In the dark, Lin Fuxi set her eyes on Tan Mo’s desk that was under her bed, which was near the door.
Although Tan Mo’s eyesight was not as good as Qin Mufeng’s, it was still better than that of a common person.
Even in the darkness, Tan Mo could see Lin Fuxi’s slightest movements and the direction of the latter’s gaze.
***
The next day, someone could be heard knocking on their room door while Tan Mo was packing her stuff to prepare for her lessons.
Instinctively, the remaining three turned their eyes to the door.
Tan Mo opened the door since she was the closest to it.
After opening it, Qin Muye could be seen standing outside.
“Muye! When did you come back?” Tan Mo hugged Qin Muye in surprise and elation.
After that, the latter was pulled into the room.
“Around 1 a.m. last night. Supposedly, our group was to come back today, but Ah-Qing and I rushed back the first thing after learning what happened to you,” Qin Muye explained while following Tan Mo into the room.
The other three heard Qin Muye’s words as well.
“Everything is under control now. Uncle drove his car into the dormitory area and showed everyone that he was the owner of the car in the picture. President Mu ordered an investigation on the matter too,” Tan Mo clarified.
“That’s a different story. Even though everything is under control, we still have to come back earlier to help you deal with this,” Qin Muye said. “The fact that we didn’t make it back when it happened yesterday is already unforgivable.”
“Was 1 a.m. the time the airplane touched down or the time you reached the campus?” Tan Mo asked, “Wait a minute. It was way past the dormitory curfew.”
“We reached home around that time. We were picked up by our chauffeur,” Qin Muye stated.
“In that case, wouldn’t you need to depart from home early in the morning?” Qin Muye was a late riser.
If she were to wake up naturally, she would only be awake at noon.
Regardless of when she went to bed the night before, she would always wake up at noon without fail.
It didn’t matter if she went to bed at midnight or 3 a.m. She would still wake up at the same time.
“Don’t sweat it.” Qin Muye was not bothered at all. “Okay, let’s stop talking about me. What do you know about the author?
“Listen to me! You should not let the author off the hook!” Qin Muye exclaimed. “I was worried that you would be too soft and not hold the perpetrator accountable as long as they came clean to you.”
Upon hearing that, Jin Yuelin, Meng Yuxi, and Lin Fuxi were rendered speechless.
She seemed to have the wrong idea about Tan Mo’s personality.
Would Tan Mo be too soft? Seriously?
What made Qin Muye think that Tan Mo would be tender-hearted?
They had lived in the same dormitory as Tan Mo for three years consecutively.
Jin Yuelin and Meng Yuxi were especially close with Tan Mo. Therefore, the two of them were eyewitnesses to the way she had been bashing Lin Fuxi throughout the span of three years.
Tan Mo would always speak softly in a ladylike manner.
Yet, she could use the most tender words to retort to Lin Fuxi’s ill-intentioned remarks so much so that the latter never once had things her way.
It was after spending three years together with Tan Mo that they understood her so much.
However, the fact that Qin Muye, who was Tan Mo’s childhood friend, had such a big misunderstanding about the latter’s personality truly blew their minds away.
At that point, Lin Fuxi had a powerful urge to tell Qin Muye to open her eyes wide and see how Tan Mo had been bullying her.
“Of course, I’ll investigate this matter. Even if I didn’t, Uncle and President Mu would make sure to uncover the truth.” Tan Mo added, “This issue is no longer just about me. It’s affecting many parties, including Uncle, the university, and so on. Plus, it’s bringing negative impacts to all of us.”
“Great to hear that.” Qin Muye nodded and asked, “So, what’s your current progress?”
“I did a comparison of all the photos last night. Uncle sent me the result of his findings too,” Tan Mo stated. “I can now confirm where the author took the pictures.”
Upon hearing that, Lin Fuxi turned to Tan Mo and asked, “You found it?”
“Indeed.” Tan Mo nodded confidently. “As I’ve mentioned before, I’ll close this case in no time with the level of my intellect.
“Yesterday, the forum administrator sent me a copy of all the information related to the author. I’d say she was pretty prudent to have gotten herself an alternate account,” Tan Mo remarked. “Even so, there’ll be clues left behind regardless of the accounts she used. Seeing that she’s physically here, she’ll either be on the campus or somewhere nearby when she was on the Internet. In any case, there’ll be things that are waiting for me to find out.”
“What did you find?” Qin Muye asked the exact question Lin Fuxi had been dying to know.
“I haven’t gone through the data yet. The photo comparison already took all my time yesterday. I’ll proceed with the investigation after I finish my lessons and all the ad hoc tasks in the lab today,” Tan Mo said.
“Okay. Shall we grab breakfast then?” Qin Muye questioned.
“What? You haven’t eaten? Didn’t you come from your home?” Tan Mo was surprised.
“Well, yeah. How could I eat with all the worry in my mind? I rushed over here first thing and skipped breakfast at home. I thought that perhaps we could have it together,” Qin Muye explained.
“Aww! That’s so sweet of you. Alright, breakfast is on me today.” Tan Mo held Qin Muye’s arm and walked outside.
Lin Fuxi sneered silently at the sight of Tan Mo, who showed partiality.
The latter was never so intimate with anyone except Qin Muye.
Tan Mo fawned on Qin Muye since she was the daughter of the Qin family. Her father was the existing patriarch, and her brother was the next patriarch in line.
Tan Mo would put on a smiling face and be concerned about Qin Muye if she had enough rest and ate well.
At that, Lin Fuxi’s lips twitched in jealousy.
If her memory served her right, Tan Mo had known Qin Muye since she was young.
Still, she was unsure whether they befriended each other during their elementary school years or even before that.
Regardless, they had known each other a long time ago.
Lin Fuxi snorted secretly.
As expected of a rich kid who studied at Jixia Academy her entire grade school years, she sure knew that she needed to win the favor of Qin Muye, whose family was more prominent than hers.
It was no wonder President Mu and all those professors favored her so much.
After all, she had experience in that area since young.
Not only did they not feel that she was pretentious while ingratiating herself with them, but they also thought that she was cute.
It was an impressive feat that not an ordinary person could pull off.
Just as Lin Fuxi was contemplating, Qin Muye could be heard asking, “Huh? Are you not bringing your laptop?”
“Nah. It’s pretty heavy.” Although her laptop was one of the lightest in the market, it was still a burden while carrying it in the bag.
“None of my lessons today requires a laptop, so having the iPad with me is enough.” Tan Mo tapped on her backpack and added, “I can just come back to get it in the evening before I head to the lab.”
