The whole campus was doing May Day dorm cleaning. I had something come up at home, so the only job I'd handled was hanging all four of our comforters out to air. I'd barely walked through my front door when I saw it—a trending post blowing up on the campus forum.
The title read: 「Little Princess's Trash Comforter」.
The photo showed a pink comforter lying in a garbage heap, covered in footprints and vomit.
The poster claimed that some "princess" had moved her comforter to a dark corner and taken her spot for this pink one instead.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got, so she decided to teach the bitch a lesson.
The move struck a nerve. Comments flooded in as students vented about every trashy classmate they'd ever dealt with.
The comforter looked familiar. I was about to zoom in when
my roommate, the one in charge of collecting the bedding, texted me：
“Penny, where did you hang yours?”
……
Seeing Ruby Whitney's message, my fingers froze on the screen.
A sick feeling crawled up my throat.
No way. My luck couldn't be that bad.
I shoved down the panic and video-called her.
“It was right next to yours. Can you check again?”
Ruby, arms loaded with comforters, awkwardly flipped the camera around, panning across the empty drying area.
“It's gonna rain tonight and everyone else already grabbed theirs. I'm telling you, your Mega Deluxe Fancy Comforter is nowhere out here.”
“Mega Deluxe Fancy Comforter” was our dorm's nickname for my silk comforter.
I'd mentioned once, without thinking, that it was the only gift my mom had ever given me. It cost over ten thousand yuan.
All three of my roommates had gasped, then piled into my bed, saying they wanted to rub up against the smell of money.
But I didn't love how light it felt, so once the worst of winter passed, I'd packed it away.
For the May Day deep-clean, I'd put it inside one of the standard-issue pink duvet covers the school sold before hanging it out.
How could it just be gone?
Could the comforter in that post actually be mine?
But I hadn't touched anyone else's bedding.
The spot I'd used was an empty one I found myself.
I frowned, racking my brain for anyone I might have offended.
Then I heard Ruby mutter：
“Someone probably just grabbed the wrong one. Let me ask around for you.”
I thanked her, half believing it.
After hanging up, I tapped back into the post.
The poster had updated.
A new photo showed a pink comforter draped over a drying rack.
Must have been taken before she threw it in the garbage.
My heart hammered as I zoomed in, then zoomed in again.
The oil stains near the zipper—and everything inside my head detonated at once.
That was my silk comforter.
Those stains were from the time I splashed hot-sauce noodle broth on it by accident.
I'd scrubbed it forever and still couldn't get the marks all the way out. Faint traces were still there.
Fury burning through me, I clicked into the poster's profile.
Delilah Perry. Class of 2024. School of Physical Education. The rage shot straight to the top of my skull.
I was absolutely certain now.
I didn't know her, but she'd done this on purpose.
My fingers flew across the keyboard.
【Hi, I'm Penelope Simmons, Financial Management Class 2, class of '24. That comforter should be mine. I never moved your bedding—if you don't believe me, wait till I'm back on campus and we'll pull the security footage. But whatever the misunderstanding, you need to make this right. That silk comforter is worth ten thousand yuan and I want full compensation.】
The reply went live and racked up hundreds of likes and comments within minutes.
Among the skeptics and the rubberneckers, someone spotted the real issue.
The poster's School of Physical Education was on New Campus. Financial Management was on Old Campus.
The two campuses were nowhere near each other. Even on an e-bike it took half an hour.
So how had the poster's comforter ended up drying on the financial management side?
