Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Early the next morning, while Zhang Qiong was still asleep, Qin Song woke her up with a phone call.

“Sis, open the door! I’m right outside!”

Zhang Qiong was still groggy from sleep. It took her a second to remember that she had sent him a WeChat message for help the night before.

She ran to open the door, and Qin Song stepped inside immediately.

“What’s going on? What happened last night? I didn’t see your message until I woke up this morning!”

Zhang Qiong rubbed her dry eyes and pulled Qin Song over to sit on the sofa, recounting the events of the previous night.

Of course, she omitted her conversation with Liang He from the story.

Qin Song asked, “And then? That guy never came back?”

Zhang Qiong replied, “Um… I fell asleep after that. I don’t think he came back.”

“How do you want to handle this?” Qin Song asked.

“I’m going to file a complaint on the delivery app,” Zhang Qiong said. “I just haven’t had the chance yet. I was planning to do it after I woke up today.”

“Open up yesterday’s delivery order and let me see it,” Qin Song said.

Zhang Qiong looked around, remembered her phone was still by her bedside, and went into the bedroom to get it.

As soon as she turned on her phone, she saw two more messages from Liang He sent after she had fallen asleep, asking, “Are you asleep?” followed by a string of retracted messages.

What had he retracted?

Zhang Qiong didn’t have time to think about it. She set his messages back to ‘Do Not Disturb’ and walked into the living room with her phone.

“Let me see… yesterday afternoon’s order… yeah, this is the one. Zhang’s Ribs and Rice.”

Qin Song said, “Order another portion right now.”

“Why!” Zhang Qiong exclaimed.

“I’m going to meet this guy personally.”

“What if it’s not him today?” Zhang Qiong asked.

“Delivery drivers usually have fixed routes for the same area and the same restaurant,” Qin Song explained. “My wife loves ordering double-skin milk from a Cantonese dessert shop. It’s the same delivery guy every single time; we’re practically on a first-name basis now.”

“But if it really was that driver, he was still outside my door at two in the morning,” Zhang Qiong argued. “He’d have to sleep until noon today, wouldn’t he? He wouldn’t be working this early in the morning.”

“Do you think workers get to choose when they sleep? You think everyone has a flexible schedule like mine? Regardless of whether it’s him or not, we have to try. Hurry up and order.”

Zhang Qiong nodded and placed the order again. However, because it was so early, the shop showed that deliveries wouldn’t start until 10:00 AM.

Zhang Qiong whispered, “It’s a bit early. He won’t be here for another two hours… Should I file the complaint now?”

“Sis, are you scared out of your mind?” Qin Song asked. “If you complain now, do you think he’ll still show up? That’s just tipping him off!”

“But what’s the point of confronting him directly?” Zhang Qiong asked. “Isn’t it more reliable to go through the official complaint channels?”

“Sis, your neighborhood is a typical ‘old, broken, and small’ community. There’s no gate security and no surveillance. If I were a rapist, I’d definitely pick a neighborhood like yours to strike first. And that hallway-good lord, forget cameras, even the lights are broken.”

Zhang Qiong poured Qin Song a glass of warm water. He took a sip and continued, “We need evidence for a complaint. What evidence do we have right now? First, can you prove he was knocking on your door last night? What if he was knocking on the neighbor’s door? Did you record any audio or video at the door last night?”
Zhang Qiong: “No… I was so scared I stayed in the bedroom and didn’t dare go out.”

Qin Song: “In that case, you’ll have to ask your neighbor if they heard any knocking. If you talk to them about it, you should be able to determine exactly whose door he was knocking on. Besides, having another witness will make it easier to characterize this as harassment.”

Zhang Qiong: “Okay, I’ll ask them in a bit.”

Qin Song paused for a second. “But there’s one last point, and it’s the one I’m most curious about-are you certain the person knocking last night was definitely that delivery driver?”

Zhang Qiong: “…What do you mean?”

Qin Song: “The idea that it was the delivery driver is just your subjective assumption. Because he came to your door yesterday afternoon, you’re assuming out of habit that the person who showed up in the middle of the night was him too. Now, don’t get scared when I say this… but what if it wasn’t him?”

Zhang Qiong shivered. “Then who else could it be?”

Qin Song stared into her eyes. “Has your family offended anyone?”

Zhang Qiong thought for a moment. “Not really… A few years back, my husband was hounded by debt collectors. But we’ve been paying them back on time every month now, and they haven’t used violent tactics in a long time. Besides, they usually do things out in the open; they don’t sneak around trying to scare people like this.”

Qin Song: “Let’s ask the neighbor first… Would they be awake at this hour?”

Zhang Qiong: “Definitely. They’re older, so they wake up early. You stay here; I’ll go ask.”

As luck would have it, the moment Zhang Qiong opened her door, she ran into the old man from next door returning with soy milk and fried dough sticks.

Zhang Qiong: “Uncle! I was just looking for you!”

The neighbor looked at her. “What’s the matter?”

Zhang Qiong: “Uncle, did you hear someone knocking constantly last night?”

The old man hesitated, frowning as he asked, “Knocking on… which door?”

Zhang Qiong: “The front door!” She pointed at her own door and his. “This main door right here!”

The neighbor: “The front door… No, I didn’t hear anything.”

With that, he pulled out his keys, opened his door, and stepped inside.

As if suddenly remembering something, he slowly turned back around.

Zhang Qiong was still standing in the hallway, looking at him expectantly.

“Xiao Zhang, I did hear knocking last night. But it wasn’t on the front door. That sound was coming from inside your bathroom.”

Zhang Qiong’s heart constricted. “Uncle… you must have misheard, right?”

The old man pointed to his ear. “I couldn’t have. My hearing is sharp. And more importantly… our bathrooms share a wall. Anyone would be able to tell… I got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, and I kept hearing a thud-thud-thud knocking coming from your bathroom…”

Zhang Qiong stared at him blankly.

The old man lowered his voice. “I know I shouldn’t meddle in other people’s business, but I actually wanted to ask you-you and your husband didn’t get into a fight last night, did you? Were you in some kind of trouble, knocking on the bathroom door like that?”

Zhang Qiong murmured, “No, you misheard… Thank you.”

After saying that, she turned and went back into her apartment.

Qin Song: “What did the neighbor say?”

Zhang Qiong: “He said he heard knocking, but that it was coming from my bathroom door.”

Qin Song rolled his eyes. “Great. That was a waste of time. The man’s gone senile.”