Carrying My Senior's Coffin (GL) - Chapter 11

Li Ting had died young, but that did not mean she was behind the times.

She had died in Dormitory 404, but she was not a spirit bound to one place. Whenever she felt like it, she wandered around outside, then returned home on schedule.

She was a ghost who went out late and came back early, maintained a regular routine, witnessed the development of the times, and kept up with every modern trend.

Naturally, she knew what “cloud storage” meant.

Remembering the way Fang Yiyi usually lay there like a dead fish, Li Ting felt that this condition might actually… not be unacceptable.

After all, she was only teaching someone to be naughty.

Wasn’t that something she could do effortlessly?

Li Ting raised her chin, the upward tilt of her eyes looking noble and aloof.

“Fine. Before the swelling on your face goes down, you must learn at least two.”

Fang Yiyi was delighted.

“Okay!”

Estimating that the class adviser would soon return with the police, Fang Yiyi put on the only presentable clothes she owned—her school uniform.

When the class adviser pushed open the door, the first thing she saw was the spotless room.

Fang Yiyi sat on the edge of the bed with her legs hanging down. She wore the long-sleeved autumn and winter uniform jacket draped over her shoulders. The jacket was oversized, hiding her arms and making her already petite figure appear even smaller.

She wore the school’s short uniform skirt, leaving both legs exposed.

Her skin had originally been as fair and smooth as jade, but it was now covered in countless blue and purple bruises. The sight was shocking.

She was not wearing shoes. Her ankles were slender, and her small feet rested on tiptoe against the white floor tiles.

Taken on their own, they were rather pleasing to look at.

Fang Yiyi had always been quiet.

Now, seated beside the bed, she held her back perfectly straight and placed both hands neatly on her thighs. Her posture was proper and obedient.

When the adviser entered, Fang Yiyi’s brown eyes, misted with moisture, stared at her without blinking.

She looked like an elementary school student waiting for the teacher to check her homework.

Her face was only the size of a palm, yet there was a swollen handprint on each cheek. They looked terribly out of place, bright red and raised high enough to make anyone’s heart ache.

Fang Yiyi, however, seemed unaware of them.

Her obedient and harmless appearance naturally stirred pity in anyone who saw her.

Even the two police officers, despite having seen plenty in their line of work, could not help freezing for a moment.

“This is outrageous! She’s such a good child. How could they bring themselves to beat her like this?” the female officer with a ponytail said angrily.

“Are fights between girls always this vicious?” the male officer remarked.

“Hello, Sister. Hello, Brother.”

The moment Fang Yiyi saw the police, nervousness and timidity appeared in her watery eyes.

The male officer rubbed his hands together, trying his best to appear friendly.

“Little sister, don’t be afraid. We’re police officers, not bad people.”

Fang Yiyi shrank her neck and whispered, “Okay…”

The female officer looked at her colleague with disdain.

“Go over there and take the statement. Don’t you know what you look like? Your smile is scarier than crying.”

The officer, who naturally had a stern face, smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.

He took the notebook and walked dejectedly to the desk, where he sat down.

There was only one chair in the room.

The male officer used it, so the female officer sat beside Fang Yiyi on the bed.

The class adviser felt perfectly comfortable standing. She remained on Fang Yiyi’s other side and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Little sister, we need to take your statement now. Can you tell us what happened yesterday?” the female officer asked gently.

Fang Yiyi clutched the Buddhist bead in her hand and glanced at Li Ting.

After meeting her gaze and receiving confirmation, Fang Yiyi slowly nodded.

“Yesterday evening, I came out of the cafeteria and wanted to return to my dormitory to study. Since the back entrance was closer, I didn’t go through the main hall. Then, when I passed the bicycle shed…”

Li Ting’s voice appeared inside her mind.

“The horse-faced one with the hooked nose surrounded you with several people and demanded protection money.”

“…”

Fang Yiyi choked on her words.

A bizarre image of a horse’s head with an eagle’s beak appeared in her mind.

She blinked.

The eagle-beaked horse’s head automatically transformed into Youlan.

“Youlan surrounded me with several people and demanded protection money.”

The class adviser thought she was frightened and gently patted her shoulder.

“Student Fang Yiyi, the police and your teacher are both here. You don’t need to worry or be afraid. Just tell us exactly what happened.”

Fang Yiyi had never lied before.

When repeating Li Ting’s fabricated story, she stumbled over her words.

However, in the eyes of the police officers and the adviser, this only made her appear even more honest and harmless.

The poor girl could not even repeat a lie properly.

Everyone felt even more sympathy for her.

Still, a child like this truly was easy prey for bullies.

All three of them silently reached the same conclusion.

Fang Yiyi continued.

“My parents died when I was eight. I’ve lived with my uncle and aunt ever since. Their family is poor too. I don’t receive any pocket money, and I don’t have other clothes.”

She tugged at her sleeve.

“I always wear my uniform. I couldn’t give them any money.”

“Because it wasn’t the first time they had demanded it, they also knew I had no money. Then they told me to do that kind of… that…”

“They said someone had already been arranged. As long as I accompanied him for drinks, they would waive one week’s protection fee.”

“Teacher, please don’t get angry. Of course I refused.”

“Yes, that’s right. When I refused, they beat me…”

“Hm? Where were you supposed to drink?” the officer asked.

Fang Yiyi did not know anywhere else, so she casually named the bar that the group often visited.

“Barbara’s Bar. It’s two streets east of the university.”

“Yes, Teacher. It’s the same bar from the photograph.”

“No, nothing happened that time. They frightened me and forced me to deliver something for them.”

“…The details?”

“First, Manman came over and grabbed my neck. Manman is so big, and I wasn’t strong enough. She pushed me down and squeezed my throat while asking whether I would go.”

“I said I wouldn’t. Then they all came over and started hitting me.”

“I couldn’t see exactly what they were doing because Manman blocked my view. I only knew it hurt.”

“After beating me for a while, they probably got tired, so they asked again whether I would go.”

“Of course I still couldn’t go. I had already been beaten. If I went afterward, wouldn’t that mean I had suffered for nothing?”

“Youlan said I didn’t know what was good for me, then came over and slapped my face.”

“…Yes, they cursed at me. They cursed very viciously.”

“Um… I can’t repeat it. At the time, I was too busy hurting, and all I could think about was running away. I don’t clearly remember exactly what they called me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“This dormitory? I know. There are rumors that it’s haunted.”

She stared ahead as if carefully recalling the past, though in reality, she was looking at Li Ting.

“A while ago, they often went to internet cafés to watch horror game streams. They gathered together to watch horror movies and even researched feng shui and the Eight Trigrams.”

“I delivered clothes and handbags to them before, and I used my campus card to pay their bills.”

“Yes. They never repaid me.”

“They played games like the Saucer Spirit and Pen Spirit in this dormitory.”

“…I’m not completely sure what happened. It seemed like they had nightmares and believed the ghost in this room wanted their lives.”

“So they brought me here, saying I was supposed to replace someone.”

“How could that be possible? What ghost could be here? I’ve lived here for several days already.”

“Though I suppose I should thank them. Because of them, I now have a private room.”

…

By the time Fang Yiyi finished her half-true, half-fabricated, highly embellished account, both police officers were seething with righteous fury.

They grumbled angrily about returning to teach those delinquent girls a lesson.

The class adviser was overwhelmed with guilt and nearly cried.

She swore that from now on, she would take every student more seriously and prevent anything like this from happening again.

Before the two officers left, Fang Yiyi spoke softly.

“Um… there’s one more thing.”

“Yes, Xiao Yi? Go ahead.”

The female officer affectionately patted her head.

“Well… I’m injured this badly, and it hurts a lot. I can’t afford the medical expenses. Can I ask for compensation?”

Fang Yiyi asked uncertainly.

She had not thought of this at all before.

However, she needed a smartphone.

Her phone for elderly users could not even connect to the internet, let alone download a cloud-storage app so she could study.

“Of course you can! You absolutely must!” the male officer said indignantly. “If you hit someone, you pay compensation. That’s only right. How could they possibly not pay?”

The female officer looked puzzled.

“You didn’t ask for it at the time?”

She had been on duty at the station the previous day and had not gone to the scene.

Fang Yiyi answered sheepishly, “I didn’t think of it yesterday.”

The female officer sighed.

“You’re far too honest.”

The next day, the class adviser brought Fang Yiyi food and delivered the medical compensation at the same time.

There were five people, and each paid 600 yuan, totaling 3,000 yuan.

Had Fang Yiyi gone to the hospital, the examinations and medical expenses would have made them compensate her far more.

However, she stubbornly refused to go and only visited the campus clinic, so this was all she received.

For Fang Yiyi, however, it was enough.

She had originally planned to spend all the money on a phone.

But now that Li Ting had tasted meat, she no longer wanted to endure long periods of hunger. She demanded that Fang Yiyi recover as quickly as possible.

Fang Yiyi therefore settled for something cheaper and bought an outdated model from a popular brand for 2,000 yuan.

She spent some of the remaining money on medicine to reduce swelling, medicated patches for bruises and sprains, and anti-inflammatory liquid.

Several hundred yuan remained, which she saved.

Then she received a phone call from her so-called cousin, Bai Xuan.

At the time, Fang Yiyi was working on practice questions.

She put her newly purchased white smartphone on speaker and placed it on the desk to her right.

“Xuanxuan?”

Bai Xuan said, “Fang Yiyi, I heard someone beat you up?”

Fang Yiyi carefully considered her answer while filling in the letter C inside the bracket on her worksheet.

Distractedly, she replied, “Mhm.”

“How are you now? Are you feeling better?”

Fang Yiyi stared at a faint blue mark on the back of her hand.

“It’s been several days. I’m basically fine now.”

Bai Xuan’s tone immediately became lighter.

“That’s good. You’ve always been tough. You didn’t even go to the hospital, so it obviously wasn’t serious.”

“Oh, right. Did those classmates who beat you pay compensation?”

The tip of Fang Yiyi’s pen stopped as she circled a question.

She turned toward Li Ting, who was lying on the bed, and discovered that Li Ting was also looking at her.

The human and ghost met each other’s gaze.

Fang Yiyi pressed her lips together.

“…Mhm.”

“How much did they give you?” Bai Xuan asked cheerfully.

Li Ting drifted over and sat on the edge of the desk.

She placed both hands against the tabletop and crossed her legs beneath her red dress, letting them dangle and sway lazily.

“Not much,” Fang Yiyi answered flatly.

“How much is ‘not much’?”

Li Ting said, “What does it have to do with her?”

Fang Yiyi tightened her grip around the pen.

“What does it have to do with you?”

“What do you mean, Fang Yiyi? You’re not planning to keep all of it for yourself, are you?” Bai Xuan said unhappily.

“But it was mine to begin with…”

Before Fang Yiyi could finish, Li Ting struck her on the head.

“Remove the word ‘but.’ Be more forceful.”

“You’re completely justified. Why do you sound guilty?”

Even though Li Ting had grown accustomed to Fang Yiyi’s way of speaking, that did not stop her from becoming angry.

Bai Xuan could not hear Li Ting.

She immediately became agitated.

“You live in my house! My parents support you, pay your tuition, feed you, and provide everything you need!”

“It’s not as though you were seriously injured. You didn’t lose an arm or break a leg. Ten yuan for a medicated patch should be more than enough.”

“You don’t need that much money at all!”

“I already heard that they compensated you 3,000 yuan.”

“I’m not asking for much. We can split it in half when we meet. That’s fair, isn’t it?”

Li Ting pulled a strand of Fang Yiyi’s hair toward herself and played with it between her fingers.

Smiling, she said, “Ask her where she found the nerve to be so shameless.”

Fang Yiyi did not know how to curse and looked deeply troubled.

She whispered, “Wouldn’t that be… a little inappropriate?”

Li Ting’s beautiful eyes widened, and a fierce expression appeared on her face.

“Hm?”

Fang Yiyi immediately shouted into the phone, “Where did you find the shameless nerve to ask me that?!”

Bai Xuan had never expected Fang Yiyi to dare speak to her that way.

She instantly flew into a rage.

“Fang Yiyi, you dare curse at me?! You’re dead!”

“I’m telling my mother! Starting now, don’t even think about taking another cent from our family!”

“We won’t pay your tuition either!”

Fang Yiyi’s cheeks turned bright red, and her hands trembled.

Before Li Ting could coach her, she shouted into the phone, “Then don’t!”

She picked up the phone and, despite being extremely unfamiliar with the controls, quickly swiped at the hang-up button.

It took three tries before she finally pressed the correct one.

She clutched the phone in both hands against her chest and gasped heavily.

Li Ting stared at her expressionlessly.

“You’re so afraid of her that you’re trembling?”

“No…”

Fang Yiyi looked at her, licked her lips, and revealed a bright gleam in her eyes.

“I’m too excited.”

“When she asked me for the money, I became so angry. So, so, so angry.”

“But when I said what Senior taught me, it felt incredible!”

“Senior, you’re amazing.”

“It was only my first time talking back to someone, so I’m not very skilled yet.”

She exhaled.

“I’m so nervous.”

“…”

Li Ting was rendered speechless.

After a long silence, she scolded in exasperation, “That’s all the courage you have!”