In the past, Duan Yaojing was a bystander, enjoying the drama that unfolded in other people's lives. Now that a major drama had fallen from the sky and landed squarely on her, the feeling was entirely different.
Moreover, if it was just about her, that would have been manageable. The problem was that she had a group of classmates behind her who loved nothing more than to watch the excitement unfold.
To her, installing security bars on the balcony would have sufficed. The solution was simple, yet her overly enthusiastic classmates had chosen the most complicated approach possible.
Lying in wait for the pervert.
What's worse, after one classmate suggested it, everyone became incredibly enthusiastic about catching the pervert.
Duan Yaojing hugged her phone, watching the chat window refresh endlessly. She felt like she was about to cry.
Were all rich kids this eager to help?
Her grandparents were university professors, and growing up in that environment had nurtured her excellent academic performance.
She had gotten into Qianpu Middle School based on her test scores, and her family had worried that a child from an ordinary background like her might be bullied by her wealthy classmates.
Now it seemed that bullying was out of the question.
After all, her classmates were more ridiculous than the next, each with a thought process more bizarre than the last.
On the first day of school, when she entered the classroom, her eyes were immediately drawn to the noble and aloof-looking Shi Li.
Shi Li had an aura about her, clearly the type of child raised in a pile of money.
Judging by appearances alone, she seemed difficult to approach, the kind of person that made others instinctively keep their distance.
This wasn't necessarily a good assessment.
However, compared to the impression she would form later, this first impression was almost too good to be true.
All of Duan Yaojing's rosy filters for Shi Li shattered the moment she heard Shi Li's inner thoughts.
It wasn't that her impression of Shi Li had worsened. If she had to describe it in one phrase, it would be: down-to-earth.
That's right, down-to-earth. She had imagined this fairy-like figure in her mind to be one who drank morning dew.
Then one day, she discovered that this person with a fairy-like face was sitting at a street food stall, one hand holding stinky tofu, the other grasping a skewer of pork intestines wrapped around green onions.
It's not that stinky tofu and pork intestines were bad; she liked eating them too.
But the problem was, with such an ethereal face, eating these foods completely shattered the illusion.
Shi Li maintained her expressionless, noble, and aloof demeanor, yet in her mind, she was cycling through various forms of crude language.
Had she considered the feelings of her little fangirls?
Their glass hearts were shattered into pieces, you know?
Of course, for Duan Yaojing, it wasn't just her impression of Shi Li that was shattered. Her perception of all her privileged classmates had greatly changed as well.
In her imagination, they should have been discussing golf and equestrian sports, talking about their family's stock fluctuations, international relations, and business rivalries every day.
They should have had refined interests and hobbies, not spending each day gossiping and coming up with outlandish ideas.
Which respectable rich kids would stay up late at night to ambush a pervert? Well, apparently, the ones in her class.
Individually, they all seemed perfectly normal, but together, they would come up with the most outrageous schemes.
Ah, how could she ever look at Mary Sue novels the same way again!
The discussion in the group chat was heating up, and it seemed no one cared about the opinion of Duan Yaojing, the person at the center of it all.
Before she could even agree, the others were already discussing what "legal self-defense tools" to bring that night.
Having her opinion ignored didn't make her feel offended.
Instead, a faint sadness lingered in her heart. As for why she felt sad, it was probably because, as a normal person, she felt like she had come home to find a house full of silly children.
[We live in an old neighborhood, and our apartment is quite small. It probably can't accommodate too many people.]
[Also, I live with my grandparents. If we try to catch a thief in the middle of the night, it might frighten the two elderly.]
[I know everyone means well, and thank you all for wanting to help.]
Young people in their mid-teens, full of passion, are most intolerant of injustice in the world.
This small problem was nothing the group couldn't handle.
[Our family owns hotels and holiday resorts. If the two elders don't mind, they could stay there for a while to recuperate.]
Duan Yaojing was left speechless. Surely people wouldn't go to such lengths just to join in on the excitement.
However, she didn't feel like everyone was just there for the spectacle. Instead, she felt like she had gained many pillars of support.
When she first heard about the pervert stealing underwear, her initial reaction was shock and anxiety.
She felt it was a disgusting thing and wanted to avoid it.
These emotions suppressed her inner anger and desire to beat up the pervert.
But as an underage girl, society positioned her as the weaker party, with no possibility of physically confronting a man.
She could arm herself to fight the pervert, but she feared getting hurt if she were alone, and she was even more afraid of encountering other unpredictable situations.
Her young and strong parents weren't around, only her elderly grandparents.
Her grandparents could provide emotional support, but they couldn't offer physical assistance.
This was why, upon hearing about the potential encounter with a pervert, her instinct was to avoid the situation.
But deep down, she actually wanted to confront the bad guy head-on. She wanted to beat up the pervert and catch him.
She didn't want to be a coward, pretending nothing had happened as long as she wasn't the one getting hurt.
Duan Yaojing didn't want that.
Although her classmates' suggestions were outrageous, they also made her strangely excited.
She thought that even if she had just a few more girls by her side, she would have the courage to stand up and face the situation.
Duan Yaojing's classmates brought her far more surprises than she had imagined.
Her classmates were extremely enthusiastic about signing up in the group chat. In the time it took Duan Yaojing to wash her face, more than twenty people had already volunteered.
She was a bit dumbfounded. Could her 70-square-meter apartment really fit more than twenty people?
Moreover, for these young masters and misses, her small home was probably the size of their bathrooms.
Wouldn't it be too uncomfortable for everyone?
Duan Yaojing once again tactfully expressed this concern in the class group chat.
[Our home is very small, unlike the homes of my classmates with many guest rooms.]
[I welcome everyone's help in catching the pervert. It's just that there's no space for everyone to rest comfortably, which is inconvenient.]
After she sent this message, the class group chat fell silent for a long time.
Duan Yaojing stared at the quiet chat, feeling inexplicably anxious.
It was Fu Huixing who finally broke the silence in the group.
[We don't need the whole class to catch a pervert. I can do it alone.]
This was probably the first time Fu Huixing had responded in the chat group since its creation. He hadn't even spoken up when everyone was signing up earlier.
The others: "Don't tell us you think we're just brimming with righteousness, and our main goal is to catch a pervert?"
Well, that was indeed one of the reasons.
But the more important reason, of course, was the experience itself.
How many times in life do you get the chance to join a group of people to catch a pervert?
If we missed this opportunity, who knows when the next one would come along?
What was Fu Huixing thinking, saying he could handle it alone? Did he really think he was some lone hero?
Most people's expressions turned sarcastic for a moment.
Of course, no one doubted whether Fu Huixing could handle the pervert, given his well-known abilities.
But regardless of who you are, you can't stop us from joining in the excitement—no, I mean, from helping our classmate.
As the class monitor, one has to take on the responsibility of being everyone's guardian.
He had to give a speech that would both lead the group and consider most people's opinions while also saving face for certain individuals.
[It's below freezing outside at night. Huixing might catch a cold if he stakes out for the pervert downstairs]
Duan Yaojing lived at home with her grandparents, and Fu Huixing, being a boy, certainly couldn't stay at the Duan family house to wait for the pervert.
Duan Yaojing had no way to explain this to her grandparents, and without an explanation, the two elderly people would definitely not accept their granddaughter bringing a boy home to stay.
In the eyes of the neighbors, they would surely gossip about Duan Yaojing behind her back.
So when Fu Huixing talked about staking out, he could only mean doing so outside.
Thinking about this, the class monitor couldn't help but curse, saying it was ridiculous. Even the pervert was active in the dead of winter—didn't he feel the cold?
[Yeah, it's too cold outside. This plan isn't very feasible]
[If your home situation doesn't allow it, we can sleep on the floor, you know]
For the sake of joining in the excitement, sleeping on the floor wasn't too much of a sacrifice.
This idea of sleeping on the floor immediately received enthusiastic support from everyone.
[That's right, we can sleep on the floor]
We don't necessarily have to sleep. Those of us who are night owls at home wouldn't mind staying up all night.
Besides, with everyone focused on waiting for the pervert, how could we possibly sleep?
Before Duan Yaojing could say much, her classmates had already settled on the plan for that night.
First, they'd arrange for Duan Yaojing's grandparents to leave home a week in advance, inviting them to stay at a holiday resort for a while, freeing up a room.
This would also prevent scaring the two elderly people when they caught the pervert.
After school, the whole class would go to Duan Yaojing's house for a "gathering."
Going to a classmate's house for a casual meal—that's reasonable, right?
After dinner, classmates playing cards and games together until the early hours—that's also normal, right?
The boys arranging to play baseball together the next day, so they had baseball bats in their bags—nothing wrong with that, right?
[I, I, I have plans to play golf with my dad the next day, so I packed a golf club in my bag. That's also reasonable!]
Everyone: Listen to yourself. Does that sound sensible at all?
Fu Huixing: [Golf clubs can be lethal. I suggest not bringing them]
[Alright] Disappointment ensued
After discussing all the issues, there was still one crucial question: should they bring Shi Li along?
