23. Chapter 23: Trying to Frighten Others, Only to Encounter a Ghost

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It was the weekend, and I slept until noon before finally getting out of bed. Fatty was already playing video games, while Li Xiang and Jin Yuan were nowhere to be seen. After tossing and turning in bed for another half hour, I finally dragged myself up. I was halfway through washing up when Li Xiang and Jin Yuan returned, both looking thoroughly miserable.

“Qiu Xiaoli is way too arrogant. She actually cursed me out in front of all those people. If I don’t teach her a lesson, I’ll change my name!”

“You good-for-nothing wastrel, I told you that girl wouldn’t be easy to handle, but you refused to believe me. I already warned you—I’ve suffered at her hands myself—and yet you still insisted on ramming your head into a nail.”

The moment they entered the dormitory, Jin Yuan and Li Xiang chimed in one after the other.

I had just finished washing up. Seeing them come in, I walked over and greeted them. “What are you two talking about? Qiu Xiaoli?”

I knew Qiu Xiaoli. She was one of the prettiest girls in our department, with a bright, delicate beauty and clear, sparkling eyes. But lately, there had been something strange about her. When she had first arrived at school, she had been gentle and even-tempered. Recently, however, she seemed to have become an entirely different person. Whenever anything displeased her, she flew into a rage, as though she were suffering from the worst case of premenstrual misery.

The two of them glanced up at me. Li Xiang wore a deeply aggrieved expression as he said, “Li Xi, didn’t I tell you about this last time? Qiu Xiaoli—the one I hit a wall with when I tried to pursue her, the one who made a fool of me. The wastrel wanted to avenge me, but he got cursed out today too.”

My interest was piqued, and I couldn’t help looking over at Jin Yuan.

Jin Yuan merely snorted. “I may have taken a loss today, but I’ll definitely make her regret it.”

He pulled a cigarette from a pack and lit it, his face filled with anger. Li Xiang, standing beside him, readily took one as well. Before long, the two of them were smoking away, enveloped in clouds of tobacco.

Come to think of it, those two really were something else when they got together. Looking at them, I couldn’t help saying, “Forget it. She’s just a girl. What are two grown men doing holding a grudge against her? Besides, you were the ones who went looking for trouble.”

The moment Jin Yuan heard that, he glared at me. “Damn it, Li Xi! We’ve been sharing a dorm for so long, and you won’t help me—that’s one thing—but now you’re actually making sarcastic remarks?”

As he spoke, Li Xiang also shot me a glare. The two of them then lowered their heads and began discussing something in hushed voices. I quickly lost interest and moved off to the side. It had nothing to do with me anyway, so why should I worry?

I left the dormitory to get something to eat. When I returned, Jin Yuan and Li Xiang had disappeared once again. I paid it no mind, sprawled on my bed, and played on the computer for a while before lying down and enjoying a comfortable afternoon nap.

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After all, it was the weekend—and how many weekends did one get in a month? For students, there was nothing better than spending the weekend sleeping. I slept straight through to the afternoon. When I got up, Jin Yuan and Li Xiang were still nowhere to be found. Hu Tou, who slept in the bunk above mine, was still hammering away at his game.

I asked, “Hu Tou, have you seen the wastrel and Li Xiang?”

“Didn’t see them. Don’t bother me—I’m busy.”

Hu Tou was completely absorbed in his game, so he obviously had no idea.

I sighed helplessly and decided to leave them to it. Then I went out to eat again before returning to the dormitory to continue playing on the computer.

Outside the window, the sky gradually darkened, and our dormitory grew dim as well. But with our eyes fixed on the computer screens, neither of us could be bothered to turn on the lights.

Then, just as Hu Tou and I were completely engrossed in our games, the door was suddenly slammed open. I jolted so violently that I nearly leaped off the floor.

I whipped around and saw a black shadow dart through the doorway and hurl itself straight at me. I was so frightened that I lost all control of my limbs and froze in place.

The shadow that had rushed in from outside pounced on me and knocked me to the ground. My mind went blank in an instant.

People often say that being frightened by another person can scare you to death. In truth, ghosts are not necessarily that terrifying. What makes people frightening is the way they always use sudden, unexpected tricks to scare others. Someone with a weak heart might suffer a fatal attack on the spot.

After a long moment, I swallowed and reached out with trembling fingers toward the figure that had knocked me down. I finally let out a breath of relief when my hand touched his face and found it warm. That meant he was human.

I shoved him aside, scrambled to my feet, and switched on the light. I then saw Li Xiang, his face deathly pale, sprawled exactly where I had been knocked down. The black shadow that had tackled me was none other than Li Xiang.

An enraged curse burst from me. “Are you out of your mind? You nearly scared me to death! What the hell were you thinking?”

Li Xiang looked up at me, and I froze.

Apart from his pallid face, his entire body was trembling uncontrollably. His expression was also extremely strange, as though he had been scared senseless. I couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

Had something happened?

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At that point, even Hu Tou stopped playing. He leaned out from the upper bunk and stared blankly at Li Xiang.

“Hey, Li Xiang, what’s wrong with you? Why are you shaking like you’re having a seizure?”

Although Hu Tou usually didn’t talk to us much, he was actually fairly cheerful by nature. At the very least, whenever he wasn’t gaming, he would joke and laugh with us.

Without even raising his head, Li Xiang suddenly spoke in a trembling voice. “W-We saw a ghost. We saw a ghost!”

“Saw a ghost?” I stared at him for a moment, then said, “What happened? Hurry up and tell us.”

Li Xiang slowly climbed to his feet. With shaking hands, he pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and began speaking in a low voice.

“Jin Yuan and I spent the entire day following Qiu Xiaoli. We planned to find some way to scare her that evening. Later, she went to the lake, and we followed her there too. We waited for nightfall. Guess what we saw?”

Hu Tou and I asked in unison, “What?”

“Jin Yuan and I hid near Qiu Xiaoli. Gradually, the sky grew dark. Qiu Xiaoli sat alone on a bench, staring steadily at the surface of the lake. I swear, neither Jin Yuan nor I took our eyes off her the entire time, and we never saw anyone approach her. Then, once it grew dark, Qiu Xiaoli took out her phone and made a call. She laughed as she talked—and I’ve never heard anything so chilling in my life.”

Hu Tou and I again asked together, “And then?”

“Then Jin Yuan and I planned to rush out and scare her while she was on the phone. But the moment we got to our feet, we realized that someone seemed to be sitting beside her. We had clearly seen Qiu Xiaoli sitting alone on that bench. How could another person have appeared beside her? We thought it was strange, but assumed we had simply seen it wrong.”

“However, when we got closer, we were almost scared to death. Sitting beside Qiu Xiaoli was a ghost.”