Chapter 7: Sad Bitter Chestnut Latte 2
The charity dinner ended successfully, but we were still at a loss as to what to do regarding the handwriting investigation, so we had to hold another meeting to discuss it.
"Oh, don't be so depressed. If this method doesn't work, there may be other ways." Xi Cunji was very optimistic.
"Maybe the person who wrote this threatening letter is not a teacher in the college?" Qiaoqiao asked.
"It is indeed possible. But I have investigated and found that these limited edition pens are of relatively high value and are only distributed to teachers in the academy, so the possibility of other people getting them is relatively small." Dong Yehan analyzed seriously.
Isn't that another dead end?
Alas, there is no way to solve the problem if this continues.
Just as everyone was lost in thought, Nan Youlun sighed deeply: "I think we should send the teacher's signature for another appraisal. Maybe there will be new discoveries."
This is the only solution available.
"Ah, wait, I have a piece of paper signed by the principal here. Senior Nan, you can take it for authentication as well." I almost forgot about the principal's signature that I had finally obtained at the charity dinner.
"Principal?" Nan Youlun's handsome face was full of confusion.
"Yes, the president was visiting abroad during the days when I was collecting signatures, and his signature was the only one missing from the entire college. We were all sending them for identification anyway, so we might as well confirm them together."
"Okay, then I'll go now." Nan Youlun nodded.
After Nan Youlun left, everyone thought about it for a long time but couldn't come up with a good solution, so they had to adjourn the meeting.
Just as I was about to go back to the classroom with Qiaoqiao, Dong Yehan pulled me back in a domineering manner.
I glared at him helplessly: "I need to go back to class."
"What did you want to tell me last night?" Dong Yehan pushed me into a corner and asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Nothing." I said sullenly.
"You were confessing your love to me, weren't you? And you got angry because I didn't hear it?" Dong Yehan used his imagination.
What? He is too narcissistic.
"No! I just wanted to say that the fireworks are beautiful."
"Really?" Dong Yehan looked at me doubtfully.
"Of course!" I felt a little disappointed. I didn't know when I could tell him the secret that I was the specialty drink chef of "Xianyuewu".
He trusts me so much. If he knew that I lied to him, would he ignore me from then on, or even think I was annoying?
My heart aches at the thought that he will never like me again.
"Idiot, the bell has rung, aren't you going back to class?" Dong Yehan pulled me who was in a daze.
Oh my god, class starts so soon!
After agreeing with Dong Yehan to walk together after school, I immediately ran back to the classroom. This class was taught by my homeroom teacher, and I would be doomed if I was late!
“Ding Ling Ling…”
As I was running to the classroom door, the cell phone in my pocket rang.
Who is so annoying to call me at this time?
I picked up the phone reluctantly , and there was a middle-aged man's voice on the other end.
"Excuse me, are you Gu Xiaoxian?"
"Yes." The screen showed an unfamiliar number. Could it be a scam call?
"Hello, I'm an inspector from the Industry and Commerce Bureau. Someone reported that the food hygiene standards at 'Xian Yue Wu' were substandard. We did find expired cocoa powder during our random inspection. According to regulations, 'Xian Yue Wu' needs to close for rectification."
Are you kidding me? How could it be possible! "Xian Yue Wu" would never use expired cocoa powder, this is simply nonsense!
But……
"Rectification requirements will be implemented today."
After saying that, the person on the other end hung up the phone, leaving me with all the questions I had and not knowing who to ask.
What exactly is going on?
I was puzzled, but there was no other way, so I decided to sneak to the "Xianyue House" after school to see what was going on. I hoped it was just a prank.
After finally waiting for school to be over, I immediately ran to "Xianyue House", completely forgetting the appointment with Dong Yehan.
Before I even reached the school gate, I felt the strange looks from my classmates. Why were they looking at me like that? Was it because my clothes were dirty? Or was it because my running posture was too weird?
"Ah, it's her, the black-hearted boss of 'Xianyuewu'! "
"It's so wicked! I didn't expect that she would use expired cocoa powder to make drinks. It's really abominable!"
"People like this must be severely punished!"
"Really? His Highness Prince Dong Yehan must have been deceived by her. No, we have to tell him quickly and expose her true face."
What are they talking about?
I stood in the middle of the crowd, and the ugly insults made me feel like I was falling into an icy cave. My hands and feet were cold and I couldn't move at all.
"That's her! How dare she show up at the academy?"
"Hey, what's going on?"
More and more people came over, and I looked at them helplessly.
"Don't you know? Gu Xiaoxian is the owner and specialty drinker of 'Xianyuewu'. This unscrupulous workshop actually used expired cocoa powder to make desserts. An anonymous person posted her 'great achievements' on the school bulletin board. Now all the students in the academy who have drunk 'Xianyuewu' drinks feel particularly disgusted."
"No! I didn't use expired cocoa powder!" I explained quickly.
“ Liar !”
"Yeah, we won't believe you."
As I watched my classmates take a step back in distrust, I felt extremely panicked.
What happened? How did my identity suddenly get exposed?
Yes! Bulletin board! They just mentioned the bulletin board.
I immediately ran to the bulletin board to see what was going on.
My eyes were red, I felt like crying, and my heart was beating wildly. What if Dong Yehan knew? Would I lose him forever?
The thought of losing him makes me want to cry.
Why am I so stupid? If I had confessed earlier that I am the owner and specialty drink chef of "Xianyuewu", would I not be so scared?
I stopped. At this moment, a large group of students were standing by the school bulletin board, and Dong Yehan, who was standing in the middle of them, was tearing something up angrily! It was probably the anonymous letter that exposed my identity.
"Don't believe it, this must be some boring person who spread the rumor. I know Xiaoxian, she would definitely not do such a thing, please believe me..."
Dong Yehan still believed in me, and he was working hard to prove my innocence! When I saw him, I really didn't know how to explain to him. I just stood there stupidly, too scared to take another step forward.
Suddenly, he noticed me, immediately ran to my side, hugged me in his arms and comforted me.
"Xiaoxian! Don't worry, I will definitely find this person and prove your innocence."
I hugged him back tightly, greedily sniffing his fresh scent, feeling his warmth, and then reluctantly pushed him away.
I gave a bitter smile and said, "Dong Yehan, the revelation is true."
For a moment, a look of shock appeared in his clear amber eyes.
"What did you say?"
"What's written in the letter is true. I am indeed the owner and drinker of 'Xianyuewu', but I did not use expired cocoa powder to make drinks. 'Xianyuewu' is definitely not a black-hearted workshop. You have to believe me."
"You've been lying to me all along? Are you the special drink chef I've always wanted to investigate?" Dong Yehan took a step back with a sad face.
"No, I..." For a moment, I didn't know how to explain and could only look at him anxiously.
After a few seconds of silence, Dong Yehan shook his head in disappointment, and every word he said seemed to send me to hell.
"You joined the investigation team just to stop me from investigating your identity, right? No wonder no matter what method I used to investigate, it all failed. In your eyes, are my actions particularly ridiculous?" After saying that, Dong Yehan raised a self-deprecating smile at the corner of his lips, as if he was telling a joke.
Seeing him like this, my heart started to ache again.
"You misunderstood. I only knew that you wanted to investigate the identity of the special drink chef after I joined the investigation team. I admit that it was wrong for me to hide it. Dong Yehan, I'm sorry." I pleaded in a crying voice.
"I... I don't know whether I should believe you now." Dong Yehan looked at me disappointedly, turned away sadly.
I looked at his back as he walked away, and warm tears dripped down my cheeks onto the ground.
It turns out that it is so painful to watch the person you love leave.
People around me were still pointing at me, but I couldn't hear anything. I kept staring at Dong Yehan's back and felt heartbroken.
I didn’t know what to do. I walked aimlessly in the college in a daze, going to all the places I had been with Dong Yehan, recalling the sweet days I spent with him.
Finally, I stopped at the Concentric Stone beside the school’s artificial lake.
The names of lovers are engraved on the concentric stones. There is a legend in the academy that as long as you engrave your name and your lover's name on the concentric stones, you can be together forever. If I engrave it now, is it too late?
But Dong Yehan never wants to see me again.
Thinking of this, I burst into tears.
"Wow... Dong Yehan, why don't you listen to my explanation?" I squatted down sadly, covered my face with my hands, and cried loudly.
I don’t know how long I cried, but a warm hand gently patted my shoulder and sighed helplessly: “Xiaoxian, your eyes will be swollen if you cry any more.”
Senior Nan?
I turned my head and saw Nan Youlun sitting next to me with a gentle look on his face.
"Don't cry, I roughly know what happened to you."
"I guess the whole school knows about it. When I think that Dong Yehan never wants to see me again and will never forgive me, I feel sad and want to cry." I sobbed and cried, treating him completely as my brother.
"Although I believe you have your own reasons for doing this, cheating is wrong, and you cheated someone who trusts and loves you so much. It's understandable that Han is so angry. However, as long as you apologize to him and explain things to him clearly, I believe he will forgive you." Nan Youlun touched my head gently and comforted me softly.
"Really?" Hearing that Dong Yehan might forgive me, I seemed to see hope.
"Of course." Nan Youlun smiled gently.
"Yeah!" I forced a smile and nodded firmly.
Dong Yehan has done so much for me, now it's my turn to defend this love!
"I will apologize to him until he forgives me."
That’s right, I, Gu Xiaoxian, will never give up on myself!
"This is the Xiaoxian I know. Go back and have a rest today. Your eyes are red from crying. I could hear you crying from so far away."
Ah, I must have cried terribly. I scratched my hair a little embarrassedly: "But, Senior Nan, how did you know I was here?"
"Just now I saw you walking around the academy in a daze. I was afraid you might do something stupid, so I followed you."
I couldn't help but feel a little touched. I didn't expect Nan Youlun to care about me so much.
"Thank you, Senior Nan."
"Okay, go back now."
"Um!"
After saying goodbye to Nan Youlun, I stood up and prepared to go home. Maybe because I squatted for too long, my legs were a little numb, and as soon as I stood up, I fell forward.
“Ouch, that hurts!”
How can I be so unlucky!
I rubbed my elbow which was slightly swollen from the fall. When I stood up slowly, I suddenly saw some familiar and strange words written at the bottom of the concentric stone. It was different from the ordinary words written by lovers. It was a kind of code-like words.
"So familiar..." I murmured.
I took a closer look and found that these characters were very similar to the characters used when my brother and I played puzzle games. What surprised me even more was the unique writing style of these characters, which were mirror characters that only left-handed people could write.
If a left-handed person writes in the same way as a normal person writes with the right hand, the words he writes will be reversed, just like the effect of seeing words in a mirror.
My brother is left-handed! When we played games together, he would leave me a mirror text code to increase the difficulty. So other people might not understand these words, but I was very familiar with them.
The text in the decryption game is written in a left-handed way. What a coincidence! Maybe this is the message left by the brother before he disappeared.
I immediately took out my cell phone to take pictures of them and took them home to study them carefully. Maybe I could find some clues!
