Chapter 7: Night Hiking

In the afternoon, after the last class ended at 5:25, it was dinnertime.

Those with cleaning duties had to clean the school’s common areas first.

Then, from 6:15, evening reading began, followed by evening self-study from 6:30 to 7:30. After 7:40, classes would resume.

Most of the time, this period was used to complete daily homework. However, due to his arm injury, Lin Cheng had no homework.

The people on the sports field gradually dispersed, and the afterglow of the sunset spilled across the glass windows of the teaching building, reflecting a soft orange-red light.

Su Wanqing had been experimenting all afternoon and gradually realized that as long as she focused her thoughts on something or became very emotional, she could trigger a slight effect in the real world.
And as long as this effect wasn’t aimed at a person and didn’t cause any negative consequences, the chain probably wouldn’t react.

“Hmph!”

Su Wanqing focused her attention, stared at Lin Cheng’s textbook, and blew a hard puff of air.

Whoosh.

The test paper on the desk actually moved!
Although it was just a slight tremble, Lin Cheng noticed it immediately.
He looked down and saw the corner of the test paper slightly curled, as if blown by the wind—yet the classroom window was clearly shut.

Lin Cheng frowned, reached out to press down the paper, and looked around.

Su Wanqing glanced nervously at the chain. When she saw it didn’t react, she was overjoyed.
“It really works.”

She tried blowing again.
This time, the paper moved more noticeably, nearly sliding off the desk.

Lin Cheng grabbed the paper, an increasingly strange feeling rising in his chest.

No… I didn’t feel any wind at all.
How did the paper move?

Lin Cheng was baffled.

“Could it be there’s really a ghost?”
Su Wanqing died and became a ghost??
Killed by someone, and her parents even took her murderer in as their own son. It’d be completely normal for her to have a ton of resentment.
Becoming a ghost… sounds plausible.

Li Xiaoran secretly watched Lin Cheng.
She noticed that her cute, cute, cute, cute, cute, cute, cute deskmate looked even more sullen today than yesterday.

Is his arm still hurting?
Or… is he thinking about Su Wanqing?
What, he’s thinking about me?

Li Xiaoran giggled and covered her mouth.

Lin Cheng was a transfer student. As soon as he arrived in their second year, he had been very… proactive in pursuing Su Wanqing.
He must’ve liked her before—maybe love at first sight.

Li Xiaoran propped her chin up, trying hard to recall how attentive Lin Cheng had been to Su Wanqing.
Su Wanqing was pretty, had a good temperament, a great figure, and a wealthy family.
It was normal for boys to like her.

But she was dead now.
It was said that she’d died a horrible death—so bad the doctors had to carry her away in a bucket.
Deader than dead.

Lin Cheng probably wouldn’t keep thinking about Su Wanqing… right?

Li Xiaoran settled her nerves and very carefully shifted her stool a little closer to Lin Cheng.

“Oh, sorry.”

Li Xiaoran’s pen had fallen beneath Lin Cheng’s stool. As she bent down to pick it up, she accidentally bumped into his waist.

“It’s nothing,” Lin Cheng said, shaking his head.

“Mm.”

Li Xiaoran picked up the pen and looked up.
A strand of her hair fell onto Lin Cheng’s thigh and lingered there for a second or two before she slowly returned to her seat.
She laid her head on the desk, turned away from him, her little tongue repeatedly licking her lips.

Hehehe.

Time passed slowly.
Maybe because she was anticipating something, but to Li Xiaoran, tonight’s class felt like it was dragging on forever.

As for Su Wanqing—under normal circumstances, she actually didn’t like to curse.
She thought it made people seem anxious, and it was embarrassing.
She also believed that normally, she wouldn’t lose her cool and wouldn’t let herself be embarrassed.

But when she saw Li Xiaoran asking her mom for permission to go night hiking with a male classmate during self-study—and her mom actually agreed—Su Wanqing’s face turned red with fury.

She was anxious.

***

At 10:30 PM.

Lin Cheng and Li Xiaoran, both day students, arrived at the foot of the mountain as planned.
A dark mountain pass stretched ahead, with a winding path snaking up the dimly lit slope.

“Shall we go?”
Li Xiaoran’s voice was full of excitement as she proactively moved closer to Lin Cheng.

“Mm.”
Lin Cheng nodded.

Floating beside them, Su Wanqing was already numb with anger.
She thought that after being dead for a few days and experiencing so much, she had calmed down and wouldn’t be easily angered anymore.

But she was wrong.
She was anxious.
And it was all useless.

She could only watch helplessly as Lin Cheng and Li Xiaoran climbed the mountain together.

The path wasn’t steep, but the silence of the night amplified the sound of their footsteps and breathing.

Li Xiaoran seemed a little afraid of the dark.

“Ah!”
She stumbled slightly, her body leaning uncontrollably toward Lin Cheng. Her soft arm naturally looped around Lin Cheng’s uninjured left arm.

“Lin Cheng… it’s so dark here, kind of scary…”

Her body pressed subtly against his.

Lin Cheng said in a low voice, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here. The path is flat—watch your step.”
He slowed his pace slightly.

Su Wanqing, watching from the side, just wanted to roll her eyes.

Disgusting.🤮
Low-class!

She never thought she’d see such a TV drama move in real life.
The key was—why didn’t Lin Cheng react at all?
It was obviously a green tea move! Can’t he see how green tea she is?!
On what grounds?!

[TL Note: Green tea is a slang term in Chinese referring to someone (usually a girl) who pretends to be innocent and sweet but is manipulative and calculating.]

Su Wanqing grew anxious again.

But don’t be anxious just yet.
Because there was more to be anxious about.

“Lin Cheng… were you like this with Su Wanqing before?”

Li Xiaoran’s voice was soft and distant. She looked up, using the dim moonlight to study Lin Cheng’s profile.

Lin Cheng’s steps paused, and he fell silent for a moment.
In the darkness, he glanced at Li Xiaoran strangely.

To bring up something like this now… is Li Xiaoran actually the hidden third female lead in the story?
Then how should I answer?

Lin Cheng’s silence made both Li Xiaoran and Su Wanqing look at him with nervous, expectant eyes.

Finally—

“Su Wanqing probably wouldn’t have gone night hiking with me.”

“I see.”

Li Xiaoran seemed to receive the answer she wanted.
A subtle smile curled at the corners of her lips as she tightened her grip on Lin Cheng’s arm.

“You have me with you now.”

Su Wanqing, floating behind her, ground her teeth in fury but could do nothing.
She could only trail closely behind Li Xiaoran like a desperate little dog, watching the other girl gnawing on her most beloved bone.

No—
More like a bone she once didn’t care about.
Now, after being kicked out of the house, it was the only bone she had left.

She was really anxious.
But being anxious was useless.