Chapter 24: The Little Follower

Huo Yan also understood the stakes and nodded. “Tell me what to do next. I’ll follow your lead.”

Ning Shuyi hadn’t expected this response. She had always thought this man, with his resolute air, must be a hardliner at work, and had prepared herself for that. Now, she realized she was mistaken.

“I just found an old photo in Wang Yuluo’s album—her and the girl who watched the movie with her.” She pulled up the photo she’d just discovered, enlarging it on the screen, pointing first to the girl’s neck, then to the background. “Look, the person in this photo has a birthmark the size of a coin on the side of her neck, just like the one we saw in the surveillance footage yesterday. This photo was taken about a month ago, and the background is a classroom, so I’m guessing this girl is a classmate of Wang Yuluo from her graduate entrance exam prep course. Yesterday, Wang Yuluo’s aunt mentioned that the prep course hasn’t ended yet. If we go now, we might still find her. Even in the worst case, if we can’t locate her, we should at least be able to identify who she is and what her relationship to Wang Yuluo was.”

“Let’s go, then. We’ll leave right now.” Huo Yan stood, picking up the jacket draped over his chair. “You can wait for me in the car.”

Ning Shuyi nodded, quickly tidied up her things, grabbed her coat, and walked out. When she reached the door, she glanced back and happened to see Huo Yan taking the insulated lunch box—left untouched on the table all along—and locking it away in his locker.

Raising an eyebrow, she quickly averted her gaze and left. This new colleague of hers was rather intriguing; perhaps her mother was right—maybe he wasn’t as withdrawn as he seemed. Perhaps, for some reason, he just couldn’t bring himself to open up to others.

Not wanting Huo Yan to feel awkward, Ning Shuyi hurried down the stairs, almost running. By the time he arrived, she was already sitting calmly in the car, her breathing even, as if she’d been waiting there for ages.

The two of them set off for the graduate prep institute where Wang Yuluo attended classes.

The institute was in a fairly bustling part of W City—a peaceful enclave in a lively district, just fifteen minutes’ walk from the nearest commercial center. Its good reputation drew plenty of students.

Even at just past nine in the morning, students were coming and going in droves. The front desk was busy, the receptionist seemingly handling registration inquiries.

As Ning Shuyi approached the desk, the receptionist glanced up and, without a word, handed her a stack of forms, gesturing to the side. “Please take your time looking these over. All the course schedules, prices, class times, and registration forms are in there. If you have any questions, please read through them first, get a general idea, and then come ask me.”

“Sorry, I’m not here to enroll.” Ning Shuyi put the forms back on the desk.

“Oh—are you here for a refund?” The receptionist paused, surprised.

“I’m looking for someone, a student here named Wang Yuluo.” As Ning Shuyi spoke, she produced her police badge, holding it out for the receptionist to see, lowering her voice to avoid drawing unnecessary attention from the students nearby.

The receptionist, seeing she was a police officer, was momentarily stunned, then noticed Huo Yan standing behind her. She realized that, in her earlier haste, she hadn’t even noticed him—otherwise, she’d have known right away these two weren’t prospective students.

With more students waiting for forms, the receptionist quickly pointed them toward the inner office for assistance.

Ning Shuyi thanked her and walked in with Huo Yan, while the receptionist, suppressing her curiosity, returned to helping the next student.

In the back office, the duty teacher was startled to hear that detectives from the public security bureau were there to find someone. On learning that something had happened to Wang Yuluo, the teacher expressed deep regret. Wang Yuluo had attended their prep courses for three years; though her attitude toward study was never exactly dedicated, and the teachers often wondered how long she intended to linger, none would have imagined things would end like this.

It turned out that many teachers at the institute were well acquainted with Wang Yuluo’s double life, which saved Ning Shuyi and Huo Yan a lot of explanation. After some inquiries, they learned that the girl who often accompanied Wang Yuluo—the one with the coin-sized birthmark on her neck—was named Cai Xin.

Cai Xin, however, was not well known to the teachers. If not for the distinctive birthmark and her habit of trailing after Wang Yuluo like a little sidekick, they might not have remembered her at all.

They were told that Cai Xin had taken the day off and hadn’t come to class. The teacher didn’t know why. Since it was the students’ mid-morning break, Ning Shuyi got permission from the institute to ask the other students about Cai Xin’s whereabouts.

In the classroom where Cai Xin and Wang Yuluo had attended, though class was over, the room was still fairly quiet. About twenty students were inside; some dozed at their desks, others pored over materials, a few chatted in low voices.

Ning Shuyi approached the door and saw two girls near it, whispering together. She waved to them. “Excuse me, do you know Cai Xin?”

“Cai Xin?” The girl by the door adjusted her glasses. “Sure, we know her. Are you looking for her? She took the day off.”

“I see. Do you know why? I need to find her urgently.” Ning Shuyi asked with sincere concern.

The girl, perhaps intimidated by Ning Shuyi’s scholarly air, assumed she was a student from another class. Without suspicion, she took out her phone, scrolling through her social media. “You don’t have her number?”

“I do. I called, but she didn’t answer,” Ning Shuyi replied naturally.

“Oh, here it is!” the girl nodded, showing Ning Shuyi a post. “No wonder she didn’t pick up. Look, she posted this this morning—she’s at the hospital.”