Chapter 034 Jinjiang Debut
Bai Mian became interested: "Tell me about it in detail."
Huo Yuwei began to tell her story: "Not long after I got divorced, my junior high school classmates held a class reunion. I met him at the reunion. I was in a bad mood at the reunion and drank a lot of wine. In the end, I was completely drunk. It was at this time that he walked towards me, slowly picked me up, and put me on the passenger seat of his car."
"The atmosphere was very ambiguous at the time. I thought he would do something, but he didn't take advantage of me. Instead, he asked for my home address and sent me home. My impression of this man suddenly became very good."
"The next morning after I sobered up, I received a friend request from him. He said his name was Jia Junwen, and he was the boy who sat in the last row. When we were in school, he always had a crush on me. After so many years, we met again, and this feeling became stronger. After learning that I was single, he said he wanted to pursue me."
"To be honest, I don't remember a boy named Jia Junwen in my class at all. But this is normal. After so many years, it is impossible for me to remember every student's name. Besides, he sat in the back row. You know, every class has a few quiet students. Maybe no one can remember their names after a few years of getting along with them."
"I was single at the time, so I tried to accept his pursuit. My ex-husband was a shrewd businessman. I married him because he was rich, but he dumped me when I was middle-aged. Not only did he not give me a penny, he also hired a famous lawyer to sue me, forcing me to leave the house with nothing."
"When I met Jia Junwen, I was living in a very poor situation, with no savings and living in a low-rent apartment. I thought he would turn around and leave after seeing my situation, but I didn't expect him to be disgusted at all and even helped me renovate the low-rent apartment so that I could live a more comfortable life."
"The low-rent housing I live in is a bit old, and the electrical appliances in my house are all old. I don't have the money to replace them, so I just make do with what I have. After he came, he paid for all the electrical appliances in the low-rent housing to be replaced, including the air conditioner, washing machine, refrigerator, etc., all replaced with big brands. He said he didn't want me to suffer any grievances."
"His sincerity touched me. I am not young anymore and just want to find someone to live a down-to-earth life with. He is a very suitable person. After considering it for a few days, I agreed to his pursuit."
"After officially confirming our relationship, Jia Junwen and I started living together. He moved into my low-rent apartment. We planned to get married and save money to buy a house together. I shared the good news with several relatives and friends. One of them was an old friend who was also my junior high school classmate. She had a good memory. When she learned that I was going to marry Jia Junwen, she told me categorically that there was no boy named Jia Junwen in my junior high school class."
"After she said that, I started to have doubts. I called a dozen of my junior high school classmates, and they all said that there was no one named Jia Junwen in their class. This is weird. It's OK if I don't remember him, but how is it possible that no one remembers him?"
"The more I thought about it, the more worried I became. I went to the basement and dug out all the old stuff. Finally, I found a junior high school graduation photo. I looked carefully at everyone's face in the photo, and Jia Junwen was not on it at all!"
Lame brother figured out something: "So this Jia Junwen is not your classmate at all, then why did he attend your class reunion?"
Huo Yuwei nodded: "I was also confused, so I sent him a WeChat message to question him, but he didn't reply to my WeChat message at all, and he didn't go home that night. I couldn't contact him no matter what, and he just disappeared from my life!"
Lame brother touched his chin and said, "He appeared out of nowhere and disappeared out of nowhere. It's really strange. Could it be that he has been interested in you for a long time, but he has no chance to get close to you, so he pretended to be your classmate to attend the class reunion. Everything he did was to pursue you?"
Huo Yuwei sighed, "If only it were that simple. He didn't come back overnight, so I called the police and told them he was missing. Guess what? After checking his information, the police said he didn't exist! There is no one named Jia Junwen in Qingshui Town. All the identity information he told me was false. I have been dating someone who doesn't exist!"
Lame Brother slapped his thigh and said, "Now that you put it that way, I understand. This is an old trick used by men. This man is most likely a married man who can't bear the loneliness, so he made up a fake name to pick up girls. Once he gets you, he'll run away after a night of fun. Am I right?"
Huo Yuwei bit her lip and said, "Actually, there is something I haven't told anyone else. During the time he lived with me, he always said that he was not feeling well and didn't have sex with me. We were just roommates living in the same house. But I saw that he was a down-to-earth person, so I didn't care about his physical defects."
Lame Brother frowned in disbelief: "He didn't touch you? Then... if it's not for sex, then could it be for money?"
Huo Yuwei shook her head again: "This is even more impossible. When I met him, I had no money at all. On the contrary, he spent a lot of money on me and helped me renovate my home. During the time we lived together, he was the one who spent the money."
Lame Brother scratched his head: "I can't figure out why, unless he is Santa Claus, who comes to help you improve your life."
He turned to Bai Mian and asked, "What do you think?"
Bai Mian hesitated for a moment and said, "How many of you went to the class reunion?"
Huo Yuwei recalled: "There should be a total of 36 people who went. At that time, the classmates sent a special notice in the group chat. The class monitor had already booked a hotel room in advance. The seats in the room are limited. Family members cannot be brought. Only in person can you go."
"The private room that the monitor booked has 36 seats. I remember that every seat was occupied on the day of the party, which means there were exactly 36 people attending the party."
"How many people are there in your junior high school class?" Bai Mian asked.
Huo Yuwei said, "There are thirty-six of us! Before the party started, the squad leader said that after so many years, we are still all together, which is very precious. He even toasted us a glass at that time."
Lame Brother immediately discovered the blind spot: "There are a total of thirty-six people in your class. An outsider sneaked in, but in the end there were still thirty-six people present, which means that one classmate didn't go!"
"Who didn't come?" Huo Yuwei thought about it, but couldn't think of anything. She simply took out the graduation photo from her bag and said, "I brought the photo with me. I'll eliminate them one by one. He came. I saw him at the party. And her, and... No, after looking around, all the people in the photo attended the party. What's going on?"
"Wait a minute..." Cripple Brother said, looking at the photos on the table, "Have you counted? There are a total of thirty-five students in your photo!"
Huo Yuwei was stunned for a moment and counted again. Just as Brother Lame said, there were only thirty-five students in the photo, excluding the teachers and the principal.
Huo Yuwei muttered, "There's one person who didn't go to take graduation photos? That shouldn't be the case. I remember that photo opportunities were rare back then. Every time there was an opportunity to take photos, everyone would rush to go. How could someone be absent on purpose?"
"There is a person who missed both the graduation photo shoot and your class reunion. Perhaps..." Bai Mian said seriously, "this absent person is the key to the whole thing."
When Bai Mian said this, Huo Yuwei started to cough violently. She coughed for a long time before stopping: "I'm sorry, Master, I may have been infected with the flu. Please wait a moment, I will put on a mask and talk to you."
After Huo Yuwei put on her mask, Bai Mian grabbed her hand and felt her pulse. After a moment, Bai Mian let go of her hand heavily and asked softly, "Do you remember that there was someone named Zhao Xiaoai in your life?"
Huo Yuwei shook her head blankly: "Who is this person? Is she the classmate who didn't come? I have no impression of her at all."
Bai Mian sighed silently. Huo Yuwei asked, "Master, please tell me, who is she?"
"Zhao Xiaoai, she was your junior high school classmate and your roommate in the same dormitory. She was the one you bullied for three years." Bai Mian said word by word.
Huo Yuwei gasped: "Me? I have such a good temper, how could I possibly bully others?"
Bai Mian ignored Huo Yuwei's explanation and spoke directly: "Zhao Xiaoai entered junior high school 26 years ago and was assigned to the same dormitory as you. Since the first month of enrollment, you have started bullying her."
"There are four girls in your dormitory. You have the strongest personality among the four. The other two don't want to have conflicts with you, so they all rely on you. When you target Zhao Xiaoai, they join you in targeting Zhao Xiaoai. Zhao Xiaoai becomes the one who is excluded in the dormitory."
"Zhao Xiaoai had very good hair. She had black and shiny hair, which was rare among students at that time. This long hair was her pride, but it was also because of this long hair that she became your target."
"At first, the four of you took turns on duty, but then you accused Zhao Xiaoai of losing too much hair. Her hair was everywhere, causing trouble for the others, so you asked Zhao Xiaoai to clean the dormitory by herself and fetch water for the three of you. It was like treating her as a babysitter for the three of you. Although it was excessive, the timid Zhao Xiaoai still agreed."
"Later, your bullying escalated further. You couldn't stand the fact that Zhao Xiaoai ranked higher than you in the class, so you deliberately prevented her from sleeping well. Every midnight, when Zhao Xiaoai was sleeping soundly, you and the other two would climb onto her bed, cover her mouth and nose, and force her to wake up. When she woke up, you would say you were just joking and that she couldn't do anything to you anyway."
Huo Yuwei interrupted in surprise: "What are you talking about? Have I ever done something like this?"
Bai Mian said, "Yes, everything I just said was done by you. As a teenage girl, you are jealous of her hair and her grades, but is it really because of her hair and grades? Perhaps, adolescent malice does not need a reason at all."
Huo Yuwei straightened up and wanted to refute, but her coughing became even more severe.
Bai Mian continued, "You always woke her up in the middle of the night like this. Over time, she developed neurasthenia and felt drowsy during the day. Her grades also plummeted. In the end, she was admitted to a mediocre vocational school, and you were very proud of yourself."
"I—" Huo Yuwei interrupted Bai Mian excitedly. Bai Mian said calmly: "If you still want me to solve your doubts, just listen to me."
Huo Yuwei finally shut up and listened quietly to Bai Mian's story.
Bai Mian: "But these are not the most outrageous things. The most outrageous thing is that on the day you took your graduation photos -"
"That day, the three of you got up early in the morning. Zhao Xiaoai was still sleeping in bed. You looked at her hair and suddenly had a new 'idea'. You climbed onto her bed with two of your 'men' and carefully tied her long hair to the railing at the head of the bed and tied it into a knot. When Zhao Xiaoai woke up, she cried and begged you to help her untie it, but you left with a smug smile, and your 'men' locked the door from the outside."
"Then the three of you went to take graduation photos and locked Zhao Xiaoai in the room. Although Zhao Xiaoai was absent during the photo shoot, there were too many people and your teacher didn't notice her at all. Zhao Xiaoai was trapped like this for the whole morning."
"She was lying on the bed alone, helplessly looking at the ceiling. Her hair was tied to the railing. She couldn't untie the knot, nor could she sit up. There were no tools nearby that she could use. Besides, everyone in the dormitory had gone to take graduation photos. No matter how she screamed, no one would come to help her."
"What was most difficult for her to accept was that she couldn't go to the toilet because she couldn't get out of bed. You didn't come back for a long time, so this 15-year-old girl was forced to urinate on the bed. This incident completely destroyed her self-esteem."
"When you returned to the dormitory, you saw a collapsed Zhao Xiaoai. You were very satisfied, so you untied her hair and let her go. It was also because of your influence that Zhao Xiaoai did not perform well in the high school entrance examination. It was you who changed her life."
After Bai Mian finished speaking, everyone in the store fell silent. All the onlookers were shocked by Huo Yuwei's cruelty. Huo Yuwei was still stubborn and refused to admit that she had done these things:
"Master, I don't know what hatred you have against me. If you want to slander me like this, you can ask around. Everyone who knows me, whether it's my neighbors, friends, colleagues or leaders, says that I'm easy to get along with. You're the first person to say that about me. I think you're just making up stories for traffic!"
Bai Mian shrugged: "After entering society, your temper has completely changed. You have become polite to others. This is not because you have changed your ways, but because you have become an adult and are bound by social rules. You are no longer an adolescent girl and no longer have the privilege of lawlessness."
Huo Yuwei argued again: "Let's take a step back. If I really did these things, how could I not even remember her name?"
Bai Mian looked at Huo Yuwei coldly: "People who do evil always have stronger psychological qualities. After leaving school, you forgot about this incident and pretended that nothing had happened. But Zhao Xiaoai couldn't forget it. After graduating from junior high school, your figure would always suddenly appear in front of her eyes. Even when she fell asleep, she would have nightmares about you every night."
Lame brother smacked his lips and said, "So it was because of her that the girl didn't get to take graduation photos. No wonder the girl didn't go to the class reunion. She was bullied like this, she definitely doesn't want to see the faces of these roommates again!"
Bai Mian shook his head: "No, Zhao Xiaoai didn't attend the class reunion not because of this, but because-"
"She's dead."
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