[Qinghua University Campus — September 17, Wednesday, 12:30 PM]
Zhang Yuting's phone buzzed during the lunch rush.
She was leaning against the wall inside her classroom, scrolling through her notes from the morning lecture, when Su Qingxue's message popped up at the top of her screen.
[Su Qingxue: Yuting. Have you seen Tingting? She's not in the dorm right now and I haven't seen her in two days. Did she go home?]
Zhang Yuting's thumb paused mid-scroll.
[Zhang Yuting: Tingting was not there? Hmm… That's strange. I haven't seen Tingting recently either.]
[Zhang Yuting: Well, let me check if she went home yesterday.]
Where did Tingting go? Usually she tells me where she goes.
Zhang Yuting pulled up her aunt's number and called.
Her aunt picked up on the second ring with the comfortable warmth of someone who'd been expecting family.
"Yuting! How are your classes going?"
"Good, Auntie. Quick question — is Tingting home?"
"Tingting? No, she sent us a message this morning. Said she's staying at a friend's place for a few days." A small laugh came through the speaker. "You know how she is. Always running off to some classmate's kitchen to cook at odd hours."
That did sound like Zhang Tingting. Her cousin had crashed at culinary classmates' apartments before — sometimes for two or three nights when they were doing group projects or recipe testing.
"Did she say which friend?"
"Hmm... no, she didn't. I didn't ask." A pause. "Should I have?"
"No, no. I'm sure it's fine. Just checking in."
"By the way, how is your relationship with Long Tian going?"
"Hehehe… Everything is going well Aunt. If he has some free time, I will bring Long Tian home."
"Oh! That's good! That's good! You sure are lucky to find that good boy. I hope Tingting will meet with him soon…"
"Oh, don't worry Aunt. Next time, I will bring Tingting to meet with him. It would be great if I could share Long Tian with her. I can't wait for Tingting to meet him too! Hehehe."
The call continued and her aunt asked about her grades, reminded her to eat breakfast, told her uncle said hello. Zhang Yuting said goodbye and hung up feeling mostly reassured.
She sent a few quick texts to Zhang Tingting's culinary department friends. Li Mei. Zhou Nan. That girl Fang-something who Zhang Tingting always partnered with for pastry lab.
Nobody had seen her. Nobody knew which friend she was staying with.
"Huh..."
Zhang Yuting's brow creased. Her thumb hovered over the keyboard, then pulled back.
Yesterday, when Su Qingxue had called during the café date, Zhang Tingting had said she was with Lin Feng. Just like that, casual as anything, as if hanging around that man was perfectly normal.
Lin Feng.
The name left a sour taste in her mouth. That desperate, pathetic rich kid who'd spent four years humiliating himself over Su Qingxue. All money, no dignity. The kind of man who thought buying things was the same as being wanted.
And then this morning's lecture — that girl in the black hoodie standing up and announcing to the entire hall that she was the woman who slept with him.
It was so stupid. So ridiculous. They even put on some disgusting display in the corridor afterward — she'd lost her appetite and skipped lunch entirely.
Any man who lets a woman humiliate herself like that in public isn't worth looking at.
So why does Tingting keep ending up around that guy?
The thought passed through her like a brief cloud, and then something warmer replaced it — the memory of yesterday afternoon at the café. Long Tian's hand resting on the small of her back as he held the door open. The way his laugh had made her chest feel light and full at the same time.
Her shoulders relaxed, and the tight feeling in her stomach loosened.
She typed a reply to Su Qingxue.
[Zhang Yuting: My aunt says she's at a friend's place. Her parents aren't worried. You know how she is — probably testing recipes somewhere.]
[Su Qingxue: Ok. Let me know if you hear from her.]
The one o'clock bell rang across campus. Students began flowing toward the lecture halls in loose groups, bags slung over shoulders, conversations overlapping.
Zhang Yuting pocketed her phone and joined the current, pushing the small knot of unease down where it wouldn't bother her.
Tingting must be hanging out with some of her friends. She always does that. I'll pay her a visit later after class.
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[4:30 PM]
Classes swallowed the afternoon whole.
Zhang Yuting sat through two back-to-back lectures on fiscal policy and macroeconomic modeling, filling her notebook with color-coded highlights while the professor droned through slides she'd already read twice.
The classroom was warm, the air conditioning struggling against the mid-September heat, and by the third hour her pen strokes had turned sluggish.
During the fifteen-minute break between her second and third class, she pulled out her phone and opened her chat with Zhang Tingting.
The last message in the chat was still her own from that morning, sitting unanswered at the bottom of the screen. No blue checkmarks. No typing indicator. Just her own words hanging in empty space.
She typed out "Hey, where are you staying?" and stared at it for a moment before sending. Then she locked the screen, slipped the phone back into her pocket, and went to refill her water bottle.
When the final bell rang at half past four, Zhang Yuting was packing up her highlighters when Su Qingxue appeared at the classroom door.
She was leaning against the frame, arms crossed, expression flat.
"Still nothing from Tingting?"
Zhang Yuting shook her head.
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[Qinghua University, Culinary Arts Building — 4:40 PM]
The culinary arts department was on the other side of campus, a squat three-story building that always smelled faintly of sesame oil and industrial cleaning solution. Zhang Yuting and Su Qingxue walked there in ten minutes, cutting through the central quad where clusters of students sat on benches with laptops and iced tea.
Su Qingxue hadn't said much on the walk over. She kept pace, eyes forward, hands in her jacket pockets. Whatever she was thinking, she wasn't sharing it.
The hallway outside Zhang Tingting's classroom was half-empty by the time they arrived. A few students lingered by the notice board, and a girl with flour still dusted on her sleeve was crouching down to zip up her bag near the door.
Zhang Yuting approached her first.
"Excuse me — do you know Zhang Tingting? Was she in class today?"
The girl looked up, thinking for a second. "Oh, you mean Miss Zhang? She wasn't in this morning's session. I remember because the professor called her name during attendance and nobody answered."
Zhang Yuting blinked. "She wasn't there at all this morning?"
"Not in the morning class, no." The girl shrugged. "But I think she showed up later? I heard someone mention she came in for the afternoon block."
She told her parents she was at school. But she only came in the afternoon?
Where was she all morning?
Zhang Yuting thanked the girl and turned to scan the hallway. A boy with rolled-up sleeves was leaning against the wall further down, scrolling through his phone.
"Hey — sorry to bother you. Do you know Zhang Tingting?"
He glanced up. "Miss Zhang? The beauty of the chef department? Yeah, she's in my practical skills class."
"Was she in the afternoon session today?"
"Yeah, she came in around three." He scratched the back of his neck, thinking. "Actually, it was kind of weird. There was some woman with her."
Zhang Yuting went still. "A woman?"
"Yeah. She didn't come inside. The woman just stood by the door the whole time." He tilted his head. "Like... she wasn't waiting for someone. She was just standing there, wearing these all-black clothes and sunglasses, her hands at her sides, back straight, and she didn't look at her phone once. Kind of intense."
"Oh, and the professor didn't even seem to notice this woman. Like she wasn't there." The boy added.
Su Qingxue shifted her weight beside Zhang Yuting. Their eyes met for a second before Zhang Yuting turned back.
"Did you notice anything else?"
"Well… she had a bunch of luggage with her. Tingting, I mean." He gestured vaguely. "Like she was moving dorms or something. Also, she left the second class ended. She didn't talk to anyone or clean her station. She just grabbed everything and went straight to the woman."
"And they left together?"
"Yeah. The woman took some of the bags for her and they walked out."
Zhang Yuting's stomach pulled tight. She managed a "thanks" that sounded almost normal and turned away.
The hallway buzzed under the fluorescent lights. Zhang Yuting leaned against the wall, pressing her cold fingers against her thigh.
A woman standing guard outside her classroom. A bunch of luggage. Only came for one class. Left immediately.
What is going on, Tingting?
She didn't have an answer. What was there was just a growing tightness in her chest that was getting harder to ignore.
Su Qingxue spoke first. Her voice was calm and practical.
"Let's go check the dorm again."
"Yeah," she said. "Let's go."
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[Female Dormitory, Room 403 — 4:55 PM]
They half-ran across the campus.
Zhang Yuting's bag bounced against her hip with every stride, and Su Qingxue kept pace beside her without complaint, her expression unreadable. The late afternoon sun had dipped behind the dormitory building by the time they reached the entrance, casting the front steps in cool shadow.
Su Qingxue swiped her card at the door. The lock beeped and they pushed through into the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time up to the fourth floor.
Room 403.
Su Qingxue unlocked the door and pushed it open.
Zhang Yuting went straight to Zhang Tingting's side of the room.
The desk was bare. Not messy-bare, not cleared-for-cleaning bare.
Bare like nobody had ever used it.
The textbooks that usually sat stacked on the left corner were gone. The pencil cup, the sticky notes along the monitor stand, even the little ceramic cat Zhang Tingting had bought from a night market during orientation week — all of it, gone.
Zhang Yuting's breath caught.
She turned to the shelves.
The second shelf had always had a framed photo of Zhang Tingting's family — her aunt and uncle smiling in front of their old apartment, Zhang Tingting between them in her high school uniform. It was gone. Nothing remained except for a faint rectangle in the thin layer of dust where the frame had sat.
The wardrobe was next. Zhang Yuting pulled it open.
Empty hangers. A row of them, evenly spaced, swaying slightly from the motion of the door. Not a single piece of clothing. No jackets, no blouses, no jeans folded on the bottom shelf. Even the small fabric organizer where Zhang Tingting kept her socks and underwear had been removed.
Su Qingxue pulled open the desk drawers. Nothing. She crouched and checked under the bed. Nothing. She went to the shared bathroom shelf — the spot where Zhang Tingting's shampoo and conditioner always sat, the bottles with handwritten labels because she bought bulk refills to save money — empty.
What was left was a clean gap between Su Qingxue's toiletries and the wall.
"Qingxue."
Zhang Yuting's voice came out thin.
"You said her stuff was still here when you messaged me."
Su Qingxue straightened up from the bathroom shelf and stared at the empty gap where Zhang Tingting's bottles had been. She touched the empty shelf once, lightly, like she was making sure it was real.
"But her things were everywhere last time I was here…"
Zhang Yuting stared at her.
This morning. Her things were here this morning.
And now there's nothing. Not a hair tie. Not a sock. Not even the photo of her family.
Someone came in while we were in class and took everything. All of it. In a few hours.
Normal people don't do this. You don't pack up all of your belongings in an afternoon without leaving a single thing behind. Not unless someone wants to move somewhere…
Or someone did it for you.
She sank down onto the edge of Zhang Tingting's mattress. The fabric was cold under her palms.
That woman standing outside her classroom. The luggage. Only showing up for one class and leaving immediately.
It couldn't be…
Lin Feng!
Yes! Yesterday Tingting said she was with Lin Feng.
This morning she told her parents she was at a friend's place.
And this friend…
It was someone who could send someone like that woman to watch over her. A friend with the money and the people to clear out an entire dorm room in a few hours without leaving a trace.
Her chest was tight. Each breath felt like it had to push through something solid.
But Tingting would never go to Lin Feng. She wouldn't. He's disgusting. She has actual standards. She would never choose someone like that on her own.
So if she didn't choose this—
No way…
He must have threatened her. No he might even have kidnapped her!
Because Qingxue chose Long Tian, he's going after Tingting instead!
Maybe he thinks he has no chance against Long Tian so he gave up on Qingxue and went after Tingting instead!
But Tingting isn't weak. She'd fight back. She'd call someone. She'd—
Unless she can't.
Tingting's family is only just a bit richer than my family. But against Lin Feng… Against the Lin Family…
If Lin Feng threatened her with her parents — their noodles restaurant, their apartment — Tingting would do anything. She'd stay quiet. She'd smile. She'd send her mom a message saying everything was fine so nobody would come looking for her.
Oh god.
That's exactly what she did this morning.
Zhang Yuting's vision blurred. She pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes and took a shaking breath.
She reached for her phone with unsteady fingers, scrolled to Long Tian's contact, and pressed call.
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[5:00 PM]
He picked up on the first ring.
"Yuting?" His voice came through warm and steady, the way it always did. "What's wrong?"
Everything spilled out at once.
"It's Tingting — she's gone. All her stuff, everything, the whole dorm is empty. It was all still here this morning and now there's nothing. We talked to her classmates and she only came for one class and there was some woman watching her the whole time and she had all this luggage and — Brother Tian, I think Lin Feng kidnapped her."
She ran out of air and stopped.
A brief pause on the other end. Half a second. Maybe less.
"Okay." Long Tian's voice didn't waver. "Take a breath. Tell me — you said Lin Feng?"
"Tingting would never go with someone like him willingly. Something is wrong." Zhang Yuting swallowed hard. "I think he's threatening her family or — or something. Her parents have nothing. If he—"
"Listen to me." His voice was calm and certain. The voice of someone who already knew what to do. "Don't panic. I'm going to help you find her."
Zhang Yuting's grip on the phone tightened.
"Where are you right now?"
"In Su Qingxue's dorm. Room 403."
"Okay. I need both of you to meet me at the east gate of campus. Can you do that?"
"Yes. Yes, we can do that."
"Good. I'll be there in fifteen minutes." A beat. "We'll find her, Yuting. I promise. Just stay calm and get to the east gate."
The call ended.
Zhang Yuting sat on the mattress with the phone still pressed against her ear, listening to the silence where his voice had been. Then she lowered it slowly and let out a long, shaking breath.
Her shoulders dropped. The knot behind her ribs loosened — not all the way, but enough. Enough to breathe. Enough to move.
Long Tian will know what to do. He always does.
She looked up. Su Qingxue was already at the door, bag over her shoulder, hand on the frame. She hadn't asked what Long Tian said. She hadn't needed to.
"East gate," Zhang Yuting said.
Su Qingxue nodded once and stepped into the hallway.
Zhang Yuting stood, slung her bag over her shoulder, and followed. At the door she paused and looked back.
The late afternoon light slanted through the window, falling across Zhang Tingting's cleared desk and empty shelves. The dust rectangle on the second shelf caught the light where the family photo used to sit — that faded snapshot of her aunt and uncle and Tingting in her high school uniform, the one she'd looked at every morning since moving in.
All of it is gone now. Like everything else.
Zhang Yuting turned away and pulled the door shut behind her.
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[End of Chapter]