Li Xiu stared at the scratches on Fang Qian’an’s body. His face paled.

His lips moved, but no sound came out.

In fact, when Li Xiu woke up in his hard bed this morning, he still held the illusion that “it was all just a nightmare.”

However, when he turned over and sat up in a cold sweat, the stinging pain when he raised his hand popped this fantasy like a bubble.

He stared at the fresh teeth marks on the edge of his palm for a long time.

When changing clothes, Li Xiu was unsurprised to see bruises under his ribs that were close to turning blue.

As they fell from a high altitude, the tall boy kept hugging him tightly as if he wanted to squeeze Li Xiu into his body. Because of these marks, even now, Li Xiu could feel the dull pain coming from his ribs when he breathed a little harder.

No matter what, Li Xiu didn’t want to admit that he’d had an encounter with ghosts.

But there was no way he could continue to escape from everything that had happened in the past two days.

“I don’t understand…..what’s going on…..” After an unknown amount of time, the pale and shaky boy held his head and huddled on the sofa, whispering in fear. “This kind of thing is not scientific at all!”

“But we just experienced it.”

Fang Qian’an also sat next to Li Xiu unconsciously.

Stealthily absorbing Li Xiu’s body temperature that was slightly lower than that of ordinary people, Fang Qian’an felt his heart, which had been in turmoil since last night, finally calm down somewhat.

“There are ghosts in this world,” he murmured.

“I already knew that.”

*

Fang Qian’an’s mother was a lunatic. 

The woman was obviously still a sweet and gentle lady when Fang Qian’an was young, but at some point she started to become abnormal.

At first, she would just talk to herself inexplicably. Later, perhaps she saw some things that didn’t exist, which developed into violent and hurtful behavior. And this brand of violence would be especially grave when she saw Fang Qian’an. Every time he saw his mother, all Fang Qian’an received from the woman were screams and curses, as well as extreme fear.

Because of this, Fang Qian’an had barely seen his mother ever since he could remember.

“…..Children that age usually clamor for their mother, but I never did.” Fang Qian’an lowered his head to look at his toes as he spoke in a low voice.

After a long pause, he glanced at Li Xiu beside him.

“Aren’t you going to ask why?”

Li Xiu stared blankly for a second, and said calmly after a moment’s delay: “Oh. Why?”

The corners of Fang Qian’an’s mouth twitched when he heard the other’s incurious tone.

He took a deep breath.

“Because back then, I felt my mother actually run to my room to see me every night…..I just lay in bed with my eyes closed and felt her arrival while half asleep. Her hair would hang onto my face…..”

The young child closed his eyes tightly and lay motionless in bed.

He could feel his mother’s breath and her soft fingertips constantly tracing his cheeks. It was a very tender, very gentle touch.

Countless times, Fang Qian’an wanted to open his eyes and throw himself into his mother’s arms. But in the end, he held back.

Because of the few times he met his mother in the daytime, he came to the deep realization that his mother didn’t like him with his eyes open.

[“Eyes…..there is something in his eyes, don’t you see? There’s something behind his eyes!”]

[“No, I have to dig it out, or else it’ll escape…..Qian’an, don’t be afraid. It will only hurt a little bit. Mom will make it quick.”]

[“Don’t call me crazy! You just don’t understand! That thing is right there! It’s looking at me, it’s smiling at me! I saw—”]

One time, if Aunt Su hadn’t arrived in time and stopped the woman, the innocent and unknowing Fang Qian’an would have had his eyes gouged out with a spoon by his mother. Thus, even though his mother was by his side for countless nights, he didn’t dare open his eyes, fearing that the woman’s tenderness would leave him as it did during the daytime.

However, he knew that his mother was still fond of him.

“I’ve always thought this.”

In the lounge, Fang Qian’an’s face gradually lost all expression.

The boy narrated in a strangely calm tone: “Until one day, I couldn’t pretend to sleep anymore. Because that day, the woman tried to strangle me to death. Due to this, the old man couldn’t tolerate such a lunatic in his family anymore, so he called people from the mental institute over, tied her up, and directly sent her away.”

“I was really scared. I thought I’d never see her again, but she came back that night.”

“So that day, I opened my eyes and…..”

Then, Fang Qian’an discovered that the person sitting at his bedside every night was not his mother at all.

That “thing” had a hunched body, weak-necked with its back arched high, its head hanging down.

A mess of hair dangled, covering her entire face.

That face was bloody, blurred, and fragmented.

Its cheeks had fallen away, and a rotten tongue fell right between its white teeth, rancid blood falling from the tip. And every day, it used such a tongue to meticulously lick the child’s face.

“It had no muscles in its face and couldn’t move its teeth to chew or gnaw, so it could only lick.”

As he recalled the past, Fang Qian’an’s face grew increasingly pale.

Li Xiu: “…..It seems like you were under a lot of stress due to your mother’s attack during the day, and your brain finally converted your anxiety and fear into nightmares or hallucinations when you were asleep.”

The young man said dryly: “That’s what the psychiatrist said.”

Everyone told Fang Qian’an that it was a hallucination or a nightmare.

But Fang Qian’an knew that was not the case, because long after that incident happened, he would still sense something peering at him from the shadows of the room when he closed his eyes at night.

“Uh, then, if that’s the case, haven’t you gone to see some kind of great master?”

“I have,” Fang Qian’an responded crisply. “I was defrauded of a lot of money later.”

The lounge fell into dead silence once more.

Li Xiu was silent for a long while, and finally, after a long sigh, he faced reality with a bleak expression.

“Given that there are a lot of theories linking ghosts to quantum entanglement, then, suppose there really are ghosts in this world and we’re really so unlucky as to be haunted.”

Once he started to think about ghosts in terms of quantum energy, the remaining shakiness in Li Xiu’s tone gradually dissipated. The youth’s expression was still very bad, but his whole person seemed much calmer.

“What we need to know now is, what on earth are this ghost’s intentions?”

Li Xiu touched his lips slightly with his fingers, unknowingly entering his usual thinking mode when he would mull over test questions and papers in advance.

“Let’s list the known conditions first…..the two of us fell into a nightmare together. And the first event that we experienced was encountering a ghost on the negative third floor…..no, that’s not it, the first abnormality was…..”

Fang Qian’an and Li Xiu blurted out in unison:

“It was the Xiao Family Haunted House!”

“That wall in the Xiao Family Haunted House!”

The two subconsciously raised their heads and looked at each other, both of them seeing their anxious faces in the other’s eyes.

In last night’s nightmare, they had both seen the wall covered in talisman papers, and of course, the little red door.

“…..Lao Wang’s friends accidentally discovered the door in the haunted house, so they planned to take you there, lock you up, and mock you.”

But when that group of people took Li Xiu there by force, they didn’t find the door in that room.

Then came the bullying, and the wallpaper fell off to reveal a wall full of strange talismans.

It was from that day on that everything went wrong.

“That incident, I…..I did something wrong. I-I’m really sorry.”

“Oh.”

When the topic of the bullying was brought up, the atmosphere in the lounge suddenly became stagnant.

The two parties sat upright on the sofa. As the victim, Li Xiu’s expression didn’t change at all, with his lips only slightly pursed. Fang Qian’an, however, looked extremely uncomfortable.

The tall boy scratched his hair hard and muttered for a long time. Only then did he look at Li Xiu with awkward expectation, his tone extremely weak: “I know there’s no use apologizing, but back then I really seemed to be possessed.”

“……”

“Yeah, I really didn’t like you much at that time, but what happened next, I-I never would have done that before.”

He didn’t realize that something was wrong previously, but now that Fang Qian’an recalled it carefully, he realized that his behavior at that time was truly bizarre.

He was not the kind of person who was sensitive to violence. After all, he had grown up around it.

However, he had ordered someone to hold down the thin young man, took pictures, and took the initiative to reach out and touch him. Watching the other party struggling to resist had endlessly excited him…..

It was all too complicated, too troublesome, and not a thing Fang Qian’an would enjoy.

But it was undeniable that back then, that kind of thing indeed triggered a dark and burning heat within him.

What on earth…..was wrong with him?

Fang Qian’an suddenly grasped his head in a moment of self-loathing, his heartbeat thumping loudly.

Right, back at that time…..

Who was it who first suggested taking Li Xiu to the haunted house?

Those two friends of Wang Rongfa’s? Wait, who were those people?

In the midst of this turmoil, Fang Qian’an heard Li Xiu next to him speak almost indifferently.

“Song Chen and Amazi.”

“What?”

“Those two were also at the haunted house. And they ended up in the hospital the next day.” Li Xiu glanced at Fang Qian’an with a frown. “Have you forgotten? Later, the dean of students came to see me about the matter. Considering what happened to both of us, I now have a reasonable suspicion that the reason those two scumbags were taken away by ambulance has something to do with the haunted house.”

In fact, Li Xiu didn’t feel happy at all after Fang Qian’an apologized, but now was not the time to dwell on the harm caused by school bullying.

Li Xiu asked word by word: “Fang Qian’an, the others who went to the haunted house at that time…..how are they?”

*

At the same moment—

Qiming Secondary School.

At the building complex.

Floor: B3.

“This damn place, fuck, the power’s out again…..”

“Ai, it can’t be helped. I heard that the foundation wasn’t laid well back in the day, and there’s water seepage all the time. Trouble only happens when there is a problem with the circuits.”

As the two flashlight beams swayed, the school janitors chatted all the way as they patrolled the negative 3rd floor of the complex.

“It’s so dark, I can’t see clearly. There’s only garbage here, I don’t know what we need to inspect.”

One of the janitors complained repeatedly as he looked at the tight office doors and the messy piles of cardboard boxes in the corridor.

The other janitor responded: “We still need to inspect it. After all, it’ll be locked up until next year. I heard that the elevator was out of order yesterday and two students got in. What if someone were to be locked inside?”

Because there really was a problem with the circuits on this floor and a lot of things had happened in the past two days, the school leaders had no other choice. After receiving a request to strengthen the elimination of hidden dangers on campus, the logistics department simply sealed off all the unused areas in the school. 

It was the same here.

If nothing else happened, this place would likely not be reopened until the next year when the teaching materials were replaced.

The school janitors walked back and forth down the corridor twice. Seeing that the elevator had been blocked by an iron gate, and that there were no abnormalities elsewhere, the second janitor rubbed his neck and patted his partner on the shoulder.

“It’s done. Let’s go, let’s go, my whole body feels uncomfortable here.”

His partner didn’t want to bother in the first place. Seeing that his responsible and honest partner was saying the same thing, he quickly dragged this person without delay toward the only exit on the negative 3rd floor.

……

They were gone.

Great, they left. He won again this time. Hahaha, he wasn’t fooled.

The school janitors would never know that after they left, in the dark and silent negative 3rd floor corridor, a boy was curled up in a ball and shivering in a seemingly normal cardboard box.

He listened with contentment to the conversation and footsteps as they left, and a twisted smile appeared on his face.

I knew it.

Wang Rongfa continued to pump himself up.

As long as he hid here, those things wouldn’t be able to find him.

Thus, they could only use this method to try to lure him out of his hiding place.

What a joke.

Only in this way could he fool them.

He would hide well.

Yes, yes.

Never, never would he let himself be discovered.

Just hide well.

Just hide.

He was safe.

Just…..hide…..

Hide……

*

There was a click.

The door was locked.

---

The Author Has Something to Say:

Li Xiu: How can ghosts exist in this world! (Afraid, trembling, terrified)

Li Xiu: Oh, so ghosts are actually the quantum state form of the human spiritual body? That’s fine. (Calm)

---

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Chapter 21 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 23

“Qian’an, ah, are you sick?”

Looking at the tall young man who claimed he’d just had a nightmare, Aunt Su frowned, unable to hide the worry in her eyes. 

Aunt Su had been at the Fang residence for a great many years, and it could be said that she watched Fang Qian’an grow up. In her memory, even when he was beaten by Fang Chengke and couldn’t get out of bed, he had never looked as close to death as he did now.

This person, who was usually the most domineering and arrogant, now seemed to have lost his soul.

His face was incredibly pale, his eye sockets black and blue.

Fang Qian’an’s unusual haggardness made her very anxious.

“…..Or should I say, where does it hurt? Qian’an, ah, you’re already this old. You should know how important it is to take care of your body.” Aunt Su looked at Fang Qian’an doubtfully, suspecting that it could be something from Fang Chengke’s beating the day before. “How about I call Lao Chen and ask him to take you to the hospital? Ai, Lao Fang is so cruel to just send you back like this. How can something like this still happen in Beijing? I’ll just make the call and ask Dr. Xu to come and take a look.”

Aunt Su talked and talked, babbling inadvertently.

After Fang Qian’an returned with Fang Chengke, many of the benefits he enjoyed from the old man naturally came to nothing. If a certain person had a headache or fever, he could only go to the hospital. It was impossible to call the family doctor like before.

Fang Qian’an rubbed his head, feeling a headache as he looked at the older woman who was starting to look aggrieved on his behalf. He said perfunctorily: “I really am fine. The old man didn’t do anything to me yesterday. Don’t overthink it, I just really didn’t sleep well…..”

When Fang Qian’an spoke like this, Aunt Su could ultimately only give a sigh: “Then how about you come down and have some soup? Can you eat something? I saw that you didn’t eat much yesterday, aren’t you hungry?”

“No, I have no appetite,” Fang Qian’an said without thinking. After a brief pause, he added: “I have to go to school right away.”

“School?”

Aunt Su was stunned for a moment, almost unable to respond.

Fang Qian’an was so anxious to go to school that he couldn’t even eat? If she hadn’t been the one to bring up the boy in front of her, Aunt Su would have thought that the person who’d appeared in this bedroom was Fang Qian’an’s substitute.

Not to mention a remote place like City A, even while enjoying truly top-notch educational resources in the capital city, Fang Qian’an never went to school seriously.

But today, Fang Qian’an, the renowned underachiever, king of laziness, and teacher longevity reduction machine, was actually rushing to school.

In such a hurry that he didn’t even have time to eat breakfast.

Aunt Su watched, dumbfounded as Fang Qian’an rushed back into the room, threw something on randomly, and rushed out the door. She was unable to recover for a long time.

“This kid…..is finished. Did he fall on his head yesterday?”

The older woman watched Fang Qian’an’s back as she murmured, the worry on her face only increasing.

*

Fang Qian’an naturally had no idea that his bizarre behavior had caused great worry for Aunt Su.

All he could think about was yesterday’s dream within a dream within a dream within a dream…..and the frail young man who had appeared there. 

“A-Xiu.”

Sitting in the car on the way to school, Fang Qian’an raised his hand and looked at his arm with an unconscious murmur.

When he first woke up that morning, Fang Qian’an had wondered several times if he could still be trapped in a dream.

The feeling of weightlessness and wind passing when he jumped from the 7th floor railing, hugging the other boy, was still vivid in his memory, but what was even more vivid was…..the other party’s wild heartbeat as he clung to his chest when they jumped.

Because of the force used, the boy’s body seemed as if it was embedded in his arms.

Inexplicably, Fang Qian’an had a strange intuition — if he hadn’t woken from the nightmare at that time, he would have most likely dreamt about the final outcome.

He and Li Xiu would have fallen to the ground under the influence of gravity and become a big mass of bloody flesh. At that point, it would be impossible to completely distinguish which parts belonged to whom among the fused remains.

“Heh—”

A strange chuckle full of greed and satisfaction suddenly came from the back seat.

The driver, Lao Chen, immediately tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

The sound was odd, and didn’t sound entirely like Fang Qian’an.

But wasn’t there only Lao Chen and Fang Qian’an in the car right now, ah? As Lao Chen thought, he subconsciously glanced at Fang Qian’an in the rearview mirror.

The latter was not smiling at this time, and his pale-as-paper face was in a trance.

Lao Chen stared blankly for a second.

Maybe he had pressed something just now and actually heard something from outside the car.

At that moment, Lao Chen didn’t overthink it.

Just as Lao Chen was about to withdraw his gaze, he suddenly met Fang Qian’an’s eyes in the mirror.

“Wu?!”

One of the boy’s extremely light-colored eyes quivered strangely, and with an abrupt vibration, it was pushed aside by a different blood-colored pupil.

In one eye were a pair of bizarre double pupils.

Time seemed to stretch very long.

For a brief moment, Fang Qian’an stared unblinkingly at Lao Chen. He suddenly grinned.

Lao Chen suddenly heard a sound that was like tinnitus. His head spun, and the man immediately stepped on the brakes in a panic, stopping the car dangerously at a red light.

“Hey, who’s that, ah? He’s driving like crazy—”

He had almost run into a pedestrian on the crosswalk, who cursed angrily at Lao Chen.

Although there hadn’t been an accident, no matter what, Lao Chen would normally have gotten out of the car to deal with the situation. Presently, he held the steering wheel tightly with both hands and remained in his seat for several seconds.

“Fuck, Uncle Chen? What are you doing?!”

Fang Qian’an wasn’t wearing a seatbelt in the back, and the sudden stop caused him to hit his head. At this time, he was looking at Lao Chen with an irritable expression, and his tone was just on this side of cursing him.

Lao Chen slowly turned his head to look at Fang Qian’an. The latter’s eyes were not strange at all.

It was as if everything just now was an illusion.

Fang Qian’an glared at Uncle Chen and raised his voice again: “Uncle Chen! Green light!”

At the same time, a car behind theirs honked continuously. Lao Chen quickly sat upright as if waking from a dream, and continued to drive forward under the guidance of the traffic lights.

The man licked his lips as he drove, trying to calm down.

“Apologies, Young Master Fang. I was a little distracted just now.”

“Tsk.” Fang Qian’an was upset today, and his mood became even worse after being tossed around by Uncle Chen like this. “You have to watch the road carefully even if you’re distracted, right? You almost hit someone just now! Ah, seriously, I should have driven the car myself…..”

Seeing that Fang Qian’an was as bad-tempered as always, Lao Chen’s heart relaxed somewhat.

Fortunately, Qiming’s magnificent school gates soon appeared in Uncle Chen’s field of vision.

When the car drove up to the school, Fang Qian’an got out at once without saying a word and rushed toward the teaching building with great strides.

And Lao Chen in the driver’s seat looked in the direction he had gone for a long time, a strange expression on his face. Then he let loose a long sigh.

Lao Chen wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and muttered with a wry smile: “What the hell…..is wrong with me?”

It must have been some kind of hallucination just now, right?

Fang Qian’an was more or less the child he had watched grow up. No matter how he thought about it, it was impossible for him to have two pupils in one eye.

But even as he thought this, Lao Chen was still tense as he drove.

He couldn’t explain why, but he felt that the Fang Qian’an sitting behind him was a bit creepy.

It was a very strange feeling.

Just like when you stare at a word for a long time and it starts to seem a little abnormal.

Looking at Fang Qian’an now, he unexpectedly felt that the more he looked, the stranger that person became.

*

Due to the incident on the way to school, when Fang Qian’an arrived, Class 1A’s morning self-study class had already begun.

When his eyes landed on the class full of students, the corners of Fang Qian’an’s mouth twitched and his footsteps instinctively slowed. Fortunately, he quickly saw Li Xiu sitting in the last row.

The boy who almost always immersed himself in homework looked a little off today. He clearly had a pen in his hand and papers spread out on the table, but the eyes looking down at those papers were empty. His fingers didn’t move for a long time, and the paper was blank. He was obviously distracted.

The early morning sunlight shone on the slender boy through the window glass, making his pale cheeks look like they were about to become translucent. 

Th-thump—

Fang Qian’an distinctly felt something in his chest start to pound wildly.

Even the trauma from the classroom dream last night faded away at once.

“A-Xiu—”

Walking fast, Fang Qian’an took a deep breath, rushed into the classroom, and grabbed Li Xiu, dragging him out.

“Fang Qian’an! What are you doing?!”

Li Xiu struggled for a moment, but the strength of his struggling in Fang Qian’an’s grip was no different from the scratching of a kitten, with no effect at all.

Staggering along the way, Fang Qian’an dragged Li Xiu right to the class lounge.

There was nobody else there early in the morning.

As soon as Li Xiu entered, Fang Qian’an pushed him directly onto the sofa, which was as big as a bed. Then came the click of the door being locked.

“Fang Qian’an, what’s wrong with you?!”

Li Xiu struggled to hold himself up, cursing at the tall boy who was slowly turning around at the door.

Just like Fang Qian’an, Li Xiu also had thick dark circles under his eyes. The frail youth’s cursing had no energy at all, and there was a slight hoarseness to his voice, like he had been crying.

Fang Qian’an took a deep breath and licked his lips, staring at Li Xiu with bright eyes.

“I had a dream last night. A nightmare.” One step. Two steps. Fang Qian’an suddenly came to Li Xiu, standing in front of him like a mountain. “I thought I was definitely going to die in it, but fortunately I had you there.”

Li Xiu shivered violently upon hearing these words, and after half a beat, his stiff voice sounded in the lounge.

“……Psycho. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Fang Xian’an blinked.

Holding the edge of the sofa with one hand, he suddenly leaned down and drew close to Li Xiu.

He said: “You dreamed about me too, right?”

This position brought the two of them very close together. Fang Qian’an’s golden eyes seemed more and more like those of some big cat. And when Li Xiu saw himself reflected in those eyes, he inexplicably felt like the pitiful prey being targeted.

His heart palpitated, and Li Xiu lowered his head to avoid Fang Qian’an’s focused gaze.

“A dream. You had a dream, you idiot. Fang Qian’an, I still have morning self-study to do, what do you want…..”

Before he could finish speaking, Fang Qian’an directly grabbed his wrist.

“Look, here’s proof,” he said.

Li Xiu followed his gaze to look at his palm — there were teeth marks on the edge of it, along with blood stains.

Those were left behind when he was trying not to scream in the nightmare.

Li Xiu: “…..I can’t bite something when I’m sleeping?” 

Who couldn’t see Li Xiu’s extreme evasion? But Fang Qian’an didn’t let him go.

“Okay, what about this?” As he spoke, Fang Qian’an stood up, took a few steps back, and took his shirt off in front of Li Xiu.

“Cough…..what are you doing?!”

Li Xiu was caught off guard when he saw Fang Qian’an taking off his clothes, and nearly choked on his own saliva.

“I’m showing you my evidence.”

Fang Qian’an didn’t hear Li Xiu’s panic. The boy spoke easily as he showed his back to Li Xiu.

On both sides of the boy’s muscular back were several clearly visible scratches.

It was impossible not to be scared when jumping off the railing. Even the most courageous person, when hugging someone as they jumped, couldn’t help but use force to dig his nails deeply into the other’s flesh.

There were many bruises on Fang Qian’an’s back, but the slightly red and swollen scratches were still very conspicuous.

The boy turned his head and stared at Li Xiu, speaking every word with the utmost seriousness: “When I woke up this morning, I kept trying to convince myself that it was only a dream.”

“But when I was getting dressed, I found these…..there’s no way I could have scratched myself in these positions, right?”

---

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Chapter 20 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 22

The sentence “general who guards the country” had already stunned these people, and the subsequent words instantly caused Tang-furen and Uncle Tang to tremble.

“Are…..are you joking?” Uncle Tang said harshly, with a tug at the corners of his mouth.

Dai Tingyu knelt down directly and saluted Huo Fenglie: “General, this humble one is at fault for not handling the situation strictly in accordance with military discipline. This humble one is willing to be punished, and will handle the punishments of the violators afterward.”

Uncle Tang’s face paled. Looking at Huo Fenglie again, Uncle Tang’s expression was indeed full of self-pity and anger, but the second their eyes met, he was so frightened that his legs went weak and he knelt down.

“I…..I have been punished. I left office. This one…..this one asks to be excused, excused…..”

Seeing that Uncle Tang was about to flee, Liu Zhenqing called from behind: “Don’t run away, ah, you’ll be spared for the sake of the city lord’s face.”

Uncle Tang’s steps slowed.

“For example, fifty blows from a rod would easily kill you, so it’s better to let Commander die to one blow at a time, separately. This way, it is certain that nothing will go wrong. It’s called paying in installments.”

Dai Tingyu immediately shouted: “This is a good idea!”

There was wind under Uncle Tang’s feet, and he wished he could disappear into the city lord’s manor at once. He ran away in a flash, and likely wouldn’t dare show up again in the future.

Tang-furen regarded everyone with an awkward expression. Tang Mu stepped forward and said: “Mother is probably tired and muddle-headed from the journey. Please go back and rest right away.”

Tang-furen calmed down, thinking that they wouldn’t embarrass her for Tang Mu’s sake. She coughed to cover up her embarrassment and stepped forward to salute Huo Fenglie.

Huo Fenglie said directly: “Tang-furen, get up. It is better for you to be cautious in your words and deeds in the future. The emperor has the final say in this world.”

Tang-furen’s face became somewhat distorted. Liu Zhenqing held back a smile, feeling that Tang-furen would definitely not be able to stay any longer or dare to interfere in Tang Mu’s business in the future.

Unexpectedly, Tang-furen turned out to be rather fierce. She smiled obsequiously and spoke a few words: “The general doesn’t know, but I am doing this for the sake of my own family. The painstaking efforts of a parent are always misunderstood.”

Having said this, she actually began to look Huo Fenglie up and down. Although it wasn’t obvious, Liu Zhenqing could see the scrutiny in her expression at a glance.

Just as Liu Zhenqing was feeling somewhat confused, the older lady suddenly said: “The general is truly mighty and remarkable. How old is he?”

Everyone was taken aback by the sudden change of topic. Huo Fenglie didn’t overthink it: “Twenty-seven.”

“Twenty-seven, ah. You are the same age as my son. Fate brings people together, ah.” Tang-furen instantly beamed. “I hear that the general is not yet engaged…..”

“Mother, it’s time to go back.”

Without waiting for anyone’s reaction, Tang Mu immediately stepped forward and held Tang-furen, practically dragging her out.

Tang-furen made a fuss and tried to address Huo Fenglie, but was pulled away by Tang Mu.

Dai Tingyu and Huo Fenglie didn’t know the reason for this.

Dai Tingyu sneered: “Does she think that General Huo, because he is the same age as her son, shouldn’t be respected as much as Tang-chengzhu? How ridiculous, using the position of an elder to get close to him.”

Huo Fenglie wasn’t interested. He said to Liu Zhenqing: “Let’s go.”

Liu Zhenqing stroked his chin and watched the mother and son depart. When he heard Huo Fenglie’s voice, he looked over with some dissatisfaction.

Right, ah, he wasn’t engaged yet. He was a rich, single man.

He remembered that back in the capital, in order to avoid trouble, he had also taken advantage of Huo Fenglie’s lack of engagement and made up some nonsense.

Now that he thought about it, this was normal. Er-gou was so good. Of course many people would have their eyes on him.

If one married, it should be to General Huo.

“If you want to marry, isn’t the best candidate in front of you? Since the emperor told him to come here, it’s an opportunity from the heavens!” 

“Mother!” Tang Mu was truly angry. “Do you understand what you’re saying!”

“If you keep wasting time like this, when will you be able to marry, ah? This mother is worried about you.”

“Are you worried about me, or do you want me to step aside for my uncle? Mother, have you forgotten what the people from the Office of Government Affairs just said? Can you stop dreaming?” Tang Mu turned around and left.

But he was angrily scolded by Tang-furen for outgrowing obedience to his parents and not listening.

Tang Mu turned around and looked at his mother with disappointment. Seeing that she was still using the honor of the Tang family as her trump card and looking so arrogant, he felt extremely broken, and very…..sorry for that person.

Tang-furen continued: “Do you want to remain unmarried for the rest of your life? Don’t you know that your secret will be discovered sooner or later? What will you do then? What if…..what if someone sues us, what will our Tang family do? You were born with a good appearance, and what isn’t good about your temperament or talent that you can’t take on the identity of a general’s wife? With the great general who protects the country, we’ll have nothing to fear.”

Tang Mu closed his eyes in the end, unable to stop them from stinging. He took a deep breath and said very weakly: “I don’t fear anything. As long as you and Uncle don’t cause trouble for me, our family can live in peace and stability for the rest of our lives. In the end, you actually look down on me and think I’m not worthy of sitting in the position of City Lord, right?”

“You!” Tang-furen said angrily: “I want you to get married as soon as possible because I love you. What’s wrong with that!”

Tang Mu scoffed coldly, and the moisture in his eyes quickly vanished. “Don’t worry, Mother. I made up my mind a long time ago. I won’t marry anyone in this life, Mother, so don’t waste your time. If you’re bored at home, go and worship Buddha.”

When Tang Mu was done speaking, he turned to leave. But thinking of his mother’s character, he couldn’t help but turn back and remind her: “And as you heard just now, Huo Fenglie has a close friend next to him. It’s not like he doesn’t have anyone.”

As expected, Tang-furen wasn’t easily deterred and spoke again: “That man is not as good-looking as you. Besides, you have an advantage over him, don’t you?”

Tang Mu’s expression turned ugly again. He held onto the willow leaf jade piece and calmed himself for a moment before turning around and leaving.

Early the next morning, Tang-furen unexpectedly came to their courtyard. For the purpose of getting close to Huo Fenglie, she invited him to have breakfast with them.

Huo Fenglie refused with a frown. Tang-furen wanted to say more, but then saw Liu Zhenqing come out, letting out a sigh as he leaned against Huo Fenglie. And Huo Fenglie went along with him and held on, which caused Tang-furen’s expression to become ugly.

“Let’s go eat,” Liu Zhenqing said as if there was no one else around.

Huo Fenglie nodded.

Tang-furen put up with it again and again before inviting Liu Zhenqing to go with them. Huo Fenglie was about to refuse again when Liu Zhenqing accepted.

Thus, the two of them appeared in front of Tang Mu with Tang-furen.

Liu Zhenqing saw Tang Mu’s change of expression and smiled at him indifferently.

And at this time, Tang-furen warmly welcomed Huo Fenglie and sat between him and Tang Mu. Before Huo Fenglie could refuse, Liu Zhenqing pushed him down and sat.

When Huo Fenglie looked at Liu Zhenqing in confusion, Liu Zhenqing pulled Huo Fenglie’s arm away and sat in his lap. He burrowed into his arms and adjusted his posture comfortably, completely ignoring the people around them. He said: “I’m so sleepy, ah. I can’t sit up anymore, you hold me while I eat.”

Everyone around was dumbfounded. Both the host and the attendants watched this overly intimate and unruly behavior in astonishment. What’s more, the star of the show was the general who guards the country, whose status was below only one person and above all others. How could such a person do such a thing! !

Even Huo Fenglie froze. It seemed to him that this was not Qing-ge acting coquettishly toward him, but simply teasing him. Qing-ge was very playful to begin with, but according to the current situation, he was probably putting on an act purely for others to see.

Guessing the likely intention behind it, Huo Fenglie could only cooperate. Because for something Qing-ge wanted to do, the consequences of not going along with it would be even more serious.

Thus, Huo Fenglie adjusted his posture without a change of expression, making the other more comfortable in his arms.

The eyes of the people around widened in unison. Now they wished they were blind, as if they were viewing a debauched monarch and a demon concubine.

Tang Mu withdrew his expression of surprise, and there was eventually a smile on his lips.

But Tang-furen had been overturned by Liu Zhenqing over and over again, and was so angry that she nearly vomited blood.

What was this shameless appearance? If he got married in the future, all the servants here had witnessed the scene and rumors would fly. Could this be allowed?

Just as Tang-furen was about to speak, she heard Liu Zhenqing say: “I am so sorry, I’ve been discourteous. Aren’t the two of you startled? In fact, Fenglie and I usually do this. I like to sleep in, and he gets up early. I have to do this in order to have breakfast with him, otherwise I’d be so sleepy that I’d fall down sitting on the stool. Hahaha. Tang-chenzhu said before that this can be treated as our home. I saw that the Old Madam is also amiable, and didn’t think I would commit a gaffe.”

Tang-furen’s breathing was stifled.

Tang Mu said with a smile: “Don’t be polite, this is like your own home. You can do whatever you usually do. Come, let’s all have a meal.”

Liu Zhenqing smiled at Tang Mu, then hooked Huo Fenglie’s neck and said coquettishly: “I have a light appetite today. You pick something lighter for me.”

Huo Fenglie said directly: “Okay.” With this answer, he actually embraced Liu Zhenqing and carefully selected food for him.

Tang-furen was simply flabbergasted.

Tang Mu had to hold back his laughter, because they looked very much like a debauched monarch and a demon concubine. The demon concubine was rather on point, but the debauched monarch had a serious appearance and lacked acting skills. But this was to show off to his mother and make things clear to her.

Subsequently, Liu Zhenqing not only told Huo Fenglie to pick his food, but also acted spoiled and had Huo Fenglie feed it to his mouth. It wasn’t tasty when it was fed to him, so Liu Zhenqing ate half of it and fed the rest to Huo Fenglie’s mouth. The intimacy between the two was even closer than that of a newlywed couple.

Tang-furen’s heartbeat was disordered, and she gasped for breath several times.

Tang Mu couldn’t help but sigh. Although he had always thought that Young Master Liu might be a substitute and sympathized with him, he saw Huo Fenglie dote on him to the point that he was deeply accustomed to Liu Zhenqing’s willful demands. And the dignified general was willing to cooperate with even the most outrageous things. Tang Mu felt that it was very obvious that they loved each other. 

Tang-furen started to speak several times afterward, but Liu Zhenqing’s show of affection burnt her face and she couldn’t say anything at all. 

In the end, she couldn’t bear it anymore. “This is too toilsome for General Huo. Why not add a stool?” She was willing to step back and let the two of them sit next to each other instead of one sitting on the other.

Seeing that Tang-furen was still unwilling to give up, Liu Zhenqing disregarded the remaining face she had left and said: “Thanking the Madam for thinking about my family’s general, but I really can’t sit down.”

Tang-furen was faintly stunned.

With a shy look on his face, Liu Zhenqing gave Huo Fenglie a slight jab and said: “It’s all your fault! People are laughing at me.”

Huo Fenglie could no longer make any expression, and when everyone else reacted, their faces turned red.

Tang Mu coughed and accidentally knocked over his tea cup. He apologized and immediately left to change his clothes. 

And Tang-furen was already in despair. Trembling, she said that she was full. But in fact, she could no longer bear the stimulation and could only give in temporarily and retreat.

When everyone around was gone and the other servants were also far away, only then did Liu Zhenqing laugh in Huo Fenglie’s arms. He directly smacked his hand onto Huo Fenglie as tears came out. 

Looking up at Huo Fenglie’s stiff face, Liu Zhenqing said: “It’s ruined. Er-gou’s reputation has been completely ruined by me.”

Huo Fenglie looked embarrassed. Liu Zhenqing’s implication just now had greatly stimulated him. Even as he held him in his arms, he felt hot in his nether regions.

Huo Fenglie’s mind was a mess. This dazed look fell into Liu Zhenqing’s eyes, and when he reacted, he raised his eyebrows and hooked Huo Fenglie’s neck with a chuckle: “Actually, I just made that up.”

Huo Fenglie stared for a moment and nodded. Of course he knew Liu Zhenqing was acting.

Liu Zhenqing said: “If this was really the case, I think that not only could I not sit down, but I also couldn’t get up.”

Huo Fenglie’s pupils shrank and his breathing stagnated.

“By then, I wouldn’t even have the energy to hit and curse a certain someone.”

Huo Fenglie’s chaotic mind seemed to be clearing up.

“Perhaps I would even fall into a coma. Even if I woke up in a daze, I could only be held and fed because I didn’t have any strength in my hands and feet.”

The jut of Huo Fenglie’s throat rolled. His pupils quivered, and the veins in his neck began to bulge as if he was trying his utmost to endure something.

The bad intentions in Liu Zhenqing’s eyes became even more obvious. He leaned right toward Huo Fenglie’s ear and sighed softly. “Er-gou, remember to be gentle and moderate.”

Huo Fenglie immediately looked at Liu Zhenqing as if he had been struck by lightning. He saw this person suddenly draw near, and the corner of his lips grew hot as it was licked.

When his eyes refocused, Liu Zhenqing had already pulled away and was moving his mouth as if tasting something. “There was a splash of soup.”

Huo Fenglie’s pupils shrank. In a flash, there was a look in his eyes as if he had lost his mind, and the arms around him suddenly tightened.

But at this moment, Dai Tingyu’s carefree voice sounded from outside. 

“Did I hear that my brother is here?!”

Huo Fenglie froze. Liu Zhenqing blinked. The look in Huo Fenglie’s eyes just now was…..very intriguing.

Liu Zhenqing said with a chuckle: “Hurry and calm down so you don’t get laughed at.” As he said this, he deliberately moved his sitting position. When Huo Fenglie didn’t respond, he quickly jumped away to sit on a stool. When Dai Tingyu came in, he was already sitting in a well-behaved manner and eating breakfast. 

And the ashen-faced Huo Fenglie sat stiffly, his breathing as heavy as if he had just experienced an internal strength competition.

Dai Tingyu was confused at this sight.

“You really are, ah. Didn’t you promise yesterday to go shopping? Let’s go out after you eat. There’s a festival today, so the city is really lively.”

. . . . . . . .

“Won’t you go shopping with me? It’s a rare holiday,” a black-clothed man asked another, who was about to disappear.

“No, we may encounter Huo Fenglie in the city.”

“Then you can’t leave my side.”

“I will protect you in secret.”

“What if I have a conflict with Huo Fenglie?”

“I won’t hurt him, and I’ll protect you.”

---

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Chapter One Hundred Four << Table of Contents >> Chapter One Hundred Six

“Just hang on until the end of class. In a nightmare…..class will still end, won’t it?”

Li Xiu murmured softly as if talking to himself, his voice shaking so much that it was almost discordant.

Fang Qian’an didn’t say anything, but Li Xiu could see the muscles on the tall boy’s back spasm due to how tense they were.

Now, Li Xiu was even more certain that the rebellious, arrogant prince of the Fang family was actually afraid of ghosts.

But Li Xiu currently had no time to mock the other party. Everything in front of him was beyond comprehension. Too terrifying. Too strange. Not to mention Fang Qian’an, who was frightened to the point of madness, even Li Xiu himself, who thought he was indifferent to the supernatural, felt that his spirit was about to collapse.

Was everything in this classroom really a nightmare?

If this was actually a dream, why did it feel so real? So real that Li Xiu couldn’t ignore the rancid stench that gradually became richer in the air, as well as the creepy creaking sound.

It was the sound a wire made when it tightened slightly.

Creak—

The sound rang out again.

No matter how much he didn’t want to look, Li Xiu still caught a glimpse of renewed movement on Ouyang’s side from the corner of his eye.

In the windless classroom, the body spun around in a circle. Now, Ouyang’s toes slowly pointed in Li Xiu’s direction.

[“Wuwu…..I…..can’t breathe…..hurts so much…..”]

The corpse let out wheezes of pain like the buzz of a mosquito.

[“I know I was wrong, I won’t dare do it again…..forgive me…..it hurts…..I can’t breathe…..wuwuwu…..my neck hurts…..”]

The voice seemed to have substance, countless threads wrapping around the thin youth with a bloodless face.

The sound was getting closer and closer.

At last, a swollen head slowly hung upside down in front of Li Xiu’s desk.

No wonder “Ouyang” kept crying about his neck hurting.

Li Xiu had never seen a body transformed like this. Ouyang had been stretched until he was almost transparent at this time, his head hanging like an empty fire hose.

The dead man’s feet could even hit the back of his head.

And Ouyang’s gray, lifeless eyes remained motionless, gazing right into Li Xiu’s eyes.

He repeated: [“I’m sorry, please forgive me”] 

The moment Li Xiu met the eyes of Ouyang’s corpse, he let out a muffled sound.

He raised his hand at once to forcefully cover his mouth.

The youth bit the palm of his hand hard. Because only in this way could he block his terrified screams. In the midst of his excessive mental turmoil, Li Xiu left deep tooth marks on his hand. His mouth filled with the taste of blood, but he couldn’t feel his palm at all.

Perhaps he didn’t feel pain because this was a dream. Of course, it might also be because his brain was now in a state of complete shutdown.

He couldn’t let these things discover…..that he had noticed something abnormal.

Absolutely not.

This was the only thought left in his mind.

“A-Xiu, are you okay? What happened? Your expression is so ugly.”

As Li Xiu shivered in the cold, the worried voice of a classmate came from behind him.

Li Xiu held back the tears of fear in his eyes.

Not looking back, he feigned calmness and said perfunctorily: “I’m fine, I—”

Li Xiu’s voice halted abruptly.

He came to a swift realization.

No way.

Li Xiu’s desk was clearly on the last row of the classroom.

So where had the “classmate” behind him come from?

“But you’re sweating a lot.”

A pair of hands, dry, pale, and with dried blood where the fingernails should be, rested on Li Xiu’s shoulders.

A suffocating chill spread down Li Xiu’s back.

He lowered his head to look at the desk.

Under the fluorescent lights of the classroom, a large shadow fell across Li Xiu’s desk.

Whatever was standing behind Li Xiu right now must be very tall.

Perhaps tall enough to carry the body of a human male and dangle it mid-air.

[“Don’t you like it?”] it asked. 

The pair of hands that definitely didn’t belong to a living person moved up little by little along the sides of Li Xiu’s neck, almost gently stroking away the cold sweat dripping down Li Xiu’s face.

Everywhere they touched, his skin seemed to freeze, cold to the bone.

A smell of earth, dust, and carrion seeped through.

[“Why don’t you like it?”] the thing went on to ask in a quizzical tone.

Li Xiu’s lips quivered. There was no need to cover his mouth with his palm now. He could no longer make a sound.

Such was his fear that even the muscles of his vocal cords had automatically locked up.

What’s more, he didn’t understand what it was talking about at all.

When it didn’t get a response, “it” said without any fluctuation: [“…..Ah. A-Xiu really doesn’t like it.”]

[“Then next time, next time I will prepare something better for you—”]

Before it finished speaking, a certain school bully next to Li Xiu finally lost his nerve and fell into madness.

“Ahhhhh prosperity, democracy, civilization—”

There was a loud noise mixed with Fang Qian’an’s shrill scream. Immediately after, Li Xiu was shocked to see Fang Qian’an directly pick up the desk and launch it heavily into the deformed body of the hanging male teacher. Ouyang flew away, and the rotting corpse exploded like rancid orange under the impact of the table, turning into a black, red, gray, and yellow slurry of internal organs all over the floor.

The great commotion caused all the “people” in class to turn their heads.

Their blank, pupil-less white eyes all stared at Fang Qian’an.

Crack.

Bones wrapped in soft meat made a dull grinding sound at the joints.

The things that weren’t human, but which resembled humans, wobbled as they stood up from their seats. They staggered in Fang Qian’an’s direction.

“Huhu…..hu…..”

“Urgh.”

The “classmates’” mouths were slightly open, but what came out of them were the sharp breaths of a dying person deprived of oxygen.

And behind them was Ouyang, knocked to the floor by the desk. His head was obviously glued to the floor, but his thin, deformed body was still squirming like a snake.

The school bully, panting heavily and pale with fright, just stood there, looking at the “things” gradually approaching him with slightly unfocused eyes.

“Huff…..huff…..huff…..A-Xiu.”

Fang Qian’an turned to look at Li Xiu with a sobbing tone in his voice.

Li Xiu had never known that when a person was exceedingly frightened, their face would turn gray.

“…..Didn’t, didn’t you say that the core values of socialism and scientific laws were useful for this kind of thing?” Fang Qian’an muttered to Li Xiu.

Li Xiu could only give Fang Qian’an a blank look, and after half a beat, he said without rhyme or reason: “M-maybe math is more useful?”

“Heh.”

Someone seemed to laugh in his ear in a low tone.

Before Li Xiu could react, he sensed a strong force coming. He almost flew out of his seat as he was dragged, and realized that he was being held tightly by Fang Qian’an as he ran toward the door of the classroom.

“Justice, rule of law, patriotism, commitment, integrity, the degree of disparity between two arithmetic sequences is N, and hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium—”

As Fang Qian’an ran, he continued to shout until his voice nearly broke.

And what came at the same time was a long, continuous ringing sound.

Dingding…..dingding…..dingding…..

It seemed at first to be the end of class bell, but the real school bell was definitely not as harsh as the sound lingering in their ears at this moment. 

The ringing was simply deafening, and it never stopped. It continued to ring as if it would never end.

Li Xiu was initially worried that the things in the classroom would chase after them. After all, that was what happened in horror movies.

However, after running staggeringly for a short while, they both realized that the hallway was still empty.

The “classmates” hadn’t chased them out.

In one identical classroom after another, the “classmates” just stood upright in front of the class windows side by side, watching the two people fleeing desperately down the hallway.

Staggering as he ran, Li Xiu inadvertently glanced in their direction. Then he gave a violent shudder and forcefully swallowed his sobs, shifting his gaze to the front.

Wrong…..

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

Those “classmates” were just wrong.

He bit his lip to remain silent, but the screaming in his head never stopped.

Even if there were ghosts, they shouldn’t be like this.

Although they looked similar to humans, the eyes on their faces were all on the right or on the left. 

There were also “people” whose facial features were particularly messed up and random.

What…..

What in the world were they?!

“Fuck—”

Just then, Li Xiu heard a fearful, panicked curse from Fang Qian’an in front of him.

The boy braked suddenly, and Li Xiu was caught off guard and ran into his back.

Cupping his nose, Li Xiu poked his head out from behind Fang Qian’an to see what had caused him to stop so urgently.

Just in front of them where the elevators should have been in the real school, now stood a thick brick wall.

That wall was covered in spots of black mold due to moisture and layers of faded talisman papers.

The talisman papers densely covered the entire wall. And the moisture wetted the red cinnabar on papers, turning it into countless bright red streaks that slowly flowed down the wall.

In the center was a small red-painted door.

It looked like a door for pets, only half the size of a normal door. The paint on it was pitted and peeling in many places.

“Isn’t this the fucking wall in the haunted house? You’ve got to be kidding…..”

Fang Qian’an continued to babble as his entire frame trembled with fear in front of Li Xiu. He seemed brave, but from Li Xiu’s perspective, he could clearly see the tears shimmering in the corners of the boy’s eyes.

They had, in fact, seen this door in reality. To be honest, the dead Ouyang in the classroom and the unknown “classmate” things sitting around them were horrifying.

However, standing in front of that wall now, Li Xiu felt a kind of fear that was even colder than the classroom had been.

There was something behind the door.

With no justification at all, Li Xiu could sense this.

And he knew that “it” behind the door was eager to come out.

He heard that sound.

Creak—

The ringing in his ears was still so harsh and loud, but the fine scratching sound coming from the other side of the door, made by fingernails rubbing against metal, directly overshadowed the ringing and penetrated deeply into Li Xiu’s ears.

Somehow, the ringing in the teaching building became increasingly urgent and harsh.

Like it was urging them.

Or perhaps warning them.

At the same time, Li Xiu’s body became heavier and heavier, as well as increasingly cold. Mustering all of his strength, he grabbed Fang Qian’an’s wrist.

The boy’s body was now like that of a zombie, stiff and ice-cold from the fear.

“Fang Qian’an…..”

Li Xiu’s lips pressed together, and the sound was unexpectedly thin and weak.

“We have to escape,” the youth murmured almost absent-mindedly.

Fang Qian’an stared at the wall as if in a daze as Li Xiu led him little by little to the hallway railing.

Screech— 

The scratching sounds became more shrill.

The ringing and scratching sounds overlapped. Li Xiu’s body was so stiff from the extreme cold that he could barely lift his arms.

But still, he gritted his teeth and hugged the fear-stunned Fang Qian’an and pushed him toward the railing.

And just at this moment, Fang Qian’an returned to his senses. 

He instinctively clenched Li Xiu’s hand.

“A-Xiu?”

“Like you said, we’re just having a nightmare,” Li Xiu murmured to Fang Qian’an.

“I’ve heard of a method. If you want to wake up from a dream, you just need to jump off a high place.”

Fang Qian’an’s pupils constricted slightly.

He held onto Li Xiu in a much more relaxed way than before, and jumped onto the railing.

“You said it yourself.” While speaking, Fang Qian’an glanced downstairs. His voice suddenly stopped.

Li Xiu immediately felt Fang Qian’an’s muscles tense.

“If, and I’m saying if we’re not dreaming, our deaths will be a bit ugly if we jump from such a height.”

Fang Qian’an smiled bravely at Li Xiu, but his smile was uglier than if he was crying.

Li Xiu took a deep breath, and was about to respond when the constant ringing in his ears suddenly cut off.

Creak—

In the suddenly quiet school, the sharp creaking sound of an old door opening was particularly clear.

In abject terror, he could only hug Fang Qian’an tightly.

Fang Qian’an also hugged Li Xiu.

The two looked at each other and then, with a hint of despair, they fell toward the railing.

And jumped from the building.

At the last moment before they leaped, Li Xiu looked at the door that had been pushed open.

Perhaps it was a trick of the light.

It could also be an illusion created by the nightmare itself.

Li Xiu saw a dry, nailless hand stretch out from the darkness behind the red door, then wave in his direction.

Like it was saying— 

[See you later.]

*

Boom—

The Fang residence, first floor.

As Aunt Su was making breakfast, she heard her young master’s shrill scream and a loud bang from upstairs.

The vibration was so great that it almost made her think Fang Qian’an had demolished his room.

Startled, Aunt Su quickly turned off the flames and rushed toward Fang Qian’an’s room on the second floor.

“Qian’an? What’s wrong? What happened?” Aunt Su asked in a panic while knocking on the door.

After a long time, so long that she was already considering whether to call the police, Fang Qian’an’s door opened from the inside.

“…..I’m fine.”

Fang Qian’an held onto the doorknob and looked at Aunt Su with a strange expression for a moment, then said slowly word by word: “I just. Had a nightmare.”

Since he’d woken up from the nightmare, everything should be fine…..right?

---

The Author Has Something to Say:

Proud ghost brother: A-Xiu, ah, do you like this hanging Ouyang-laoshi or those maggot-spitting minions?

Huh? You don’t like any of them, ah.

It’s okay, Gege will find new bad guys to kill for you.

Truly, our family’s A-Xiu is so good. He just likes to act coquettishly.

This is what a gege should do, but look at you, why are you crying from joy?

---

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Chapter 19 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 21

After leaving the coffee shop, Pei Xi didn’t go to the company, but went directly home.

The door lock needed to be replaced.

He contacted professionals to come over and took advantage of the time to casually settle down for dinner. When the lock changer left, Pei Xi sent the password to He Chuzhou via text message.

Of course, in order to prevent “Pei-calico” from causing trouble due to suspicion and curiosity, he deleted the record after the password was successfully sent.

The next step was to consider the allocation of waking time and subsequent work arrangements.

He struggled to balance his work and physical condition, but fortune suddenly smiled upon him and he thought of a possibility.

If every time he fell asleep and woke up was like flipping a switch in his brain, was it possible to control his confused state reliably?

For example, after falling asleep in his right mind, waking up early in the morning and falling asleep again during a confused state, he could still be in his right mind when he woke up in the morning.

In this case, it was entirely possible to compress his confused time to the the midnight hours where it wouldn’t affect his work or cause He Chuzhou too much trouble.

At most, he only needed to hug someone in the middle of the night to comfort himself and not run around, and all of his problems would be solved.

Why hadn’t he thought of such a simple method before?

Plans needed to be put into practice to produce results.

It was now 9 o’clock in the evening. With great expectations, he set an alarm for himself for 12 o’clock, then showered as quickly as possible, drank a glass of milk, and went to bed.

The overload of work during the day caused him to quickly fall into a deep sleep as his mind and body simultaneously relaxed.

Time passed silently while he was in a state of deep sleep.

Three hours passed by in a flash. The cell phone placed next to his pillow vibrated in a timely manner, and the screen lit up at twelve.

Pei Xi reached for his phone and turned off the alarm. He opened his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling.

In the next second, it was like he was waking up from a dream.

He sat up and calmed himself down for a moment, then checked the time again. Finally, he realized there was a discrepancy between reality and what he had imagined, and he was not confused at all.

Why was this?

Had he not slept enough?

No, that couldn’t be it.

The time he got drunk with Xie Ling at the party and became brain-addled, he had obviously slept for a shorter time.

It wasn’t a matter of time or personal reasons, but external factors.

Could it be…..

He remembered.

It was the same last time.

That time in He Chuzhou’s office, when he woke up in the lounge, he hadn’t recovered from his brain-addled state.

He woke up that time because of He Chuzhou knocking down his cell phone. This time, it was because of the alarm clock.

The only two times he awakened sober were because of external influences.

So was the answer that he must fall asleep naturally and wake up naturally?

Did this mean that from now on, as long as he prevented himself from waking up naturally, he wouldn’t enter a brain-addled state again?

But if this was true, did this mean it had been disrupting his brain’s natural repair process and would result in more serious consequences than now?

What’s more, there were too many uncontrolled factors such as hypoglycemia and fainting that last time, and the doctor had told him to get enough rest during his recovery period……

The clues he thought of became complicated and unsolvable again after some thought.

Forget it.

He closed his eyes in exhaustion and lowered his head, pressing the heel of his palm between his eyebrows as he finally gave up the struggle.

So be it. Let nature take its course.

In any case, hadn’t He Chuzhou agreed to help him?

As for the work, it was only two days of work packed into one day.

The last day off could be considered a holiday for himself.

His interrupted sleepiness didn’t return for a while.

He opened his phone and was just clicking around on WeChat aimlessly, but found an additional friend request.

The name was a string of star symbols, and the avatar was a photo of He Xingxing leaning close to the camera. He could tell who it was without looking at the message.

He moved his finger and clicked through.

Then he returned to the list and clicked on the chat box. The system reminded him that he had added a friend and encouraged him to start chatting.

He subconsciously stared at the large blank space and waited solemnly for a while.

He couldn’t wait for the other party’s avatar to appear. It took him a moment to realize that he hadn’t seen the message, because the other party would definitely send a reply at once.

There was no time displayed on the friend request. Perhaps it had already been sent a long time ago and the other party had gone to bed.

He completely ignored the feeling of disappointed expectations and logged out of WeChat, opening his mailbox. There were several insignificant work documents inside.

However, his fingertips paused midair.

After a moment’s hesitation, he swiped right and returned to WeChat, clicked on He Chuzhou’s avatar, and entered his friend circle.

The first thing he saw was He Xingxing.

There were three, five, and nine-square grids, interspersed with live videos of the playful puppy. 

Some were at home, some were in the community garden, and some were in the car or a pet clinic.

Eating, sleeping, bathing, holding a frisbee in his mouth, being made to stand still……

He scrolled down slowly, clicking on pictures from time to time to examine them closely.

There was no time limit for viewing He Chuzhou’s moments. If he wanted, he could browse everything up until the day the account was created.

Not only was there the puppy, but also stray cats he met by chance and sumptuous dinners when he returned to his parents’ house on weekends or holidays. There were shots of unfamiliar plants growing in his father’s garden, as well as a young girl rolling her book into a tube and beating him. 

The writing was very concise, and when read together with the photos, it appeared particularly relaxed and amusing.

However, there was one outlier. The description was extremely long, with an entire six lines criticizing “Pei Xi” for being crafty, stingy, and loving to complain. 

The accompanying photo was also the only one in which he appeared.

The location in the photo didn’t look like the villa he lived in now. It was decorated entirely in a Chinese style, with a circle of green plants on the balcony.

He was crouching there in a white sleeveless shirt and shorts, holding a giant pair of scissors in his hand. It appeared that he was seriously considering which branch of the potted tree to prune.

Instead of looking like an uncle, he wore it with the laid-back vigor of a university student. Sunlight seemed to leap across every leaf around him, jostling together but too shy to get close.

Pei Xi stared at the photo for a long time before clicking to exit. 

This post was obviously written by He Aiyue, but He Chuzhou actually kept it without deleting it.

In the stillness of the night, it was easy for a person to become absorbed. Unknowingly, he turned back the timeline to the beginning of last year, not even noticing when the corners of his mouth curled up a bit.

But when he looked up from the coziness of the screen, he saw the dark, empty room, and the cold lights outside the window, that small arc vanished.

As the light of the cell phone dimmed, his mind gradually went blank. 

So what should he do tomorrow?

He thought, if Pei-calico woke up alone tomorrow, what kind of story would he make up to trouble He Chuzhou?

Was there anything he could do to prevent this trouble?

After all of this pondering, he still didn’t come to a conclusion. When drowsiness closed in, he pulled up the quilt and once again wrapped himself in that soft, thin shell.

He couldn’t, wouldn’t think about it. 

That person would find a way.

In any case, he was the best at coaxing him.

*

*

Because the curtains weren’t closed, the first ray of morning sunlight spread boldly from the window to the foot of the bed.

The person on the bed couldn’t sleep peacefully in the bright environment. He rolled over in the quilt, then opened his eyes hazily and sat up in bed.

He looked at the empty space next to him, then sized up the empty room. Before he had time to think, he heard the sound of the door opening in the living room.

He got out of bed and opened the door to see a neatly-dressed He Chuzhou leisurely placing food in packaging bags on the table.

Pei Xi: “……?”

Pei Xi was uncertain: “Chuzhou, you went out to buy breakfast so early?”

“Yes, ah.” He Chuzhou said with a smile, “Go wash your face and change clothes, then come and eat.”

Pei Xi felt like something was wrong, but couldn’t think of what it could be. He drowsily went back to the bedroom, brushed his teeth, and changed his clothes. When he came out, he saw a table full of food.

He was once again dumbfounded.

“Why…..did you buy so much?”

Standing at the dining table in astonishment, he subconsciously opened his mouth when He Chuzhou fed a bite of fragrant shrimp to him: “Can we finish eating it?”

His confused expression made He Chuzhou’s hands itch, and he couldn’t help but pinch his face: “Not entirely, it’s just a sense of ritual that is finally justified. We’ll eat as much as we can. If we can’t finish it, I’ll bring it to the company and my assistant will take care of it.”

Pei Xi sat on the stool he pulled out, at a loss: “Justified? What do you mean?”

“You’ll understand later.”

He Chuzhou smiled and didn’t say much. After having breakfast together, he took him directly to the company. Pei Xi didn’t expect this, and was anxious: “I’m always going to your company. Will it affect your work?”

“You haven’t recovered yet. Leaving you alone would affect my work.”

He Chuzhou drove the car into the underground parking deck. He turned off the engine and got out, then walked around to the passenger seat and opened the door: “Or do you mean that you don’t want to come and would rather stay home and rest?”

He didn’t have a problem with this, but he would have to install surveillance cameras at home or find a nanny to help care for him.

However, Pei-calico was unable to separate from him. Instead of having others take care of him, it was better to take him along for peace of mind.

Pei Xi immediately shook his head upon hearing this, and when he got out of the car, he hugged him quickly before letting go. He said honestly: “I want to be with you.”

The warmth that had rushed into his arms vanished in an instant, but the sensation was still there.

It felt like a pampered little animal had pounced on his heart with no claws outstretched, only touching it with soft pads.

He Chuzhou’s lips unconsciously curled up. He rubbed Pei Xi and held his hand naturally, turning toward the elevator: “Okay, President He will take you wherever he goes.”

First time new, second time skilled. The route up here away from the public eye was already well-trodden.

But it was difficult to avoid the masses, and some people were still hard to guard against.

When Yun Ji entered the office with files in his arms, the sight of his cousin working like a spinning top behind the computer while his nemesis reclined on the sofa with a blanket across his knees, leisurely fishing for electronic sharks. His entire being went numb.

After reporting on his work in a daze, he immediately rushed forward when Pei Xi returned to the lounge: “What in the world is going on? Did you actually reel him in?”

He Chuzhou: “ ? ”

He Chuzhou stopped typing: “Reel who in? What are you making up in your head?”

Yun Ji pointed at the lounge. Afraid of being overheard, he lowered his voice: “How else can this be explained?”

He Chuzhou said casually: “The weather is nice, can’t he come over for a visit?”

Yun Ji’s mouth twitched: “You’ve been poisoned. Do you two have such a relationship where you can visit each other?”

He Chuzhou continued to type on the keyboard: “Why not? Doesn’t this work well?

Yun Ji took in his expression suspiciously, squinting his eyes in thought: “Sure enough, there is no such thing as groundless rumors.”

He Chuzhou: “What rumors?”

“Of course it’s about you and…..”

Yun Ji pointed to the lounge: “Rumors have already spread a lot about that guy in there.”

When he heard this, He Chuzhou finally reacted. He raised his head with a frown: “Tell me more.”

Yun Ji: “Didn’t you buy a bracelet at a sky-high price and give it to Pei Xi? It seems that everyone has been spreading the word since then, saying you’re pursuing Pei Xi in an ostentatious manner. And you have shit luck pursuing him, so you can’t wait to snatch him up…..”

Yun Ji: “No, what’s with your expression of enjoyment? Brother, I’m not narrating a story for you!”

He Chuzhou: “It’s more interesting than a story.”

Yun Ji: “You’re still happy? I can’t think of what kind of storyline to lay out for you.”

Lay out a storyline……

That was fine.

As long as he didn’t lay one out for Pei Xi.

“Do whatever, just don’t make too much trouble.”

He didn’t take to heart. But out of the blue, he thought of something and specifically told Yun Ji: “Just take it as a joke. Don’t talk nonsense in front of your parents and aunt.”

“Why, are you afraid Auntie will rejoice too soon?”

Yun Ji grinned: “If you can really do it, my auntie will die of joy when her son is finally successful. Not only does he know how to abduct a cabbage, he also abducted such a good one…..”

He Chuzhou: “I’ll increase your salary.”

Yun Ji: “Okay! This didi will keep his mouth shut!”

He Chuzhou finished the day’s work in the morning. After a meeting at noon to divide up tasks, he openly skipped work with Pei Xi in tow.

It could make up for the big meal that didn’t happen last time.

It was still early when they left the restaurant. He Chuzhou asked Pei Xi if he wanted to watch a movie, but Pei Xi shook his head without hesitation: “There are too many people at a movie theater.”

He Chuzhou: “Are you afraid of the noise?”

“No.” Pei Xi looked at him: “I don’t want to watch one with so many people, just you.”

“…..”

He Chuzhou sucked in a breath and silently covered his heart at the door of the restaurant.

Then he began to consider if it was too late to go to the rooftop cinema and tell the staff to book the entire venue.

---

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Chapter 25 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 27

As soon as he arrived at school, Li Xiu realized that there was something wrong with the entire class’s atmosphere today.

It was too quiet.

It was as if a mute button had been pressed, even for the whispering and flipping of pages that should be occurring during morning self-study.

His brow furrowed, and as soon as he entered the classroom, he saw someone lying on the table next to his seat.

Fang Qian’an’s figure was so recognizable that even though the boy currently had his face buried in his arms, Liu Xiu recognized him at a glance.

Very good. This prince was able to catch up on sleep during morning self-study without any scruples or psychological pressure.

It should be for this reason that the others in class were worried about disturbing Fang Qian’an and were utterly quiet, right?

Li Xiu looked over the classroom casually and found that everyone’s expressions were a bit odd, all of them staring blankly at their textbooks without saying a word.

“……”

He looked away, pursing his lips as he looked at the back of Fang Qian’an’s head.

Why was this guy still here? 

Li Xiu complained unwillingly in his heart.

When he thought of how Fang Qian’an had disturbed his class the day before, the youth fell into a gloomy mood.

Thanks to the special phone call Fang Qian’an made to him last night, Li Xiu hadn’t slept very well. His head was as heavy as lead at this time, and he couldn’t squeeze out any extra energy. Thus, no matter how much displeasure he aimed at Fang Qian’an, Li Xiu could only lower his eyes and pretend not to care. Crossing the narrow space between Fang Qian’an and his seat, he reached his spot.

There was no movement from Fang Qian’an. He seemed to be sleeping deeply.

Li Xiu glanced in his direction and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he wasn’t awake.

Good, at least he didn’t have to deal with this young master right then.

Li Xiu took yesterday’s unfinished paper from his school bag to write a couple of pages, but as he did so, he found that he couldn’t concentrate.

The students in Class 1A…..seemed to be a little too quiet today. This thought was like dark clouds in the sky, passing gloomily through his mind.

Was Fang Qian’an really that scary? Scary to such a degree that they weren’t even discussing the breaking news from last night? As Li Xiu thought, he habitually glanced at the class schedule in the corner of the blackboard.

It read: 

First period: English

Second period: English

Third period: English

Fourth period: English

Li Xiu’s pupils shrank, and he sat woodenly in his seat.

He recalled very clearly that today’s lessons were never supposed to be a full day of English. And hadn’t it been said yesterday that Ouyang, who was in charge of English, had disappeared and might even have hanged himself?

Had the school already found a substitute teacher?

But even if there was a substitute, why would there be a full day of English?

Just as Li Xiu was thinking wildly, the class bell suddenly rang.

In the silence of the classroom, the bell sounded particularly harsh. Immediately after, a slender figure stepped inside right on time.

It was Ouyang.

Ouyang, who had confessed the night before to molesting minors and committed suicide out of fear and guilt.

The man still looked the same as he did before, with a good-looking face and humorous and witty speech.

Other than his face being a little pale today, Ouyang looked no different than usual.

Ouyang said with a smile: “Aiya, it’s English all day today. It looks like the students have a heavy-learning task today…..”

He had a slight slur as he spoke.

His lips were slightly purple. Li Xiu didn’t know if he was seeing it wrong, but at a quick glance, he seemed to see red and black blood all over Ouyang’s teeth.

Li Xiu gulped.

He couldn’t help but look around again, finding that all of his classmates appeared calm.

They just looked at the handsome, witty, humorous internet celebrity male teacher at the podium as if there was nothing unusual. 

If there really was something off, it was that they seemed to be much more serious about class today than usual.

What exactly was going on…..

Li Xiu felt dizzy.

He hesitated for a while before realizing that Fang Qian’an might have tricked him.

That vague phone call yesterday was actually fake news, wasn’t it?

What kind of stupid, boring joke was this?

No, no way. Only a fool like him would believe anything that came out of a bully’s mouth, right?

Li Xiu sent a sharp look toward Fang Qian’an beside him. The latter was still lying on the table motionlessly, never making any movement.

He was deeply asleep.

Just as Li Xiu was distracted by Fang Qian’an, at the podium, the pale-faced English teacher had already opened his mouth to start teaching as usual.

“…..Alright, let’s talk about the third reading question on yesterday’s paper.”

Li Xiu stared blankly when he heard this.

Generally speaking, lecture topics began with basic questions, so why did Ouyang start out with the reading questions today? Following the teacher’s command, Li Xiu looked at the paper at hand.

The title of the English material used in the question was: <<The Death Car>>.

The reading material was not very difficult. The plot with a bit of pop-horror style could even be considered rather interesting. This story told the tale of a couple who were driving at night, but the car broke down halfway. The husband left the car to find some help, and the reason the wife waited there was not for her husband to return. She waited because of the constant knocking sound coming from the roof.

The trembling wife hid in the car until the police arrived, and finally learned what was going on with the banging sound lingering above the car all night.

The murderer had hung her husband directly from a tree branch above the car.

The toes of the deceased were constantly hitting the roof…..

…..

Although he felt that the order of Ouyang’s lecture was wrong, Li Xiu still instinctively picked up a pen to take notes due to years of habit.

“…..Hanging is very painful.”

However, what the male voice in his ears spoke of was not the English question.

“It really, really hurts. The wire is so thin that it sticks in the throat. It hurts more than a stab from a knife…..no matter how hard you try to dig with your hands, you can’t use any strength at all…..”

The pen in Li Xiu’s hand came to a stop.

He continued to maintain a posture as if listening intently to the lecture, but his fingers began to slightly shake against his will.

Ouyang’s voice in the classroom became increasingly unclear. It seemed as if his vocal cords had been damaged, or something was stuck in his mouth.

“Hu…..hu…..”

Ouyang’s breathing also became abnormally labored.

“The body also becomes very heavy. It keeps pulling down, down, pulling on the neck…..when you hear a strange clicking sound, you will know, ah, it turns out the cervical vertebra has broken…..”

Along with the increasingly strange narration, Li Xiu’s fingers coated in cold sweat became extremely smooth and slippery, and he accidentally dropped the pen on the floor.

Ouyang’s muttering stopped abruptly.

The sound of the gel pen falling to the floor was incredibly clear.

Li Xiu’s mouth felt dry for a spell.

“Li Xiu, you dropped your pen.”

A nearby classmate alerted him.

“Oh.”

Li Xiu lowered his head, not daring to look up at Ouyang. He gingerly bent down and prepared to pick up the pen on the floor.

The moment he grabbed it and was about to sit up, Li Xiu glanced around.

And this glance instantly caused Li Xiu’s back to break out in a cold sweat.

He saw the feet of his “classmates.”

They were all backwards.

Obviously, everyone was sitting upright in their seats, facing the blackboard.

However, under their seats, Li Xiu could see clearly that their toes were all pointing toward the back of the classroom.

[A-Xiu, ah…..what are you watching that troubles you so?]

[Grandmother, wuwuwu…..I’m so afraid…..the g-ghost’s heels are raised….wuwu…..that auntie has been tiptoeing too…..]

[Silly boy, that stuff on TV is all nonsense. Grandma will tell you, real ghosts…..]

[Their feet grow backwards.]

Inexplicably, a vague conversation suddenly leaped out of his chaotic and distant sea of memories.

Bang—

Li Xiu sat up abruptly and his body hit the table hard, creating a loud noise.

He gritted his teeth as panic caused his heart to beat wildly. 

His mind went blank.

But just at this moment, he heard a thin, trembling voice come from his side.

“Don’t scream.”

“Don’t let them find out…..”

Li Xiu turned his eyes with difficulty to meet the gaze of the boy beside him, peeking through the gap in his arms.

“Oh…..my neck hurts…..oooh, it hurts, ah…..”

Ouyang’s teaching voice turned completely into gasps and wails of extreme pain.

In the bone-chilling cold air, Li Xiu tensely exchanged looks with the pale-faced former school bully.

“Find out what?” Li Xiu asked almost at the volume of a breath, trembling.

“That you’ve discovered them.”

“What exactly is going on?”

Fang Qian’an didn’t answer Li Xiu this time, and just continued to bury his face in his arms.

A hand suddenly grabbed Li Xiu.

It was Fang Qian’an’s.

His hand was just like Li Xiu’s, cold as ice.

It’s a dream, he wrote carefully on Li Xiu’s palm.

Yes, ah.

Everything he was experiencing must be a nightmare.

Fang Qian’an told this to himself desperately, because only in this way would he not be scared completely insane.

He no longer remembered how many dreams within dreams he had gone through.

This time, he even thought he was truly awake. After all, he had experienced getting up in the morning and Aunt Su making breakfast for him. But when he sat down in the classroom, he suddenly realized that something wasn’t right. Completely the opposite of Li Xiu, who studied hard and had no distractions, the carefree school bully soon saw the situation under the seats.

Everyone in the classroom had similar faces.

They……

They weren’t human at all.

Yes, this is just a dream, this is just a dream, this is just a dream— —

Just wait until the dream is over.

As long as I’m not discovered.

In the shadow of his arms, Fang Qian’an continued to mumble silently to himself.

And beside this young master who was about to have a mental breakdown, Li Xiu was also shaking uncontrollably.

He had just glanced toward the podium from the corner of his eye, and Ouyang’s figure had vanished at some point.

Only the “students” with dull and lifeless faces were in the classroom, sitting there motionless.

Very good, at least…..

At least Ouyang was gone.

If this was a nightmare, the worst part was over.

Li Xiu strived to stay calm, but at this moment, a shadow flashed in the corner of his eye.

The youth’s movements suddenly stiffened.

After a good while, Li Xiu rapidly gasped for breath as he looked to the side.

He saw a pair of feet.

It was a long-dead corpse, its toes already the rotting red color of decay. Some long-dried excrement caked the insides of its calves and ankles in black.

The nails on its toes had fallen off due to a violent struggle, and presently, those feet were hanging in front of Fang Qian’an’s desk.

Swaying.

And swaying.

Tears oozed from Li Xiu’s eyes.

He stared unseeingly at the papers on his desk, his eyes focused on the last sentence of the reading material.

[…..his feet were bumping gently on the roof of the car — bump, bump, bump, bump.]

Fang Qian’an obviously sensed the presence of those feet.

His shoulders shook violently.

Li Xiu’s lips trembled and he made a whimpering sound.

He said, “Fang Qian’an, don’t raise your head.”

---

The Author Has Something to Say:

En, the English reading material actually exists. It’s called “The Death Car,” and the English excerpts in the story also come from it.

---

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Chapter 18 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 20

The Fang residence, seven in the evening.

The Fang family had a two-story duplex in the most exclusive landmark building in City A.

When Fang Qian’an returned from Beijing with his gloomy father, they abandoned the other houses and immediately took up residence here.

In his opinion, there was nothing to dislike here. In any case, a well-known designer was hired for the building. The house was very well-decorated, with large swathes of black, white, and gray. The place didn’t look lived in, devoid of human touch.

But today, in this humanless house, the uncommon aroma of food wafted through.

“Qian’an, what’s wrong? I see you’ve barely moved your chopsticks. Does the food today not suit your tastes?”

A slightly fawning female voice sounded at the large dining table.

Fang Qian’an raised his head from his phone and sent a cold glance at the young woman.

Even the facial features brimming with artificiality couldn’t hide the abundant collagen on the woman’s face. Fang Qian’an thought she looked a bit familiar, and distractedly checked online. Sure enough, she was a little star. According to the web page, she was…..not a few years older than him.

But such a woman had become his father’s female companion.

Fang Qian’an’s eyes turned toward the tall man at the end of the dining table, and it was very difficult to hide the ridicule in his eyes.

But he could probably understand the woman’s choice — although in Fang Qian’an’s eyes, that man was just an old fuck, the other’s appearance did have a distinct advantage compared to other wealthy entrepreneurs of the same age. Coupled with the wealth and power represented by the Fang family, it was no surprise that the man made others stick to him like a moth to flame.

As for the woman who had appeared at the table now, she was not the same as those voluptuous, heavily made-up ones from before. She looked faintly like a good wife and mother…..

Well, the old man had reached the age where he couldn’t take all the women crowding around him and was thinking about maintaining his health.

No wonder he even brought someone home.

Thinking aimlessly, Fang Qian’an said nothing.

The woman observed the indifferent young man at the other end of the table, a trace of anxiety flashing through her eyes. She knew better than anyone how important this “dinner” tonight was for her, and couldn’t help but make overtures toward Fang Qian’an at this time.

“Qian’an is still a student now, and is using his brain more. Come, eat some sea cucumber, it’s good for your health…..”

The woman’s tone was extremely loving and gentle, as if she truly regarded Fang Qian’an as her own child.

But this “gentleness” fell into Fang Qian’an’s ears and directly had the opposite effect.

There was a fishy taste in Fang Qian’an’s mouth, and he felt entirely nauseated.

“Don’t put this plaything in front of me. It disgusts me.” He finally spoke, but his tone was incredibly rude.

The woman’s face immediately paled.

His father, Mr. Fang, raised his head at once to give his son a warning glance. “Fang Qian’an, where has your good upbringing gone?”

The moment the man finished speaking, Fang Qian’an suddenly stood up and overturned the entire table.

The expensive slate fell to the floor with a deafening sound. The stone imported from Italy at an astronomical cost shattered everywhere, the expensive bone china tableware was smashed to pieces, and the equally expensive high-end ingredients were mixed into a mess of soup and water on the floor.

The woman was frightened, and ran away screaming to her benefactor.

The live-in housemaid and the security personnel also rushed out from where they were resting in the housemaid’s room and surrounded the dining room in an instant. Then everyone exchanged confused looks at this chaotic scene.

After having done all of this, Fang Qian’an stood up and kicked over his chair, looking at his father with his hands in his pockets.

“I don’t know where my good upbringing has gone. I only know that, well, someone with a good upbringing probably wouldn’t bring the mistress he found home while his wife is still alive, right?” He tilted his head, looking straight at the man. “…..By the way, it seems you and mother haven’t gotten divorced yet. You asked me where my good upbringing went, and I also want to ask you, Fang Chengke, where has your moral integrity gone?”

He finished speaking with a cold sneer. Immediately afterward, he saw his father stand up as well.

The man was in the prime of his life and had a robust figure. And Fang Qian’an’s amazing height was also inherited from Fang Chengke.

“Little beast…..you’re asking for it again.” Fang Chengke’s expression was extremely ugly.

“Heh, humans beget humans and beasts beget beasts. If I’m a little beast, then doesn’t that make you an old beast—”

With a pa, Fang Qian’an’s voice was interrupted by the man’s slap.

“You’re crazy, just like your deranged mother.”

It was clear that Fang Qian’an’s behavior had caused Fang Chengke to lose face in front of his young lover, and the man was furious.

With a command, Fang Qian’an was directly shoved to the ground. That was Fang Chenke’s security personnel that he had hired at a high price. Even though Fang Qian’an could be considered invincible in a school fight, he was ultimately defeated by the well-trained professionals.

There was sharp pain in his knee and elbow joints as Fang Qian’an half-knelt on the ground with his head pressed down.

The timid housemaid came forward tremblingly and gave Fang Chengke a belt.

The belt was not cheap goods, and was very heavy.

The tall man wrapped the belt around his wrist and stuck the remaining part in his palm. The other end of the belt hung down from his hand, swaying slightly like a black python.

Fang Qian’an stared at his father and wanted to scream: You old waste of oxygen. If you have the ability, let me go and fight me one-on-one.

But his voice stuck in his throat, and he found that he couldn’t say a word.

In fact, the two people behind him really hadn’t used much force. After all, Fang Qian’an was still the sole heir of the Fang family, and no one would dare to be truly ruthless. 

If he struggled like his life depended on it, Fang Qian’an knew that he could still break free of their control.

But in reality, he could only kneel motionlessly under the control of the security personnel. The moment Fang Chengke had taken out the belt, he was instantly unable to move, as if a spell had been placed on him.

Fang Chengke didn’t miss the fleeting fear on Fang Qian’an’s face, and the man instantly felt at ease.

He raised his arm high, fiercely swinging the belt toward Fang Qian’an.

With a crack as the air split, the belt hit Fang Qian’an hard.

The first thing that registered was not the pain, but the force of impact. Then, an intense, burning agony began to ignite his nerves like flames.

Fang Qian’an was beaten heavily on his back and arms — Fang Chengke was very experienced in beating him, and would never leave marks in conspicuous places.

Fang Qian’an struggled for a moment, a fishy taste in his mouth. He raised his head and glared at Fang Chengke.

The pain was obviously great, but he couldn’t help but smile with a twisted expression. “How about you just beat me to death and fulfill your dream.”

Under Fang Qian’an’s provocation, Feng Chengke hoisted the belt again.

Pa—

“You’ve lost your mind!” The man cursed. “I should have put you and that demented woman in the mental hospital together.”

“How could you let me go…..cough…..if you sent me away, how could you take advantage of my mother’s money…..”

“If I had known you were such a little beast, I would have let you die.”

Pa—

“It’s exactly as the experts said at the outset, you deserve to die in a mental hospital. You were born to die early. I tried my best to fucking raise you up, but it turns out that I just raised a bearer of ill luck. I haven’t seen anything good about you as you’ve grown up, and I let you ruin my good fortune…..”

Pa—

In the luxurious, modern dining room, the sounds of a heavy beating lasted half an hour.

Seeing the pale-faced Fang Qian’an covered in cold sweat yet still silent, Fang Chengke’s expression changed unpredictably and he put the belt down, panting.

“One day you’ll be staying in the same place as your mother…..lunatic…..”

Fang Chengke looked at his son on the floor. That face clearly resembled his own. But he seemed to see that woman in it too, that woman who was, strictly speaking, his “wife.”

That woman who was as emaciated as a skeleton, like a monster, had looked like this back then. Had fallen to the floor expressionlessly, not looking in any particular direction.

[Fang Chengke, he won’t let us go.]

[I know…..he will definitely come back to find us….wuwuwu….]

[It’s our fault. Chengke, we really did something wrong. How could we treat a child like that? And Xue Lin, we owe her too…..]

[But what can I do…..wuwu…..sorry, Xue Lin, I’m so sorry…..but Xiao An, Xiao An is my child, there was no other way…..]

[Chengke, I know you think I’m crazy, but I’m not…..heehee…..I know this better than anyone else. Look, that child Xue Lin is always watching us…..haven’t you seen? He said he would make our lives worse than death, falling into hell forever…..]

[We can’t escape, Chengke…..]

[No one can escape.]

The babbling words his wife had repeated before her mental breakdown seemed to ring in his ears again.

Fang Chengke felt an inexplicable chill, but very soon, that trace of cowardice that flashed through his heart gave rise to an increasingly powerful anger.

He kicked the weakened Fang Qian’an to the ground, then turned his head to regard his female companion.

“Xiao Mei, you change clothes and we’ll go out to eat.”

After this experience, the woman was so frightened that her face was ashen, and she could barely stutter.

 “B-but…..” She looked at Fang Qian’an, her tone panicked.

“Be obedient.”

Fang Chengke’s face darkened. The woman fell silent for a moment, then obediently snuggled up to his side and left the room with him.

After watching the elevator descend with that man and counting the floors to the first floor, the live-in housemaid who had been caring for Fang Qian’an rushed to him in a fluster.

Aunt Su, the housemaid, watched the boy stand up from the floor unsteadily and said with an expression of distress:  “Young Master, oh heavens, how are you, ah? Why are you so obstinate? You know Mr. Fang has a bad temper, don’t just confront him head-on, ah. Look at your injuries, ai, wait for Auntie to get you medicine…..”

“No need.” Although his body felt like it was on fire, Fang Qian’an resisted the urge to grimace, and pretended to be calm.

“I’ll just go to my room and apply it myself. The medicine from last time hasn’t been used up yet.”

As he spoke, Fang Qian’an turned and headed for his room on the second floor. 

With a face full of awkwardness, Aunt Su followed two steps behind him.

But Fang Qian’an didn’t look back. He forced himself to rush into the room, then slammed the door.

As soon as he closed the door, Fang Qian’an could no longer control his facial expression. He cried out in pain and sat on the ground. “Fuck, it hurts to death…..”

After a long period of gasping for air, Fang Qian’an finally regained some strength. Hunched over, he went to the attached bathroom and gingerly removed his clothes in front of the mirror.

As a young man, he had an excellent body shape with broad shoulders and well-defined muscles.

However, such a body that should be pleasing to the eye was actually covered in deep and shallow bruises and scars of different colors. Some had begun to turn yellow and fade away, while others were still a shocking purple. As for the ones that had just been left on his body, each one was still bright red.

Fang Qian’an didn’t pay much attention to the bruises. He turned slightly sideways and observed the side of his waist through the mirror. After making sure that there were no traces of the beating near the thirty-centimeter surgical scar on his side, his tense expression softened a fraction.

“Old beast—” Fang Qian’an cursed with a distorted face. “That kick was no good. You dared to kick laozi in the waist…..”

Fang Chengke’s kick before he left was so sudden that Fang Qian’an could protect that area. It had almost scared him to death. 

Fortunately, the man hadn’t kicked this area.

Once his mind relaxed, the pain became less bearable.

While Fang Qian’an was enduring hard, there was a knock on the door from Aunt Su.

“Qian’an, ah, you didn’t eat anything tonight. Auntie made you some midnight snacks. If you’re hungry, you can pad your stomach.”

Knowing Fang Qian’an’s character, Aunt Su left after setting the food tray on the floor.

And once Fang Qian’an ensured that there was no further movement at the door, he opened it quickly and dragged the food tray into the room.

He was really starving to death—

It should be known that today at noon, he had gone to the cafeteria with his followers to eat. He didn’t know why, but the chef who was said to have been hired from a five-star hotel went crazy today.

The food he made tasted terrible.

In addition to being given a severe fright in the morning, Fang Qian’an promptly gave up on eating after one chopstick-full. He had been famished until now, and his stomach was practically tied in knots.

Fang Qian’an picked up the cup of soup first. Aunt Su was from the south, and the soup he had drank since childhood tasted particularly delicious.

However, just as the thick and delicious fish maw chicken soup entered his mouth, Fang Qian’an could only retch.

Disgusting.

In fact, it still tasted like chicken soup, but Fang Qian’an could inexplicably taste a fishy flavor.

Just like when he was eating in the cafeteria at noon.

Fang Qian’an instantly lost his appetite.

If these were normal times, Fang Qian’an would certainly not wrong himself, and would certainly find a way to get someone to get something for him to eat. But now his whole body hurt everywhere, and he was no longer in the mood to enjoy it.

Forget it, he felt like sleeping.

As Fang Qian’an thought, he lay on his bed. His back burned with pain as he laid down helplessly. He rolled back and forth in bed for a while, unable to fall asleep. Finally, in order to divert his attention, he had to look at his phone.

There was a group on his app that had been flashing a lot today. It was originally a group specially established for each school class to facilitate communication. Usually, other than the teachers who posted announcements and the like, nobody spoke on here at all. But today, Fang Qian’an glanced at it and found that the zombie group was actually a fake corpse. When he clicked in to have a look, there were countless people chatting at a rapid pace as the chat scrolled. Before he even finished reading a sentence, tons of new messages popped up below.

What was going on here?

Fang Qian’an concentrated his attention, and when he took a closer look, he realized that the reason for the group’s livliness today was because of an incident at school.

To be precise, something had happend to the much talked about celebrity English teacher — he had directly sent a voice message to each class group.

The conent was unclear and incoherent. At first listen, it sounded like a madman talking to himself after a complete mental breakdown.

In this voice message, Ouyang-laoshi directly confessed that he had been thinking of ways to molest, abduct, and have sex with minors since he was young. It sounded a bit like a confession, because Ouyang kept apologizing and saying, “I was wrong, I’ll never dare to do it again.” But if his conscience had really discovered repentance…..why was there so much wailing and crying in his voice?

As if to prove the authenticity of the message, Ouyang had also uploaded many unsightly photos to the group.

It was unknown if it was intenetional or not, but every photo was more or less overexposed and out of focus. The victims’ faces were obscured by blurred and distorted light and shadow, but Ouyang’s proud face appeared exceptionally clear.

The the most astonishing were the last few.

Judging by the automatically generated electronic dates on the photos, these ones had been taken today. In the photos, the no longer handsome man was haggard and warped, standing in a dark environment. The lighting was all due to the camera flashes, so he was deathly pale, but the surroundings were so dark that it was impossible to identify the location. The man’s face was entirely distorted by panic, his eyes slightly bulging, as if they would pop out of their sockets in the next second.

He was holding a noose in his hand, and his pose in the photo showed him putting his head into it.

Fang Qian’an’s hand shook as he quickly flashed through the remaining photos, connecting them together like an animated picture.

Ouyang raised his head to look desperately at the viewers outside the photos.

Then he seemed to kick off the stone he was stepping on.

The rope tightened.

As he dug his hands into the noose, his neck seemed to suddenly become very long. And his face. His face took on a strange, deep purple color.

His mouth grew so big that even the corners of his mouth split open, blood oozing out.

And his tongue squeezed out of his mouth. The red and purple ball of meat didn’t look like an organ belonging to a human being, but instead like a parasitic monster crawling out of Ouyang’s throat.

In the photo, Ouyang opened that mouth in a high, silent scream.

Then…..

Thud.

The phone fell from Fang Qian’an’s sweaty palm.

Fang Qian’an was stunned for several seconds before he returned to his senses and picked up the phone again. But this time, when he clicked into the group, the photos and voice message that were there just now had been deleted.

Apparently, the school officials had discovered that something was amiss and took remedial measures. It was a pity that they were too late, and almost everyone had seen those things.

The group’s scrolling speed was even faster than before.

There were also many people poking Fang Qian’an in his private messages. It seemed they also wanted to use this hot topic to strike up a conversation with the school’s renowned prince.

However, Fang Qian’an had no interest in gossiping with others. On the one hand, it was because he was a little frightened by Ouyang’s last few photos, but on the other hand, it was because he suddenly thought of Li Xiu’s unconcealable stiffness and resistance when he saw Ouyang in the complex that morning.

That scumbag Ouyang…..had he ever had thoughts about Li Xiu?

Fang Qian’an’s mind was suddenly in chaos.

It was as if an invisible hand had tightened around his heart, so suffocating that he almost forgot about the pain in his body.

And when Fang Qian’an reacted, he found that his cell phone was already on a call — to Li Xiu.

“Hello? Who is this…..”

Li Xiu’s voice on the other end was a little hoarse, with the slight nasal sound of having just woken up.

Fang Qian’an had his ear to the phone. Hearing that person’s unexpected whisper, his face suddenly felt a little hot.

“It’s me, Fang Qian’an.”

“…..Fang Qian’an? Why do you have my number…..what do you want?”

Li Xiu’s voice was suddenly on guard.

Fang Qian’an gave a faint cough, quickly suppressing his messy thoughts as he told Li Xiu about Ouyang.

Although he was not very close to Li Xiu, Fang Qian’an had a strong intuition that a “good student” like him who only cared about studying would definitely not bother paying attention to gossip in the group.

Sure enough, after hearing Ouyang’s confession and seeing the shocking behavior in the photos, the boy on the other end of the line fell into a long silence.

“Hey, A-Xiu, are you still listening? I…..I just thought you should know about this.”

Li Xiu said nothing, and Fang Qian’an became inexplicably nervous.

“En, I already knew.”

At last, Li Xiu spoke. His tone was a bit strange, but he sounded calm.

“Before, that scumbag…..I mean, I saw that he went to find you today—”

Fang Qian’an hadn’t finished speaking when he was interrupted abruptly and bluntly by Li Xiu.

“The matter of Ouyang-laoshi will be handled by the police. Fang Qian’an, it’s really loud on your side. Before you call next time, comfort your girl so she doesn’t cry again. I’m really tired today. I’m going to bed. Hanging up.”

“Wait, what’s so noisy? I’m the only one here — A-Xiu?!”

Fang Qian’an put down his phone, dumbfounded, and looked at the screen. Sure enough, the call had ended.

“Damn, you want it like this, ah, classmate Li Xiu?”

The young bully’s face was a bit unsightly.

As he looked around, he was pretty sure that his room was silent.

After all, it was a first rate duplex villa high in the sky, with no neighbors around it. There were usually very few people at home. The cleaners and the live-in housemaid had also undergone rigorous training and basically didn’t make too much noise. Not to mention the second floor where Fang Qian’an was, there was no way someone could come up without authorization.

So, before he hung up the phone, why had Li Xiu said it was “really loud?”

Why had he told him to comfort his girlfriend so she wouldn’t cry?

What Li Xiu heard…..was crying?

A chill instantly spread up Fang Qian’an’s back.

He was hit by shivers, and it took him a long time to calm down.

He was a second away from calling Li Xiu back to ask for details, but when his fingertip was about ot press the button, Fang Qian’an let out an irritated three-character curse and threw the phone back onto the pillow, falling heavily onto the bed.

“Don’t think that I’ll be scared once you’ve figured out my weakness. Damn, do you really think I’m that timid?”

Fang Qian’an said this to himself, deciding to treat Li Xiu’s last words as a stupid horror joke.

After such an episode, Fang Qian’an didn’t even bother to look at his phone, just planning to sleep.

When the lights were turned off, darkness enveloped the entire room.

Fang Qian’an closed his eyes, and then…..

[Wuwuw…..wu…..]

He found that there seemed to…..seemed to be crying.

There was a faintly discernible cry, as thin as gossamer.

And once he noticed the sound, it seemed to become more obvious.

It was a woman crying.

Fang Qian’an stopped breathing. His body had already pulled up the quilt before his brain could react, then he opened his eyes and looked in the direction the crying was coming from.

The stars over the city were dim.

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the light reflected in the room was the unique reddish illumination caused by urban light pollution. 

And in this sheen of red light, Fang Qian’an clearly saw a faint shadow in the corner of the room.

A woman.

She was standing in the corner with her head bowed. Her long black hair hung down, covering her face. The continuous sound of crying came from behind that dark mess of hair.

Fuck—

Fang Qian’an stared blankly at the shadow.

Once he confirmed that it really wasn’t an illusion, he hooked the quilt with trembling fingers, then held his breath and carefully pulled it over his head.

Inside the quilt’s darkness, his mind went blank.

However, even such a high-end silk quilt couldn’t block out the woman’s crying.

“Wuwu…..”

“Wuu…..”

In fact, the sound of crying became even clearer.

Wait.

The crying was getting clearer?

When in terror, the human brain became slow.

It took a while for Fang Qian’an to realize what the increasingly clear crying meant.

The shadow was approaching him.

He didn’t know if it was his fear that caused poor blood circulation.

But he could indeed feel that as soon as the crying grew louder, a biting chill spread along his spine.

“Wuwu…..”

Even through the quilt, Fang Qian’an could imagine that woman with her lowered head slowly walking toward him in bed, step by step.

Fang Qian’an thought he might be losing his mind.

In extreme fear, he kept his head covered by the quilt, hands reaching blindly for the pillow. He still remembered that his phone was next to the pillow. If he had his phone, at least he could call somebody for help—

Fang Qian’an’s fingers suddenly touched something wet, cold, and sticky.

Very thin, like twigs wrapped in wet plastic.

He abruptly stopped moving.

For a moment, Fang Qian’an even forgot how to breathe. He couldn’t move. His blood froze, and his mind completely fractured.

In his entire body, the only thing moving was probably his heart.

His heart pounded like a bull against his ribs.

Just at this moment, a glimmer of light flashed in the corner of Fang Qian’an’s vision.

It was the light emitted by the cell phone screen when it automatically detected someone. Fang Qian’an reflexively turned his eyes in the direction of that light.

Then he saw the face.

Strictly speaking, it couldn’t even be called a face, because there wasn’t even a layer of skin intact. The skin still attached to the skull was a strange gray-purple color with corpse spots, and at the edges of the gray skin and flesh, pink bones, muscle, and viscera spread everywhere.

One of her eyeballs had squeezed out of its socket and hung slightly against her chin, connected by nerves and blood vessels. And the other one also looked severely deformed. There was no white to that eye, or the part that was originally white had become bloodshot, with a mass of bruising.

The pupils were covered in gray, and there was no light to them.

Her teeth could be clearly seen below her torn cheek, each one stained scarlet by blood.

[Wuwu…..wu…..]

That crying came through the gap in her cheek, which couldn’t be closed.

She tilted her head slightly, resting her head on the edge of the quilt to stare at Fang Qian’an inside it.

And Fang Qian’an’s hand was pressed to her cold, bleeding palm.

“Ahhhhh—”

Fang Qian’an let out a guttural scream, jumping up from the bed.

In a panic, he tried desperately to hide at the foot of the bed, but accidentally fell to the floor. Although the woolen carpet didn’t hurt him, the fall finally brought him back to his senses.

It was a nightmare.

Fang Qian’an sat on the floor blankly, staring at the silent room, and belatedly regained his mind.

It turned out that he had fallen asleep just now.

But he supposed that what Li Xiu had said about the crying before bed was why he’d had such a terrible dream.

Damn…..

Fang Qian’an cursed to himself, feeling a little embarrassed.

When he stood up, he realized that his entire body was soaked in cold sweat.

Although it was a nightmare, Fang Qian’an still had some lingering fear after waking up.

He planned to turn on the bedside lamp to calm himself, but the light didn’t come on when he pressed the switch.

Fang Qian’an stared blankly. He tried the other lights in the room and got no response.

“Are you kidding me?”

Fang Qian’an was at a bit of a loss. He had never thought that there would be a power outage at his house.

Babump—

Babump—

Babump—

After realizing that it was a power outage, Fang Qian’an’s calmer heart seemed to accelerate again. That inexplicable uneasiness struck once more. He wiped his cold sweat, then put on his nightgown, opened the door, and walked toward the outer door.

The housemaid should know where things like flashlights were, right? Or he could ask someone to deal with the circuit problem….

As he thought, Fang Qian’an walked downstairs.

The power was also out on the first floor. The wide space was shrouded in thick darkness, and even that darkness seemed to have weight, pushing down on Fang Qian’an as he gradually stepped into it.

Fang Qian’an frowned on the stairs.

That’s weird, he thought.

It was still the familiar first floor. 

It was normal for the light to be dim in a power outage.

However…..a strong sense of uneasiness slowly returned.

Turning his head, Fang Qian’an suddenly noticed that there seemed to be a dim light coming from the first floor kitchen.

He hurried toward it, and hadn’t even taken a few steps when he heard a sequential thud, thud coming from the kitchen. Fang Qian’an saw a small person with their back to him, busy in front of the counter.

The person held a stone pestle in one hand, the other hand holding something like a mortar.

As her arms moved up and down, the sound Fang Qian’an had heard previously also sounded.

“Aunt Su?”

The moment he saw the other party, Fang Qian’an reflexively thought it was Aunt Su.

However, he realized in the next second that Aunt Su was not so thin.

The person standing in the kitchen was not at all the Fang family’s live-in housemaid—that was an old woman Fang Qian’an had never seen before.

The old woman was stooped over, her hair completely gray.

As she pounded the stone mortar hard, her hands exposed outside her sleeves were covered in liver spots, veins as distinct as earthworms under her shriveled skin.

And at this time, Fang Qian’an was finally able to get a clear look at what the old woman was smashing—

It was ashes.

Rows of urns were piled up next to the old woman’s hands, with oval gray-white portraits of the deceased inlaid. 

The old woman opened the urns simply and roughly, pouring the gray-white powder into the mortar in her hand.

Not all of the human ashes were as fine as powder. Many of the ashes had lumps of bones, and the old woman was very careful to grind those large bones into powder bit by bit.

Fang Qian’an’s body was completely frozen in place.

The old woman seemed to be aware of the movement behind her. She tilted her head with a smile, her voice high-pitched and hoarse when it fell into his ears, like steel wire scratching his eardrums.

“Don’t worry, ah, don’t worry. Grandma knows you’re hungry…..Grandma will cook a meal now so that you can eat well…..”

As she spoke, the old woman turned around.

On that emaciated, shriveled body, there was an upside-down face.

“Come and eat.”

She smiled, and her lips parted where her forehead should have been, revealing red gums and a dark throat.

She reached out and grabbed a handful of ashes. 

Then, her arms stretched out to stuff the handful of ashes directly into Fang Qian’an’s mouth.

*

“Fuuuuck—”

Fang Qian’an screamed again and jumped up from the bed.

Although he didn’t fall off the bed like in the last dream, he still lay in bed and retched for a while due to the vivid memory of that nightmare.

Fang Qian’an curled up rigidly in bed.

He stared at the familiar furnishing in the room with dull eyes, waiting for a long time while trembling in fear.

There was no female ghost. 

Of course, there was also no weird old woman grinding ashes.

Fang Qian’an listened for a long time and seemed to faintly hear the subtle sounds of the housemaid cleaning downstairs.

Having already suffered no small amount of fright, his nerves relaxed little by little.

“So what the fuck is with a nightmare within a nightmare?”

Fang Qian’an felt soaked all over, but didn’t want to get out of bed and change clothes at all.

Naturally, because of the trauma of those nightmares, he didn’t dare get under the quilt.

In desperation, Fang Qian’an habitually picked up his phone for a quick look and found that everyone in the class group was still eagerly discussing the Ouyang matter.

[So disgusting. A beast like that deserved to die.]

[He actually decided to commit suicide? Isn’t that too easy?]

[Hahaha, garbage like that should be sent to hell and tortured for eternity.]

[It’s fine, even though he’s dead, he probably won’t find peace.]

Fang Qian’an stared at the various curses popping up on the screen, somewhat distracted.

In his daze, he didn’t know which button he pressed with his fingertips. Only then did Fang Qian’an realize that he had called a number.

Fortunately, this call was to one of Fang Qian’an’s followers. What was his name…..

Fang Qian’an stared at the title [Yellow hair] on his phone, but couldn’t remember the name of his follower.

The result of such a moment of confusion was that when Fang Qian’an started to hang up, the call had already connected.

“Huh?”

“Fang-ge? Why are you suddenly calling me?”

Yellow Hair’s voice was ecstatic. He sounded wild with happiness to have received a call from Fang Qian’an.

“Ah, it’s nothing…..”

Holding the phone, Fang Qian’an actually didn’t know what to say.

To be honest, he didn’t even know why he made the call.

Yellow Hair on the other end didn’t seem to notice Fang Qian’an’s silence, and was still chattering on inanely. 

After a brief moment of absent-mindedness, Fang Qian’an suddenly said: “Do you know the core values of socialism?”

“……”

Yellow Hair instantly fell silent.

He supposed the other was dumbfounded by this nonsensical question.

And at this time, Fang Qian’an came to a realization — his behavior was abnormal, and his words were too strange.

He took a deep breath and let out a sigh.

“Never mind.”

He moved to hang up the phone.

But just before he hung up, Fang Qian’an asked one more question out of nowhere.

“Hey, do you hear any other voices here other than mine?”

Then, he heard Yellow Hair’s answer.

“…..Actually, I was just about to say something. Young Master Fang, that girl over there is crying so noisily.”

---

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Chapter 17 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 19

As a child raised by a “witch,” Li Xiu’s courage was already very great compared to his peers. He had originally thought that after seeing so many of the tricks his grandmother used to fool people, he had long been indifferent to myths and ghost stories.

However…..

Since returning from the Xiao family villa the other day, Li Xiu had encountered so many strange things. 

Even though he had nerves of steel, he was still more or less afraid.

Before the sky grew completely dark, Li Xiu had already forcefully suppressed the uneasiness in his heart and ran back home like he had wings.

Thud, thud, thud. He stepped on the edges of the glistening black concrete stairs all the way to the door of his house. Before Li Xiu opened the door, he once again heard the familiar sound of sobbing.

Was it still the customer who regularly came to his grandmother’s house? Li Xiu lowered his head and tried to adjust his breathing. While neatly placing the slightly well-used women’s shoes at the door, he pushed the door open and entered the house.

Everything was exactly as usual.

The room was still extremely dark. His grandmother still sat before the shrine in the dark living room, muttering, and the middle-aged woman with her back to Li Xiu had her head lowered as she cried sorrowfully.

The familiar scene relieved Li Xiu as he peered through the door curtain.

“Grandmother, I’m back,” he called out of habit.

His grandmother seemed to give a light hum in response from deeper in the living room, her voice vague and unclear.

Li Xiu didn’t mind that they had a guest. He went to his room with his school bag on his back.

He had just changed out of his school uniform and was about to go to the bathroom and wash his face, and when he turned around — he saw his grandmother’s stooped form. The old woman made very little movement, and Li Xiu didn’t know how long she had been standing there.

Her black eyes had become blurred many years ago, and their edges were covered in a layer of gray haze. When she looked at someone, they always seemed to be only half open. And due to old age, the fat under her shriveled skin had long been lost and there was only a thin layer of skin left. Two thin membranes drooped between her chin and neck.

“Grandmother?!”

Even Li Xiu was given a shock.

Feeling uncomfortable under his grandmother’s direct gaze, he could only ask: “What is it…..did the guest leave?”

His grandmother was silent for a long while, and then slowly blinked her eyes.

“A-Xiu, go deliver food to your gege,” she murmured without answering the question.

“You must give your gege enough food…..only after he has enough food will he be obedient…..”

Ever since his grandmother had become confused, similar things had happened more than once or twice. The old lady had been shrewd and cunning in the past, and could trick guests just relying on her mouth. Now it seemed that there was just one thing left in her mind, and that was to feed Li Xiu’s non-existent “gege.”

The old woman seemed to be extremely afraid that his “gege” would not have enough to eat.

But if Li Xiu asked specifically, she would only give a vague response, never explaining in detail.

After several repetitions, Li Xiu could only assume that his grandmother had a strange personality and delusions of victimization due to Alzheimer’s disease, and stopped worrying about it.

As always, Li Xiu comforted his grandmother and said: “En, I know. I’ll go after changing clothes.”

However, just as he was about to go to the kitchen and serve up the rice, he happened to recall what the pale-faced woman in the park had told him.

[“Making food offerings is not something a tiny child like you should do. The things crawling out of the Hungry Ghost Path are all ferocious, not to mention the one you’re carrying now…..”]

“Grandmother…..”

Li Xiu paused slightly, and the words were out before he realized it. “What on earth is the meaning of delivering food to gege, ah? Is this what those people say about offering food to hungry ghosts?”

The youth’s voice grew smaller and smaller.

In fact, before going home, Li Xiu had used his cell phone to look up the “food offerings” the park woman had spoken of. It was a metaphysical method of giving offerings to beings on the Hungry Ghost Path so that they could escape that evil realm.

But Li Xiu thought about it and realized that he didn’t recite sutras or mantras when he fed his gege, and there were also no prayers. It didn’t seem to have anything to do with offering food to hungry ghosts.

“What? It’s just giving your brother a meal, what else could it mean?!”

Sure enough, even if he asked, his grandmother would be bewildered.

Looking at her, Li Xiu subtly felt that she might not even know the term “offering food to hungry ghosts.” Although he didn’t want to admit it, Li Xiu had always known that his grandmother was actually a fraud with no professional knowledge at all.

But for some reason, Li Xiu felt a little more relaxed when he thought of this.

…..Just take it as Grandmother’s superstitions, Li Xiu told himself.

Then, as usual, he filled a bowl with uncooked rice in the evening, carried it to the cramped, narrow room, and placed it under the bed.

“Ge, time to eat,” Li Xiu said habitually.

After setting down the bowl, he remained in the room without knowing why.

This time, there was no sound of the bowl being knocked over beneath the bed.

On the contrary, heavy footsteps came from upstairs, followed by a muffled bang. The shadow of something dripping wet fell upon the dusty table in the middle of the room.

Startled, Li Xiu looked around but couldn’t clearly see what was hanging outside the window, just that it was a soft, dark object.

Like…..a mop?

Li Xiu’s brow furrowed slightly as he regarded the blurry, slightly swaying shadow and the wet marks it left outside the window glass.

The building he lived in was extremely outdated, so most of the tenants were not of high quality.

Li Xiu surmised that after the person upstairs washed the mop, they placed it on the protruding anti-theft window grate and the mop head stuck directly to Li Xiu’s window.

Many similar things had happened before, but Li Xiu was truly exhausted at the end of this day and really couldn’t spare the energy to go upstairs and start a confrontation. Plus, there was nobody using this room…..

Forget it.

Rubbing his temples, Li Xiu left the room in exhaustion.

*

“Wuwu— —”

Of course, the exhausted Li Xiu was unaware that after he left, the “mop” outside the window began to tremble.

The bloodshot eyes of the hanging man shook with terror. 

Putrid traces of water seeped out of his body constantly, brushing out branch-like moisture trails on the surface of the window, where dust had been accumulating for who knows how long.

In the silent, cramped room filled with clutter, a tall, thin figure appeared.

He sat upright on the dusty double bed, slender, nailless fingers carefully resting on the edge of the bowl filled with uncooked rice.

[My family’s A-Xiu, ah…..]

A faint murmur came from the shadow.

[So incredibly cute.]

The tall figure slowly leaned down and buried his face in the bowl.

One bite. Another bite.

He devoured the uncooked rice in the bowl with satisfaction. Constant chewing sounds came from the shadows.

[So, he always provokes things like you…..]

[Ai, what would my A-Xiu do without me?]

_______

The Author Has Something to Say:

Water Ghost Fish: …..fuck.

---

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Chapter 16 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 18

Xiao Gu: “The bulk of the shopping mall renovation project is complete and passed inspection for acceptance. It is ready for operations at any time.”

Xiao Gu: “The classification of internal structural modules has also been re-optimized. In addition to being more convenient to the public, it is also easier for us to manage internally.”

Xiao Gu: “However, according to the feedback from testing, the visual design of the entertainment facilities in the children’s area is not childlike enough. It seems somewhat overly standard and formal, and many people don’t like such—”

“That was just a statement made while unconscious.”

Pei Xi suddenly interrupted with a frown: “I actually don’t care whether or not he likes…..it.”

“……Ah?”

Xiao Gu looked up in confusion: “President Pei, whose opinion don’t you care about?”

Pei Xi: “…..”

Xiao Gu: “…..”

After a long and slightly awkward silence, Pei Xi pressed a hand to his lips and coughed. He relaxed his expression with difficulty: “It’s nothing, go on.”

Xiao Gu didn’t know what was going on and didn’t dare ask further questions. He continued to conscientiously report on the remaining work, then finally closed the documents and asked Pei Xi: “President Pei, is there anything else that needs to be corrected?”

Pei Xi: “No, that’s it for the time being. It will begin operations in stages, and adjustments can be made later if problems are discovered.”

Xiao Gu nodded and prepared to leave.

But Pei Xi stopped him: “Are there any upcoming work arrangements?”

“There are.” Xiao Gu swiftly stood at attention: “First we need to convey your instructions and sort out some important documents in the data room, then adjust the small-scale content of some plans. And after screening the visitors—”

“These are your jobs.”

Pei Xi couldn’t help but interrupt him again. “I mean mine.”

“Ah? Oh!”

Xiao Gu hurriedly changed his words: “As far as you are concerned, today’s work arrangements are finished and there is nothing to busy yourself with.”

Pei Xi: “There are no meetings?”

Xiao Gu scratched his head: “Today’s meetings are over.”

Pei Xi: “What about the visitors?”

Xiao Gu: “You already saw them this morning.”

Pei Xi: “What about the quarterly summaries from each department and plans for the next quarter?”

Xiao Gu: “You already took care of all that half an hour ago, ah.”

Pei Xi ceased asking questions.

Xiao Gu felt unsure as he observed his expression: “President Pei, do you want other work done ahead of schedule? Or do you have some other pressing matters that require some free time?”

Pei Xi: “Is there any work that can be done in advance?”

“Well…..”

Xiao Gu mentally assessed the work progress of the past week and shook his head: “Not right now.”

Pei Xi: “Understood. Go do your work.”

“All right.” Xiao Gu walked out of the office with the documents in his arms and closed the door with a sigh.

Was this what they meant when they said accompanying your sovereign was like accompanying a tiger?

It was really hard to guess the minds of successful people.

Pei Xi sat for a long while after Xiao Gu left. He rummaged through the folders and clicked on an unmarked meeting record, then started to read from the beginning.

From the first paragraph to the second, from the second paragraph to the third…..

Then his brow furrowed and he returned to the first paragraph.

After repeating this cycle several times, he could only close his eyes and press his temples hard with his fingertips.

Pei Xi, stop thinking about it.

That was just a random emotional reaction caused by memory loss, it wasn’t the real you.

Words and actions expressed without conscious autonomy couldn’t be counted at all.

He attempted to draw a line between his conscious self and the confused one, but every time he thought he was going to succeed, those “unbearable to recall” images emerged in his mind as if in opposition to him. 

His mind immediately turned into a tangled skein of yarn. Giving in to despair, he buried his face in his hands as his initially fair neck turned red.

He didn’t want to face it.

But he had to admit that he was grateful.

Fortunately. Fortunately, it wasn’t someone else with wicked intentions. Fortunately, from the beginning, the one he “picked” was He Chuzhou.

The computer screen automatically dimmed after being idle for a long time. 

He patted his forehead and lowered his hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed the flashing screen of his cell phone next to him.

It was on mute, and a missed call showed on the screen. It was from his father, and the calling location was specially marked as overseas.

Once Pei Yansong had left the office, he was busy spending time with his young wife and young son and rarely called him. If Pei Xi didn’t pick up, he would just wait for him to call back, and would never waste time calling him a second time.

As for the content, it was nothing more than some routine inquiries about the work status, business advice, and then goodbyes before hanging up.

Even though it was like this, he normally would have called back without hesitation. If only for the fact that although the calls were only occasionally received, at least he could clearly hear that he was thought about.

But today…..

He looked at the phone silently. His mind was blank for a moment, and he found that the anticipation-like emotion no longer seemed as strong as usual.

He didn’t want to call back.

But it was precisely today that, for the first time in history, Pei Yansong called a second time after hanging up.

He let out a low exhale and picked up the call.

And the person on the other end didn’t even give him the time to say ‘Dad’ before asking directly: “Have you cooperated with He Group recently?”

Pei Xi looked at his blurry reflection on the computer monitor and answered in the negative: “No.”

Pei Yansong: “What about an intention to cooperate?”

Pei Xi subconsciously started to say no, but something came to mind and he changed his answer: “Not at the moment. Why?”

Pei Yansong: “He contacted me not long ago and said you were staying at his place. Have you been very close recently?”

Pei Xi remembered very quickly when Pei Yansong said ‘contacted,’ and paused for a moment before answering: “Fortunately, we’ve met more frequently due to unforeseen circumstances.”

His words were vague, and he obviously omitted a lot of things.

Pei Yansong, however, didn’t ask any questions. He only said in a tone of warning: “I don’t care about unforeseen circumstances. In short, you should have less contact with him in private outside of business cooperation.”

“I don’t need to tell you what his reputation is like outside. You are not the same kind of people. Don’t let him affect your or Pei Group’s reputation…..”

Pei Xi: “He’s quite good.”

Pei Yansong paused: “What did you say?”

Pei Xi repeated coolly: “He is quite good, not as bad as you imagine.”

“Do I need to imagine how unbearable he is?”

Pei Yangsong’s tone dropped at once, with obvious displeasure at being disobeyed: “I have no time to think about this, and you shouldn’t care about it either.”

“You just need to know that this is the truth in the eyes of the public. Pei Group is in your hands now. You must be responsible for it and take precautions against anyone or anything that harms Pei Group’s interests…..”

Listening to the harsh and almost aggressive reprimands over the phone, Pei Xi felt an indescribable irritation rise up in his chest, making him doubt himself for the first time.

After so many years, did he really need this sort of care that was general enough to encompass everything, so much so that when it was assigned to him, there was already very little left?

When Pei Zhen’s voice squeezed through the receiver, his patience reached its limit.

“Dad, I have a meeting. I’m hanging up now.”

Having said this, he simply hung up the call without waiting for Pei Yansong’s response.

The rebellious impulse had come so suddenly that at almost the same time he hung up the phone, he opened the call log and dialed another number he had been in contact with recently. 

Inside the He Group building’s high-rise conference room.

A foreigner speaking Japanese-accented English was boasting so much that he was frothing at the mouth.

Yun Ji was typing the meeting notes when from the corner of his eye, he saw the person next to his phone pick it up, look at it, and put it down again.

After Yun Ji typed a long paragraph, the person in his peripheral vision picked up the phone again and put it down again.

He continued to type, and that person picked it up and put it down once more.

“Tsk.” He couldn’t help it anymore. “Why is it like you’re counting down the seconds for steamed buns in a pot?”

The corners of He Chuzhou’s mouth twitched. He said casually: “How did you know I’ve always wanted a pot to steam buns in the office?”

Yun Ji: “…..”

Yun Ji rolled his eyes at him: “You’re sick in the head. Whose call are you waiting for?”

He Chuzhou: “I’m not waiting, I’m just taking a look.”

Yun Ji: “Lying, eh? Do you need me to teach you how to set up an individualized ringtone? Don’t wait here like you’re waiting for your wife—”

Yun Ji was startled: “Wait, waiting for your wife…..?”

He Chuzhou scoffed at him: “You really do treat me like a seven-year-old, teaching me things.”

Yun Ji stopped typing the useless meeting minutes. He tilted his head in silence and approached He Chuzhou: “Cousin, there’s been gossip circulating around the office recently. Do you want to hear it?”

He Chuzhou asked thoughtlessly: “What gossip?”

Yun Ji: “Your gossip, ah. I thought it was nonsense at first, pure nonsense, but now I think there are some clues. Do you know that everyone says—”

He Chuzhou: “I’m leaving to take a call.”

“ ? ” Yun Ji looked at He Chuzhou, who appeared to be in a better mood. “No way, you…..”

He Chuzhou picked up the phone: “Write down everything he says. You can omit the fancy adjectives according to the situation. Send it to my email.”

Yun Ji: “? ? ?”

“As expected, this sort of thing happened.” He Chuzhou’s lips rose as he patted Yun Ji’s  shoulder. “Thanks for your hard work, good luck with your tasks.”

Yun Ji wore a look of disbelief as he was heartlessly left to suffer alone. The other man stood and nodded apologetically to the enthusiastic foreigner, then gestured toward his cell phone and turned to leave the conference room.

As he answered his phone while walking to the office, the calm, distant voice that came from the other end brought him to a stop.

“…..Pei Xi?” he called tentatively.

“It’s me.” Pei Xi’s voice was steady and clear. “Is President He free now? I want to talk.”

*

*

The cafe was very quiet, with live violin music accompanied by the occasional sound of clinking ceramic, melodious and relaxing.

But it still didn’t alleviate He Chuzhou’s surprise at finally finding out the so-called rules of the game: “What President Pei means is that each time you fall asleep, it turns on and off?”

Pei Xi hid nothing: “That’s right.”

It sounded outrageous.

But when he thought about it carefully, it made sense. No wonder he woke up every morning as if opening a blind box.

He Chuzhou: “So now you plan to swap part of the project with me, have me take care of you during your confusion, and help you hide it?”

Pei Xi once again answered affirmatively: “Yes.”

Then he quickly added: “You know I don’t remember anything about what happens when I’m confused.”

“I know.”

He Chuzhou was helpless: “President Pei, you emphasized this several times just now. There’s no need to repeat it again.”

“……”

Pei Xi unconsciously bit his lower lip and didn’t respond.

He Chuzhou tapped his fingers on the tabletop and said as if curious: “Can I ask why? Why did you decide to talk to me after going through this situation so many times?”

Pei Xi: “Because I can’t stop myself from seeking you out.”

He Chuzhou heard the hidden meaning in his words: “You tried to stop yourself?”

Pei Xi: “En.”

He Chuzhou: “How?”

Pei Xi hesitated before speaking the truth: “I tried hiding my phone and locking the door, but they both failed.

Hide his phone?

Lock the door?

Hu Chuzhou finally understood.

No wonder. No wonder.

No wonder Pei-calico always lost his cell phone.

No wonder he had to look for it for so long every time.

No wonder that person was locked up at home for no apparent reason and eventually had to call a bunch of people to break the lock.

This turned out to be the inside story.

He imagined Pei Xi carefully considering it while he was in his right mind, making these meticulous preparations, and the corners of his eyes curled up uncontrollably.

Pei Xi frowned: “You’re smiling.”

“What?”

As soon as he spoke, another conversation appeared in his mind.

Of course, He Chuzhou couldn’t admit it: “No, I just feel that President Pei lives up to his reputation. He is thoughtful and well-prepared to deal with unexpected events.”

If he was really thoughtful and prepared, he wouldn’t be waking up in He Chuzhou’s bed the next day.

Pei Xi felt like he was coaxing him again. Even his expression, demeanor, and tone were the same as when he hugged him in the living room of the villa last night…..

Untimely memories resurfaced again. His eyes flashed slightly, and he immediately lowered them. He picked up the coffee and took an uneasy sip, which filled his mouth with a bitter taste.

“If it isn’t resolved as soon as possible, it may continue to cause trouble to unrelated people. Of course, it is the same for you.”

He Chuzhou: “That’s exactly right.”

Pei Xi raised his eyes: “So you agree?”

“I agree.” He Chuzhou said: “But those items you proposed in exchange…..”

Pei Xi said at once: “If you aren’t satisfied, I can give you other alternatives to choose from.”

“Forget it.”

He Chuzhou smiled: “The project team has been busy enough recently. If I stuff more projects onto them, I’m afraid they’ll curse me behind my back enough to shorten my life.”

Pei Xi was unsure: “What do you mean?”

He Chuzhou: “There’s no need to make a deal. I’ll just be taking care of one more person, and you eat very little, so it’s not a loss for me.”

Pei Xi frowned slightly, hesitating: “This is unfair to you.”

As a person with a vested interest, it was difficult for him to feel at ease unless he compensated him with something.

His thoughts were written on his face. He Chuzhou could see through them at a glance, but what he was willing to do was not something Pei Xi needed to pay for.

After some thought, he simply compromised and said: “Let’s just swap that piece of land by the river.”

Pei Xi: “But Pei Group doesn’t have the right to operate on that piece of land.”

He Chuzhou spread his hands: “We’re competitors, aren’t we? If you choose to quit, that’s no different than giving it to me.”

That piece of land was indeed worth a lot and could be used in trade, but Pei Xi had never heard of using an inconclusive possibility as an item to exchange.

After all, judging from the current situation, He Group had a greater chance of winning. How much of an advantage could he get from using the land he already had a high probability of winning in exchange for withdrawing from the competition?

But he couldn’t admit that Pei Group would lose, so he could only nod: “Okay, it will be as President He says.”

After their conversation, Pei Xi left with haste.

When he exited the cafe and went to the car, he lost his strength and closed his eyes, then looked down at the palm of his hand.

For some reason, even though he’d known He Chuzhou would agree, he was still so anxious that he had broken into a light sweat.

At the cafe.

When Wu Qing called, He Chuzhou was in a good mood as he threw two sugar cubes into his coffee.

“What is it?” he asked Wu Qing.

“Lao He, I’ve done some thinking.”

Wu Qing’s voice was filled with the heavy vicissitudes of life: “A cuckold who doesn’t know his place won’t affect our relationship at all. I told him to scram, so don’t worry, we’re still good brothers!”

He Chuzhou: “It had nothing to do with me in the first place, so I have nothing to worry about.”

Wu Qing: “That makes sense, but I’m still very sad. You know that, even though I fall in love frequently, I’m loyal in every relationship, ah, wuwu.”

He Chuzhou: “How miserable. There, there.”

Wu Qing: “……”

Wu Qing: “Your tone sounds really happy, ah. Why are you still so happy when my heart has been broken?”

“It does?” He Chuzhou put down the stirring spoon and took a sip of the unusually sweet coffee. He said in a loose, brisk tone: “Maybe it’s because…..my cat came back?”

Wu Qing: “Your cat? What your cat. The one that kicked you and ran away last time?”

He Chuzhou corrected him: “He just has a free nature.”

Wu Qing: “…..Fine. He ran back again?”

He Chuzhou: “Ah.”

Wu Qing: “A stray cat is capable of coming back again after running away? Has the great god recognized his master?”

“That…..seems to be the case.”

He Chuzhou readily accepted this depiction: “But the order may need to be reversed. He is the master, and I have to work my butt off.”

Wu Qing had just been cheated on, and couldn’t understand what was so exciting about a cat coming back. He said sourly: “A stray cat isn’t cute, you’re better off without it.”

“What do you know?”

He Chuzhou laughed: “Have you ever met a cat that could turn on a computer, hide a cell phone, and lock itself up?”

“There is no one cuter than him in the entire world.”

“You’ve been cheated on, you know nothing.”

---

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Chapter 24 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 26

T/N: Sorry for the super long wait! Work has been hell on my mental health, but I’m crawling out of that pit to update!

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Because of Tang Mu’s warm hospitality, Liu Zhenqing and Huo Fenglie moved directly into the City Lord’s manor.

Hearing that there were doctors coming to treat Liu Zhenqing, and who didn’t want to be disturbed by outsiders, Tang Mu was gracious and directly arranged a secluded courtyard for them. Once the courtyard door was closed, they could make their own arrangements.

On that same day, Han Ye picked up the Master.

It was unknown what Han Ye said to the Master. In any case, as soon as he came over, the Master caught Liu Zhenqing and scolded him, saying that he couldn’t treat a patient well and made subsequent treatment very troublesome. 

The Master was likely too embarrassed to scold Huo Fenglie, but Huo Fenglie stood next to Liu Zhenqing with his head down, as if he was being scolded too. Liu Zhenqing, on the other hand, looked like a dead pig that wasn’t afraid of boiling water as he grinned at his master. The Master was so angry that he didn’t even know who he was rebuking.

With two great doctors there, Huo Fenglie’s treatment was naturally well arranged. Liu Zhenqing wanted to help, but was continuously rejected by Huo Fenglie.

Later on, Liu Zhenqing figured out that this was because Huo Fenglie feared he would see the tattoo, which really made him increasingly curious. Liu Zhenqing was no fool, so since he couldn’t see it, he asked outright. However, both master and disciple said that the patient’s privacy was not suitable to be disclosed, and then looked at him with taunting eyes. Liu Zhenqing really felt that he was being squeezed out.

Huo Fenglie was regularly dragged out to patrol the garrison, arrange city defenses, and more. Basically, he remained outside all the time and only returned when he needed treatment.

And Liu Zhenqing originally wanted to learn medical skills from his master, but there was a master above and a disciple below. It was pure torture for an ordinary person to face two geniuses, so he gave up after one day and went out for a walk, leaving these two people to concentrate on studying medical skills and not disturb their medical inspiration.

Thus, Liu Zhenqing just spent time with Tang Mu, so when Huo Fenglie returned for treatment, he would go to the City Lord’s Office of Government Affairs and take him back to the courtyard, where he would join him after his treatment was completed. It was really a bit like marital harmony.

According to Liu Zhenqing’s plan, Tang Mu had already sent people to the Western Shu Kingdom for negotiations, and he happened to receive a reply this day.

Liu Zhenqing stepped into the hall and heard Tang Mu say: “The King of Western Shu has agreed.”

“This answer was pretty swift,” Liu Zhenqing said with a smile that wasn’t a smile.

“There’s really a problem?” Tang Mu also felt that something wasn’t right. He asked Liu Zhenqing to sit down and took the initiative to pour tea.

Liu Zhenqing smiled and said: “Don’t be afraid of problems. I really don’t believe that they’ll be willing to take action with General Huo here.”

“That is true.” Tang Mu smiled faintly and rubbed his brow with slender fingers. He said helplessly: “It’s just that I fear it will be difficult to tell after you leave.”

“At that time, it will be clear whether the King of Western Shu is capable of doing the job.” When he finished speaking, Liu Zhenqing looked at the books stacked on the table and said in surprise: “You sorted them out so quickly?”

“You said you wanted to read them, and I wanted to get it done as soon as possible so that I can use Young Master Liu’s talent to help me think more,” Tang Mu said, smiling.

“I just mentioned it casually yesterday. Chengzhu is truly thoughtful and quick to action,” Liu Zhenqing praised.

Tang Mu was stunned by the praise, and couldn’t help but lower his eyes. A small blush showed on his fair cheeks, and he was a little shy.

“It’s better not to call me Chengzhu. Young Master Liu and I have been getting along well these days. Just call me Brother Tang.” Tang Mu’s smiling expression was extremely genial, giving a person the sense of a spring breeze.

“Then Brother Tang should also call me Brother Liu,” Liu Zhenqing said with a smile, and then began to read the information prepared by Tang Mu. It was all about the King of Western Shu’s seizure of the throne and the subsequent reforms and other policies. Liu Zhenqing was rather surprised to see these, because this King of Western Shu was truly young and promising. He was originally a prince that the king sired after forcing a slave. Naturally, he was not welcomed by the royal family and was given to the servants to raise. As a result, he was presumed lost in battle. Everyone thought he was dead, and never expected that he would return more than ten years later with a token and evidence to take up his surname.

Once his identity was recognized, the more than a dozen brothers ahead of him died one by one either through internal fighting or accidents. Within a year, there was no one who could inherit the throne but him. However, the remaining royal family belittled his identity and was unwilling to agree. The old king disliked this son and even tried to have the harem produce more children, but he immediately died during intercourse.

Straightaway, Western Shu fell into turmoil. The King of Western Shu besieged the royal family with only the five hundred slaves under his command. The obedient prospered and the rebellious perished. After the killing had gone on for a day and a night, he took the bloody throne and launched a new method of governing the country. Not only did he begin to change slavery from the inside, he also broke up the power of the nobility. 

He even began to send troops to occupy the territories of the two surrounding countries. Because people could be stripped of their slave status if they performed meritorious service under these new policies, the slaves worked extremely hard, and slaves from neighboring countries were naturally more willing to surrender after hearing about this. At present, the Western Shu Kingdom was in the process of complete annexation.

Liu Zhenqing read about the methods he had implemented and the decisions he had made, and couldn’t help but marvel. He was truly both civil and military, brave and resourceful.

Liu Zhenqing had originally wanted to see what shenanigans this kid was up to, but the more he read, the more excited he grew, and he actually became fascinated.

When he returned to his senses, Huo Fenglie had already been sitting next to him for a long while.

“It’s so late?” Liu Zhenqing asked in surprise, looking at the sky.

Huo Fenglie was accustomed to not disturbing Liu Zhenqing while he was reading, so he sat aside and waited in a well-behaved manner. This caused the other officials who came to handle government affairs to hardly dare to breathe. Only Tang Mu could talk to Dai Tingyu, who was accompanying him.

“Do you want to keep reading?” Huo Fenglie asked.

Liu Zhenqing shook his head, stretched his stiff body, and then turned sideways so that his back was to Huo Fenglie. Huo Fenglie naturally put his hands on Liu Zhenqing’s shoulders and neck to massage them, leaving the two people opposite them stunned.

Liu Zhenqing was very satisfied with Huo Fenglie’s hand strength, and said comfortably: “No need, I’ve already read them.”

As soon as he said this, both Tang Mu and Dai Tingyu looked at the books on the table in disbelief. Was he actually saying that he had read them all in a day and a half?

Dai Tingyu wouldn’t have read one single book in that amount of time, and Tang Mu felt that it should take at least five or six days to finish reading the life story of the King of Western Shu that he had collected.

Huo Fenglie wasn’t surprised. Looking at Liu Zhenqing’s expression he said: “Was there any useful information?”

The corners of Liu Zhenqing’s lips rose. In front of outsiders, he turned to look at Huo Fenglie and said teasingly: “How could saying it benefit me? I’m not an official.”

Huo Fenglie, of course, didn’t understand Liu Zhenqing’s tricks, so he could only say with a blank look on his face: “What do you want?”

Liu Zhenqing suddenly leaned back, moving nearer into Huo Fenglie’s arms as he said ambiguously: “You know what I want.”

Huo Fenglie was ill at ease. Because his last treatment had lasted all night…..they hadn’t been close since then. He thought Qing-ge probably wanted it.

Just as he didn’t know how to answer, he heard Liu Zhenqing say with a laugh: “I want you to go shopping with me. I haven’t been out for a while, I’m so bored.”

Huo Fenglie returned to his senses and said at once: “We can go at any time.”

Presently, the two dog food eaters also spoke.

“I have been negligent. Brother Liu has done so much for our Nanfeng City, and he should of course be treated well,” Tang Mu said promptly.

“Right, right, right, I still need to take Brother Liu out for a drink.” Dai Tingyu also grew excited.

Liu Zhenqing looked at the two of them speechlessly. Sure enough, they were both single men with no discernment at all. He wanted to go on a date with Er-gou alone, ah.

Seeing Huo Fenglie agree without hesitation, he was a little unhappy. Liu Zhenqing leaned back slightly and truly reclined in Huo Fenglie’s arms. Holding onto him weakly, Liu Zhenqing leaned toward his ear and said deliberately: “What did you think I wanted just now?”

Huo Fenglie froze. He felt the hot breath next to his ear, then heard a smiling voice that hooked both his heart and soul: “Were you thinking about sex, Er-gou?”

Er-gou could do nothing against this false accusation, and could only let Liu Zhenqing bully him while his cheeks heated up. 

Liu Zhenqing looked at Huo Fenglie’s embarrassed appearance. After teasing him for a moment to boost his mood, he began to speak of what he had analyzed from the information.

“First of all, either the king of Western Shu admires Great Zhou’s culture and studied it a lot, or has an advisor from Great Zhou at his side.”

“Because of the slavery reform?” Tang Mu asked.

“No, because the core of many of his methods for dealing with courtiers, wooing power, and making reforms were learned from major events that occurred in the past two decades,” Liu Zhenqing said.

Everyone was a little surprised when they heard this.

Huo Fenglie said: “It seems their relationship with the rebels is deeper than we thought.”

“Do you believe it’s more likely that an advisor from Great Zhou is helping him?”

“Do you think it’s him?” asked Huo Fenglie.

Liu Zhenqing thought for a moment before saying: “I think it’s very rare for a king of Western Shu under the age of eighteen to be able to do things like this. It’s preferable to believe that heroes come from among the youth.”

Dai Tingyu disagreed: “What good will it do us if their king is so capable!”

Liu Zhenqing said in an unclear tone: “A foreigner being too capable is better than…..people from the Zhou Dynasty helping foreigners fight against it for their own selfish purposes…..it’s not as sad.”

The venue gradually went quiet.

After a while, Tang Mu shook his head with a chuckle and said in seeming disbelief: “Right, ah, in a sense, it would be a good thing if it’s only that their king is capable.”

Liu Zhenqing had seen a lot, and his emotions were not as volatile: “Secondly, no matter the direction of my speculations, they still made the mistake of being too radical.”

“Indeed. Although their progress is fast, there is also a lot of opposition. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many fugitives,” Tang Mu agreed.

Liu Zhenqing nodded and said: “He could actually build a very good country if he worked slowly and steadily, but he is in too much of a hurry. Not only will the act of annexing neighboring countries draw backlash, but even internal resistance will break out at certain times. Their government is currently divided into three forces. There are those who are stimulated by the slavery issue and want to establish themselves as independent kings, and there are those who want to support another royal family. Only one third is controlled by the king of Western Shu, and half of that should be due to fear of the king’s bloody methods. It is also extremely unstable.”

Liu Zhenqing said with a sigh: “Reforming slavery is not a feat that can be accomplished overnight. His violent, bloody methods can boost him for a short period of time, but in fact, the consequences are endless, and it can even be said that he is destined to fail.”

“And they still covet us like this?” Dai Tingyu said in consternation: “This is all because of external and internal troubles.”

Huo Fenglie also said: “Transferring conflict toward outsiders is also a method of resolving internal conflicts. Perhaps he is cooperating with some Great Zhou people, and feels confident in using Great Zhou to secure the throne.”

Liu Zhenqing accurately pulled four books from a selection of informational material and handed them to Tang Mu: “As you said, how do you deter them after General Huo departs? They have so many problems, so how could you not find a way to deal with them?”

Liu Zhenqing raised an eyebrow at Tang Mu with a smile, his unrestrained expression incredibly dazzling.

Tang Mu took the materials and looked up at Liu Zhenqing blankly. It seemed as if he could vaguely glimpse a familiar figure. Were all those surnamed Liu equally capable? Tang Mu indeed fell for Liu Zhenqing’s tricks once again.

With a bow and a salute, Tang Mu admired him in his heart.

When Liu Zhenqing was finished speaking of this matter, it was time for Huo Fenglie to go back for treatment. Just as they were about to leave, an elderly woman led a group of people into the Office of Government Affairs. This was an official office, and family members were not allowed inside unless they were female counselors.

Therefore, the woman’s arrival was rather a surprise.

Huo Fenglie was the only one who didn’t recognize her. Liu Zhenqing still has some impression of the scars on her face, burns from an incident with fire. The person coming should be Tang Mu’s mother.

When they entered their accommodations before, they heard Tang Mu say his mother had gone out with with other family members to worship Buddha. Why had she brought people to the Office of Government Affairs as soon as she returned? It seemed a bit aggressive.

“Mother, why are you here?” Tang Mu stepped forward and spoke with a frown. He glanced at the proud-looking man behind Tang-furen. “Uncle is here too.”

Uncle Tang scoffed coldly. Tang-furen stepped forward to say: “Son, let me ask you, don’t you care about your subordinates? You even arbitrarily removed your uncle from his official position. This is treating our Tang family’s face high-handedly. In the future, who will treat you as the city lord!”

Tang Mu’s expression darkened. Dai Tingyu behind him couldn’t help but rush forward and say: “Tang-furen, your brother not only left his post without authorization, but also took his men to play in a brothel, the result of which was that nobody patrolled where they were supposed to be. Dozens of lives were lost overnight. I didn’t execute him for such a crime for the sake of the Tang family’s face.”

Uncle Tang hollered: “Nonsense. This is Nanfeng City, under the surname Tang, not Dai. I think you just want to seize power! Besides, even if I took people there, it was too late to save them, ah, so why should their deaths be put on my head!”

“You!” Dai Tingy was immediately infuriated. If they thought people couldn’t be saved and didn’t even try, what were they doing as soldiers? 

Tang-furen saw that Dai Tingyu was about to come up and beat this person, and directly rebuked: “Son, you really don’t care about your subordinates!”

At this time, Tang Mu finally spoke up: “Commander Dai is my equal in terms of position, not my subordinate. Moreover, my uncle did violate military discipline, and everything is subject to Commander Dai’s judgment.”

Dai Tingyu breathed a sigh of relief and admired Tang Mu even more. He felt that scholars should have such character and courage, not influenced by external circumstances.

“Sister!” Uncle Tang immediately called out, tugging Tang-furen’s sleeve.

“You! You are so disobedient. Simply disobedient and unfilial. He is your uncle. We orphans and widows depend on Uncle Tang to take care of us and keep us from being bullied, but now you don’t care if others bully him. As expected……Nanfeng City should not have been handed over to you. Also, what can you even do?” Tang-furen said to herself. 

Tang Mu’s expression shifted: “Mother, be careful what you say!”

Tang-furen was agitated: “What’s wrong with what I said? You’re about to give Nanfeng City to the Dai family. How is this worthy of your dead father and grandfather, as well as…..do you have the face to stand before them?!”

“Mother, you seem confused!” Tang Mu said angrily.

“What are you talking about! Since you can’t handle the position of City Lord, why not let your uncle take the seat? He’s older than you. In fact, it should have been him…..”

It was initially fine for them to wallow and make a fuss, but the topic Tang-furen brought up now was shocking. Saying such ridiculous things, it was like this old woman had been brainwashed or made stupid.

“You’re actually crazy,” Dai Tingyu said in disbelief.

“Mother!” Tang Mu practically shouted.

Tang-furen said angrily: “Don’t forget who you are! Do you think you can continue like this? Your didi was a pedant, so it was only a matter of time before the title of chengzhu was given over to your uncle! You keep dragging it along like this…..”

Uncle Tang also raised his voice: “Your mother is right. You’re not worthy of sitting in this position. Don’t make us force you to step down. We are all family, and I don’t want to make you look bad.”

Tang Mu’s face was entirely discolored at this time.

“You’re actually crazy.” Dai Tingyu was a straightforward fellow and couldn’t stand to see the boss he recognized being bullied like this. Even though the two of them were relatives, he drew his sword and forced them to retreat.

The two of them shouted in anger. Tang Mu wore a look of exhaustion.

Liu Zhenqing and Huo Fenglie watched from the sidelines and shook their heads at the sight. Liu Zhenqing said: “It seems there’s no problem with her backbone. I didn’t expect that after so many years, Tang-furen would still be so forceful and unreasonable. Sure enough, Nanfeng City has been governed so peacefully that some people no longer know their place.”

Unable to bear it anymore, Liu Zhenqing clapped, and the stir called the attention of the people around him. 

They saw a tall, majestic warrior and an elegant young master standing next to them.

“Who are you, ah! W-who allowed you to watch the excitement here?” Uncle Tang was the first to shout, as if he was the master of this place.

Liu Zhenqing liked mocking people like this the most, so he said properly: “We aren’t watching the excitement, we’re watching a joke.”

When he spoke these words, the troublemakers immediately flushed red.

Tang Mu stepped forward and cupped his hands: “Apologies. I’ve made you two laugh.”

“It is rather ridiculous,” Liu Zhenqing said to Huo Fenglie next to him. “Hey, do you know what this is called?”

Huo Fenglie shook his head and asked cooperatively: “I don’t know.”

“This is called the maternal family interfering in politics,” Liu Zhenqing said with a smile.

Huo Fenglie nodded.

Liu Zhenqing asked again: “Do you think Dai Tingyu is handling it right?”

Dai Tingyu instantly became nervous.

Huo Fenglie shook his head: “His heart is a bit soft. According to military discipline, these sort of people should receive fifty military strokes, so that they won’t be able to get out of bed for half a year, but I see there haven’t been any at this point.”

Dai Tingyu was at a loss: “Brother, I…..”

“What nonsense are you speaking? Who are you people?!” Uncle Tang reprimanded him angrily, and Tang-furen also regarded them with displeasure. “Son, how did a small official become so naive?”

Before Tang Mu could speak, Liu Zhenqing swiftly cupped his hands and said: “I have no official position. Just like this uncle.”

Uncle Tang smiled, pointing directly at Liu Zhenqing’s face to scold him, but Liu Zhenqing turned to Huo Fenglie and said as if no one else was watching: “Right, haven’t the City Lords of Nanfeng City come from generations of the Tang family?”

Huo Fenglie said coldly: “It’s been four generations.”

“Wa, a hereditary system?” Liu Zhenqing asked in surprise.

“Of course not. The position of city lord is the emperor’s prerogative, and it just happens that every city lord has been a member of the Tang family who have accomplished meritorious deeds and are loved by the people of the city. This was up to the emperor’s discretion.”

“Really, ah? Then Tang-furen and this uncle are so powerful that they can surpass the emperor to appoint the next city lord.”

When these words fell, Tang-furen and Uncle Tang’s expressions changed. They leveled Liu Zhenqing with looks of shame and anger.

Liu Zhenqing narrowed his eyes slightly and said: “It’s better to report this to the emperor and see if he listens to Tang-furen.”

Tang-furen’s expression shifted again and she said at once: “That’s not what I meant. Where did you come from? Stop slandering me. Our Tang family is meritorious in Nanfeng City, and even if we continue on, the city’s people will support us.”

“Oh, it turns out that Uncle’s surname is Tang, ah? Did you change your name after marrying?” Liu Zhenqing asked Uncle Tang with a smile. The question stifled Uncle Tang directly.

Tang-furen’s face colored even more, and Dai Tingyu sneered from the side: “His surname isn’t Tang. It’s just that some women turn to outsiders instead of their own family, and want to steal all the Tang family’s glory for their natal family. They don’t even look at what comes out of their own house!”

“You’re speaking absolute nonsense!” Tang-furen was so angry that she nearly fainted. She expected Tang Mu to speak up, but only saw him standing aside with a cold gaze, which made her even angrier.

“We aren’t speaking nonsense, unlike Tang-furen, ah. Orphans and widows rely on the uncle? Madam, you can really tell a joke! Why is it that I remember that Tang Mu became the city lord because he intercepted foreign envoys and saved Nanfeng City when he was young? Did this uncle also join the war?”

“Join the war. Haha, he was the first to use his connections to flee.” Dai Tingyu had recruited people for the military camp and naturally investigated, so he was disdainful of this.

Uncle Tang’s face was about to bleed, and Tang-furen was even more embarrassed, but she was unwilling to be suppressed by a group of juniors. After all, she was the mother of the city lord. How could she let herself be humiliated by her child’s disobedience?

“You have no official position. How are you allowed to be so presumptuous in the City Lord’s Manor!” Tang-furen said angrily.

Liu Zhenqing smiled. “I have no official position, but I’m also…..” He pointed to Huo Fenglie next to him and said: “…..a close friend of the general who guards the country, ah. An uncle with no official position can rely on the prestige of the city lord’s mother, but I can’t borrow the prestige of the general who guards the country? General Huo, these people in front of you ignore Imperial power and regard the laws of Great Zhou as child’s play. They even dare to say that Nanfeng City’s surname is Tang. They really aren’t afraid of the news spreading to the emperor and being punished for the crime of rebellion.”

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Chapter One Hundred Three << Table of Contents >> Chapter One Hundred Five