I was awakened by my hunger.

By the time I got up, it was already past noon. I lazily strolled to my kitchen. Except for potatoes, I had nothing else to eat, so I decided to set up the rice cooker and stir-fried some potato strips.

I didn’t know how to cook, and it was Yin Xinyue who had taught me how to make stir-fry potato strips.

Li Mazi had the snout of a dog. He stepped in and sniffed around. “What a coincidence! I’m back right at mealtime. Little Brother Zhang, tell me honestly, you pitied me so much that you cooked for me. Isn’t that right?”

At this moment, I hated that I couldn’t just slash Li Mazi to death with my knife.

While I was stir-frying the potatoes, Li Mazi moved a small stool to sit near me. “I found something about the goldfish bracelet you asked me to investigate. Recently, a female university student bought a black goldfish bracelet from a flea market. The one who sold it to her is called Old Yao, and he’s a grave robber.”

“His body’s not good, and he’s relying on ginseng to lengthen his life. That’s why people in the business call him Old Yao! [1] He’s not bad in his business as he often gets strange and rare items. However, they aren’t really valuable. That’s why all the other grave robbers have western-style villas while he’s still roaming around the flea markets.”

I didn’t turn to look at him and kept cooking. “Continue.”

Li Mazi gulped his saliva. “He unearthed that goldfish bracelet somewhere. But he didn’t open his stall today, so I couldn’t meet him. Someone else told me this information. The bracelet is made of black jade, but there are scratches on it, so it’s not a top-quality item. It couldn’t be worth more than five hundred renminbi. However, he has a silver-tongue, so he tricked a female student into buying it…”

It seemed the female student in their story was Li Xiaoling.

We could no longer deny the relationship between Li Xiaoling’s death and the goldfish bracelet.

I put the food on the plate then asked, “Do you know when Old Yao will open his stall again?”

“Sunday,” replied Li Mazi. “Do you want to see Old Yao and ask him? I have to warn you that this old man’s strange. If you didn’t know him, you might think that he’s mute. He only talks when he’s selling his items.”

I didn’t bother to reply and took two bowls of rice. Then, I started to eat.

Li Mazi wasn’t pleased with my cooking skill. “Little Brother Zhang, is this even a potato strip? You shouldn’t fool me. This freaking piece of potato is even bigger than a French fry!”

I threw my chopsticks on the table. “If you don’t like it, get lost!”

“Little Brother Zhang, I was out all morning running errands for you. You shouldn’t belittle my efforts, okay?” Li Mazi gulped down the rice while protesting.

I shot him a fierce glance. Li Mazi finished eating and ran to sit at my computer.

While I was cleaning the dishes, he suddenly called, “Little Brother, come take a look!”

“What’s up?” I asked.

“That stinky kid left you a message. Damn, he thinks he’s a king now. He thinks we have to show ourselves whenever he wants to summon us.” Li Mazi was fuming.

I pushed him aside to see. Shiso wrote only one line. “I know why Li Xiaoling committed suicide.”

“Why?” I immediately asked.

Shiso was online. He was content that he had obtained such a crucial clue by himself. “I heard it was because of some gossip. Before Li Xiaoling killed herself, someone had taken a photo of her getting out of a BMW car. The people in the school started to spread rumors that she was a mistress. Some said that she was working as a hostess in a bar, serving wine to earn extra money. In short, they said all kinds of nasty things about her. Our professor even summoned Li Xiaoling and talked to her. And then, that night, Li Xiaoling couldn’t bear the pressure and humiliation anymore, so she hung herself…”

Shiso added, “You are an expert in this field, and you couldn’t even get such information?”

Li Mazi, who was standing next to me, was enraged. “This brat needs a lesson. Little Brother, if I were you, I wouldn’t tolerate him.”

I smiled at him. “It’s okay. I can tolerate him just fine.”

Since Li Mazi had intervened, Shiso didn’t receive my answer for a long time. He became restless. “What do you think? Is my clue useful? I even searched the school’s forum and found the photo in question. It’s the photo of Li Xiaoling getting out of a BMW.”

Shiso sent me the picture.

In the picture, Li Xiaoling wore a facemask, and her eyes looked empty. The BMW car behind her was beautiful, which didn’t match her student identity.

“How’s the picture? Very explosive, right?”

“Hey, are you there?”

“Hey, grandmaster, are you there?”

Shiso was anxious and sent several texts.

I kept silent for a while then wrote, “If I were Li Xiaoling, I might also commit suicide. Rumors are scary, and they spread very quickly. Those people just wanted to talk ill about someone to amuse themselves, but they made Li Xiaoling suffer. Because of that, she didn’t dare to live with her head held high…”

“You’re right. The most horrible thing in this world is the onlookers who don’t know anything but act as if they do.”

Since Shiso was a little anxious, he didn’t wait for my reply and logged out. I looked at our conversation on the screen and sat there in a daze.

As Shiso had said, in this modern age, the weapon that could give people the deepest wound was gossip.

Your seemingly harmless sentence could change someone’s life forever.

It could even end their life!

I seemed to understand why the lip-sewing incidents started to happen after Li Xiaoling’s death.

I pondered, Were those who had talked ill behind Li Xiaoling’s back the victims of this lip-sewing incident?

I decided to go to Wuhan University the next day.

When I passed through the university entrance, the atmosphere felt somewhat tense.

I wondered, Did something happen here?

Several young students holding textbooks walked past me. They were discussing something.

“Did you hear about what happened? Last night, there was a lip-sewing incident in the male dormitory.”

“Really? The school has installed cameras and many security guards were patrolling, right? How could something so horrible happen again?”

“Do you believe in what the school tells you?”

“Um, so who is the victim?”

“I don’t know him. It seems he’s a sophomore senior.”

“I know him. A fellow of mine lives next to his room. I heard that he’s a nerd but also very curious. He really likes to gossip. I remember he’s called Shi... Shiso?”

Shiso!

I was bewildered.

Are they talking about the Shiso I know?

The students walking ahead were still talking.

“He’s a man and he loves to gossip. No wonder someone sewed his lips together.”

“I heard that he and Li Xiaoling used to have an ambiguous relationship. I read a post from our school’s forum this morning. They worked together on an assignment. They were so close that they couldn’t wait to rent a hotel room.”

They seemingly despised people who liked to gossip but were gossiping themselves.

I looked at them as they walked away.

Why were Shiso’s lips sewed up? I suddenly had a bad premonition.

Was it because he had talked with me about Li Xiaoling’s death last night? I couldn’t help but look at the female dormitory. I wanted to take a look at Li Xiaoling’s room.

Since Li Xiaoling wore a red dress when she killed herself, could she have reached the Ghost King level already? I have never encountered such powerful resentful energy before!

All of a sudden, a red shadow flashed at Li Xiaoling’s window.

Sure enough, it was her.

However, that was the female dormitory, and I couldn’t enter the place. Otherwise, not only would I not be able to do anything to solve this case, but I would also be taken to the police station.

I might even be accused of the lip-sewing crime!

While I was racking my brain, I heard a familiar voice behind me. “Why have you come here again?”

I turned and saw Zhuang Ning.

1. Yao here means ‘medicine.’