Chapter 14: An Accident

"Feng Shijie played you for a fool on New Year's Day, yet you actually still trusted him and told him about Xia Fangfei's family situation?"

"He has my Big Brother number and called me several times yesterday, which really annoyed me, so I told him about the Xia family's situation to let him know his place and stop a toad from lusting after a swan's flesh."

Di Ye finished his interrogation, finally getting the whole case clear. He asked Shi Yucheng for the Big Brother number, then warned, "This person has ulterior motives; don't associate with him anymore."

"I already didn't want to deal with him. Don't think that just because you won a programming competition you're better than me; after I come back from my IBM internship..."

"You're a pig now, and after your internship, you'll be a pig's head; there's no difference. Hurry up and get to class."

"Damn! You just wait."

During the "Computer Graphics" class, Di Ye sat in the corner of the classroom, summoned Di Ye out, and let this programming fanatic listen to the lecture while he himself doodled with paper and pen, thinking about how to ruin Feng Shijie's reputation.

Under the butterfly effect of time travel, Xia Fangfei escaped her death, the murder case was left unsettled, and since there was no way to use legal means to sanction him, he could only use unconventional tactics.

However, this guy was quite cunning and left no handle behind. Even with controlled anesthetic drugs, it was hard to pose a threat to him; first, because Shi Yucheng had thrown away the drug powder, lacking evidence, and second, because the laws and regulations in 1995 were imperfect, and some drugs, despite being highly harmful, had not yet been defined as illicit substances.

But Di Ye was not a person who followed the rules. Discovering that regular channels wouldn't work, he immediately switched to crooked ways, muttering, "To not return a gift is contrary to propriety. Since you stole my key, I'll go steal your key too, and see if there's anything shameful in your room!"

After class, Di Ye borrowed Zhu Zichun's bicycle, wandered around a few streets near the school, found a hardware store that provided key-cutting services, went in, and asked, "I lost my key and only have a drawing I made for fun left; can you help me cut one?"

"If the drawing is precise and accurate, it can be cut, but the price will be a bit higher."

"As long as it can be cut, that's fine. By the way, boss, what time does your shop close at night?"

"It depends, usually around 9:30 to 10:00 at night."

"You work quite hard opening this shop; do people really come to get keys cut late at night?"

"Occasionally, yes."

After coming out of the hardware store, Di Ye rode his bicycle to the Sihai International Hotel, only to find that Huang Ya had gone to class and only Xia Fangfei was in the room, so he briefly updated her on the investigation.

Xia Fangfei was terrified after hearing this, hugged her arms, and said, "This Feng Shijie is too sinister. What should we do now?"

"Before, he was in the dark and we were in the light. Now we are in the dark and he is in the light; it won't be hard to deal with him."

After Di Ye offered a few words of comfort, seeing her dark circles and that she clearly hadn't slept well, he asked, "You don't like staying at the hotel?"

Xia Fangfei was bare-faced without makeup, appearing somewhat fragile, and said, "I've been sensitive to beds since I was a child. I'm used to living in the dormitory, and suddenly changing to a hotel, I'm not quite adjusted."

Di Ye thought about it after hearing this and said, "Then go back to the dormitory. Just don't go out alone. If you need to go out, contact me with your BB Pager, and I'll go with you."

This gesture was much stronger than the perfunctory "I'll accompany you if it's convenient" from New Year's night. Xia Fangfei beamed with joy, stood up, and said, "You check out of the room first, then we'll go have lunch. My treat today to reward you for finding the mastermind."

"Don't go to KFC again; I don't want to wait in line."

"I won't, wait for me to put on some makeup."

Xia Fangfei was like a magician; she stayed in the bathroom for a few minutes, and after coming out, she looked radiant. Wearing the camel-colored coat she bought the day before, with her waterfall-like long hair draped over her shoulders, she was both dashing and charming, quite fashionable even if placed in 2023.

"Tsk tsk, you women really are all enchantresses, with dozens of different faces; you change as soon as you say so."

"Then is this face of mine pretty now?"

"Pretty. You probably won't get tired of looking at it for three or five years; after three or five years, it's hard to say."

"You're really annoying!"

Yesterday, in order to let go of his obsession, Di Ye controlled Di Ye's body to stroke Xia Fangfei's face, breaking the distant relationship they had before. Today, Xia Fangfei became more proactive; when walking out of the hotel, she directly took Di Ye's arm and walked close to him.

The two wandered the streets for a while and finally chose to have a big meal at a local specialty roast duck restaurant. Di Ye had just traveled through time and had only known Xia Fangfei for three or four days, so they weren't very familiar and had nothing to say. To avoid an awkward silence while eating, he brought up the idea of stealing Feng Shijie's key.

Xia Fangfei was indeed, as Di Ye said, a person who loved excitement. After hearing it, she felt it was very thrilling and enthusiastically offered an idea: "Let's give him a taste of his own medicine. Invite him to dinner, get him drunk, and then steal the key to get a copy made."

"My tolerance for alcohol is average; I probably can't get him drunk. Can you drink?"

"I can. When I was in elementary school, I used to steal my dad's liquor with my two brothers, and I never got drunk."

Di Ye found it interesting and asked, "What's the most you've ever drunk?"

Xia Fangfei tilted her head and thought, saying, "Last year, on my roommate's birthday, some boys insisted on making her drink. I helped her block the drinks and drank three 100ml bottles of Erguotou. At the time, besides feeling a bit dizzy and thirsty, I felt nothing else."

Di Ye gave a thumbs up and praised, "You really are a hero among drinkers, I admire you! But it's not necessary; I have another way to steal his key."

"How will you steal it?"

"When my attention is highly focused, I have a photographic memory. As long as I get his key and look at it for a few seconds, I can remember the shape and length, and then draw a pattern for the locksmith to cut it."

Xia Fangfei was half-believing, and while eating duck tongue, she said, "But how will you get his key?"

"I'll visit him tonight, observe the layout of his room, and then see if there's a chance to get the key."

"I'll go with you. With two people cooperating, the chances will be higher."

Di Ye was a bit surprised, looked up at her, and asked, "Aren't you afraid of him?"

Xia Fangfei smiled sweetly and said as a matter of course, "With you by my side protecting me, why should I be afraid of him?"

This sentence made Di Ye feel very satisfied. He picked up a duck-fat sesame cake for her and said, "In that case, let's be a pair of master thieves for once!"

In the afternoon, Xia Fangfei had four classes to attend. After Di Ye sent her to the classroom, he ran to buy a large bag of tangerines, returned to the Tongzi Building to distribute them everywhere, chatted with people, and inquired about information on Feng Shijie. He found that this guy was a recluse who had lived in the Tongzi Building for several years, but all the neighbors were unfamiliar with him and had basically never entered his Room 105.

This situation surprised Di Ye, because when Feng Shijie interacted with him, he appeared very enthusiastic and talkative. Moreover, judging by the fact that he could get Cai Wenhao from the Foreign Languages Institute to help, he had extensive connections within the school and was a social expert.

Di Ye went around to the back of the Tongzi Building to take a look and found that Room 105 had curtains drawn, so he couldn't see what it looked like inside. He returned to Room 303, summoned Di Ye, and discussed with him, "I think there must be secrets in Feng Shijie's room. When we visit him tonight, help me record the scene in the room so we can study it later."

Di Ye agreed and asked, "Does this person have mental problems?"

"He might be a patient with antisocial personality disorder, but I don't know much about psychology; I only know he's very dangerous and must be dealt with as soon as possible."

"You know it's very dangerous, yet you're taking Xia Fangfei to his room. What if he suddenly attacks?"

"I don't intend to let Xia Fangfei enter the room; she just needs to stand at the door and attract his attention."

Di Ye did a few boxing moves and was very satisfied with the powerful body, saying, "This body of yours is tall and strong; dealing with Feng Shijie won't be a problem. By the way, you like programming so much, why is your body still so good?"

Di Ye smiled and said, "1995 isn't like 2023; computers are very expensive. I usually only go to the computer room three times a week, staying for at most two hours each time. The rest of the time, I either go to class and read books or play soccer and run, so of course my body is good."

"No wonder."

Just then, the BB Pager on the desk beeped. Di Ye picked it up and looked, finding a line of Chinese text: "Shi Yucheng has been stabbed."

"Damn! Could it be Feng Shijie who did it?"