Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 52 A family of three

The school was dead silent in the early morning.

Ran Qing came to the classroom early and turned on the lights in the first three rows.

He sat in his seat, took out the test paper skillfully and started doing the questions.

Although he only slept for four hours last night, he felt refreshed and all the fatigue and sleepiness accumulated in the past few days disappeared.

After all, I lay in Li Hongye's house for the whole day yesterday and was unconscious for so long that I must have gotten enough sleep no matter how sleepy I was.

Xiaomianhua sent him to the school gate and then turned and ran away. Ran Qing bought two hot buns freshly baked for breakfast and ate them on the way to the classroom.

Now I can sit under the light and do my homework with peace of mind.

Now is the perfect time to catch up on the learning progress that was previously delayed.

In an hour, Ran Qing finished a set of test papers. Gradually, more people came to the classroom. The first few people were surprised by Ran Qing's early arrival, but they didn't think it was strange.

Everyone greeted each other familiarly and went to their respective seats one after another, either to eat breakfast or to do homework.

The air was filled with the smell of sticky rice and chili oil.

At 7:20, the flag-raising music resounded throughout the campus, and the students in the classrooms went downstairs and gathered on the playground.

Ran Qing stood in the middle of the queue, looking at the rows of students around him and listening to the principal's speech on the flag-raising platform, feeling a little dazed.

Everything in sight was so peaceful and warm; even the principal's lecture echoing from the loudspeaker sounded strangely familiar at this moment.

Last night, he was still lying in a coffin in a gloomy and eerie cemetery. He entered the ghost world of Wujiang and saw many evil and terrifying things.

He even nearly died, and now there are still many black tooth marks on his body.

Those horrifying and sinister scenes, which made my hair stand on end just thinking about them, had only happened a few hours ago, but standing on the playground now, it felt like a century had passed.

There was still thick fog in the air, and it was impossible to see clearly at a distance.

Ran Qing stood in the team and couldn't even see the people at the front of the class line.

But his gaze remained calmly on the back of one of the girls.

Ouyang Xue...

The girl wearing the uniform of No. 3 Middle School has long, smooth black hair. She did not tie it into a ponytail as is common among students, but let it hang naturally, making her look gentle and quiet.

She stood quietly in the girls' queue, five body lengths away from Ran Qing, her fair profile faintly visible in the mist.

After the flag-raising ceremony, the students returned to the classroom one after another.

The fair-skinned girl also laughed and left arm in arm with two girls she was friends with. From time to time, there were bursts of laughter among the three of them, and it seemed that they were talking about some very interesting topics.

Ran Qing approached calmly and vaguely heard that they were discussing a rumor about a popular singer.

Ran Qing didn't stop, but walked calmly past the three people, and his arm accidentally brushed against Ouyang Xue's shoulder.

The force was so light that Ouyang Xue didn't even notice it and continued chatting with her friends.

In the crowded crowd, Ran Qing walked forward as if he hadn't noticed, and soon left the three girls behind.

There was a hint of doubt in his eyes.

No more chills...

He thought of the last night when he told Aunt Six that a girl in his class named Ouyang Xue might be a witch, and Aunt Six's face was full of disbelief.

"What are you talking in your sleep?"

"Do you think that a witch is a cabbage planted on the roadside that you can bump into at any time?"

"These kinds of weird things basically hide in the mountains and never come out. It's hard to find a living witch in the deep mountains and old forests, but you can run into three in the city at once?"

Aunt Six didn't believe that Ran Qing would encounter another witch again. "Go and test it tomorrow and observe more."

"If she really is a changeling, she must have set her sights on you. Your flesh and blood is a delicacy to these monsters."

Aunt Six sneered at this point: "If she really is a witch, I'll bring her to my house and treat her to a feast!"

Ran Qing also listened to Aunt Liu's instructions and came to test the waters again today.

But he found that when he touched Ouyang Xue this time, there was no such cold and disgusting feeling.

It seemed that the last time was completely Ran Qing's illusion.

The few common tricks that Sixth Aunt taught him to identify a witch were not seen on Ouyang Xue either.

"Did I really make a mistake?"

Ran Qing murmured.

During the break, Ran Qing would observe Ouyang Xue from time to time, but during class, Ran Qing would never be distracted.

Soon, the morning class ended.

Ran Qing carried his schoolbag and walked out of the school gate and returned to the rental house on Qingyuan Road.

His fire had gone out because he hadn't had time to take care of it in the past few days. He could only use tongs to pick up a new honeycomb coal and go to the next door to ask Ding Yong and others to replace it with a burning honeycomb coal.

The red-hot honeycomb coal was put into a long, barrel-like stove. After adding new honeycomb coal, it quickly started to burn.

Ran Qing skillfully put the pot on the stove, fried two dishes for himself, and then went to borrow a large bowl of rice from Ding Yong and his friends next door. In this way, he started his lunch.

Adhering to the idea of ​​saving every penny possible, Ran Qing cooks all three meals a day by himself as he has no money to eat out in a restaurant.

Although the price of student meals in restaurants is not expensive, you can save more by cooking your own meals.

If he eats less meat, Ran Qing only needs about one dollar for food every day.

Cheap but filling soybeans, potatoes, and cabbage are regular guests on his table, and he occasionally stir-fries some shredded pork.

It was the adolescent period of physical growth, and Ran Qing could eat two large bowls of rice and clear two plates of vegetables in one meal.

He quickly finished his meal, washed the dishes, and sealed the stove, then hurried out with his schoolbag on his back.

Instead of going to school, he went straight to the hospital.

He wanted to check on the man.

The hospital ward was still filled with the strong smell of disinfectant.

Ran Qing saw the unconscious man on the hospital bed, his eyes slightly closed, sleeping soundly, his expression extremely peaceful.

Ran Qing almost forgot what this face looked like.

The skin on his face was much looser than he remembered, and there were some wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. He looked older than Ran Qing remembered. But compared to his peers in the countryside, he still looked young, and his face was not rough and dark from years of wind and sun.

Lying there quietly, he looked like he was only in his early thirties.

This man, who left his mother and son behind, married a new wife in the city and found a good job, should have lived a relatively wealthy life in the past decade or so, and the years have not left too many marks on him.

His beautiful wife sat quietly beside the bed, reading a book. Although her face showed some signs of aging, it was still beautiful, dignified and elegant.

Their daughter was wearing a clean little dress, sitting on the edge of the bed, babbling and holding a pink doll in her hand and combing its hair.

A man sleeping in bed, his wife guarding his bedside, and his lovely daughter accompanying her parents...

This scene is warm and beautiful, it is simply a happy and perfect family of three.

The only redundant person, Ran Qing, stood stiffly at the door of the ward, watching this scene. Wearing a washed-out school uniform and crude rubber-soled cloth shoes, he suddenly had the urge to run away.

(End of this chapter)