Chapter 10

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An incident occurred on the day of my confession\n

A few days later, He Yu made a reservation at a high-rise fine dining restaurant, and invited Xie Xue out on a weekend night with a plan to confess to her then.\n

When Xie Xue picked up his call and heard that food was involved, she burst into joy without even questioning his motives and said, “Okay! I’m coming! I’m definitely coming!”\n

“Then we’ll meet at six o’clock on the evening of the 20th, see you there.”　　\n

“Eh? On the evening of the 20th?”\n

“What’s wrong?”\n

Xie Xue was a little embarrassed. “I might be a little late that evening because I received a call from the Huzhou Emergency Department earlier on, and they informed me that the relief station workers were going to transport Grandpa Zhuang to the Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital on the 20th evening. I also reached out to Cheng Kang personally, wanting to discuss with the person-in-charge on the matter of bringing students in for a visit……”\n

He Yu sighed. “Then I’ll reschedule dinner.”\n

“But this restaurant is so difficult to book. The last time I called them, they told me I had to make a reservation at least three months in advance.”\n

He Yu laughed. “It’s okay, we can go there anytime you want. My family is a shareholder of this restaurant, after all.”\n

Xie Xue: “………”\n

Being born with good capitals really made everything dull. It took away the joy that came with hard-earned victory.\n

“I think it’s better not to… It’ll be quite an inconvenience to the restaurant manager and I don’t like that.” Xie Xue continued speaking, “Let’s just meet on the 20th, I’ll do my best to be quick in settling my affairs. If there’s any changes, I’ll WeChat you in advance!”\n

He Yu rested his hand against his forehead and smiled even wider. “Alright, we’ll do as you say.”\n

Xie Xue happily hung up the phone.\n

There’s gonna be delicious food to eat!\n

In a blink of an eye, it was already the 20th.\n

Because Xie Xue was representing the university in the discussion of this project, in order to make herself look a little more formal, she wore the classic small suit that was exclusive to the members of the Huzhou University’s faculty staff. Then, together with the relief station workers, she accompanied Grandpa Zhuang Zhiqiang to the Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital.\n

Unlike Wan Ping 600 Road, Cheng Kang was a worn-down psychiatric hospital that was privately owned. As soon as they got out of the car, a foul stench in the air greeted them. A nurse, with an expression full of reluctance, was currently directing a forklift vehicle to carry away the sheets and beddings that were soiled with the patients’ urine and excrement. There were also two other people in charge of refueling the transport vehicle arguing at the side, their argument over a lack of gasoline was so heated that both of their faces turned red from anger.\n

Grandpa Zhuang was a little frightened by this. He shrank back while holding Xie Xue’s hand and said, “Daughter, this……”\n

“Don’t worry, grandpa, you just have to live here for a short period of time and then I’ll come pick you up, okay?”\n

Only then Grandpa Zhuang slowly followed Xie Xue inside.\n

The reception lobby of the psychiatric hospital was quite warmly decorated. Although the facilities were all quite old, at least the smell within the building was refreshing and the color scheme was pleasant on the eyes.\n

“You must be Xiao Zhang from the relief station? Are you here to settle the procedure for Grandpa Zhuang Zhiqiang’s temporary guardianship?”\n

“Yes.”\n

“The head of the institution had told me all about it. Come this way please.”\n

Zhuang Zhiqiang’s illness was relatively mild so they arranged for him to reside on the first floor. Accompanied by the staff member, Xie Xue surveyed the room’s environment and felt her heart ease up a little. After Grandpa Zhuang went in, a caregiver around Xie Xue’s age had already started talking to him, her face full of smiles. He once again mistook her for his daughter and started chattering away.\n

“Then I’ll have to trouble you guys.” The relief station staff returned to the office with the head of the institution and signed a series of agreements.\n

However, it wasn’t the members of staff on the lower floor that were going to discuss the project with Xie Xue, so she had to go up instead. The receptionist was originally supposed to accompany her, but unfortunately she couldn’t leave at the moment, so she directed Xie Xue to look for Director Liang at the 24-hour duty office on the third floor.\n

The third floor of the Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital was an intensive care area. The moment Xie Xue stepped out of the elevator, she instinctively felt a chill that ran down her spine—the entire atmosphere here was completely different from the lower floors.\n

Iron windows and metal bars lined the hallway, as if it were a prison, which echoed with ghastly screams and whimpers. It made the whole environment so frightening that it seemed like it was a scene straight out of a horror film.\n

Although the lights in the hallway were very bright and the incandescent lamps were lit all year round, in an atmosphere like this, they only came across as an abnormal kind of ‘deathly white’.\n

“Death is coming! Death is coming hahahahahaHAHAHAHA—”\n

“You’re all ill! All of you are the ones who are ill!”\n

“I’m not human, I’m a ghost— No, I’m not a ghost, I’m human! ……..Who the hell am I? Am I human or am I a ghost……?”\n

Each ward was sealed off behind a heavy iron door, and each iron door had an explosion-proof tempered glass the size of an A4 frame that allowed you to peer inside.\n

Warily, Xie Xue walked inside for a bit until she finally gave in to her curiosity and stopped in front of one of the quieter wards. Then, she stood on her tiptoes and peeked through the window.\n

A woman sat inside the room and was giggling to herself. The entire ward was lined with a soft body cushion that prevented patients from attempting self-harm or suicide. There wasn’t a table nor a chair, and even the bed was a special kind of bed made without any edges, a black restraint belt draped over it.\n

Inside, the crazy woman caressed the restraint belt in an intimate manner, rubbing against it and stuffing it into her voluminous chest. At the same time, she chuckled. “Who told you to cheat on me with that bitch… Look, right now I’ve…… already chopped you into pieces…… Aside from me, who else would be willing to touch and hold you again like this? Hubby……”\n

Xie Xue walked to the next room.\n

It was empty—the patient was probably taken out to get treatment.\n

Then, in the room after that, there was a man with his back hunched over, seated at the corner of the room as he faced the wall. He was in the midst of spreading something onto it, his figure appearing to be particularly serene. When Xie Xue took a closer look, however, she found out that he was actually smearing his own feces onto the wall!\n

Further down in the next room was a young man who probably had a tendency for self-harm and was bound to the special bed as a result of that. Who knew how long he had been tied up like this—but he still tirelessly threw his head back as he laughed and cried at the same time. “Fuck you! What rights do you have to tie me up?! I want to die!!! Can’t I just die?! If you don’t let me die, I’m coming out there to kill everyone……! You’re all gonna be dead once I get out there!!! Let me out! LET ME GO!!!”\n

The more Xie Xue looked at him, the more goosebumps started to rise on the surface of her skin. Her fascination grew along with it.\n

She tore her eyes off the glass window and proceeded to the next—\n

“Ahh!!!”\n

Unexpectedly, she was greeted with an eye pressed up against the glass window. Xie Xue let out a loud scream as she jumped back in fright, retreating to the other side of the hallway. Her back leaned against the door of the room on the opposite side as she gasped for air.\n

The man in the ward that was staring at her with his face stuck to the glass window had a pair of bloodshot crossed-eyes so large that it was terrifying. When he saw that he had frightened her, he began to laugh out loud with uncontrollable joy, his nose pressed up against the glass window, the grease of it staining its surface……\n

Xie Xue’s heartbeat raced. Just as she was about to ease up from the fright, she suddenly felt a coldness on her ankle.\n

She lowered her head to take a look—\n

“AHHHHHHH!!!”\n

This time, she screamed even louder than before!\n

It was a hand!!!\n

As it turned out, not only did the iron door have a see-through glass panel at the top, it also had a food hatch meant for delivering meals at the bottom!!!\n

A little pale hand stuck out of the hatch and circled around her ankle that was pressed against the door in a death grip!!!\n

Xie Xue was on the verge of a mental breakdown. She immediately jumped up, crying and screaming and even stomping her feet until the little hand retracted. The patient on the inside retreated to the center of the room and stood where others could see him from outside the window. He was a small boy with albinism; his entire person appeared as if he had been bleached—even his pupils were almost transparent. He stared at her with fixation, the grin on his face revealing his white teeth.\n

“Jiejie…… hehehe……”\n

Cheng Kang’s sound insulation wasn’t that great and the ruckus ended up attracting the attention of the patients that lined this hallway. All of them flocked to their glass windows and stared at Xie Xue as they let out all sorts of strange screams as if responding to each other. Several hands reached out from the door hatches below and grasped around blindly like seaweed in an ocean.\n

“A woman has come to visit us!”\n

“What kind of person? A doctor?”\n

“Not a damn doctor! A prison visitor!”\n

“It’s a female ghost!”\n

“Grab her feet!”\n

They couldn’t reach Xie Xue of course, but their laughter was so impudent that for a brief moment, Xie Xue felt like she had entered a forest with the sounds of spirits and ghosts everywhere.\n

Xie Xue couldn’t stand it anymore and was prepared to turn around and escape. She would wait however long it takes for the receptionist on the first floor to be done with her stuff before coming up together!\n

Right at this moment, however, someone tapped on her shoulder.\n

“HELP!!!” Once again, Xie Xue’s mental state collapsed entirely.\n

“Shhh.”\n

Xie Xue was drenched in cold sweat as she turned around with dread. However, she was met with a very pretty face.\n

It was a beautiful woman.\n

The woman wore a vintage red dress and a matching pair of red high heels. She was a little older, appearing to be in her fifties, but you could still see that she must have been an absolute beauty back in her youth. Even though she was like a dried-up snake fruit now, the beauty of her past still shone through.\n

The name tag on her chest read ‘Liang Jicheng’.\n

Xie Xue let out a sigh of relief and deflated like a ball. “D–Director Liang……”\n

Liang Jicheng smiled, but for some reason, her face was a little stiff as if she were unable to fully mobilize her muscle tissues and could only give a surface smile.\n

She said to Xie Xue in a soft voice, “You mustn’t scream here. The more you scream, the more you’ll agitate the other patients, and the more they will want to frighten you. Come with me to the office instead.”\n

.\n

5:30 p.m.\n

He Yu suddenly received a message from Xie Xue: “I shouldn’t be late.“\n

He replied to her. “Is everything going well on your end?”\n

“Very well! The hospital’s team agreed that we can let some of the students visit, but there are slightly more requirements. I’m still discussing it with her.“\n

After a while: “By the way, the Director Liang who met me today is so pretty. She is a total beauty who is especially elegant….. It’s a pity you didn’t come along.”\n

He Yu didn’t bother to pay attention to her. He threw his phone aside, got up, took his clothes from the closet, and prepared to go out to the hotel to wait for her.\n

It was still early when he arrived at the hotel, and the manager respectfully guided him to the rooftop location where he had made a reservation. Although there were private rooms, He Yu chose the terrace which overlooked the entire scenery of Huzhou, and the evening breeze blew pleasantly, while the red hue in the sky was brilliant and solemn. He thought that Xie Xue would like it better here.\n

6:05 p.m.\n

Xie Xue hadn’t come yet.\n

He Yu sent her a message asking her where she was and if she was stuck in traffic, and just as he finished sending the message, he heard the voice of the waiter not far away. “Ladies and gentlemen, please be careful of the steps.”\n

He raised his eyes and looked outside—there was a large group of people, as if it was a business meeting or a senior management party of a company.\n

He Yu felt that it was a bit noisy and thought of changing his seat when he glanced over and saw an indifferent looking man among them.\n

He Yu was stunned for a moment. “Xie Qingcheng?”\n

Xie Qingcheng’s medical school had an important event, and the school had arranged the venue at this hotel a few months ago, and now that the event was over, it was time for a back-to-back dinner.\n

He Yu never thought he would be so unlucky to meet Xie Qingcheng in such a place.\n

With such an old-fashioned family head like Xie Qingcheng here, how can he confess to Xie Xue? Xue Qingcheng might even throw him from the highest floor to the river below!\n

Xie Qingcheng also saw him, said a few words to his colleagues, and came over to greet He Yu. “You’re waiting for someone?”\n

“…… Yes.”\n

One of Xie Qingcheng’s meddlesome colleagues came over and saw He Yu: “Yo, what a handsome young man, Professor Xie, your relative?”\n

“The son of a customer.”\n

“Oh…… Is this young lad on a date with his girlfriend?”\n

There were always annoying acquaintances in this world, asking questions without a sense of boundaries.\n

He Yu had a good self-restraint, so he only smiled. “I’m waiting for Professor Xie’s sister.”\n

The colleague got even more excited, turning to wink at Xie Qingcheng. “Your brother-in-law is so handsome.”\n

He Yu looked at Xie Qingcheng’s face and knew that if he dared to confess to Xie Xue today, Xie Qingcheng would also dare to smash his table and fight him on the spot.\n

…… I should forget about it and pick another day to confess. I’ll just have a meal with Xie Xue today.\n

“You’ve misunderstood. We’re just friends.” After thinking through his plans, he let out a small smile.\n

Xie Qingcheng still frowned. “What did you ask her out for?”\n

“I haven’t treated her properly to a meal since returning to China.”\n

Before Xie Qingcheng could say anything, his colleagues seated at the table started calling for him and the meddlesome colleague to take their seats. The meddlesome colleague pulled him away, so he had no choice but to only give He Yu a warning look before returning to his table.\n

6:15 p.m.\n

The first few dishes ordered by the table of the medical school professors had already been served, but Xie Xue has yet to arrive.\n

Not only is she not there, but even the message He Yu sent her ten minutes ago went unanswered. He Yu sent her another message, with still no response.\n

He Yu felt that something was amiss, so he decided he should just WeChat call Xie Xue.\n

No answer.\n

He called again.\n

First, there was a beeping waiting sound, but after waiting for a long time, there was still no movement.\n

After yet another unanswered call—\n

Something was not really right.\n

“Hello, the user you have called has switched off their phone, please call again later.”\n

Xie Xue suddenly changed from not picking up to switching off her phone!\n

This time, He Yu was sure that there was indeed something wrong. He immediately got up and went straight out of the fine dining restaurant. Seeing that the Young Master He was in such a hurry with his eyes cold, the manager was startled, and asked with some alarm—\n

“Young Master He, is there something wrong with the service?”\n

“No.” He Yu pressed the elevator button, his gaze growing more and more stern. “Tell the lobby to get me a car, quickly.”\n

“Yes, yes, yes, I understand.”\n

Now He Yu was pissed—why was this stupid building built so tall? There was even a transit elevator to go between floors!\n

“Ding—!”\n

The spurned elevator finally reached this floor and the mechanical dark gray door opened. He Yu went in and just as he was about to press the ‘close’ button, a hand appeared between the elevator doors with a bang, causing the door to open again.\n

He Yu looked up grimly, wondering which clueless idiot dared delay him, and was met with a sight of a very long and beautiful hand with a wrist watch. His eyes followed the line of the arm, before he was met with the sight of  Xie Qingcheng’s cold face.\n

“What happened?”\n

.\n

Forty minutes later, the hotel’s seven-seater van that ran countless red lights along the way screeched to a stop outside the Cheng Kang psychiatric hospital.\n

He Yu and Xie Qingcheng entered the hospital together.\n

The sky was already dark at this time, so the lights were turned on in the lobby of the Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital. Accompanied by the nurses, a few patients with mild cases of mental illness were currently on the first floor taking part in rehab activities.\n

After seeing He Yu and Xie Qingcheng barge in with unkind expressions, the nurse at the reception desk froze momentarily before getting up to ask, “Who are you guys looking for?”\n

Xie Qingcheng said, “A teacher from Hu Chuan came to see Director Liang about a project this afternoon. I’m her brother, where is she?”\n

“Then she should be on the third floor.” The nurse sized up Xie Qingcheng and suddenly smiled with a blush. “Handsome, are you worried about your sister?”\n

She continued joking in a sweet voice. “You don’t have to be so worried. We’re a proper hospital so nothing bad will happen; maybe their discussion was just dragged out. Besides, our Director Liang is already is his fifties, and even has a wife and children, he wouldn’t—”\n

“What did you say?!”\n

He Yu suddenly interrupted her words.\n

“You said Director Liang has a wife and children?”\n

“Y–Yeah.”\n

His expression changed in an instant.\n

It started out as an uneasy guess at first, but right now, He Yu was absolutely sure that something had gone wrong.\n

In his phone was the last message Xie Xue had sent him. She said to him at that time—\n

“The Director Liang who met me today is so pretty. She is a total beauty who is especially elegant…..”\n

—But Director Liang couldn’t have been a woman!\n

He Yu immediately rushed upstairs!!!\n

.\n

At this very moment. \n

The sound of a lullaby reverberated the walls of the administrative office inside of the Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital. “Toss, toss, toss the handkerchief away~ Gently place it behind the child, but don’t tell her about it……”\n

Just like that, ‘Liang Jicheng’ casually hummed out this song, holding a scalpel in her hand as she continually hacked away at something on the ground.\n

The ceiling fan buzzed above her head, sending light and shadow dancing across the room in a disarray, but still managing to illuminate what was in front of her—\n

A corpse that hadn’t been dead for too long.\n

Fresh blood had already dyed the uniform of the Huzhou University faculty staff red…… Huzhou University faculty staff……\n

It was Xie Xue!\n

‘Liang Jicheng’ chopped off Xie Xue’s entire hand at last. She held up the severed hand and stared at it for a bit before throwing it away with a numb expression on her face. The hand rolled to a stop next to Xie Xue’s corpse, which was already icy cold……\n

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The author has something to say:\n

Mini Theatre: \n

Character card: \n

Xie Xue\n

Gender: Female\n

Age: 24\n

Height: 160cm\n

Favorite food: My brother’s cooking\n

Food you dislike: There’s nothing I don’t like\n

Favorite color: White\n

Color you dislike: Black\n

Is there anyone you like at the moment: Yes\n

Favorite animal: I like all furry animals \n

Animals you dislike: Bugs and snakes\n

Anecdote: \n

Back when she was a child, Xie Xue’s family had been poor and didn’t own a computer. She really wanted one, so she said to Xie Qingcheng, “Why do all the other children get to own computers, but I don’t?” \n

Xie Qingcheng told her that without a computer, she would be able to concentrate on her studies instead.\n

Xie Xue said that her peers were all playing with computers and that everyone gradually owned their own computers, so they don’t come out to play hide-and-seek with her anymore. She felt lonely playing in the yard all alone. But it doesn’t matter if he didn’t buy one for her—she’ll just have to go and play with the tree instead.\n

Hearing this, Xie Qingcheng suddenly felt sad, so he worked for three months in between classes, and then went to a home appliance store with the money he had saved up. He walked up to the counter and said to the staff, “Hello, I want to buy the best computer available. Does it come in colors that are suitable for little girls?”

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