“Boss, do you think if we follow this treasure map, we’ll really find the treasure?”
The Sniveling Boy asked Zhou Guoqing, who was surrounded by a crowd of kids.
“Hmph, of course! I snatched this from that Quita’s hand just this morning—there’s no way it’s wrong!”
The chubby boy, surrounded by the other boys, waved a worn-looking scroll with absolute confidence.
“But Boss, just because you took it from her, does that mean it’s real?” The Sniveling Boy still didn’t get it.
“Ugh, how thick can you be!”
The chubby boy looked at his lackey with a mixture of disappointment and impatience.
“Use your brain a little, why would Quita have a treasure map?”
“Why?” The Sniveling Boy was completely confused.
“Isn’t it obvious? Of course, it was that Yellow-haired Boy who gave it to her!” the chubby boy explained impatiently.
“That Yellow-haired Boy gave Quita a teddy bear before, and yesterday I had a fight with her. Then, Quita must’ve run off crying to Yellow-haired Boy for comfort, so he gave her a treasure map!”
“If you ask me, he probably wanted to play some kind of romantic game, like hiding a gift for Quita and having her find it through a treasure hunt. But this time, we intercepted his plan!”
“If that Yellow-haired Boy can afford such a nice teddy bear for Quita, his family must be loaded. So the treasure this time is definitely something good!”
“Once we follow this map and find the treasure, it’ll all be ours!”
“Wow, Boss, you’re so smart!” The Sniveling Boy sniffled, looking at the chubby boy with adoring eyes.
“Hmph, obviously.” The chubby boy put away the map, tucked it under his arm, and led the boys away.
“Let’s go, we’ll find the treasure right now!”
“Uh, Boss, are you sure the treasure… is here?”
The Sniveling Boy looked doubtfully at the familiar hallway, then at the chubby boy holding the “treasure map.”
“Relax, I’ve studied this map inside and out. The treasure is definitely here!”
The chubby boy ignored his question and looked confidently at the map.
“But, Boss, isn’t that the orphanage’s storage room up ahead…?”
The Sniveling Boy glanced again at the closed door at the end of the hall, the sign “Storage Room” gleaming on the plate.
“You just don’t get it. The treasure spot has to be easy to find, or how would Quita find it?”
“No doubt, the treasure is in the storage room. All of you, hurry up and follow me inside!”
Saying this, the chubby boy led the group straight for the storage room door.
But if that Yellow-haired Boy came all the way to the orphanage to hide a treasure, why not just give the gift directly to An Qing…? Is this really what Boss calls romance…?
Although he was still full of doubts, the Sniveling Boy hurried to catch up with the chubby boy and the other kids.
“Creeeak—”
The rusty door was pushed open by the chubby boy, and immediately he saw, among the piles of old desks and sports equipment, an area neatly marked out with chalk.
In the center of the chalk circle lay a large box like a treasure chest, beside which, in bold white chalk, were the words—“Treasure Chest.”
“Ha! Told you, the treasure Yellow-haired Boy left is definitely here!”
“Come on, let’s open the chest together!”
What could be inside the chest? New toys? Or tasty snacks?
The chubby boy rubbed his hands together, excited, and rushed forward with the boys.
However, just as they stepped through the doorway, a brown paper bag tied with string to the door was triggered. The paper bag tipped over, and then—
“BOOM—”
“Cough cough cough! What the heck is this?!”
White flour cascaded down, like a sudden blizzard, drenching the boys from head to toe. Their hair and shoulders turned instantly snowy, and they coughed and sputtered from the dust.
“What’s going on?!”
The boys hadn’t recovered yet, squinting and groping their way forward, when their feet collectively slipped on something round—dozens of glass marbles glinting in the shadows.
“Ow! Oww!”
Cries of pain mixed with dull thuds as five or six boys tumbled down like bowling pins.
The Sniveling Boy at the end instinctively tried to grab the chubby boy’s collar, but ended up pulling down his pants halfway, revealing cartoon-patterned underwear.
“Damn it! We’ve been tricked!”
The chubby boy instinctively yanked up his pants, trying to get up by supporting himself against the wall.
But his flour-covered hand accidentally pressed a simple trap hidden behind the fire hydrant—cans tied to a clothesline suddenly clattered down, simultaneously triggering a connected walkie-talkie.
“Zhou Guoqing, do you know your mistake?” boomed a deep male voice.
“Waaah! Who’s talking?!”
“There’s a ghost! A ghost!”
“Boss, Boss, is this ghost calling out to you?!”
“Stop pulling my pants! Let go!”
The chubby boy slapped away the hand tugging at his pants, looking around and shouting loudly, “Don’t think I don’t know who you are! Yellow-haired Boy, if you’ve got guts, come out and fight me one-on-one! Pretending to be a ghost here—how lame!”
Heh, this chubby guy’s got some nerve, not even scared by all this.
Hidden in the storage room’s corner, Ruan Zhixian crouched quietly, gripping the walkie-talkie with a voice changer, a little surprised by his courage—but only a little.
“Heh, I am none other than the Justice Ghostcatcher, here to punish you little brats who bully others. I have no idea who this Yellow-haired Boy is you’re talking about,” the deep voice continued.
“Waaah, Boss, it really is a ghost!”
“And it’s here just for us!”
“Shut up, you idiots!”
The chubby boy slapped a flour-covered white head impatiently.
“There’s no way a Ghostcatcher would be after kids! He’s trying to trick us!”
“Oh, right…”
“Boss, you really are smart…”
The flour-covered ghosts slowly calmed down as they huddled together.
“Wrong. Unlike other Ghostcatchers in the world, I go after bad little kids who bully others.”
The deep voice interrupted their relief again, and the kids couldn’t help but look at their Boss.
“Y-y-you! Stop pretending to be a ghost! I-I-I’ve never heard of a ghost that catches bad kids!”
The chubby boy was shaking now, but still tried to tough it out.
“Besides, we’re not bad kids!”
“Oh? Then tell me, why did you bully a little girl named An Qing?” the voice asked sternly, sounding a bit impatient.
“She’s just a weirdo who doesn’t fit in! We didn’t bully her! Besides, she bit me yesterday!” the chubby boy argued stubbornly.
“Hmph! Stubborn fool!” the voice roared.
“You know you’re wrong but refuse to change, and even try to excuse yourself—punishment is due!”
As the voice fell, another blast of choking dust swept over the boys.
“Achoo! Achoo!”
The boys sneezed one after another, rubbing their eyes, tears mixing with flour to make their faces look like stray cats.
“Boohoo, achoo! Achoo! Boohoo, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have bullied An Qing with Boss… Achoo! Master Ghostcatcher, please forgive me, boohoo…”
The Sniveling Boy broke down first, his snot and tears mixing as he sobbed.
“Achoo! Achoo! Damn it, you’re giving up already?! Achoo!” The chubby boy cursed, sneezing miserably.
“Boohoo, we’re sorry too… Achoo!”
Ignoring the chubby boy’s useless rage, the other kids wailed for mercy.
“Since you know your wrongs, I must see if you’re truly repentant.”
“How about this: if you confess all the bad things you’ve done, I’ll let you off this time and give you a chance to turn over a new leaf.”
The deep voice softened a little, coaxing them along.
“Really?! Master Ghostcatcher?!”
“I’ll tell you everything, boohoo!”
“Wait, you idiots, don’t say anything yet!”
But before the chubby boy could stop them, the boys started spilling everything like beans from a bamboo tube:
“Boohoo, it was all Boss—no, it was Zhou Guoqing who made us do it!”
“He uses his size and the fact the orphanage uncles and aunts like him, so he made us all call him Boss!”
“Boohoo, that day An Qing got the teacher’s prize for doing well in class—it was a toy car he’d always wanted. Then he started picking on An Qing and made us join in!”
“You traitors!”
The chubby boy glared furiously at his followers and grabbed one boy by the collar.
“Waaah, he’s going to bully me again!”
“That’s how he always got us to bully An Qing! He always picked on her, broke her toys, and put bugs in her clothes!”
“And that time he fought with An Qing, he was the one who pushed her and tried to stomp on her teddy bear!”
The complaints kept coming.
“Enough!”
“If you say another word, I’ll beat all of you up!”
The chubby boy roared, and his meaty fist swung toward the boy he’d grabbed.
“Zhou Guoqing, stop right there!”
A sharp, familiar female voice called from behind. The chubby boy froze, twisting his neck in disbelief—
Aunt Chen, the orphanage director, stood in the backlight of the sunset, her right hand covering her mouth in shock, her left hand holding a quiet, black-haired girl.
“An Qing told me she heard a commotion in the storage room, so I came to take a look, and I can’t believe what I just heard.”
The aging Aunt Chen stared in disbelief at the usually well-liked chubby boy, struggling to process what she’d just heard.
“Children, is what you just said true…? Has Zhou Guoqing really been bullying little An Qing all along…?”
“It’s true, Aunt Chen!”
“Everything we said is true!”
“He always led us to bully An Qing, called her Quita for being different, and made us do it too!”
“Yesterday he even made us lie to you. It was him who started it!”
The bedraggled boys all spoke up at once.
“You… I, I…”
Zhou Guoqing’s eyes widened, and he forced out his best practiced smile.
“Wait, Aunt Chen, you’re not really going to believe them, are you? I…”
“That’s enough, Zhou Guoqing. No need to explain.”
By now, Aunt Chen had regained her composure, looking at the boy on the floor with clear disgust. “The orphanage cannot tolerate children who bully the weak.”
She turned to the black-haired girl beside her, who hung her head, looking pitiful. “I’ll contact the Correctional School in the suburbs and send you there in a few days.”
“Wait, no, no—!”
The boy’s face turned as pale as the flour on his body, and at last, he couldn’t help but clutch his head and wail, his cries as miserable as a pig being slaughtered.