Chapter 33 Someone had something stolen
When I returned from evening self-study, the dormitory was bustling with activity, a group of girls laughing and chatting.
Shen Xuewei stayed in bed, quietly reading a book.
She borrowed the book from the school library.
The school library is open every Monday and Thursday, and students can borrow a maximum of three books at a time.
Shen Xuewei usually borrows storybooks or books to help her learn English.
If you can't finish reading a book you borrow at school, you can take it home to read.
Of course, the school isn't too worried that students won't return the books they borrow.
After all, every student who borrows a book has to register their name and class, and the library staff will also verify this.
If the book gets lost, then we'll have to pay the school compensation.
Therefore, students who borrow books cherish them and will not easily lose them.
Just as she was engrossed in watching, Feng Jinfeng, who was in the lower bunk of the opposite bed, was chatting with the girl in the next bed while hugging her pillow. She subconsciously touched the area under her pillow and suddenly her expression changed.
She hurriedly unzipped the pillow and reached inside to grope around.
No, no… She turned the pillow upside down, but found nothing but a handful of cotton.
The girl in the bed next to her asked, "Jin Feng, what's wrong?"
Feng Jinfeng screamed, "Who stole the money and meal tickets I put under my pillow?"
As her voice faded, the entire dormitory fell silent.
We've lived in the same dorm for almost three months, and there haven't been any major conflicts.
While other dormitories have indeed had their belongings stolen, their dormitory is unique in that such a heinous incident has never occurred to this day.
Everyone was relieved, but unexpectedly, not long after, someone in the dormitory had something stolen.
It was as if the pause button had been pressed suddenly, and everyone remained silent for a long time.
Shen Xuewei was also startled by her sudden scream, which pulled her out of her immersion in the book.
Upon hearing that her meal tickets and money had been stolen, she was stunned. Then she exchanged a glance with Wu Yuhong next door, and the two of them looked in the same direction.
Wu Yuhong, through two layers of mosquito netting, pressed down on Shen Xuewei's hand and shook her head at her.
She lowered her voice and said, "It's none of our business. Even if you know who it is, don't say anything. Let the teacher handle it."
The voice was so low it was almost inaudible.
She only let go of Shen Xuewei's hand after she saw Shen Xuewei nod slightly.
The girls, realizing what had happened, immediately erupted in chaos.
"No way, there's a thief in our dorm too? Who's so mean as to steal from a classmate?"
"Don't say that. What if it's a thief from another dorm?"
"No, I think it must have been someone in our dorm who stole it. After we go to class, the last person to leave the dorm always locks the door. The door hasn't been pried open, so it could only have been someone inside who stole it."
"Wasn't it stolen by the last person to leave the dorm, or the first person to return?"
Upon hearing this, everyone turned their attention to Jiang Jinlian on the upper bunk and Wang Qingqing on the lower bunk.
One of them was the first to return to the dormitory, and the other was the last.
Based on this speculation, the two of them are the most suspicious.
Upon seeing the suspicious looks from the crowd, one man's eyes widened in anger, and the other's nostrils flared with rage.
"What are you looking at? How could it be just the two of us?"
"Exactly, exactly! There's no evidence yet, so why are you accusing the two of us of stealing it? If you want to find out who stole it, why don't you go directly to the teacher? You're just randomly suspecting people. Have you thought about what if you wrongly accuse someone?"
"Will people who have been wrongly accused ever be able to face anyone again?"
After they finished speaking angrily, they were almost in tears.
With such a smear against him, he'll never be able to shake off the accusation of being a thief at school.
Feng Jinfeng, who was already crying from distress over the theft, said, "Who wanted to frame you? Can't we just ask? With you two reacting so strongly, who can guarantee that you two didn't steal it?"
A girl with dry, yellowish hair and a thin face stood nearby, softly comforting Feng Jinfeng and gently advising the two of them:
"Jinlian, Qingqing, you two are the only ones in our dorm with the best chance of stealing. If you took it, give it back to Jinfeng. Without meal tickets and money, she'll go hungry for the next few days."
Her words of advice made the two of them so angry that their eyes turned red.
"We just said it, it wasn't the two of us who stole it. Are you deaf? If you didn't steal it, why should we return it to her?"
Ye Meiling, who had been sitting on the edge of the bed swinging her legs for a while, finally lost patience and couldn't listen anymore.
"Why say so much? Just go to the teacher and let them find out who stole it, isn't that enough?"
The girl who was comforting Feng Jinfeng's lips twitched slightly, and she said seemingly considerately, "There's no need to go to the teacher for such a small matter, right? Besides, it's so late, the teacher is probably already asleep."
Ye Meiling put on her shoes, left a sentence, and ran out of the dormitory in a flash.
"Wait here, I'll go get the teacher for you!"
The school has student dormitories as well as teachers' dormitories.
For some teachers whose homes are not in town and are far from home, the school will arrange a room for them to stay in.
Mr. Yan, the homeroom teacher of Class 2, Grade 4, lives in the town. He wasn't the dormitory patrol teacher today; he had already gone home after the students finished their evening self-study.
Although he wasn't at school right now, and the dormitory supervisor hadn't arrived yet, Shen Xuewei's math teacher did live at the school.
Teacher Yao had previously asked Shen Xuewei to grade his test papers, and Ye Meiling accompanied her to return the graded papers to him.
The two returned the item to Teacher Yao's dormitory, so Ye Meiling still remembered which room Teacher Yao's dormitory was in.
The reason she remembers it so clearly is because she got the third-worst score in the class in math, and when she went with Ms. Yao, she was criticized...
Ye Meiling kept her word and called Teacher Yao over in less than ten minutes.
The expressions on everyone's faces varied: some were curious, some inquisitive, and some fearful...
Teacher Yao stood at the dormitory entrance and looked around.
Most people who came into his line of sight instinctively looked away, with only a few craning their necks to look at him.
He called Feng Jinfeng over and asked, "Do you remember how much money you lost and how many meal tickets you have?"
Feng Jinfeng, who had been crying, stopped crying under the teacher's stern gaze and whispered:
"Five meal tickets and thirteen yuan were stolen..."
"Where was it stolen from?"
She pointed to the pillow that had been taken apart from the bed and said, "It was stolen from inside the pillow."
Teacher Yao stepped forward, picked up her pillow, and reached inside to look for it.
Finding nothing, he put the pillow back on the bed and asked, "Have you looked everywhere else? Did you put it somewhere else?"
Feng Jinfeng was about to cry again, "I've already searched everywhere. Under the mat, in the quilt, and even in the pockets of my clothes, but it's not there..."
Teacher Yao, who usually had a blank expression, seemed to sigh. "From now on, you'll either have to carry these things with you or store them in a box..."
He glanced at the box and noticed that the latches had been pried open. He paused, then asked, "What happened to this lock?"
Feng Jinfeng glanced at it too, then lowered her head, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "I... I locked the box before, but I couldn't find the key, so I just pried it open. Teacher, I'll buy a new lock next week and put it back on then."
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