CH 95

Miaomiao ate her meal with gusto and zest, not realizing that she was slowly considering Zhou Yuan to be something that belonged to her.

Because of Miaomiao’s good looks, she rarely accepted anything from boys, especially compliments.

As a child, she was greatly influenced by Deng Feng and Jingjing. Of course, Zhou Yuan was also a great influence on her.

She would gladly accept aid from others. She would also accept their gifts as well. But she never took anything for granted, which was a lesson that her mother had taught her.

At first, she believed that accepting delicious food from others meant accepting them as good friends.

As she became older, she started to understand the differences between the genders, and when the boys pursued her several times, Miaomiao became irked by this, so she no longer accepted things from others quite as freely anymore.

But she never realized her own reluctance to accept gifts when she nibbled on the corn cob and yogurt Zhou Yuan had given her. It was almost like a normal occurrence for her.

Maybe because these feelings were based on childhood memories, which allowed them to easily regard each other as confidants.

Miaomiao still had a little corn kernel stuck on the side of her mouth after she had finished eating the corn.

Zhou Yuan stretched out his hand to help her wipe it off.

Miaomiao’s heart inexplicably pounded. And then, she was stunned, and Zhou Yuan was also stunned.

She quickly said to him, “By the way, did you finish your homework?”

Zhou Yuan nodded, “Yes, it’s done.”

“That’s good,” Miaomiao said as a bright rufescent tinge swept across her cheeks.

During the evening self-study session, Miaomiao was working on some math problems. Suddenly, a violent gale blew outside. The other students in the class seemed to enjoy this strong wind, for they have always enjoyed this type of scenery where an expanse of dark clouds loomed above the city.

The gale blew through the trees outside, causing their boughs to sway and tremble. Everyone harked to the wind’s eerie susurrus, and then, they suddenly heard a loud crash emanating from outside, “Boom!”

Miaomiao’s class was on the fourth floor, so when they heard this crash, everyone thought that the violent gale had uprooted and downed a tree because a violent snowstorm did the same thing to another tree last winter.

However, they didn’t expect what came next. The new headteacher ran into their classroom and decreed, “Don’t leave the classroom tonight. Stay in the classroom, and another teacher will come in soon.”

Miaomiao could tell that the headteacher was dancing around some difficult topic, judging from her cautious tone of voice. She decided to walk outside to check on the situation. Suddenly, the entire classroom lost power and went dark.

Panic erupted in the classroom, and everyone screamed in horror. The more-informed classmates had received some text messages on their mobile phones.

“A third-year student had just jumped off the building…”

Nervosity enfolded the entire class. The power outage certainly didn’t assuage their disquietude.

Miaomiao heard the headteacher state, “A third-year student jumped from the building. Don’t allow anybody to go outside. Please calm the students down; I don’t want any rumors to spread.”

Miaomiao desired to ask the headteacher a few more questions, but she swiftly left.

When Miaomiao returned to the room, everyone was talking about what had just happened. There was a power outage; therefore, everyone used their mobile phones’ flashlights to illumine the room.

The atmosphere was very tense; everyone seemed to wear a mask of interwoven shadows and flickering lights, which irradiated from their phones. Students of their age may have already experienced the passing of an elderly relative, but few have experienced a peer committing suicide.

Everyone considered this to be taboo.

Miaomiao approached the podium and slammed the blackboard to get everyone’s attention, “Be quiet. The electricity will return. Please be patient. The wind probably downed the power cables and maybe the pylons too.”

Everyone calmed down after a while. Since some people were acquainted with the seniors, someone soon heard the news.

A girl had committed suicide. She moved a stool from the classroom and threatened to commit suicide. Someone mocked her by saying, “Those, who will die, will never announce it, but those, who do say it, just want attention.”

The girl was lost for a moment; then, she said, “I’ll turn into a ghost. You won’t be spared from my wrath.” And then, she ran away.

Nobody expected this turn of events where the girl took the stool and went upstairs to jump off the building immediately. When the girl had jumped down, there were people at ground level who had witnessed her act. They watched as her head hit the ground.

The entire class was plunged into silence.

Miaomiao noticed the fright one everyone’s faces since these witnesses were very close to the scene.

Miaomiao interrupted their thoughts, “Stop talking about this. The electricity still has not returned yet. We should recite our lessons while we await its return. Let’s start by memorizing our lessons.”

The entire class began to study their lessons, but their hearts were still troubled. At their age, who hasn’t heard a school horror story or two? There were many stories about apparitions and urban legends at their school, after all. There was at least one scary story that circulated in their school.

Miaomiao returned to her seat, and she noticed that Jingjing had sent her a message, “Miaomiao. A third-year girl jumped off the building. The people in our class said that our school was built on a gravesite, and that the feng shui* was bad. So every year, there are a multitude of suicides in our school…”

Miaomiao: “…” She was also a little afraid.

However, Miaomiao’s response was terse and forthright, “Don’t think about it. Focus on your studies.”

Outside, the rain had strengthened and pattered against the window with increasing intensity.

After a while, the school bell sounded, and the girls in the class were too frightened to leave their classrooms. But the boys ran outside to check on the situation, using the excuse that they were just going to use the washroom.

The school building was built in a courtyard style. There was a large open space where a large group of people gathered around in a circle, but the students didn’t venture to glance at them.

Miaomiao sat in her seat; complicated feelings began filling her heart. There was pity and incomprehension, but there was also the fear of death.

She didn’t know the reason why that girl had given up her life, but she was sad.

Zhou Yuan handed her a piece of chocolate, “Do you want something to eat?”

Miaomiao took it, broke it in half, and said, “Thank you.”

Zhou Yuan also consumed his half. He had never eaten this brand of chocolate before, but when he heard that the girls liked it, he just had to buy it. He also bought it for Miaomiao.

The headteacher returned and comforted everyone. She revealed that the girl has been taken to the hospital, so they didn’t need to worry.

The headteacher requested that everyone return to their dorms due to the squall and downpour of rain. Additionally, there was this incident to consider.

The residential students returned to their dorms in pairs, whereas the day-students returned home in pairs.

When everyone went downstairs, they smelled a very strong smell of burned paper money. Apparently, some of the school workers were fearful of bad luck, so they burned paper money and incense candles there.

Now everyone was scared, including Miaomiao. She felt a chill run down her spine when she saw them burning the paper money and red candles.

Miaomiao could not help but clutch the hand of the person next to her. It was a girl from her dorm who stood next to her.

After clutching the other person’s hand, she realized the palm’s large size. She turned her head and realized that she wasn’t grasping the girl’s hand but Zhou Yuan’s.

Zhou Yuan appeared to be fine. He held her hand before releasing it and traversing away.

The headteacher and the other teachers came over to send the students back to their dorm rooms.

“Is it okay for you to go back alone today?” Miaomiao was a little worried about Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan said, “It’s okay.”

There were very few day students in their class. Only two day students were among the students, and they had already phoned home to tell their relatives about the incident. Since they weren’t going back today, they all squeezed into the dormitory to sojourn together.

This incident, coupled with the wind and rain, brought fear to everyone. They hugged each other to bestow courage to each other.

A for the male day students, all but Zhou Yuan planned to remain at school and sojourn with the other students.

Miaomiao was uneasy throughout this time. The downpour of rain was beginning to intensify.

Based on her understanding, this incident shouldn’t have affected Zhou Yuan that much. But she wasn’t sure if her concern for him was due to this sudden happening at school.

Zhou Yuan successfully returned home and sent her a message, informing her about his safe arrival home.

Miaomiao breathed a sigh of relief.

The darkness of the night enswathed the school, and everyone couldn’t help but talk about the girl who had jumped off the roof. They exchanged various pieces of hearsay and rumors with each other.

“I heard that she stole something from someone, and everyone hated her because of that.”

“That’s it? There has to be more to the story than meets the eye.”

“I don’t know about the other rumors, but I heard that her family is poor and destitute.”

Miaomiao felt her phone vibrating and turned it on to check her messages. It was a message from Zhou Yuan,” What do you want to eat tomorrow morning? Do you still want corn?”

She had no idea why, but Zhou Yuan had this innate ability to make people feel calm.

Miaomiao chatted with him for a bit.