Chapter 51 The Truth
Compared to adults, children are more direct in their cruelty. Because they don't understand the consequences of their actions, they express their likes and dislikes in the most drastic ways possible when faced with people or things they dislike—especially during adolescence.
And Rusako is the one who is disliked.
"She was in our class at the time and was being bullied terribly," Jiang Xinhong said. "Everyone hated her and treated her like she didn't exist."
"You didn't bring her with you when you took the class photo?" Lin Qiushi thought of the photo they had seen in the archives room before, in which one person was missing.
"Hmm..." Jiang Xinhong hesitated, but still answered Lin Qiushi's question. "Although the roster says there are thirty-four people, our class claims to have thirty-three people."
The students in that class deliberately erased Lu Zuozi from their class. They refused to talk to her, refused to take photos with her, and treated her like air. No one wanted to talk to her.
"What happened next?" Li Dongyuan continued to ask calmly.
"Then there was an accident..." Jiang Xinhong's voice became a little hoarse, and his expression was filled with unspeakable fear. "She died."
Both of them waited quietly for Jiang Xinhong to continue.
"She had an accident and died suddenly." Jiang Xinhong said, "Now that I think about it, it was indeed a bit excessive. After she died, no one in the class showed any sadness, and they even..."
"He even wrote a song." Li Dongyuan helped Jiang Xinhong add the last sentence.
"How do you know?" Jiang Xinhong was shocked that they knew so much.
"I've already said it, we know a lot." Li Dongyuan looked at Jiang Xinhong and said with a smile, "Go on."
"You probably all know what happened next." Jiang Xinhong smiled bitterly, "That song is cursed. Anyone who sings it will die."
"You've never sung before?" Lin Qiushi asked, finally coming to the question they were most interested in.
"No." Jiang Xinhong's tone was very firm. "I felt that doing so was really too much, so I didn't sing..."
"The classmate who was talking to you just now didn't sing either?" Li Dongyuan said.
"No." Jiang Xinhong said, "We got along very well, so I asked him not to sing either."
"Interesting." Li Dongyuan smiled.
Frightened by Li Dongyuan's expression, Jiang Xinhong said anxiously, "That's all I know. Please let me go. It's getting dark soon. I have to go back."
Lin Qiushi looked at Li Dongyuan, who nodded, indicating that Jiang Xinhong could leave.
Jiang Xinhong breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed his backpack and ran away. Li Dongyuan looked at his back and said, "What do you think?"
Lin Qiushi: "Not very good." Although Jiang Xinhong's words were flawless, he had a hunch that he was lying.
"Oh, what do you mean?" Li Dongyuan asked.
"You should know better than me." After spending some time together, Lin Qiushi knew that Li Dongyuan was a shrewd man. If there was anything unusual going on, he would definitely know better than he did. As expected, Li Dongyuan laughed, and there was something else in his eyes as he looked at Lin Qiushi: "Are the people at Obsidian so interesting?"
Lin Qiushi: "No, I'm the most boring one."
Li Dongyuan said: "Jiang Xinhong is indeed lying, but I don't know why he lied or where he lied. Do you remember what he said when we first met?"
Lin Qiushi certainly remembered. He frowned and asked, "Lu Zuozi is someone who shouldn't exist?"
Li Dongyuan: "Yes."
Lin Qiushi suddenly realized, "So that's how it is."
Li Dongyuan: "Smart... I always like working with smart people. Let's go and meet up with Zhu Meng and the others."
The meaning behind Li Dongyuan's words was simple—Lu Zuozi was someone who shouldn't have existed. If Jiang Xinhong truly felt he had done something wrong, he wouldn't have said that. Lu Zuozi, clearly the victim, had become someone who shouldn't have existed in his mouth. Even after several years and so much had happened, Jiang Xinhong showed no remorse. Even as he spoke these words, his fear was tinged with a hint of undisguised disgust.
Of course, all of this is just speculation, and it remains to be verified. One of the most incomprehensible details is that if Jiang Xinhong hated Lu Zuozi, why didn't he sing the song that mocked her? Could it be that he really had a change of heart?
With such questions in mind, Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu reunited.
No one knew what happened between Ruan Nanzhu and Xia Rubei when they were alone together. Xia Rubei had tears in her eyes. When she saw Li Dongyuan, she came over to him aggrievedly and called him "Mengge".
"What happened?" Li Dongyuan asked her.
Xia Rubei glanced at Ruan Nanzhu, who looked innocent, with resentment: "He scared me..."
Ruan Nanzhu: "Oh, don't talk nonsense. I'm also very timid. How can you say that I scared you?"
Xia Rubei: "You were telling ghost stories just now!"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Where's the evidence?"
Xia Rubei: "...What evidence do you need?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Brother Linlin, she has no evidence and yet she wants to slander me——"
Lin Qiushi and Li Dongyuan both had a headache expression on their faces. Finally, Li Dongyuan couldn't stand it anymore, made a stop gesture, and said, Mengmeng, can you please stop arguing with the little girl?
Ruan Nanzhu: "What do you mean? Are you saying that I'm not a little girl anymore?"
Li Dongyuan still had a strong desire to survive and said, "No, no, no, I mean you are a great beauty!"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Tsk."
Lin Qiushi quickly changed the subject and told Ruan Nanzhu about their recent conversation with Jiang Xinhong. Ruan Nanzhu shared their feelings, thinking there was something seriously wrong with Jiang Xinhong, but they couldn't yet pinpoint the specifics.
"Let's go, it's getting dark, let's go back first." It was already time to go home from school, and after being delayed for a while, the sky gradually darkened.
They talked as they walked, and returned to their residence before it got completely dark.
As soon as I arrived at my residence, it was completely dark outside and the silent campus was shrouded in the pitch-black night.
Lin Qiushi was standing in the corridor smoking and thinking about something when someone patted his shoulder. He turned around and saw Li Dongyuan.
"Borrow a light." Li Dongyuan said.
Lin Qiushi nodded, and then saw Li Dongyuan come over and light his cigarette with the spark from his cigarette.
"What are you thinking about?" Li Dongyuan asked.
Lin Qiushi shook his head, indicating that he was not thinking about anything. He felt a little tired today and didn't want to talk much.
"When did you join Obsidian?" Li Dongyuan's voice was pleasant, gentle, and magnetic. The tone of his question was like whispering a lullaby. "How long have you been here?"
"Not long, maybe a few months." Lin Qiushi exhaled a puff of smoke.
"Who brought you in?" Li Dongyuan continued to ask.
"Ruan Nanzhu." Lin Qiushi felt a little dazed. This state was very wonderful, like standing in soft clouds, warm and comfortable, making people relax their bodies involuntarily.
"What about Zhu Meng? Do you know her?" Li Dongyuan's questions continued to go deeper.
"I know him." Lin Qiushi felt something was wrong and he wanted to struggle to get out of this state.
Li Dongyuan seemed to have noticed Lin Qiushi's struggle. He reached out and gently pressed his hand on Lin Qiushi's shoulder. "Don't be nervous. I won't ask any excessive questions." He leaned close to Lin Qiushi's ear and whispered, "Who exactly is Zhu Meng?"
Lin Qiushi opened his mouth uncontrollably. Just as he felt he could no longer hold on and was about to speak out his answer, Ruan Nanzhu's cold voice reached out and rang out, "Li Dongyuan, are you treating my people like this?"
Li Dongyuan withdrew his hand and smiled.
Lin Qiushi jolted awake, realizing his unusual state. He threw away his cigarette and, for the first time, became angry: "Li Dongyuan, what did you just do to me?"
Li Dongyuan still had a cigarette in his mouth and spread his hands out in an innocent gesture.
Ruan Nanzhu clapped his hands and said, "Amazing! You're worthy of being the leader of the White Deer. But if you had used that kind of energy inside the sect, we would have been out long ago."
Li Dongyuan: "Mengmeng, don't be so fierce."
"Let's go, Linlin." Ruan Nanzhu was very unhappy. "Stay away from this person from now on."
Lin Qiushi nodded, turned around and walked to Ruan Nanzhu.
Ruan Nanzhu stretched out his hand and carefully patted Lin Qiushi's shoulder, as if there was something dirty on his shoulder - this place had just been touched by Li Dongyuan.
Li Dongyuan was not annoyed and continued to smile.
After cleaning up, Ruan Nanzhu took Lin Qiushi back to sleep without speaking to Li Dongyuan the whole time.
As dusk fell and the lights went out, the room fell into silence. The only sound was the even breathing of a few people who had fallen asleep.
Lin Qiushi was a little tired and thought he would fall asleep quickly, but he couldn't fall asleep no matter how much he tossed and turned.
He finally fell asleep, but just when he was half asleep and half awake, he was woken up by other noises.
After Lin Qiushi woke up, he quickly found the source of the sound... it was his upper bunk.
Creaking, creaking sound, as if Ruan Nanzhu couldn't sleep and was tossing and turning in bed. Lin Qiushi was about to call out softly, but the creaking sound suddenly stopped.
Just above Lin Qiushi's head, across the bed, a song suddenly rang out: "Sachiko has called herself Sako since she was a child. How ridiculous! She loves bananas but can only eat half a banana at a time. How pitiful! Sako has gone far away and must have forgotten me. I'm so lonely, Sako..."
The singing was from a girl, a little childish, but the lyrics she sang made people feel cold all over.
Lin Qiushi didn't dare to move and faced the wall with his eyes closed.
The singing came from above and became louder and louder, as if something singing was crawling down the bed.
"Sachiko has been calling herself Sako since she was a child. How ridiculous..." The song sounded behind Lin Qiushi. He felt his body getting colder and the thin bedding lost its ability to keep him warm.
Boom... Boom... Boom... The thing behind him began to jump on the floor, getting closer and closer to Lin Qiushi.
Lin Qiushi finally couldn't help himself. He opened his eyes, sat up, and leaned against the wall behind him. But only after he leaned in did he sense something was wrong. In the bright moonlight, he saw that the wall behind him was scribbled with all sorts of vicious curses. The most eye-catching of them all was the three words "Lu Zuozi" written in red.
Lin Qiushi also saw the person standing in front of his bed.
No, that cannot be called a human being at all.
The girl in school uniform had her hair loose, her body twisted into a strange position. She had only one foot, and the space where the other foot should be was empty. At this moment, she was jumping on the floor with her only foot, singing that song...
She originally had her back to Lin Qiushi, but after hearing the sound of Lin Qiushi sitting up, she turned her head 180 degrees and looked at Lin Qiushi.
"Can you hear me?" she asked.
Lin Qiushi felt cold all over and didn't know how to respond.
"Can you hear me?" she repeated.
"What did I hear? Your singing?" Lin Qiushi forced himself to calm down. Everyone else in the room was still fast asleep, but he was the only one who was awakened by the sound.
"Crying, she's crying." She said, "She's crying so sadly, why doesn't anyone hear her?"
Lin Qiushi: "Who is she? Is it you?"
The thing in front of her didn't answer, she just said: "She didn't do anything, why did they treat her like that.
After she said this, Lin Qiushi actually heard crying. The crying came from outside the window. It was extremely miserable and wailing, like a seriously injured person.
"It hurts so much, it hurts so much, please save me, please..." Mixed in with the crying was a plea, "Don't go, don't go."
When Lin Qiushi heard this, his eyes widened. He finally understood.
Sure enough, the next moment he heard a familiar voice: "Go, go, don't worry about her. She's already in such a bad state, how can she be saved?"
"But..." The other person hesitated slightly.
"Save me, save me—" The girl heard their conversation and begged even more desperately, "Don't go, I don't want to die, I don't want to die."
"Let's go! If anyone finds out, we'll be thrown into jail. Do you want to spend your whole life in jail?" The person said in an angry tone, "Otherwise, you'll stay here alone. I'm leaving now!"
"Okay, okay." The companion finally compromised, and hurried footsteps were heard, as if two people were leaving.
"Wuwuwu, wuwuwu..." The girl who was left there wailed loudly. The pain and fear of death enveloped her. Her cries became more and more desperate and weaker, and finally her voice became inaudible.
Lin Qiushi listened to all this and a cold sweat broke out on his back. He had heard the voices speaking this conversation before: it was Jiang Xinhong and his friend whom he had met during the day.
"It hurts." Sako in front of him uttered softly, "It hurts... did you hear me..."
Lin Qiushi didn't know whether he should answer that he heard it or not. If he answered incorrectly, would he be taken away directly by the thing in front of him?
"It hurts, do you hear me?" She kept repeating it, but her hand stretched out towards Lin Qiushi. However, just when she was about to touch Lin Qiushi, she seemed to be blocked by something. She let out a sharp cry and instantly disappeared from Lin Qiushi's sight.
Lin Qiushi's chest was pounding. He found a group photo where Zuozi had left it. He took a quick look and saw that everyone in the photo was from Class 2, Grade 3. However, this time, Zuozi stood in the center of the photo, flashing a brilliant smile at the camera. As he examined the photo, Lin Qiushi suddenly smelled a strong odor of smoke, like something burning. He looked down and saw that the talisman paper under the mattress was ablaze. It seemed that this mess of talismans had stopped Zuozi, who had just tried to attack him.
The smell of smoke also woke up the others in the house.
Ruan Nanzhu was the first to wake up. He asked, "Linlin, what's wrong?"
Lin Qiushi's face was covered in cold sweat, but at least the thing in front of him was finally gone. He said calmly, "It's okay. That Zuozi just came over."
Xia Rubei also woke up. Upon hearing Lin Qiushi's words, she trembled and said, "Wha-what's coming?"
"Zuozi," Lin Qiushi said, "It's all right now. Go back to sleep."
Xia Rubei: "..." How could she sleep?
Before Xia Rubei could say anything, Ruan Nanzhu interrupted her and said softly, "Linlin, I'm so scared. Come sleep with me."
Lin Qiushi: “…”
Ruan Nanzhu: "Linlin, why don't you speak? Don't you love me anymore?"
Li Dongyuan joined in the fun: "Mengmeng, I love you."
Ruan Nanzhu: "Listen, there are strange things talking in the room, come up quickly."
Li Dongyuan: “…”
Lin Qiushi looked helpless, but he did have something he wanted to discuss with Ruan Nanzhu in private. Since there was no chance for them to be alone together during the day, now was a good time.
So after a long time, Lin Qiushi climbed onto Ruan Nanzhu's bed again.
The bed was a bit narrow, so the two of them could only lean against each other. Ruan Nanzhu squeezed into Lin Qiushi's arms very naturally and rubbed him twice.
Lin Qiushi whispered, "Stop rubbing against me."
Ruan Nanzhu: "No, I just rub it."
Lin Qiushi: "..." Are you really happy after this? Never mind, he must be super happy.
The two men's limbs were almost overlapping. Lin Qiushi put his mouth close to Ruan Nanzhu's ear and whispered everything that had just happened to him, and handed him the photo.
After listening to this, Ruan Nanzhu was silent for a moment, put the photos away, and said, "I understand. Let's go to sleep first. We can discuss it in detail tomorrow morning."
Lin Qiushi: "Hmm..." The weather was actually a bit hot. Two grown men leaning against each other should have been hot and crowded, covered in sweat, but Ruan Nanzhu exuded a faint fragrance. The fragrance was not feminine, but rather refreshing. It was the first time Lin Qiushi had smelled it.
He couldn't help but said, "Mengmeng, you smell so good."
Ruan Nanzhu said: "This might be..."
Lin Qiushi: "Hmm?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "The fragrance of a virgin."
Lin Qiushi: “…” If I didn’t know that what you took out was bigger than mine, I might have actually believed it. God, the fragrance of a fucking virgin.
In the end, Lin Qiushi still couldn't figure out why Ruan Nanzhu smelled so good. After all, sleeping pills were just sleeping pills. As long as he lay next to Ruan Nanzhu, Lin Qiushi would fall asleep in seconds. In the blink of an eye, it was the next morning.
Because of the unexpected incident last night, no one slept very well, and Xia Rubei was the most prominent example. This girl had two dark circles under her eyes when she woke up, and she looked like a national treasure.
Ruan Nanzhu even wanted to tease her, asking her what's wrong, why she wasn't asleep, and whether she was thinking about her lover.
Xia Rubei said angrily: "What lover? Where did I get a lover?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Don't you like Li Dongyuan?"
Xia Rubei's face flushed red. She didn't expect Ruan Nanzhu to say this directly. Tears almost fell from her eyes. "Don't talk nonsense. I'm not, I didn't... You're still talking about me. Don't you like Yu Linlin too?"
She originally thought she was turning the tables on Ruan Nanzhu, but who knew Ruan Nanzhu, the shameless one, just nodded and admitted it, saying, "Yes, I do like Linlin. Linlin is so cute, who wouldn't like him?"
Xia Rubei: “…”
Ruan Nanzhu: "Don't fall in love with Linlin."
Xia Rubai: "..." She finally realized at this moment that she and Ruan Nanzhu were indeed not on the same level, so she lowered her head dejectedly and kept silent.
Ruan Nanzhu had an expression that showed how lonely he was as if he was invincible.
Lin Qiushi knew he was a dramatic actor and didn't bother to care. Li Dongyuan also saw through Ruan Nanzhu's soul. The two of them ate breakfast in silence. Because Li Dongyuan had hit Lin Qiushi yesterday, Lin Qiushi was no longer happy with him. Li Dongyuan shamelessly said, "Linlin, are you still angry?"
Lin Qiushi: "Mr. Li, we're not that familiar with each other yet, are we?"
Li Dongyuan: "Oh, I apologize for my behavior yesterday, okay? It's not that Mengmeng doesn't want to pay attention to me, I just want to know more about him..."
Ruan Nanzhu sat next to him and said angrily: "Li Dongyuan, I'm sitting next to you. If you want to ask anything, just ask directly."
Li Dongyuan: "I was afraid you wouldn't tell me."
Ruan Nanzhu: "How do you know I won't tell you if you haven't asked yet?"
Li Dongyuan: "What's your name in real life?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "I won't tell you."
Li Dongyuan: “…”
Lin Qiushi almost laughed out loud when he heard this.
However, Lin Qiushi could see that he was no match for Li Dongyuan. Ruan Nanzhu was very good at dealing with this kind of smiling tiger character, and he could always make Li Dongyuan speechless.
"By the way, didn't Sako come here last night? Did she find anything new?" After finishing her meal, Li Dongyuan was very interested in what happened last night.
"Yes." Ruan Nanzhu directly took out the photo that Zuozi left for Lin Qiushi from her bag. "She left this photo."
Li Dongyuan looked at the photo carefully.
Ruan Nanzhu propped up his chin and asked, "Did you find anything?"
Li Dongyuan: "Yeah."
Xia Rubai was also looking at the photo and listening to the conversation between the two. She was a little confused: "What do you mean... Is there something wrong with this photo?" She picked up the photo and looked through it again and again but didn't find anything special.
That's right, if you don't remember what the original Class 2 photo looked like, it would be difficult to notice the abnormality of this photo at first. Lin Qiushi felt that his memory seemed to be much better. There was no need to compare. He could now clearly recall the details of the photo in the archives.
Ruan Nanzhu placed the photo he had stolen from the archives next to this one. Xia Rubei took one look and exclaimed, "There's one more person..."
"Yes." Ruan Nanzhu said, "Not only is there one more, but there are also two less."
Xia Rubei: "The two missing ones... are..." After searching carefully, her eyes widened. "Is it Jiang Xinhong and his friend?"
Ruan Nanzhu showed a look of pity: "You are so smart."
Xia Rubei: "..." Why did she feel that Ruan Nanzhu was insulting her.
The author has something to say: Ruan Nanzhu: Linlin, you smell so good...
Lin Qiushi: This might be...
Ruan Nanzhu: Hmm?
Lin Qiushi: The fragrance of a single person.
Ruan Nanzhu: ...
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