After renting two private rooms and ordering beer and snacks, everyone began belting out the karaoke tunes. Unable to withstand the peer pressure, Fang Mu joined in and sang I Haven't Loved You Enough with Deng Linyue.
Du Yu and Zhang Yao never came back inside.
Eventually, Fang Mu called Du Yu, but he didn't pick up. Deng Linyue then called Zhang Yao, but she didn't answer either. Beginning to worry, Fang Mu grabbed his coat and said he was going to look for them. When some of the other boys heard this, however, they all sat him back down on the couch, laughing.
"Come on," one said. "Those two have been together for a long time. It's Christmas Eve; why do you want to disturb them tonight?"
Thinking it over, Fang Mu had to agree. If the two of them had gone to a hotel together, then he would clearly just be spoiling the fun.
By 3 a.m., everyone was exhausted. Unable to hold out any longer, several people had already fallen asleep on the couch, slumped at odd angles. Those who still hadn't had enough were singing tiredly or sitting around the table, drinking beer and chatting.
When someone suggested they tell scary stories, the others immediately agreed.
So people began regaling each other with tales of mountain village zombies and haunted offices. A few of the more cowardly girls hid behind their boyfriends' backs, revealing only their eyes as they listened in abject terror.
"Aw, that's all a bunch of bull," said one of the boys. "If you want to hear something scary, you'd better listen to him." He clapped Fang Mu on the shoulder, who had fallen asleep. "And everything he says will be true."
At once everyone perked up.
"That's right. Didn't you help the police investigate a bunch of cases, Fang Mu? Let's hear some stories."
"I heard you helped them solve those murders that the law school student committed. You have to tell us what happened."
"Yeah, I heard the murderer almost killed you, too. You've gotta tell us the story."
As Fang Mu looked around at all the curious faces, he suddenly remembered the scene before him when the provost had called him up onstage during the assembly.
They didn't care at all about the pain of the victims, or about the fate of Meng Fanzhe. To them, other people's deaths were nothing more than an exciting topic of conversation.
"There's nothing interesting to tell," he said pointedly.
Having been all set to hear some behind-the-scenes stories, the listeners groaned with disappointment. Unwilling to give up, several of the girls who had been hiding behind their boyfriends tried to provoke him, saying, "Don't be so selfish, tell us something." One of them even grabbed Fang Mu's arm and, ignoring her glaring boyfriend, swung it back and forth. "Come on, handsome," she said. "Let us hear one. Crime stories are my favorite; they're so exciting."
Fang Mu stared right into her eyes until she sensed his mood. Feeling a little frightened, she let go of his arm.
"Exciting?" He laughed, and the corners of his mouth curled into a faint smile. "If someone peeled off all your skin and then sewed it into clothing for a mannequin to wear, would you think that was exciting?"
The girl covered her mouth, her face paling at the description. "What's your problem?" her boyfriend yelled angrily. "You don't want to talk about it, fine, but what? Are you trying to threaten her?"
As the others quickly tried to smooth things over, Fang Mu grabbed his jacket and backpack and stormed out of the room.
When he was only a few steps down the hall, he heard Deng Linyue call his name. She quickly caught up to him.
"Don't be angry. They didn't mean anything bad by it." As she took his arm, a pleading look flashed through her eyes. "Why don't you stay for a little while?"
He lightly pushed her arm away. "I can't. You guys have fun. Don't stay too late."
He turned and walked away. He didn't look back once.
CHAPTER 24
Unexpectedly, Du Yu was already back in their dorm room. When Fang Mu walked in, Du Yu was leaning back in his chair and talking on the phone, still wearing his garish new Nikes. A half-empty beer bottle was on the desk.
"What are you doing back here?" Fang Mu peeked behind the door. "Where's Zhang Yao?"
Du Yu waved for him to be quiet and listened closely to whoever was on the phone. After a few seconds, he threw it against the desk with a bang, grabbed his beer, and took a huge gulp.
Fang Mu frowned. "What's wrong with you?"
Putting the beer down, Du Yu burped and said, "I'm…I'm fine."
Noticing his roommate's red eyes, Fang Mu asked again, "Seriously, what is it?"
"Man, I don't even know myself," said Du Yu at last. Then, as if he was finally letting something out that he had been holding back a long time, he continued. "Right when we arrived at the karaoke club someone called me, but when I picked up, the person on the other end was silent. Then just as I hung up, they called me again and still didn't say word. While I was standing there confused, Zhang Yao became suspicious and demanded that I tell her what was going on."
Fang Mu laughed. "I'm not surprised. If I were Zhang Yao and I saw someone was calling you that late, and especially on Christmas Eve, I'd be suspicious, too. Not to mention, you do have a wandering eye."
"I swear to God," said Du Yu, talking faster, "I've never done anything to dishonor Zhang Yao."
Fang Mu chuckled. "All right, I believe you. Then what happened?"
"Then she got angry and stormed off. When I tried to stop her, the crazy woman turned around and slapped me across the face." He rubbed his cheek as if it still hurt. "After that I was too pissed off to care, so I ignored her and caught a cab back here."
Fang Mu looked at his watch. It was almost 4 a.m. "Where is she now? Back in her dorm?"
"I don't know; no one's picking up the phone in her dorm room. I called her cell several times, but every time she just hangs up immediately."
Fang Mu smiled. "She's probably just still angry at you. Tomorrow — oh, I mean today — you'd better just humor her."
Du Yu didn't respond directly, just glared at his cell phone and muttered, "This girl, man. Her temper is too goddamn bad, and I normally just put up with it." He kicked his leg out, causing one of his shoes to fly into the corner of the room.
"Jeez, don't take it out on the shoes, man."
Fang Mu was in slippers. He shuffled over and grabbed the shoe. Just as he was about to pass it back to Du Yu, he saw something that made him freeze.
The word "AIR" was written on either side of the shoe in huge letters, and on both sides the designer had very skillfully transformed the shape of the A and the R. On the outer side, the R was placed beside the toe cap, while on the inner side, it had been subtly altered and was sewed by the heel of the shoe in a fluid way that looked extremely well-coordinated.
This meant that the placement of the A and the R was reversed on either side, and through some minute tweaks in their design, the two letters looked very similar.
It made Fang Mu think. Could the right-hand symbol he had seen on the window that night have actually been an R?
R? What was that supposed to mean?
When Du Yu saw that Fang Mu was staring blankly at his shoe, he asked curiously, "What's up?"
Coming back to reality, Fang Mu shook his head and said, "Oh, nothing." Then he tossed the shoe back to Du Yu.
"Jeez, a little softer, please. These are brand new."
This guy, thought Fang Mu. How come it wasn't a problem when he was the one kicking his shoe into the corner of the room?
Smiling to himself, Fang Mu grabbed his washbasin from beneath his bed and headed to the bathroom.