Just then, a night heron landed in front of Su Zhisheng, holding a lotus flower in its beak.
“You’ve been feeding us quite a few small fish lately. I know it’s payment for work, but you’ve really given us too many. Human, this night heron likes you!”
The night heron straightened its not-so-long neck, looking like it wanted to be praised.
“I’ve noticed that most you humans like lotuses. I pecked this one off myself and brought it for you. Do you like it? Quack quack?”
“Thank you. Little night heron, you’re such a thoughtful sweetheart.”
Su Zhisheng looked at the night heron, which was clearly an adult, yet he casually called it a “little sweetheart.”
He even reached out and stroked its feathers, thoroughly enjoying the tactile experience.
The pink lotus was vibrant and beautiful, filling Su Zhisheng’s arms with a fresh, delicate fragrance.
He closed his eyes and breathed it in gently, feeling as though his very soul had been cleansed.
Xing Tianwei’s gaze drifted past the pink petals and landed on that smiling, handsome face under the night sky.
The gossipy words of the police station’s cleaning aunt suddenly came to mind.
“The new guy, Zhisheng, is so good-looking. He definitely doesn’t lack for suitors. If this place weren’t so intimidating, the office would probably be piled high with flowers from both men and women.”
Xing Tianwei had yet to witness the scene of men and women delivering flowers to Su Zhisheng. But he had just witnessed a bird delivering a flower to him.
Su Zhisheng didn’t look back, so naturally he didn’t notice the man’s gaze behind him.
“This lotus really smells wonderful. If it weren’t for school starting soon, I’d find a vase and keep it in the police station office. Although the flower won’t last long anyway—I’ll just keep it in my dorm for a few days…”
Su Zhisheng quickly made his arrangements, clearly placing great value on this little gift from a bird.
Xing Tianwei looked up at the deep night sky. “School starts tomorrow. Go back early.”
“Okay.”
Su Zhisheng, holding the flower, happily got into Xing Tianwei’s car and was driven back to his school dormitory.
At the beginning of the school year, students’ wails could be heard in every corner of the campus.
After a few days, they got used to the routine, and these drooping “flowers of the motherland” perked up again.
Soon, the hotel body-hiding case and the organized prostitution ring behind it—which had drawn so much online attention—finally had a new case update.
The police had captured the Zhang family at the source. Once they got the Zhangs to talk, the case progressed rapidly. It seemed like a swift resolution, but the police had actually uncovered clues much earlier from Hu Xiuchun and other hotel partners.
Now, with all the pieces of evidence linked together, everyone involved in the organized prostitution ring had been exposed. The specifics of the case could finally be made public.
Although G Province First Agricultural University was known for farming and animal husbandry, it was still an educational institution that placed great importance on student safety.
This time, following directives from the education bureau, the school organized a special educational lecture on this very case.
To force young men and women into prostitution, the criminals had used a variety of tactics: fake job recruitment scams, contract traps with exorbitant penalty clauses, cosmetic surgery loan schemes…
The teachers needed to educate students about these key deceptive methods.
Many students lacked self-discipline and tended to let loose once they entered university. But this lecture involved a major local criminal case with many victims, so they paid close attention.
When the lecture finally ended, the students stood up to leave. But as if a seal had been broken, they immediately launched into heated discussions.
“Those people were horrible! How many people have ever seen such deep tricks? No wonder they got scammed!”
“We’re lucky we’re at an agriculture school. The film and television schools are the real disaster zones—those criminals really targeted them.”
“Hu Xiuchun is so vicious! The Su family’s entertainment company is one of the biggest in the industry. Lots of people let their guard down around Su family agents. Even if an agent referred them to a shell company, they’d believe it was some behind-the-scenes business of the higher-ups and think they might actually get a few scraps of resources…”
“Sigh, it breaks my heart. The victim, Liu Meiling, tried delivering milk tea and takeout, but she couldn’t even pay the interest on her cosmetic surgery loan. In the end, she had no choice but to enter prostitution in despair. There are probably many victims like her…”
“Thank goodness the police wiped out this criminal gang. Otherwise, they would have created even more victims.”
Besides the case itself, they also talked plenty about the Su family.
“Come to think of it, Hu Xiuchun used to really like Su Mingjie. They played the ‘loving mother and filial son’ act all over the internet. Now, Su Mingjie is suffering the fallout.” said a university student named Luo Guangsheng.
His face showed sympathy as he kept speaking well of Su Mingjie.
“Honestly, I think Su Mingjie is pretty innocent too. The police investigation showed that Hu Xiuchun was doing all this behind the family’s back to make her own private money. The family didn’t actually know about her activities.”
His roommate, Li Mengxi, wasn’t convinced by this argument.
“But even the adopted son, who had only recently been brought back into the wealthy family, found out about this and provided clues to the police. How exactly did the rest of the Su family remain in the dark?”
“Mingjie was certainly too emotionally involved to see clearly!”
“How could he possibly suspect a stepmother who had been so good to him? Hu Xiuchun must be a scheming woman with great acting skills. Otherwise, how could a poor woman like her have married into the wealthy Su family?” Luo Guangsheng argued confidently.
Li Mengxi frowned. “The problem is, the head of the Su family was a twice-divorced man with two sons. It’s not like he was a catch for any wealthy heiress. I still think something’s off about Su Mingjie…”
“So you’re saying that without a shred of evidence, you insist Su Mingjie is a bad person? Ha, I see right through you. You’re just like that adopted son who got kicked out of the family—jealous of a happy, privileged young master!”
Luo Guangsheng snorted coldly and walked away quickly.
Behind the two of them, Su Zhisheng and Gao Lijian remained silent, quietly observing the drama.
Watching Luo Guangsheng leave in anger, Gao Lijian couldn’t help but mutter under his breath.
“You know, Su Mingjie has already starred in several dramas before even graduating, and he’s gained quite a few fans. Normally, reading online news doesn’t hit me that hard. But seeing a live fan in real life feels like breaking through some kind of dimensional wall.”
“Being roommates with someone like that is just terrible luck. Thank goodness I’m from the next dorm over.”
Su Zhisheng nodded in agreement.
He wanted to continue living in the dorms and had no desire to interact with Su Mingjie’s brain-dead fans.
After all, he himself was the adopted son of the Su family—the one those fans hated the most. If he ended up in the same dorm as one of those fans and his identity was accidentally exposed, it would likely cause a huge disaster.
Luckily, the guy was from the next dorm over and had no direct dealings with him.
But still, he was already this angry.
When Su Zhisheng exposed Su Mingjie’s true identity tonight, would the guy explode with rage on the spot, or would he turn on his idol?
Su Zhisheng anticipated it with a hint of mischief. He admitted he held a bit of a grudge—after all, Luo Guangsheng had just insulted him.
After dinner, Su Zhisheng returned to his dorm with his roommate.
As they passed through the hallway, they saw the door to the next dorm was open. Inside, Li Mengxi was pacing anxiously like an ant on a hot pan.
“Where did my computer go?”
Luo Guangsheng’s sarcastic voice followed.
“What are you crying about? I was the one you falsely accused, and I let you turn my luggage inside out. I didn’t cry!”
Seeing this, Su Zhisheng stepped forward. “Did you call the police? Let the school and the police check the surveillance footage. Maybe they’ll find it.”
“Also, let’s post the news in the campus group and ask everyone to help look. Think about the places you’ve been recently. Where might your computer have ended up?”
Su Zhisheng’s calm and methodical planning finally brought Li Mengxi back to some semblance of rationality.
Li Mengxi pulled out his phone. “I’ll call the police right now.”
Not only that, but he also marked the places he had been that day and asked his classmates to help search.
Su Zhisheng naturally joined in the effort to find the computer. But he noticed that when he mentioned calling the police, Luo Guangsheng’s expression had seemed off.
So he opened his phone and found a photo of Luo Guangsheng on his Moments.
Su Zhisheng hadn’t exposed his real-life identity before, but he had already been viciously cursed out online by Su Mingjie’s brain-dead fans.
Those people were exactly the type to harm someone just because of a dispute with their idol.
Su Zhisheng rubbed his chin, thinking about the timeline of the theft.
The lecture had been the last class of the morning, and now it was dinner time. Although half a day had passed, Luo Guangsheng had a full schedule of classes in the afternoon, so his range of movement was very limited.
Su Zhisheng started from the dorm building and asked the animals along the way for information.
The other students just assumed he had gone crazy looking for the computer and was acting oddly. No one paid much attention to him showing a photo to animals.
Finally, by the river on campus, Su Zhisheng encountered a large carp.
“I know this brat!”
“He threw garbage into the school river. Has no sense of civic duty at all!”