It was the height of summer, and the scorching sun blazed over the capital. Even the air was thick with stifling heat and restlessness.
Yu Nian sat in Feng Chengyuan's car, gazing at the groups of children filing into the campus not far away. On their young faces, apart from the youthful vigor, there were faint dark circles under their eyes. Yet, every gesture exuded hope and yearning for the future.
Yu Nian fell silent for a moment. She felt that someone like her who had lived two lifetimes was completely out of place among these energetic kids.
She briefly scorned her own attempt to act young in her heart, then obediently slung the schoolbag Feng Chengyuan had prepared for her over her shoulder and opened the car door.
"Wait." Seeing Yu Nian's poker - faced expression, Feng Chengyuan's face broke into a smile. He handed her a warm paper bag and a cup of milk. "Student Yu, here's your breakfast."
Just as Yu Nian was about to reach out to take them, a mischievous thought popped into her head. She nodded with a smile. "Thank you, Uncle. Goodbye, Uncle."
Feeling the man beside her suddenly freeze in his tracks, Yu Nian was in high spirits. She hummed a tune and walked into the campus.
But the moment she stepped into the school, she felt that the surrounding scenery had changed subtly.
Even Ming Mingzhong beside her sensed something was off. He rubbed his arms and said, "Yu Nian, do you feel that it's suddenly really cold?"
Yu Nian turned to look at the slowly closing school gate. The car where Feng Chengyuan had parked was gone without a trace. The parents who had been seeing off their children just outside the gate had also vanished in an instant.
Ming Mingzhong rubbed his eyes hard. "What's going on? Did we encounter a ghost in broad daylight?"
The bell for the first morning class had already rung. Yu Nian lowered her eyes and looked at the shadow of the tree covering her from above. She said softly, "Something's wrong."
"What's wrong?"
Yu Nian pointed at the rather glaring sun. "It's eight o'clock in the morning. Normally, the shadows should be long and point towards the west. But since we entered the campus, the direction of the shadows has changed."
Ming Mingzhong was stunned for a moment. He quickly looked down and was shocked to find that his black shadow was silently shifting towards the north at an extremely fast pace.
The scene before them was so eerie that Ming Mingzhong immediately got goosebumps all over his body. Fortunately, he had the experience of entering the evil spirit trap in the mansion last time. He tentatively asked, "So, does this mean we've entered another evil spirit trap? What about President Feng who was waiting outside to back us up? Has he entered the trap too?"
Yu Nian fell silent. This evil spirit trap was extremely strange. It had turned them all into pawns in the game.
With the evil ghost's resentment, it was absolutely impossible to create such a huge and intricate evil spirit trap. There must be someone helping behind the scenes.
But who on earth was abetting the evil... Maybe everything would become clear when the trap was unraveled.
Yu Nian raised her eyes and looked at the red subtitles constantly scrolling on the LED screen at the main entrance of the teaching building: Congratulations to our school's Teacher Liu Xiuer for winning the 2014 Best Teaching Teacher Award...
Yu Nian lowered her eyes and thought for a while. 2014 was exactly the first year after Song Zhixiu's death.
She patted Ming Mingzhong on the shoulder. "Don't be nervous. Since we're here, we'll just make the best of it."
Perhaps because classes had already started, there were far fewer students around. As Yu Nian looked around the campus, she couldn't help but sigh in admiration: Truly worthy of being the best high school in the capital.
In terms of the feng shui of the school's construction, the Wenchang position was extremely important, representing fame and official career. Yingde High School had grasped every aspect just right. The earthly qi was pure, the gates were straight, and the paths were smooth. As soon as one entered the school, they could feel a sense of uprightness.
But the strange thing was precisely here. How could such a blessed place give rise to an evil ghost full of resentment? And since she entered the school until now, she hadn't sensed a single trace of resentment.
"Hey, you two students up ahead."
A gentle voice came from behind. Yu Nian slowly turned her head and saw a young woman in her mid - twenties striding towards her with a stack of books in her arms. She had a graceful figure and a beautiful face. Every gesture exuded a touch of refined scholarly air.
Yu Nian glanced at her for a moment and said, "Good morning, Teacher."
Liu Xiuer nodded with a smile. "Why are you still loitering outside when class has started?" Her eyes swept over the name tags on Yu Nian and Ming Mingzhong's chests. She was a bit surprised. "You're the two transfer students the principal mentioned? We're really destined. Come with me."
When Yu Nian stepped into the classroom of Senior Class Two, there was an immediate gasp in the class. Some mischievous male students even spontaneously clapped their hands, attracting the attention of the students passing by in the corridor.
"Quiet down. Let me introduce the new students to you."
Yu Nian glanced at Liu Xiuer. She was so soft - spoken even when managing the class. No wonder she couldn't keep the students in line.
Ming Mingzhong looked at the vivid and lively faces below the podium, some of which were hard to tell whether they were human or ghost. He felt it was getting even weirder.
He stammered, "H - hello everyone. My name is Ming Mingzhong..."
"Pfft." The whole class burst into laughter like a pot exploding.
"Ming Mingzhong? What a gloomy name!"
It was Yu Nian's turn to introduce herself. She was concise. "Yu Nian."
The class fell silent for a brief three seconds. Liu Xiuer looked a bit embarrassed. "That's it for the introduction?"
"Yes."
Someone scoffed below the podium. Yu Nian raised her eyes and saw that the pretty girls sitting in the middle of the class were whispering to each other. But their "whispers" were so loud that the whole class could hear.
"Just because she's a bit good - looking, what's she so proud of? It's so annoying."
"Right. I don't know what they're so excited about. It's like they've never seen a girl before."
"We're already in senior year and she's still transferring. Maybe she's not very smart. Hahaha..."
Yu Nian slightly raised her eyebrows. These girls were really strange. Their hostility towards her was completely unfounded.
The moment their eyes met, one of the girls rolled her eyes. "What are you looking at? Am I wrong? Country bumpkin."
Yu Nian's fingers twitched. She gave her a bright smile. "I'm looking at when the big spider on top of your head is going to fall."
The girl's face turned pale for a moment. She suddenly looked up and saw a black spider the size of an eyeball swaying. It was just an inch away from falling on her face.
"Ahhhh!"
She let out a shrill scream. The small group of girls was in a complete mess. Some were frantically hitting it with brooms, while others were screaming and running away.
Amidst the chaos, Yu Nian slowly curled her lips and turned to walk towards the last row of the classroom.
But just before she reached her seat, Yu Nian paused.
In the left - hand seat of the last row, a young man was sitting quietly. His slender wrist, with the bones clearly visible, was propping up his cheek. He was silently looking out of the window, as if all the commotion around him had nothing to do with him.
Seemingly sensing Yu Nian's gaze, the young man turned his head indifferently. His slightly slanting bright eyes glanced at Yu Nian, but there was little emotion in them.
After just one glance, the young man shifted his gaze.
This noble and aloof aura was too familiar... Yu Nian was a bit dazed. She stared at the young man for a long time. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. This was... the young Feng Chengyuan?