Chapter 12

"What do you mean?" Chang'e asks.

"They broke the CCTV in the classroom from way before the competition. Either that or they were insanely lucky and the CCTV was never repaired. I only have the feed of who's going in and out because of the CCTV across the room. Let me bring that up instead." Nate replies.

Feng Mei makes a hissing sound, and everyone looks over to her worriedly.

"What happened, Feng Mei?"

"I accidentally touched the hot thing in the back and spilled my drink."

"Oh, nonononono," Nate panics, taking off the upper flannel layer of his shirt to try and wipe the spillage.

"I'm so sorry, Nate, it was an accident, I swear," Feng Mei tries to explain.

"It's fine. Just.. go back home," sighs Nate as his shirt soaks up all the matcha milk tea.

"Will we still be able to review the footage?" Feng Mei says hopefully. Nate stays silent before giving a firm no.

"No," Hou Yi curses, running his hands through his hair, "I was so close."

"Come on, Chang, let's just go home," Feng Mei says, tugging on her arm.

"Oh, you go ahead. I'll help clean up," declines Chang'e.

"Clean up and nothing else, okay?" Feng Mei tilts her head in Hou Yi's direction. "Call me if anything happens."

"Got it, Feng. See you later!" Chang'e waves goodbye before squatting to wipe some of the milk tea that spilled onto the ground with some spare tissues in her pocket. The door closes shut again, leaving the three of them in the room.

"Wait, I think we can still check it!" Nate nearly shouts in joy, removing his wet flannel from the spot he was wiping up and dumping it in one of the plastic bags lying around in the room.

"What? Really?" Hou Yi's voice has so much hope that Chang'e really starts to think that it wasn't him all along.

"Yeah! Come on," Nate signals them to go closer to the screen as he navigates through the jungle of data logs and entries. "Here."

A slightly blurry video of the room pops up on the screen, and it shows CCTV Chang'e and CCTV Feng Mei entering the room in the morning. Chang'e's carrying her easel, canvas, paint, and water bottle in her tote bag, but she knows there's no paint thinner in there. On the other hand, Feng Mei is carrying her laptop bag and a jar of water. They walk into the room, and Nate fast-forwards the footage.

CCTV Chang'e leaves the room, with her water bottle in hand. She comes back with Hou Yi a couple of hours later, popping her head in the door to say something before she leaves with Hou Yi in tow.

The footage speeds up again, showing Feng Mei leaving the room during early evening with her laptop bag.

Speed up, nothing. Speed up, nothing.

CCTV Chang'e enters the room early in the morning of the contest to finish up the last details of her painting. She leaves after a few minutes. CCTV Feng Mei enters the room and comes back out with her essay papers a few minutes later.

"Wait," Chang'e's brain can't comprehend what she just saw. Feng Mei said she saw someone enter the room when she went to get her essay papers.

"She did say that," Nate whispers, "I think she's lying."

"What?" Chang'e steps back, "But she didn't enter the room with a jar of paint thinner. How could she have done it?"

"Unless.." Hou Yi trails off, pacing back and forth in the rint space available to him.

"Unless?" Chang'e echoes. "Unless!" Nate and Hou Yi look at each other. "Unless she brought it in before!"

"Nate, rewind back to when Chang'e and Feng Mei enter the room for the first time in the morning."

"What ever happened to Boss Nate?" grumbles Nate, "Roger that."

"Boss Nate," Hou Yi corrects before looking at Chang'e worriedly. "Are you alright, Chang'e?"

"I—Uhm, yeah," Chang'e stutters out, but she seems to be frozen in place, "It's fine."

"But are you?" Hou Yi takes a step closer to her and pats her back comfortingly.

"Okay, love birds, pay attention," Nate interrupts, "Play."

The footage plays. Hou Yi and Chang'e look back to the screen, forcing themselves to give the tiniest details some attention. Then it ends.

"The jar!" Nate and Hou Yi point out. Nate takes a screenshot of the girls entering the room and one when they leave. He pastes them both into a blank sheet and he circles Feng Mei's hands.

One with a jar, and one without. Chang'e's heart drops.

Ring-ring. Ring-ring. She opens her phone to see that it's Feng Mei calling her. Feng Mei. Her hands are shaking.

"You don't have to answer it," Hou Yi whispers to her, but Chang'e knows she should. She shakes her head and motions everyone to be quiet.

"Chang chang~! Are you out yet? I'm home already. You think I can come over later today?" Feng Mei's voice crackles through the phone's speaker.

Chang'e takes a deep breath and wills her voice to be stable and cheerful. "Hi, Feng Mei. Just throwing the tissues. I'm pretty sure mom's having her sister come over today so what about tomorrow?"

"Aw, okay. Say sorry to Nate for me if he's still there! Text you later~ Bye bye, Chang Chang," Feng Mei makes kissing noises again.

"Sure will. Bye bye, Feng," and Chang'e makes kissing noises back after a beat of hesitation.

Beep. The call ends.

Nate lets out a breath. "Well, that was.."

"Stressful?" Hou Yi supplies.

"Yeah," Nate agrees, "Now let's just arrange all our facts for a moment." He brings up a notepad on the computer and types down a couple things on it.

Suspect #1: Feng Mei

- She knew the location.

- She brought a jar of paint thinner in and out.

- She had access to the room to break the CCTV camera.

- She lied about there being a person entering the room before she got her English papers.

- She spilled her drink. Perhaps a setup?

"Any other suspects?" Nate asks, pressing the enter key two times.

"Not that I can think of—" Chang'e starts, but then Hou Yi says one word that makes Chang'e's heart drop for the second time. "You."

"What?" Nate chuckles, "Hou Yi, I think all this sleuthing has taken a toll on your mind—"

"Chang'e never mentioned anything about paint thinner," accuses Hou Yi, taking a step closer to the door with Chang'e behind him.

"Feng Mei told me it was paint thinner," Nate shrugs.

"I never told Feng Mei," Chang'e's voice is firmer, "It was you all along? You had access to the CCTV's, it makes sense."

"No, no. I wouldn't dare take credit for something Feng Mei thought of. It's a good thing she knows a thing or two about art," Nate smiles.

"Feng Mei was the culprit?" Chang'e says, confused. All this sleuthing has indeed taken a toll on her mind. Hou Yi shakes his head.

"Feng Mei? Just Feng Mei? I was one of the culprits too, Chang'e."

"But why would you help her?" Hou Yi asks, hand on the doorknob.

"We made a deal," Nate uses air quotes. "Sounds familiar? We're just like you guys!"

"Good to know, Nate," Hou Yi scoffs vindictively. He slams the door open, grabbing Chang'e's hand.

They run.

"Why are we running?" yells Chang'e over the speed of their escape.

"I'm not exactly a big fan of hanging out with your saboteur," Hou Yi explains, "Are you?"

"Well, no.."

"Plus, I want to sort everything out on our own first, without all the confusion from Nate or Feng Mei," Hou Yi slows down. "We're here."

"The tanghulu shop?" Chang'e asks.

"People work better when their stomachs are full," Hou Yi states, but Chang'e knows that it's most likely false, "What do you wanna eat?"

"Almond tofu again."

"Is it that good?"

Chang'e hums in reply, "It's so good you'll forget your name."

"Guess I gotta try that," Hou Yi remarks as he steps forward to order. "Hello, A Yi. Two almond tofus please."

"Ok. 22 RMB."

Hou Yi hands the lady his bills just as Chang'e takes out 11 RMB for her order.

"Oh, come on, it's my treat," Hou Yi whines when Chang'e tries to stuff the bills into his pockets.

"But it's not fair," she reasons, "You paid for Naicha!"

"And I'll pay for this one too," Hou Yi huffs as he takes the receipt with a thank you. "Trust me, I want to treat you."

"..If you really insist.." Chang'e is a weak woman when it comes to free food, but Hou Yi's still here despite being accused of ruining her painting, so she supposed it's okay with him.

"Are you gonna talk with Feng Mei?" Hou Yi asks as they take a seat.

"Tomorrow. Yeah. I'll confront her," Chang'e exhales, resting her head on the table, "I'm just so confused by everything."

"We can run through everything now and check each other for facts. Kinda like what we did in preparation for the science competition! Except this time, it's a different topic."

Chang'e laughs. "Okay, you start."

"From what I know, Feng Mei made a deal with Nate in order to get his help to.. sabotage you. Feng Mei does the job of actually sabotaging and breaking the CCTV, while Nate does the job of preventing the CCTV's repair."

"But what about when Feng Mei said she saw someone? She wouldn't lie about that, since lying about it only makes her look more suspicious on camera."

"Hmmm," Hou Yi thinks out loud, "Let's say Feng Mei didn't lie, and that it was Nate who she claims to have seen."

"And with that, she would have betrayed Nate!" Chang'e exclaims.

The ball of conspiracy starts rolling.

"Then Nate, trying to get back at her, edited the CCTV footage to show just Feng Mei. Feng Mei knew Nate was going to get back at her somehow when he said he would show the CCTV footage from across the room—"

"So she spilled her drink!"

Clink. clink. Two bowls of almond tofu are set in front of them. The lady smiles, "Enjoy."

"Thank you, A Yi," the two of them expressed kindly. "You're welcome," the lady replies warmly.

"It makes much more sense now," Chang'e sighs, "But why would Nate reveal himself at the end like that?"

"I think he slipped up," mutters Hou Yi, "He wasn't supposed to mention the paint thinner, and Feng Mei would turn out to be the true culprit. But since he did, he decided to take both Feng Mei and himself down instead."

"'If I can't have it, no one can' kind of logic?" Chang'e asks before shoving a spoon of almond tofu in her mouth.

"Exactly."

"Holy crap.."

"Holy crap indeed," Hou Yi nods gravely. The two of them scoop more almond tofu into their mouths.

"Hey, what's my name again?" Hou Yi asks.

"Oh, stop it," Chang'e shoves him playfully, "I told you it was that good."