Teacher Xu looked at Li Xiu with a smile that contained a hint of understanding.

“Were you scared?” he asked.

“Teacher Xu…..”

Li Xiu didn’t know how it happened, but after exchanging a couple of words with Teacher Xu, his mind suddenly cleared up and became orderly. It was only now that Li Xiu realized that he had been somewhat confused before.

Also, if he hadn’t been so dizzy, it would have been impossible for him to follow Fang Qian’an and make a fool of himself. He’d clearly felt that something was wrong in the villa, but when he heard strange footsteps, he had still chased after them as if he’d lost his mind.

Teacher Xu spoke softly, and as he spoke, he reached out to touch Li Xiu’s forehead and heart.

“Those things want just such an effect. Otherwise, why would we call such terror being ‘frightened out of one’s wits’? The more frightened you are, the easier it is to harm you. Therefore, ah, students should study hard. Only when the mind is calm can the soul be stable. If the soul is stable, such things will not stick to it. As young people, it is best to believe in science and study hard. Books have their own vital energy. I see you are also a child who can study, so don’t be afraid, it will be alright.”

Li Xiu abruptly shivered and felt that his back and shoulders were much lighter — it was as if some invisible, heavy burden had been lifted from him. 

Li Xiu looked at Teacher Xu in bewilderment. After staring blankly, he could only say: “Thank you, Teacher Xu.”

Teacher Xu smiled and said nothing.

The man was still attentively observing Li Xiu’s eyes. Seeing that the other’s eyes had become lively again, he turned his head slightly to face Fang Qian’an.

He waved to Fang Qian’an: “Come.”

“What for?” Fang Qian’an asked warily.

Seeing that Fang Qian’an was unwilling to cooperate, a young man behind Teacher Xu couldn’t help but speak up.

“Hey, kid, don’t you know the difference between good and bad, ah—”

But Teacher Xu opened his mouth before he could finish speaking, and explained attentively to Fang Qian’an:

“It’s nothing. I’m just checking on your situation. Think of me as a Chinese medicine doctor taking your pulse.

“But—”

When he saw that Fang Qian’an was still unwilling to step forward, Li Xiu couldn’t endure, and stretched out a finger to covertly poke Fang Qian’an in the back.

Don’t cause trouble.

He also threw eye knives at Fang Qian’an.

The tall boy staggered when he was poked by Li Xiu like this. Then, with a glance at Li Xiu, he reluctantly stepped forward, allowing Teacher Xu to gently press his head.

Seeing the wretched look on Fang Qian’an’s face gradually disappear at this touch, the imperceptible solemnity in Teacher Xu’s eyes faded as well.

“Good.” Teacher Xu clapped his hands with a laugh.

“Don’t focus on these strange things from now on. Study hard and get into a good university. That’s better than anything else.”

Clearly, this man had been acting like a spiritual master a few minutes ago, but when he spoke now, he was almost like a mundane relative from someone’s family, spewing uninformed platitudes when he opened his mouth.

“Yes, Teacher Xu is right!” the vice principal quickly echoed. “You two are about to take the university entrance exams. Study hard from now on and don’t engage with such dangerous…..feudal superstitions again. This time, I’ll pretend I didn’t see you two here. But the next time I catch a student skipping school to enter the villa, don’t blame me for giving them a demerit.”

It was very clear that the vice principal was terrified of what happened in the Xiao family villa, and didn’t even dare to pursue the matter further.

Li Xiu and Fang Qian’an were light-headed after just escaping disaster. Before the two of them could ask further questions, they were hastily ushered away from the Xiao Family Haunted House by this group of people.

In fact, Li Xiu would rather not know at all — just as Teacher Xu said, what he should really do was study to get into university instead of being inexplicably scared to death by ghosts in a haunted house.

Before they left, Teacher Shu suddenly addressed them again.

“Wait, this is for you two…..just in case.”

Teacher Xu dug into the inner pocket of his suit for a while and pulled out two warm red strings, handing one each to Fang Qian’an and Li Xiu.

“When you get back, don’t take these off even when bathing. Wear them for at least, hm, forty-nine days,” Teacher Xu said with a smile.

When he finished speaking, his eyes lingered on Li Xiu’s face for a moment.

“Li Xiu, right…..” Teacher Xu’s voice sounded a little more serious than before.

Li Xiu couldn’t help but tense up when he looked at the man. But after a brief silence, all he heard was Teacher Xu’s solemn instruction.

“You must study seriously, ah.”

Li Xiu nodded, not knowing the reason why.

“I will,” he promised.

*

A short while after, the backs of the two teenagers gradually disappeared into the lush shade of the wild forest.

Teacher Xu’s apprentice stood beside him, staring in the direction Li Xiu had left. He couldn’t hold back and murmured: “That kid, don’t you still need to warn his parents…..”

“Shh…..”

Teacher Xu made a gesture to stop his apprentice from continuing.

Different from his mild mannerisms in front of Li Xiu, the man now look grave, with an extraordinarily imposing appearance.

“That kid has prodigious academic talent. Even with that kind of physique, he doesn’t have to walk down that road.” Teacher Xu said solemnly, word by word, “Concerning the child’s future, the more undecided it is, the less should be spoken of it, lest it determine a person’s path.”

The young apprentice shivered under Teacher Xu’s stern gaze and couldn’t help but shrink his neck, not daring to say anything more.

And the others fell silent as well upon hearing Teacher Xu’s words. But it could also be seen from their expressions that even though they were learning together with Teacher Xu, the thoughts of this group of people differed.

Only the vice principal stood among them, looking at this and that with a face full of confusion. He had no idea what these people were talking about.

He had been at Qiming for so long, and only vaguely knew that there were indeed some things in the Xiao family villa that couldn’t be explained by common sense or science — and that every few years, the school would invite some particular people to deal with it.

This year had actually not yet ended. However, in just a few days, various incidents had emerged, including the English teacher hanging himself and a student mysteriously dying inside the villa. The one above the vice principal seemed to be very frightened. During this period, he made a lot of phone calls begging for help, and the person named “Teacher Xu” had finally come today.

The vice principal could vaguely feel that Teacher Xu’s status seemed to be different from the ones who usually came to the school.

It was precisely because of this that the vice principal’s curiosity was aroused after hearing their confounding words.

Once extraneous people like Li Xiu and Fang Qian’an were gone, Teacher Xu didn’t pay much attention to the vice principal and told him to wait outside the door, taking a few close disciples to walk warily into the villa.

The vice principal wiped his hands as he waited outside. He was a little impatient with the wait, so he handed a cigarette to the “master” next to him.

The master remaining outside with him now had been here a few years previously. The vice principal had some respect for him, so he was able to strike up a conversation with him now. 

The vice principal asked softly while puffing away: “Master, let me just ask, ah…..is there something wrong with the student who was mentioned before, Li Xiu?”

The master with a cigarette in his mouth skewed his eyes upon hearing the vice principal’s inquiry.

“That’s not really the case,” the man murmured.

After a pause, he leaned close to the vice principal’s ear and lowered his voice, saying: “Just take it as a story and don’t tell anyone else…..the student just now named Li Xiu is more likely than not a ‘human coffin.’”

In a world that couldn’t be explained by science for the time being, there was a saying that some special things were very suitable for nourishing yin energy and raising ghosts.

They usually called such things “soul-nurturing coffins.”

“…..It’s said to be a ‘coffin,’ but it’s actually a title. In some places, naturally-formed underground yin caves are also called soul-raising coffins.”

The master took another puff from the cigarette, unconsciously glancing in the direction of the school as he spoke.

“There is also a type of soul-raising coffin that is the most powerful ghost-raising place, because the coffin is not dead, but alive.”

“Ah?”

A cluster of cigarette ash fell onto the back of the vice principal’s hand, burning him.

“Some people born with particular horoscopes have weak yang energy and strong yin energy, which is very suitable for nourishing ghosts. You saw that the student is handicapped. In fact, this is due to fate. Just like fortune tellers, they are prone to five disadvantages and three deficiencies. Before the liberation, many powerful masters would specifically adopt such people, because they are generally disabled and have no father or mother. They would just casually feed them and have them raise ghosts for themselves. This was especially useful. But now…..” The man took another puff and glanced fearfully at the villa. “That sort of illegal thing definitely can’t be done now. This kind of human coffin is already very rare. I didn’t expect to bump into one at your school.”

“Oh, but, what can a human coffin do?” The vice principal couldn’t help but question him further.

“Didn’t I say it? They raise ghosts, and raise evil spirits. We are no longer allowed to do these things. But it’s no wonder those two students ran into ghosts like this. They were probably attracted by the yin qi of the human coffin. But Teacher Xu also said that although the student is a human coffin, he is fated with prodigious acaemic talent…..as long as he studies hard, these things will naturally have nothing to do with him…..”

. . . . . . .

“Achoo—”

Inside a crowded shopping mall, Li Xiu sneezed.

Fang Qian’an approached with two cups of milk tea and happened to hear Li Xiu sneeze. He couldn’t help but ask: “What’s wrong? Are you cold?”

Li Xiu said nothing. He just reached out and took the milk tea. The scalding milk tea reddened Li Xiu’s hands through the cup, but he had no intention of taking them away. In fact, his body was no longer cold at all, but deep in his bone marrow, there seemed to be a lingering chill.

After getting out of the villa, Li Xiu took the initiative to skip class with Fang Qian’an for the first time.

The two of them left school at the same time and came to the most popular shopping mall in City A. They went straight to an internet-famous milk tea shop known for its long, overcrowded queues.

Li Xiu had always hated such boisterous crowds, but right now, it felt really good to be around so many people.

“I don’t know if that Teacher Xu was useful at all. Why do I see that your face still doesn’t look very good?”

Fang Qian’an leaned forward slightly to peer at Li Xiu with a frown.

The tables in the internet-famous milk tea shop were very small. Fang Qian’an only moved by a fraction, but Li Xiu could feel the other party’s knee pressing against him.

The strong, tall, 1.9 meter high school boy’s frame was stuck in one of a variety of white and pink girly seats, which even looked a little comical.

Li Xiu blinked, and couldn’t help but smile.

“I really am fine. I was born this way.”

His grandmother was getting older, and she had always been somewhat unable to care for Li Xiu.

The consequence of long-term malnutrition and using his brain too much was that Li Xiu’s face was always a shade paler than those of his peers.

“Fine.”

After confirming that Li Xiu was okay, Fang Qian’an seemed to let out a long sigh of relief.

“That’s great. I was…..scared to death before.”

Li Xiu stared blankly when he heard Fang Qian’an’s extremely worried voice.

His chest palpitated slightly. It was a very unfamiliar feeling.

Li Xiu quickly lowered his eyes and took a sip of milk tea to suppress the unexplainable discomfort.

“Hm?”

The youth’s eyes widened in shock at the sweet flavor that poured into his mouth.

What Fang Qian’an brought to Li Xiu was not the most famous milk tea in this store. Instead, it was a pudding hot chocolate with red beans, cream, and a lot of taro.

Li Xiu was stunned.

“Go on and drink it,” the other boy said softly.

Unable to help himself, Li Xiu gave Fang Qian’an a quick glance.

By the time he realized it, Li Xiu had already asked: “How do you know I like this?”

……Unlike ordinary young men, Li Xiu was very fond of sweets. Moreover, his favorite was the super sweet hot chocolate with lots of ingredients.

Fang Qian’an was given a start. He looked at Li Xiu’s red-tinted cheeks and lips stained by the hot chocolate’s heat and was lost for a moment.

“I-I just bought it randomly,” the boy replied gruffly. For some reason, his voice sounded a little flustered. “Who knew, uh, that you really like this kind of sweet stuff, ah?”

Li Xiu blinked. In fact, as soon as the question left his mouth, he also came to his senses. It was indeed impossible for Fang Qian’an to know what he liked to drink. Li Xiu didn’t have much contact with his classmates, and hot chocolate was too expensive. No matter how much Li Xiu craved it, he could only think about it inwardly and never tell anyone how much he liked it.

But in any case, the hot chocolate made Li Xiu’s entire body and mind feel warm.

The corners of the youths eyes unknowingly filled with a soft warmth.

It was probably because the seats in this bullshit internet-famous store were too crowded, Fang Qian’an thought in a fluster. Otherwise, why would he be able to smell the sweet chocolate fragrance escaping from Li Xiu’s lips the moment he opened his mouth?

“Thank you, Fang Qian’an,” said Li Xiu.

Fang Qian’an’s face instantly turned red.

……He suddenly wanted to drink hot chocolate.

---

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Chapter 32 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 34