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Ziya immediately put down the lingerie she was gesturing with when she heard Sun Meng say she saw Wang Yuan. Even the shop owner, who was arranging goods, leaned over in surprise to see what the two of them were looking at.
"There's nothing there! What are you two looking at?" The owner asked, bewildered, glancing in the direction they were focused on before turning back to Ziya and Sun Meng.
"Pfft! There's no one there; are you seeing things? This girl is just messing with you! There's nothing, Auntie." Ziya muttered as she picked up the lingerie again and held it up in front of Sun Meng, secretly stifling a laugh.
"You perv, showing off." Sun Meng snatched the lingerie from her and playfully turned to head into the fitting room.
"Hey, what grade are you in?" The owner, being quite sociable, quickly struck up a conversation with Ziya since she seemed idle.
"Seventh Grade."
"Oh, were you scared about that incident at school a few days ago?" The aunt busily packed away the remaining items while making rustling sounds with the plastic bags as she spoke.
"If I didn't see it, I wouldn't be scared. If I did see it, I'd definitely be scared."
"Auntie, I want this one! I'm not planning to take it off once I wear it. How much is it?" Sun Meng came out of the fitting room looking satisfied and pulled out money from her pocket to pay the owner.
Ziya and Sun Meng left the store and quickly made their way to school. Today was Sunday, and with fewer classes, especially in the afternoon, they had extra time to continue shopping. This was their plan as they entered the classroom with their classmates when Zhiqing approached them.
"That guy still hasn't arrived. You two went shopping, right?"
"Uh... just wandered around a bit; nothing much. By the way, who did you say hasn't come yet?" Ziya casually scanned the classroom, noticing several empty seats but unsure who the class leader was referring to.
"Wang Yuan!" Zhiqing replied irritably.
"He's here. I just saw him enter the school gate. He must be off playing somewhere now. Hmph! We'll give him a good lesson later," Sun Meng casually remarked as he pulled out the textbooks for today's lessons from under his desk.
A flurry of footsteps echoed as the other students trickled into the classroom, just two minutes before class started. Soon after, the teacher entered as well, but Wang Yuan's seat remained empty, which puzzled Ziya, Sun Meng, and Chen Zhiqing.
"Chen Zhiqing, do you know why Wang Yuan isn't here today? Did he ask you for leave?" The teacher placed the textbooks on the desk and looked at the empty seat, directing his question at Zhiqing.
Zhiqing hesitated before standing up, feeling a bit frustrated. "He might be in the bathroom. Some classmates saw him come in."
"Alright! This kid, what's keeping him in the bathroom? He hasn't even come to class yet. You all don't seem worried! Just look around at the third-year students; usually, no one shows such initiative to come early for self-study and review. Now that exams are approaching, they're all scrambling to catch up. Alright, let's start class. Class monitor, why don't you go check if Wang Yuan is in the bathroom playing on his phone and forgot to come to class?" The teacher's gentle admonition and humorous remarks elicited laughter from the students.
Zhiqing had already walked to the classroom door when he heard the teacher's voice and the responses from his classmates behind him. Annoyed, he made his way to the bathroom, silently vowing to give Wang Yuan a piece of his mind. How could someone forget about class? If he didn't discipline himself properly, how could he establish authority as class monitor?
The bathroom was eerily quiet, with only the incessant dripping of water from a faucet echoing softly. "Wang Yuan... are you there?" Zhiqing called out as he approached the row of urinals at the back of the bathroom, peering inside.
"Wang Yuan, stop messing around; the teacher is calling roll," Zhiqing said, noticing that one of the doors in the fourth row seemed to shake slightly. Frowning in surprise, he hurriedly pulled open that shaking door. Inside, aside from a squat toilet and a trash can, there were only fresh footprints on the white tiles—no one else was there. Zhiqing's heart skipped a beat as his eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
"Damn it, not again..." Zhiqing muttered under his breath as he slapped his eyelid lightly and stepped out of the bathroom. He hated it when his eyelids twitched; it always signaled that something was about to happen.
Where could he have gone? Skipping class wasn't Wang Yuan's style. His parents worked away from home most of the time, and only his father's friends occasionally came by to check on him. However, Wang Yuan was generally quite responsible; although he could be a bit mischievous and headstrong like most boys, he had never skipped class before.
Having failed to find Wang Yuan and not wanting to return to class empty-handed, Zhiqing decided to look around some more. He even checked Pomelo Grove—a place where it was unlikely Wang Yuan would go—but found no sign of him; it seemed like he hadn't come to school at all.
A class period can feel short or long depending on how you look at it. As Zhiqing pushed open the classroom door, the bell for dismissal rang just then. All eyes turned toward him as he entered; behind him was no one else.
"Did you find him? He's not in the bathroom?" The teacher, having tidied up the textbooks she brought, walked to the door and asked Zhiqing, who looked somewhat dejected.
"No, I've looked everywhere, there's just no one around." Monet shook his head at the teacher and made his way to his seat, two curious gazes following him from the moment he entered the classroom until he sat down on the bench.
Zhiqing didn't need to look to know it was Ziya and Sun Meng. The latter was looking at Zhiqing with a puzzled expression, surprised that he hadn't found anyone.
"Did you really see Wang Yuan at the school gate?" Ziya asked Sun Meng, pulling back his gaze.
"Yeah! I really saw him. If I'm lying, call me a puppy." Sun Meng nodded affirmatively, even using the term 'puppy' to emphasize his honesty. What was going on with Wang Yuan?
When class ended, the students naturally cheered with excitement; very few wanted to stay in the classroom and continue studying. In an instant, only three people remained.
"Really nothing?" Ziya still couldn't believe that Zhiqing hadn't found Wang Yuan.
"I genuinely couldn't find him. I wanted to find him and give him a good lesson..." Zhiqing furrowed his brow, unable to shake off the uneasy feeling inside.
"It's strange; how could a living person just disappear? Did he run off to the arcade? Or maybe after what happened last night, he's too embarrassed to face us and is hiding on purpose," Sun Meng analyzed confidently.
"Wrong. If it were someone else, they might think like that, but who is Wang Yuan? He's famously thick-skinned!" Ziya raised an eyebrow, dismissing Sun Meng's analysis.
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