"Aunt Yang, why are you looking at me like that?"
Nan Nan's expression seemed perfectly normal as she said this, though her face was pale and her forehead was damp with sweat.
Yao Yao asked in a complicated tone, "Nan Nan, why are you only coming back now?"
Nan Nan's eyes flickered, and she smiled, saying, "I don't know what I ate today, I think I have diarrhea, I've been in the toilet the whole time… By the way, why were you all rushing me back? Did something happen?"
Qing Qing, being impatient, blurted out, "Yao Yao's gold bracelet was switched with a fake one in her bag, and she suspects it was done by someone else in our dorm! Did you know about this?"
Nan Nan looked at Yao Yao in surprise, saying, "Something like that happened?"
She then shook her head, saying, "I didn't know about that. But Yao Yao, when did you get a gold bracelet? Why didn't you tell us?" She looked at Yao Yao.
Yao Yao said, "I didn't know before. This is my aunt's bracelet. She gave me this bag before, and I accidentally put the bracelet in it too, which I brought to school with me... She only remembered it today and came to look for it, but the bracelet she found turned out to be fake."
Nan Nan said, "Did you buy it as a fake when you bought it?"
Yao Yao shook her head and said, "Impossible. This bracelet was a gift from my sister-in-law to my aunt. My sister-in-law is rich; she wouldn't buy fakes! Besides, this bracelet was bought in a physical store, so it couldn't possibly be fake."
Nan Nan looked at the others and said, "But we didn't take it."
Qing Qing and the other girl nodded, Qing Qing's expression still indignant. She glared at Xu Gui, unhappy that Xu Gui questioned their character.
Seeing her three roommates' reactions, Yao Yao couldn't help but look at Xu Gui and the others with pleading eyes—she really didn't want to think badly of her roommates, and she didn't know how to argue with them about this.
She looked at Grandma Qiao, who then looked at Xu Gui.
"Since we're saying this, it's because there's a way to determine who switched the bracelet," Xu Gui said with a half-smile. She took the bracelet and asked, "Do you think the person who switched the bracelet left their fingerprints on this?"
Some of the people present changed their expressions.
Xu Gui looked at her and said, "With technology so advanced now, as long as a professional tests it, they can definitely determine who the fingerprints belong to. What do you think, Nan Nan?" Nan Nan,
suddenly called out, paled, and everyone else in the dormitory turned to look at her upon hearing Xu Gui's words.
"Nan Nan, did you do this?" Qing Qing blurted out.
Nan Nan's face turned deathly pale, and she instinctively denied it, saying, "It wasn't me! I didn't do that! I didn't do it!"
But as she said this, the panic and guilt on her face couldn't be hidden—she was still young, and she probably couldn't get over what she had done. So, the moment it was brought up, her expression almost immediately betrayed her.
Xiao Xiao looked at her with disappointment and said, "Nan Nan, it really was you..."
"It really wasn't me." Nan Nan was still stubborn, even though cold sweat was pouring down her forehead, she still insisted that she hadn't done it and refused to admit it.
In her panic, her gaze met Xu Gui's calm eyes, and her heart tightened suddenly. She almost hastily looked away from Xu Gui's gaze.
Yao Yao looked at her, but suddenly remembered something.
"...I remember, for a while, Nan Nan, you suddenly became very wealthy." She said. As soon
as she said this, the other two remembered that there seemed to be such a thing, it seemed to have happened a year ago.
Compared to the other three, Nan Nan's family was less well-off. She received her tuition through a special program, and her monthly living expenses were limited, requiring her to work part-time to supplement her income. Even so, she was always strapped for cash, struggling to make ends meet.
However, about a year ago, she suddenly became very generous. She no longer refused to go out to eat with them, bought several new outfits, and reportedly even paid off her student loans.
At the time, Yao Yao and the others found this strange and asked Nan Nan about it. Nan Nan explained that an elder in her hometown had passed away, and since the elder had no children, the inheritance was left to her parents, hence the increase in her living expenses.
Hearing this, Yao Yao and the others were amazed by Nan Nan's family's good fortune, finding the whole thing too dramatic, but didn't think much of it.
However, looking back now, something seemed off. Mainly, this year, her finances seemed to have become tight again. How could someone suddenly become rich and then suddenly become poor?
Qingqing, still with her fiery temper, asked bluntly, "So, the money you used to pay your student loan came from selling Yaoyao's aunt's gold bracelet?"
Nannan's face turned pale and then red, but she still insisted, "That's not how it is..." But this time, her tone was weaker, not as confident as before.
Seeing her stubbornness, Xu Gui could only say, "If you don't admit it, then we'll have to call the police."
She calmly stated a fact to Nan Nan: "This bracelet was originally bought for 80,000 yuan, and now it's at least doubled, to 160,000 yuan. Something of that value… if the police call and it's confirmed as theft, you'll go to jail."
"…"
Hearing the word "jail," Nan Nan's face drained of color instantly. Finally, as Xu Gui picked up her phone to call the police, she seemed to give up, no longer arguing, and compromised, saying, "No, don't call the police, I admit it, this… I did it…"
She stammered for a long time, and when she finished, it was as if all the strength in her body had been exhausted. Tears rolled down her cheeks uncontrollably, and she slumped to her knees on the ground.
Yao Yao still found it unbelievable. She couldn't help but question, "Why? Why did you do this?"
Nan Nan looked ashamed, avoiding Yao Yao's gaze, and said, "I... I didn't want to do this either, but... but I'm really fed up with not having any money..."
She looked at Yao Yao and the others, shaking her head sadly, "All three of you come from wealthy families. You don't have to do anything; your families give you enough living expenses to squander as you please. You have no idea what poverty feels like!"
"As for me, I work myself to the bone every day, doing part-time jobs whenever I have a spare moment. I hardly have any time to rest, but even so, I still can't spend money as freely as you!"
"You can use the money your families give you to go shopping, buy things, and eat whatever you want, while I have to be frugal even when eating a meal in the cafeteria. If I were to go out to eat with you, I would have to carefully calculate whether the money left over after the meal would be enough to support my life for the rest of the time..."
"Do you know how envious I am of you?"
Compared to the other three, she looked so pathetic and miserable. She also wanted to spend money and eat and drink as she pleased, just like the others. So, when she discovered that there was a gold bracelet in the bag that Yao Yao had stuffed into the gap of the closet like garbage, she had a wicked thought.
She had actually tested Yao Yao, subtly inquiring if she knew anything about the bag, but Yao Yao clearly didn't.
From then on, the evil thought took root in her heart like a vine, growing steadily until she took that step—she secretly took the bracelet, found a jewelry store, sold it, and then went to a gold-plated silver shop to order an identical bracelet, secretly putting the original back.
She was very nervous while doing these things, and even long afterward, she felt terrified.
However, as a month, then two months passed and the matter remained undiscovered, she gradually felt at ease and finally began to use the money.
This was the first time she discovered that spending money could be so enjoyable. She no longer had to be stingy with her money, and when going out with the other three, she no longer felt as inferior as before, no longer pitied by them saying "they're paying." She could finally eat and shop with them openly.
Even though all of this was obtained through theft.
Nan Nan closed her eyes, as if speaking of these things had exhausted all her strength. She lowered her head and pleaded, "I really didn't mean to do it. I was just so jealous, so envious of you all… Yao Yao, please don't call the police. If you call the police, my life will be ruined."
She looked up at Yao Yao pleadingly, "If my parents find out, they'll beat me to death! Yao Yao…"
Yao Yao looked helpless, feeling sorry for her, yet also knowing she had done wrong. She couldn't help but look at Grandma Qiao Qiao.
Grandma Qiao Qiao frowned and said, "Perhaps what I'm saying will make you think I'm out of touch with reality, but poverty and jealousy are not excuses for stealing. No matter what, stealing is stealing. No matter how many reasons you have, they can't beautify your behavior!"
Hearing this, Nan Nan looked embarrassed and lowered her head.
The other two in the dormitory had long since fallen silent. They were still somewhat dazed, completely unable to believe that Nan Nan had actually done such a thing. They had previously sworn that none of them in their dormitory were the kind of people who would steal.
Among them, Qingqing was particularly devastated. She was quick-tempered and her emotions were the most intense and direct. At this moment, she looked at Nannan with disappointment, her eyes reddening.
"Auntie, are you going to call the police?" Yaoyao couldn't help but ask.
Xu Gui also looked curiously at Grandma Qiaoqiao—at this point, her involvement was unnecessary, and she was also curious about what Grandma Qiaoqiao would do.
Grandma Qiaoqiao looked at Nannan, frowning, seemingly lost in thought.
Finally, under the trembling gazes of the others, Grandma Qiaoqiao spoke. She said, "I can let this go without calling the police or holding you responsible, but you must sign an IOU. Consider this money a loan!"
She looked at Yaoyao: "Yaoyao, get me a pen and a notebook!"
Yaoyao nodded, quickly went to her seat, grabbed a pen and a notebook, and handed them to Grandma Qiaoqiao. Grandma Qiaoqiao sat down at the table and wrote something in the notebook.
She wrote two pages, then tore them out and handed them to Nannan.
"This is an IOU, sign it!" Grandma Qiao said. "That bracelet is worth 160,000 yuan now, but I won't charge you that much, just 100,000..."
"While you're studying, I won't ask you to repay the money, but after you graduate and start working, you'll need to repay me at least 2,000 yuan a month! That will continue until you've paid it all back."
She looked at Nan Nan and asked, "So, can you do that?"
Nan Nan's expression changed. She looked at Grandma Qiao and asked, "Aunt Yang, what will you do if I don't sign?"
Grandma Qiao said without hesitation, "I'll call the police!"
"..."
Nan Nan took a breath, picked up a pen and paper, stood up, placed the IOU on the table, wrote her name on it, and signed both copies. After signing, she handed the IOU to Grandma Qiao.
Grandma Qiao glanced at the IOU, accepted it, and then told her to keep one copy for herself.
Looking at Nan Nan, who was staring blankly at the IOU, she said, "I've been poor, I know what poverty feels like, and I know it can change a person beyond recognition, but..."
"But, Nan Nan, I want to tell you, being poor is okay, but you absolutely cannot be poor in spirit, and you absolutely cannot lose your bottom line because of poverty
. Without a bottom line, without backbone, you will become less and less like yourself!" Grandma Qiao Qiao said earnestly, "Nan Nan, I don't blame you for this, but you are still young, with a bright future ahead of you. I don't want you to become a person of low character, someone you'll despise when you think back on it! I hope you can become an excellent person!" "
This IOU isn't meant to be humiliating. I just hope that every time you see it, it will remind you what you should and shouldn't do, do you understand?"
This was the real reason she had Nan Nan write the IOU—not to humiliate or belittle her, but to advise her.
Nan Nan listened to her earnest words, her expression blank. After Grandma Qiao Qiao finished speaking, tears streamed down her face.
"I'm sorry, Aunt Yang..." she choked out, covering her face with her hands. "I was just blinded by greed. I don't know why I did it."
At that time, she was like a woman possessed; for a long time, her mind was filled with that bracelet. When she came to her senses, she had already taken the card and sold the bracelet.
She cried, "I'm sorry, Aunt Yang..."
Grandma Qiao sighed, stepped forward, and hugged Nannan, saying, "It's okay, Aunt Yang doesn't blame you. Aunt Yang knows you're a good child. As the saying goes, 'To err is human, to forgive divine.' As long as you correct your mistakes in the future, you'll still be a good child."
Nannan nodded, crying.
"Alright, this matter is settled." Grandma Qiao patted her back, her tone relaxed. She smiled at the others, "Don't keep such long faces, don't be upset... Yao Yao, I'll transfer you some money later, you can take your friends out for a meal, it's on me."
Then, she looked at Nan Nan and said, "Nan Nan, you should come too."
Nan Nan looked up, her eyes blurry with tears. Grandma Qiao smiled and said, "Aren't you friends? You're in the same dorm, of course you should eat together... right, Yao Yao?"
she asked her niece.
Yao Yao snapped out of her daze and quickly hugged Nan Nan's shoulders, saying, "Yes, we're friends, we definitely have to eat together!"
Nan Nan pursed her lips, a hint of emotion on her face, but the more moved she was, the more embarrassed she felt.
After Grandma Qiao finished speaking, she took out her phone and transferred three thousand yuan to Yao Yao right in front of her. She didn't linger, said a few words, and left with Xu Gui. Yao Yao quickly followed, saying, "Auntie, let me see you downstairs!"
With the three of them gone, only the other three remained in the dormitory. They looked at each other, none of them speaking first, creating an awkward and quiet atmosphere.
Nan Nan, having just been exposed for stealing, felt ashamed and embarrassed to speak; the other two, however, didn't know what to say and hesitated.
But before they could even begin to compose themselves, the dormitory door opened and closed again—it was Nan Nan who had left. The
remaining two roommates breathed a sigh of relief.
Of course, it wasn't because they had any issues with Nan Nan; they were simply too embarrassed and didn't know what to say to break the ice.
"I really didn't expect it to be Nan Nan..." Qingqing said. "I thought Yao Yao's aunt had made a mistake, that the bracelet was fake from the start."
Xiao Xiao nodded, "That's what I thought too."
The four of them had gotten along very well over the past two years, and their relationship was good, so they found the truth the hardest to accept.
Even now, they still found it unbelievable.
How could it be Nan Nan?
The two roommates exchanged a glance, then sighed in unison, their feelings incredibly complex.
...
The footsteps of Xu Gui and his two companions echoed down the stairs.
"Auntie, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault for not paying attention." Yao Yao
said with some self-reproach, "If I had noticed your bracelet was in your bag sooner, this wouldn't have happened." Grandma Qiao, however, didn't take it seriously, saying, "If that's your logic, then I'm also at fault. If I hadn't put the bracelet in my bag and forgotten about it, if I had been more careful, this wouldn't have happened in the first place!"
Yao Yao: "Auntie..."
Grandma Qiao looked at her and smiled, "Yao Yao, it was an accident, no one's to blame."
Yao Yao was touched.
When they got downstairs, Xu Gui and the others were about to leave. Yao Yao stood there, looking at her aunt, hesitant to speak.
"Auntie, I apologize to you on Nan Nan's behalf. Please don't be angry with her..." Yao Yao finally couldn't hold back and spoke up. "She must have been acting impulsively, that's why she did such a thing."
She said earnestly, "Actually, Nan Nan is a very good person, with a good personality, good grades, and she's very good to me... She really is a very good girl."
Seeing her anxiously explaining for her friend, Grandma Qiao Qiao smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm not angry with her... It's precisely because I think she's good at heart that I didn't call the police and wanted to give her a chance to change."
Yao Yao looked at her in surprise.
Grandma Qiao Qiao chuckled and said, "Otherwise, why do you think I didn't call the police? Is it because I'm a pushover?"
Xu Gui also curiously pricked up his ears to listen.
Grandma Qiao Qiao sighed and said with a complicated expression, "She's only twenty years old, so young, that's why I wanted to give her a chance to change."
Most importantly, she had met Nan Nan before and knew that she was actually a good kid.
Perhaps because of what she did, Nan Nan was especially kind to Yao Yao, sometimes even Grandma Qiao Qiao felt that she was being too kind to Yao Yao.
At the time, Grandma Qiao didn't know what was going on, only thinking that the two of them got along well. Now it seems that it was probably because Nan Nan had done something wrong and felt guilty, so she was trying to make amends.
"Alright, I'm really not angry. You can go back now, we should go back too!" Grandma Qiao said.
Yao Yao nodded.
After leaving the school, Xu Gui and Grandma Qiao parted ways to go home.
Grandma Qiao looked at Xu Gui gratefully and said, "Little Turtle, you really went to a lot of trouble today, otherwise I really wouldn't be able to determine which student switched my bracelet."
Xu Gui: "It's okay, I'm a good person." Yes, she was a good turtle.
"Little Turtle!" Grandma Qiao stood there but didn't leave. The person who seemed to want to say something before was her niece, and now the person who seemed to want to say something was her.
Xu Gui looked at her and hurriedly said, "I can't tell you what I talked about with Miss Xue today!"
Grandma Qiao chuckled and said, "You really are a fortune teller! You knew what I was going to ask before I even opened my mouth... Sigh, alright, if you won't tell me, then I won't ask. But I just want to know, is my Qiao Qiao alright?"
Xu Gui shook his head, "Don't worry, she's fine."
"Okay," Grandma Qiao smiled, "Hearing that makes me feel relieved. I was just worried something might have happened to my Qiao Qiao."
As the saying goes, the eldest grandson is the lifeblood of grandparents, and this applies to the eldest granddaughter as well. Grandma Qiao was most worried about her granddaughter Qiao Qiao.
Now that Xu Gui said the child would be alright, although she was still worried, she felt a little more at ease.
"Oh, my car is here... Little Turtle, thank you so much for this. Come to my house for dinner next time, Auntie will make you sweet and sour pork!" She said to Xu Gui with a smile before getting into her car and leaving.
Xu Gui watched her leave, then stretched.
Having done a good deed, she now felt like a turtle brimming with merit! If the Third Elder saw her, he'd surely feel his entire body radiating golden light of merit.
The self-proclaimed merit-filled turtle rode back to the hotel. Before getting out, she glanced at the driver in the driver's seat and, adhering to the principle of doing good deeds all day, reminded him:
"If you see anything interesting on the roadside later, you can get out and take a look. It'll bring you good luck."
The taxi driver looked completely bewildered.
But what surprised the driver most was that, on his way back, he actually saw a large crowd gathered on the roadside, as if something had happened.
Just then, a new order notification came through on his phone. More than the excitement, the driver wanted to earn money, but then he suddenly remembered Xu Gui's words.
"Anyway, getting out to take a look won't take more than a few minutes..." Thinking this, the driver unbuckled his seatbelt, got out of the car, and ran into the crowd.
When he got over, he realized there had been a car accident. He overheard that a pedestrian on an electric scooter had been hit by a car, and the driver had fled the scene.
"Did you call the police? Did you call an ambulance?"
"Yes, yes... but this person doesn't look well. She might die before the ambulance arrives."
"Oh, what should we do? Should we ask if there are any doctors or nurses? Or, does anyone have a car to take her to the hospital?"
"..."
A group of onlookers fell silent. In the quiet, someone muttered, "What if I take her to the hospital and her family tries to extort money from me?"
"..."
The driver overheard and understood. He peeked inside, intending to just glance and leave, but just as the person in his field of vision moved away, the face of the victim lying on the ground came into view.
The driver's eyes widened suddenly.
"Make way! Make way!" He shoved aside the crowd blocking his way, rushed inside, and knelt down to check on the victim.
Seeing she was unconscious, he scooped her up, intending to take her to the hospital immediately.
The onlookers, seeing his actions, couldn't help but admire him, saying, "Brother, you're a real hero! Aren't you afraid someone will try to extort you?"
The driver retorted angrily, "Extort my ass! This is my wife!!"
The crowd: ?!
Two punctuation marks perfectly captured the changing emotions of the passersby: first confusion, then shock.
Could such a coincidence really exist?
The driver, hearing the whispers behind him, had only one thought: it
wasn't a coincidence.
Only he knew it wasn't. If he hadn't suddenly gotten out of the car to see what was happening, he would never have realized the person in the accident was his own wife.
But the reason he got out was because of something that passenger had said earlier…
Driver: Hey, this is truly amazing!
Was that person some kind of deity?