Chapter 27: Influence Gained Through Proximity

“We’re also investigating the cause of Wang Yuluo’s death,” Ning Shuyi replied, deftly sidestepping her question. “The two of you made plans to go to the movies together, so you must have been close, right? Would you mind if we asked you about Wang Yuluo?”

“I… I’m not sure if we were really that close…” Cai Xin stammered, flustered at first. As she spoke, she trailed off, her expression turning remorseful. “Ah, listen to what I’m saying! Actually, among the students in our graduate prep class, I was one of the few who was fairly close to Wang Yuluo. We were quite familiar with each other.

“Usually, she’d skip class. She was always afraid the teachers would catch her on attendance and contact her family—she didn’t want them to know she was cutting classes. So she often asked me to cover for her.

“My family isn’t well off. Last year, I failed the grad school entrance exam, and this year, it’s do-or-die for me. As a kind of exchange, if I covered for her, she’d share her expensive study materials with me, which saved me quite a bit of money. Sometimes, she’d even buy me lunch, thinking it was too pitiful that I always just ate bread…

“She really did right by me. She was a good person. Now that something’s happened to her, my first reaction was fear, wanting to distance myself… That’s just awful of me!”

As she spoke, tears began to stream down her face, growing heavier until her sobs were nearly uncontrollable. There was no way Ning Shuyi could count on Huo Yan to comfort the girl, so she quickly pulled a tissue from her pocket and handed it to Cai Xin, gently patting her back to offer some solace.

“How about this?” Ning Shuyi said patiently. “Let’s give you a moment to cry it out and release your emotions, then we can talk, all right?”

Cai Xin nodded through her tears, clutching the tissue to her face, signaling her agreement as best she could.

Ning Shuyi took Huo Yan aside, giving Cai Xin some space so she wouldn’t feel self-conscious weeping in front of them.

“Does she really care about Wang Yuluo that much?” Huo Yan asked in a low voice, frowning in puzzlement.

He was genuinely confused by the intensity of Cai Xin’s emotions. How could an ordinary classmate from the prep course be more broken up than Wang Yuluo’s own aunt?

“I doubt her tears are only for Wang Yuluo’s death,” Ning Shuyi sighed. “It’s probably a lot of things piling up. She just said her family’s struggling, and this year’s exam is a last-ditch effort. Now her mother’s suddenly fallen ill—that only makes things worse. And at a time like this, the friend she relied on for help in the prep course has died. It must make her feel like her path forward is even more daunting.”

Huo Yan was taken aback. He hadn’t considered all that, but hearing Ning Shuyi lay it out, it suddenly made sense.

After a moment, he leaned in and murmured, “You seem to have a real knack for understanding people.”

“It’s just something I picked up,” Ning Shuyi replied, fully aware of her own strengths and weaknesses. She was a little surprised by Huo Yan’s compliment, but didn’t bother with false modesty. “My mother always told us growing up: every effect has its cause. No one is happy or sad for no reason. Every person’s character is shaped by something. If you think about it, you can always understand why.”

Cai Xin cried herself out alone for a while, until she was limp and exhausted. When Ning Shuyi saw she’d stopped, she signaled for Huo Yan to come back with her.

“Are you feeling a bit better?” she asked Cai Xin. “Do you want something to drink?”

As she spoke, Huo Yan headed toward the vending machine, but Cai Xin hurriedly stopped him, shaking her head. “No, no, that’s all right! I’m sorry, I just couldn’t control my emotions for a bit and wasted your time! It’s just—hearing about what happened to Wang Yuluo was really hard for me. Lately, it feels like everyone who’s good to me is either getting sick or dying, and my own studies are a mess. I just kind of broke down for a moment.

“I’m fine now. If you need to ask me anything, let’s get to it. Just, if you could, please ask everything here. My mom could wake up at any time, and I can’t let her find out that something happened to one of my classmates. Her heart can’t handle that kind of shock—if she gets anxious or worried, something might go wrong. And I can’t stray far, either. If the hospital needs the family and I’m not there, that won’t do—my mom has only me to rely on.”

Ning Shuyi nodded, understanding. “Of course. We’re only asking because you were close to Wang Yuluo, taking classes together every day in the prep course. You’re one of the people who’s been around her most recently, so we’d like to ask you a few things.”

“I’m not sure if I’m really one of those who’s been around her the most,” Cai Xin shook her head. “I did see her just yesterday, but lately we haven’t been that close. I never miss a class, but Wang Yuluo hardly ever went—saying she was inconsistent would be putting it mildly. Most of the time, she was out having fun, not with me.

“We were more like mutually helpful acquaintances than truly close friends. I want to help you however I can, but I’m afraid I might not know everything you want to know…”

“That’s fine, don’t worry,” Ning Shuyi assured her. “Let’s just chat, and you can share whatever you know. So, was there no class in your prep course yesterday? You and Wang Yuluo went to the movies together?”

A faint blush rose to Cai Xin’s cheeks. She’d just said she never skipped a class, but the movie outing with Wang Yuluo had happened on a weekday, during class hours—a bit of a contradiction.

“We actually did have class yesterday…” she admitted quietly. “But that teacher—how should I put this—he’s like a teapot full of dumplings, stuffed with useful knowledge but unable to pour any out. His lectures are just so dull, all muddled and confusing. Wang Yuluo asked me to go to the movies with her. At first I refused, but she kept pestering me. I’ve been reviewing and doing exercises every single day, over and over—I was starting to feel exhausted. So in the end… I gave in and agreed to skip a class to go with her.

“But we’d barely made it halfway through the movie when I suddenly got word that my mother was ill and had been taken to the hospital. So I rushed over here, and missed the rest of the classes yesterday as well.”