The two of them clutched the handrails and rushed down the stairs, their footsteps urgent like a sudden rain.
Just after rushing down two floors, Su Yubai heard a heart-rending scream from upstairs, and the phone’s QQ notification sound rang ding-ding again. The substitute had already failed.
“Stop sending selfies, it’s really annoying, okay!” Su Yubai didn’t even look at the screen and continued running wildly. “I’ve been female and into males from the womb until now. Even if you gouge out another hundred eyes to use as marbles to hit me, I still won’t fall in love with you!”
The screams became even more tragic, echoing and colliding in the narrow corridor.
Ning Wang looked at the girl with his heart pounding. “Why provoke her? I’ve read books on negotiation skills. At times like this one should soothe the kidnapper—”
“Okay, genius. Want to also let her think of her mom back home? Maybe she’ll plop down on her knees and cry her heart out!”
Su Yubai was a bit out of breath. She was normally the type who would collapse after jogging for five minutes, and at this moment she was even weaker than usual, especially with a mysterious heaviness in front of her chest… it was probably because she had just broken free from the control?
Forget it, there was no time to care about this now.
“Don’t force human thinking onto weird entities,” she took a deep breath and steadied her tone. “She clearly wants to pull a groom to pair with. I’m emphasizing to her that I can’t be a groom.”
The crisp sound of glass breaking exploded. Sharp fragments flew out of the pocket and grazed the girl’s cheek. Su Yubai hurriedly reached into the pocket and felt some sticky, icy-cold little thing.
It was that rusty ring. Su Yubai had originally wanted to use it to unravel Red Lips’ origin, but this thing had actually forcibly broken free of the glass bottle’s seal, and had already grown sticky hair. As soon as it touched the girl’s fingers, it tightly wrapped around them!
She turned her head, pulled off the ring, and flung it behind her with all her strength.
She saw the ring draw a soft arc in the air and fall onto the steps more than a dozen steps away… and then saw a pale hand reach out from the corridor and pick up the ring.
Red Lips was already close at hand.
“That puppet originally had her hair wrapped on it,” Su Yubai shouted to Ning Wang. “Did you put the hair back into the small glass bottle?”
“I did!” Ning Wang took out a perfectly sealed glass bottle. “Is this okay? It’s my first time doing this so it might not be perfect!”
“Good… no, very bad!”
Su Yubai struggled with herself for a moment. The hair already being sealed was of course a good thing, but even though it was sealed, Red Lips was still following and running. Didn’t that mean this guy wouldn’t give up no matter what?
She had to think of a way to cut more thoroughly from the identity of “groom”!
But Red Lips would probably pounce for forced love within a dozen seconds, and beside her was a school corridor with nothing at all, completely lacking materials to cast witchcraft—
…No, wasn’t there perfect material right here?
“Classmate Ning, I’ll apologize to you first. If you want me to kneel and kowtow to you calling you godfather afterward, that’s fine,” Su Yubai stopped her footsteps. “But I really have no choice. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” Ning Wang was stunned for a moment. Years of cultivated politeness made him subconsciously stop his footsteps and stand in front of the girl. “What’s wrong? What do you want to do—”
“Riiip!”
The sound of cloth tearing rang out. Su Yubai tore off a thin long piece of cloth from the skirt and cleanly tied a knot. While watching the girl’s actions, Ning Wang glanced at the corridor entrance. The pale figure with a hanging head had already appeared on the stairs.
She carefully put on the rusty ring… then suddenly raised her head, empty eye sockets staring fixedly down at him, as if a diner examining food on a plate.
Ning Wang’s heart tightened. “Classmate, run first! ‘She’ has already put on the ring—”
A soft, icy-cold touch slipped onto his finger joint.
Ning Wang turned his head in shock and saw Su Yubai solemnly holding up his right hand and slipping that piece of cloth… no, that small cloth ring onto his ring finger.
The muffled footsteps rumbled closer. Red Lips was urgently approaching, her twisted body rapidly enlarging. Damp, rotten wind passed through the dim corridor. Ning Wang saw Su Yubai’s neat long hair flutter up, saw her raise her pitch-black eyes, and a smile like seaside moonlight appeared on her pale, beautiful face.
“Classmate Ning Wang, I like you.”
The footsteps and wind sound suddenly disappeared. The girl’s soft words echoed in the stairwell.
* * *
Five minutes later, Su Yubai and Ning Wang left the teaching building and stepped onto the open playground. Ning Wang looked back at the building under the night and couldn’t help but stop his footsteps.
“Will ‘she’ appear again?”
“Originally it was uncertain, but since you asked like that she will definitely pop out again,” Su Yubai raised her index finger and swirled it around and around in midair. “Without thoroughly figuring out her origin, it’s impossible to thoroughly deal with her… damn it, if only I could get the puppet back.”
Before Red Lips’ sudden attack, the little puppet had already acted out the scene of her death and must have displayed quite a few useful clues, but unfortunately Su Yubai had been busy escaping at the time and had no time at all to appreciate it.
Now it had been occupied by Red Lips as her own. Wanting to retrieve it would probably mean going back and marrying her.
“I took a few photos of it,” Ning Wang took out his phone. “Want to see?”
“Of course, of course. The president does things thoroughly!” Su Yubai’s eyes lit up, then she suddenly noticed that the piece of broken cloth was still tied on Ning Wang’s ring finger. “This can be taken off now. There shouldn’t be any issues for a while.”
Ning Wang was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly averted his gaze and took off the ring, his movements flustered and his cheeks flushing red. Su Yubai cast a sympathetic gaze. Even knowing it was acting, the feeling of having a ring forcibly put on by the same sex must be terrible.
“Please look.”
Ning Wang hurriedly handed over the phone. Su Yubai browsed through it with full concentration. The president had taken quite a few photos, covering various angles and key parts. Apart from the lens shaking a bit, they were perfect. He had probably taken them while rushing up the stairs.
“How is it?” Ning Wang asked softly.
“Where did you find the puppet?” Su Yubai stared at the photos.
“In the courtyard, leaning against the flower bed side,” Ning Wang said. “The puppet jumped down from upstairs by itself.”
“Then Red Lips also jumped down by herself while alive. We can rule out the possibility of homicide. Look at this.”
Su Yubai swiped out another photo and held the phone close beside Ning Wang. A faint cool fragrance drifted over accompanied by the sound of breathing. Ning Wang almost silently retreated, and only with difficulty focused his attention on the photo.
This one was a shot of the puppet’s palm. A crooked Chinese character was carved on the palm, barely recognizable as “Su.”
“Since it was suicide, then this character was most likely carved by her herself,” Su Yubai said. “The wedding, the ring, plus she has always been calling me ‘Classmate Su’ instead of my full name… she must be treating me as a substitute for some other person. I’m the unlucky one who got targeted because of the surname, and maybe also because of similar appearance.
“In other words, find her real white moonlight for her, and the matter can come to an end.”
Ning Wang silently noted the girl’s surname and asked with some hesitation. “What should we do once we find him? Let Red Lips entangle him?”
“Of course, and after he dies, publicly release the yellow little videos he collected,” Su Yubai smiled lightly. “What are you thinking? As long as we make a substitute puppet based on that person as the original, it will do. Miss Red Lips has no eyes. Having a puppet to play with should satisfy her.”
Ning Wang nodded. “After going back I’ll flip through recent news. An incident of a female student committing suicide for love must have been in the papers.”
“No need. I more or less have a candidate,” Su Yubai looked thoughtful. One of her big hobbies was reading bizarre and thrilling incidents inside and outside Dan’ao. “Have you heard the name ‘Su Chuanshan’?”
Ning Wang’s expression became a bit strange.
“The heir of Blue Ocean Fisheries Group, the son of Mr. Su Shenghai. But he died in a car accident ten years ago. I even attended his funeral.”
“Before the accident he had quite a few bad scandals, such as abandoning a high school girl after playing with her and causing her to commit suicide. It was even in the newspapers at the time,” Su Yubai said. “Speaking of which, you actually attended his funeral?”
“My dad is a professor of aquaculture. Many years ago he had a cooperative project with Blue Ocean Group and had meals with Mr. Su Shenghai,” Ning Wang said. “When Su Chuanshan passed away I was still very young, but I still went to the funeral with Dad.
“Mr. Su Shenghai has already retired now. My family still has his phone number. I can perhaps try to arrange a meeting with him.”
“Then I’ll leave it to the president…” Su Yubai’s eyes lit up, but at the end she hesitated a bit. Ning Wang had no need at all to continue accompanying her in taking risks. “But this is too much trouble for you.”
“It’s fine. I also have something I want to ask of you.”
Ning Wang stopped in front of the school gate, took off his backpack, and unzipped it. It was full of textbooks, two packs of instant noodles, and an empty bouquet packaging that said “butterfly orchid.” That was a bouquet for mourning the dead.
“I said earlier that I stayed so late for make-up classes. That was actually a lie,” he said softly. “I came to mourn my older sister.”
“Older sister?” Su Yubai was a bit surprised. She had never heard of the president having an older sister, and mourning at school was also too strange.
“It’s normal that you haven’t heard of it. Even Mom and Dad don’t remember her,” Ning Wang smiled silently. “In the summer of my second year of junior high, she suddenly went missing at school, and even the traces of her existence disappeared completely. It was as if our family had only ever had me as the only child.
“For a long time, I felt that I had gone crazy.”
He fell into a silence as if recalling, then slowly spoke word by word:
“But looking at it now, perhaps something similar to ‘her’ took her away.”
“The summer of second year junior high… that was almost two years ago,” Su Yubai was a bit worried. “I may not be able to bring her back.”
“As long as I can retrieve even a little bit of her things, it will be fine. I hope I can at least properly bury her,” Ning Wang said softly. “Classmate Su, could I trouble you to help me?”
While speaking he clenched his fists. He couldn’t help clenching his fists when nervous. Su Yubai smiled. This clumsy appearance reminded her of herself.
“Okay, see you tomorrow.”
Ning Wang nodded gratefully and joyfully. Su Yubai turned toward the school gate, slowly reviewing everything that had happened tonight, when a familiar voice sounded again behind her.
“Classmate Su, wait!”
The girl turned around with a bit of PTSD. Fortunately, on the large playground there was only Ning Wang.
“Is there something else?” she asked.
“Nothing much, just…” Ning Wang was a bit hesitant, a faint blush on his cheeks. “What is your name exactly?”
“Ha,” the girl was dumbfounded and laughed. “Didn’t you already remember me?”
“I only remember that you always sat in the corner of the classroom, wearing a male-style school uniform, and during noon break you always flipped through some yellowed old books and old newspapers alone,” Ning Wang’s voice was a bit guilty. “But the name really is…”
“Su Yubai, Yu as in island, Bai as in pure white,” the girl answered with a smile. “I like being alone, so please don’t call me at school.”
“Okay.”
Ning Wang’s eyes lit up, carefully placing the girl’s name into his heart. Su Yubai turned toward the school gate and helplessly tugged at the corner of her mouth.
The ill-fated relationship with the president seemed to be very long still. This guy seemed to still think she usually crossdressed as male, but she couldn’t keep hiding her identity forever. Hopefully he wouldn’t get red-hot and break down and publicize it everywhere… fortunately he didn’t seem like that kind of person.
The crisis with Red Lips also hadn’t been completely resolved. She would still have to wear female clothes for a long time after this. It was hard to guarantee that Ning Wang wouldn’t look at her with strange gazes… and if next time some other guy with bad taste discovered her identity…
The girl lowered her head and walked toward the road home, heavy-hearted.
However, her worries would only continue for another fourteen minutes, after which she would discover that her concerns were completely meaningless. At that time she would open the bathroom door and find that the little brother of many years had already abandoned her.