During the 40-minute English lesson, Lin Feiran, who stood at the back, touched Gu Kaifeng eight times.
He even did it secretly to make sure he didn’t seem like a pervert, using his old elementary school technique for sneakily sticking notes on classmates’ backs. Other than the first time, Gu Kaifeng didn’t react to his discreet touches; it seemed as though he didn’t feel them. Lin Feiran felt proud of himself and thought that he pulled it off especially covertly!
One could say that even the gods wouldn’t know, Lin Feiran boasted to himself.
The bell rang and the teacher packed up her things and left. As soon as she stepped out of the classroom, Gu Kaifeng, who was sitting next to Lin Feiran, stood up immediately, grabbed Lin Feiran by the shoulders, and pushed him against the wall.
Lin Feiran was startled: “……”
Is, is he picking a fight?
Gu Kaifeng leaned closer, looked down at the confused Lin Feiran, and said in a low voice, “You touched me eight times during the lesson.”
Lin Feiran scowled at him. “……”
Fuck, you were counting!?
Gu Kaifeng smirked and said softly, “Your little hands are quite mischievous, want to try doing that again?”
Even though Gu Kaifeng’s tone sounded flirtatious, the straight Lin Feiran assumed that the words “doing that” meant “annoying Gu Kaifeng” and took “want to try doing XX again” as a threat. After all, if he put himself in Gu Kaifeng’s shoes, he would also be angry if another male student started harassing him during lesson, touching him here and there as he pleased. Therefore, Lin Feiran waved his hands in a fluster and insisted, “I won’t bother you anymore.”
Lin Feiran no longer had the guts to provoke Gu Kaifeng. I just want to hug his thigh and never let go!
Gu Kafeng felt a little disappointed. “You really won’t?”
Lin Feiran nodded his head weakly. “Really, I won’t do it again.”
Lin Feiran stopped and thought it over, then added anxiously, “Not this lesson, but I can’t say anything about the next one…”
Gu Kaifeng was amused. “You…”
Lin Feiran felt Gu Kaifeng’s hands loosen and took the opportunity to dart back to his seat like a frightened rabbit, not daring to look back. His ears were bright red.
It’s not like I want to be this shameless, but ghosts are really just too scary!
Ultimately, Lin Feiran had a difficult day.
He had been forcing himself to persevere standing in the back row of the classroom all morning, and it left his legs extremely sore. More distressingly, Gu Kaifeng’s behaviour had abruptly changed; throughout the morning after every class he would tease Lin Feiran. In order to avoid Gu Kaifeng that afternoon, Lin Feiran summoned up his courage and returned to his seat.He distracted himself by staring resolutely at the writing on the blackboard, poring over his textbooks while taking notes, or simply closing his eyes and relaxing. After all, what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over.
As to how he dared to return to his seat? It was because the founder of the school had left the classroom after the second period to inspect other classes and hadn’t come back since. Once that old gentleman with half a head was gone, the level of scariness in the classroom immediately came down to a bearable level. Aside from a ghost that was hanging from the overhead projector and dripping blood, a ghostly face peeping through a small window in the back door of the classroom, a few lazy ghosts snoring in the aisles, and a top student running around lecturing others, there were no other ghosts in the room…
These ghosts didn’t scare Lin Feiran as much as the old gentleman with half a head; at least, they didn’t force him to keep his eyes open.
However, the ghost of the top student was particularly noteworthy. This student appeared to have died from hanging: his tongue was stretched and dangling from his mouth, his eyes were bulging and white, and his face was swollen and red as though about to burst. In contrast to the gentlemanly ghost who liked to hang around the top (living) students, this ghost enjoyed harassing the ones with low grades. Lin Feiran’s deskmate, Zhang Xu, was the worst student in the entire class, so the ghost stood behind him for an entire lesson with his long tongue hanging over Zhang Xu’s head. Every time the scholarly ghost wanted to open his mouth to ridicule Zhang Xu, he would first have to stuff his tongue back into his mouth, and then the mockery would begin.
“Are you retarded?” The top student sneered while rapping on Zhang Xu’s head, “You don’t know how to do this kind of easy question? Substitute it for the third formula, you pig!”
Though Zhang Xu could neither see nor hear this ghost, he still seemed to have some sort of reaction, and scratched at the back of his head. He continued to stare at the exercise, looking stressed and frustrated.
Lin Feiran, pale-faced and cowardly, didn’t dare to look to his deskmate’s side. “……”
The ghost continued tapping Zhang Xu’s head rhythmically, “You didn’t do this equation in order. Watch the symbols, you idiot.”
The scholarly ghost was hating iron for not becoming steel. “I’m going to use on you the words that my dad would use on me: having raised you for so many years yet you can’t even get a scholarship, you might as well just commit suicide!”
Continuing to imitate his dad, the scholarly ghost chided, “How did I get this kind of useless son?”
“……” Lin Feiran realized why the ghost hanged himself.
By the end of the school day, Lin Feiran concluded that he couldn’t go on like this. If he did, he would surely surpass Zhang Xu as the worst student in the class and be harassed by the ghost of the top student every minute of the day instead.
If only I could share a table with Gu Kaifeng, I wouldn’t have to see this ghost. Actually, Gu Kaifeng’s yang energy is so strong that no ghosts would come bother him, other than those crazy fangirls… Lin Feiran considered these things while he sat at his desk in their dorm room, his big eyes staring emptily at the pen he was spinning in his hand. He ignored the workbook in front of him and did not move for a long time. His long, dark eyelashes drooped over his eyes, giving off a troubled look.
The workspace in the dorm room consisted of two little desks that were situated adjacent to one another, opposite the bunk bed. Lin Feiran’s desk was the one on the left, so Gu Kaifeng’s was on the right.
Gu Kaifeng was leaning elegantly over his desk, his head resting on one hand with his gaze angled towards Lin Feiran. After staring at Lin Feiran for a while, he coughed softly to get his attention.
However, Lin Feiran was lost in thought and didn’t notice in the least; he merely sighed moodily with his chin on his hands while he continued to ruminate over his problems. Lin Feiran’s small face looked as though it were weighed down with anxiety.
Actually, now that Lin Feiran gave it some more thought, maybe it wasn’t a 100% bad thing to see ghosts? After all, he thought, I might be able to see Grandpa now — but would he be in the house where he died, or at his grave…? And what about Grandma? Could she be with Grandpa? Grandpa didn’t seem especially sad when she passed away… Lin Feiran recalled that his grandpa behaved particularly strangely the year of his grandma’s death, and was always talking to himself… When Lin Feiran asked others about this, they told him that his grandpa was just missing his wife too much. But, knowing what he knows now, maybe his grandpa was really talking with his grandma’s ghost all along. Could it be they are now reunited in their old house?
What is that little fellow thinking of with such a bitter look on his face? Gu Kaifeng amused himself by nudging Lin Feiran’s foot with his own and called out to him softly, “Hey.”
Lin Feiran was so absorbed in his own little world that he did not feel Gu Kaifeng’s movement. He was thinking of the possibility of seeing his grandparents again, brightening his mood. Lin Feiran’s expression melted into a gentle smile, hope clearing away the sadness in his eyes.
Observing this timely change in Lin Feiran, Gu Kaifeng narrowed his eyes slightly and nudged him again with his foot.
Lin Feiran looked at him in confusion. “What’s the matter?”
Gu Kaifeng cheerfully asked, “What are you thinking?”
Lin Feiran’s expression was stupefied. “… What am I thinking?”
Gu Kaifeng smiled at him. “Okay, continue pretending then.”
Lin Feiran: “……”
What the hell? Are you insane?
The confused Lin Feiran took a deep breath and suppressed his irritation. I don’t dare argue with my human-shaped protective talisman!
Today, Lin Feiran thought about what would happen if he allowed Gu Kaifeng to witness his fear of the ghosts as a way of proving to him that ghosts were real. However, he was sure that he and Gu Kaifeng didn’t know each other well enough to have that kind of unspoken understanding. As for his own parents, they were materialists and only believed in the things that they could see. They would probably think that their son had gone insane and have him sent to a mental hospital for electroshock therapy. If something like that were to happen, Lin Feiran would never be able to explain it… so he gave up on the idea after due consideration.
Lin Feiran felt that it would be a good idea to go back to his grandpa’s home in the countryside to see if his ghost was still there. If he really could find his ghost, then maybe his grandpa could teach him how to coexist peacefully with the Yin Yang eyes.
But the problem was, how could Lin Feiran go back like this? He was too afraid of all the ghosts he could see along the way, and he had no suitable excuse to drag Gu Kaifeng along with him.
Lin Feiran put his chin on his hand and tilted his head to peek at Gu Kaifeng before turning his head away quickly.
He couldn’t directly ask Gu Kaifeng to go back with him. After all, they’re not that close…
After Lin Feiran turned away, Gu Kaifeng also sneaked a glance in his direction. He observed the sad expression on Lin Feiran’s face that seemed to suggest that he wanted to say something but was holding himself back. Gu Kaifeng couldn’t keep the corner of his lips from raising.
Soon, it was time for lights out.
Once the lights went out, Lin Feiran immediately went stiff and frantically turned on his reading light before, like a sticky little cake, following Gu Kaifeng who had left with his washbasin to prepare for bed. Lin Feiran washed up in a hurry, finishing while Gu Kaifeng was still washing his face. As soon as he was done, he bumped naturally into Gu Kaifeng, and casually sayingsaid, “I’m done washing, so I’ll go back first.” After speaking and without waiting for a reply, he rushed back to their dorm room as swiftly as the wind.
Upon reaching their room, Lin Feiran changed into his pyjamas then proceeded to take charge of the situation. First, he moved Gu Kaifeng’s reading light to his desk and moved his own lamp to Gu Kaifeng’s bedside. Then, Lin Feiran took the pillow from his bed and squished it to fit beside Gu Kaifeng’s own. Finally, he climbed into Gu Kaifeng’s bed without any hesitation, curled up under the covers, and pretended to be reading a book.
Lin Feiran acted like this because even he knew that a seventeen-year old teenager wouldn’t be so cowardly and shameless as to not be able to sleep on his own after a nightmare. He couldn’t come up with any reasonable explanation as to why Gu Kaifeng should allow him to sleep in his bed every night…
So instead, Lin Feiran concluded that he had to create an atmosphere that made it seem super normal and natural for him to sleep there!
All of this was so Gu Kaifeng would feel too awkward to tell him to go away!
After some time, Gu Kaifeng opened the door and entered the dorm room.
Lin Feiran sat up immediately from beneath Gu Kaifeng’s sheets and, wearing the expression of a host, patted the pillow beside him. Trying to conceal his guilty conscience from Gu Kaifeng’s bewildered gaze, Lin Feiran called out to him as naturally as possible, “Come and sleep, it’s quite late.”