The blush was only fleeting. Just as Ning Wang was about to curiously look closely, the girl immediately restored her cold-as-ice expression, with only one hand still casually covering in front of her ear.
“If there’s isolation, it’s me isolating others. No need for you to worry,” she responded faintly to the president’s concern, then immediately switched back to the main topic. “You arranged with Su Shenghai for the evening? Have you asked for leave from evening self-study?”
“My parents won’t allow me to ask for leave,” Ning Wang smiled bitterly. “Please rest assured. I’ve already told Mr. Su roughly. When the time comes, you just need to report my name.”
“Thank you,” Su Yubai’s brows lightly raised. Not involving other people was exactly what she wanted… and staying with the president still had a bit of that kind of risk. “Then see you tomorrow.”
“…See you tomorrow.”
Ning Wang was stunned for an instant before answering softly, his light brown pupils slightly lowered. Su Yubai silently closed the folder, took out a dried pure white hair tie, and tied her long straight hair into a ponytail.
The hair tie was the switch for the witchcraft. Once tied, her sense of existence would zero out and she would disappear from the president’s eyes—but before she had even tightened the hair tie, her gaze intentionally or unintentionally fell back onto the folder.
When Ning Wang was chatting and joking with his good buddy, she had roughly looked through the information in the folder. Some were news reports and some were gossip magazines, all old clues she had seen before.
After all, the president was exploring these dark nooks and crannies for the first time.
However, he had drawn red lines on every piece of material to highlight the key points, and also attached detailed thoughts in neat handwriting… fifty-three times more serious than Su Yubai preparing for final exams.
Just by looking at these traces, she could imagine how he had concentrated on selecting clues, and how he had seriously and patiently stayed up late annotating.
The girl sighed softly, took off the hair tie, and smoothed her hair. She reached out and snapped her fingers beside Ning Wang’s ear, startling the latter into immediately raising his head.
“Classmate Ning, I’ll change the way I ask,” she said. “Are you willing to accompany me to visit Mr. Su?”
“Of course,” Ning Wang’s smile was still a bit bitter. “But I must attend evening self-study—”
“It’s that others must think you attended evening self-study,” Su Yubai’s hand stroked the hem of her clothes and magically took out a small knife. “Lower your head. I need a lock of your hair.”
* * *
The setting sun sank, the afterglow like blood. On the streets of the old city the figures were sparse, and the asphalt pavement reflected an orange-red light. Su Yubai and Ning Wang walked past the corner and stopped in front of a small foreign-style building of red brick and white tiles.
A stone-carved plaque hung on the main door of the small building, with the three golden characters “Guiyu Building” carved in beautiful regular script. Ning Wang glanced back at the direction of the school, his heartbeat slightly accelerating from tension and excitement.
Su Yubai had made a small substitute puppet for him, tied it to the back of his desk with red thread. He blinked, and discovered the puppet had become his own appearance.
According to the girl, the puppet could not only simulate his appearance, but also learn his tone to say one or two simple responses. It would just be a bit stumbling and stiff, like a zombie that had just remembered the language of its lifetime… hopefully no classmates would dig deeper.
Not mentioning school matters, the small building in front of him made Ning Wang feel even more ominous. Last night as soon as he put “Guiyu Building” into the search box, a long string of strange and bizarre rumors immediately popped out.
Many years ago after his son passed away, Su Shenghai, whose body was still strong, suddenly retired from the fisheries group, exchanged all his shares, certificates, and deposits into a mountain of cash and this small building, and personally hung the plaque for it. From then on he lived a secluded life, and by rights should not encounter any more waves.
However, strange talks about the small building gradually spread.
Someone claimed to be a resident near the small building, saying they often heard singing and dancing sounds coming from the small building at night, as if dozens of people were holding a party, but after visiting, they discovered there were only Su Shenghai and his butler two people in the building.
Someone claimed to be Su Shenghai’s doctor, who had once gone to Guiyu Building to examine the old man. He smoothly completed the diagnosis, said goodbye to the old man and left, but just after going out, he bumped into another Su Shenghai.
The latter’s features, posture, and even clothing were completely the same as the old man in the building, only his eyes were empty and lifeless. After this person collided with the doctor he did not say a single word, and silently walked into Guiyu Building.
Someone claimed to be a cleaner hired by Su Shenghai, who had once been suddenly called by the old man in the middle of the night to clean a certain room, but after arriving discovered the room was clean and tidy.
After simple cleaning he left the small building, and when returning to the company to return the tools he suddenly smelled a fishy stench. He looked around and was shocked to discover that the broom and mop had somehow become extremely dirty, stained with sticky blood and broken animal bones.
Rumors of this kind emerged endlessly, mostly without evidence, absurd and unfounded. If he saw them normally, Ning Wang would definitely laugh them off.
But after having faced Red Lips, he could not assert that there was no real component in them.
The boy’s brows were tightly locked. The girl suddenly got playful.
The poor president was contacting weird entities for the first time and was obviously unsettled. It was a good opportunity to show her side as a mature man (?)… and could also take the chance to get revenge for having her ears made red.
“Being nervous is normal, Classmate Ning,” she revealed a mocking smile. “You’re a novice. If something goes wrong later, don’t be shy by any means. Just generously hide behind me. Hugging my waist is also fine, okay?”
“Okay. Please teach me more.”
Ning Wang smiled from the bottom of his heart. He completely didn’t care about the girl’s provocation, and his taut heartstrings instead relaxed quite a bit. However, thanks to Su Yubai saying unnecessary words, his gaze couldn’t help but slide downward, landing on her slender waist—
The girl noticed his gaze, and her fair earlobes were dyed with a blush again. Damn this stinky mouth, why did you have to add that last sentence?
“The, the latter half of the sentence was just a metaphor.”
“I know,” the boy hurriedly raised his head. “How could I go hug a fe—”
The character “fe” fiercely touched Su Yubai’s nerves.
Right, she must persist in the way of a man, and what was wrong with a proper man (internally) letting a companion hug once? Refusing would only add points to the O-fall progress bar.
“Please don’t misunderstand. It has nothing to do with male or female. It’s just that the waist is used for tying puppets and pressing talismans, so it can’t be touched casually,” she interrupted Ning Wang in a cold tone. “However, as for arms, shoulders, and thighs, it’s completely fine, fine, fine…”
This time Ning Wang seriously controlled his own eyes, looking straight into the girl’s eyes from beginning to end, but Su Yubai’s gaze instead began to dart and drift in the eye contact. The final character “yi” still stumbled several times and couldn’t be said, making her little face flushed red from holding it in.
She took a deep breath and bit her silver teeth, wanting to simply rush up and fiercely give the president a hands-on hug, using actual actions to prove she completely didn’t care. Unfortunately, no, fortunately the main door of the small foreign-style building suddenly opened with a creak, helping her find an excuse to shut up.
The two of them turned their heads at the same time and looked. A thin and dry old man appeared at the doorway, sitting in a wheelchair. He lowered his head looking at the two visitors and revealed a tired yet somewhat relieved smile.
“Welcome, please come in, Xiao Wang, and… Miss Su, right?” He greeted weakly in a low voice. “You are not the first person entangled by ‘her.’”