During the three-day holiday, the weather forecast was all thunderstorm warnings.
Yu Sui originally just wanted to have dinner at his cousin’s house, but there was a thunderstorm that night, and only the next day did he see a bit of sunlight. However, the ground in Fu Village was uneven, and after the heavy rain, the ground was full of puddles.
Fu was an urban village in Yandu. The traffic here was actually quite good, with high-rise buildings in the commercial district just outside. However, this area had never been demolished, so there were many old buildings in the village. It looked shabby, and indeed, many places were so old that they were no longer usable.
Yu Sui got up early and went downstairs to answer Yu Zhen’s call.
“What’s wrong again?” Yu Sui had just reported that he was safe yesterday and was puzzled about why Yu Zhen was bothering him so early in the morning. After thinking about it, he hadn’t had any direct communication with his father for quite some time. And each time he had communicated with his father, it was through Yu Zhen as a middle man. He guessed that his father probably had something he didn’t want to ask him to do.
Sure enough, Yu Zhen’s words were laced with sarcasm, and she deliberately raised her voice, clearly intending for the other person next to her: “The Yan family is visiting our house, and dad wants you to come back quickly and play with the little girl upstairs to use the new dance machine he bought for you–“
“?”
All the anger that Yu Sui had when he woke up became a question mark. It was not directed at Yan Ying, but purely at his father.
When he left, there was no such thing as a dance machine at home, and no one in the family played that kind of thing.
He was angry that Yu Jingyuan was never stingy when it came to entertaining guests, even going so far as to call back his son, who he had been in a cold war for half a month, to sacrifice himself.
Knowing that his father was nearby, Yu Sui didn’t say anything to his sister. He angrily said something that his father had said before: “There is no coward in the Yu family who hides behind others and asks others to pass on messages.”
After saying that, he heard his father’s angry voice. Yu Sui hung up the phone quickly, leaving only the echo of his father’s “get lost”.
“Not going back?” His cousin, Yan Wuyan, went downstairs with a bottle of drink.
Yu Sui played with his phone case: “Brother, let me stay for another day.”
His cousin was the child of his mother’s cousin’s cousin, a distant relative that the Yu family would never think of when visiting relatives during the Chinese New Year. Yu Sui preferred to take refuge with them.
This time, the Yan family were visiting and might not leave for two or three days. And, Yu Sui really didn’t want to go back and cause trouble at this time.
His brother was about to laugh when he heard this and asked, “Aren’t you on a three-day break?”
Yu Sui didn’t answer either. He stared at the puddle with his eyes, leaving only his soft head, looking pitiful. After a moment, someone pushed his head, and Yan Wuyan sneered behind him: “Keep pretending.”
Young Master Yu then glanced up from below and acted like a rogue: “Then, I’ll stay for three days. What are you going to do about it?”
Yan Wuyan: “…”
By the third day, the weather forecast had completely changed, as if all the rain from previous days had gone. Although the sky was still gloomy, at least it was not raining anymore.
It was the first day of the month, and people were carrying paper towers to burn at the village entrance. The furnace wasn’t far away and could be seen from the balcony. Yu Sui, holding the old chair of Yan family, went to the balcony to watch with great interest.
After a while, Yan Wuyan pulled him up from behind, stuffing a handful of gold paper ingots into his hand, and told him to take it to the village entrance to burn them.
At home, his father also liked to make a big deal out of these things, making it much more formal than the people in the village.
So although Yu Sui wasn’t good at anything else, he was quite skilled at burning paper. Moreover, being a tall teenager, he could hold more things. He also looked more impressive than the old men and women next to him.
After burning the paper, Yu Sui took one more look at the house near the fence of Fu Village.
Fu Village was full of low, old buildings. These kinds of ancient-style houses were rarely preserved in places like this.
But this house had remained there, and no one had ever touched it. He had always thought it was a tourist attraction in the village.
Now, I don’t know if it’s the influence of the paper burning activity at the village entrance, but the old house looks eerie even in broad daylight. And, the iron lock on the door glints coldly.
“What are you daydreaming about?” Yan Wuyan patted him.
Yu Sui pointed to the lock on the door of the old house: “Was this house not locked before?”
“Oh.” Yan Wuyan followed his gaze. “There are always stray cats and dogs running in and barking crazily at night, so we just locked it up.”
Then he suddenly laughed: “I heard there is an old ghost who eats children.”
“!”
“Don’t tell me!” Yu Sui’s scalp tingled, and he immediately pushed his cousin away.
The passerby, an elderly couple, laughed when they heard this: “What a scare! It turns out that a big boss has taken a fancy to the land and locked it because he is afraid that the cats and dogs will make it too dirty.”
This matter was originally just a casual episode, something he would forget as soon as he stepped out. Yu Sui didn’t expect to hear about it again at the start of the new week.
Fu Village was bustling, and the residents got up early. In order to appear sensible and not to cause trouble, the young master got up early with them every day, sometimes even earlier. However, his true colors were revealed when he returned to school and he got so sleepy that his head hurt.
Some people in the classroom were playing with their phones at the back door and were startled by Yang Feiwen who suddenly appeared from the window: “You lousy paparazzi, what gossip are you here for again?”
“Who’s gossiping with you?” Yang Feiwen sneaked in from the back door. “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me a lousy paparazzi? I’m practicing an early form of media, which is very important. Besides, I’m not here to gossip about you.”
“Give me a break.” There was a burst of boos from all around.
As a result, Yang Feiwen quickly lowered his voice: “Do you know that there is a ghost near our school?”
There may be a few ghost stories circulating in every school. The older generation also said that nine out of ten schools used to be cemeteries, but they were converted into schools because the children have strong yang energy.
These students acted very brave, unfazed: “That’s it?”
“That’s not it.” Yang Feiwen took a pen and paper, scribbling on the paper. “Two streets away from No. 26 Middle School, there is a place called Fu Village. There is a haunted house in it, where ghosts cry every night. It rained heavily these last two days. Guess what happened?”
“What happened?”
“The ashes of the dead are starting to float around in that haunted house—”
“Fuck!”
“Eh——”
Although Yang Feiwen lowered his voice for effect, everyone in the class who listened carefully could hear his devilish voice. The girl in the front row of Yu Sui rubbed her arms and cursed under her breath, before turning around to try to get some feeling of normalcy from Yu Sui. But she saw Yu Sui lying on the table dejectedly, staring blankly at the test paper.
He was handsome, with fair skin and big eyes, but the dark circles under his eyes were so eye-catching that the girls in the front were so shocked that their hair stood on end. They asked in horror, “Yu, Yu Sui? What are you doing?”
“Listening to gossip.” Young Master Yu couldn’t sleep in such a noisy environment, so he listened to the gossip that Yang Feiwen was talking about and was both amused and confused.
Just as he finished speaking, there was another “fuck” sound from the other end. This time in a strange tone, which made Yu Sui turn his head.
However, the entrance was blocked tightly. He only saw a red armband before the people outside left.
“Yu Sui!” Tang Bohu shouted in a hoarse voice. “The Minister is looking for you!”
Yu Sui was stunned: “How is it possible?”
He tilted his head and saw the umbrella that was passed in, immediately recognizing it.
It’s not the Minister who was looking for him—it’s his cousin’s umbrella who was looking for him.
The umbrella was neatly folded and handed in respectfully from the door. The girl who handed it had long fingernails and accidentally hooked it. When she saw the character for “happiness” on the inside, her expression suddenly became a little subtle.
Yu Sui didn’t see the person, so how would he know whether the “Minister” they shouted was real or fake? Maybe they were just talking nonsense. He didn’t believe that he could be so lucky as to lend an umbrella to the Head of Discipline Inspection.
“Yu Sui…”
He looked up and saw the girl handing him the umbrella had red ears. She asked hesitantly, “Can I open your umbrella and take a look?”
Yu Sui: “…”
He had never heard such a strange request before, so he nodded.
He regretted it the next second. He saw the girl pulling open the Velcro, and before it was fully opened, a big red “Happy Wedding” sign popped out.
Girl: “…”
Yu Sui: “???”
She didn’t expect these four characters [mfn]The classmate was pertaining to “喜結連理” which is 4 characters in Mandarin.[/mfn]to come out and was startled.
Yu Sui and the gossiping people behind her moved at the same time—
“I saw something!” Yang Feiwen’s eyes lit up.
Yu Sui got there before him, pulled the umbrella back before throwing it into the table. “What the hell did you see?”
He forgot that his cousin had a lot of random stuff sponsored by merchants, and his mind went blank.
The eyes of his classmates turned green like hungry wolves that hadn’t eaten meat for eight hundred years.
Yu Sui steadied his breath and smiled slightly: “Friends, class is about to start.”
Everyone: “…”
The subject teacher dutifully stepped into the classroom and said, “Why are you all blocking the way? Are you trying to bully your classmates? I’ve always seen you guys with bad intentions!”
It was because Yu Sui looked so good that most people would lean towards him when they saw him. Especially now, the teacher saw Yang Feiwen, who wasn’t from their class: “Why is someone from another class coming to bully our classmates?”
Yang Feiwen quickly ran away, and the group of people dispersed like birds and beasts, then sat down properly.
Only the girl who saw the “Happy wedding” looked at Yu Sui with a red face. Yu Sui maintained a calm expression and raised his finger to touch his lips. The girl nodded hurriedly as if they had reached a consensus, but her face became even redder.
Yu Sui: “…”
Forget it.
He couldn’t help but think of the boy he saw that day. He was handsome, tall, and suspiciously clean… Yu Sui couldn’t imagine letting him carry such an umbrella… Oh, maybe the boy didn’t use his umbrella?
Yu Sui put himself in his shoes. If he received the umbrella, it would be a miracle if he would have taken it, let alone used it.
During the break, Yu Sui threw the umbrella away in the garbage while no one was paying attention.
After doing this, he washed his hands and disinfected them as if nothing happened. The belated fatigue invaded him, and he became lazy all over.
Suddenly, he looked towards the corner.
I always feel like I developed a disease, and I see red armbands floating around everywhere I look.
In the afternoon, art and sports students usually go to their own classrooms to practice and attend classes. And the area under the eight-storey building was very lively.
Yang Feiwen sneaked out of their class to find Yu Sui, but after searching for a long time, he didn’t see the white-skinned boy.
“Where is Yu Sui?” Yang Feiwen grabbed someone and asked.
“… I don’t know. Maybe at the canteen. I remember he said he was hungry.”
Yang Feiwen: “Didn’t I say I brought him guinea fowl [mfn] 
珍珠雞了 (zhēn zhū jī le) [/mfn]… Forget it, I’ll go find him myself.”
He let go of the man and secretly took out his cell phone to call Yu Sui.
At this time, Yu Sui was carrying the takeout and walking slowly towards the rooftop. The road to the building had many stairs, so teachers often went to Building 3 and 4, leaving the remaining Yuanyang Buildings almost never used.
Although “Yuanyang Building” sounded nice, it was actually very old and used iron, making it difficult to walk on. Neither teachers nor students like it.
Yu Sui hung up Yang Feiwen’s call and soon received a barrage of messages from Yang Feiwen.
He actually forgot about Yang Feiwen’s guinea fowl and was feeling a little guilty, yet reluctant to give up his takeout.
Just as he was hesitating, he suddenly heard a faint sound of friction on the iron stairs. He quickly looked up and saw a pair of white sneakers on the upper step.
Young Master Yu held his breath, his head aching a little: “…”
This person walks almost silently? No, the point is, he seemed to have seen this pair of sneakers just last week.
