Chapter 5: The Secret in the Phone
"Lin Wen!" A cold call from Xinran's room pulled me back from reading the diary. I hurriedly put the diary back in the drawer, but the lock latch got stuck outside and wouldn't close properly. I could only kick it in with my foot.
"Lin Wen!" Another call came. I quickly responded, "Yes... yes... I'm coming!" I walked out of Teacher Qin's room and pushed open Xinran's door, asking, "What's the matter?"
Xinran said, "Oh, nothing, I just don't know how to do this problem and wanted to ask you."
After helping Xinran solve the problem, I made an excuse about continuing to watch the game and left the room. I returned to Teacher Qin's room, intending to continue reading the diary. But this time, no matter how hard I pulled, the drawer wouldn't budge. I had to give up, fearing that if I used too much force, I might break the lock and Teacher Qin would discover it.
After browsing through Teacher Qin's things for a while without finding anything else, I could only return to the living room to continue watching the game, though I couldn't focus at all.
Actually, I didn't need to think hard to know that person was Chen Le. Not only was he handsome and wealthy, but also kind and gentle, a true gentleman without equal. What young girl wouldn't be smitten after seeing such a boy? But what I hadn't expected was that the one smitten wasn't a young girl, but a married woman, my beautiful mature Teacher Qin.
"Ah, why is it like this? My best friend actually got together with my future mother-in-law. What's going on? I really can't understand." While I was feeling frustrated, I unconsciously glanced at Teacher Qin's room again. Phone, phone... but I don't know the password.
At this moment, I thought of someone: Xiao Pang who repairs phones and computers behind the community gate. Could he help me unlock Teacher Qin's phone? But I didn't know if I would have enough time.
Now I had no choice but to take a risk. I went home first and saw my mom and Teacher Qin still practicing yoga in the yoga room. Seeing their positions, I instantly became hard, because of Teacher Qin, of course. At that moment, Mom and Teacher Qin were supporting themselves on their forearms, waists lowered, one knee kneeling on the ground while the other leg was raised straight up. Looking at Teacher Qin's plump, perky buttocks, I thought about how at noon, such a beautiful mature woman's peach-like buttocks had been covered with semen by some unknown guy in the bathroom. I was furious and felt incredibly suffocated.
But I still calmly asked, "Mom, how long will you practice? It's already past three."
"Go, go... study with Xinran, don't disturb me and your mom," Teacher Qin said impatiently.
"Hmm, probably until five o'clock, then Teacher Qin and I will go buy groceries and cook dinner for you all. Today we'll all eat at our home," Mom said.
"Oh, okay." My purpose was just to confirm how long Teacher Qin would be at my home. Now it seemed I had enough time to take Teacher Qin's phone to Xiao Pang have him crack the password.
After returning to my room, I put on my jacket, grabbed my basketball, and made sure to tell my mom, "Mom, I'm going down to play basketball. I'll be back before five."
"Mm, go ahead, but don't come back late. You're always sweaty and smelly after playing ball. Remember to come back early and take a shower before dinner, okay?" My mom didn't forget to remind me.
"Yes, yes, I know," I said.
With that, I left home and went to Teacher Qin's house. Teacher Qin's front door had fingerprint plus password security. Although my fingerprint wasn't registered, I knew the password. After opening the door, Xinran asked, "Mom, is that you coming back?"
"It's me, Xinran. I'm going down to play basketball. I left my phone here," I replied.
"Oh, okay," Xinran answered without any emotion in her voice. I didn't blame her. After all, Teacher Qin's situation was probably most troubling for her.
I quickly rushed to Teacher Qin's room, grabbed her phone, and hurried out. Seeing that both homes were quiet, my heart was still pounding.
When I arrived at the phone repair shop at the community entrance with Teacher Qin's phone, Xiao Pang greeted me enthusiastically: "Young Master Lin is here! I've got some new movies and websites, you want them?"
"Hey, you fat guy, what are you talking about?" I had no mood for such things and snapped at him.
"Wow, what's gotten into you today? Did you get shot or something? Or is our Young Master Lin trying to reform and be a pure innocent guy? That doesn't seem right. You've taken at least eight hundred movies from me, if not a thousand. What are you pretending for?" Xiao Pang retorted. But with time being urgent, I had no time to banter with him and directly said:
"I have something else today, I need you to do me a favor."."
"What is it? Tell me," Xiao Pang was only a few years older than me. Though he didn't go to school anymore, he made a good living in our area with his skills in repairing electronics and some "black technology." Being close to my home, we often interacted and had a pretty solid relationship, usually addressing each other as brothers.
I made up an excuse, saying I had forgotten the password to my backup phone and couldn't open it, asking if he could help me unlock it. Then I handed him the latest iPhone 16. Xiao Pang looked at the phone, then looked up at me, and said:
"Are you sure this is your backup phone?" Seeing Xiao Pang 's suspicious expression, I could only smile awkwardly, then put on an impatient face and said:
"Come on, why so many questions? Just tell me if you can unlock it or not."
"Of course I can. I should flash it, right?" Xiao Pang said casually, and I asked back:
"Flash it? But after flashing, won't everything inside be gone?"
"Yes," Xiao Pang replied.
"That won't work. The stuff inside is very important to me. I can't do a factory reset. See if there's any other way. I just need to know the phone's password," I asked anxiously.
"Then there's no way. Without the password, we can only flash it, or I can use some other methods to back up the data on a computer. But the phone still can't be unlocked. It would still need flashing."
This method wasn't impossible. As long as the data was backed up without flashing, and the phone was put back in its original place, I thought Teacher Qin wouldn't notice anything unusual. But this way, I wouldn't be able to keep track of things going forward.
"Flash, flash, all you know is flashing. Aren't you called the Black Tech Prince? Can't you handle this small matter?"
"Hey, did you eat something wrong today? You come to me for help but talk to me like that?" I saw Xiao Pang was getting a bit impatient, and realized I might have spoken too harshly just now. I quickly explained: "Oh, Brother Pang, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm just a bit anxious. The stuff in the phone is really important to me. See if there's any other way." I smiled apologetically: "You say this is your backup phone, who would believe that? Just tell me honestly what you're really trying to do."
"Nothing, really nothing. I just want to unlock this phone without flashing it," I explained nervously.
"That doesn't sound right. If this phone is yours, what are you afraid of? Tell me honestly, is this your girlfriend's phone?"
Seeing that I was about to be exposed, I could only go along with Xiao Pang's words. Given the current situation, I had no other choice but to make up a plausible excuse to fool him.
"To be honest with you, Brother Pang, this is Xinran's phone. You know Xinran is a famous beauty at school, and many people harass her. Plus, with less than a year until the college entrance exam, I want to keep track of her situation, see who's bothering her."
"I knew it. So according to what you're saying, you just want to know her WeChat, QQ, calls, and text messages, right?" I knew Xiao Pang had a way. He hit on exactly what I wanted.
"Mm-hmm," I was so excited I couldn't speak, just nodded frantically.
"Look at your sleazy face," Xiao Pang said disdainfully.
"Brother Pang, stop dragging this out. What method do you have? Tell me quickly," I asked impatiently.
After Xiao Pang 's explanation, I learned that he had eavesdropping devices that could be installed in Teacher Qin's phone. Then, by installing an app on my phone, I could monitor Teacher Qin's incoming calls at any time. I could also view text messages and WeChat messages from her phone. I couldn't help but feel ecstatic inside. This was like having a clone of Teacher Qin's phone on my own device, which was perfect. Xiao Pang then added:
"But I advise you to just look and not do anything else. Because if you operate jt, she can see it on her phone, just like remote control on a computer."
"Okay, okay, I understand. Hurry up and install it," I urged.
"One thousand eight hundred. Pay up," Xiao Pang asked for money before even starting.
"What? One thousand eight hundred? Why don't you just rob me? I'm just a student, where would I get that much money?" I exclaimed. I wasn't like Chen Le, who had financial freedom with a card from his parents that he could swipe at will.
"Can't help it, this is already the friends price. The device itself costs over a thousand just to get in," Xiao Pang said. But I had no time to haggle with him now, so I could only say reluctantly:
"Fine, fine, one thousand eight hundred it is. But you need to be quick, or I'll deduct from your payment." Hearing that I would pay, Xiao Pang smiled and said, "Alright!"
Looking at the six hundred plus in my account, I shook my head helplessly. It's true that a lack of money can stop a hero. I had no choice but to borrow some from that guy Chen Le who had money. So I sent Chen Le a message asking to lend me fifteen hundred yuan. In less than two minutes, the money was transferred. He didn't even ask what it was for, not even replying to my message. I didn't say much either, just took the money and watched Xiao Pang tinkering with Teacher Qin's phone, constantly urging him to hurry. After about forty minutes, it was finally done. Then I watched Xiao Pang close the back cover of Teacher Qin's phone, take out the SIM card, wrap it in a layer of golden metal foil, and put it back. Seeing this, I hurriedly asked: "What are you doing?"
"This is a SIM card call sensing device that transmits information to the eavesdropping device," Xiao Pang explained.
"This way, won't someone discover it if they remove the SIM card?" I asked, puzzled.
"Would you remove your SIM card for no reason? Besides, this is very thin, the same size as the SIM chip, and looks the same, it's stuck on top. Even if someone takes out the SIM card, they won't notice unless they look carefully," After hearing Xiao Pang 's explanation, I thought he was right. It seemed that except when changing phones, one wouldn't remove the SIM card, and Teacher Qin's phone was newly bought, so she wouldn't change it anytime soon.