After finishing up this time, he didn't immediately take the garbage truck out of the elevator. Instead, he returned to the duty room and lit up the computer screen. The surveillance cameras, now restored to their proper positions, recorded clearly the events that had unfolded in the past few minutes and what was presently occurring.
Nearly a dozen girls took advantage of his absence, grinning mischievously as they carried a large pile of garbage bags and began placing them in various hallways. For every time he collected their mess, they quietly followed suit, reveling in their antics. The ringleader among them was none other than Miss Zhu Xueqi.
"Ah, it's you, isn't it? Great! Since you're so fond of playing with garbage, today I'll let you play to your heart's content." Lin Yu noted down Zhu Xueqi's room number, 502, and sat down, lighting a cigarette, "appreciating" their elegant display of handling trash. When he judged they had nearly finished their setup, without further ado, he briskly ascended the stairs, collected all the trash bags, pushed two towering piles of garbage-filled carts out of the elevator, and headed towards Zhu Xueqi's room.
Upon reaching Zhu Xueqi's door, without a second thought, he produced a card, swiped it, and then kicked her door open with a single kick.
At that moment, Zhu Xueqi was directing several girls to spread out a black plastic bag on the floor and stuff various odds and ends into it.
The door swung open, startling the group, who had no idea what was happening. Before they could comprehend, Lin Yu had already used his phone to capture the entire scene of them creating a mess. Without another word, with a swift motion, a vast heap of garbage cascaded into Zhu Xueqi's room, provoking a chorus of shrieks from the girls.
"This is the first load, as good things come in pairs. Here comes another load." Lin Yu dragged another cart over and, with the same method, poured out a deluge of trash from the second cart.
With two cartloads of trash emptied, the entire room was nearly filled, and the girls, who preferred cleanliness, were almost buried under the rubbish. Their screams echoed as they leaped onto their beds, covering their noses.
"Are you out of your mind? What are you trying to do? Do you believe I won't report you to the principal?" Zhu Xueqi shrieked, covering her nose. The stench of the garbage was intolerable.
"Go ahead, no problem. I have surveillance footage and photos taken with my phone of you deliberately causing trouble, disrupting the normal routine, and intentionally littering to disturb the public environment. You deliberately skipped classes, caused chaos here, threw garbage to disrupt residential affairs, disrupted normal dormitory order. Do you think the school will stand with you or with me?" Lin Yu made a "please" gesture, smiling serenely.
"You..." Zhu Xueqi was left speechless, stunned by how this guy was skillful with a phone.
"Sis Qi, don't believe him. At most, he's just using the phone to scare us. There's nothing remarkable about it. Besides, we can just say we were playing with black plastic bags. What does it have to do with him? As for the surveillance cameras, we already adjusted them this morning; they aren't functional. He has no advantageous evidence to prove that we were fooling him. He's just trying to intimidate us." A girl beside Zhu Xueqi whispered softly.
Zhu Xueqi nodded, rolled her shiny eyes, and huffed, "Mr. Lin, we were just playing with plastic bags. What's that got to do with you? As for the surveillance footage you mentioned, present it first." She extended a fair, dainty hand in a confrontational manner in front of Lin Yu.
"Come and see for yourself." Lin Yu couldn't be bothered to argue with them, pointing toward the corridor outside.
Several girls cautiously left the room, pinching their noses, and looked outside the hallway. Instantly, they were dumbfounded to see that the surveillance cameras had been reset at some point.
"If you still doubt it, you can check the other floors too." Lin Yu shrugged, smiling faintly.
Some enthusiastic girls rushed up, but after a while, they returned crestfallen, "Sis Qi, indeed, they've all been reset..."
"The garbage trucks are left for you. Clean it up yourselves. If you don't, I'll record this evidence and take it to the academic office. I know you have money; fines are a trivial matter. However, if because of this, your parents limit your financial resources, and you can't even afford a bottle of perfume, that wouldn't be good, would it? Remember, these tricks should be played less in the future. Too childish. This is the first time, and it'll be the last." Lin Yu snorted and left the two large garbage trucks there, heading downstairs alone.
He was well aware of these affluent students' Achilles' heel. In fact, they weren't afraid of being reprimanded or fined by the school or their parents. However, they were terrified of their parents cutting off their funds, which would be troublesome for them.
The dependence of rich kids on money was beyond the imagination of ordinary people, especially the second-generation rich who, when deprived of money, felt as fish out of water—because spending money had been a natural habit for them from childhood. If they couldn't spend, it was like losing half of their lives.
Though not universally true, it represented the vast majority.
In these kids' families, who among them wasn't a multi-millionaire or billionaire? Not to mention anything else, which piece of underwear they wore didn't cost thousands of dollars? Naturally, it extended to other things as well. Moreover, this was a place where the children of the rich conglomerated, and the desire for comparison made them even more financially dependent.
Sure enough, after Lin Yu's words, besides Zhu Xueqi, the other girls' faces changed, hesitant and cautious. They started obediently picking up the garbage bags and throwing them into the truck. Meanwhile, Lin Yu had already sat downstairs in the duty room, legs crossed, surfing the internet.
"Well, well, Lin Yu, I'll give it to you. But don't regret it. Daring to be at odds with me, I'll make sure you regret it." Zhu Xueqi fumed, gritting her teeth and stomping her foot in frustration.
As for the trash bags, although she didn't pick them up herself, she didn't stop the other girls from doing so. While she might not care if her family limited her financial resources, those other girls cared a lot, and she had no choice in that matter.
Watching those girls clumsily transport bag after bag of garbage, Lin Yu found it somewhat amusing. If he had known, why bother at the outset? The first round of confrontation had ended, concluding with his complete victory.
However, he knew very well, given Zhu Xueqi's character, there might be a second, third, or even fourth round. Regardless, she wouldn't rest until she couldn't get at him anymore.
"Come on, I'm waiting for you." Lin Yu cracked open some sunflower
seeds, smiling at the retreating Zhu Xueqi. It brought him a sense of satisfaction. Yet, thinking about it, he found it somewhat laughable; he was an adult, yet here he was at odds with an eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl—a bit absurd.
"It was her who provoked me first. I'm just defending myself," he excused himself internally.