"Chief? You suspect Fang Shuwen?"
"How is that possible?"
"That guy's just a vain, empty-headed waste of space! Sure, he went to the martial arts school for half a month, but he failed six of his seven subjects. How could he possibly beat Liu Mang, let alone Chen Da, who can make his bones crack with a single flex?"
Xiao Liang, an investigator with the Folklore and Antiquities Investigation Division, asked in confusion.
Over the past few days, the Investigation Division had dug into everything about Liu Mang and the late Chen Da while tracking down the Counter-Scale bronze fragment.
They had investigated the two men's social circles and everyone they had been in contact with recently.
Naturally, Fang Shuwen was among them.
He remembered that when they first found this man's file, they had joked that he was another fool.
Vain, with nothing between his ears, unwilling to study properly and always sucking up to other people instead.
Fang Shuwen's only connection to Liu Mang was that they were both Guo Ziming's lackeys.
And in their efforts to "win favor" with Guo Ziming, the two had become bitter rivals.
But that little bit of friction wasn't enough to drive anyone to murder.
Besides, Fang Shuwen couldn't even truss a chicken. How could he have killed someone?
"My teacher once told me that when you've ruled out every possibility, the least likely one may be the truth."
"Tomorrow, bring that thing with you. We'll go to the school and test it. If Fang Shuwen has ever touched the Soaring Snake Counter-Scale, the instrument will react."
Lin Xiu's gaze was distant. The Soaring Snake Counter-Scale was of the utmost importance.
Even the slightest suspicion couldn't be ignored.
The next morning, the sky was clear.
As usual, Fang Shuwen got up early. After washing, he changed into his blue-green school uniform and tucked his Parker fountain pen into his breast pocket.
Old Fang had already left for work. Hot porridge and pickles were waiting on the table.
There was also a paper-wrapped bundle beside them. Inside were two griddle cakes, their crusts toasted golden brown and carrying a faint scent of scallions.
Hu Da must have saved them for him.
Fang Shuwen polished off breakfast in a few bites, slung his cloth bookbag over his shoulder, and headed out.
Today was the day the examination results were posted.
According to the school notice, all students had to arrive before nine in the morning. Anyone late would be treated as having forfeited the exam and would be expelled.
Fang Shuwen strolled down two streets at an unhurried pace. From a distance, he saw a huge crowd gathered by the school gate.
Students pressed around the notice board, craning their necks to see. Cries of delight and despair kept bursting from the crowd.
"I passed! I passed!"
A boy squeezed out of the crowd, his face flushed red. Clutching the strap of his bookbag, he bounced up and down.
Too bad he was still too young. If he'd been another forty years older, he might have looked a little like Fan Jin.
"How could this happen... I clearly ranked thirty-second in the academic subjects..."
Another girl squatted beside the notice board, covering her face as she began to cry.
She had probably failed the physical exam and been cut outright.
Some were happy, others miserable. The square in front of the Public Middle School was in utter chaos.
Fang Shuwen didn't hurry to push into the crowd. He stood at its edge and looked around, his eyes settling on the sheets of red paper pinned to the upper-right corner of the notice board.
Black ink on red paper, written in neat brush calligraphy.
The top line read "Elite Class Admission List." Beneath it were "Regular Class Admission List," "Repeat Year List," and "Dismissal List."
Fang Shuwen's gaze skipped over the Elite Class and Regular Class lists and swept across the Repeat Year List first. His name wasn't there.
His eyes moved up to the Regular Class Admission List.
His name wasn't there either.
He kept looking upward and soon spotted it.
Ninth place in the Elite Class: Fang Shuwen.
The corner of Fang Shuwen's mouth lifted slightly.
He'd passed.
He hadn't expected to come in ninth again!
It wasn't a bad ranking. It would be more than enough to give Old Fang an answer when he got home.
"Fang Shuwen! You actually got into the Elite Class!"
"Seriously? No way! You didn't cheat, did you?"
A shrill female voice came from beside him.
Fang Shuwen turned and saw a face flushed bright red.
She was a girl from his class, surnamed Sun. He couldn't remember her given name.
He only remembered that she was friendly with Cuicui and loved to gossip behind people's backs.
Also, he'd just seen her name on the Dismissal List.
Now she stared wide-eyed, pointing at the three characters "Fang Shuwen" on the notice board.
"You failed six of your seven subjects last semester! How could you possibly get into the Elite Class?"
The girl surnamed Sun's voice was sharp and piercing, drawing the attention of several students nearby.
Fang Shuwen couldn't be bothered to argue. He gave her a cool glance. "The results are right there. Go look for yourself."
Then he turned and walked away, without the slightest interest in saying another word.
His indifferent attitude left the girl speechless for a moment, and her expression darkened further.
She tried to chase after him and say something, but another girl beside her tugged at her sleeve.
"Forget it, forget it. Don't stoop to his level. Maybe he pulled some strings..."
"What strings? His dad's just a gatekeeper! What strings could he pull? He definitely cheated!"
"If not, why wouldn't he stay and face us? No, I'm going to see the principal. We can't let someone like him into the Elite Class!"
The girl surnamed Sun scoffed, but in the end, she didn't follow him.
Instead, she gathered up a bunch of people in the same boat as her, and they all headed for the teachers' office together.
Fang Shuwen crossed the sports field and headed toward the classroom building.
The Elite Class was at the far eastern end of the third floor. Its windows faced south, and the light was excellent.
They said the desks and chairs had all been replaced, and even the blackboard was a new enamel one shipped from Shenghai.
By the time he reached the stairs, quite a few people had gathered in the corridor.
They were all Elite Class students, clustered in groups of two and three.
Some were congratulating one another; others were quietly discussing the new semester's courses.
Fang Shuwen spotted Han Tieshan in the middle of the crowd at once.
The lanky boy who had lifted two hundred pounds in the Stone Lock test.
He was still wearing the same faded gray uniform, its cuffs frayed and its trouser legs too short, exposing half his shins.
But now three or four people, both boys and girls, had gathered around him, chattering away.
Han Tieshan still looked taciturn and wooden. Every so often, he nodded or murmured, "Mm."
"Han Tieshan, you're incredible! Full marks in physical education, fifty-second in the academic subjects! You ranked first overall. Nobody else in our class can beat you!"
"Exactly! Two hundred pounds on the Stone Lock. Even the principal was stunned!"
"We'll be counting on you to carry our class from now on!"
Surrounded by everyone, Han Tieshan didn't say much. He only nodded from time to time.
If not for his dark, flushed face, you might have thought he was naturally aloof and hard to approach.
Fang Shuwen paid them no mind. He walked straight into the classroom and took a seat in the third row by the window.
Time flew by, and more than ten minutes passed.
Students gradually filled the classroom.
Those who made it into the Elite Class were either top academic students or promising martial arts trainees with strong physical scores. Of course, plenty excelled at both.
Around forty students gathered together, sizing up their new classmates. The atmosphere was lively, with an undercurrent of competition.
A round-faced boy in a white shirt stood up. His hair was combed to perfection and clearly slicked with Standard. He pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and cleared his throat.
"Fellow classmates, we'll all be in the same class from now on. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Zhang Mingcheng, and I ranked second overall."
"My father is an education inspector with the county bureau. If you have any questions about your studies, feel free to come to me."
As soon as Zhang Mingcheng sat down, a girl beside him with her hair in braids stood up, wearing a reserved smile on her oval face.
"My name is Li Yueru, and I ranked third overall. I look forward to getting along with everyone."
With the two of them setting the example, the boys and girls in the classroom began introducing themselves one by one.
Most followed the order of the examination rankings.
Before long, it was Fang Shuwen's turn.
He stood up and was just about to speak.
At that moment, a boy in the back row rose to his feet.
"Fang Shuwen, you failed six of your seven subjects last semester and barely passed physical education. You're a useless piece of trash. How did you cheat your way into the Elite Class?!!!"