I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

In order not to disturb the students who were concentrating on their studies in the row of study rooms, Shen Kang went downstairs to answer the phone.

At the entrance to the main staircase on the first floor of B12, Shen Kang held his phone and dialed back.

Across from him was Kang Zhengyang, who immediately looked puzzled: "President Shen, why did you leave your phone with Miss He?"

"Isn't it finals time? I'm worried that I'll get distracted by other things, so I found a 'human firewall' to block me from anything unimportant. They only come to me when they really have no other choice."

Shen Kang explained the reason, then said, "Hey, you know what, it actually works a bit. The world feels much quieter now, and I can concentrate on studying. I finished 'Advanced Mathematics' from beginning to end in one morning!"

When Shen Kang was in high school, Kang Zhengyang taught him.

In Kang Zhengyang's memory, Shen Kang was a studious and intelligent child, with excellent grades in geography. However, perhaps because his foundation in elementary school wasn't very strong, he was said to have only average grades in some core subjects, just above average, not outstanding.

Hearing Shen Kang talk about studying, Kang Zhengyang on the other end of the phone was momentarily dazed: he had been so busy lately that he had completely forgotten that President Shen was still a student, and he himself had been a teacher just six months ago...

"Teacher Kang?"

Hearing Shen Kang's voice coming from the phone, Kang Zhengyang finally snapped out of his reverie.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's like this, Mr. Shen, I called today to report on the market expansion..."

Shen Kang listened as Kang Zhengyang reported on the expansion of Anjia Household Services in the cities of Qianlin Province.

Feeling bored and realizing that blocking the stairwell wasn't going to work, he moved to the side.

There's a row of empty spaces near the ground level; looking into them, you can see the B12 underground parking garage.

When Shen Kang was on the phone, He Qiuzhu waited patiently by his side. Now that Shen Kang was coming over, she naturally followed.

Shen Kangguang was bored listening to Kang Zhengyang's report, so he simply reached out and grabbed her braids—her hairstyle today was two braids, which might look a bit old-fashioned on others, but on her it looked pure and innocent, making him want to reach out and touch her.

Not only did he hold it in his hand, but he also waved it around a few times, grinning. He Qiuzhu tried to snatch it back, and the two of them ended up pulling and tugging at each other.

"...Mr. Shen?"

Kang Zhengyang heard some commotion on their end and asked a question.

"It's okay, you can continue."

"Oh..." Kang Zhengyang continued his report.

After Kang Zhengyang finished his report, Shen Kang, having finished playing with He Qiuzhu, stopped his playful tussle and simply held her braid quietly. He then spoke into the phone, "Teacher Kang, is there anything else?"

According to Kang Zhengyang's report, the market is progressing smoothly and everything is developing in an orderly manner.

In this situation, generally speaking, all you need to do is send an email to Shen Kang, or at most make a phone call to let him know that the email has been sent and to ask him to take note. Why would you go through the whole process of reporting it over the phone?

Shen Kang guessed that the report was just a side thing, and there must be something else going on.

Kang Zhengyang didn't mince words, saying, "There is indeed one more thing..."

Through Kang Zhengyang's explanation, Shen Kang learned what had happened.

When Anjia Home Service was in Yangcheng, its development was relatively smooth. It handled things properly, completed all the necessary procedures, and with its unique business model and cost-effective services, its development was almost a natural progression.

However, problems arise in the smaller cities and towns within Qianlin Province.

In a few cities, thankfully, people probably didn't care about such a small housekeeping company at all, or they simply didn't care. Anyway, they went through the procedures smoothly and were able to open for business without any problems.

However, in some cities, it's a bit more complicated, and the procedures are quite cumbersome.

Especially after the other party learned about Anjia Household Services' background in Yangcheng and realized that this was not a small household services company but a well-established one, the service became even more "attentive." They scrutinized Anjia's paperwork meticulously, fearing that there might be some mistakes in the procedures, and repeatedly confirmed them.

Kang Zhengyang understood this, and so did Shen Kang—it was simply the difference between big cities and small cities, and between economically developed and economically underdeveloped regions.

Everyone had already anticipated this, so there were no troublemakers, and things were done as planned. There were some setbacks, but with increased investment, they were all resolved.

There's a city where things aren't going well.

"...It seems like they really think we're some kind of giant pig to be slaughtered, their appetite is terrifying!" Kang Zhengyang couldn't help but complain on the other end of the phone at the end.

Shen Kang chuckled on the other end, "Maybe it's because our reputation is a bit bigger here, and people don't understand our financial situation. They really think we're easy targets. So what do you think?"

Kang Zhengyang then voiced his thoughts: "I feel that the cost is too high, and we're just working for them, which is not worth it. Otherwise, we can just give up on this market. From an overall perspective, losing this one market won't have a significant impact on the overall situation."

Shen Kang nodded. "Okay, you can decide for yourself. I have no objection. In my personal opinion, this is a bad precedent. We understand the rules and we will follow them, but we can't go too far. If this precedent is set, it will be difficult to control the costs of future store expansions."

Hearing Shen Kang on the other end of the phone readily agree to his idea, Kang Zhengyang breathed a sigh of relief.

Before making the call, he was a little worried. Shen Kang felt that it was because he was not capable enough that he couldn't win.

Since Shen Kang can understand, that's all the better.

"Alright, I'll make some adjustments and have them all evacuate from where they were placed..."

"etc,"

Shen Kang interrupted Kang Zhengyang, thought for a moment, and said, "Don't move Anfang yet. Leave it there for now and wait for my news. You go and take care of other things. I'll see if I can help resolve things here. If not, we can move it then."

Kang Zhengyang on the other end of the phone was taken aback. "No, Mr. Shen, you have connections here too?"

Shen Kang remained noncommittal. "What connection do you have? I'm just trying to think of a solution. It might not work, so you should still prepare for an evacuation..."

After finishing his call with Kang Zhengyang, Shen Kang hung up, returned the old Nokia phone to He Qiuzhu, and casually asked, "Are you alone?"

He Qiuzhu took Shen Kang's phone and nodded, "Fu Rong and the others have gone to study."

Shen Kang had originally planned to go up after making the call, but upon hearing the message and seeing that He Qiuzhu had indeed come alone, he changed his mind: "I've been studying for so long, and my head is full of advanced mathematics. Come on, accompany me for a walk, and I'll digest this fascinating knowledge in my head."

He Qiuzhu has no problem with it.

The two then began to stroll slowly along the sidewalk, taking a walk.

They chatted while pressing the pressure.

As they chatted, He Qiuzhu somehow steered the conversation toward paranormal events, even asking Shen Kang if he had ever experienced anything like it.

Shen Kang guessed that they must have been telling some ghost stories in their dorm last night, and she hadn't had enough of them.

So he offered this: "As you know, I grew up in an orphanage. This happened when I was in elementary school, and I was probably around nine or ten years old at the time."

"Back then, there was a laundry room in the courtyard, which was always locked. We kids secretly called it the 'Mirror Room' because there was a huge dressing mirror inside, with cracks like spider webs on the surface. But strangely enough, it reflected people very clearly."

Shen Kang noticed that He Qiuzhu's eyes narrowed slightly.

This energized him even more. He put his hands in his pockets and slowed his pace, as if searching for something in his memories.

"There's a legend in the compound that if you comb your hair in front of that mirror at midnight, an extra person will appear in the mirror. Some say it's the former director, others say it's a kid who went missing in the compound before. One rainy night that summer, two other daring kids and I stole the key and sneaked in. The three of us stood in front of the mirror, and damn it... there really was an extra person."

He Qiuzhu seemed to tremble slightly.

"He was standing right behind me, a little shorter than my two companions on either side. I could make out the outline of a child, but his face was obscured by the crack in the mirror, so it was all blurry. I was combing my hair with a comb in my hand at the time—it was part of that ritual, you know, combing your hair makes it work—and on the third stroke, the figure in the mirror raised his hand and slowly reached towards my shoulder."

Shen Kang stopped there and simply continued walking forward.

After walking a few steps, He Qiuzhu finally couldn't help but ask, "And then?"

"Then the three of us took off running." Shen Kang chuckled, then rubbed his nose self-deprecatingly. "Even the bravest person is still a kid. It would be stupid not to run in that situation."

"And then? Did you go back again?" He Qiuzhu asked again.

"I went again, a month later. It didn't rain, and it was a clean night. Nothing happened. There were only the three of us in the mirror. But my other friend and I both saw that in the bottom right corner of the mirror, where there were the most cracks, there was a handprint-shaped fog mark, like someone had rubbed it across the mirror. It was about the size of a palm, with five fingers spread out."

Shen Kang stretched out his left hand, opened it, and gestured, his eyes seemingly recalling and pondering.

"And then what?" He Qiuzhu couldn't help but ask again.

Shen Kang withdrew his hand. "And then I didn't know how to make up the rest."

"...You made this up?"

Shen Kang casually said, "Isn't this what you wanted to hear? I just made one up."

He Qiuzhu shook her head. "I don't want to hear it, it's because... I think I really have encountered it."

"?"

Shen Kang stopped and looked at her. "What's going on?"

He Qiuzhu also stopped and slowly organized her thoughts: "It was when I went to the toilet in the middle of the night. When I got to the toilet door, I heard a sound coming from inside."

Shen Kang immediately switched to scientific analysis mode: "Is someone using the restroom?"

"no."

He Qiuzhu shook her little head, quite confidently, "If there were someone inside, they would have turned on the lights, but the lights aren't on."

"I was standing at the door and asked twice, 'Is anyone home?' but no one answered, and then the sound suddenly disappeared, which terrified me."

He Qiuzhu gently touched her chest, her eyes still showing lingering fear.

Shen Kang felt that she was kind of cute like this, and would be even cuter if she added an "Aiyo!"—of course, now was not the time to think about that.

"Did you turn on the light and go inside to check what the sound was?" Shen Kang asked again.

He Qiuzhu shook her head, "No, I went back to my dorm to sleep."

Shen Kang seized on the key point in her words—she originally wanted to go to the toilet, but didn't, and was so scared that she went back to the dormitory to sleep, so you held it in until morning that day? —But he didn't mention it at all.

He Qiuzhu continued, "The next day, I specifically asked everyone in our dormitory to confirm that no one went to the toilet last night."

After thinking for a moment, Shen Kang asked, "Do you remember what that sound was? Was it a person talking?"

He Qiuzhu nodded, then shook her head. "I remember, but it wasn't a human voice; it was a buzzing sound."

"..."

Shen Kang was a little tense, and he roughly guessed what had happened. "Does it sound a lot like the electric toothbrush my company makes?"

He Qiuzhu's eyes lit up. "It really does look a bit like it!"

She stared at Shen Kang. "Shen Kang, how did you know?"

"I just guessed," Shen Kang casually made up. "If there's noise in the bathroom in the middle of the night, someone's probably brushing their teeth. By the way, did you notice if Xia Meng was in her bed at the time?"

He Qiuzhu recalled for a moment and nodded affirmatively, "Yes, I heard her talking in her sleep when I passed by her bedside."

Oh ho, not Xia Meng? There's another expert here?

Shen Kang remembered that, in addition to giving each of He Qiuzhu's roommates a box of electric toothbrushes, he also asked them to take a few boxes back with them so they could distribute them.

Unexpectedly, He Qiuzhu's dormitory was full of hidden talents, besides Xia Meng.

This reminded him of a news story he had seen: a female college student couldn't get a cucumber out of her mouth and had to go to the hospital to have it removed.

The female college students are also full of talent, it must be very stressful. No wonder Li Su has not shown his face for several months, but he can still become the KL of Beiming Community with his beautiful muscles.

"Shen Kang,"

He Qiuzhu didn't dwell on why Shen Kang asked about Xia Meng's presence; she just stared at Shen Kang, puzzled, "Why are there noises in the bathroom in the middle of the night? Someone's probably brushing their teeth, right?"

Shen Kang retorted, "You can't exactly brush your teeth in the dorm, can you?"

He Qiuzhu thought about it and agreed, but still felt something was off: "Why didn't she turn on the light when she brushed her teeth? Why didn't she answer me when I asked? I asked her again the next day, and no one said she was brushing her teeth in the bathroom at the time."

Shen Kang really didn't know how to explain this problem: Should he tell her that the way they brushed their teeth was strange, that they couldn't turn on the light, and that they couldn't let others know?

"Children shouldn't know much about adult matters." Shen Kang had no choice but to use his hand to press down on her head and turn it around.

The two continued walking.

He Qiuzhu, however, was still troubled by that supernatural event.

"Shen Kang, are you really sure someone was brushing their teeth? Something doesn't feel right to me."

"Really, trust me, you won't go wrong."

"Then I'll go back and ask again."

"Uh... don't ask about that."

Why?

"This..." Shen Kang racked his brains.

You know what, he actually thought of one: "Do you know what sleepwalking is?"

He Qiuzhu nodded: "I know."

Shen Kang then started making things up... no, I mean, explaining.

"Some people just sleepwalk. I reckon she was brushing her teeth while sleepwalking, which is why she didn't turn on the light. From a social psychology perspective, sleepwalkers subconsciously feel like they're different and don't want others to know about it. That's why she didn't respond when you called her—your shout woke her up, but she was afraid to answer. If she did, you'd know she sleepwalked. Naturally, when you ask her the next day, she won't admit it."

"Is that so..."

He Qiuzhu pondered silently, lost in thought.

Seeing that she seemed to actually believe it, Shen Kang couldn't help but wipe his sweat.

"So, don't mention or ask about this again. If you go to the bathroom next time and it's dark and the lights aren't on, and you hear those kinds of noises again, just pretend you don't know anything and go back to sleep."

He Qiuzhu thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay." In her heart, she thought to herself, Shen Kang really thinks she's a fool.

However, she was truly baffled by this paranormal event and had no idea how to explain it using scientific principles.

That's so weird.

Could it be that, as Shen Kang said, some people actually have the habit of brushing their teeth while sleepwalking? Or is it that some people have the habit of brushing their teeth at night without turning on the lights?

He Qiuzhu walked along, lost in thought.

As Shen Kang walked, he thought to himself: Even if it was He Qiuzhu's batch, if someone didn't write a user experience review, then that batch of electric toothbrushes couldn't be recycled.

Although you can replace the brush head, you can't replace the body of an electric toothbrush—does anyone know how that expert uses it? Is it applied externally or internally?

Therefore, that piece of cloth was not recycled.

……

The two strolled around for a while, then went for drinks and a break, and then went shopping. Finally, He Qiuzhu told Shen Kang that he should study hard, and then she went back to her dormitory, telling Shen Kang to study hard.

Shen Kang didn't want to move. He felt that the study room was quite scary—didn't he see Wang Pan get knocked unconscious as soon as he entered the room? He's been unconscious ever since.

So I went to Xiaodong Street nearby, intending to find an excuse for myself—look, it's not that I don't want to study, it's just that I have important things to do here.

"You've all worked hard." "Keep it up!" "Great job!"...

Shen Kang wandered from the laundry room to the 302 study room, and then back to the laundry room, constantly encouraging the employees, which puzzled everyone. They didn't know what was wrong with their boss.

Finally, having exhausted all other options, Shen Kang had no choice but to accept his fate and decide to return to that terrifying place. Even if he ended up like Wang Pan, being knocked unconscious and left in a coma as soon as he entered, he would accept it.

As soon as Shen Kangren stepped out of study room 302, he saw Guo Pinyan walk past him.

"Old Shen."

Guo Pinyan saw him, and then at the pink phone he was holding, and laughed, "Oh ho, you changed your phone? And it's a pink one? Hahahaha..."

Shen Kang ignored him and walked past him, heading towards B12.

Guo Pinyan grabbed his arm, bent over, lowered his head, and looked around, like a thief or a spy making a rendezvous.

After observing the situation and finding it safe, Guo Pinyan grabbed Shen Kang's arm and pulled him into the coffee shop. "Come on, Lao Shen, I need to talk to you about something."