I had just joined the freshman group chat when I received a friend request. [Lucas] I glanced at the real Lucas beside me, who was lounging lazily on the couch, picking at his feet while watching a beauty pageant show. Why would he suddenly add me as a friend? I accepted the request, and the person got straight to the point. [Hey freshman, want to date?] “Bro, I heard you want to date me?” Not only was my brother surprised, but my stepmom also rushed in from the kitchen where she was washing dishes and gave him a slap. She grabbed her son’s ear. “You little rascal, can’t you behave? Your sister is off-limits, do you want a beating?” Lucas and I aren’t related by blood. He’s my stepmom’s son. When I was fourteen, our families merged, but it wasn’t as dramatic as in TV shows. We got along well and lived in peace. Lucas and I were especially close, even more than real siblings. After my college entrance exam, following Lucas’s advice, I applied to the same university as him. The only difference was that he was a graduate student, while I was an incoming freshman. Lucas, who had just been inexplicably beaten by his mom, was quite indignant. But when he turned to me, his tone softened, with a hint of grievance. “Ava, you didn’t say this just to get my mom to hit me, did you…?” “Of course not.” I handed him my phone. The childish person on the other end was still entertaining himself. [Freshman, what admission batch are you in? I’m currently a graduate student, and I’ve already been recommended for a Ph.D. program.] [Freshman, I saw the photos in your moments, they’re all so pretty. Do you have any no-makeup photos? Those are more real.] [Freshman, do you want to see my photos? I guarantee you’ll be very satisfied.] The moment I handed the phone to my brother, another message popped up. [If you want to see, it’s $5 per photo ] I could feel my brother’s anger about to burn through the ceiling. That person shamelessly added another sentence. [I, Lucas, am the acknowledged campus heartthrob at our school ] My brother was so angry he wanted to smash my precious phone, but remembering he had worked part-time jobs to save up and buy it for me, he couldn’t bear to. He just tossed the phone back to me. “This bastard, don’t let me find out who it is, or I’ll use him as a lab rat. I’ll sterilize him first, then crack his skull open.”
I opened my phone and carefully examined that account, comparing it to my brother’s account. If I hadn’t already added my brother, even I might not have been able to tell the difference. Even the Snapchat account was strikingly similar, with only a few digits different. From the Snapchat space to the message board and signature, everything was identical. “I just joined the freshman group, and he immediately added me. Looks like this isn’t his first time.” My brother nodded at my words. “So how do we deal with this bastard?” “Hold off until school starts.” My brother exclaimed, “By then, how many girls will he have victimized in my name!” “If we expose him now, he’ll just stop targeting me. Can you catch him? He’ll just block me and move on to the next victim, won’t he?” My brother was a straightforward engineering guy. Ask him to unravel the mysteries of the universe, easy. But ask him to handle intricate matters, it’s like asking for his life. “So how do you plan to respond?” I typed a few words on the keyboard, then deleted them. “Bro, give me five bucks.” My brother almost kicked me. “Did your IQ drop to zero after the college entrance exam? You’re not really going to pay for my photos, are you?” I was thinking, compared to dating and scamming for emotions, this kind of scammer would definitely prefer to have a sucker willing to give him money. This would be the best way to keep him around. “I can’t give you much, don’t let that idiot enjoy too much.” Though my brother complained, he still sent me a $50 gift on Snapchat. After all, Snapchat payments weren’t mainstream, and he was afraid I’d give too much to that scammer. “I know what I’m doing.”
I sent the scammer ten bucks, and sure enough, he sent over two fleeting photos. Both were photos of my brother. [How about it, satisfied? I think I’m more than a match for you.] This scammer was really shameless. I played along. [Wow, I’ve seen you before!] My brother wasn’t a good student in his early years and barely made it into a community college. After my stepmom married into our family with him, he saw me studying all the time and was influenced by me. From community college to bachelor’s to master’s to PhD, he became a model student. Not only did the school love to brag about such talent, but even the school forum was full of his glorious deeds. The scammer was smug. [Your brother is very outstanding.] He asked another question, [What batch are you in, freshman? I don’t like community college students.] Our school has programs from community college to doctoral level. But I hadn’t expected that not only would he impersonate my brother, he would also discriminate based on education level. Didn’t he know my brother himself was a community college student? “I can’t hold back anymore.” My brother was also fuming beside me, “Don’t even mention you, I already want to take a knife to him.” My stepmom, who had been listening on the side, also pieced together the situation. “Did you offend someone? Otherwise, why would they only impersonate you and not others?” My brother said bluntly, “Don’t pull that victim-blaming stuff. I’m just eating, sleeping, and doing research. When would I have time to offend anyone?” I nodded vigorously in agreement. “Then how do you explain this?” my stepmom asked. “I’m being impersonated and you want me to provide evidence? What kind of injustice is this? I’m more wronged than Dou E,” my brother shouted angrily at the sky. He suddenly lowered his head, looking a bit dejected. “No wonder I haven’t had a girlfriend in all these years of college. Has this impersonator taken all my potential girlfriends?!” My stepmom and I burst out laughing. I comforted my brother. “Once school starts, everything will be clear.”
At the welcome party, my brother was giving a speech as a representative of the graduate students. I specifically sent a message to the scammer. [Lucas, I see you, you’re so handsome!] That scammer, either stupid or dumb, replied without hesitation while my brother was still speaking on stage. [Of course] I hadn’t had time to laugh when I felt a chill. I turned around to see the instructor behind me, looking at me coldly. The welcome party was held during our Freshman Orientation Week, and we weren’t allowed to bring phones, even at night. However, my brother insisted I take photos for him to show off, so I secretly brought it. There were quite a few people who brought phones to the event. As long as it wasn’t too blatant, everyone turned a blind eye, including the instructors. But I don’t know why the instructor singled me out among all the people. “How many times have I said, no phones allowed. Give it to me, you can get it back after the party is over.” I handed my phone to the instructor, left with no choice but to stare blankly at my brother on stage. School had just started, how had I already made enemies? Olivia sat down in the empty seat beside me. “Ava, did I miss anything interesting?” Olivia was my roommate, a cute girl, though her style was a bit outdoorsy. I didn’t mind that. My dad had stressed a million times that I should get along well with my roommates, otherwise even he, as the dean, couldn’t help me. “You missed quite a show.” Olivia paused slightly, “What show?” “The show of the instructor confiscating my phone,” I was bitter, poor little me. Olivia smiled, with a hint of sweetness. “Don’t worry Ava, Instructor Ethan is very nice. He’ll give it back to you later. Besides, we’re college students now, not middle or high school students. They shouldn’t be confiscating phones anymore.” I nodded. My brother came off stage and immediately pulled out his phone, probably wanting to ask me for his handsome photos so he could post them on social media and show off.
When the instructor returned my phone to me, it was already late at night. As a small punishment, he only gave it back during room inspection. He also said something out of the blue. “You’re so young, don’t get involved in those messy things.” I nodded and took the phone, my two big ears letting his words go in one and out the other. I just took it as a lecture and didn’t take it to heart. Another roommate, however, listened very carefully. Emma echoed the instructor, saying, “The instructor is right. Some people are poor but have no dignity, getting involved in all sorts of messy things, making people think they’re so hardworking.” The instructor gave her a stern look. “Don’t cause trouble, get along well with your roommates. You still have four years together.” I turned on my phone, which was already out of battery. As soon as I plugged it in, I immediately messaged my brother. Sure enough, my narcissistic brother had already sent hundreds of messages, asking me to quickly send him the photos. [What photos? The instructor took my phone away before I could take any] [What’s your instructor’s name?] I suddenly understood what my brother wanted to do. The instructors at our school, except for a few higher-ups, were all student officers from the school. They were veterans who had returned to school, with military training experience, but essentially still students. Perhaps my brother knew some of them. [What, trying to pull strings for your little sister?] Seeing me tease him, my brother didn’t hold back either. [My sister is strong and brave, resourceful and clever. I’m sure she looks down on her brother’s back door.] [No, I’m begging you!!!] We always joked around like this when talking. As I was sending messages, I laughed out loud. Emma, however, snorted coldly. “Don’t bring that smile you use to attract customers into the dorm. It’s a bad influence.”
I turned my head to look. Emma was folding clothes and organizing her wardrobe, seemingly not chatting with anyone else. “Are you talking about me?” I asked her. Emma paused slightly, then continued her actions. “Whoever reacts strongly is who I’m talking about.” I even started to wonder if I had offended this sister somehow, but I had only been in school for three days, with Freshman Orientation Week starting on the first day. How could there be such deep grudges already? Anyone would think I had a feud with her in a past life. Olivia came into the room carrying a water bottle, seemingly sensing that the atmosphere in the dorm wasn’t right. “You two… what’s wrong?” Emma laughed coldly without saying anything. Olivia tried to mediate, “Natalie couldn’t come to school because of COVID prevention measures, right? But it seems her packages will arrive tomorrow. She wants us to help her pick them up.” Natalie, bed three, couldn’t return to school because of a COVID outbreak in her hometown before the semester started. I nodded in agreement, but before I could say “okay,” Emma circled back to the previous topic. “The two of us can go. We shouldn’t let certain people go. Who knows, they might be infected without even knowing it.” I put my phone on the desk, not caring about my brother who was still clamoring. “Emma, if you have something to say, just say it directly. Don’t beat around the bush here.” Just as Emma’s anger was about to fully ignite, Olivia stopped her again. “Emma, it’s too late. You two shouldn’t argue.” Being stopped, Emma was like a dog held back by its owner, becoming even more reckless and arrogant. “Me, arguing? If the instructor hadn’t said anything today, I would have still thought of her as a goddess. Looking good but doing these things, aren’t you ashamed?” Instructor, I heard this word and wondered if the instructor confiscating my phone tonight was for some other reason. Olivia continued to persuade her, “Alright, Emma. We have to gather early tomorrow. Let’s go to sleep.” I held back my anger and got into bed. In the Freshman Orientation Week group chat, I found the instructor Ethan who had confiscated my phone today. I sent a friend request. The instructor hadn’t accepted me yet when that impersonator appeared again. [Freshman, are you guys in Freshman Orientation Week? Don’t get too tanned, I, Lucas, don’t like dark skin] I held my forehead and sighed. This guy, impersonating someone else, always had the other person’s name on his lips. Which normal person would constantly say their own name?! I ignored him. I continued to joke with my brother. [Big bro, do you have anything going on tomorrow?] My brother had always been hardworking. He was probably still in the study room at this hour, and likely wouldn’t have any free time tomorrow either. But these days of the enemy being in the dark and me in the light were really too uncomfortable. [Nothing, what’s up] My brother sent another picture, a screenshot of a chat record. At the top of the photo was the name of the chat partner, “Ethan.” In the chat record, my brother used all the flowery language he could muster in his life to describe me as a delicate flower who was bullied and in poor health. Ethan also repeatedly promised that he would definitely protect me well, and that he also deeply hated campus bullying. It seems Instructor Ethan quickly succumbed to my brother’s tyranny. [Bro, I didn’t expect your skills were still sharp]
After lining up, I sensed something was off. Our class stood under the national flag for a long time. Other classes had already gone to practice marching, but we were still standing at attention. Instructor Ethan stood in front of us with his arms folded, looking at us coldly for a long time. “Other classes, nothing happens. But in our class, everything happens!” We were speechless, afraid of angering the instructor again. “How many times have I said that phones are not allowed during Freshman Orientation Week? Yet someone still brought one last night. I want you to know that you are a collective! When one person makes a mistake, the whole class is punished!” “Today our class won’t practice. We’ll just stand at attention to let you know the taste of disobeying military orders!” The back door my brother found for me, is this how it works? I really shouldn’t have trusted him. Perhaps we had been standing for too long, arousing the curiosity of other classes. A tall, slender man walked over. His military uniform fit him well and looked neat. His tanned skin made him look particularly healthy and handsome. Unlike my brother’s handsomeness, he had more of a wild and resolute air about him, as if he could wrestle with wild wolves for four or five rounds at any moment. The shoulder badges of other instructors were ordinary ones issued by the school’s “Military Enthusiasts Association.” Most of these instructors were students trained by veterans, and some had no military experience at all. But the shoulder badge of the man who walked over read: Special Forces Unit. The morning sun was not kind either. Under the sunlight, I couldn’t see very clearly, but I knew that these shoulder badges couldn’t be faked. Once used, they were real. Instructor Ethan glanced at the man and politely returned a smile. Instructor Ethan glared at us again. “What are you standing there for? Say hello to the Chief Instructor!” “Hello, Chief Instructor!” On the day of the Freshman Orientation Week opening ceremony, I was standing at the back and couldn’t see clearly who was who. I had thought the Chief Instructor would be a middle-aged person, but I didn’t expect him to be so young. The Chief Instructor laughed, showing his big white teeth, which were even more noticeable against his tanned skin. “What’s going on here, Instructor Ethan? Everyone’s playing statues here, why didn’t you invite me to join?” I heard the warning tone in his voice. The Chief Instructor was implying that Instructor Ethan wasn’t training us and was trying to slack off. Instructor Ethan heard it too and hurriedly explained. “Chief Instructor, someone in our class did something wrong last night. I’m giving them a small punishment today.” The Chief Instructor’s smile faded. “Who made the mistake? Step forward.” “Reporting, it was me.” I stepped sideways out of the formation, looking at the Chief Instructor. “What mistake did you make!” “Bringing a phone during Freshman Orientation Week!” “Ten squats!” Ten squats weren’t difficult, but we had been standing at attention for too long. Our legs had almost lost feeling. The sudden squats were something I couldn’t adapt to at all. I fainted on the seventh squat.
When I woke up, I was in the infirmary. Beside me was that tanned man, the man who had caused me to end up in the infirmary. “Student, you’re awake.” He seemed to have been watching me, observing when I would wake up. I nodded while lying on the bed. “Chief Instructor, do I need to go back for training?” He shook his head, “No need.” Great, I want to sleep, sleep to death, sleep until the end of time. Seeing me fall asleep in a second, he laughed. “You’re quite carefree. Aren’t you going to ask why I’m not letting you go?” I mumbled with my eyes closed. “Isn’t it because you caused this?” He shook my shoulder, and I opened my eyes. In front of me was a phone, with the screen showing my bed. On the bed, there was clearly a pair of men’s underwear thrown there! I widened my eyes. “My bed!?” He nodded. I finally understood, “So you pulled me out of class for this?” He nodded again. “Why are you helping me?” That pair of men’s underwear looked a bit wrinkled, not new. If Emma went back to the dorm and saw it, with her big mouth, probably the whole school would say I was a pervert. His eyes were really beautiful. I just looked for a moment and didn’t want to look away. He didn’t shy away either, looking back at me. I suddenly remembered, “You’re not the back door my brother found for me, are you?” He gave me a sincere and natural smile. “Ethan, that’s my name.”
“Could it be Emma?” After hearing all the bizarre things I told him, Ethan suspected that the person who put the men’s underwear there was my roommate Emma. The dorm keys, apart from the area aunt, were only held by the four roommates. Olivia got along well with me, and Natalie hadn’t returned to school yet, so it seemed only Emma was left. Ethan then refuted his own guess, “But if it was Emma, wouldn’t that be too much like a thief crying ‘stop thief’?” I agreed. Although Emma was always at odds with me, it was just verbal attacks. I hadn’t seen her engage in any scheming. Ethan gently patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry, your brother and I have been good friends for over ten years. I’ll help you. This kind of person is too dangerous on campus.” “Chief Instructor, I want to go back to the formation.” Ethan frowned slightly, “Are you sure?” “I’m sure.” On the field, everyone had been training for a long time and was resting in place. Seeing me return so leisurely, they seemed quite disgruntled. Emma was the first to roll her eyes at me. Olivia got up to come and greet me, but was pulled back by Emma. Ever since that pair of men’s underwear was thrown on my bed, I no longer trusted them, even Olivia who still seemed to get along with me. My spot was still empty, so I sat down. “After hooking up with this one, now hooking up with that one. Who can outlive you?” Emma was being sarcastic again. “You’d better explain clearly. Who did I hook up with?” Olivia tugged at Emma’s sleeve, “Emma, everyone’s here.” “So what if everyone’s here? It’s not like others can’t see. Fainting in front of the Chief Instructor, letting the Chief Instructor carry you out, and in a princess carry no less. Others would beg for such luck.” I gave her a cold look. “Emma, if you could carry me, you could go to the infirmary with me and enjoy an hour of air conditioning too.” Emma was certainly not happy with that. She was afraid of getting sunburned and had applied layer after layer of sunscreen. While I had comfortably enjoyed an hour of air conditioning in the infirmary.
I went to the cafeteria to get food, while they went to help Natalie pick up her packages. I originally wanted to go too, but Emma repeatedly rejected me, which actually gave me a chance to rest and eat directly. I asked for an extra chicken leg and hid in a corner to eat frantically. “Quick, look at the school’s Reddit!” The girls at the table next to me suddenly called out. The girl in pink opened her phone and looked for a while, then said in an indescribable tone, both mocking and disgusted. “Who’s so amazing that they even stole Kevin’s underwear? I’m dying of laughter hahaha” That pair of men’s underwear had been thrown away when Ethan discovered it. Even if they returned early, they wouldn’t be able to see it. We weren’t allowed to bring phones during Freshman Orientation Week. I had learned my lesson and couldn’t check the gossip immediately. It was so difficult. But with this table of gossip sisters, I turned into a mouse in a melon field. Blue girl: “Who’s Kevin? Why are the comments not pitying him but laughing at him instead?” Pink girl: “Kevin, you don’t even know him? Let me give you a hint. What’s the surname of that strictest graduate student supervisor in our graduate school?” Professor Cheng, my brother’s graduate supervisor. I had heard my brother mention that Professor Cheng had a child who was particularly troublesome and always came to the lab to bother the professor. The professor had no choice but to throw the kid to several graduate students to teach. The kid was tortured by various science and engineering experts every day, but instead of retreating, he became more and more courageous. He skipped grades one after another and was directly admitted to our school. Kevin was famous mainly because he was already a sophomore, but only sixteen years old. Stealing an upperclassman’s underwear, and still being underage. The consequences would certainly be serious. He might even be labeled as a “pervert.” My brother sent me a message on WhatsApp. [Ding ding, my beautiful, kind, and generous sister, do you have any new gossip today?] I knew my brother was talking about that impersonator. I opened the chat with the impersonator. No wonder there was no movement today. It turned out I hadn’t replied to his message last night. He was quite temperamental. I looked at that ridiculous message on the screen. [I, Lucas, don’t like dark skin.] I replied to him, [Lucas, if you want to see if I’m dark or not, you can come to the training field and take a look!] This impersonator wouldn’t dare to meet in person. If he dared to meet, I would confront him in real life. Sure enough, he replied instantly. [You’re too eager. I don’t like people who are too eager. Minus 10 points] Deducting points? This trick I’ve only seen in elementary school trendy chat videos. He sent another message. [Favorability: -10 points] Great, I’m completely defeated. I think the person on the other end is either an idiot or a complete fool. How could such a person perfectly impersonate my brother?
When I returned to the dorm, they had already brought back all the packages. Natalie wasn’t here, but there was a large pile of packages scattered around. The outer packaging looked quite luxurious, seemingly not cheap. Olivia marveled at these things. “Natalie’s family must be rich to buy so many things.” I felt Emma glance at me, “Better keep an eye on them, in case certain people steal them.” I couldn’t be bothered to explain to her. My dad is the dean of the school, my stepmom is in finance, my brother is in scientific research, and even all our distant relatives are landlords. I’m the only useless one in the whole family. [Ava, your package has arrived. Go pick it up quickly] My brother sent me a message. [What package? Why isn’t it in my name?] Our school has self-service package pickup. If it was my own package, the message should have been sent to my phone. [My mom was worried you’d be too busy with Freshman Orientation Week, so she insisted I pick it up for you. But I’m about to leave for field research with my supervisor and don’t have time to help you pick it up] [Okay] I put on my Bluetooth earphones and went out. But I could still faintly hear Emma’s unforgiving voice from inside the room. “I told you she was jealous. Now who knows which admirer she’s going to seduce to buy things for her.” My stepmom, afraid that I would be affected by that impersonator pretending to be my brother, had bought many luxury goods for me. In my stepmom’s view, if a woman has money, it can deter many people. But she overlooked one point: excessive flaunting of wealth can also invite dissatisfaction. I hugged seven or eight eye-catching luxury brand packages from LV, Gucci, Chanel… feeling particularly uncomfortable. So I asked the courier at the pickup station for a large black plastic bag, unpacked all the packaging, and stuffed everything usable into the plastic bag to carry back. When I entered the room, Emma was taking a shower, and only Olivia was eating at the table. “Ava, what are you carrying in that big bag?” I casually put it under the table, “Local specialties sent from home.” As soon as I finished speaking, the phone in my pocket rang. “Miss Li, this is the courier from just now. It seems you left one package behind. Could you come back again?” “Okay.” I hung up the phone and went out again. The sky inexplicably started drizzling, and I hadn’t brought an umbrella. I could only pull up the hood of my sweatshirt. There was a crowd of people at the entrance of the pickup station. I immediately spotted one particularly tall man wearing an army combat uniform. The courier looked at the few kids in front of him with a serious face. “Your Chief Instructor is here too. If you don’t admit your mistake, I’m really going to call the police.” I pushed through the crowd. The courier looked at me, “Miss Li, it’s like this. Your package was lost. I had just put it on the table waiting for you to come pick it up, but…” “Your package?” Ethan turned his head to look at me. Maybe it was mine, but all the package information was with my brother, so I wasn’t sure if it was mine. But since the courier had called and said it was mine, it should be correct. I nodded. Ethan handed me the tablet in his hand. This was the surveillance footage from the pickup station. Because it was raining, several cameras were particularly blurry and basically nothing could be seen. Only one was barely usable. Those with similar figures to the ones in the video were all in front of me. Ethan stood tall and straight. Just standing in front of others, he had an invisible aura of authority. He said in a cold voice, “If you took it by mistake, just return it to the other person. We won’t pursue this matter.” From the line of people, a slightly chubby girl stretched out her hand. In her palm hung a delicate diamond necklace that looked quite expensive. Ethan took the necklace from her hand, about to return it to me, when he was grabbed by the arm by that girl. “Why must it be hers? Why don’t you think it’s mine!” Everyone looked at her in surprise. The courier was particularly exasperated, saying in a somewhat mocking tone, “Can’t you read the name on the package yourself? Do you recognize the name?” The girl’s face turned red, and even the frame of her glasses was a bit crooked. “Lucas, he’s my boyfriend!” she shouted loudly. Ethan and I looked over almost at the same time. My brother, that straight-laced science guy, had the looks but not the luck in love. And even if he really was in a relationship, how could we, his closest people, not know about it? “Student, your boyfriend’s name is Lucas?” I asked. Lucas, this name was as uncommon as it could be. I hadn’t heard of a second Lucas in our school. I suddenly thought of that impersonator in my phone. Could it be that the impersonator had been scamming people in the school all along? That would be too brazen! I originally thought the impersonator would only scam for emotions or money, not possible to meet in person.
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