Lin Lu’s final words sounded like a joke, yet also resembled some unfathomable curse.
The work in the equipment management room was indeed quite leisurely.
In the afternoon, a total of six classes had physical education.
Apart from the brief periods before and after classes when students borrowed and returned equipment, Lin Wanxing had very little to do for most of the day.
At 4:00 p.m., the aroma of cooked rice wafted over from the school cafeteria in the distance.
Lin Wanxing was organizing the equipment inventory at her desk when Qin Ao suddenly appeared before her.
Lin Wanxing looked up, surprised.
“Teacher, what do you mean by this?”
The boy raised his eyebrows slightly, his gaze sharp and imposing. Fuming with anger, he flung a crumpled object onto the desk.
Lin Wanxing looked down and saw a cigarette box on the table.
The box was wrapped in gift wrapping paper covered with red and blue hearts. The paper was badly crumpled, as if Qin Ao had been gripping it tightly the whole way, seething with rage.
She didn’t seem to mind the student openly slamming a cigarette box onto her desk. Instead, she picked up the crumpled wrapping paper.
On it was a handwritten message in pink ink—
[Are you confused about your life?
Do you still not know where your future lies?
Xiao Lin from No. 8 Middle School specializes in treating academic apathy, truancy, unwillingness to learn, poor performance, and other difficult issues.
Address: Sports Equipment Room, Hongjing No. 8 Middle School
Phone: 18953418080]
For a moment, Lin Wanxing could hardly believe what she was seeing.
She had no idea where Qin Ao had gotten this cigarette box, why her name and address were on it, or how the phone number listed could be identical to hers.
But she quickly suppressed her shock and refrained from loudly explaining anything to Qin Ao.
The wrapping paper had clearly been wrapped around the cigarette box. Her gaze shifted to the “Red Nanjing” brand on the table.
The bright red box was emblazoned with the two golden characters “Nanjing.” The lid was half-open, and half of the plastic seal remained. Inside the box, something shiny seemed to be stuffed.
Lin Wanxing opened the cigarette box.
With a rustle, a burst of glittering confetti spilled out—gold, silver, and red strands—spreading cheerfully across the entire desktop.
Though the “surprise” had arrived abruptly, Lin Wanxing was even more baffled about what was going on.
She first glanced up at Qin Ao. The boy was still glaring at her, his face flushed with anger.
Perhaps because the student was so furious, Lin Wanxing instead became calm.
She suppressed the swirling confusion in her heart and gathered the fallen items together.
A few intact cigarettes remained in the box.
She picked one up, turned it over, and realized that someone had replaced the tobacco with shredded confetti and rolled it into the cigarette.
So, Qin Ao must have somehow received this gift-wrapped cigarette box.
He opened it, discovered it was a prank, and then stormed over to confront her?
Just as Lin Wanxing reached this conclusion, she suddenly noticed a line of pencil writing on the inside of the unrolled cigarette paper:
①—Perseverance
She looked at Qin Ao in confusion. The boy raised his eyebrows, clearly having also noticed the writing on the cigarette paper.
Lin Wanxing proceeded to unroll another cigarette.
⑦—Self-reliance leads to strength
And another…
⑧—Persistent effort forges brilliance
It seemed like a collection of motivational quotes encouraging studying?
She unrolled the cigarette papers. On each of the three cigarettes, there was an inspiring phrase.
Though the content on each paper was different, the rounded, cute handwriting, combined with the confetti scattered across the desk, made it look like a gift prepared by a secretly admiring girl trying to persuade a boy to quit smoking.
“Where did you find this?” Lin Wanxing moved on to the next cigarette.
“Didn’t you put it in my desk, teacher?”
“Do you think I’m the kind of person who would do something so pointless?” Lin Wanxing asked.
“You are,” Qin Ao said firmly. “18953418080—that’s your phone number, right? If I call it now, will your phone ring?”
“No, I keep my phone on silent during work hours.”
Lin Wanxing unrolled another cigarette. “Even if my number is written here, it doesn’t mean I did this.”
Qin Ao sneered.
Lin Wanxing looked down.
⑤—Diligence paves the way up the mountain of knowledge
This cigarette paper had another similar phrase.
①—、②—、③—、④—、⑤—、⑥—、⑦—、⑧—、⑨—
Lin Wanxing arranged the nine unrolled cigarette papers in order. She couldn’t figure out who had placed such a cigarette box in Qin Ao’s desk, nor could she guess the motive behind framing her for it.
“If I were the one who slipped this cigarette box to you, why wouldn’t I admit it now? Don’t you find that strange?” After thinking for a while, Lin Wanxing could only say this.
“Not strange at all, because you enjoy doing things like this.”
A clear young voice came from the doorway. Lin Wanxing looked over. Chen Jianghe stood at the entrance, though it was unclear how long he had been listening.
“Chen Gou?” Qin Ao sounded surprised by Chen Jianghe’s sudden appearance.
But Chen Jianghe didn’t respond. The boy walked directly to her desk and slammed the “Free Ball Borrowing Card for 100 Uses” onto it. “You did this too, right, teacher?”
“What else did you do, teacher?” Qin Ao asked, puzzled. He picked up the handmade “Free Ball Borrowing Card for 100 Uses,” turning it over in his hands before finally exclaiming, “Damn, this is so childish!”
Chen Jianghe’s face was dark, a far cry from the obedient demeanor he had shown while eating beef noodles the previous night. He had returned to his cold, aloof self.
“You not only sent me a ‘little gift,’ but you sent one to Chen Gou too?” Qin Ao suddenly realized, looking at Chen Jianghe. “And this idiot actually believed it and came to ask you for a soccer ball? How naive!”
“What exactly are you trying to do?” Chen Jianghe, provoked by Qin Ao, grew even fiercer. “Do you want to discipline us or save us? But we’re just trash students. Please stay away from us.”
After saying this, the boy turned and left without looking back.
Seeing that Chen Jianghe was genuinely angry, Qin Ao turned and chased after him.
The two boys tugged at each other, arguing just outside the door.
The desk was a mess of shredded paper.
Lin Wanxing looked down, the buzzing of their earlier shouts still ringing in her ears.
The handwriting on the Ball Borrowing Card and the wrapping paper was very similar, likely from the same person.
It was clear that someone had deliberately led these two boys to this equipment room.
But why?
Her thoughts were in disarray. The summer breeze drifted into the room, scattering the colorful confetti, glittering like gold.
One last unopened cigarette remained on the desk.
She picked it up and slowly unrolled it…
—
⑩—□□□
The characters on this final cigarette paper were unexpected.
Lin Wanxing pondered for a moment, then suddenly stood up and shouted at the boys’ retreating backs, “Wait.”
Qin Ao and Chen Jianghe paused for a second but continued walking, clearly pretending not to hear.
Shouting something like “Let me explain” would definitely be useless. Instead, Lin Wanxing simply said, “Get back here. Do you want me to come to your classroom and drag you out myself?”
A dozen seconds later, Chen Jianghe and Qin Ao were back in front of her desk.
“Why run? You come to your teacher’s desk to slam things down, and then you try to leave halfway through?” Lin Wanxing asked.
The two boys stood stiffly, silent.
The confetti on the desk was blown into a chaotic mess. Lin Wanxing picked up the “cigarette papers” and the “Ball Borrowing Card” and said, “I have evidence that neither of these things was done by me.”
The room fell silent for a few seconds.
“What… evidence?” Chen Jianghe forced the words out through gritted teeth.
“First, this handwriting is different from mine. Of course, you could say I asked someone else to write it. So, first, tell me: when did you get this ‘Free Ball Borrowing Card for 100 Uses’?”
“Wednesday afternoon.”
“How did you get it?”
“I found it in my desk too.”
“Last Wednesday?”
“Yes.”
Lin Wanxing took out her phone, opened her calendar, and showed it to the two boys. “Wednesday was September 4th. I only started working at this school on Monday, September 9th.”
Chen Jianghe’s stern brows furrowed.
Lin Wanxing then opened her train ticket purchase interface and said, “I only took the high-speed train from Yongchuan to Hongjing on September 8th. When you received this card, I wasn’t even in this city.”
Chen Jianghe was speechless. His thin lips pressed tightly together as if lost in thought.
Lin Wanxing turned to look at Qin Ao.
Qin Ao stiffened and instinctively shoved his hands into his uniform pockets.
“You said earlier that you found the cigarettes in your desk?” Lin Wanxing asked.
“Yeah,” Qin Ao replied.
“Then, may I ask, student Qin Ao, in broad daylight, under the clear sky, how could I sneak into the teaching building, put a pack of cigarettes in your desk, and not get caught?”
“We had P.E. class just now, and you look like a student anyway,” Qin Ao said.
“Thank you for that!” Lin Wanxing was almost amused by anger. “Then I have a question: what’s the most crucial element of a crime? It’s motive, right? So, what possible reason would I have to do these things?”
Both students fell silent.
Lin Wanxing looked at Chen Jianghe. “As you said, do I want to be a good teacher who saves students?”
She raised her head and introduced herself, “I graduated with a master’s degree from Yongchuan University, was the top scorer in the liberal arts section of the provincial college entrance exam, have published nine SCI papers—six as first author—and was a recipient of the National Scholarship for seven consecutive years. So, if I weren’t just trying to coast through life, why would I be sitting here?”
Chen Jianghe and Qin Ao were completely petrified. By the end, a trace of confusion appeared on both boys’ faces.
Chen Jianghe: “What’s SCI?”
Qin Ao: “Isn’t it a bit inappropriate for you to boast like that?”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. What’s inappropriate about it?”
Chen Jianghe and Qin Ao gradually blushed, the atmosphere turning awkward.
Qin Ao rubbed his hands on his pants. “Then, teacher, this… really wasn’t you…?”
“It wasn’t me.”
“Then I’m sorry,” Chen Jianghe apologized promptly.
“Obviously, it’s not your fault. Someone is playing tricks,” Lin Wanxing said. “Now the question is: who did it, and why?”
The two boys stood dumbfounded, looking at each other. It seemed they had no clues at all.
“A few things are certain at this point,” Lin Wanxing said, holding up her fingers. “First, someone made these very strange things for you. Second, someone deliberately led you to this sports equipment room.”
“Why bring us to you? Does your equipment room have some ‘treasure’ we’re supposed to find?”
“That’s not impossible, is it?” Lin Wanxing said.
Qin Ao was stunned. Under the bewildered gazes of him and Chen Jianghe, Lin Wanxing unfolded the last cigarette paper.
⑩—□□□
The two boys leaned over the desk, hunched and studying the cigarette paper for a long time.
“What’s so interesting about this?” Qin Ao finally asked.
“…Three squares?” Chen Jianghe began frowning again.
“Not three squares, but ‘⑩—□□□’,” Lin Wanxing corrected. “All the others have motivational quotes. Why is this one blank?”
“They forgot to write it!” Qin Ao said.
“Numbers ① through ⑨ are all filled. They forgot ⑩?”
Qin Ao was stumped. “Then I don’t know either!”
Chen Jianghe suddenly looked up, his eyes bright. “Is it a fill-in-the-blank?”
“Fill in what?” Qin Ao looked confused, then shifted his gaze to the three small squares on the cigarette paper. “You’re saying ① through ⑨ are clues, and ⑩ is something we’re supposed to fill in?”
“That’s a possibility,” Lin Wanxing nodded, acknowledging Chen Jianghe’s guess.
“Any other possibilities?” Qin Ao asked.
“Can’t think of any for now,” Lin Wanxing replied.
“Then what are we supposed to fill in?” Qin Ao asked.
“Haven’t figured that out yet,” Lin Wanxing said.
“Teacher, didn’t you say you graduated with a master’s from Yongchuan University, were the top liberal arts scorer in the province, first author on three something-I papers, and got the National Scholarship for seven years? Shouldn’t you know?” Qin Ao asked with a grin.
“Waiting for me here, are you?” Lin Wanxing laughed.
Qin Ao fell silent.
Chen Jianghe, frowning like a little old man, said, “Is someone really leading me and Qin Ao here to find you, teacher? But why only the two of us received these?”
“It must be because you and Qin Ao have something in common. And who knows, maybe others will show up at my door too.”
Lin Wanxing said this.
The room fell quiet again.
The unrolled cigarette papers on the desk curled back slightly, like shy creatures retracting at a touch.
“Then what should we do now?” Chen Jianghe asked.
“First, think about who around you would do something like this.”
“Can’t think of anyone. Did you offend someone, teacher?!” Qin Ao asked.
“I wasn’t even here a week ago. I can’t think of anyone either,” Lin Wanxing said.
The equipment room sank into silence again. They seemed to have hit a dead end.
The whole incident felt like a prank—someone had posed a riddle, trivial yet compelling enough to make you want the answer.
Lin Wanxing pondered briefly. “For now, it seems the only thing we can do is try to solve the puzzle?”
She arranged the cigarette papers neatly. “Copy one each and study them on your own.”
“But what if this isn’t a fill-in-the-blank?” Chen Jianghe asked.
“Consider it handwriting practice,” Lin Wanxing said.
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