"I like doing research."
After three days and nights of experiments, Liu Chen reached this conclusion.
In Beijing in November, the temperature at night was only four degrees Celsius. Liu Chen locked the laboratory door, making sure it was secure, before hurrying back to the dormitory with her finished thermos.
Just as she reached the dormitory door, Liu Chen heard voices arguing inside.
"Xiong Wan, your skincare products have decreased, you can say that, but you can't directly suspect your roommates. Besides, you're the one who always forgets to close the door when you go out."
Hearing Sang Ling's voice, Liu Chen did not hesitate and pushed the door open, walking into the dormitory. The occupants of the dormitory were startled by the sound of the door opening and all three looked towards the entrance.
Liu Chen took off her down jacket and hung it on the floor rack that everyone in the dormitory had bought, then turned to close the door, shutting out the biting cold wind.
Turning back, Liu Chen looked at the three people standing in the open space in the middle of the dormitory and asked, "What's wrong?"
Xiong Wan glanced at Liu Chen, her lips moved, but she seemed afraid to speak.
Sang Ling had no such reservations and said directly:
"Xiong Wan said that the toner in her skincare products has been decreasing very quickly these past two days. Since Shengnan has been attending classes with her and going to her part-time job after class, she suspects me of secretly using it. I said no, but she doesn't believe me and insists I pay her back."
Skincare toner? Liu Chen nodded, indicating she understood, and then turned to look at Xiong Wan.
"Why do you think Sang Ling would use your skincare products? Have you considered other reasons?"
Xiong Wan looked at Liu Chen's righteous demeanor and argued forcefully:
"There are only four of us in our dormitory. Neither of you were in the room, so who else could it be? Other reasons? Can the toner in the skincare products just disappear on its own?!
Don't just protect her because she's your friend. Sometimes, it's precisely these so-called good friends of yours that make her bolder and bolder."
Hearing Xiong Wan's words becoming more and more excessive and implied, Liu Chen's patience wore thin. She walked to Xiong Wan's side, turned her back to Xiong Wan, placed the camera on the corner above Xiong Wan's desk, and turned it on.
At the same time, she directly interrupted Xiong Wan's words and said:
"How about this, I'll make a bet with you. None of us in the dormitory have touched your things. If I lose, I'll give you ten thousand yuan. If you lose, you will apologize to Sang Ling in the dormitory hallway, and you must shout as loudly as you were just questioning."
Xiong Wan saw the smile disappear from Liu Chen's face and felt a little scared. But then she thought, if Sang Ling didn't secretly use it, who else could it be? What was there to be afraid of?
"Okay, it's a bet! If I lose, I'll not only apologize, but I'll also give Sang Ling ten thousand yuan! I'll draw a line on the toner bottle right now."
Liu Chen looked deeply at Xiong Wan.
"Since you proposed it yourself, I have no reason to disagree."
After washing up, Liu Chen opened her laptop, intending to send her sausage recipe to Old Master Chen. However, her peripheral vision caught Xiong Wan on the opposite bed staring at her alertly.
Living in a dormitory always lacked a sense of privacy. The distance from her "Grand View Garden" to Shui Mu University was only one traffic light and another two hundred meters. She should move back in the future. Also, for the sake of secrecy, she hadn't practiced her Eight Brocades for a long time.
The dormitory lights went out, and Liu Chen fell asleep. On the opposite bed, the curtain was silently opened a small crack. Xiong Wan sat on the bed, listening vigilantly to the sounds in the dormitory. As soon as there was any sign of movement, she would quickly open her eyes to look.
Yawning, she mumbled in a low voice, "I absolutely won't let you have a chance to tamper with things in the middle of the night!"
Liu Chen slept soundly through the night.
When she opened her eyes, she felt as if she were a fully charged battery, full of energy!
She glanced at the time on her phone by the pillow. It was just past seven in the morning. She squinted, sat up, gathered her hair into a high bun, and then got out of bed wearing socks.
Since the heating had started, they only needed to wear short sleeves in the dormitory; wearing long sleeves made them feel too hot. This was also why Liu Chen had made the bet with Xiong Wan yesterday.
"It's dawn!"
Liu Chen's voice as she got out of bed woke up Xiong Wan on the opposite bed. Hearing the sound, Xiong Wan's eyes shot open. Seeing Liu Chen getting out of bed, she quickly opened her bed curtain and asked, "Does this count as one night! It's already light outside!"
Liu Chen, who had slept soundly, actually laughed at this. She turned her head to look at Xiong Wan, whose eyes were dark circles underneath, and said, "Alright, then I'll wake them up, and we'll uncover the truth together."
In fact, there was no need to wake them. In such a small dormitory, Xiong Wan's voice hadn't been intentionally lowered. The other two people in the dormitory had already been woken up. Hearing Liu Chen's words, they both poked their heads out from their bed curtains to indicate they were awake.
Xiong Wan nimbly climbed down from her bed, still muttering, "Actually, we're all roommates. I didn't want this to happen. If Sang Ling is willing to apologize, I won't pursue it. People inevitably make mistakes. I don't want to be ostracized by my roommates."
If an outsider heard this, they would think that everyone in the dormitory was ganging up to bully Xiong Wan. Liu Chen quickly stopped her from saying anything further.
She pointed to the skincare toner that Xiong Wan had deliberately placed on a corner of the desk.
"Xiong Wan, look for yourself."
"Hmm?"
Xiong Wan followed Liu Chen's finger and looked. The toner had indeed decreased. The level of the toner was now lower than the line drawn yesterday.
"How is this possible! I stayed up all night watching yesterday! How could this happen!"
Xiong Wan looked shocked, even revealing that she had stayed up all night.
Although Liu Chen had guessed that Xiong Wan hadn't slept well when she saw the dark circles under her eyes, she hadn't expected Xiong Wan to stay up all night just to guard her toner!
Liu Chen was truly speechless with this Xiong Wan and sighed.
"Xiong Wan, you forgot. Our dormitory recently got heating. It's normal for liquids to evaporate into gas under heat, isn't it? The reason you didn't immediately realize this was because you've always had a prejudice against us three roommates, which is why your first reaction was to suspect us of tampering."
Xiong Wan's lips moved. Looking at the three pairs of eyes in the dormitory, she couldn't utter a single denial.
Liu Chen no longer indulged her because of her age and reminded the conflicted Xiong Wan, "Alright, Xiong Wan, you should go to the hallway and apologize to Sang Ling."
Hearing this, Xiong Wan's eyes widened. Her eyelids blinked rapidly as she began to argue:
"Going to the hallway is out of the question. It's very cold outside, and besides, I only asked Sang Ling in the dormitory earlier, not in the hallway. Isn't this a bit too much?"
"When we made the bet yesterday, you didn't seem to think apologizing in the hallway was a problem."
Xiong Wan pursed her lips, turned around, and walked towards the balcony to start washing up, as if she hadn't heard Liu Chen.
Liu Chen squinted. Xiong Wan was clearly trying to renege on the bet. Just as she was about to mention the camera, Sang Ling had already gone to the balcony.
"If you don't clarify this in front of everyone today, we'll go to the counselor to sort it out. Although I, Sang Ling, don't have as much money as you, I have integrity. You look down on me from the bottom of your heart, and I couldn't be bothered to deal with you, but you're pushing your luck."
"If you look down on me, then you should move out. I can't afford to have a pampered roommate like you."
This was the first time Liu Chen had seen Sang Ling get angry. Sang Ling was usually quite cheerful, and even when Xiong Wan was sometimes unreasonable, she would just give her a cold shoulder and walk away.
Xiong Wan was also taken aback by Sang Ling's words, but after a moment or two of stunned silence, Xiong Wan reacted. She pointed at Sang Ling and said, "There are four people in this dormitory, three of us are from the Food Science department. If anyone is to leave, it should be you, from Computer Science. Besides, you and Liu Chen are in league together, and Sheng Nan and I are in league together. Why are you trying to kick me out?!"
"Then let's go to your counselor!"
Saying this, Sang Ling reached out to grab Xiong Wan's hand. Seeing Sang Ling's hand coming towards her, Xiong Wan quickly took two steps back, but slipped and fell backward.
"Ah! Save me!" Xiong Wan screamed. Sang Ling's first reaction was to pull her up, but she couldn't catch Xiong Wan in time.
"Thud!"
Xiong Wan landed on a plastic basin, which overturned and rested on her back, covered in a thick down jacket. Sitting on the cold tiles, Xiong Wan's eyes darted around.
Xiong Wan's Taiwanese accent disappeared instantly, and she pointed at Sang Ling, angrily shouting, "You pushed me!"
Sang Ling retracted her hand, which had been reaching out to help, and said with a cold face, "I didn't!"
Liu Chen, who had been standing in the middle of the dormitory, had seen everything clearly. She walked to the balcony door and said, "Xiong Wan, I saw it very clearly. Sang Ling didn't touch you at all. Even when you fell, she didn't touch you when she tried to help you up."
Xiong Wan, sitting on the floor, winced in pain. Seeing Liu Chen and hearing her words, she snorted coldly:
"Everyone knows you two are close. To cover for her, of course, you'd say I fell on my own!"
Saying this, Xiong Wan took out her phone and started making a call.
Sang Ling looked at her making the call, then glanced at Liu Chen with some concern. Liu Chen watched Xiong Wan's actions with a cold eye and gently patted Sang Ling's shoulder.
"It's okay, don't worry."
As soon as she finished speaking, Xiong Wan's call connected.
"Hello, Teacher Zhou, it's Xiong Wan. I was pushed down on the ground by my roommate in the dormitory and can't move. Yes, Liu Chen is in the same dormitory as me, but she's on good terms with the girl who did it. Mm-hmm."
Listening to Xiong Wan's words, Liu Chen was a bit confused. After Xiong Wan hung up the phone, Liu Chen asked, "Xiong Wan, why are you lying? And lying to the counselor too? Sang Ling clearly didn't touch you. Have you considered the consequences if the counselor finds out you're lying?"
Xiong Wan rolled her eyes and, being cautious, remained silent. Who knew if Liu Chen would use her phone to record?
Seeing that Xiong Wan showed no remorse, Liu Chen simply stood aside with her arms crossed and said no more, waiting for the counselor to arrive.