Carrying My Senior's Coffin (GL) - Chapter 15

Social interaction was truly Fang Yiyi’s fatal flaw.

She tugged at her clothes and let out a long breath. It felt like she had completed a difficult mission, leaving her physically and mentally exhausted and needing a good rest.

She tiptoed around Li Ting and flopped face down on the bed, playing dead.

Li Ting ignored her.

The weather was very hot. The dorm room had no air conditioning, only a ceiling fan whirring overhead, but she couldn’t feel the breeze at all. Li Ting, next to her, was like a natural cooling unit. After their increased intimacy, Fang Yiyi had gradually adapted. The bone-chilling cold was gone, replaced by a refreshing coolness. Lying close to Li Ting now was extremely comfortable.

After a while, Fang Yiyi unknowingly began to doze off. In a semi-dream state, she suddenly remembered her aunt’s family, whom she had blocked.

Fang Yiyi opened her eyes: “…” She was wide awake.

Her good mood evaporated. She scratched her head, knelt up, and rummaged through her phone for a long time before finally finding the blacklist. She removed the three people from it. In the process, she found five or six blocked calls from three different numbers. There were no notes for the numbers in the blacklist, but they were all familiar.

Yesterday, after her uncle and aunt were blocked, Bai Xuan had called again. Li Ting’s face, bothered by the interruption, was almost the color of ink. Under Li Ting’s murderous gaze, Bai Xuan, following her parents, was tragically blocked.

Although blocking them felt good, it was ultimately an act of avoidance. Some things couldn’t be solved by running away. She still had to face them eventually. For instance, she still had many belongings at her aunt’s house and had to go back. This superficial family tie couldn’t be broken so quickly.

However, she only released them from the blacklist. She didn’t intend to call back; she wasn’t asking for trouble and a barrage of curses.

Time always flew by when playing on her phone.

Fang Yiyi was hungry.

She checked the time and realized it was mealtime, so she climbed up and walked into the bathroom, preparing to shower first and then go to the cafeteria.

Perhaps because she had always been so robust and hadn’t used much medicine, the Yunnan Baiyao patches worked miraculously on her. Within just a few days, the pain in her body had largely subsided.

…In a way, Bai Xuan was right. She really was someone who could be appeased with ten dollars worth of liniment.

Fang Yiyi even felt that if she weren’t constantly engaging in that activity with Li Ting, she might even be lively enough to run on the track field.

Of course, this was only a hypothesis, and she dared not say it.

“Senior Sister, I’m going to the cafeteria for dinner. Are you coming?” Fang Yiyi emerged with a towel wrapped around her head, wearing a loose-fitting pajama set and shuffling in her slippers, leaving a trail of wet footprints on the floor.

She rarely toweled herself thoroughly after a shower. In winter, she would wrap herself in a thick towel and roll around on the bed twice to dry. In summer, she just put on her pajamas and let herself air-dry naturally.

Li Ting frowned at the water on the floor: “I’m not going. Bring the food back here.”

Fang Yiyi closed her eyes and dried her hair. Hearing this, she obediently replied, “Okay…”

Her hair was thick and voluminous. Poverty meant she didn’t have a hairdryer, so it usually took an hour to dry her hair. But she was too hungry, so Fang Yiyi, with half-dry hair, slipped into her school uniform and prepared to leave.

She took one step out, but before her back foot could follow, Li Ting grabbed her by the collar and hauled her back in the blink of an eye.

Fang Yiyi let out a surprised cry, her back hitting the door panel as she recoiled. The door was pulled shut by the force.

Li Ting pinned her against the door, her arm, covered by the bright red sleeve, propped up on one side of Fang Yiyi’s head. Their faces were very close, and her black eyes stared at Fang Yiyi with sheer distaste.

Fang Yiyi, having been suddenly ‘door-slammed’: “?”

“You’re disgusting. Tidy up before you go out,” Li Ting said. She raised her other hand and placed it on Fang Yiyi’s head. White smoke rose from beneath her hand, spreading through Fang Yiyi’s damp hair. In just a moment, the moisture was whisked away, and the smoke dissipated.

Fang Yiyi grabbed a lock of hair, touched it, and exclaimed in amazement, “It’s dry! Thank you, Senior Sister!”

Li Ting gave her a look. The hand on her head moved down, and her five fingers wrapped around Fang Yiyi’s wrist. A red hair tie was slipped onto Fang Yiyi’s arm.

“Tie it up. Now go.”

Fang Yiyi raised her arm and examined the hair tie. It was wrapped in red satin, without any other embellishments, simple yet elegant and quite beautiful: “Is this yours, Senior Sister? Do you tie your hair up too?”

Li Ting waved her hand, signaling her to go and come back quickly: “Someone burned it for me on my seventh day.”

“…” Fang Yiyi’s hand trembled. She looked at it differently, feeling as if the small hair tie had suddenly become incredibly heavy.

Seeing her standing rooted to the spot by the door, Li Ting asked, “Are you going or not? Aren’t you hungry anymore?”

“I’m going now.” Saying this, Fang Yiyi quickly walked out of the dorm and closed the door.

When she reached the third-floor stairwell, she ran into the Dean of Students walking up.

In the few times they had met before, the Dean had always dressed like a professional career woman—smart blouses, skirts or jeans, and various high heels that announced her arrival with a sharp clack-clack-clack. But since yesterday, she hadn’t worn heels. Instead, she wore soft, comfortable, youthful canvas shoes that made no sound when she walked. That’s why Fang Yiyi was startled by the sudden knock yesterday.

It was the same today. Fang Yiyi only realized it was the Dean when she got close.

“Hello, Teacher.” Their eyes met, and both were momentarily stunned. Fang Yiyi spoke first.

“Yiyi,” the Dean scanned her from head to toe: “Where are you going?”

“To eat.” Fang Yiyi noticed that the Dean was carrying a large lunchbox—the kind with a thermos, three layers, big enough to hold two meals.

Bringing a lunchbox to the women’s dorm? What for? For whom?

Fang Yiyi blinked, and a bold guess surfaced in her mind: It couldn’t be for me, could it…?

“Yesterday you were still clinging to the wall to walk, and today you’re fine?” The Dean looked at Fang Yiyi as if she were some sort of miraculous creature.

“Uh…” Fang Yiyi tugged at the ponytail she had just tied: “I’m… strong and healthy. I recover quickly.”

“Oh, I see.” The Dean narrowed her eyes, quickly ran up two steps, and came beside Fang Yiyi: “I brought you some food, too. Perfect. Let’s go back and eat.”

Fang Yiyi remembered Li Ting’s explicit instruction not to let the Dean come to the dorm again, and quickly said, “No need, no need. This is too much trouble for you.”

The Dean frowned in disagreement: “Yiyi, don’t be a stranger. Don’t think of me as your teacher. Let’s just be friends. After all, I’m not much older than you. Just call me ‘Sister’ privately.”

Fang Yiyi was confused: “Teacher, that’s not proper etiquette. I’m 19, and you look about 29? Calling you ‘Sister’ would mix up the seniority.”

The Dean: “…”

“…” Realizing what she had just said, Fang Yiyi stammered: “No, no, Teacher, that’s not what I meant… I mean… I mean…” She wanted to salvage the situation, but was utterly speechless. She stopped halfway, feeling that anything she said would be redundant, and clammed up.

The Dean gave two dry laughs: “Yiyi is truly an honest child.”

Listening to that, Fang Yiyi felt a hint of suppressed anger in the words.

But since she was the one who spoke rashly, she couldn’t say much more and could only awkwardly laugh along. At that moment, Fang Yiyi sincerely felt like an idiot.

Fortunately, the Dean didn’t dwell on it: “Come on, let’s go back and eat. It’s this late already. Yiyi must be hungry.”

Saying that, she carried the lunchbox and started walking up the stairs first, with a hint of impatience.

“Wait, hold on!” Fang Yiyi called out in a hurry.

The Dean stopped one foot on the stair, turned back to look at her, a slight look of displeasure on her face, as if Fang Yiyi were blocking her way.

Fang Yiyi felt a strange, inexplicable feeling, but considering the Dean was bringing her food out of kindness, she felt she shouldn’t question her motives. So she ignored the odd feeling and said, “I… I’ve been in the dorm for too long. I’m feeling cooped up and want to go out for a walk.”

The Dean didn’t budge, insisting: “Your body hasn’t fully recovered. Don’t run around.”

“No, no,” Fang Yiyi quickly waved her hands, her mind racing. She licked her lips: “I didn’t injure any bones. The school doctor said I should go out for a walk and get some fresh air when I feel up to it. It’s good for recovery.”

The Dean still thought going to the dorm was better: “But Yiyi, I’ve brought the food all the way here. I haven’t eaten either. Will you eat with me?”

Fang Yiyi quickly replied: “We can go to the cafeteria and eat together.”

Fang Yiyi noticed the Dean’s face sinking but apologized profusely in her mind. She couldn’t help it. She absolutely couldn’t let her go to 404. Li Ting was far scarier when angry than the Dean.

Seeing that Fang Yiyi genuinely had no intention of eating in the dorm, the Dean’s face fell. She said coldly, walking a few steps back and stuffing the lunchbox into Fang Yiyi’s hands: “You go. There are too many students in the cafeteria. It’s not suitable for me to go.”

With that, without waiting for Fang Yiyi to speak, she walked away with a thump-thump-thump. Her soft-soled canvas shoes somehow conveyed the forceful presence of high heels.

Fang Yiyi rubbed her nose, not asking why it was unsuitable for the Dean to go to the cafeteria. She just assumed she had disappointed the Dean’s good intentions and, full of apology, walked down with her for a bit. She walked all the way to the main entrance, made sure the Dean had walked far away and couldn’t see her, and that she wouldn’t realize Fang Yiyi hadn’t gone to the cafeteria at all, before turning and hurrying back with the lunchbox.

The food was in her hands. It saved her a trip to the cafeteria and also prevented her from running into Bai Xuan. She was actually quite intimidated. Without Li Ting accompanying her, she was still vulnerable to being bullied by Bai Xuan.

Fang Yiyi was used to walking downstairs with her head down, watching the steps to avoid missing a step. When she reached the second floor, she suddenly felt something was wrong.

It was noon, yet the light suddenly dimmed, like a gloomy evening. A sinking coldness swirled around her.

This coldness was similar to what she felt when she first met Li Ting, but not quite as bone-chilling.

Fang Yiyi stopped. The lunchbox was heavy. She set it down on the stair railing, holding it for support.

As if sensing something, she looked up.

The staircase, which should have had only a dozen steps, had inexplicably lengthened, stretching far upward, and abruptly, a ‘person’ stood halfway up.

The ‘person’ was looking down, their long hair concealing their face. They were wearing a blood-stained Zhengling Women’s University uniform. The figure was small and thin, and their face was invisible.

Yet, Fang Yiyi could clearly feel that the ‘person’ was staring intently at her, full of malice.

“Are you waiting for me?”

The ‘person’ spoke, their voice mechanical and eerie.

Fang Yiyi was instantly stunned.

That voice?

“Are you waiting for me?” ‘She’ said again, the tone identical to the previous sentence, like a repeating recording.

“Nancy?” Fang Yiyi called out uncertainly.