Chapter 118
My life went back to its mundane routine on campus. I spent my days reading books and writing essays. One day, Zhang Yan informed me that there was going to be a drama festival soon, and that Dali and I must spare three hours every evening to help the club.
I didn’t know if I could be of any use there at all, but since we desperately needed the credits to graduate, we went anyway.
Zhang Yan planned to perform the cla.s.sic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Due to time constraints, she adapted the play into a fifteen-minute short performance. She would play Juliet, and the man who would play Romeo could be no one else other than her boyfriend, Ye s.h.i.+wen.
When the casting was announced, everyone secretly grumbled about it. The truth was, the couple had been overly affectionate with each other in public to the point of being sickening. No one was looking forward to seeing them being all lovey-dovey up on stage too!
My first impression of Zhang Yan was that she was a frivolous girl, but I was surprised to see her completely transformed once she was on stage wearing a wig and a costume. She was completely in her element. Ye s.h.i.+wen, on the other hand, was stiff and awkward on stage. But with Zhang Yan guiding his every movement and line, even he gradually improved.
The actors rehea.r.s.ed every night. Meanwhile, Dali and I were there with nothing much to do. I would take a book with me and read as the actors were hard at work. Apart from that, nothing much happened. The only notable incident was when a club member b.u.mped into Zhang Yan and Ye s.h.i.+wen doing it backstage while they were both still in costumes. We teased them about it all the time after that.
Once the actors were done rehearsing, Dali and I had the duty of getting them beverages to drink. One day, after receiving a gla.s.s of water from me, Zhang Yan exclaimed, “What an honor! To think that the Great Detective Song himself just fetched me water!”
“Will you stop calling me that?!” I whispered angrily. “It’s embarra.s.sing!”
She ignored me and continued, “Oh, I’ve got an idea! Why don’t you tell us a story about one of your cases?”
Everyone echoed in agreement. Before that, I would always tell them about Grandpa’s cases. Well, those that weren’t cla.s.sified, anyway. But now that they explicitly requested a case that I solved, I had to consider it for a while before deciding on telling them about the last case that I solved. It wasn’t a particularly gruesome or mysterious case, but all ears were on me. Just as I was in the middle of my story, a voice interrupted us.
“What are you guys talking about? Sounds interesting!”
The voice belonged to a beautiful woman who was walking towards us. She was wearing a red dress that hugged her curves. She had a pair of high heels on and a small handbag slung across her shoulder. The ends of her slightly frizzy hair were dyed red, and her right eye was covered by thick bangs.
Dali spit out the water he was drinking and uttered, “Holy cow! Who’s that hot lady?”
All of the guys stood up and greeted, “Good evening, Professor Li!”
The woman nodded at them with a gracious smile. She looked around and said, “I see new faces here too! h.e.l.lo! My name is Li Wenjia. I’m the advising professor of this club.”
It turned out that there was an advising professor for every club, but they were mostly just honorary t.i.tles. They usually never took part in club activities. At most, they would ask a few questions about what was going on.
Professor Li was a psychology professor. She would occasionally come and help the club as much as she could. Because of her beauty and her gentle personality, the members of the club liked her very much. Quite a few of the guys even had a crush on her.
Zhang Yan stood up and announced, “This is our newest member, Professor Li! His name is Song Yang, and he’s not just another ordinary student, he’s—”
“Hey, hey!” I tried to stop her, but my attempt was futile. She blurted out everything.
Professor smiled and stretched out her hand to me.
“It’s an honor to have you as a member of our club, young detective,” she said.
“Hey, Song Yang!” chirped Zhang Yan. “Why don’t you show Professor Li that trick you did to s.h.i.+wen last time? When we first met, he took one look at s.h.i.+wen and was able to figure out a ton of details about his life!”
Her last sentence was addressed to everyone. All eyes in the room then turned to me. Some of them were fascinated; some were skeptical. Some even commented that only Sherlock Holmes could do what Zhang Yan claimed I could.
I silently cursed at Zhang Yan for being such a loudmouth.
Professor Li smiled and looked at me with curiosity.
“Why don’t you take a look at me and tell me what you can see?” she suggested.
“Yes! Show everyone your magical skills, Song Yang!” echoed Zhang Yan.
I didn’t like the idea of using my skills in such a trivial way, so I kept refusing. But then I heard the whispers around me…
“Maybe he’s not a real detective, after all? He probably just knows someone in the police force…”
“You’re right. He’s always boasting about his supposed skills, but I’ve never seen him do anything before…”
“His talent was probably blown out of proportion…”
I couldn’t take being slighted anymore, so I looked Professor Li up and down and said, “Forgive me if I’m being too forward, Professor. But from what I’ve seen, you’re left-handed, you have a white dog as a pet, and you broke your right leg when you were seven or eight years old. You recently lost weight because you were hospitalized for malnutrition. You were originally from the north, your parents have pa.s.sed away, you have a shrine for them in your house, and your right eye is blind.”
The crowd was suddenly silent. Professor Li looked slightly unnerved as she smoothed her hair with her hand.
“You probably guessed that I’m left-handed because my left fingernails are more worn out than those on my right hand,” she said. “I probably have dog hair on my clothes too, so that’s probably how you know I have a white dog. You could probably tell that I’m from the north because of my accent. But how did you figure out the rest?”
“Your legs aren’t the same length,” I replied. “Which means you were probably injured when your body was still developing. I made a guess that it was probably when you’re around seven or eight years old. Was I correct?”
Professor Li nodded. “Yes, I was injured when I was eight.”
The others gasped and marveled at how observant I was.
“What about the malnutrition? How did you figure that out?” asked Professor Li again.
“I could see it from the pallor of your face and your hair,” I answered. “Also, there’s a scar on the back of your hand that looks like you recently received an IV drip.”
“And my parents’ death? How did you know that I have a shrine for them in my house? You’ve never been there, have you?” she asked, staring at me with her widened eye.
“No, of course not,” I explained. “There are very subtle burn marks on the tip of your fingernails and your knees are slightly worn. I guessed that it was probably because you knelt down and burnt incense in honor of your parents. Of course, it could also mean that you’re a religious person, so I just made a lucky guess.”
“I see,” nodded the professor. “What about my eyes?”
“Our vision is slightly hampered when we look at things with only one eye instead of two eyes. When I saw you walking in, I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be troublesome to have that kind of hairstyle? That caused me to observe your right eye more and I realized that it was probably blind.”
“That’s amazing!” Professor Li exclaimed.
Zhang Yan smugly interjected, “Didn’t I tell you? He’s the Great Detective Song!”
The rest of the room joined in on the praise. Someone asked Professor Li how her eye got blind. She smiled and replied, “I got sick when I was young. It’s nothing, really. I’m used to it now.”
I noticed some subtle signs of lying when she said that, but I didn’t think much about it. I a.s.sumed that she probably just didn’t want to divulge too much of her private life.
Dali, who’d been beside me all the while, suddenly said, “Hey, Zhang Yan, don’t just introduce Song Yang! What about me? I’m his a.s.sistant, you know!”
“Fine,” muttered Zhang Yan. “Professor, this is w.a.n.g Dali, a friend of Song Yang’s.”
“h.e.l.lo!” Professor Li reached out her hand to shake Dali’s.
“Zhang Yan mentioned that you’re a psychology professor,” said Dali. “Does that mean that you can read people’s minds? Can you guess what I’m thinking now?”
Professor Li laughed.
“I study the science of the human psyche,” she explained. “I can’t do anything as impressive as what Song Yang did!”
“But even idiots can guess what’s in your head, Dali,” Zhang Yan chimed in. “You were admiring Professor Li’s stunning beauty, weren’t you?”
“Who wouldn’t?” countered Dali. “Anyway, Professor, I’m actually really interested in psychology. Can I get your WeChat contact so I can ask you some questions about psychology sometimes?”
Professor Li considered it for a while and answered, “I don’t think WeChat is a suitable way to discuss the subject. I’ll give you my email address instead.”
The students then crowded around Professor Li and spoke with her. At one moment, I noticed that she was glaring at me, but it was only very briefly that I suspected whether it was just an illusion. Still, the icy hostility that the eyes projected was unmistakable!
I didn’t fully understand the significance of that expression at the time. When I finally did understand it later, I was already caught in a treacherous web!