69: Chapter 72 A Late-Night Call, The Scumbag Who Arrived Seven Days Later

Nanshan Residence.

11:06 PM.

Fang Jiming had just finished showering and come out of the bathroom, his hair still dripping, a towel draped over his neck.

His phone vibrated on the living room coffee table.

He picked it up and saw the caller ID was Han Bingbing.

Calling at 11 PM meant it wasn't a small matter.

Fang Jiming pressed answer.

"Han Bingbing?"

There was silence on the other end for two seconds.

Then came a female voice, suppressing tremors.

"Teacher Fang, A-Fei says he is coming to Nanqiao to find me."

Fang Jiming's hand, which was drying his hair, paused.

He didn't answer immediately, instead walking to the sofa to sit down, tossing the towel onto the armrest.

"Explain clearly first, how did he contact you?"

"WeChat. He changed to a new number to add me. I only accepted it this afternoon."

"Didn't you promise me you wouldn't contact him?"

Han Bingbing's voice was urgent and aggrieved.

"He was the one who reached out first! He said he took leave specifically to come see me, asked me what was going on, why I deleted him, and even said if I didn't meet him, he would go directly to the school gate to wait."

She paused, her voice dropping lower.

"He also said he checked and knows which road No. 19 Middle School is on."

Fang Jiming switched the phone to his other hand, resting his other hand on his knee, his fingers tapping rhythmically a few times.

"Han Bingbing, I will ask you one more time, who exactly is A-Fei?"

The other side of the phone was quiet for a long time.

Fang Jiming didn't rush her.

He leaned back on the sofa, listening to the breathing on the phone gradually turn from rapid to steady.

Then Han Bingbing spoke, her voice a tone lower than before.

"His real name is Zhou Yifei. He is a bartender at a bar in the neighboring city. He is twenty-four."

Fang Jiming's mouth twitched.

Twenty-four. Han Bingbing is seventeen. And she said he was only two or three years older.

"We met playing games. He carried me in the game to rank up, then we added each other on WeChat. Occasionally, he would come over to accompany me at the night market."

"How long have you been talking? How many times have you met?"

"Three months, I think. We've only met twice."

Han Bingbing's speaking speed increased, as if she were pouring it out for fear that Fang Jiming would interrupt her.

"He is a really good person. He doesn't control me like my mom. He never asks if I've finished my homework, doesn't ask about my grades, and doesn't snoop through my chat history."

"He just listens to me talk. Whatever I say, he says it's good."

There was a sense of reliance in Han Bingbing's voice that she herself might not have realized.

"Teacher Fang, I know you adults think online dating is unreliable, but he is the only one who doesn't control me or try to manage me, the only one who lets me be myself."

Fang Jiming closed his eyes for a moment.

Then he said one sentence.

His tone wasn't heavy, but every word was clear.

"Does he let you be yourself, or does he make you feel like you can do anything?"

There was no sound on the other end.

Han Bingbing's breathing hitched, then became very light, as if something was stuck in her throat.

Fang Jiming didn't press her further; he leaned back into the sofa and changed positions.

"Han Bingbing, don't contact him for now. No matter what he says, don't meet him, don't reply to messages, don't answer calls."

"Teacher Fang..."

"Listen to me, I will handle this matter."

Han Bingbing hesitated for several seconds; Fang Jiming could hear her biting her lip.

"How are you going to handle it?"

"Don't worry about how I handle it. Your task now is to sleep and come to class as usual tomorrow. Did you hear me?"

"Mm."

"Lock your door."

"Got it."

Fang Jiming hung up the phone, sat on the sofa for about three seconds, and dialed Chen Jianhua's number.

The phone was answered after one ring.

"Mr. Fang."

"Lao Chen, help me check on someone. Zhou Yifei, a bartender in the neighboring city, about twenty-four years old. I want his identity information, work history, and any searchable social records."

"Scope?"

"The more detailed, the better. Focus on checking if he has a criminal record or any records involving minors."

"Understood. I'll have it for you within an hour."

Fang Jiming hung up and tossed the phone onto the coffee table.

He went to the kitchen to pour a glass of cold water, standing in front of the stove, slowly drinking half of it.

The phone rang.

Twelve minutes faster than expected.

Chen Jianhua sent over a compiled file.

Fang Jiming clicked it open. The first item was basic information.

[Zhou Yifei, male, 24 years old, high school dropout, no fixed occupation, currently employed at "Night" bar in Bincheng District.]

He scrolled down.

The second item was social relationship records.

[Twice interviewed by public security organs for improper association with minors. The first interview subject was a 16-year-old female, the second was a 15-year-old female. Both cases were not filed due to insufficient evidence or the other party's family withdrawing the complaint.]

Fang Jiming's fingers holding the phone slowly tightened.

He continued reading.

[Interview records and social platform activity show that he maintains high-frequency contact with at least three underage female students simultaneously.]

Fang Jiming's thumb pressed against the edge of the screen, his fingernail turning white.

He flipped the phone to the end, where there was a note attached by Chen Jianhua.

[This person recently has a train ticket purchase record with the destination of Nanqiao City, arriving at 10:00 AM seven days from now.]

Fang Jiming put the phone down.

He stood in the kitchen, the exhaust fan humming, the midnight lights of Nanqiao City outside the window.

The cold water was finished.

He put the glass in the sink, walked back to the sofa in the living room, and collapsed backward, the back of his head hitting the cushion.

The main living room lights were off; only the sensor light in the entryway emitted a small patch of pale yellow light.

He stared at the ceiling for ten seconds.

The sentence Han Bingbing said looped in his mind.

"He is the only one who lets me be myself."

Fang Jiming scoffed.

Lets you be yourself.

Contacting three underage girls simultaneously in three months, interviewed twice, a history of offenses.

This kind of person makes you prey.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his face, letting out a long breath.

The phone screen lit up.

It was the System Panel popping up.

[Han Bingbing transformation progress: 7%]

[Family relationship repair progress: 0%]

[Core obstacle not eliminated. Hint: External interference factor Zhou Yifei is approaching, family conflict core Auntie Zhao has not yet been touched.]

Fang Jiming stared at those two numbers for a few seconds, then closed the System Panel.

He grabbed the phone on the coffee table and glanced at the time.

12:14 AM.

— — —

At the same time, in a residential complex in the east of Nanqiao City, the light was still on in the study of Vice Principal Sun Yaozu.

He sat on a mahogany chair, reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, a document spread out in front of him.

The cover of the document was printed with "No. 19 Middle School Teaching Evaluation On-site Review Preliminary Conclusion."

The conclusion was short: Fang Jiming's funding sources are compliant; no evidence of violations found.

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu closed the document, took off his reading glasses, and rubbed the space between his eyebrows.

The phone on the table rang; the caller ID was Director He Rencai.

"Hello."

"Principal Sun, I saw the report from Director Su Nianwei. She doesn't seem to have found anything."

Director He Rencai's voice relaxed, carrying a hint of surviving a disaster.

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu sneered.

"What are you happy about? She didn't find problems with Fang Jiming, but what about our accounts?"

Director He Rencai's voice stalled.

"That... Director Su Nianwei shouldn't look into that, right? She is mainly here to look at the donation funds."

"Do you think someone like Director Su Nianwei would only take one bite of meat right in front of her mouth and walk away?"

Director He Rencai stopped talking.

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu put his reading glasses on the table and leaned back in his chair.

"If you can't find funding problems, change direction. The city-wide first mock exam is coming next month."

"Mock exam? It's the end of the month now, not many days left."

"You don't know the foundation of Class 18? Whether the class average can pass 150 is a problem. When the results come out, I want to see what Fang Jiming will use to answer to the whole city."

The corners of Vice Principal Sun Yaozu's mouth curled up, the light refracting off the face of his Rolex watch on his wrist.

"He made such a fuss about renovating the classrooms and the school that the whole city knows. When the results come out and they see the bottom of the city, what do you think the media and parents will discuss?"

Director He Rencai gasped on the other end of the line.

"Principal Sun, do you mean..."

"Don't need to do anything, let him hit the wall himself."

Vice Principal Sun Yaozu hung up the phone, pushed the preliminary review report to the corner of the table, opened the drawer to find an address book with a gold-stamped cover, found a number for the Education Bureau's teaching and research office, picked up the landline, and dialed it.

"Hello, Lao Zhou, this is Lao Sun. Are the papers for next month's city-wide mock exam set? Hmm, I was just asking. No. 19 Middle School has a special situation this year; don't go easy on them when you set the papers. Normal difficulty is fine, the more normal the better."

He hung up the phone, closed the address book, and pushed it back into the drawer.

The study was quiet for a few seconds, with only the mahogany chair creaking softly.

At this moment, in Fang Jiming's villa living room, the sensor light in the entryway was still on.

He turned over to face the back of the sofa and said in a muffled voice.

"For this kind of scum, I think it's a waste even to use money to solve it."