78: Bringing his wife and children to Harbin Institute of Technology

Ma Kui's pupils contracted sharply, and his fingers unconsciously clenched the crumpled piece of paper.

"Deputy Director Zhao?" His voice was extremely low. "Bingwen, do you know what you're saying?"

Ye Bingwen didn't answer, but simply picked up the note again and read it once more in the moonlight streaming in from the window. The crooked handwriting was a deliberate alteration of his writing habits, but some things couldn't be changed. For example, the way the character "叶" (Ye) began, or the curve of the final stroke of the character "抄" (Chao).

In his past life, when he was a professor, one of his students was caught falsifying experimental data, and it was confirmed by handwriting analysis. That's when he realized that no matter how much a person tries to fake it, the muscle memory in their hand when writing can't be changed.

"Teacher Ma, do you recognize Deputy Director Zhao's handwriting?"

Ma Kui paused for a few seconds, then said, "I've approved a few documents and seen it. But I'm not sure."

"Could you possibly get your hands on his handwritten materials? Anything will do."

Ma Kui gritted his teeth. "Fine. Tomorrow I'll go to the registrar's office and find a document he approved. I'll just say the department needs it for its archives."

Zheng Shuyun stood to the side, her face still pale. She glanced at Ye Bingwen, then at Ma Kui, her lips moved, but she ultimately said nothing. She knew she couldn't help; the only thing she could do was not to cause trouble for Ye Bingwen.

After Ma Kui left, Ye Bingwen closed the door, leaned against it, and let out a long sigh.

"Bingwen..." Zheng Shuyun called him softly.

"It's alright." Ye Bingwen walked over and covered An'an with the blanket she had kicked off. "Go to sleep, you have things to do tomorrow."

Zheng Shuyun lay down, but her eyes remained open. She watched Ye Bingwen's back as he sat at the table, flattened the note, read it again, and then took out an old notebook from the drawer, starting to write and draw on it.

She didn't know what he was writing, but she knew that this man had never let her down.

The next morning, when Ye Bingwen arrived at the school, Ma Kui was already waiting for him in the department office.

"Got it." Ma Kui pulled a piece of paper from the drawer. It was a work arrangement notice from the Academic Affairs Office, with Deputy Director Zhao's signature on it.

Ye Bingwen placed the note and the notice side by side on the table and bent down to compare them carefully.

"Teacher Ma, look here." He pointed to the starting stroke of the character "叶" (ye, leaf) on the note, and then to the same character on the notice. "Normally, when you write the character '叶,' the '口' (kou, mouth) on the left is completed in two strokes. But Deputy Director Zhao writes it in one continuous stroke. It's the same on the note."

Ma Kui leaned over and looked at it for a long time, his expression growing increasingly grim.

"And then there's the character '抄' (chāo)," Ye Bingwen continued, "The last stroke, normally it ends flat, but his habit is to flick it upwards. It's the same on the paper strip."

Ma Kui straightened up and paced back and forth in the office twice, his steps heavy.

"Why would Deputy Director Zhao do something like this?" he couldn't understand. "What grudge does he have against you?"

"No," Ye Bingwen shook his head, "but he's Zhou Mingyuan's man."

Ma Kui stopped and turned around. "What do you mean?"

"Zhou Mingyuan, the head of the physics department, wanted to recruit me to the physics department before, but I refused," Ye Bingwen said. "Don't you find it strange? Of the three suspicious points in the whistleblower's letter, the 'parameter labeling' on the physics exam is the least tenable. Zhou Mingyuan was the one who set the questions; if he had just said 'this is not cheating,' the whistleblower's complaint would have been invalid. But the whistleblower deliberately included that, which shows he knew Zhou Mingyuan would cooperate."

Ma Kui's eyes widened slowly.

"You mean, Zhou Mingyuan instructed someone to write the whistleblower letter? And he also had the notes posted?"

"It may not have been written by him personally, but he was definitely behind it." Ye Bingwen's voice was calm. "He wanted to ruin my reputation and make it impossible for me to stay in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Then he would 'generously' take me in, and I would become one of his people."

Ma Kui slammed his hand on the table, causing the teacup lid to jump up. "That old bastard! He's so despicable!"

"Teacher Ma, the problem now is the evidence," Ye Bingwen said. "Handwriting can only prove that the note is related to Deputy Director Zhao, but Deputy Director Zhao can easily claim that the student imitated his handwriting. To definitively convict Zhou Mingyuan, we need more direct evidence."

Ma Kui took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "What do you suggest we do?"

Ye Bingwen thought for a moment, "Is Deputy Director Zhao on duty tonight?"

Ma Kui was stunned. "Are you crazy? What do you want to do?"

"Nothing much, just going to take a look around the academic affairs office."

It was 7 p.m., and it was completely dark.

Most of the offices in the main building were dark, except for the one in the Academic Affairs Office. Deputy Director Zhao was on duty today; it was his turn every Tuesday, a fact Ye Bingwen had learned from Ma Kui.

Ye Bingwen didn't go directly to the Academic Affairs Office, but instead went around to the path behind the building. From there, he could see the lights in the Academic Affairs Office windows, but he wouldn't be spotted.

He stood in the cold wind for half an hour, his hands and feet were frozen. His health had deteriorated since An'an was born, and the combination of staying up late and worrying had caused him to catch a cold. Now, with the cold wind blowing, his throat started to tighten again.

At 8:15, the lights in the Academic Affairs Office went out.

Ye Bingwen roused himself and watched a figure emerge from the building and walk towards the family quarters. It was Deputy Director Zhao, wearing a dark blue cotton-padded coat, walking at a leisurely pace.

Ye Bingwen followed at a distance of about fifty meters.

Instead of going straight home, Deputy Director Zhao turned into a small alley on the way. There was a single-story house in the alley, with windows covered with newspapers, letting in a dim, yellowish light.

Ye Bingwen squatted behind a trash can at the alley entrance. The cold wind, carrying the sour smell of garbage, blew into his nose. He held his breath and pricked up his ears.

Deputy Director Zhao knocked on the door three times, paused, and then knocked twice more. The door opened, and a voice came from inside. Ye Bingwen couldn't hear it clearly, but he recognized the voice. It was Zhou Mingyuan.

"Is everything taken care of?" Zhou Mingyuan's voice came through the crack in the door.

"It's posted." Deputy Director Zhao's voice was low, "But I think it's risky. That Ye Bingwen is not easy to deal with; what if they find out..."

"So what if they find out?" Zhou Mingyuan sneered. "He's just a freshman. Would the school take action against me for his sake?"

The door closed, and the conversation that followed could not be heard.

Ye Bingwen slowly stood up from behind the trash can, his hands and feet already numb from the cold. He leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and went over what he had just heard in his mind.

enough.

No further evidence is needed.

He turned and walked home quickly. The night wind felt like knives on his face, but his blood was hot.

The next morning, Ye Bingwen went directly to Liu Deben's office.

He didn't tell Ma Kui beforehand, nor did he invite Cai Xun. The fewer people who knew about this, the better; the more people who knew, the more opportunities Zhou Mingyuan would have to manipulate things.

Liu Deben was reading documents when he saw Ye Bingwen come in, and he took off his glasses.

"Ye Bingwen? Is something the matter?"

"Principal Liu, I have something to report to you." Ye Bingwen closed the door, took the note out of his pocket, and placed it on Liu Deben's desk.

Liu Deben glanced down and frowned. "This is..."

"Someone posted it on the school bulletin board last night, accusing me of plagiarism. The old man on night patrol tore it down and gave it to Director Ma Kui." Ye Bingwen paused, "I found out who did it."

Liu Deben leaned back in his chair, his gaze sharpening. "Who?"