I Got Together With the Fake Heiress - Chapter 48

The incident involving the Ruihua student was suppressed through the joint efforts of multiple parties. The school also acted quickly, arranging comprehensive physical examinations for the Grade 10 and Grade 11 students before their holiday.

The Grade 12 students, who had finished their exams, were also brought in for checks under the pretense of returning to school to collect materials.

The matter of their treatment (salary/rank) was not settled on the spot because Lu Zhiming herself only enjoyed the rank of Principal Division-Level Officer (zhèng chù jí). She needed to seek instructions from her superior before she could give the two an answer.

“Didn’t Teacher Lu say they needed our cooperation for the investigation?” Wen Yimeng asked while organizing her suitcase. “If we just leave like this, will it delay the investigation progress?”

“No, just handling the human relations aspect will keep them busy for several days,” Wen Yunqing said. She didn’t need many things—a few changes of clothes and some miscellaneous items—and was packed in less than twenty minutes.

“Besides, we’re not suspects who need to be controlled. We’re only lending a hand when necessary. We’ll have enough time to come back after playing for a few days,” Wen Yunqing said, examining Wen Yimeng’s suitcase and then stuffing some of her bottles and jars into her own luggage.

“Is there anything else you need to pack?” Wen Yunqing asked.

Wen Yimeng checked her suitcase. “We’re staying for three nights, so three changes of clothes are enough. I’ve brought emergency medicine and the power bank. Everything should be fine!”

“Alright, then let’s go meet up with Zhou Juan and head to the airport together,” Wen Yunqing said, easily lifting Wen Yimeng’s large suitcase and walking ahead.

After much discussion, the location for the class outing was decided to be Dali, Yunnan. Due to various reasons, only twenty-two people ended up participating. The class monitor, feeling exceptionally generous, chartered a small aircraft directly and applied for an exclusive route.

Since he had chartered a plane, the class monitor was naturally not stingy with accommodation. He contacted a local, reputable guesthouse and reserved fifteen suites according to their respective lodging requirements.

Although it was called a class outing, the class monitor clearly understood that having twenty-two people move together for four days would likely lead to many problems.

So, after the plane landed, the class monitor rented a large bus and drove the whole group straight to Dali Ancient City. He then spent half an hour taking a group photo.

“Ahem, the rest of today is free activity, but tomorrow afternoon at five o’clock, we need to gather on Fengqing Island to take another group photo and have dinner together,” the class monitor announced, pulling out a newly bought megaphone.

“Everyone is an adult, so take it easy while you’re having fun. I won’t waste any more words!” The class monitor held up the megaphone. “Remember, don’t wander off alone, and don’t mute my messages!”

As soon as the class monitor finished speaking, cheers erupted from below. The twenty-one students quickly found their small groups and scattered to explore.

“Yimeng, Yimeng, what’s our plan?” Su Ning asked, snapping photos with her phone. She, Zhou Juan, Wen Yimeng, and Wen Yunqing formed a small travel team of four.

“I haven’t been here either, so let’s just stroll around first,” Wen Yimeng said, looking at the quaint, ancient buildings around her with a hint of anticipation. As a key tourist attraction, this place should be quite good.

Dali Ancient City sits at the foot of Cangshan Mountain. The air quality here is excellent, and as the former capital of the ancient Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms, it possesses a deep cultural heritage that is well preserved, at least externally.

When girls go shopping, it’s inevitably about buying, buying, buying. Especially Su Ning, who, as someone with no shortage of money and a slight collecting habit, had accumulated four tote bags just by browsing two jewelry stores.

“This is just the beginning. If you carry too much, you won’t be able to walk later,” when Su Ning was selecting her fifth item, Zhou Juan held back her impulsive hand and advised, “There are many more shops ahead. You need to plan your trip wisely.”

“Aww, but I really love these things. Don’t you think they’re cute?” Su Ning feigned pity. “I’ll just buy one more. I can still carry it now!”

“Just one, really?” Zhou Juan raised an eyebrow. She knew her classmate’s habits well; someone with a collecting habit couldn’t easily stop.

“Of course! Besides, I’m not the only one buying things. Yimeng bought a lot too,” Su Ning retorted.

Zhou Juan turned around, silently glanced at Wen Yimeng, who was selecting items, and Wen Yunqing, who was holding the bags, and then firmly stopped Su Ning’s action. “You’re different from them.”

To be honest, Zhou Juan really wanted to tell Su Ning that Wen Yimeng and Wen Yunqing were a team. When Wen Yimeng bought things, both of them carried them, but if the two of them bought things, only she would have to carry them alone!

“Which one of these bracelets do you think looks better?” Wen Yimeng was briefly caught in a dilemma of choice. She held five bracelets, which only had minor differences in style, making it difficult to choose.

Wen Yunqing looked carefully. “If you can’t decide, then just buy them all. They aren’t expensive anyway.”

“But I can only wear one bracelet. Wouldn’t buying them all be a bit wasteful?” Wen Yimeng was still a bit conflicted. Although they weren’t expensive, they were still money. Now that they were adults, shouldn’t they be self-reliant? If they weren’t going to ask their parents for money anymore, they should be more frugal.

“That’s true, but Yimeng, don’t you have a cabinet in your room specifically for bracelets? There must be over a dozen already. A few more won’t hurt,” Wen Yunqing said. “Collecting the bracelets and taking them out to appreciate them from time to time can also count as a purpose.”

Although those bracelets weren’t bought by her but were gifts, what Wen Yunqing said sounded very reasonable. After a slight hesitation, Wen Yimeng made her decision. “Okay, boss, please wrap up all five of these bracelets for me.”

“Coming right up, please wait.” The owner quickly grabbed five small boxes and placed the five bracelets separately. “That’s nine hundred ninety-five yuan in total. Alipay or WeChat?”

“Can I pay by card?” Wen Yunqing asked.

“Of course.” Seeing the card Wen Yunqing pulled out, the owner’s smile widened. He immediately rounded down the change, only charging nine hundred ninety yuan.

After receiving the payment, the owner held his phone, seemingly sending a message to someone. He looked like he had encountered something happy, as the smile on his face deepened considerably.

Wen Yimeng sorted through them and picked out the one she liked the most. “Come on, give me your hand.”

Wen Yunqing subconsciously extended her left hand, but then she realized her left hand already had a watch on it—a matching one that Father Wen had given to her and Wen Yimeng earlier. “Wear it on this hand,” Wen Yunqing said, extending her right hand.

The bracelet Wen Yimeng chose was quite delicate. It took her several attempts to fasten it properly around Wen Yunqing’s wrist. The silver-white chain made Wen Yunqing’s wrist appear even fairer.

“Yunqing, are you fairer than me now?” Wen Yimeng extended her own wrist and held it next to Wen Yunqing’s for comparison. “You don’t even put on sunscreen.”

“Am I? They look about the same to me,” Wen Yunqing observed closely. The bracelet on Wen Yimeng’s hand was a gift from Zhou Juan, and its craftsmanship looked slightly more exquisite.

“Ahem, are you two done buying things?” Zhou Juan, standing aside, really couldn’t bear to watch anymore. It was just putting on a bracelet; did they have to be so intimate?

Wen Yimeng also realized she had wasted quite a bit of time here. After a light cough, she put away the remaining bracelets.

After walking around for about an hour, Wen Yimeng raised her wrist to check the time. It was about five o’clock in the afternoon, nearly time for dinner.

“Should we choose a small restaurant nearby, or go back to the guesthouse to eat?” Wen Yunqing asked. It was common knowledge that small restaurants located in scenic areas often had mediocre food but very unreasonable prices.

“I want to keep playing tonight, so why don’t we eat close by?” Su Ning suggested.

Wen Yimeng didn’t object. “Okay, let’s check out the noodle shop up ahead.”

The noodle shop was only about two hundred meters away. Normally, it would take just two or three minutes to walk there, but it was within those two or three minutes that an accident occurred.

A small child wearing a backpack suddenly appeared from nowhere, skipping down the road, and ran straight into Su Ning, who was looking at an online review on her phone.

“Ouch.” The child quickly fell backward onto the ground. Thanks to the cushioning from the backpack, he wasn’t seriously injured.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I accidentally bumped into you,” Su Ning immediately put away her phone and reached out to help the child up. “Little one, are you okay?”

The child shook his head, took Su Ning’s hand, stood up, and rubbed his bottom. “I’m fine. My bottom just hurts a little.”

Su Ning let out a sigh of relief. “It’s good that you’re fine. Why are you out alone? Where are your mom and dad?”

“Mom and Dad… Oh no!” The child’s expression suddenly changed. He nervously opened his backpack, pulled out a small cloth bag, and revealed its contents.

“Big Sister, what should I do? Mom’s bracelet broke…” The child pouted, looking at the jade bracelet broken into three pieces inside the cloth bag, looking as if he was about to burst into tears.

“Did it just break?” Su Ning was stunned and said guiltily, “I’m so sorry. How much does this bracelet cost? I’ll buy you a new one.”

The child shook his head. “I don’t know. Mom asked me to keep it for her. Now that the bracelet is broken, Mom is definitely going to hit me.”

With that, the child burst into tears, quickly drawing the attention and pointing of passersby.

Watching Su Ning comfort the child, Zhou Juan felt that something was off. The child had appeared suddenly. Given the child’s weight, the impact shouldn’t have been enough to break something inside the backpack, right? Was it a coincidence? Or was the jade bracelet too fragile?

“Did you figure it out?” Wen Yunqing asked.

Wen Yimeng nodded. “Yes, I figured it out. Our clothes look expensive, so we look like easy targets (fèi yáng—fat sheep).”

Zhou Juan: ??? What’s going on? Did she miss something? How did they become ‘fat sheep’?

“I predict his parents will come out in, at most, one minute,” Wen Yimeng added.

“Why? Is he crying too loudly?” Zhou Juan subconsciously asked.

“Huh?” Wen Yimeng looked slightly confused. “Isn’t it obvious? This child is staging an accident (pèng cí—a scam).”

“A scam? But he’s so young,” Zhou Juan had a vague feeling herself, but the child in front of her was only about six years old. Could he really be a little scammer? He hadn’t even started elementary school yet.

Just as Zhou Juan finished speaking, a woman in her thirties squeezed through the crowd and hugged the child. “Baby, why did you run off? Do you know how worried Mommy was about you?”

“Why are you crying? Did someone bully you?” the woman asked, feigning surprise.

The child, teary-eyed, pulled out the cloth bag. “Mommy, I’m sorry. I fell down and broke your bracelet. Mommy, please hit me.”

“No…” Su Ning instinctively wanted to explain that the bracelet broke because she had bumped into the child, but just as she opened her mouth, she found herself being lifted by her collar.

Wen Yunqing calmly lifted the 1.6-meter-tall Su Ning and placed her behind her, then stood directly opposite the woman and the child, crossing her arms in a gesture of watching the show.

Su Ning also came to her senses at this moment, closing her mouth without saying anything further.

With no one speaking, the surroundings suddenly fell silent, leaving only the sound of the child’s sobbing.

“Sister, please don’t hit the child. I saw it just now; that young lady bumped into your child, and that’s why the bracelet broke,” a middle-aged man with a seemingly honest and simple face spoke up, breaking the somewhat eerie atmosphere.

“Ah, was he bumped?” The woman was stunned, looking hesitantly at Wen Yunqing.

“It was her who bumped the person. I saw it too.” A person dressed as a student walked out, pointing directly at Su Ning.

With two people speaking up, the remaining passersby followed their line of thought and started discussing quietly.

“Judging by their clothes, these people shouldn’t be short on money. Why are they bullying a small child?”

“Alas, the richer they are, the stingier they get. They just don’t want to pay compensation.”

“Is that so? I thought my friend was the one who was bumped by this child?” Wen Yunqing’s gaze settled on the woman, extremely sharp. “Putting a broken bracelet in the child’s bag and having him deliberately bump into someone—is this your scam plan?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? If you don’t want to pay, just say so. There’s no need to slander my child,” the woman snapped, a hint of panic flashing in her eyes.

Why is this person reacting so fast? Didn’t Sister Ling say that the other party was a foolish student with lots of money, easy to deceive? She should have been observing them for half an hour. There shouldn’t be any mistake!

“Then let me guess again. This bracelet was probably just bought by you, and perhaps the receipt is still in your pocket,” Wen Yunqing said. “Is the next step to use a fake receipt to extort money?”

“And you, too.” Wen Yunqing said, pointing a finger at the seemingly honest middle-aged man and the boy dressed as a student. “You two must be accomplices, part of the scam group’s… ‘Atmosphere Team’?”

“Pfft…” Hearing the last three words, Wen Yimeng couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Realizing that everyone was looking at her, she immediately adjusted her expression. “Don’t mind me. Please continue.”

The expression on the woman’s face briefly wavered, but she quickly stabilized. “Little… sister, you can eat carelessly, but you can’t speak carelessly. What evidence do you have for this?”

“No evidence,” Wen Yunqing said, taking out her phone, opening the dialing interface, tapping three times, and choosing to call. “But there will be evidence soon.”

Wen Yunqing temporarily abandoned her plan to eat and chose to call the police, letting them handle the matter.

Wen Yunqing’s thinking was simple: if the police got involved, it would be easy to investigate the relationships between these people, and perhaps even uncover prior criminal records. This way, they wouldn’t have to engage in any useless debate here.

Indeed, calling the police is one of the quickest ways to solve a problem, but only if Wen Yunqing encounters police officers who are dedicated to their duty.

In less than five minutes, a police car arrived with its siren wailing. After spending a minute understanding the situation, the officers stated that everyone present needed to accompany them to the station.

“Comrades, I think if you just ask them to dial each other’s phone numbers, wouldn’t that immediately reveal if they are working together?” Wen Yimeng was confused by the police’s method.

“That involves personal privacy. We cannot handle it on the spot. If you want to prove your innocence, please come with us,” said Officer No. 1, who was dispatched to the scene.

“What privacy? It’s just making a phone call, isn’t it?” Su Ning was also confused. “Officer, we’re in a hurry to eat. Can you handle this quickly?”

Officer No. 1 shook his head. “This is regulation, and I must follow the regulation. If you do not wish to give a statement, then you may need to offer compensation.”

“Why?” Wen Yunqing asked, her gaze falling on Officer No. 1 was less than friendly. She seemed to have forgotten one possibility: if these people were habitual offenders and so bold, could they have already spoken to the local precinct police?

Officer No. 1 was slightly annoyed. Wen Yunqing’s gaze was too direct, making him uncomfortable. Catching sight of several people taking photos with their phones, Officer No. 1 suppressed his temper and tried to speak in an official tone.

“It’s like this: there are no surveillance cameras nearby. As parties involved, your descriptions need to be verified, which is why I’m asking you to return with us to cooperate with the investigation,” Officer No. 1 said fluently, almost without thinking.

“If you are unwilling to cooperate, based on the descriptions of some bystanders and common sense judgment, the possibility of a small child actively running into you is very low. Instead, the person who was playing with their phone at the time is more likely to have made a mistake.”

Officer No. 1’s words sounded very reasonable at first hearing. After all, in the eyes of most people, a six-year-old child is still in kindergarten. What malice could a child possibly have?

However, if they thought about it carefully, they would realize that Officer No. 1 had already sided against Wen Yunqing, planning to use “common sense” to shift the blame onto Wen Yunqing’s side, completely ignoring the contradictions and “coincidences.”

“Please wait, Officer. If I remember correctly, as law enforcement, you cannot determine that any party is guilty without conclusive evidence, can you? Do you usually handle cases based on common sense judgment?” Wen Yimeng countered. “Also, Officer, if you don’t mind me asking, is your body camera recording?”

Officer No. 1’s face changed slightly. He looked down at his body camera, which was not lit up, and showed a look of annoyance. “I apologize. I was in a rush to respond to the call, so I forgot to turn it on. My apologies.”

Having their mistake pointed out in front of everyone, the two officers quickly turned on their body cameras, and their tone became much more serious.

“The parties involved can discuss this: will you go through the official reporting and statement process, or resolve this privately?” Officer No. 1 said, adding a seemingly kind reminder, “Going through the process can be lengthy, and you might need to stay here for a while.”

Wen Yunqing slowly exhaled. It seemed her guess was correct; these people had indeed coordinated with the local police.

Alas, Yimeng and I truly have the protagonists’ aura. No matter where we go, we run into trouble, and there are always people extending their faces for us to slap.

But this is good too. Life is interesting only when it has its ups and downs.