Xiao Xiao froze, his expression tightening slightly. "What happened?"
"Master Xiao."
Chi Xiuke's voice was full of panic. "I don't know either. Yingying didn't say anything yesterday, but I could tell she wasn't very happy."
"We'd gone out shopping, and first it started raining, then we ran into a child who was frightened into tears by a ghost face."
She'd been pretty happy herself, though, because they'd unexpectedly run into Master Xiao.
"So when I woke up today and saw the heavy snow, I thought I'd call her. But she didn't answer."
"I thought that was strange."
"I figured she might be washing up and hadn't heard her phone, so I waited a while and called again."
"Still no answer."
"When I called a third time, someone picked up."
"But it was her roommate."
"She said Yingying hadn't come back since she went downstairs last night."
"She hasn't come back all night?"
Xiao Xiao turned and leaned against the desk, waving away Zhuge Yun, who had edged closer out of curiosity.
"Mm."
Chi Xiuke drew a deep breath. "After Yingying and I parted ways last night, she did go back to campus and return to her dorm."
"Then she got a call from a student in another class, who wanted to return some materials she'd borrowed from Yingying."
"So she went downstairs."
"Under normal circumstances, she should've been back up pretty quickly. She was only picking up some materials."
"But her roommates waited until almost lights-out and still hadn't seen Yingying come back, so they thought they'd call her."
"Then they realized Yingying's phone was right there on her desk."
Chi Xiuke pressed her lips together. "That shows Yingying must've thought she was only going downstairs for a moment and would be right back. She didn't even bother to