Carrying My Senior's Coffin (GL) - Chapter 12

“I will work harder!” Fang Yiyi’s attitude was serious and sincere.

What’s there to work hard for, you silly girl? Li Ting didn’t understand. She suddenly remembered something else: “How long ago did you buy that underwear? It’s faded, and the elastic is loose.”

Fang Yiyi was embarrassed and ashamed. She stammered, “…Ah, that, well, it’s not torn yet…”

Li Ting: “Buy new ones.”

“Oh… okay…” Fang Yiyi felt awkward and lowered her head.

Li Ting didn’t dwell on the topic for long. She said: “Your tuition is gone.”

Fang Yiyi thought for a moment: “It doesn’t matter… I’ve been earning my tuition myself since university.”

“Then what are you so afraid of?”

Fang Yiyi said, troubled: “I’m afraid they won’t let me go back. I have something there that I can’t take with me.”

“Something you can’t take?” Li Ting raised an eyebrow.

“The house they live in was my parents’. They adopted me after my parents died and moved into my house,” Fang Yiyi sighed.

“…” There were too many points of absurdity. Li Ting was momentarily speechless.

Li Ting’s expression worsened. Fang Yiyi looked confused but immediately said: “Okay, I understand. I’ll just follow Senior Sister’s lead when the time comes.”

Li Ting glanced at her sideways: “Heh.”

Fang Yiyi added: “Senior Sister is kinder than many people.”

Li Ting let out a scoff, as if she’d heard a joke: “Please. What I want is your life.”

Fang Yiyi lowered her eyelids, her long eyelashes casting a shadow like tiny brushes, hiding her eyes. She bit her lip and mumbled: “Actually, people like me are useless alive. I have communication barriers, and even basic social interaction is extremely difficult for me. After I graduate, I won’t be able to do any job that involves dealing with people. I don’t have relatives or friends, I’m like a transparent person. I once read a news story about an elderly person living alone. Their children were away all year, and one day they died at home. No one knew until the body started to smell, and the odor affected the neighbors. They were discovered a week after they died. I have a feeling that might be my future… Ugh…!”

Li Ting was annoyed that she kept falling into depression. She said dismissively: “Instead of dwelling on this nonsense, you should go for a run. Didn’t you want to get your diploma? Exercise, so I don’t work you to death before graduation,” she licked her lips: “I won’t go easy on you.”

“…Senior Sister, you hit me again.” Fang Yiyi rubbed her aching occiput, complaining about Li Ting’s brutality.

“You’re getting bolder, daring to talk back.”

Fang Yiyi pouted and lowered her head to continue studying.

After doing a few problems and finding all her answers were wrong, Fang Yiyi became exasperated and decided to quit. She started chatting with Li Ting: “By the way, Senior Sister, my aunt.”

“Mhm?”

“My aunt will probably call me.”

Li Ting glanced at her: “Let her call. Is there anything special about it?”

“Well, she curses really horribly, and she has a very loud voice.” Fang Yiyi recalled something, looking worried.

“And then?” Li Ting asked indifferently, reaching out to pull a strand of Fang Yiyi’s hair again. Her icy white fingers moved deftly, twisting the two strands of hair together.

Fang Yiyi poked her forehead with her pen tip, looking quite distressed: “She is fiercely abusive when she curses. Nothing anyone else says gets through to her. She’s a notorious shrew on our neighborhood street. No one can win an argument with her.”

“Why don’t you just not answer?”

“If I do that, she’ll definitely go around talking bad about me.”

Li Ting scoffed: “And if you answer, she won’t talk about you?”

“Hmm…” Fang Yiyi thought with a frown: “You’re right. I’ve already fallen out with Xuanxuan, so the premise is set. Even if I gave her all the money now, she’d still go around telling people I’m an ingrate or something.”

Li Ting was noncommittal: “Uh-huh.”

“Tell me,” Fang Yiyi leaned her head on the desk, her mood low, “Why are there so many bad people… Hiss… that hurts!”

The originally soft, smooth hair in Li Ting’s hand had turned into a small bird’s nest. Li Ting released her hand, and the clump of hair trembled back to its original spot, a stark contrast to the rest of her smooth hair.

There she goes again.

Li Ting rolled her eyes and urged: “Did you finish your exercises? How are you progressing on what you promised to learn?”

“Ah, ah, ah, right away!” Fang Yiyi straightened up, instantly refocusing on the task. She couldn’t afford to waste the study time she had worked so hard to secure.

She knew some things. There was no absolute evil in the world. She simply saw more than others because most people only showed their evil side to her. Because she was weak and easy to bully, they could easily gain a sense of superiority without any cost.

After another half hour, Fang Yiyi finished a set of problems. As she was checking the answers, the phone rang again.

The screen read: [Aunt]

What had to come had finally arrived.

Fang Yiyi exhaled, turned to Li Ting, and said: “Senior Sister, my aunt is calling.”

Li Ting was lying on the bed, reading Fang Yiyi’s English original text. She didn’t look up: “Don’t answer if you don’t want to.”

Out of boredom, she had casually picked up one of Fang Yiyi’s books. She found it was in a foreign language and that she could understand it, so she kept reading.

Since becoming a ghost, Li Ting had lost some memories and was in a perpetual state of confusion. After rolling around with Fang Yiyi a few times, her form had stabilized considerably, and many memories had returned, but some were still missing.

Fang Yiyi hesitated: “Summer vacation is coming soon.”

Li Ting turned a page: “Are you worried she won’t pay your tuition?”

Fang Yiyi shook her head: “I have a minimum living allowance, which covers part of it, and the rest isn’t much. I earned it working part-time. I want to go back to visit my parents’ graves.”

“Then what does answering the phone have to do with that?”

“I’m afraid she won’t let me go home and will hit me with a broom again.” The thought of neighbors coming out to watch made Fang Yiyi shrink back. She disliked being noticed.

Li Ting asked in surprise: “Your paternal uncle?”

“Yes,” Fang Yiyi was deeply melancholic.

Li Ting teased: “You two must have some deep-seated enmity.”

Fang Yiyi looked troubled: “I hope not.”

As they spoke, the phone call timed out because no one answered. Three seconds later, it rang again with relentless persistence.

Li Ting frowned: “Answer it. It’s too noisy.”

Fang Yiyi didn’t answer. She hung up, blocked her aunt’s number, and said, “Forget it.”

Li Ting put down the book, got up from the bed, and stretched her wrist: “Finished the problems? Shall we start our learning now?”

“I haven’t finished checking the answers yet.”

Li Ting: “Your life is so short. You need to have some regrets to make it beautiful.” Saying this, she floated over, draped one arm across Fang Yiyi’s back, and slipped the other under her knees. With a gasp from Fang Yiyi, she lifted her horizontally and pressed her down onto the bed.

“Wait, my phone!”

Li Ting held up her hand, flicked her wrist, and a segment of red ribbon, like smoke, flew out of her sleeve, wrapped around the phone, and reeled it in.

The moment the phone reached her hand, another call came in.

Li Ting glanced at the screen and said unhappily: “Why is your uncle’s family so annoying?”

Fang Yiyi, held in Li Ting’s arms, couldn’t get up. She strained her neck to look: “Is it my uncle calling? It’s probably my aunt.”

Li Ting handed it back to her and frowned: “Don’t answer. Hang up. Block.”

“Oh.” Fang Yiyi obediently complied.

Li Ting watched her white, delicate fingers slide across the screen, licked her lips, and her eyes deepened: “So obedient…”