Translator: Exodus Tales
Editor: Exodus Tales
The school was quiet during the lunch break as teachers and students were taking a rest.
The sun was warm, and the shadow under my feet formed into a small silhouette.
I cautiously walked back to my room, afraid that I would awaken Cheng Fengfeng and Bai Xiaomeng, but they were both already awake.
When she saw that I returned, Cheng Fengfeng smiled at me and showed off an emerald jade bracelet on her wrist.
“Look, my mother bought this from the antique market. It cost tens of thousands of yuan.”
I glanced at the bracelet on her hand. The jade was translucent, and it looked like it was of good quality. Cheng Fengfeng’s family was definitely wealthy and wayward! A bracelet that costs tens of thousands of yuan was handed over to Cheng Fengfeng, a teenager to wear.
At the same time, Bai Xiaomeng said, “You take it off and let me wear it. I want to try it out.”
Cheng Fengfeng pushed the bracelet down in a swift movement, but for some reason, wasn’t able to take it off, no matter how hard she tried. Her hands had even turned red from all the pulling, but the jade bracelet could not be taken off.
Her small face flushed, and she muttered, “I can’t take it off… but it was so easy to put it on.”
I sat on the bed and looked up at her. She was still struggling with her bracelet.
Bai Xiaomeng curled her lips, “Forget it. If you don’t want me to wear it, then forget it.”
Cheng Fengfeng was displayed, “What do you mean? Do you mean I’m stingy and won’t let you wear it? You wearing it for a while does not matter to me, but I really can’t take it off.”
Cheng Fengfeng did not look like she was pretending. Her hands were red from trying to take the bracelet, and the bracelet was very small. It didn’t look like it could be taken off easily. I couldn’t imagine how she managed to wear the jade bracelet in the first place.
“If you can’t take it off, don’t take it off,” Bai Xiaomeng waved her hand and turned over to sleep.
Cheng Fengfeng was getting annoyed. She clenched her teeth and tried to take off the bracelet for some time again, but she failed.
“Ugh, what should I do if I can’t take off this bracelet? It can’t be that I have to wear it for the rest of my life?’ she grumbled.
I laughed and said, “Just wear it. It’s so expensive, and it’ll be a waste not to wear it.”
I was joking, but she was a little upset. Since she couldn’t take off the bracelet, she didn’t bother to waste anymore of her energy.
“Go to sleep. We have a class to attend in the afternoon.”
She turned her back toward me. I laid down, but I couldn’t sleep.
I’m not sure what Teacher Wu thought after listening to what I said. I hope he did not talk to the class teacher and say that I’m mentally abnormal.
I’m really too impulsive, why do I bother with things that have nothing to do with me?
I should just go with the flow with things if they don’t affect me, right?
I sighed, closed my eyes. I attempted to take a nap, but I remained awake.
Time passed by slowly as I waited for the alarm to ring. It felt like a long time had passed, but I glanced at the alarm clock to find out that only ten minutes had just passed. I suddenly remembered Xu Zixi, who was still on the rooftop. So I sneaked out of the dormitory and went straight to the roof.
Seven flights of stairs later, and out of breath, I finally reached the rooftop.
I took off the blindfold and saw that Xu Zixi was still standing by the fence. I walked toward her, and she seemed to notice that I was coming. She sighed deeply and murmured, “When will you ask the master to exorcise me?”
“Wait for the weekend. I can’t contact him now without a handphone.”
“Why didn’t you let your parents buy you a handphone? How do you contact your family if there’s an emergency?”
I thought about it carefully when she said that. Ninety-nine percent of the students in the class had handphones. It would be convenient to also have one, but I felt embarrassed to ask my aunty to get me one. She already worked so hard for me.
“I can go to the retail shop to use the public phone if there’s an emergency.”
She smiled and said nothing.
I sat down next to her. I felt the breeze blowing, and my heart was calm.
After a while, she said to me again, “Why would the king of the underworld be so close to you?”
I was taken aback. Is she talking about Ming Si?
“How do you know he’s Hades?” I was surprised.
She said, “His silver fan. That is a symbol of Hades, didn’t you know this?”
I smiled bitterly. How would I know that the silver fan represented him? Compared to this, I was even more curious about how Xu Zixi found out about this. Could it be that when a person becomes a ghost, he would know about this naturally?
We were chatting when Teacher Wu’s grandma suddenly appeared. She walked towards me with a smile on her face.
“Kid, I knew you could see me. You are now talking to one of my kind, and I just caught you in action. You can’t lie to me again, right?”
Indeed, it would be nonsensical if I continued to pretend when she caught me.
I stood up, patted the dust behind, and asked her, “How do you want me to help you?”
She asked me to write down her passbook password and told me where the passbook was hidden. She didn’t forget to warn me in the end, “Don’t be a crook. That money is for my grandson to get married. Don’t you dare turn your back on me and take everything secretly…”
“If you didn’t believe me, you wouldn’t ask me for help, won’t you?” I interrupted her. She froze and smiled resignedly.
“Yes, I couldn’t find anyone to help me except you.”
“That’s it.”
I was a person with principles. I would not take the money of a dead old lady. Besides, the money was saved for her grandson’s marriage.
I reassured the old lady that I would help her handle it well since I promised her.
…
That night, I had a good night’s sleep. At noon the next day, I went to see Teacher Wu again.
He seemed to be waiting for me. He saw me arrive and asked me eagerly, “What did you mean yesterday?”
His complexion was not good, and he even had dark circles under his eyes. I guess he didn’t sleep all night.
I sat down on the chair and motioned for him to sit too.
He said anxiously, “Student Ji, I want to know what you meant yesterday.”
“I will tell you, but first, please sit down, Teacher Wu.”
I felt that I had turned from a guest into the host, which made me feel a little amused.
He didn’t say much, sat down on the chair opposite me, and looked at me eagerly.
“Your grandma saved all the money your parents sent to her from abroad and wanted to give it to you when you got married. She kept the passbook under the mattress in her room and said there’s a locker under the bed. The passbook is in the locker. As for the password…” I paused, looked at Teacher Wu’s desk, got up to take a pen and paper, and wrote the password down.
“I wrote the password on paper. You can confirm it later.”
He looked at me in disbelief and was tongue-tied for a long time.
I guessed that as a teacher who learned psychology, it was natural that he was not someone superstitious, so I said, “Teacher Wu, I want to discuss something with you.”
He reacted and motioned for me to speak.
“If you find the passbook and the password is correct, can you tell the class teacher that I am mentally normal, but have just been stressed out recently?”
There was no time better than now to negotiate terms with him.
He was silent for a long time, and finally said, “I will confirm it first, only then will I give you an answer.”
…
Did he mean he would not claim that I am mentally abnormal? Hehe…
If I knew that earlier, I would have stated my conditions before telling him about the passbook and password.