Chapter 43: Footprints on the Windowsill

Chapter 43: Footprints on the Windowsill

"You Xiaoyang was dropped from the honors class this semester?" An Changpu was taken aback.

Neither You Zhou nor Lan Xingli had mentioned this. The couple took great pride in their son’s admission to the honors class based on his excellent grades. Could it be that they were unaware?

"Does the school notify parents when a student is transferred from an honors class to a regular one?" he asked, hoping to get an answer from the homeroom teacher, Ms. Zhao.

"We do send notifications. We issue a written notice to the students being transferred to explain the situation to their parents. It’s essentially a roundabout way of informing the family that the child’s grades have slipped, and we hope they will take notice and help supervise them," Ms. Zhao explained. "We require the student to take that notice home for a parent's signature and bring it back."

An Changpu smiled but said nothing. Although he had been working for several years, he was still young and hadn't been out of school for that long. He still held many memories of his student days regarding "taking things home for a parent's signature." The practice of diligently practicing handwriting to forge a parent's signature was common among students. He himself had signed for other students many times; after all, a homeroom teacher is not a handwriting expert and cannot verify every signature one by one. As long as it looked authentic enough, it would pass.

Judging by the attitude of You Zhou and Lan Xingli toward You Xiaoyang, it was likely that the boy had played this little trick on the school, and his parents had probably never seen that so-called written notice from beginning to end.

"Could you tell us how You Xiaoyang usually behaves at school?" Qin Ruonan asked.

"You Xiaoyang... how should I put it..." Ms. Zhao pondered, seemingly unsure of where to start.

"It’s alright, just provide an objective evaluation. We only need to understand his usual behavior, including his interpersonal relationships and so on, to proceed with our investigation. As his homeroom teacher, you should be familiar with his performance at school."

"Actually, You Xiaoyang was originally a very good student; otherwise, he wouldn't have been placed in the honors class upon admission. Those in the honors class are the seeds for future key high schools! When he first came to my class, I thought the child was either lacking stamina or just distracted by playfulness. I thought if we supervised him well, he could either return to the honors class or, at the very least, be a prime candidate for a state-funded spot later on. Unexpectedly, after joining my class, not only did his grades fail to improve, they got progressively worse. The midterm exams haven't even happened yet, but in several previous unit quizzes, his scores—which were once far ahead of the class—had dropped to merely average levels recently."

When Ms. Zhao spoke of You Xiaoyang, her tone was filled with helplessness. She seemed very troubled by this student: "You Xiaoyang has a sharp mind. The teacher who teaches our algebra class once came to me, feeling both annoyed and amused, saying he had caught You Xiaoyang reading an extracurricular book during class. Thinking the boy was lazy and just liked to be clever, he wanted to teach him a lesson and suddenly called on him to go to the front and solve a problem using the formula just taught. You Xiaoyang looked at the example in the textbook for a moment, walked to the front, and solved the problem—correctly! It left the algebra teacher completely speechless. So, I believe the child is very bright, but his mind is not on his studies at all. I don’t know what he thinks about all day; he is always absent-minded."

"What time do the students here leave for lunch break?" An Changpu, having listened carefully to Ms. Zhao's account, already had a basic understanding of You Xiaoyang's academic performance. As for what followed, he suspected that Ms. Zhao would have little knowledge.

Ms. Zhao checked her watch and realized lunch break was approaching: "Class will be dismissed in about half an hour. Why, is something the matter?"

"We would like to see You Xiaoyang's dormitory and chat with his roommates."

"In that case, let's head over there and wait." As she spoke, Ms. Zhao stood up first, her eyes darting intentionally or otherwise toward a "competitor" at the other end of the office.

An Changpu and Qin Ruonan did not want to cause Ms. Zhao any unnecessary trouble. Seeing her suggestion, they realized she was worried that staying in the office too long would invite idle speculation from colleagues. They followed her lead, went downstairs, bypassed an experimental building, and arrived in front of several dormitory buildings located in a corner of the campus.

You Xiaoyang’s dormitory was in the building near the school wall, on the second floor. Ms. Zhao took An Changpu and Qin Ruonan to the dormitory manager’s office on the first floor to greet the manager, then waited inside for the students to return from class.

The manager of this boys' dormitory was a man in his fifties, very tall—he looked to be over 1.9 meters—resembling a basketball player. He was sturdy and spoke in a muffled, booming voice. Ms. Zhao called him "Big Old Zhang." Big Old Zhang looked quite serious; his face was taut, without a hint of a smile.

"Big Old Zhang, these two are police officers from the Public Security Bureau. You Xiaoyang, who lives in room 213 in your building, hasn't come to class for the past two days and hasn't gone home, so they are here to look into the situation," Ms. Zhao introduced.

"Hello, Brother Zhang. Do you smoke?" An Changpu smiled at Big Old Zhang and reached into his pocket for a pack of "prop cigarettes."

"No, no!" Big Old Zhang waved his hand, refusing to take it. "It's this time of day; if those little brats come back from class and see me smoking, I won't be able to manage them later!"

Ms. Zhao laughed from the side, explaining for Big Old Zhang: "Big Old Zhang is the most authoritative dormitory manager in our middle school! He is very strict with himself and never gives the students any excuse to complain, so as long as he stands there with a straight face, even the naughtiest boys have to behave."

Big Old Zhang nodded, a hint of pride on his face.

"Brother Zhang, how does You Xiaoyang usually behave in the dormitory?" An Changpu put the cigarettes away and asked.

"You Xiaoyang... You Xiaoyang..." Big Old Zhang muttered the name. Although Ms. Zhao had mentioned he was a student in room 213, the name seemed unfamiliar to him. He thought for a long time before he realized who the student was. "Oh, him! I remember now. His head hasn't even reached my shoulder, clean-looking, with freckles on his face, right?"

All three, including Ms. Zhao, nodded. Big Old Zhang’s description matched You Xiaoyang’s physical features perfectly.

"That kid is good! He’s polite, doesn't act shy when we meet, and always greets me. When he has free time, I often see him helping other students in the dorm fill their thermos bottles. There are a few troublemakers in this building, but this kid is definitely not on that list!" Big Old Zhang said quite firmly.

This did not come as a surprise to An Changpu and Qin Ruonan. Among the people they had contacted, besides Ms. Zhao, who felt You Xiaoyang was not focused on his studies, his parents and the dorm manager all had very high opinions of the boy.

As they spoke, the students were dismissed from class and began to file in through the dormitory door. Ms. Zhao quickly stood up and went to the entrance to watch, and Big Old Zhang also helped monitor the people coming in. Soon, they spotted the students who shared a room with You Xiaoyang. Ms. Zhao called out to the few boys who had just entered. Caught off guard, the boys looked nervous, glancing at each other, wondering who had committed what mistake to warrant the presence of their homeroom teacher and the formidable Big Old Zhang waiting for them.

"These are the students who live in the same dorm as You Xiaoyang," Ms. Zhao said, turning to ask one of the boys, "Niu Geng, where are the others in your dorm?"

The boy named Niu Geng was not short, but he looked at the homeroom teacher somewhat awkwardly and said, "They went to eat."

"Ms. Zhao, thank you for accompanying us. Let’s not interfere with your lunch. Why don’t you go ahead for your break? We can talk to these students ourselves," An Changpu said politely, patting Niu Geng on the shoulder as he spoke to Ms. Zhao.

Ms. Zhao realized that this was a polite way of asking her to excuse herself, and she was happy to stay away from the situation. She nodded, greeted Big Old Zhang, and left on her own.

Niu Geng looked at An Changpu, feeling at a loss. He twisted his body slightly, shaking An Changpu’s hand off his shoulder, looking quite uncomfortable.

"Let’s go. We want to see your dormitory," An Changpu said to the boys.

There were three boys present—two of average height and Niu Geng, who was taller. The three did not know the identities of An Changpu and Qin Ruonan, but because of the attitude of Ms. Zhao and Big Old Zhang toward them, they dared not act rashly. Hearing An Changpu’s request, they didn't say much and led the two upstairs, winding through the corridor to a dorm room at the end near the restroom. They opened the door and walked in.

This boys' dormitory was unexpectedly clean and tidy. The concrete floor was scrubbed until it shone. A row of storage lockers stood by the door, and four bunk beds were placed on either side of the room. In the middle were four large desks. Inside the room, facing the wall, was a slightly protruding window without a security grate. A few washed clothes hung on a drying rod by the window.

An Changpu introduced himself and Qin Ruonan, explaining their identities and the purpose of their visit. The boys relaxed a little, their expressions filled with curiosity and admiration—at this age, boys likely harbored some longing and aspiration for the profession of a criminal investigator.

"Your dorm is really clean! Is this a model dormitory?" An Changpu walked around, finding that the place could indeed be described as "bright and clean."

One of the boys, with a dark complexion, grinned and pointed at Niu Geng next to him: "He is our dorm head! He’s a neat freak! Usually, we don't have to do anything, and he helps us clean everything until it’s spotless! Last time they inspected the dorms for hygiene, Big Old Zhang said there weren't many girls' dorms cleaner than ours!"

Niu Geng glared at him, his face flushing red, as if being called a neat freak was something very shameful.

While An Changpu was praising the cleanliness of the dorm, Qin Ruonan was looking around. Her gaze was soon drawn to a footprint left on the corner of the windowsill.

In a dorm run by a neat freak, where everything was spotless, why was there a footprint left in the corner of this windowsill?

Her gaze immediately fell upon the upper bunk next to the windowsill.