"No." He Zhilan reassured her friends with a smile, indicating that she was alright; however, her shoulders tensed up as she continued to flip through the pages of her book, not finding the item she was looking for.
"That’s so odd, where could it have gone? I clearly remember tucking it right in here!" He Zhilan looked through her book again, yet her expression shifted when she still couldn’t locate the item. She anxiously got up, scanning the floor before carefully checking her desk.
"What are you looking for?" Jiang Biyun and Chen Xiting shared puzzled glances.
"A photo! Have you guys found a group photo in the dorm? One with three boys and a girl."
"A photo? I don’t think so..." Jiang Biyun shook her head before looking in the direction of Wang Bingbing and Huang Cai, asking, "Wang Bingbing, Huang Cai, have any of you seen a photo around in the dorm?"
"Nope~" replied Huang Cai, "If we had seen it, we would have picked it up. Are you sure you didn’t mistakenly leave it somewhere else, He Zhilan?"
"No way! I had it tucked into this favorite book of mine!" He Zhilan spoke with utmost certainty, her voice quavering on the verge of tears. The photograph was the only thing she had from her childhood, and she knew she couldn’t have remembered wrongly.
"Could you have accidentally dropped it somewhere when you took it out?" Seeing He Zhilan’s expression, everyone realized the gravity of the situation. Clearly, this group photo was very important to her.
He Zhilan shook her head, "No, I have been so busy lately that I have not even flipped through this book! I only recently got that photo."
As if spurred into action, Wang Bingbing and Huang Cai, along with the others got up, "We’ll help you look around the corners of the dorm room, it might have dropped somewhere in there."
With that, everyone - apart from Gu En who was not present - started looking around the entire dorm. They didn’t leave any corner unchecked, fearing that He Zhilan might have mistakenly tucked it into another book - they even searched through each and every book on their desks and didn’t spare the trash can. Yet, the photograph was nowhere to be found.
The loss of the photograph cast a gloom over He Zhilan’s mood for the entire afternoon. But seeing as her dormmates did try their best to help, she didn’t complain. On the contrary, she was grateful to Huang Cai and Wang Bingbing who, despite not being that close to her, had joined in the search for her missing item.
Tan Heqian was deeply worried for He Zhilan, who had been hanging her head low all afternoon, two steps ahead of them. He wondered if the bad news he had shared had caused her distress.
Giving Jiang Biyun a nudge, Tan Heqian pointed his lips toward He Zhilan and asked quietly, "Has she been all afternoon?"
Jiang Biyun pursed her lips and nodded, "She lost an important and cherished photograph. She was listless throughout the afternoon’s classes. We all tried searching the entire dorm but couldn’t find it."
"A photo?" Tan Heqian scratched his head. He only found out about He Zhilan’s state as they had classes together in the afternoon. Having heard Jiang Biyun mention the important photo, Tan Heqian wondered if it was the group photo of four that his brother had given to He Zhilan.
"A group photo with three boys and a girl." Jiang Biyun added.