(Part 2)

It"s said that the fingers are linked to the heart, but I didn"t feel a trace of pain. My eyes were fixed on Ning Tiance"s lips. Had he put my finger in his mouth and bitten it in broad daylight, just like that?

Too, too shaming!

After he was finished, Ning Tiance saw my dazed expression. He took out a band-aid from the shopping bag and stuck it on for me. When he was looking down at my finger, I saw his long, long lashes trembling faintly, combing through my heart.

"I"m sorry," Xiao Ning said to me. "I"m used to biting my finger. I forgot we could go to the drugstore and buy a needle to get the blood. The wound would be smaller that way."

He looked perfectly serious, so I couldn"t have any suspicions. I waved my hand. "It"s all right, it"s all right. I"m thick-skinned. It"ll be fine soon. But what kind of secret recipe is this? Does mixing blood with insecticide multiply the insect-repelling effect? I"m a liberal arts student, I don"t know much about chemistry. Is there a scientific principle behind this?"

Ning Tiance frowned when he heard the word "chemistry." He said, "I remember... in junior middle Year 3 chemistry, we did an experiment with magnesium reactions..."

Although Xiao Ning had been raised in the Maoshan Sect, it seemed he"d still received the nine years of mandatory education.

Neither of us knew much about chemistry. We looked at each for a moment then silently agreed not to discuss it.

"I suppose it"s the same as putting cheese in a mousetrap," I said. "Mosquitoes like to suck blood or eat spoiled food. Using blood to attract them will multiply the effect of the insecticide."

"Something like that," Ning Tiance said vaguely. "Blood from the middle finger is the best, heart"s blood."

"So your Maoshan Sect relies on insecticide mixed with blood from the middle finger to repel insects. I recall that that scenic area is pretty big. Doesn"t that use a lot of blood?" I was a little worried about Xiao Ning"s health.

"That"s not necessary. We have special incense," Xiao Ning explained. "It"s our sect"s secret recipe. Only the Sect Leader can pa.s.s it on. As I haven"t finished the final a.s.signment yet, I"m not permitted to know it."

Xiao NIng and I strolled happily. He bought several sets of clothes at the mall. I rather wanted to pay for them, but when I saw the prices I silently recanted. At present, I had 15,000 yuan in my bank account. If 15,000 yuan could have paid for these clothes, I would have done it, even if it meant spending all my money. But the price was beyond my means.

In the end it was Xiao Ning who bought me a set of casual clothes. He said he felt bad about tearing my jacket that time at Benevolence Middle School and wanted to buy these clothes to make up for it. I kept saying he didn"t have to, but Xiao Ning had already paid for them at checkout along with the clothes for himself. He said his shifu had given him a card when he"d left the sect. He didn"t know how much money there was on it, but he"d never gone short.

I silently took the clothes Ning Tiance had given me and went back to 404 with the insecticide.

When I went into my bedroom I saw that the notebook had fallen onto the floor. I"d opened the window before I left. The wind must have blown it down.

Fortunately, I"d swept the floor before leaving in the morning. The notebook wasn"t dirty. Otherwise, Teacher Liu would have been distressed again.

Today"s meeting had left me frustrated. I kept saying I wanted to help Xiao Ning get rid of his out-dated ideas and connect with the new age, but the reality was that science was as impoverished as I was, while superst.i.tion was as wealthy as Xiao Ning.

In Das Kapital, Marx said that the economic base determines the superstructure, which was the nearest thing to an essential truth in this world. As much as I didn"t want to admit it, it was the reality. I was poor and Xiao Ning was rich; we weren"t equal. I had no way to convince him to change his beliefs.

If I wanted to act on my beliefs, I needed to work hard so that I could equal Ning Tiance.

Tomorrow I had to prepare my resume to send to Xia Jin"s company so I could get a part-time job. The marketing department dealt with event planning, publicity, and advertising. My specialty wasn"t suited for it. But marketing was suitable for being able to quickly acc.u.mulate funds. As long as my performance was good, even as an intern I could still earn a commission. The only downside was that it would require some hard work, but fortunately I was strong and not easily shamed. It wasn"t a big problem.

I kept thinking about this, then eventually drifted off to sleep without closing my bedroom door. Some time later I was woken up by the sound of rustling beside me.

I opened my eyes and saw Teacher Liu, wearing a face mask and crouching right beside my bed, doing something I couldn"t see. It really gave me a scare!

I jumped up and turned on the light beside the bed. The room lit up. I could clearly see Teacher Liu crouching by the bed, with his hand poised over the notebook I"d left beside my pillow.

"T-teacher Liu, it"s the middle of the night, what are you doing?" Fortunately I was brave. I"d only been scared for a moment. Someone in worse health than me might well have been scared into a heart attack.

Although the lower part of Teacher Liu"s face was covered by the mask, I could still see the embarra.s.sment in his eyes. He kept his hand over the notebook and said, "I… I wanted to have a look at my notebook, while it was the middle of the night."

Teacher Liu really valued this notebook. Wasn"t it unfeeling for me to hold onto it? But he had given it to me himself. Since he liked it so much, why would he want to give it away?

He felt uncomfortable bringing it up, so I should be the one to go back on the agreement.

"Actually, Teacher Liu, I"ve been meaning to tell you, this notebook really is too valuable. Every sheet is br.i.m.m.i.n.g with the sense of antiquity. With someone like me going around using it casually, it"s very easy for it to get damaged. So… What if I gave it back to you?" I asked tentatively.

"Of course, no problem!" Teacher Liu quickly took the notebook into his arms. "Actually, it needs maintenance. That"s why I snuck in here in the middle of the night."

"I already put protective oil on it today, and put it facedown in the sun. The paper inside is aged and can"t be exposed to sunlight, but after oiling the leather, it"s good to sun it for a while."

"You- you- you… All right, thank you, but there"s still something I need to do."

Seeing that he had been moved almost to tears, I felt glad. That was me, Shen Jianguo, an understanding teacher. In the future I would become an even more accomplished person!

When I got up to get a drink of water, I saw that Teacher Liu had spread out his notebook and was carefully applying the contents of a bottle of moisturizer to the cover. Teacher Liu seemed to be a frugal person. Rather than throw away the empty moisturizer bottle, he had filled it with oil.

"Is Xiao Ming back?" I asked Teacher Liu while I drank my water.

"He"s already left." Teacher liu sighed. "He finally made a breakthrough under my persuasion last night and agreed to go into treatment. After the treatment is completed, he will attend a normal school."

"What about the cost?" I remembered that Tan Xiaoming"s mother had left home and his father had died of heart troubles. He didn"t seem to have any other relatives.

"There"s no need to worry about that. Princ.i.p.al Zhang will find a way to resolve it. Now it"s only the two of us again here in 404. You can see Xiao Ming"s bedplate has been removed." Teacher Liu pushed open Tan Xiaoming"s door. Inside there was only the bed and the toilet I had given Yuanyuan.

I sensed that Teacher Liu was out of spirits, so I said comfortingly, "There"s no need to be sad. Student Tan left so he could receive a better education. It"s unavoidable to be upset at a parting, but we should focus on being happy for him."

"I"m not worried about him. He"s young, he"ll recover easily… I"m thinking of myself." Although Teacher Liu was wearing a face mask, he couldn"t conceal the despondency in his eyes. "When will these days at last come to an end for me…"

As he spoke, he began unwillingly to shed tears. I began to feel grieved as well.

Teacher Liu looked to be around forty. At his age, he had yet to start a family or establish a career. He was living in an apartment provided by his job, crowded in with a recent graduate like me. He must have wished for a home of his own in H City.

I had no way to comfort him, because I myself hadn"t found a place to settle down.

I was feeling really down. Teacher Liu said, "Princ.i.p.al Zhang just told me you"ll be having cla.s.s tomorrow. Can I come to observe?"

"Of course, there"s no problem. I look forward to hearing Teacher Liu"s comments," I said happily.

Teacher Liu was a teacher with a wealth of experience. I was honored that he was willing to listen to me teach.

Teacher Liu sighed. "I wouldn"t dare to comment. I"m just worried that if you don"t have the notebook, the students will make trouble… Ah, I"m worrying for nothing."

After chatting for a while, I was sleepy again. I said goodbye to Teacher Liu and went back to my room to rest. Before going to bed I looked at my phone. There was indeed a message from Princ.i.p.al Zhang. I was to hold cla.s.s in the multimedia cla.s.sroom of the old campus at the H City Normal University at midnight the following night.

As an H City college student, I was familiar with the old campus of the Normal University. Although it was still in use, there were no more students there.

The word went that the location of the old campus of Normal University used to be a burial mound. When the school was built, a master was invited, who said that the place was heavy with Yin energy; a school with a lot of vital energy should be built on top of it to suppress the Yin energy. According to that reasoning, it would have made sense to build a University of Technology on that spot. Universities of Technology have more male students, so the stronger Yang energy would suppress the Yin energy of the grave. However, after it was built, it became a Normal University campus, with a majority of female students.

Ever since the Normal University opened, there were constant rumors that it was haunted. It was very famous in H City.

What"s more, the suicide rate of Normal University students was the highest among H City"s universities. Red rescue helicopters were often seen flying over the artificial lake at the center of the campus.

Later, as all the large universities expanded their enrollment, the old campuses became insufficient to accommodate the number of students. The Normal University built a new campus in the suburbs and gradually transferred the students there. The number of suicide cases slowly decreased.

Other schools that had built new campuses still had many students at their old campuses, but the Normal University had thoroughly moved over. There were no students there now. I"d heard that that the old location would be sold to a vocational school with a majority of male students. They were currently in talks.

This time the location of the cla.s.sroom really was a pleasant surprise. Holding cla.s.s in abandoned schools and hospitals, I"d been gradually becoming accustomed to teaching in broken down and deserted locations. But the former location of the Normal University was different. In order to be able to sell it at a good price, the campus had been well-maintained. All the installations would be in good repair. The projection facilities in the multimedia cla.s.sroom would be useable.

The PowerPoint I"d made would finally come in handy!

(Part 3)

As for the talk about the Normal University being haunted, I"d never taken it seriously.

I had been to the Normal University once. To the girls" dormitory, in fact. I"d snuck in through the window in the middle of the night.

It was like this. I had a roommate in undergrad who had a girlfriend at the Normal University. Every day he stayed up half the night chatting with her on WeChat, hiding under his covers and giggling. In my opinion, he was scarier than any ghost.

One day, my roommate suddenly said that his girlfriend"s dorm was haunted. Every night there was someone out in the corridor making a loud thudding sound like dribbling a ball. It was very frightening. The girls didn"t dare to go to have a look. They could only put up with the terrifying sound all night. They were on the brink of collapse from sleep-deprivation. His girlfriend was already showing warning signs of depression.

I scoffed at the idea of a haunting. Clearly it was someone pretending to be a ghost to disturb their sleep. The thing to do was to righteously stand up and put a stop to it. If I had been in their place, I would have rushed out and punched the joker in the face a long time ago.

So my roommate said, in that case, we"d go to the Normal University girls" dormitory tomorrow night and see if it was a ghost or only someone pretending.

If he wanted to go, we"d go. Anyway, being gay, I"d be as calm in a girls" dormitory as though I were sitting in meditation.

Those girls really must have been scared silly; they actually agreed to get the two of us in. Their dorm room was on the third floor. They tied their curtains into a rope for us to climb up. At that time I was in excellent physical condition because I was pursuing the senior, so I was up in a flash. My roommate couldn"t manage it; I had to haul him up in the end.

At midnight the dribbling sound really did start up. My roommate stood on a chair and looked out through the small gla.s.s window at the top of the door. He said the whole corridor was empty. It was scary.

I thought he was extremely useless. Since he couldn"t see the person, they had to be directly under the little window. Right in front of the door was the only blindspot.

This time my roommate lay down on the ground and looked out through the crack under the door. After a single glance he shrieked, hugged his girlfriend and cried, even wet himself a little.

Asked what he saw, my roommate said that he saw a pair of blood red eyes. Then he and his girlfriend held each other and wailed, like a pair mandarin ducks fallen on hard times.

I couldn"t bear to see any more of this. Ignoring the others" protests, I opened the door.

As soon the door was opened, I saw a person standing on her hands in front of the door, her head constantly hitting the floor. Because her head had been facing down for too long, her face was purple and her eyes were bloodshot.

The girls in the dormitory huddled up into a pile and cried, saying that they"d seen a ghost and everyone was going to die that night.

I couldn"t stand watching them scaring themselves like that. I grabbed the person"s feet, lifted, and used my surpa.s.sing arm strength to flip her over.

I pushed her against the wall of the corridor and said angrily, "Why are you pretending to be a ghost and scaring people?"

"I"m not pretending," she said. "I was head-down when I jumped off the building, so when I died I got stuck like that."

Liar. Hadn"t I just set her upright?

I exhorted her. "If you want to improve your arm strength by doing handstands, that"s fine, I agree, exercise is a thing that makes people happy. But you can"t exercise in front of other students" dormitories in the middle of the night. This time I"ll let you go, but if it happens again, I will definitely report you to the school. For the sake of the students" physical and mental health, the school is likely to expel you. You worked hard to test into this university, your parents are waiting for you to make something of yourself, wouldn"t it be a fine thing to get expelled?"

She started to cry.

Seeing her looking pitiful, I asked which room was hers, offering to walk her there. She shook her head and said there was no need; now that she had been flipped over, she didn"t need to be upside down all the time. She could leave on her own.

Then she slowly turned and left. When I went back to the girls" dormitory, the roomful of girls gave me adoring looks. My roommate"s girlfriend kicked him aside and warmly took my arm, saying, "You"re really amazing. You can even exorcise ghosts. It feels really safe with you here."

"What kind of ghost was that? It"s only a stressed out student scaring people to make herself feel better." Now that the matter had been resolved, I couldn"t stay in the girls" dorm. I picked up my roommate, whose legs had gone soft, put him on my back, and took him back down the way we"d come, leaving behind neither merit nor fame.

The aftermath of this incident was my roommate and his girlfriend breaking up at the speed of light later that night. My roommate"s ex-girlfriend immediately sent a text asking me out on a date and was righteously turned down by me, whose heart was fixed on the senior.

The location of the cla.s.s this time called these past events to my mind. It was pretty interesting, almost as if I could go back to university.

Right away, I sent the time and place to Ning Tiance and suggested that he could ride the school bus with me to cla.s.s.

Xiao Ning was up late again waiting to hear from me: Tell me in detail about your school bus.

He was starting to get interested in me. From accompanying me to cla.s.s to understanding my living conditions, now he was even asking for details about my means of transportation. It really made my heart sing.

I was excited and at once told him over voice message everything from the first time I"d taken the school bus to the last time, when the driver had displayed sympathy towards Tan Xiaoming. The main purpose of this was to give him a hint about my s.e.xual orientation. If even the bus driver could tell, then shouldn"t Xiao Ning be able to work it out even faster?

But Xiao Ning focused on something different: Tell me in more detail about Xia Jin"s altered behavior when he made advances towards you.

Haha, he must be jealous. I"d known from the time he"d touched me in the elevator that Xiao Ning had some feelings for me. My chest muscles were very firm; it absolutely hadn"t been a mistake on my part.

After hearing my account, Xiao Ning"s status was inputing text, but he didn"t send anything. I waited until I had nearly fallen asleep, then finally received a very short message: I don"t know whether Manager Xia is lucky or unlucky to have a friend like you.

I looked at this for a long time without being able to decide whether it was praise or criticism. In the end, I fell asleep.

The next day, I took my resume and went to Xia Jin"s company for an interview. I was calm and open-minded, indicating that although I had finished graduate school, my work experience was insufficient, so I was willing to accept being taken on as an intern and staying at the company to learn. I hoped that they could give me a chance.

Sure enough, on seeing my sincerity, they agreed. I was a.s.signed to the marketing department, with a base salary of 800 a month and a performance-based commission. Although the salary was very low, this was still a big step forward for me.

Those who have just started out at a new job should speak less and do more, silently observe and study, be low-key and proper.

I kept to this principle all day, memorizing the notable points of our company"s products. Fortunately, there had been many subjects in my university"s liberal arts department that required memorization, so my memory was up to it. I got the main points down during the first day.

The supervisor in charge of me was named Lu Guangxi. He was younger than me. His performance was the best in the whole company. At the age of twenty-five, his yearly salary was already a million yuan.

I wasn"t jealous. Lu Guangxi"s income actually made me more confident.

On weekdays when there were no special events, the office usually stopped work at six in the afternoon, and the sales people at nine in the evening. As for me, when I went out of the office on a.s.signment in the future, my hours would be relatively free.

When I got home, I once again carefully reviewed the lesson plan I had prepared. At 11:30, Teacher Liu was waiting for me by the door.

Teacher Liu preferred wearing a Zhongshan suit, an attire that seemed especially suited to his temperament. With its refined, studious air of the Republic, it was much more suitable than a Western suit and leather shoes.

Ning Tiance"s hotel was quite far from my house. There was no call to take the school bus. When I"d gotten up that morning I"d received his message saying he would meet me in front of the old campus of the Normal University. The scene of the two of us in a world of our own on the school bus wouldn"t be happening.

At nightfall it had started to rain. Teacher Liu stood in the rain carrying a paper umbrella, a vision of old-world charm. As for me, my view was that I didn"t need any umbrella. A little rain was nothing; an umbrella was useless. Teacher Liu invited me to stand under his umbrella, but I refused. The rain was light and felt very pleasant.

The driver was punctual. We hadn"t been waiting a full minute when he arrived at the estate"s gate. When I got on the bus with Teacher Liu, Teacher Liu seemed shocked. He said, "The pa.s.sengers… No, why have all the seats become green? They"ve always been red before."

The driver glanced at us and said in his usual calm voice, "They would rather walk. They said it"s better for your health. At any rate it"s better than having your soul punched to smithereens."

Teacher Liu took a deep breath. After a long time, he managed to say, "And now you"re the only one left. You still have to drive the bus every night. It can"t be easy."

The driver sighed. "Not for you, either. I"m only the coachman. Your position is worse."

"Ah, such is life." Teacher Liu shook his head.

Listening to them, I figured they were talking about working at night. The driver could rest a while after he dropped us off at school, but Teacher Liu and I had to teach in the dead of night. Teacher Liu was older than me, so it was harder for him.

We all had difficulties, but in order to save students like Tan Xiaoming, I would gladly endure them.

"There"s a new student today. She"s not clear on where to go, so I"ll be making a little detour to pick her up," the driver explained.

"Oh? Princ.i.p.al Zhang is still accepting new students?" Teacher Liu was shocked. "Didn"t she say it would only be this cla.s.s?"

There seemed to be some inside story. If there was only this cla.s.s of students, would Princ.i.p.al Zhang close the school after they graduated? Then what would happen to me? Would I lose my job?

I acted like I wasn"t paying attention, but actually I p.r.i.c.ked up my ears to listen to them.

"Not a new one, really, just one who"s been brought back," the driver said. "She ran away before and couldn"t find the way back to school. Princ.i.p.al Zhang found her recently and arranged for her to attend cla.s.s. After drifting around out there all these years, I don"t know what she"ll be like now."

"Drifting around all the time is no good..." Teacher Liu shook his head anxiously. "With no one to look after her, I"m afraid..."

I nodded where they couldn"t see me. Most of our school"s students had psychological problems, but not so severe that they needed to be hospitalized. The goal of the school was to guide these students back to living a normal life. This student had gotten herself lost. Her mental state had been delicate to start off with, and without the school"s protection...

Alas, I also couldn"t tell what she would be like now.

I was just thinking this when the driver stopped the bus. The door opened. From outside came the sound of rain falling.

The rain seemed to be getting heavier.

A person wearing a raincoat that hid her face boarded the bus. She wasn"t tall, about 155 cm in height. Her raincoat was dripping. The floor of the bus soon had a large puddle on it.

After she got on the bus, she looked around, then went straight towards me.

Teacher Liu seemed nervous. He ran over to me to block the student. "Duan Youlian, you"d better sit next to me."

She raised her head, and the hood of her raincoat fell back, revealing a pale, ordinary face. "Why is there a strange person here?"

(Part 4)

I couldn"t rely on Teacher Liu"s mediation. I stood and reached out a friendly hand to Duan Youlian, warmly saying, "Student Duan, I"m the new teacher, Shen Jianguo. I look forward to your comments."

Duan Youlian stared at me. She pushed Teacher Liu away with a shove that actually sent him reeling from the front of the bus to the very back. How strong was she? She must have suffered a great deal while drifting around outside.

Instead of extending her hand, she leaned in close to me and sniffed at my neck. She repeated the words, "Why is there a strange person here?"

The driver acted like he saw nothing and concentrated on driving. After getting thrown aside, Teacher Liu didn"t move; he lay down playing dead.

"The school was short on teachers, so Princ.i.p.al Zhang made a job posting online. I am a graduate student specializing in Ideological and Political Education. I sent in my resume and was hired by Princ.i.p.al Zhang as a teacher at your school. At present, I have only given one formal cla.s.s. If necessary, I can give you a make-up cla.s.s in private. But today, considering that it"s a group lecture that will build upon the contents of the last cla.s.s, if you have any trouble, be sure to take notes."

It seemed that Duan Youlian had a hard time communicating normally with others, but I still needed to have a normal dialogue with her, as befit the spirit of a teacher. Even if she couldn"t understand it today, after some repet.i.tion, she would slowly come to understand.

"The smell of the living..." She was getting closer to me, watching me with a strange expression, her eyes hardly moving.

"I know you certainly don"t have a notebook. Coincidentally, I brought a new notebook today, so I"ll give it to you as a gift." I took out a thin one yuan notebook from my schoolbag, used a two yuan gel pen to write the characters of her name on it, then handed both the notebook and the pen to her.

She may not be able to take notes, but this my was my little gesture as a poor teacher.

She didn"t take the notebook or pen. Her gaze fell on the notebook and she stared at it with her head tilted.

I kept my hands raised, still wanting her to take the items. I wanted this new student to see my sincerity, so that she could open her heart and accept me.

Maybe my sincerity moved her. Duan Youlian"s hand appeared from out of her raincoat, but instead of taking the notebook, she reached her hand towards my neck and screamed.

I got a clear look. Oh my, her nails were at least 10 centimeters long. Although they were painted with red nail polish, I could still faintly see the black mud caked on them. It was too unhygienic. How long had it been since she"d cut her nails?

She rather aggressively went for my eyes with her fingernails.

I quickly grabbed both her wrists and pressed Duan Youlian down into a nearby seat with all my strength. She started screaming when I touched her, as if I had done something heinous.

Did she have an aversion to physical contact with males? She"d just refused to shake hands with me and was showing aggression towards me, a male, screaming when I touched her.

I tried my best to calm her. "Don"t be afraid, I"m a good person. I won"t hurt you. At most… at most, I"ll cut your nails for you. They"re very unsanitary."

As I said this, I took my keychain from my waist. I was in the habit of keeping small collapsible scissors and nail-clippers on my keychain, which was very convenient for when I needed some simple tools.

Duan Youlian was skinny, and her wrists were particularly thin. I held both her wrists in one hand, holding the nail clippers in the other hand and using them to cut her thumbnail.

One blood red nail fell to the floor. The driver slammed on the brakes, and the whole bus shook violently. Duan Youlian took the opportunity to struggle to get away. Fortunately, I had hooked my foot over the railing next to me; otherwise I would have gone flying towards the driver"s seat.

"Sir, what"s the matter?" In the midst of chaos, I still remembered to be polite to the driver.

"Nothing," said the driver. "I got scared by your nail cutting."

I understood him. I was also scared by such long nails.

Because of the inertia of the car braking just now, Teacher Liu had slid down to where I was. He picked up the fingernail clipping and looked at Duan Youlian in anguish.

"Don"t be afraid, Teacher Liu," I comforted him. "I"ll be quick."

Wielding the nail clippers I quickly snipped off Duan Youlian"s nails one after another. In less than five minutes her nails had become short and tidy.

At first Duan Youlian was still screaming. When I finished the first hand hand, she went silent. Teacher Liu, on the other hand, gasped every time I cut a nail. He was much too excited.

When I had cut all ten nails, Duan Youlian calmed down completely and sat still in the seat. I put the notebook on her knees and said softly, "You don"t need sharp nails to protect yourself. Your teacher will protect you."

Teacher Liu picked up the cut nails one by one and offered them to Duan Youlian with trembling hands. "L-let her keep them as a memento."

Duan Youlian didn"t move, so I folded the nail clippings into the notebook.

This time she finally took the notebook, held it in her arms, and stared blankly out the window at the rain coming down.

"My name is Shen Jianguo. You can call me Teacher Shen," I said enthusiastically.

"Teacher… Shen…?" Duan Youlian repeated.

"Yes, that"s right." I happily gave Teacher Liu a furtive wink. The student was already starting to return to normal. Soon she would be able to speak properly.

Teacher Liu sat beside Duan Youlian and said comfortingly, "Accept it. You should have known this would be the outcome of coming back to attend cla.s.s."

"But…why?" Duan Youlian asked.

For some reason, Teacher Liu started to cry. He must have felt very sorry for Duan Youlian. He wiped his tears and said, "How do I know?"

I couldn"t understand what they were saying. It must have been about some past events beyond my comprehension.

Fortunately, with Teacher Liu"s help, Duan Youlian gradually softened, seeming less fierce.

The school bus arrived punctually in front of the Normal University at midnight. As soon as I got off the bus, I saw Ning Tiance holding an umbrella and waiting, wearing his yellow robe. He looked very handsome. The rainy night gave him an added touch of mysterious beauty.

I ran under Ning Tiance"s umbrella but didn"t quite dare to get close. In my struggle with Duan Youlian just now, water from her raincoat had gotten all over me. I was in a miserable state.

Xiao Ning looked at the water on me and frowned. "Where"s that water from? There"s hardly enough warmth left in your body. How can you face your students like this?"

"It"s OK," I said indifferently. "Some water from Xiao Duan"s raincoat got on me. It"ll evaporate soon enough from my body heat!"

Ning Tiance"s gaze suddenly became sharp. He looked at Duan Youlian and Liu Sishun standing together.

I introduced them. "This is Liu Sishun, who"s been looking after me since I started working. The other one is Duan Youlian, a new student. She"s afraid of strangers."

To the two of them, I said: "This is Ning Tiance, a disciple of the Maoshan Sect, a Celestial Master. He came to listen to me teach. Princ.i.p.al Zhang agreed."

Duan Youlian"s face altered. She took two steps back, as if she wanted to return to the school bus. But the driver hadn"t stuck around after we got off the bus, so there was no means of retreat.

Teacher Liu, though, nodded ardently to Ning Tiance and said, "Thank you so much for your help a few days ago, Ning-tianshi."

"It was no trouble." Xiao Ning inclined his head slightly.

They look at each other for a moment but didn"t reveal anything else. They seemed to have some tacit understanding.

"You"ve met before?" I asked Xiao Ning.

"A single chance meeting." Ning Tiance didn"t say anything more. It seemed this was another story I didn"t understand.

Duan Youlian didn"t like having contact with strangers. She tried to run off, but Teacher Liu held her back.

"Ah, where can you run to?" Teacher Liu sighed. "Your nails are gone, wherever you go you"ll be bullied by lonely souls and wandering ghosts. You"re better off staying with Princ.i.p.al Zhang. At least in cla.s.s no one will fool around. And there"s Teacher Shen..."

"Nails?" Ning Tiance frowned.

"Oh, her nails were too long, so I cut them for her." I didn"t mention the dangerous scene just now in which I ran the risk of getting clawed by those nails.

"Cut them?"

"Right, I have very good nail clippers." I took out the key chain and handed it to Ning Tiance.

Ning Tiance took it and looked. "You"ve been using these nail clippers for a long time."

"Yes, since senior middle school. It"s been about ten years. When I first bought them they were very sharp. I was pretty stupid then. I used them to cut meat," I said sheepishly.

"They"re good. You should keep them with you." Xiao Ning gave the keychain back to me. The nail clippers were warm from his touch. They warmed my chilled fingers.

After Teacher Liu"s persuasion, Duan Youlian seemed at least willing to go to cla.s.s with us.

I was familiar with the Normal University campus and easily led the three of them to the cla.s.sroom building.

Unlike the last two abandoned locations, the cla.s.sroom building of the Normal University was in good condition. The voice activated lights in the main hall and corridors lit up as soon as we stepped in. There was no need to go up the stairs carrying a battery-operated lamp.

As soon as the light in the first floor hall came on, we saw Tian Bowen standing there looking coldly at us.

Seeing Duan Youlian, he gave a malicious smile. "Well, if it isn"t Xiao Lian. How did you get back?" He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a long scar on his arm. "You gave this to me last time. It hurt. I"ve been waiting for you."

Last time? I immediately stepped in front of Duan Youlian and said to Tian Bowen, "Did you have a disagreement with Xiao Duan? Did you bully her?"

"Look at my scar. She"s the one who hurt me! But I didn"t let her have it easy. My little darlings crawled all over her." As Tian Bowen spoke, a pile of plump insects fell from his sleeves.

I felt sick just looking at them. Duan Youlian must have felt awful having them crawl all over her. It must have left a psychological shadow.

Teacher Liu didn"t like Tian Bowen either. He said to me, "When Xiao Duan left the school, it was because of a clash with him. After that, Princ.i.p.al Zhang expelled Tian Bowen, but he never left, and he got his insects all over me. It was disgusting!"

This was completely unacceptable. I shielded Xiao Duan and told her, "Don"t worry. I"ll settle the score for you."

Then I quickly got the insecticide out of my bag and sprayed it at Tian Bowen"s arms.

When I took out the insecticide, Xiao Ning opened his umbrella to shield Teacher Liu and Duan Youlian from the spray.

At first Tian Bowen was still sneering. "What good is your pathetic insecticide again me? My darlings are..."

Before he had finished speaking, his maggots rolled over and died.

His expression changed. He grabbed handfuls of his hair and shrieked, "What is this? Why can it hurt my killer insects?"

Xiao Ning took the insecticide from me with a serious expression and said to us, "Get to cla.s.s quickly. There"s no need for you to delay, I"ll handle the rest."