“Fang Qian’an, don’t talk nonsense…..who wants you to stay for me…..wu…..”

Li Xiu hugged Fang Qian’an. For the first time in his life, he was being protected by someone like this.

Unknowingly, his tears wetted the neck of the former school bully.

When he noticed that Li Xiu was crying again, Fang Qian’an finally stopped huffing and puffing.

“Hu…..”

The sound of Fang Qian’an’s breathing in the corridor echoed along with the sound of Li Xiu trying to hold back his sobs. But other than that, everything looked the same as before.

The former school bully’s impotent rage hadn’t draw attention from any demons or monsters.

The darkness was still so heavy.

The corridor was still so long.

Fang Qian’an and Li Xiu still couldn’t find the exit on this path.

There was only a little bit of candle left, and it was about to be extinguished. But now that the matter was over, neither Fang Qian’an nor Li Xiu said anything more. Li Xiu didn’t even struggle to get down from Fang Qian’an. On the contrary, he used nearly all his strength to embrace the trembling boy beneath him.

In silence, both of them stared intently at the dim light of the candle.

Now that it had come to this point, all they could do was wait quietly, wait for the last moment……

[“A-Xiu, ah.”]

At this moment, an incredibly old voice sounded from the darkness.

Startled, Li Xiu raised his head and looked forward in astonishment.

“Grandmother?”

A hazy, familiar figure appeared at the end of the corridor.

The old woman stood shakily in the distance, holding onto the wall with a candle only as long as a thumb in her hand.

But the light of the candle was able to illuminate half the corridor.

His grandmother reached out and called to Li Xiu.

[“Why are you playing outside so late, child, seriously……”]

[“A-Xiu, follow Grandmother.”]

The old woman’s form appeared extremely thin and stooped. Under the candlelight, that craggy face looked bloodless and vaguely gloomy.

Fang Qian’an shook in fear when the old woman appeared. He tightened his grip on Li Xiu warily and took a reflexive step back.

Unlike Fang Qian’an, Li Xiu stared at the extremely familiar figure and called out.

“Grandmother?”

“Fang Qian’an, don’t be afraid, that’s my grandmother….right, my grandmother came to pick me up, she knows this stuff. She must be trying to find me!”

Li Xiu spoke in a murmur and nudged Fang Qian’an.

This kind of feeling was really mysterious. After encountering so many ghosts, Li Xiu was already frightened.

However, the moment he saw his grandmother, he had a strong intuition in his heart — that person was truly his grandmother.

“A-Xiu, is that really your grandmother? Are you sure?”

Fang Qian’an was still very vigilant after hearing Li Xiu’s assurances. His face was tense, his body trembling slightly. He was obviously very frightened.

“I’m sure.”

Li Xiu subconsciously placed a gentle hand on Fang Qian’an’s shoulder to calm his fear.

“Also, making this decision now can’t make things any worse.” Li Xiu’s tone suddenly became firm.

Fang Qian’an settled down upon hearing his words.

“All right.”

The young man pushed Li Xiu up on his back hard and staggered toward the old woman. 

“Hello, Grandmother.”

In the swaying candlelight, Li Xiu heard Fang Qian’an give a shaky greeting to his grandmother.

“I’m A-Xiu’s friend. I just swore a few times out of anger, don’t worry about it.”

Li Xiu: “……”

His grandmother didn’t respond to Fang Qian’an’s disorganized greeting.

In fact, there was always a distance between her and Li Xiu. No matter how far Fang Qian’an walked, she held the candle steadily and stood in the same position not far away.

The only change was the candle in her hand, which burned brighter and brighter, and gradually became increasingly short.

Poof—

At this moment, the small candle in Fang Qian’an’s hand was finally extinguished.

However, there was still a faint light in the corridor.

It was the candle in this grandmother’s hand.

[“A-Xiu, hurry up, it’s time to go home…..”]

Li Xiu’s grandmother gestured for him to continue forward.

*

*

Ding dong—

Qiming Secondary School, the building complex.

Hearing the sound of the elevator in the distance, two young teachers hurriedly rushed toward it from the other end of the corridor.

It was a pity that they didn’t catch this elevator and could only complain again and again, pressing the down button next to the elevator while looking at the time.

A teacher muttered anxiously to his colleague: “It’s so irritating! What is going on in the school these days, ah?!”

“It’s time for the examination papers to come out. Why are we not allowed to enter or exit the complex or use the elevator after seven o’clock in the evening? Are we still supposed to do this job?”

“Haha, there’s been a lot of trouble lately. I mean, several students have had accidents.”

The older teacher knew of some of the gossip circulating in Qiming. Her face was a little unnatural at this time, and she just typed casually while keeping an eye on the time on her phone.

It was now 6:45 in the evening.

“Fortunately, there are still fifteen minutes left. No matter what, we can still make it before closing time—”

She breathed a sigh of relief, and just as she was about to speak to her colleague, the elevator chimed again.

Ding dong—

The metal elevator doors slowly opened.

Immediately after, two students fell out and startled the teachers.

The two boys were obviously in a bad state. Both of their faces were deathly pale, lacking any blood at all, and their lips had begun to turn gray.

“Help……”

The teachers heard one of the boys let out a thin groan, and after that, he immediately fell to the ground and fainted.

*

*

A week later—

The First People’s Hospital of City A.

In a neat, bright single ward, a thin boy sat on a hospital bed in a light blue hospital gown. The hospital bed was not very spacious, but when the young man sat on it, he was so thin that it seemed as if he could be directly swallowed by the thin quilt.

Li Xiu looked at the class notes and exercise books on the bedside table and whispered to the person visiting at his bedside:

“Thank you, Teacher Chen.”

The young female teacher frowned slightly and looked with distress at Li Xiu on the bed. She tried hard to adjust her tone and said as calmly and briskly as possible: “Ai, there is nothing to be grateful for. As a teacher, I am happy to see students working so hard.” After a pause, she couldn’t help but add, “But now, ah, Li Xiu, your priority is to recover from your illness. Your grades have always reassured the teachers, but your progress has slowed down slightly during the past week. This teacher believes you can catch up soon. Just take a look at these notes and exercises, don’t tire yourself out just to keep up with your studies…..”

Listening to Teacher Chen’s nagging instructions, Li Xiu smiled at her with difficulty.

“En, I understand. I don’t feel tired…..in fact, I feel more relaxed when doing these exercises.”

Teacher Chen wanted to persuade him again when she heard Li Xiu’s response, but when she thought about what had happened to this student, she didn’t know what to say.

At this moment, there was a series of knocks at the door.

After receiving permission, a thin, gentle middle-aged man walked inside. Teacher Chen turned around, and when she saw the man, a trace of discomfort flashed across her face. She had heard some vague, bizarre rumors during this time. And it was not unusual for school leaders who were usually arrogant to bow down to the “teacher” who practiced feudal superstitions in this school.

Teacher Chen left quickly upon Xu Qinghe’s arrival.

Li Xiu’s expression was a bit complicated when he saw Teacher Xu. He greeted him softly, then pursed his lips. Compared to their first meeting, Li Xiu was much more quiet now.

Seeing Li Xiu like this, a faint, bitter smile appeared on Teacher Xu’s lips.

He pulled out a chair and sat next to Li Xiu.

“How are you feeling today?” he asked softly.

Li Xiu was silent for a few seconds before giving a dull reply: “…..Fortunately, not as cold as before.”

Upon hearing this, Teacher Xu reached out to touch Li Xiu’s forehead, then made a few gestures toward his shoulders and wrists before sitting back down as if relieved.

“Indeed, the yin qi has dissipated a lot. Now the main thing is to recuperate.”

“En.”

“I was initially the most worried about you, but I didn’t expect that you would recover faster than Classmate Fang. Judging by the current situation, you may be able to be discharged from the hospital before him.”

Li Xiu, who always seemed extremely taciturn, finally took the initiative to speak to Teacher Xu after hearing about Fang Qian’an: “Fang Qian’an……”

“Don’t worry, he’s fine. It’s just that the yin energy in his body is dissipating slowly.”

Recalling the person he met in the high-end ward of the private hospital not long ago, the bitter smile on Teacher Xu’s face grew more obvious.

“…..The young man is as energetic as a husky. There is absolutely no problem with him.”

Li Xiu breathed a sigh of relief.

The ward immediately fell silent again.

Teacher Xu looked at Li Xiu, and a flash of guilt passed through his eyes: “I’m sorry about your grandmother. If I had known things would get so serious, I would have been more careful about you and Classmate Fang.”

When he heard this, Li Xiu’s hand shook and accidentally knocked the notebook off the bedside table.

After a long moment, he suppressed his emotions and said, “En.”

A week ago, when Li Xiu finally woke up from his coma, the first news he received was that…..his grandmother had passed away.

The old woman with Alzheimer’s disease had died quietly in her bed due to a sudden heart attack. When people from the school had gone to inform her about the situation, the old woman on the bed was already cold all over.

It didn’t seem like a death worthy of surprise.

But Li Xiu knew very clearly that his grandmother had died to save him.

His grandmother, who used mystical tricks to fool people, turned out to really understand such things, ah…..therefore, when he and Fang Qian’an were almost stuck in the otherworld, she chose to show up in such a way and leave with them.

But why hadn’t Grandmother said more at that time?

Even then, he didn’t have time to say “goodbye” to his grandmother.

Li Xiu tried his utmost to control his emotions. After all, he had cried too many times in the past few days. However, when he heard his grandmother mentioned, hot, astringent tears accumulated in his eyes uncontrollably.

Teacher Xu sat silently beside the bed, waiting for Li Xiu’s subtle, suppressed sobs to stop.

After a long while, the older man sighed. He leveled his gaze at Li Xiu and said word for word: “Logically speaking, you shouldn’t be agitated at this time, but the situation is indeed a bit troublesome now…..Classmate Li Xiu, I must confirm with you now. How long have you been feeding “that thing” placed under the bed? Who told you to do this?”

“That thing?”

Li Xiu stared blankly at Teacher Xu. It took several seconds before he realized what he was talking about.

“You mean, Gege?”

Teacher Xu’s eyes darkened upon hearing the address “Gege.”

“Yes, that…..gege you provide for every day.”

Li Xiu’s breathing grew faster than before. 

He came to a vague realization.

“I-it started when I was very young,” Li Xiu murmured. “I always thought it was just my grandmother’s superstition.”

Noticing the odd look on Teacher Xu’s face, a terrible thought suddenly passed through Li Xiu’s mind.

“Teacher Xu, Grandmother’s death, could it be that……what happened to us is related to my gege?” Li Xiu stammered out.

Teacher Xu was silent.

After thinking for a long moment, he took out a yellowed photo and placed it gently in front of Li Xiu.

“Do you recognize her?” he asked.

Li Xiu glanced at the photo and his pupils suddenly constricted.

The photo was that of a young woman. She was very beautiful, with dark features and long hair, and even the pixels of an old-school camera couldn’t hide her astonishing beauty.

However, perhaps because her eyes were so dark and she wasn’t smiling at all, her beauty was mixed with an indescribable gloom: this was completely different from the sweet, gentle girl in the fantasy.

Yes, this was precisely Li Xiu’s “Mother.”

When he realized this, Li Xiu’s eyes fixed on the woman’s clothing and couldn’t move away for a long time.

He was shocked at his own slowness.

Why hadn’t he recognized her?

His “mother” was the guest who always came to his grandmother.

Although Teacher Xu had raised the question, he didn’t actually need Li Xiu to answer.

Observing Li Xiu’s expression, he took the initiative to explain: “Her name was Li Xulin. She was your grandmother’s only daughter.”

“Li Xuelin had a child, and named him Li Yu. If that kid was still alive, you really should call him…..gege.”

---

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Chapter 45 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 47