Being Dragged Into This Banner Incident
Yu Ban was a little annoyed.
She didn’t like playing these mysterious, secretive games, shrinking back and hiding, and she disliked even more being the one being played.
What “Dark Mentor”? That was just the nickname given to him in the book.
As long as he didn’t guide her, he was nothing more than a cockroach in the gutter, a rat in a trash heap—forever unseen by daylight, forced to scheme in the shadows.
Yu Ban decided not to respond anymore.
If the other party only enjoyed this kind of game, they would definitely shift their target.
If their target was clear and they wanted to blacken the original character’s name, they couldn’t remain hidden forever; they would have to show themselves eventually since phone calls wouldn’t work.
From the storyline, it seemed to be the latter.
So, she decided to wait it out.
In the following days, Guo Zhiye didn’t contact her, and neither of her two phone numbers received any unknown calls.
Yu Ban had expected that He Feng or Zhao Xue might trouble her about He Zilu’s matter, but neither showed up.
Besides her cheap uncle leading people to see the house, nothing else happened.
Even Huo Anran and the others who used to pester her seemed to have quieted down; for once, she enjoyed a few peaceful days.
But she wasn’t idle either.
She had renewed her ID card and updated all her information, including social security and bank cards.
She also returned the spare phone that Guo Zhiye had given her.
Since the new phone was dual SIM, there was no need to carry around that less-than-ideal backup phone.
Yu Ban had wanted to ask about the investigation progress, but Guo Zhiye wasn’t around, so she handed the phone to someone at the duty office to pass the message.
Yu Daqiang probably felt he had been paid off with hush money because in front of Yu Song, he suddenly became bold and loud again, even talking about going into business with friends.
“When the time comes, I’ll buy you two a villa. Who wants to live in this crappy top floor? It’s like a furnace in summer—air conditioning runs from morning till night—and in winter, even with heating on full blast, it doesn’t get above twenty degrees.”
Song Wenya snorted lightly, “You just know how to make empty promises.
Ever since I married you, you’ve been saying you’d buy me a big house.
Song Song’s already this old, and we haven’t even seen a small place.”
Just then, someone knocked at the door.
It was Song Wenjie.
“Sis, brother-in-law, I brought people to see the house, hurry up and open the door.”
Yu Daqiang, embarrassed by Song Wenya’s sarcasm and about to retort, immediately slipped back into the bedroom.
Song Wenya, however, tiptoed to the front door like a thief, her footsteps light but quick.
Yu Ban was eating her takeout meal, watching her curiously, wondering whether she intended to open the door or do something else.
To her surprise, Song Wenya carefully reached out and, with a click, deadbolted the door from the inside.
Yu Ban couldn’t help but smile—what talents these people were.
This time, Song Wenjie had brought the key.
He knocked politely and was about to open the door himself when he heard the bolt slide shut inside.
“Sis, stop messing around, okay? This house was bought after Dad and Mom got married. Lu has no relation to it. Even if it goes to court, it’s useless. Besides, Dad said he’d make a will leaving the house to me.”
After locking the door, Song Wenya began to pant, “Then just wait for him to die before you come to seize the house. If he wants to sell it while alive, he has to compensate me. Otherwise, where’s our family of three supposed to live?”
The people who had come to see the house, seeing the ownership was unclear, didn’t want to cause trouble for themselves and quickly found excuses to leave.
Song Wenjie came several times but still couldn’t get in.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got and started banging on the door fiercely.
“Song Wenya, open the door quickly, or I’ll call the police. Dad already told you to move out. You’re illegally occupying someone else’s property.”
“Then go ahead and call the police. Dad’s got dementia and has been to jail several times. No one believes what he says.”
Song Wenya was determined to hold her ground, even calling Song Hongsheng senile, and warned Yu Ban to always deadbolt her door when she went home.
Yu Song said, “I start school tomorrow and might move into the dorm. You don’t need to worry about me anymore.”
Lately, Song Wenya often got lectured by Yu Ban.
Seeing her, she would get a bit annoyed, but hearing that Yu Ban was no longer living at home, she was surprisingly happy.
“Well, that works. If you need money, ask your grandfather sweetly. If he refuses, just throw a tantrum. Otherwise, your grandfather’s money will all be scammed away by that fox spirit and her son.”
Yu Song wasn’t the type to shamelessly swindle money from an octogenarian.
She got up and went back to her room but couldn’t help saying at the door, “I advise you to start making plans. The property is under my grandfather’s name. You’re an adult. If my grandfather is determined to sell the house, he can definitely call the police to evict you.”
“Evict me? I’m his own daughter, his only daughter. Why would he kick me out? Enough, mind your own business. That day, I thought you really understood the law. You sounded so convincing, but after I made a scene, your grandfather suddenly remembered to make a will. Isn’t that infuriating?”
Yu Ban didn’t really care.
When she returned to her room, she saw Xiaoyu Ma had sent several messages again.
That person really treated her like her own daughter—asking about her well-being and saying she had bought a plane ticket to come back to see her, then planned to pick up Xiaoyu afterwards.
Those messages were sincere and heartfelt, deeply moving.
If Yu Song hadn’t been wary of the Dark Mentor, she would have surely sympathized and felt sorry for her.
If the original character had received such messages, she might have wallowed in self-pity or even envied Xiaoyu for having such a loving mother.
Could it be that the Dark Mentor noticed the original character’s lack of maternal love and wanted to plant such a person beside her to monitor her at all times?
Yu Ban didn’t want to entertain conspiracy theories but couldn’t help herself.
She even wondered if the cleaning lady she had hired before, who had taken the initiative to cook for her, was purely out of kindness.
It seemed she was not facing just one person but a whole web of people.
But what value did the original character have that warranted such elaborate schemes to get close to her?
Yu Ban didn’t reply to Xiaoyu Ma until the latter said she was returning to Feng Cheng.
Only then did Yu Ban respond: 【Call me when you arrive】.
At the Criminal Investigation Team’s office, Ji Jiang asked Guo Zhiye, “Has the mysterious person called yet?”
Guo Zhiye shook her head helplessly.
“No activity on her social media either, right? I told you, giving her the phone means she’s prepared. I just checked—she got a new phone number, bought a new phone, and even returned the backup one.”
Guo Zhiye hurriedly explained, “I know. She called me from the new number and even asked me to check the previous owner of the number.”
“Asked you to check?” Ji Jiang raised his eyebrows.
“What does that mean? Has she taken you as her private detective?”
Guo Zhiye smiled wryly, “No, I guess she thought the number she bought might have problems. She suspected it could be linked to the mysterious person.”
She told Ji Jiang about Yu Song’s suspicions.
Ji Jiang was stunned.
“Is this girl suffering from paranoid delusions? Checking the previous owner of a phone number? The family of the previous owner wouldn’t know the number has been canceled. Isn’t it normal to get calls from such a number? Just explain clearly and it’s fine. Why check?”
Guo Zhiye silently slid a sheet of paper from the table under her file folder.
On it was written in large print:
【Lu Ziyu, female, 21 years old, missing for three years】
Below was a photocopy of the police report.
Ji Jiang expressed doubt about Yu Song’s mental state.
“Young people these days get emo over nothing, full of cynicism, addicted to the internet… I feel this Yu is more problematic than He Zilu. He Zilu’s suicide definitely involved her. The real murderer of Zhou Yaohui has been caught, but Yu Ban showed up at the scene so promptly, she must have been monitoring him, maybe even connected to the killer somehow.”
Guo Zhiye pushed over the sorted investigation materials.
“We’ve checked. She and He Zilu hadn’t been in contact for a long time, even deleted each other. Only on the day He Zilu killed herself, after receiving an anonymous call, did she try to add her back. She had no connection to Zhou Yaohui or anyone around him—Meng Dawei, Zhou Xiaoheng, Mrs. Zhou, even Zhou’s assistant and important shareholders of the company. None had any relation to Yu Ban.”
Ji Jiang, who was responsible for investigating Yu Ban, already knew this.
“Seems like she’s hiding a lot, quite skilled.”
Guo Zhiye said, “Team Leader Ji, let’s be cautious. I think there are still two possibilities: one, she’s staging everything herself—killing someone, appreciating the tragedy of the victim and their family, and using the mysterious person’s calls to deflect suspicion; or two, there really is a mysterious person monitoring her, guiding her to the crime scene. The first fits logic but lacks evidence, so the second, though sounding absurd, isn’t impossible.”
Ji Jiang took it seriously and said sternly, “Guo, the first hypothesis having no evidence doesn’t mean the second is true. It only means we haven’t dug deep enough. From what we know, Yu is aloof, only occasionally venting online about family, parents, classmates, teachers, or unpleasant people, and she’s never done anything bad. She has no close ties to any group. So why would the mysterious person come after her?”
Guo Zhiye spread her hands.
“Wasn’t this already discussed? This is the biggest problem—we can’t find the identity or motive of the mysterious person, so the case can’t move forward. There’s no evidence she pretended to be the mysterious person—no downloaded voice changer or internet dialer apps. I even checked the phone logs and message exchanges on her parents’ phones with cyber police. Unless she hired someone offline, but there’s no one like that in her circle.”
Ji Jiang said, “Check the computer city and the small shops that repair and assemble computers. Their business is getting worse; maybe they’re branching out.”
“Alright, that seems to be the only direction left to check.”
Yu Song knew she had become a suspect again, but also knew they had no evidence to arrest her.
So she simply stopped caring.
School was starting, and she had to go.
The school wasn’t impressive and not very large, but it was well located in the city with a big park next to it.
Yu Song first scanned the shared bike to get familiar with the surroundings and thought living on campus would be more convenient.
Although the campus landscaping was poor, the adjacent large park was great for morning and evening runs.
Beyond the park was a night market—perfect for a change from the cafeteria food.
Yu Song only brought a change of clothes and four sets of pajamas.
She planned to settle her stuff first, check if her tuition was paid, then ask if she could still pay for accommodation.
When she reached the dormitory entrance, she saw a huge banner with blood-red characters:
【Beloved daughter He Zilu bullied to death by classmate Yu Song, forced to jump off a building. We demand blood for blood, justice be served!】
Yu Song’s mouth twitched.
“Blood for blood? Do they want me to jump too?”
She had said it—Zhao Xue was such a crazy person.
Since she believed Yu Song pushed He Zilu to her death, how could she not come to bother her?
So here she was, waiting to make a scene.
Zhao Xue and He Feng both wore masks, each holding one side of the banner.
A crowd had gathered.
The student council was calling teachers, some kind souls were livestreaming, holding up phones to record eagerly.
Others were whispering.
“Who’s Yu Song? How did she force a classmate to death? When did this happen?”
A girl in a purple vest dress said, “I’ve heard about her. She’s an accounting major. Her parents have been in prison.”
Her short-haired friend nodded immediately.
“Yeah, everyone in our class knows. She’s not a good person herself. She stopped living in the dorm long ago, and she hasn’t had a boyfriend at school either. She must be living with someone off-campus.”
Seeing these two, Yu Song couldn’t help but smile.
They came looking for her, but she came out instead.
The vest dress girl was Guo Zhipu, and the short-haired girl was Feng Ruirui—both from Yu Song’s dorm.
These words were definitely what they had heard from He Zilu.
Guo Zhiqing, not seeing Yu Ban nearby, even stepped forward to hand Zhao Xue a bottle of water.
“Auntie, please accept our condolences. Zilu was too precious. She was such a good person. She used to pity Yu Song and often helped her. Who would have thought she was forced to death by her?”
Yu Ban sneered.
She threw her bag beside a low bush and strode over.
“Guo Zhipu, why don’t you tell me when He Zilu ever helped me?”