Carrying My Senior's Coffin (GL) - Chapter 7

Fang Yiyi froze, remembering the ambulance she had seen earlier, surrounded so tightly by people that there had barely been room to move.

The person inside who needed emergency care…

Was it Nancy?

She bit down on a strip of pickled vegetable and lowered her head to take a sip of millet porridge. The salty flavor mixed with the perfect fragrance of rice and spread across her tongue, improving her mood slightly.

That left her with enough spare energy to listen to the conversation at the next table.

They had probably already been discussing it for a while, so Fang Yiyi only caught fragments. Even so, it was not difficult to piece together what had happened.

At around five thirty that morning, Nancy had suddenly gone mad and awakened several nearby dormitories with her screaming.

After that, she behaved like a lunatic. Everyone she saw, she accused of being a ghost. She was extremely aggressive and clawed at anyone who came near her. She even tore her newly purchased bed curtains into strips.

She looked like a zombie from a Western movie.

No one dared approach her. With no other choice, they called an ambulance and contacted the police.

When Fang Yiyi had left the dormitory, Nancy had just been injected with a sedative and carried into the ambulance.

That was more or less the whole story.

The students at the neighboring table had not noticed Fang Yiyi. They finished breakfast quickly and left together.

Fang Yiyi stood with her empty bowl in hand and her spoon between her lips, preparing to get another serving.

The Buddhist bead dangled against the back of her hand, carrying a thread of coldness that could not be warmed no matter how long it touched her skin. Its presence was impossible to ignore.

Since no one came to trouble her and she was practically delirious with hunger, Fang Yiyi drank four bowls of porridge for breakfast. By the time she finished, her small stomach had visibly rounded.

She was thoroughly satisfied.

All her classes today were in the afternoon, so after eating, Fang Yiyi went straight to the dormitory supervisor’s office.

The supervisor had always liked simple, introverted students like Fang Yiyi.

She took out the sign-out sheet and had Fang Yiyi register. Then she personally selected a broom and mop that looked heavy and sturdy and handed them over.

With a casual glance, she noticed that Fang Yiyi had registered Dormitory 404.

The smile instantly disappeared from her face.

“Child, are you the one living in 404?”

After all, it was an infamous haunted room in campus rumors. Fang Yiyi did not find the woman’s reaction strange and obediently nodded.

“Yes.”

“I had some family matters these past two days and took leave, so I didn’t conduct room inspections. I was only gone for two days. How did someone end up moving into 404?”

“How could the school assign anyone to live there? Student, why don’t you move out? Listen to me. That room isn’t clean…”

Fang Yiyi sniffed, her eyes growing warm.

Over the past two days, everyone had been pushing her into a pit.

Only this woman had told her, The pit is dangerous. Don’t go down there.

Even though it could not truly help her, the concern still mattered.

Fang Yiyi lifted the broom in her hand and smiled.

“It’ll be clean once I tidy it up. Thank you, Auntie.”

With that, she left the bewildered supervisor behind, clearly operating on a completely different wavelength, and hurried upstairs.

The moment Fang Yiyi returned to her dormitory, the cold sensation around her wrist vanished.

Li Ting appeared beside her in a vivid red dress.

“I’m going to clean the room,” Fang Yiyi said.

Li Ting glanced at her but did not speak. She drifted toward the bed, tilted sideways, and leaned against Fang Yiyi’s quilt as though she had no bones.

Propping her head on one arm, she watched Fang Yiyi.

Fang Yiyi met her gaze.

Somehow, she clearly read three words in those lifeless eyes.

Then clean it.

What Fang Yiyi actually wanted to ask was whether she could open the curtains.

After all, many movies and novels claimed ghosts could not endure sunlight.

But then she remembered that Li Ting had already followed her outside for a walk. She probably was not afraid of it.

So Fang Yiyi did not ask.

Her entire body still hurt. If she finished cleaning quickly, she might still have time for a nap before lunch.

Reality soon taught her that she had been far too naïve.

The room was not very large, yet she swept up four full dustpans of dirt.

The small dark room was not mysterious at all. It was simply a bathroom whose door had been removed.

Despite being abandoned for so long, the plumbing fixtures still worked properly, which was a pleasant surprise.

The bathroom mirror, however, had been pried off the wall and placed near the doorway.

Fang Yiyi had no idea why.

She swept the floor, mopped it, wiped the desk, and cleaned dust from the walls.

Even though she had done housework since childhood and was highly capable at it, the entire task still took four full hours.

Throughout the process, Li Ting floated around her continuously.

When Fang Yiyi wiped the desk, Li Ting sat on the back of the chair.

When Fang Yiyi cleaned the chair, Li Ting moved to sit on the desk.

When Fang Yiyi washed the rag, Li Ting stood behind her and stared thoughtfully at the place on the wall where the mirror had once hung.

Fang Yiyi could not understand what the ghost was thinking, so she did not dwell on it and continued working.

By the time she finally finished cleaning, washed the mop, and hung it on the balcony to dry, her steps were unsteady and her entire body ached.

She felt like sleeping for three days and three nights.

She walked to the bed and buried herself face-first in the quilt, with no intention of getting up again.

“You’re filthy. Go take a shower,” Li Ting called from the head of the bed.

Fang Yiyi struggled to lift her eyelids.

Her voice was muffled by the bedding.

“I’m so tired… Let me sleep first.”

“No. You’re too dirty.”

“Mm…”

Having failed to resist, Fang Yiyi prepared to get up.

She lifted one arm, only for it to fall limply back down.

With complete sincerity, she said, “I can’t move. I’m exhausted. Let me rest for a while.”

This time, Li Ting did not call her again.

Satisfied, Fang Yiyi hovered between sleep and wakefulness, just about to drift off.

Suddenly, a basin of warm water poured directly over her head.

Fang Yiyi jolted violently and became fully awake.

“!!!”

“W-what happened?!”

She opened her eyes too quickly, and water inevitably flowed into them.

The temperature was not especially hot, but it was still enough to frighten her.

She wiped the water from her face and realized that she was now inside the bathroom she had only just finished cleaning.

The showerhead above her was running, water pouring over her head with a steady rush.

The clothes on her body had disappeared.

What was going on?

“Awake?”

Li Ting’s voice came from above.

Fang Yiyi looked up blankly.

Li Ting floated overhead, her red dress billowing through the mist until it almost seemed to merge with the steam.

“Since you’re awake, wash yourself properly.”

Fang Yiyi thought, This one certainly does whatever she says.

Accustomed to enduring whatever happened, she obediently picked up the soap from the sink.

“Um… Senior.”

Fang Yiyi sat on the floor hugging her knees, curling herself into a small ball.

She tilted her head to look at the ghost above her, her face flushed as she spoke quietly.

“Could you go outside first?”

“Hm?”

Li Ting’s eyes sharpened, and she immediately looked ready to become angry.

“You’re driving me away?”

“No, no.”

The air around them turned cold.

Fang Yiyi’s heart skipped, and she hurriedly explained.

“I’m not used to having someone nearby while I’m showering.”

Li Ting was not persuaded.

“I’m not human.”

“I mean… I’m embarrassed. I get shy.”

Li Ting paused.

She looked Fang Yiyi up and down.

Her expression did not soften, but the coldness in the room disappeared.

“What’s there to be shy about? You have everything I have.”

Fine.

Fang Yiyi rubbed her nose and carefully began spreading soap bubbles across her arm.

She truly had never bathed in front of another person.

Even though her protest had been forcefully suppressed, she could not simply ignore the strange sensation of being watched.

Fang Yiyi could only wash herself slowly, one small area at a time.

She cleaned one arm, then the other.

Once her skin was covered in foam, she heard Li Ting click her tongue impatiently.

Then a hand covered Fang Yiyi’s eyes.

A body with the same temperature as the water pressed against her from behind.

…

At two in the afternoon, Fang Yiyi woke to the sound of her alarm.

She turned it off.

The moment she raised her eyes and saw Li Ting sitting on the desk, the familiar scene told her she had missed lunch again.

Fang Yiyi rubbed her temples and waited for the dizziness from waking up to pass.

Even before this, she occasionally felt dizzy after waking, though it did not happen often.

Ever since she moved into 404, however, she became dizzy every time she got out of bed.

Fang Yiyi knew it was because her physical condition was steadily worsening.

Everything came at a price.

She was struggling to survive beneath the hands of a malicious ghost, so naturally, she had to pay an equivalent cost.

Fang Yiyi had such a weak presence in class that she was practically invisible.

The professor had not taken attendance yesterday, so almost no one knew that she had skipped a class.

Each class lasted two hours.

Halfway through today’s lecture, Fang Yiyi began growing sleepy and nodding off.

That had never happened before.

Startled, Fang Yiyi straightened her back and forced herself to focus.

She began considering whether she should run laps on the sports field at night to improve her health.

Drifting through life was one thing.

Failing a course was another.

Because of her condition, she absorbed almost nothing from today’s lesson.

Fang Yiyi turned the Buddhist bead around her wrist and decided to study in the self-study room for a while.

She had barely stepped out of the classroom when the class adviser called her.

“Student Fang Yiyi.”

Fang Yiyi turned around.

“Teacher.”

The young adviser seemed to have run over.

“Student Fang Yiyi, I wanted to ask you about changing dormitories. Nancy’s parents just came to arrange a suspension of her studies, so a bed has opened up in her room. Would you like to…”

“Teacher.”

Fang Yiyi interrupted her and gave a faint smile.

“Thank you, but I’ve already cleaned up 404. There’s no need to change anymore.”

Anyone who knew even a little about the rumors surrounding 404 had heard of them.

The adviser had expected Fang Yiyi to be desperate to leave and never imagined she would refuse.

But then she reconsidered.

The so-called haunting was probably nothing more than a rumor repeated from person to person. There were no ghosts in this world.

These students frightened themselves with strange stories all day long.

Hadn’t Nancy practically scared herself insane?

The adviser became irritated whenever she thought about it, so she did not dwell on Fang Yiyi’s refusal. She still had to hurry and deal with Nancy’s situation.

“Uh… all right, then. Student Fang Yiyi, remember to come to me if you need anything. I still have something to take care of, so I’ll leave first.”

“Goodbye, Teacher.”

Fang Yiyi lowered her head.

Her eyes were hidden beneath her bangs, making her expression impossible to read.

After the adviser walked away, Fang Yiyi turned and headed toward the self-study room.

Zhengling Women’s University’s study rooms might not be packed to capacity, but they were never empty.

Apart from the sound of pages turning, there was only the friction of pen tips against paper.

The atmosphere was so intensely focused that anyone entering instinctively softened her footsteps.

Yet even in such an environment, Fang Yiyi still could not finish reviewing her lessons.

After eighteen years of life, she finally understood what it meant to be unable to concentrate.

There was nothing she could do.

Her thoughts kept drifting toward what had happened to Nancy.

The ambulance that morning.

The students’ conversation in the cafeteria.

The adviser mentioning that Nancy had suspended her studies.

Honestly, every part of it shocked her.

Mixed with that shock was a small amount of guilty satisfaction.

She wanted to ask whether Li Ting had done it.

But Li Ting had no reason whatsoever to target Nancy.

After all, Fang Yiyi had not been sent there as a scapegoat for Nancy alone.