I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

"Something happened in the laundry room?"

Qian Ming'en paused for a moment, then said, "Tell me more details?"

Shen Kang then recounted the whole story, saying that a student had their clothes stolen by someone else, and he compensated the student for the cost of the clothes and offered a reward online for the person who stole them. However, the person who stole them has not yet been found. Instead, the student who lost their clothes posted on the Yangbei Forum about the clothes being stolen from Jiahe Laundry, but did not mention a word about the compensation Jiahe Laundry had given them...

Shen Kang didn't embellish anything—in fact, these things are all laid bare online, so embellishing them is pointless; just telling the truth is enough.

As Qian Ming'en listened, he also turned on the computer on the table, logged into two websites, and found that things were indeed as Shen Kang had said.

"This is a business war..."

Qian Ming'en took off his glasses, looked at Shen Kang, and said this.

Shen Kang remained noncommittal. "Without evidence, it's hard to say. Anyway, the fact is that a student lost their bracelet and someone else claimed their clothes. Logically, we should call the police, but I think that since this happened at Yangko University of Science and Technology, it would be best to resolve it quickly and quietly. It's best not to involve the police if possible."

Qian Ming'en listened without saying a word, but secretly gave Shen Kang a thumbs up in his heart for his decision to "prefer not to alarm the police".

Yang-Tsing University is a university, and it's best to resolve many issues within the university to avoid creating a major scandal. Of course, in truly serious and necessary incidents, Yang-Tsing University, as a socially responsible institution, will certainly not conceal anything and will actively cooperate with the police investigation.

"You handled it well," Qian Mingen said.

Shen Kang continued, "But I'm finding it quite difficult to handle this myself right now. If things continue like this, we might never be able to find this person." "The thousand-plus yuan I've already lost is a small matter. What I'm worried about is that with my methods, we won't be able to catch the culprit. Some students might see that we can't catch the culprit even when clothes are stolen from our house and laundry, and we even have to pay double the cost of the stolen clothes. I'm afraid some of them might get malicious and turn to crime. Their future is uncertain, and if there are too many like that, our house and laundry might not be able to stay in business..."

Qian Ming'en listened for a while, then thought for a moment and asked, "The laundry room needs to collect data to lay the foundation for the school's future self-operated laundry room construction, so it can't be closed. What do you plan to do?"

"Let me see the school's surveillance footage first?"

Shen Kang didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "I suspect that the person who fraudulently claimed the clothes is not a student of our school."

Qian Ming'en didn't think much of it before standing up and saying, "Okay."

Watching the surveillance footage is a minor matter.

Shen Kang then got up and followed Qian Ming'en toward the security office.

In 2008, the company that would later become a surveillance giant, "Haiwei," is now the number one surveillance company in China. Its main business is government agencies, enterprises, and institutions, and it hardly does any business in the home market.

The surveillance system in Shen Kang's shop was purchased from Haiwei.

From a holistic perspective, surveillance in 2008 was certainly far less extensive and comprehensive than in later periods, but surveillance systems are now present in some major traffic arteries, university gates, and other public areas.

For example, the main gates of Yangko University of Science and Technology are all under surveillance, and the monitoring room is located in the security department.

Upon arriving at the security office, Vice Dean Qian Ming'en explained the situation, and they retrieved the surveillance footage from that day for them to review. Based on the time the person retrieved the clothes, Shen Kang narrowed it down to a specific timeframe and reviewed the surveillance footage at the three main gates. A short while later, the footage of the person who fraudulently obtained the clothes was captured on the south gate's surveillance camera.

Judging from the timeline, the person who fraudulently claimed the clothes entered Yangko University of Science and Technology through the South Gate at 1:55 PM and left through the South Gate at 2:23 PM. When he entered, his hands were empty; when he left, he had a bulging blue plastic bag in his hand, which should contain the clothes he fraudulently claimed.

After glancing at the time on the screen, Shen Kang took out his phone again and opened a drafts folder containing some information.

"According to my surveillance footage, this boy entered our store at 2:11 PM and fraudulently claimed the clothes. It's about a 10-minute walk from the south gate to the laundry room. That means after entering the south gate, this boy took 16 minutes to get to the laundry room, claimed the clothes, and then took another 12 minutes to leave Yangon University of Science and Technology through the south gate. He went almost straight there without stopping, and his goal seemed quite clear."

Shen Kang analyzed it.

Qian Ming'en thought to himself, what's with calling this "seemingly" somewhat clear? This guy clearly came straight to the laundry room! The fact that it took him 16 minutes to get to the laundry room also proves this point—the extra four or five minutes he spent on the journey were probably spent looking for the bracelet.

So it took 16 minutes to get there and only 12 minutes to leave.

Qian Ming'en thought for a moment and said to the security personnel, "Make a copy of this record first, I'll take it with me."

The security personnel did as instructed and gave him a copy.

Shen Kang then followed Qian Ming'en back to Qian Ming'en's office.

After sitting down, Qian Ming'en's fingers tapped unconsciously on the table. After a moment, he stopped and said, "Since the person is indeed from outside the school, let's call the police."

Universities generally avoid calling the police unless absolutely necessary, but if it becomes a situation where only calling the police can resolve the issue, then they will definitely do so. In any case, Jiahe Laundry cannot be brought down by anyone, especially from another university, through underhanded tactics. You see, Jiahe Laundry's first month's profit sharing, over 12,000 yuan, has already gone to the university. If calculated over a year and nine months, that would amount to 100,000 yuan a year, without Shen Kang having to subsidize it out of his own pocket.

This is just a laundry room. I heard from Shen Kang before that he was planning to open two at Yangke University!

Therefore, the home and the laundry room cannot be abandoned.

"Understood."

Shen Kang nodded, then asked, "What if this case involves some students from our school?...

Qian Ming'en decisively said, "Handle it however you need to. The school will handle it the same way, according to school rules and regulations."

"OK."

After finishing his conversation with Qian Ming'en, Shen Kang didn't leave. Instead, he sat in Qian Ming'en's office and called the police.

The case is not complicated. The documents and evidence from Jiahe Laundry are complete, and there is also surveillance evidence. It can be said to be very simple.

It's so simple that it exceeds everyone's imagination.

"Oh, it's Xiao Si."

When the police officers who came to investigate saw the surveillance footage provided by Shen Kang, they immediately recognized the person in the video. "Uh, officer, do you know him?"

"I know him. We've crossed paths several times. His name is Wu Han, nicknamed Lao Si. He's from Beilu District, a native. He's been a troublemaker since childhood. He's never committed any major crimes, but he's always been involved in petty theft. He's always caught, locked up for a few days, and then released..."

Two police officers arrived, one in his thirties and the other in his twenties, both male.

The man talking incessantly was a slightly overweight male police officer in his thirties.

The meeting place was also in Qian Mingen's office, and the copied surveillance footage was viewed on Qian Mingen's computer.

Upon realizing that the police officer genuinely recognized the fraudster in the surveillance footage, Shen Kang silently took out his wallet from his pants pocket and pulled out 10 bills.

"Officer, our laundry room posted a reward online. We'll give a thousand yuan to anyone who can provide information about this fraudster. Since you recognized him, you can keep the money."

As Shen Kang spoke, he was about to stuff the money into the other person's hand.

The police officer, in his thirties, was so frightened that he quickly withdrew his hand, saying, "No, no, no, our discipline forbids it!..."

Shen Kang didn't insist, only saying that since he had already posted the reward notice, he had to keep his word, otherwise their laundry's business reputation would suffer. He then asked if it was possible to compromise and give the reward to the police station, but after inquiring, he learned that the police station also couldn't accept private monetary donations.

Finally, the two sides compromised again, and Shen Kang donated the 1,000 yuan directly to the Public Security Martyrs Foundation. With this direction settled, the matter of the 1,000 yuan reward was finally resolved, and the two police officers officially began their work.

...In the evening, Zhao Jiayuan sat on the second floor of the second canteen, enjoying a super deluxe spicy hot pot for 18 yuan, with a bottle of cola beside him.

Thanks to the double compensation from Jiahe Laundry, he's really struck it rich these past two days, and his daily expenses have become quite extravagant; he's starting to live a life of luxury.

While he was eating, his phone rang. He picked it up and his spirits lifted. He put down his chopsticks and focused on sending a text message.

The text message was sent by a girl from another city. She was Zhao Jiayuan's high school deskmate, a girl as pure and innocent as a first love.

The text message asked Zhao Jiayuan why he had suddenly transferred 1,000 yuan to her card.

"I recently did a part-time job planning an exhibition event for someone and received a planning fee."

Zhao Jiayuan sent a text message like this, and then continued to type the following content on his phone.

He didn't know why he sent them separately; it seemed that this way, it would make it seem like he and the other person had more to talk about.

"Didn't you say last time that you liked a phone but didn't have enough money and were planning to live on steamed buns for two months? Now you don't have to anymore."

After sending the two text messages, the other party quickly replied: "Event? Planning fee? How much did you make?"

Zhao Jiayuan continued typing: "A little over two thousand."

"So many!!!" The other person seemed very surprised, even adding three exclamation marks. This made Zhao Jiayuan imagine the other person's pure and pretty face, showing an adorable look of surprise. He couldn't help but smile, feeling quite pleased, and continued typing: "Not bad. The boss really appreciated me, saying I did a great job this time and he'll invite me again for the next event."...

In the past, when Zhao Jiayuan chatted with the other person, they would always run out of things to say after a few sentences. But this time, they talked a lot, chatting non-stop, ignoring the fact that Zhao Jiayuan's food was getting cold, as he was completely absorbed in their conversation.

But at that moment, Zhao Jiayuan's phone suddenly rang; it was a call from his counselor.

"Hey, teacher, what's up?"

When Zhao Jiayuan answered the phone, he heard his counselor asking him where he was.

He then applied to the second floor of the second canteen.

Not long after I hung up the phone, the counselor came to me.

"I need to speak with you. Come with me."

The counselor said this, then glanced at his desk, "You haven't finished eating yet? Finish it first."

Zhao Jiayuan asked the counselor a couple of questions about what he wanted, and the counselor replied that it was about the student grant. Zhao Jiayuan didn't ask any more questions, quickly ate a couple of bites, said he was full, and then followed the counselor downstairs. He was even happier: His luck with money seems to be really good lately! He just earned over a thousand yuan, and now he's getting a student grant. It seems like his luck is finally turning around!

But as soon as the counselor left through the side door on the west side of the second canteen, Zhao Jiayuan suddenly froze, his whole body stiffened, a surge of blood rushed to his head, and his mind went blank.

There, two police officers were standing at the entrance, and a police car was parked not far away. These two officers were the same ones who had gone to Qian Ming'en's office to meet with Shen Kang earlier.

The one in his thirties was a veteran police officer with extensive experience. Just by looking at Zhao Jiayuan's expression after he came out, he knew that it was him.

If it were a normal person with nothing to hide, they would just be stunned to see the two of them there.

When the college student saw the two of them, he froze completely, looking bewildered and flustered, clearly hiding something.

"Is it Zhao Jiayuan?"

The police officer approached and said, "We have a case to discuss with you. Please come with us."

Zhao Jiayuan's counselor stood to the side, looking somewhat helpless. He didn't know what his classmate had done wrong, but Dean Qian had asked him to cooperate with the two police officers to call Zhao Jiayuan out and not make a scene.

Zhao Jiayuan is usually a pretty honest kid, so how could he have gotten into trouble? The counselor was puzzled.

Zhao Jiayuan himself was stunned for a moment, and the rush of passion in his head gradually subsided.

He heard the policeman in front of him speak, and felt a buzzing sensation, as if he were underwater and hearing someone speaking on the surface of the water.

He felt a little dizzy—he thought it was a minor incident, was it really that serious? The police had arrived! Was he going to end up in jail...?

"Can I make another call, officer?" Zhao Jiayuan asked with a distressed expression. The officer nodded. "Sure."

So Zhao Jiayuan called the girl in another city: "Xiaoyu, I might be going to a very far place and won't be able to contact you for a long time. Take good care of yourself..."

Zhao Jiayuan's eyes were already red, but he pretended to be strong.

In his ears, it seemed as if he could hear the song, "Snowflakes are falling, the north wind is howling."

Unfortunately, he and his partner didn't have children, otherwise he could have told her to take good care of the baby.

The police officer standing by was both amused and exasperated by the scene that resembled a life-or-death separation. "Young man, we're just asking you to make a statement. Even if something serious happened, it's unlikely to lead to jail time; at most, it's just a public order incident."