Teacher Shang's tone wasn't forceful, but there was a stubbornness to it, as though he wouldn't give up until he got an answer. He clenched his fists nervously and waited for their reply.
Faced with this unusual persistence, Li Xian fell silent. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell Teacher Shang the truth; he was weighing which part he should tell him.
But Teacher Shang clearly took Li Xian's silence to mean he didn't want to answer, and he began to grow anxious. Just as they reached an impasse, a ringing phone broke the tension-
After a moment of surprise, Teacher Shang frowned and pulled his phone from his pocket. He had intended to reject the call, but when he saw the caller ID, he sighed and answered:
"Hello? Hanyu?"
The name Teacher Shang spoke immediately put Li Xian and Xu Loubai on guard.
This was exactly what they had been worried about-
Teacher Shang would most likely agree with them where Xie Zhi was concerned, but the same might not hold true for Deng Hanyu.
If the two were particularly close, Teacher Shang might pass this information on to Deng Hanyu, which would make things difficult.
Deng Hanyu's voice came through the phone:
"Hey, where are you right now?"
None of the three had expected Deng Hanyu to ask that question. Although it could be taken as an ordinary greeting, in this situation, it instinctively made them feel he had discovered something.
Had Deng Hanyu seen them bring Teacher Shang into the school?
Li Xian recalled everything that had happened, from Teacher Shang climbing over the school gate to their bringing him into the dorm room...
On the way back to the dorm, Li Xian had deliberately watched their surroundings and hadn't seen Deng Hanyu anywhere.
Then it