Chapter 149

Chapter 149

At the sight, I let out a long breath of relief and dusted off my hands.

“All right. That takes care of the gu.”

I turned toward Yao Nan and saw that she looked full of questions she was holding back.

I smiled.

“Deskmate, I know what you want to ask. But how about we take our time discussing it after we find the person who hurt you? We’ll still be deskmates for another two or three years. We have plenty of time.”

Before Yao Nan could speak, Wang Dachun nodded vigorously beside her.

“That’s right! You need time to slowly savor Brother Wu’s charm. The longer you savor it, the richer the flavor–ow! Brother Wu, why’d you hit me on the head? You can’t blame me if I do badly on the next exam.”

He clutched his head and whined pitifully.

I snorted. “You talk too much! Maybe someone should use this voice-stealing gu on you.”

He looked at the cinnabar circle on the floor and shuddered.

I felt secretly delighted. No wonder Master always likes hitting me on the head. It feels pretty good!

Yao Nan asked softly, “The culprit… Wu Zhong, you think someone deliberately tried to hurt me?”

A cold smile touched my lips.

“Of course! Gu has to be deliberately planted in a victim before it can take effect. There are many ways to do it, but when I think about what you encountered today, it was probably one of the simplest methods.”

What was it?

Yao Nan and Wang Dachun both looked at me curiously.

“Water.”

I spoke a single word.

…

Ten minutes later, we returned to the school auditorium.

The rehearsals were still underway.

Wang Dachun and I had acted quickly and removed Yao Nan before the commotion could get out of hand.

When Zeng Jin saw us return, he hurried over with the other followers and asked with concern, “Brother Wu, Brother Chun, is Yao Nan all right?”

Before Wang Dachun or I could answer, Yao Nan spoke for herself.

“Thanks for asking. I’m fine now.”

As she spoke, I secretly observed the girls who had been dancing backup for her. Sure enough, surprise flashed through one girl’s eyes.

I was right!

The person who had used gu on Yao Nan was one of those girlfriends dancing backup for her.

Planting gu required a medium.

The culprit’s methods were clearly amateurish. Her only possible approach had been to place gu eggs in Yao Nan’s thermos!

When Yao Nan drank from it, the gu eggs entered her throat, rapidly grew, and gathered into a mass that blocked her vocal tract and left her unable to speak!

Some might ask: only a very short time passed between Yao Nan drinking from her bottle, speaking to me, and the gu taking effect. How could the eggs possibly mature in that time?

Gu was one of the techniques of the esoteric arts!

Naturally, it went beyond ordinary scientific understanding–or, as Master would put it, it was a more advanced form of science that remained difficult to explain.

Gu were extremely unusual organisms. For them to mature from eggs within seconds and take immediate effect was not particularly remarkable.

But one thing still made me uncomfortable… The suspect normally got along quite well with Yao Nan!

It was Deng Liqian.

When the gu insects in Yao Nan’s throat had taken effect and robbed her of speech, Deng Liqian had also been the first to come over and express her “concern,” asking whether she had caught a cold and developed a sore throat.

Of course, I was only eighty percent certain for now. I had not confirmed it completely.

I caught Wang Dachun’s eye and subtly pointed at Deng Liqian.

When he saw my gesture, he froze for a moment, probably unable to believe it could be her. Then he gave me a slight nod and a look that said, Got it.

Wang Dachun deliberately cleared his throat twice, then raised his voice.

“Man, I’m really thirsty. Yao Nan, can I have a few sips from your thermos?”

Without waiting for her answer, he picked it up from the table, unscrewed the cap, and pretended he was about to drink.

I continued watching Deng Liqian in secret.

Sure enough!

Panic flashed through her eyes. She probably hadn’t anticipated anyone else drinking from Yao Nan’s thermos. Everyone knew Yao Nan was fastidious about cleanliness and would never let someone else drink from it.

Wang Dachun stopped with the thermos just before his lips.

Then he abruptly stepped to the side and held it out in front of Deng Liqian.

“Are you thirsty, Deng? Want some water from this thermos too?”

The move startled Deng Liqian.

She stepped back and stammered, “N-no… I’m not thirsty.”

At that point, I was almost certain Deng Liqian had done it!

She was still only a middle-school student. Her mind wasn’t mature or resolute. Clearly, she wasn’t a true practitioner of the gu arts either. She had merely learned some method of cultivating a particular kind of gu from somewhere.

She must therefore have been extremely nervous while carrying out her scheme.

Seeing Yao Nan recover had already left her uneasy. After Wang Dachun’s little performance, of course she was even more panicked.

I patted Wang Dachun on the shoulder.

“What are you doing? Don’t frighten Deng Liqian.”

Then I turned to the other girls and said with a smile, “All right, everyone. Keep rehearsing. Yao Nan’s throat is better now, so she can continue singing.”
At that moment, another girl nearby said in a relieved voice, “Thank goodness Yao Nan recovered. Otherwise, we’d have had to replace our lead singer.”

The other girls chimed in.

“That’s right. It would’ve had to be Qianqian. Other than Yao Nan, she’s the best singer among us.”

“But now that Yao Nan’s better, you’ve lost your chance, Qianqian! You’ll have to keep dancing backup with the rest of us. Hee hee.”

Listening to my female classmates’ innocent chatter, I finally understood why Deng Liqian had used gu on Yao Nan.

Excellent. Now the motive was clear too!

For the next half hour, everyone continued rehearsing their acts for the New Year’s gala as if nothing had happened.

I stayed at the side and watched.

When evening study ended and school let out, the students who had been rehearsing began leaving in twos and threes, either returning to their dormitories or heading home.

Some first went back to the classroom to collect their things, while others left directly from the auditorium…

Deng Liqian was among those returning to the classroom first.

Wang Dachun told Zeng Jin and the others to leave ahead of him. He stayed behind with Yao Nan and me.

The three of us followed Deng Liqian back to the classroom. We silently packed our things, left with her, and continued trailing behind.

After leaving the school gates, we followed a riverside road and crossed Lianghe Bridge. The dense crowd began dispersing in different directions throughout town.

Deng Liqian lived on Yakou Road at the southernmost edge of town.

That area was practically the outskirts of Lianghe Town.

The farther we went, the fewer students remained on the same route… Only a handful of people were scattered along the road.

By the time Deng Liqian turned into a dimly lit alley that climbed through the mountain pass, there was almost no one left but her walking ahead and the three of us following behind.

I caught Wang Dachun’s eye, and he instantly understood.

“Heh heh. Watch this, Boss!”

With that, he ran forward, darted directly in front of Deng Liqian, and blocked her path.

“Well, if it isn’t our classmate Deng Liqian. What a coincidence. I just happen to be visiting this neighborhood tonight too.”

I had to admit, Wang Dachun was a natural-born hooligan!

I had told him to act like one, but I hadn’t told him to be so sleazy and shameless about it.

The sight of him frightened Deng Liqian.

She retreated two steps. “Wh-what do you want?”

Her use of the plural you told us that Deng Liqian had probably noticed us following her long ago.

But there was nothing she could do.

Lianghe Town was only so large, and we were all classmates. We knew exactly where she lived.

Even if she realized we were following her, she had no way out.

She was a middle-school girl. She couldn’t simply stay out all night and refuse to go home, could she?

Yao Nan and I stepped forward.

Staring at Deng Liqian, Yao Nan asked in a voice filled with hurt and confusion, “Qianqian, why did you hurt me? Aren’t we good friends? I give you some of my books and pretty stationery. I even help you buy posters of the celebrities you like, yet you still tried to hurt me!”

Deng Liqian put on an innocent, aggrieved expression and shook her head hard.

“Nannan, I don’t understand what you’re talking about. How did I hurt you? Wh-where is this even coming from? Did that spoiled little thug Wang Dachun trick you?”

I stepped forward and sneered.

“Stop pretending. I already asked Yao Nan. Tonight, you’re the only person who touched her thermos. Before I arrived to watch you rehearse, she had tired herself out by singing several times and asked you to refill it for her. If I’m right, that was when you secretly put the gu eggs in her water!”

At the words gu eggs, panic flashed across Deng Liqian’s face.

But she remained stubborn.

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about, Wu Zhong! You can’t just frame a classmate because you’re the top student and all the teachers like you. I don’t want to talk to any of you anymore. You’re bullying me!”

With that, Deng Liqian turned and ran toward her home.

We jogged after her.

At the end of the alley, an old woman with a cane stood beneath the murky yellow glow of a streetlamp.

Hunched over, she seemed to have been waiting there all along.

“Grandma! I’m back.”

Deng Liqian called out loudly. The sight of an elder appeared to restore her courage.

She ran up to the bent old woman.

“Grandma, let’s go inside quickly. Some bad kids from my class… They’re trying to bully me. I’m scared. Let’s go in, lock the door, and ignore them.”

Well, I’ll be damned!

I could hardly believe what I was hearing!

Deng Liqian had actually rushed to accuse us first, even though she was the guilty one!

How shameless could she be?

The three of us were speechless.

By then, we had also reached the frail old woman leaning on her cane.

Before we could explain ourselves or recount what had happened, she raised the cane and pointed it at us. Furious, she snapped, “Who’s bullying my granddaughter? What do you want? Don’t think you can pick on her just because Qianqian and I are two poor souls with no one but each other! Let me tell you, you little bastards, this old woman isn’t easy prey!”

At first, seeing an elderly woman who looked as if a stiff breeze might finish her off, I had intended to show her some respect. Never had I expected that attitude the instant she opened her mouth!