Once Lin Feiran was touched by Gu Kaifeng, all the strange things around him disappeared.
Lin Feiran rolled his eyes and, striving his hardest to speak in a relaxed tone, replied, “Just saying good morning. What’s up?”
Gu Kaifeng smiled. “Nothing. Are you done with your greetings?”
Lin Feiran quickly nodded. “I’m done.”
Gu Kaifeng’s eyes swept over the sink and he grabbed Lin Feiran’s cup that had floated to the corner. He washed the cup carefully under the faucet before handing it to Lin Feiran who had toothpaste foam leaking from the corners of his lips. “Go rinse your mouth,” he commanded.
Lin Feiran felt apprehensive about using the cup that had been tainted by the water ghost so when he returned to his spot at the sink, he dropped the cup into his washbasin and used his hands to scoop water to rinse his mouth instead. As he gargled, he remembered an important detail that he saw while his Yin Yang eyes were active.
The last three times that Lin Feiran’s Yin Yang eyes were active, he was so scared that he would go touch Gu Kaifeng immediately. He was basically mad from fear, so there was a subtle detail he had continuously overlooked. He realized just now: when his Yin Yang eyes were activated, not only could Lin Feiran see ghosts, but he could also see the aura that living humans emit.
The auras weren’t very pronounced; they looked like silhouettes traced by a glowing pen, only emitting a fine light around each person’s body. Some were brighter and some dimmer, some were whitish and some greenish, but the aura on Gu Kaifeng’s body was a light gold. When Gu Kaifeng walked over, Lin Feiran could see clearly that the four female ghosts around him were giving off smoke from their eight ghostly hands that were stroking Gu Kaifeng’s body: the skin on their hands looked as though it was being corroded by acid, exposing the dark red muscle beneath. Despite this, the ghost girls didn’t seem to be in any pain…
Still, who knew if it was because there truly was no pain, or if the pain was worth it so long as they could touch their Adonis!
As for Lin Feiran, when he was touching the seven male students just now, he had observed his own hand and arm. A dark grey aura coiled around him, just like the toxic fumes that billow out from chemical plants… Yet, the moment Gu Kaifeng grabbed his wrist, Lin Feiran felt as if a warm current had flowed into his body, suppressing the chill that made him see ghosts. This feeling wasn’t very obvious, so had Lin Feiran not been constantly paying attention to the little changes in his body he wouldn’t have noticed it.
The feeling was like Yang energy ah. Yang energy must have a negative effect on ghosts. Some people must also have stronger Yang energy while others have weaker Yang energy, Lin Feiran guessed as he spat out the water in his mouth and wiped his face with a towel. He couldn’t help but think to himself, What a pain in the ass.
I was wondering why I am emitting a black aura… No wonder I’m seeing ghosts. Damn it, my Yang energy must be critically low…
After he finished rinsing his mouth, Lin Feiran looked to the water room’s door and saw that Gu Kaifeng was leaning on the door frame, waiting. With one hand in his pocket and the other holding his washbasin, his black eyes were calmly following Lin Feiran. It looked specifically like he was waiting for him.
“I’m done washing.” Lin Feiran walked over and awkwardly asked, “Let’s go to the canteen?”
Just two days ago these two were obviously archnemeses, as incompatible as fire and water ah! The bitter Lin Feiran one-sidedly thought, Don’t tell me that starting from today I’ll really have to be attached at the hip with this guy!?
Gu Kaifeng, who had never considered Lin Feiran as his archnemesis, affirmed, “Let’s go.”
At this time, Gu Kaifeng’s deskmate Wang Zhuo energetically arrived while holding his washbasin. He patted Gu Kaifeng on the back and said, “Kaifeng, wait five minutes for me, let’s go to the canteen together.”
Gu Kaifeng valued time like gold and shot him down. “No, we’re almost late.”
Wang Zhuo hastily squeezed out some toothpaste as he shouted to Gu Kaifeng from the back of the water room, “Then help me by bringing a fruit jianbing to class!”
With his back turned to Wang Zhuo, Gu Kaifeng waved his hand to acknowledge that he heard him. As he was lowering his hand, it conveniently grazed over Lin Feiran’s hair, smoothing down some tufts that were sticking up.
Wang Zhuo who seemed to have fallen out of favor: “……”
Two days ago Gu Kaifeng still called Lin Feiran a little idiot, why are they suddenly so sticky today?
The two people reached the canteen, hurriedly demolished their breakfasts as though going to war, and went to the classroom for self-study class.
All throughout, Lin Feiran kept deliberately touching Gu Kaifeng while pretending not to so he could keep himself from seeing ghosts, but as soon as he entered the classroom, Lin Feiran was dumbfounded.
Gu Kaifeng sat in the last row while Lin Feiran sat in the third to last row. Even though the two people were only separated diagonally by an aisle, during class Lin Feiran would be unable to touch Gu Kaifeng.
Lin Feiran walked nervously to his seat. Just as he sat down, he couldn’t resist turning to look at his human-shaped protective talisman.
Even if I can’t touch it, maybe just by looking I can still feel less worried ah!
Gu Kaifeng, who was in the middle of memorizing vocabulary, seemed to sense Lin Feiran’s gaze. While Lin Feiran was looking back, Gu Kaifeng lifted his head and their eyes met. The two people’s gazes locked for an instant and the corner of Gu Kaifeng’s lips raised a little.
Fuck, Gu Kaifeng’s smile was so, so… Just like a startled rabbit, Lin Feiran quickly turned his head around. He was searching for an appropriate adjective in his head, but because his literary skills were lacking, he couldn’t find one.
In short, it’s that!
Lin Feiran restlessly opened his math workbook. However, after solving only two problems, a familiar thread of chilly air suddenly surged from his feet straight to his eyes. Lin Feiran quivered. Keeping his head lowered, he struggled to prepare himself psychologically while keeping a careful watch on the state of the classroom from the corner of his eyes.
At first, Lin Feiran thought that he might be a little lucky. Because there were so many people in the classroom, there could be a strong enough presence of yang energy that the ghosts wouldn’t dare to come. However, he soon discovered that he was too naive.
There were definitely less ghosts in the classroom than there were in the dormitory building, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any…
Not to mention that they! were! scarier!
The ghost that held Lin Feiran’s attention was an elderly gentleman. This old ghost wore a neat and trim Zhongshan suit. Half of his face looked calm and gentle. One corner of his mouth held a refined smile. Half of his head sported well-coiffed silver hair of which no strand was out of place, sleek and shiny from pomade. The thing is… all of these features are only ‘half’ because the old gentlemanly ghost was only left with half of his head.
What a way to economize on pomade!
Lin Feiran quickly lowered his head after seeing the old gentlemanly ghost. He was so afraid that the rims of his eyes turned red and cold sweat ran down his back.
He disturbingly felt that the half of the ghost’s face that was in good condition looked very familiar. After thinking for a while, he recalled: this person was the founder of this boarding school, a well-known scholar.
Lin Feiran only knew this much. The reason he could recognize the ghost was because the old gentleman’s photo hung in the main hall on the first floor of the school. As for how the gentleman died, Lin Feiran had no knowledge.
The old gentlemanly ghost walked slowly down the aisle with his hands clasped behind his back as he delightedly watched over the budding flowers of our nation. He paused his strides when he stood beside the desk of the best student in the class. With a bowed head, he observed with admiration the outstanding manner in which this student answered questions. After watching for a while, the old gentleman finally raised his head. With his half face full of praise, he gave a thumbs-up.
The best student, who wasn’t aware of this at all, continued to write passionately!
Lin Feiran almost fell over. He really didn’t want to see any more so he supported his forehead with his hand, closed his eyes, and pretended to sleep.
What Lin Feiran didn’t know was that as soon as he adopted this posture, the half-headed old gentleman’s expression became severe and he strode over to Lin Feiran.
Within seconds of having closed his eyes, an old voice rang beside Lin Feiran’s ear. Dignified and full of anger, it intoned, “This student, wake up. Is this school a place for you to sleep?”
Lin Feiran: “……”
I’m fuuuuucked! Looks like I’ve crossed the school founder’s bottom line!
However, as Lin Feiran felt that the horror of listening to ghosts speak was comparatively easier to bear than having to see them, he ground his teeth and endured. Lin Feiran kept his eyes shut tightly, determined not to look!
The old gentleman didn’t seem to care about whether or not Lin Feiran could hear him. Full of righteous indignation, he continued to thoroughly criticize Lin Feiran for neglecting his studies and for his “wicked” ways in failing to attend school diligently. Finally, with his half face full of anger, the old gentleman — profoundly resentful of Lin Feiran’s lack of discipline — stretched out his arm to push Lin Feiran’s body. His ghostly arm went straight through Lin Feiran’s back and out his chest.
Originally, Lin Feiran naively thought that the ghosts were limited to influencing only his visual and auditory senses, but unexpectedly they could touch him as well! It wasn’t like the firm feeling of flesh touching flesh, of a living person touching another living person: the feeling of being touched by a ghost was like being penetrated by a strand of ice-cold energy. In an instant, Lin Feiran felt as though all the warmth in his upper body was sucked away by the ghost. His whole body felt like it had suddenly fallen into an icy abyss, causing his veins and arteries to frost over and constrict. His heart froze from the cold and momentarily lost its ability to beat. Dense goosebumps spread all the way from his back to his forearms. Lin Feiran bit his lip and let out a small groan; besides his deskmate who looked at him strangely, nobody else seemed to have heard it.
This feeling was too strong, so Lin Feiran suspected that it must also be one of the Yin Yang eyes’ side-effects. This morning in the water room, several ghostly fangirls were touching Gu Kaifeng quite a lot. If normal people could experience this same chill from being touched by ghosts, then Gu Kaifeng would’ve shown some reaction.
Lin Feiran didn’t want to feel the ghost touch him a second time so he had no choice but to fearfully open his eyes. With his head lowered, he returned his attention to his workbook with tearful eyes. He couldn’t write well because his hand was trembling too much.
However, the old gentleman continued to stand beside Lin Feiran, looking dignified even with half a face!
It’s pretty clear that this “naughty” student had become an important target for him to keep an eye on…
Lin Feiran complained endlessly in his heart as cold sweat covered his forehead. He wanted to run to Gu Kaifeng but that old gentleman was standing in the aisle to his right, blocking the way. To Lin Feiran’s left was his deskmate, and to the left of his deskmate was the wall. So, if Lin Feiran wanted to leave his seat, he either had to go through the old gentlemanly ghost’s body or jump onto the desk behind him. But the latter option might make the old gentleman go berserk with anger…
Lin Feiran hesitated for a moment then endured. He clenched his teeth and looked straight at the workbook on the desk in front of him. One man and one ghost remained still for a while until the English teacher walked into the classroom to announce the start of class. The old gentleman left Lin Feiran and walked back to the best student. He stood beside the best student with his half face full of praise as he watched that student take notes.
Lin Feiran wiped away his tears and raised his hand, requesting, “Teacher, I want to stand at the back of the class for a while.”
This was one of the rules of the class. When there is a lot of schoolwork, students would often stay up very late to do homework and review lessons. As a result, they sometimes had very little energy during the day. So, if somebody felt like they were too sleepy, they could tell the teacher and move to the back of the class to stand and listen, preventing them from falling asleep.
The English teacher nodded. Lin Feiran grabbed his book and pen and went to the back where he could stand next to Gu Kaifeng. While the teacher was facing the board to write, Lin Feiran desperately reached out and touched Gu Kaifeng’s shoulder as though it was his last hope.
Gu Kaifeng easily caught Lin Feiran’s hand.
Lin Feiran said in a small voice, “Don’t mess around.”
Gu Kaifeng squeezed Lin Feiran’s fair and slender fingers and replied softly, “You started it first.”