Chapter 6

Xu Jia Ning wanted to join Lin Chu Sui's spirit writing game. Lu Tian Bai worshipped him, worshipped him to death, so naturally he joined in too.

Lu Chi was afraid that his sister would be taken away by a fake foreign devil, so he had to stay and play together.

Lu Tian Bai was the class monitor and had the key to the classroom.

At nine o'clock in the evening, they successfully avoided the school surveillance and entered the classroom smoothly.

The originally dark and empty classroom didn't feel so terrifying anymore because a group of kids had poured in.

Lu Chi took out several red scarves from his school bag and handed them to everyone, "Wear this for protection if you follow the righteous path."

Lin Chu Sui took the red scarf and neatly tied it on herself, casually commenting, "Superstitious."

"You dare say that! Who's the superstitious one here!"

Xu Jia Ning grew up overseas and had never worn a red scarf before. He tried to tie it like they did but just couldn't get it right.

Lu Tian Bai walked over and skillfully helped tie the red scarf for him, "You have to wrap it around this way."

Xu Jia Ning laughed, "Thanks, Lu Bai Tian."

"You're welcome," Lu Tian Bai's face flushed red with shyness as he corrected, "By the way, my name is Lu Tian Bai, not Lu Bai Tian."

"Sorry about that."

Lu Chi rolled his eyes and pulled his sister back to his side, "Don't talk to him!"

"Why not?"

"He's wicked!"

"No he's not."

Xu Jia Ning ignored Lu Chi's hostility and glanced at his watch. There was still time so he sat back at his desk and turned on his desk lamp to do homework.

Lu Chi and Zhang Cheng Yu looked at each other then swiftly took out their exercise books, sandwiching Xu Jia Ning on both sides.

Xu Jia Ning used his body to block their books so they couldn't copy.

"Hey, aren't you being a little too petty?"

"We're all classmates. Let's bond over the game later. For now, let's connect through homework, okay?"

"I don't use homework to bond." Xu Jia Ning said calmly, "My homework is the product of my mental exertion and has intellectual property rights. If you want my authorization, you'll have to pay to purchase it."

Lu Chi: "Your dad's already hooked up with Lin Chu Sui's mom. Don't you have enough money?"

Xu Jia Ning: "I'm not lacking money, but this is a matter of principle. Anything that requires mental effort has value. If you want it, you have to exchange it for something of equal value."

Lu Chi and Zhang Cheng Yu looked at each other. Finally, they looked to Lin Chu Sui, "Bro Chu, did you bring money?"

"Homework can be copied but should never be bought. That's the bottom line of our homework copying community."

"We have a homework copying community with bottom lines?"

"We must."

Lin Chu Sui wrote as swift as a deity, finishing an entire English exam paper in minutes. Then she swiftly took out her Chinese workbook and started scribbling away.

"Wow, awesome Bro Chu. You're so fast."

"Of course Bro Chu is awesome."

Lu Chi looked down at his empty Chinese workbook and asked her, "Uh, what's the next line after 'The old man is crazily acting his age'?"

Without thinking, Lin Chu Sui recited: "A single pear blossom tree weighing down the camellia."

Lu Chi tasted it in his mouth, thought it made sense, and wrote it down.

Xu Jia Ning frowned and asked Lin Chu Sui, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, what else could it be?"

Xu Jia Ning was terrible at Chinese, barely passing it. He especially sucked at reciting ancient poems and verses. He simply wrote down "A single pear blossom tree weighing down the camellia" in his workbook.

Lu Chi asked again: "What's the next line after 'Listening to spring rain through the night in a small building'?"

Lin Chu Sui: "A red apricot branch coming out of the wall."

Xu Jia Ning still felt something was off so he randomly recited a poem verse from childhood:

"Then what comes after 'Raising my cup to invite the bright moon'?"

Without thinking, Lin Chu Sui responded: "Alas, the bright moon illuminates the gutter."

Xu Jia Ning: ...

He immediately crossed out the ancient poem lines he had just written.

Can't believe he fell for this trash's nonsense!

He looked back at Lu Chi and Zhang Cheng Yu. They copied the poem fill-in-the-blanks without any doubts.

These failing students really dared to speak and dared to copy. Xu Jia Ning decided to keep his distance from them.

Lin Chu Sui gave Xu Jia Ning a local lesson on ancient poems and verses, instructing him patiently: "It's okay. Getting familiar with ancient poems is a process. You grew up overseas so accumulate more over time."

Xu Jia Ning endured and smiled politely at her: "I have an F word that I'm not sure is proper to say or not."

"Improper. Shut up."

Just past 9:30, Zhang Cheng Yu's mother called asking why he hadn't gone home yet.

And it was also Xu Jia Ning's bedtime. He started yawning nonstop.

Lin Chu Sui pondered and felt waiting until midnight was a bit of a stretch.

The spirit writing game could probably be played as soon as the sky darkened. No need to stick to midnight exactly.

"Alright, let's start. Finish quickly and go home."

Lu Chi asked: "If we don't wait until 0:00, will it still work?"

"My dad sleeps early. He's probably dreaming by midnight. Now is a good time."

Lin Chu Sui took out a large A3 paper from her schoolbag, spread it flat on the desk, then wrote "Yes" and "No" on the paper following online instructions.

"Who wants to go first?" She looked around at everyone.

Xu Jia Ning said: "I don't really know how. You guys show me a round first."

Lu Chi and Zhang Cheng Yu looked at each other then pushed the innocent-looking Lu Tian Bai forward: "Little sis you go. She loves horror games the most."

Lu Tian Bai looked at Lu Chi scornfully then held the pencil with Lin Chu Sui, backs of hands touching and palms facing outwards.

Lin Chu Sui could feel her trembling nervously and breathing deeply.

"Don't be scared. My dad is very gentle."

"Okay. Uncle Lin is very nice to me. I'm...I'm not afraid."

In unison, they spoke: "Spirit, spirit, I'm your soulmate in this life. If you wish to be with me, please draw a circle on this paper."

No reaction.

Lin Chu Sui asked repeatedly but the pencil just stayed still atop the paper.

Lu Chi said: "Maybe your dad doesn't like our Tian Tian. Let's switch."

"Nonsense. Uncle Lin loves me. He always gave me candy when I was little." Lu Tian Bai let go of the pencil to refute him: "If you can't call him out, why don't you try! Let's see if Uncle Lin likes you more or me more."

Lu Chi and Lin Chu Sui also tried but the pencil tip didn't budge at all.

Worried that he would be next, Zhang Cheng Yu put his palms together in front of his chest:

"The world consists of matter. Matter determines consciousness. Consciousness reflects matter. Amitabha..."

Lin Chu Sui: "Shut up." "Let me try."

Xu Jia Ning picked up the pencil, back of hand to back of hand with Lin Chu Sui, and gripped it inverted:

"Spirit, spirit, I'm your soulmate in this life. If you wish to be with me, please draw a circle on this paper."

A few seconds later, Lin Chu Sui distinctly felt the pencil tip move!

She stared wide-eyed in disbelief at Xu Jia Ning.

With a straight face, Xu Jia Ning watched as the pencil tip shakily drew a circle on the paper.

Silence filled the surroundings, except for the wind rustling the tree leaves outside.

The onlooking crowd held their breath, shocked as they stared at the blank paper.

Lu Tian Bai covered her mouth with her hand. Her soul nearly flew away in fright.

It really came!

After the circle was drawn, Lin Chu Sui asked in a trembling voice: "Who are you?"

The pencil didn't move.

She remembered the spirit writing taboos. Can't ask directly like that.

"Are you Lin Xiu Ze?"

The pencil moved again, guided by Lin Chu Sui, stopping on the "Yes" character.

"Oh my gosh..."

Lu Chi whispered to Zhang Cheng Yu: "Xu Jia Ning must be joking around."

Zhang Cheng Yu solemnly "shushed" him and said: "Don't disrespect the spirit!"

Lu Chi said in disdain: "Weren't you just talking about matter determining consciousness..."

Cold sweat was coming out of Lin Chu Sui's palms now. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she continued asking: "Dad, are you still...still alive?"

The pencil tip slowly slid to the "No" character.

Lin Chu Sui's eyes turned red.

"Dad, is there...is there anything you want to say to me?"

The pencil slowly moved again, scribbling two crooked characters on the paper:

"Let go." Lin Chu Sui nearly sobbed out loud. She forcefully held back the sourness in her throat and said: "No, I won't let you go! You're my dad. I won't let you go! You said you still wanted to see me off to college!"

The pencil kept writing: "But you can't get in."

Lin Chu Sui: ...

Her tears instantly retracted.

Lu Chi couldn't hold in his laughter: "Now that's a real dad."

Lin Chu Sui calmed herself and asked again: "What did you come here today to tell me?"

Xu Jia Ning glanced at Lin Chu Sui, about to guide the pencil tip to somehow get her to take down all the memorial photos of "Old Lin" in her home.

These days of living in Lin Chu Sui's home, he really was nearly driven mad by her dad's ubiquitous smiling face.

He controlled the pencil, about to write the characters for "photo".

But at that moment, Xu Jia Ning clearly felt the pencil moving on its own!

He stared wide-eyed as the pencil shakily wrote a few crooked characters on the paper:

"I'm here."

Now Xu Jia Ning really broke out in a cold sweat.

Everything until now was under his control, but these two words were not written by him!

Lin Chu Sui quickly asked: "Where are you?!"

A gust of wind blew past, branches rustling outside the window. The pencil slowly wrote three words:

"By your side."

"What the fu*k!"

Xu Jia Ning cursed in English, threw his pencil violently, and broke into a cold sweat with a pale face.

The game was interrupted all of a sudden.

The wind outside also seemed to have stopped, and the surroundings became quiet.

In the classroom, the air stagnated, and time also seemed to have stopped at this moment.

Everyone was still in shock, and didn't dare to say a word.

"What's wrong with you?" Lin Chu Sui asked Xu Jia Ning, "Why did you suddenly throw your pencil?"

Xu Jia Ning looked really frightened: "Those last few words just now, I didn't write them!"

"What do you mean?"

He shouted excitedly: "The previous ones, I wrote them! But just now...just now I..."

Lin Chu Sui interrupted him: "You were just putting on an act earlier?"

"The previous part was me, but I didn't write those last few words!"

Lin Chu Sui felt she was being made fun of. She threw the pencil at him and turned to leave: "You're so boring!"

She really thought Mr. Lin had come back!

The three onlooking students also breathed a sigh of relief. They really thought they had seen a ghost, but it turned out to just be a prank.

"Let's go, let's go."

"Everyone should go home and sleep."

At the classroom door, Xu Jia Ning caught up with Lin Chu Sui and grabbed her arm excitedly: "Believe me, your dad really came back. I didn't write those words 'by your side'. His spirit must have possessed someone!"

He was the only one who knew the truth about this supernatural incident, and he was very scared. He needed someone to believe him, to share the burden with him, otherwise he would definitely be scared to death by himself.

Lin Chu Sui rolled her eyes: "So are you trying to say that Mr. Lin's spirit possessed you and you want me to call you dad?"

"How would I know! Maybe, otherwise how do you explain those words from earlier!"

She kicked him in the knee.

Xu Jia Ning's knee suffered a direct "phantom kick", and the corners of his mouth twitched in pain.

Lin Chu Sui glared at him fiercely: "Never make jokes about my dad."

Xu Jia Ning was stubborn. He insisted: "I'm not joking. He really appeared! Believe me!"

"I can believe you, but make him appear right now within 10 seconds."

Xu Jia Ning shouted excitedly into the empty classroom building: "Hey! Where are you! Come out! Stop playing ghost tricks! Come out and explain clearly!"

Lu Chi whispered to Lu Tianbai: "This guy looks quite normal, didn't expect him to be such a fool."

Xu Jia Ning was really scared now: "Come out! Hiding and scaring people, what's the point?"

As the seconds ticked by, Lin Chu Sui became disheartened and turned to leave.

The next second, a figure appeared at the end of the hallway.

"Oh my gosh!"

Lu Tianbai quickly hid behind her brother, and Zhang Cheng Yu also jumped in fright and hid behind Lu Tianbai.

Even Lin Chu Sui was a bit frightened, and asked in a trembling voice: "Who's there?"

In the shadows, the figure slowly walked out.

Under the dim ceiling light, the teenager wore a gray hoodie, with deep, pitch-black eyes that were darker than the night.

It was Xiao Yan!