four years, ten years, or even decades later.
The initiator of this research was Mr. Su Anzhi, the president of Yongchuan University and Lin Chen’s mentor, which was why Lin Chen first thought of checking the freshman’s files after encountering the issue with Wang Shishi.
Xing Conglian went with Vice-Captain Jiang to search for Jiang Lu, the missing girl in the video, while Lin Chen went to Professor Fu’s office alone.
Lin Chen had to admit, although Professor Fu delayed for an entire night, the information he found was very complete.
Among them, not only were there the freshman self-introduction videos, but there were also medical examination records, and even mental health results at the time of admission.
Lin Chen opened the files related to Wang Shishi, Xu Haozhen, and Jiang Lu, pulled out a MMPI*, and arranged them on the table in turn.
*Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory is a standardized psychometric test of adult personality and pathology. Psychologists and other mental health professionals use various versions to help develop treatment plans, assist in diagnosis, help answer legal questions, screen job candidates, or as part of therapeutic assessment procedures.
At this moment, someone opened the wooden door of the office.
A girl wearing a white shirt, a black sheepskin skirt, and small high heels with her long hair draped over one shoulder entered. She was dressed simply, giving her an intellectual feel, and had on light makeup, which made her look brighter and more beautiful than a few days before.
Lin Chen looked up at Xu Haozhen, who had already stretched out her hand.
“Shixiong Lin Chen, hello. We meet again.”
A hand that resembled jade, shaped like a scallion, hung in front of his eyes. There was a slender silver chain on her wrist, but there were no traces of nail polish on those round nail petals.
“Don’t be so polite. I came here specially for you.” Lin Chen didn’t shake hands with the girl but pointed to the seat beside him, signaling for her to sit down.
Xu Haozhen felt a bit flustered. After all, a girl like her had never been treated so rudely by a boy in a long time.
It seemed that people like Lin Chen were more straightforward than Xu Haozhen had imagined. He ignored Professor Fu, who was frowning across from him, turned on the office computer, and clicked on the video file marked “Xu Haozhen”.
A stumbling female voice preceded the picture and came out through the audio.
“He… Hello everyone. My name is Xu Haozhen… Graduated from Fuxing No. 3 High School…”
Admissions were in September of every year, but the girl in the video was wearing a thick, long-sleeved jacket. Her complexion was yellowish, and her bangs almost completely covered her eyes. If it weren’t for the label Xu Haozhen on the file name, Lin Chen couldn’t believe that the girl who didn’t dare to look directly at the audience would be the same person as the intellectual beauty sitting beside him.
“…I hope to find like-minded good friends in college.”
The self-introduction was short. When the girl finished, she quickly fled off the stage.
Xu Haozhen kept staring at the screen with burning eyes. There were no hints of embarrassment or shame in her expression. When the screen turned completely black, she shifted her gaze to Lin Chen’s face.
“What is shixiong’s intention in showing this to me?” The girl’s voice was cool, but from her tone, there seemed to be hints of anger.
“Do you know Wang Shishi?” Lin Chen asked, then clicked on another video labeled “Wang Shishi”.
The video unfolded on the screen. In it, Wang Shishi slightly bowed her head. Her voice was so low that it was almost inaudible. She was wearing an ankle-length white dress and a shoddy chiffon shirt. She looked like how Xu Haozhen was many years ago, timid and afraid.
Lin Chen glanced across the screen and turned to Xu Haozhen.
“Do you know Wang Shishi?” he asked again.
“I… am very happy to be admitted to Yongchuan University… and become… classmates with everyone…”
The volume was adjusted to the max, yet Wang Shishi’s voice only came out intermittently.
Xu Haozhen didn’t answer.
“Did you know that she and Jiang Liu made a sex tape?”
Lin Chen’s question was straightforward and sudden, yet such a question didn’t make Xu Haozhen fluster. She straightened up her hair, looked at Lin Chen respectfully, and said with a light smile, “I know Wang Shishi.”
Hearing Xu Haozhen’s answer, Lin Chen’s expression froze, as if the person sitting opposite wasn’t a beautiful woman but a stone that was about to be weathered.
“Wang Shishi and I have both participated in the literature club. Because I’m a shijie, Wang Shishi often sticks to me. Jiang Liu is an officer of the student council and used to be my subordinate. All three of us know each other.”
“Wang Shishi is a very good girl. She’s very beautiful and has many admirers, so she’s often ostracized by the other girls in her dorm. However, she’s a very upright girl and would never mess with the relationships of others.”
Lin Chen listened quietly. He was so close to the girl that he could almost see the shape of the other’s pupil and the anger in them.
“Shixiong, is it because you found out about my relationship with Wang Shishi that you doubted me, right?” The girl straightened up and spoke with a kind of condescending pride. “I know them, but I also know hundreds of others in this school.”
“I don’t know what videos they have made. I don’t believe Wang Shishi and Jiang Liu would do such a thing. Moreover, I have never made such a video. Shixiong, you should know that your question just now is the biggest insult to girls,” Xu Haozhen said.
“You talk too much,” Lin Chen said seriously. “I didn’t ask you those questions. You just needed to answer whether you were aware of the tape and whether you knew them.”
“I have answered your questions. I don’t know about the tape, but I know them.”
Xu Haozhen responded back sharply, as if she were a dart and Lin Chen was her target.
Lin Chen looked at the girl’s face, which was like jade, and nodded. He turned off Wang Shishi’s self-introduction, clicked on Xu Haozhen’s video again, and began to watch it solemnly.
“Shixiong, I’m leaving.” Xu Haozhen got up and turned to leave. When she reached the door, she suddenly turned her head. The corners of her lips curled up slightly, and her tone changed.
“Goodbye, shixiong,” she said with a smile.
Looking at the girl’s flower-like smile that flashed away, Lin Chen had a bad feeling in his heart.
She came and went like the wind. Facing those caustic and insensitive questions, she still behaved appropriately, making it impossible to pick out the slightest mistake.
After Xu Haozhen left, Fu Hao hurriedly rushed to him. “Shixiong, you’re too fierce. That’s just a little shimei!”
“I know.”
Lin Chen pressed the pause button. In the video, the youthful Xu Haozhen of several years ago bowed her head with darting eyes. She looked completely different from the beautiful woman who was still confident and proud in the face of such acrimonious questions just now.
“You were so rude just now.”
“Do you think that college can really change a person so perfectly?”
Could a college education and small-scale social interaction really make the timid gradually bold and even an ugly duckling into a golden phoenix?
Lin Chen whispered, as if he were asking Fu Hao and also as if muttering to himself.
Kinky Thoughts:
Fake it until you make is what I always say.
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