Courtyard House: My Long and Hard Body Makes Me Play with All the Women in the Courtyard

"What mission?"

Lin Wan grinned, her eyes shining like stars fallen to earth: "Tonight, a 'Lost Dream Core' fell to the edge of the town. It carries a child's obsession—he dreamed that he was locked in a classroom, the door wouldn't open, the teacher wouldn't come, and his classmates disappeared one by one. He woke up seven times, each time thinking he was awake, but he was still dreaming."

“This is a ‘cage dream’,” Su Ting frowned. “Deeply nested dreams are most likely to give rise to nightmares.”

“Yes.” Lin Wan nodded. “If you can help him get out of here, you can not only get the internship qualification, but also retrieve something from his dream—it is said to be one of the keys to open the ‘Wish Corridor’.”

"what?"

“A rusty pocket watch,” Xiao Yin said. “It’s engraved with— ‘Happy Birthday, Su Ting.’”

Su Ting was startled.

That was the last birthday gift his mother gave him.

She personally modified the watch strap when she was seriously ill, saying, "To ensure you walk steadily and don't fall."

Later, when the watch was lost, he assumed the hospital had lost it.

"It...is in someone else's dream?"

“The deeper the obsession, the easier it is for objects to ‘parasitize’ other people’s dreams,” Lin Wan said. “Your mother’s love was too heavy, so heavy that even the Dream Tower couldn’t hide it. It found its own way and entered this child’s dream.”

Su Ting clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white.

"When does the mission start?"

“Sunset.” Lin Wan stood up and stretched. “Before it gets dark, finish your first chapter first—after all, the readers are waiting to see you kick me.”

Su Ting glared at him: "You really want to write it?"

“Of course!” Lin Wan pulled a tattered notebook from the tree hollow. The cover was crookedly written with the title “The Boy Who Kicked Over the Dream Tower.” “I’ve even thought of the first line—”

He cleared his throat and read aloud:

"That kick wasn't aimed at a friend, it was aimed at fate."

Su Ting was stunned, then burst out laughing: "You fucking...you're pretty good at being sentimental."

“That’s right.” Lin Wan raised her eyebrows smugly. “After all, I’m the administrator of ‘Paradise Written by the Dead’.”

Xiaoyin suddenly stood up, patted her skirt, and said, "Then I'll go prepare the Sichuan peppercorns first—just in case someone fails their mission and has to add more peppercorns when they come back."

"I will not fail." Su Ting stood up, his gaze intense.

Lin Wan looked at him, then suddenly stopped smiling and said seriously, "If you see her in your dream... remember to say three things."

Which three sentences?

The first sentence was, "I miss you."

The second sentence is: 'I'm doing very well.'

He paused, his voice as soft as the wind:

The third sentence is: "Next time, it's my turn to come find you."

Su Ting didn't speak, but simply nodded emphatically.

As the sun sets, the osmanthus trees cast shimmering, golden light.

Chapter 1306 Our Bookstore

Lin Wan closed her notebook and looked up at the sky:

"Hey, Su Ting."

"Ok?"

"If you really kick over the Dream Tower... can our bookstore be called 'Kick the Tower Bookstore'?"

Su Ting kicked him: "Call me what?!"

Lin Wan laughed and jumped away: "Don't kick! This is the future holy land of literature!"

"Then you have to teach me how to write the ending first!" Su Ting caught up with him, his eyes gleaming. "I don't want to spend my whole life only writing the first chapter!"

Lin Wan ran while looking back, her smile as bright as a young boy's:

"Then tell me—in Chapter Two, should I write about you crying and calling for your mother?"

"You're talking nonsense!" Su Ting cursed, but couldn't help laughing. He kicked off the chase and said, "How dare you write 'I call my mom'? If you dare write another word, I'll throw your lousy notebook into the well!"

Lin Wan laughed as she dodged, clutching the tattered notebook tightly as if it were some priceless heirloom: "Hey, don't snatch it! This is the manuscript for a future bestseller! Readers are all waiting to see the protagonist's emotional outburst! 'The mother's tears fell on the yellowed letter paper, spreading twenty years of silence'—how about adding this line?"

"I'm going to kill you!" Su Ting lunged forward, grabbing him by the back of the collar. The two stumbled a few steps, nearly knocking over the wooden table. Xiao Yin screamed, protecting her soda bottle, and swung a soup spoon at Lin Wan's head: "Stop messing around, you two! We haven't finished our glutinous rice balls yet!"

Lin Wan huddled under the table, covering her head, still muttering, "And another thing—'He knelt at the end of his dream, holding a rusty watch as if it were the heaviest birthday blessing in the world'... Su Ting, did you hear that? This is the sublimation of your character!"

Su Ting was so angry that his face turned red. He flipped the table over (luckily, Tangyuan had already finished eating), bent down and pulled Lin Wan out from under the table, pressing her against the osmanthus tree trunk: "If you force me to read it again, I'll stuff you into that child's dream and have him lock you in the classroom seven times! You won't wake up even once!"

Lin Wan laughed until she couldn't breathe, tears welling up in her eyes: "You...you don't understand...this is destiny...the protagonist's growth arc must be complete...the emotional loop must be closed...ah—"

Before he could finish speaking, Su Ting released him and suddenly punched the tree trunk.

The sound stopped suddenly.

The shadows of the trees trembled slightly, and osmanthus blossoms fell softly.

Su Ting lowered her head, her fists clenched, but her voice softened: "I didn't go to save that child to write some lousy storyline. It wasn't for the key, it wasn't to see her..."

He slowly raised his head, his eyes sharp as knives: "I don't want anyone else to be trapped in a place where they think they're awake but are actually still dreaming. I don't want anyone else to shout 'Help!' seven times and no one hears them."

Lin Wan stopped smiling and looked at him quietly.

Xiaoyin stood to the side, her fingers gently stroking the water droplets on the soda bottle.

The wind stopped, and even the fragrance of osmanthus seemed to freeze.

A few seconds later, Lin Wan suddenly reached out and patted the petals that had fallen on Su Ting's shoulder.

“So you’re the main character,” he said. “Not because you kicked me, but because you remember those who couldn’t speak up.”

Su Ting didn't speak, but took a deep breath and looked up at the gradually darkening sky.

Sunset is approaching.

Mist began to rise from the edge of the town, slowly veiling the cobblestone streets like a thin veil. In the distance, the outline of the school building loomed in the twilight, its windows dark and empty, like closed eyes.

"Let's go." Su Ting turned around, his steps steady.

Chapter 1307 The Real Exit

Lin Wan took out an old-fashioned copper lantern from the tree hollow. Its dim light illuminated half of his profile: "Remember, you can only enter the dream seven times. Each time you 'wake up,' it might be a fake. The real exit will only appear on the eighth time—but only if you can make that child believe you."

"What if he doesn't believe me?"

“Then you will be swallowed by the dream,” Xiaoyin added calmly, “just like those dream-guarding trainees from seven years ago—none of them came back.”

Su Ting didn't stop walking: "Then I have to give it a try too."

Lin Wan quickly followed, the light from the lantern casting a long shadow on the ground: "Also, don't be fooled by the 'shadow teacher' in the classroom. She can imitate anyone's voice, including... your mother's."

Su Ting suddenly stopped.

"She...can call me?"

"Perhaps," Lin Wan said softly, "She knows what you're most afraid of. And she knows best how to get you to stay."

The three walked silently out of town.

The teaching building stood alone amidst the overgrown weeds, its walls peeling, with ivy climbing up like veins. The iron gate was half-open, creaking as if it were laughing.

Lin Wan handed the lantern to Su Ting: "You can only bring one 'real thing' in. The lantern can illuminate the cracks in the dream, but it will get dimmer as it burns. Every time you wake up, the flame will go out a little. By the seventh time... if you still haven't come out, then you really won't be able to."

Su Ting took the lamp, his fingertips touching the coolness of the copper.

"What if I can't get out?"

"Then I'll go in and find you." Lin Wan smiled. "This time, I'll kick you to wake you up."

Xiaoyin suddenly stepped forward, took a tin candy box from her skirt pocket, and stuffed it into his palm: "Take this. Inside are those orange candies your mom used to put in your schoolbag when you were little. She said, 'Sweetness can ward off evil spirits.'"

Su Ting gripped the candy box tightly, her throat tightening: "...Thank you."

"Don't die." Xiaoyin stared at him, her eyes shining brightly. "If you dare to die in your dream, I'll have Lin Wan write ten thousand versions of tragic endings and read them to you every day."

"Okay." Su Ting smiled, stuffed the candy box into the inner bag, waved the lantern, and stepped onto the stairs.

"wait me back."

The iron gate slowly closed behind him with a dull thud.

In the darkness, the lantern sways.

Su Ting stood in the empty corridor, the floor tiles beneath his feet cracked, and dark red liquid seeped from the cracks, like blood or rust. In the distance, a classroom door was ajar, and dim yellow light shone through the crack.

He approached step by step.

A faded timetable was pasted on the door, with the following words written in chalk:

Chinese, Mathematics, English, Art, Music, Physical Education – Section Seven: Dreams.

Su Ting sneered and pushed the door open to enter.