Su Yubai walked quickly toward Ning Wang as if nothing was wrong. The hair stuck to her face swept across her cheek and slid behind her.
Ning Wang concentrated all his attention on her smiling face, trying as much as possible not to mind that pale and twisted huge figure behind her.
“After morning class ended I bought a new teapot, pure handmade!”
The girl said to the boy with a bright smile, still leaving a dark red bloodstain on her side face:
“The boss said the second one could be discounted, so I couldn’t help but buy one more. Mom will definitely say I’m wasting money again. I don’t dare take it back, so I can only put it here with you first… no problem, right?”
Ning Wang was just about to answer when he heard a strange crisp clicking sound. He carefully glanced with the corner of his eye. Miss Red Lips was still standing by the square table, her body completely motionless, but her head slowly and stiffly turned this way, empty eye sockets staring straight at the two of them.
It’s fine, it’s fine. Ning Wang took a deep breath. This level had long been anticipated.
“As you like, as you like. My dad is very careless. Not to mention one, even a hundred more teapots he wouldn’t discover,” he revealed a natural smile. “Why was the afternoon make-up class canceled?”
“It seems Teacher Wang fainted from low blood pressure. They said he needs to be on an IV drip for several hours,” the girl furrowed her brows a bit worriedly, then smiled happily again. “Don’t talk about these.
“Today I brought the Darjeeling my dad treasures. I want to try making milk tea myself!”
“Weren’t you afraid to go home because you bought an extra pot?” Ning Wang pretended to be surprised and raised his brows, reciting Su Chuanshan’s lines. “How did you dare go back to get the tea leaves again?”
The girl was stunned, and a shy and embarrassed flush appeared on her cheeks.
“Don’t dig deep into these, Chuanshan. You clearly know I want to commit suicide together with you.”
Lines that deviated from the track suddenly appeared. Ning Wang’s smile froze for an instant.
Only then did he discover that Miss Red Lips’ figure had already disappeared from beside the tea table. At the same time, a rotten smell like rotten eggs mixed into the air beside him.
“You are not him,” a strange female voice sounded by his ear, so close it seemed stuck to his ear. “You are not him. You are not him you are not him you are not him!”
The female voice repeated the same passage, the sound becoming more and more frenzied and hoarse, finally turning into unintelligible muttering.
Ning Wang’s back chilled. Red Lips had actually directly sought him out, instead of the previously targeted Su Yubai. Was it because he was playing Su Chuanshan?
…The problem wasn’t big. Just continue reciting the lines.
Although Miss Red Lips was annoying, he had long been accustomed to reciting texts during the noisy noon break. Now it was just that the source of the noise had changed a bit. Essentially it was the same situation.
And during noon break, there was no such cute and mysterious girl in front of him.
“Of course I know. I just wanted to see your reaction,” he smiled and took Su Yubai’s hand, accurately reciting the script. “Is the milk ready?”
“Mm!”
The girl was stunned for a moment, then broke into a bright smile. She gripped the boy’s hand tightly, and together with Ning Wang passed through the other people placed in the room, arrived in front of the square table, and sat down in front of the steaming teacups.
The tea fragrance was fragrant, the girl’s palm was warm and soft, and Ning Wang’s heartbeat slightly accelerated.
The ritual had already proceeded halfway. Next they only needed to mix the milk and tea and drink it in one gulp, then they could enter the final proposal segment.
“Disguise! Lying! Lies! Deception!”
Red Lips’ voice suddenly rose. The resentful scream was sharp and ear-piercing like an iron needle.
She suddenly stood beside the square table, leaned down aiming at the teapot, and spat out a large pool of turbid black dirty blood. Then she picked up the teapot and poured a full cup into the teacup in front of Ning Wang.
Finally, she suddenly leaned close to the boy’s face. Her pale face once again overflowed with a smile.
“Drink it. Drink it.” She said. “He will drink. He will drink. He will drink.”
Ning Wang lowered his head to look at the teacup. The tea water and bloodstains mixed together. The undissolved blood clots floated up and down like willow catkins. The rotten smell of the dead and the tea fragrance diffused and mingled.
If it were the real Su Chuanshan, would he drink this cup of tea…
But Su Yubai had said that body hair and skin were extremely special in the sense of witchcraft. Blood was probably also among them. Swallowing “her” blood into the body, could one really be safe and sound?
…But no matter what, there was no other choice at present. Refusing to drink tea was equivalent to denying that one was “Su Chuanshan,” and the ritual would also fail because of it.
Ning Wang grasped the handle of the teacup. The overflowing tea water stained his skin.
He tried hard to ignore his rapid heartbeat, brought the teacup close to his mouth. The rotten smell became even heavier, and his palm also began to tremble uncontrollably—
“Crack!”
The crisp sound of glass shattering suddenly rang out. Ning Wang’s hand violently shook. The teacup fell off and crashed to the ground. The tea liquid seeped into the cracks of the tiles. Miss Red Lips’ smile disappeared completely. Her entire face was once again painted full of resentment.
Ning Wang looked in surprise to his side. It was the teapot that had shattered all over the ground, and Su Yubai was staring at the scattered fragments. She had created a suitable reason for him, allowing him to throw away the teacup without destroying the script, and continue playing Su Chuanshan.
However, although she had helped a great deal, the girl turned her head with an apologetic expression and apologized repeatedly:
“The tea water was too hot. My hand slipped and I threw the pot onto the ground,” she hurriedly grasped Ning Wang’s hand. There was still a small piece of red burn on the back of her hand. “That… I’m really sorry. I didn’t scare you, did I?”
The girl was gently pinching his palm, as if complaining that he had almost revealed a flaw, but the pulse under her wrist was beating rapidly without stop, and the worry in her pupils was so much it was about to overflow from the corners of her eyes.
Ning Wang forcefully straightened his back and revealed a smile again.
“As long as no one is hurt it’s fine. What is there to be scared or not scared of with just a few drops of hot tea. Wait a moment. I’ll go get a broom.”
“W-wait!” Su Yubai tugged at the hem of his clothes. Her pretty eyes lowered toward the tabletop. “Don’t leave first. I have something I want to say to you.”
Ning Wang’s heart moved. The final step had come. He held up the girl’s hands and seriously examined her brows and eyes.
“Please speak.”
“Chuanshan… Mr. Su Chuanshan, actually the teapot was not discounted for others. I lied to get the discount,” the girl said softly. “I told him I was going to get engaged with the person I like, and wanted to gather enough for two teapots. Could he send me one a bit cheaper?”
Red Lips screamed again. Ning Wang sat in place as if nothing was wrong, only silently staring at the girl, cooperatively letting his cheeks dye with a shy red. Su Yubai raised her eyes, looking at him sparklingly:
“So, although it might be a bit too early… are you willing to let my lie come true?”
Ning Wang reached into his pocket, took out a golden ring, and presented it in front of the girl. The ring was borrowed from Su Shenghai. In case the situation changed, the old man had specially given each of the two children one, so that either could initiate the proposal.
“What a coincidence. I also happened to tell Dad the same lie, and was just worrying about how to make it come true. Miss Yu Haili, are you willing to let my lie come true?”
The girl gazed at her lover in disbelief for a moment, and bright joy surged on her face. She carefully took the ring, and crystal-clear tears welled up in her eyes:
“I do—”
“Crack.”
It was the familiar crisp clicking sound again, the sound of bones breaking. Ning Wang at first thought it was Red Lips doing something else before disappearing, but looking around he didn’t find her shadow.
Then, he finally discovered something was wrong. The sound seemed to come from in front of him… from Su Yubai’s direction.
He raised his head to look at the girl. Su Yubai wore a bright smile on her face, her neck twisted one hundred eighty degrees like a broken chopstick, and her body softly and powerlessly fell into his arms.