Xu Gui had previously told Grandma Qiao that although the bag was still with her niece, the bracelet inside was gone.
Grandma Qiao looked at the bracelet in her hand and asked, "Then this bracelet?"
"It's fake," Xu Gui said immediately, "Gold-plated silver."
A fake?
Yao Yao, unaware of the background, asked Grandma Qiao, "Auntie, could it be that when you bought it, you bought a fake gold-plated silver one?"
Grandma Qiao replied, "Impossible. Your sister-in-law bought it for me, from a top-brand store. How could it be fake?"
"...But..." Yao Yao was even more confused, pointing at the bracelet and looking at Xu Gui, "This sister said this is gold-plated silver, it's fake."
Xu Gui smiled and said, "What I mean is, originally, the bag did contain a real gold bracelet, but it was switched with this gold-plated silver one."
Yao Yao: ?!
"No, it wasn't me!" She hurriedly raised her hand and waved it. "I didn't do it! I didn't even know there was this in the bag!"
If she had known there was something so valuable in the bag, she would have already given it to Grandma Qiaoqiao. She wouldn't have kept the bag so carelessly, stuffing it in a corner next to the closet, letting it gather so much dust.
Grandma Qiaoqiao looked at her, remembering what Xu Gui had said earlier, and tentatively asked, "Yaoyao, do you think it's possible that your roommate switched it?"
"...No, really?" Yaoyao subconsciously glanced at her only roommate who was still in the dorm.
Her roommate was eating and hadn't heard what they were saying, only occasionally glancing over curiously.
Yaoyao looked away and whispered, "My three roommates are all very nice. They don't seem like the kind of people who would do something like this. Is there some misunderstanding?" She still found it unbelievable.
Xu Gui presented the facts, saying, "After Grandma Qiao Qiao got the bracelet, she put it directly into this bag. Later, you brought this bag back to school and it's been in the dorm ever since, never moved."
The bag's movement was simple: either at Grandma Qiao Qiao's house or in this dorm. If it were gone, it could be said to be lost, but it was deliberately switched, so someone definitely did it on purpose.
And the only people who could do that, besides Grandma Qiao's family, are Yao Yao and the others in her dorm, and obviously, the latter are more likely.
Xu Gui's words were reasonable and well-founded, but Yao Yao still couldn't believe it. After all, the four of them had been roommates for two years, and they had always gotten along very well. She really didn't want to assume anything malicious about them.
Yao Yao was deeply hurt.
Because the other two roommates hadn't returned yet, Xu Gui and the others could only wait in the dorm, waiting to speak later. The atmosphere on their side was somewhat silent, and Yao Yao's expression was also a little off.
Her roommate, still in the dorm, couldn't help but whisper, "Yaoyao, what happened? You don't look well."
Yaoyao turned to look at her, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace, and said, "Something happened... Let's talk about it when Nannan and the others get back. You'll know then."
Her roommate was puzzled. She wanted to ask what it was that required waiting for the other two to return.
However, seeing Yaoyao's distressed expression, she swallowed her question and instead tagged the other two in their group chat, urging them to come back quickly.
Qingqing: [We're already on our way back. What happened?]
Nannan: [Xiaoxiao, do you want some cold noodles? We'll bring you a bowl.]
Xiaoxiao: [Yaoyao's aunt is here! It seems like something happened. Yaoyao seems upset, and her aunt and the others look troubled too. Please come back quickly.]
Nannan: [Did they have a fight?]
Qingqing: [Ugh, is the atmosphere in the dorm really awkward right now?] "Maybe we shouldn't come back?"
Xiaoxiao: "It doesn't seem like we argued. Anyway, I don't know what happened. I asked Yaoyao, but she wouldn't say. She said we have to wait until you guys come back to talk about it. I don't understand either."
Qingqing: "?"
"What can we only talk about when we get back?" Qingqing looked at Nannan beside her, somewhat confused. "Besides, this should be Yaoyao and her aunt's business, what does it have to do with us? Right, Nannan?"
Nannan didn't speak.
Qingqing looked at her suspiciously and called out again, "Nannan?"
"...Wh-what's wrong?" Nannan seemed to have just come to her senses and looked at her in a panic.
Qingqing frowned and said, "I should be asking you, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? If you're not feeling well, let's go back to the dorm and rest now."
Nannan said with a forced expression, "No, I'm fine."
No, you look like you're really in trouble.
Qingqing thought to herself.
Then she noticed that Nan Nan seemed suddenly reluctant to go back to the dormitory, especially after they dragged themselves down to the bottom of the stairs. Nan Nan seemed even more resistant.
Qingqing couldn't help but feel a little confused.
"I... my stomach seems to hurt a bit, you go up first!"
After reaching the first floor of the dormitory, Nan Nan suddenly stopped and said this, then hurriedly went into the public restroom on the first floor, leaving Qingqing standing alone at the bottom of the stairs, quite bewildered.
"But, we're almost at our dormitory..." she said, a beat late in the minute. Wasn't the restroom in her dormitory better than the public one?
Qingqing returned to the dormitory, completely confused. When she came back, all four of them looked at her in unison, four heavy gazes falling on her.
Qingqing: "..." For some reason, she suddenly felt a lot of pressure.
When she came in, Xiaoxiao glanced behind her and asked, "Where's Nannan? Why are you all alone?"
Qingqing smiled politely at Xu Gui and Grandma Qiaoqiao, and then answered Xiaoxiao's question, "She's still on the first floor. She suddenly said her stomach hurt when she went upstairs, so she ran to the bathroom..."
"Why didn't you come back to the dormitory to use the bathroom?" Yaoyao suddenly said.
Qingqing: "Who knows... By the way, Xiaoxiao told us to come back quickly, saying you had something to tell us. What is it?"
Yaoyao subconsciously looked at Grandma Qiaoqiao, who sighed, "Let me tell you!"
The old lady couldn't bear to see her niece in a difficult position, so she stood up and said, "This matter is actually related to me. I gave Yaoyao a bag before, and inside was a gold bracelet worth about 80,000 yuan! But when I came to look for it today, I found that the bracelet had been switched. The original pure gold bracelet has now become a fake gold-plated silver one."
Qingqing's mind worked quickly. Her expression changed after hearing this, and she said in a deep voice, "What do you mean? You don't think we switched the bracelet, do you?" She felt insulted and angry.
Hearing this, Xiaoxiao couldn't help but widen her eyes. She first glanced at Grandma Qiaoqiao, then looked at Yaoyao, her eyes questioning.
Yao Yao looked somewhat helpless and whispered, "I don't know what happened either. I didn't even know the bracelet was in this bag before. I only found it today, and it's been switched."
Qing Qing said, "Even so, you shouldn't suspect us. Don't you know who we are?"
"If we could, we wouldn't want to suspect you either," Xu Gui interjected. "But the fact is, it's most likely that someone from your dorm committed the crime, and I actually already know who did it."
"Where's your other roommate?" she suddenly asked. "It's been seven or eight minutes, isn't she coming up yet?"
Everyone sensed a certain implication in Xu Gui's words.
Qing Qing was initially very angry, but upon hearing Xu Gui's words, her feverish head suddenly felt like it had been doused with cold water, gradually cooling down. She suddenly remembered Nan Nan's strange behavior on the way back.
Qing Qing looked at her other roommate, Xiao Xiao, who seemed to have thought of something as well. The two exchanged a glance, their eyes conveying a message.
"I… I'll ask Nan Nan now…" Xiao Xiao picked up her phone and said, "Ask her why she hasn't come up yet."
She texted Nan Nan, and as for the others, they seemed to have no desire to speak at this point. Everyone was silent, which caused the dormitory to suddenly fall silent.
It wasn't until more than ten minutes later that their last roommate, the girl called Nan Nan, finally returned.
Her face was wet and a little pale, as if she had just washed her face. When she saw Grandma Qiao Qiao, she obediently greeted her, "Aunt Yang…"
Grandma Qiao Qiao's surname was Yang. She used to often come to the school to visit Yao Yao, so Yao Yao's roommates all knew her and called her Aunt Yang.
Hearing Nan Nan greet her, Grandma Qiao Qiao responded, "Hey, Xiao Nan…"
She looked at Nan Nan with a complicated expression. Even now, she couldn't believe that the other person was the one who switched the bracelets.
In Grandma Qiao Qiao's memory, Nan Nan had always been the most well-behaved and sensible one in the dormitory, and also very diligent. Every time Grandma Qiao Qiao came, she was the one with the sweetest words and the most thoughtful service.
So, how could it be? How could it be Nan Nan?
Grandma Qiao Qiao was shocked and puzzled.
But Xu Gui's calculations couldn't be false...
"Aunt Yang, why do you look at me like that?"