Ombres fantomatiques dans le pavillon

Chapitre 4

She blinked and said, "Let me make this clear beforehand: this matter is indeed true, but if you don't believe me, I won't say anything more, so you won't accuse me again."

I put on an innocent look and said, "When did I say anything about you?"

She wrinkled her little nose as usual and said, "Just now."

Having run out of options, I could only say, "Okay, I apologize." Then I asked her, "What exactly happened?"

She then stopped talking, took a sip of her drink, and said, "I have a basis for saying that this is true, because it happened to me. But I really haven't told anyone else about it."

In order to avoid a repeat of the previous situation, I decided not to interrupt her and let her continue.

"It was a Saturday last semester. I came back from evening self-study. It was already very late. I chatted in the dormitory for a long time, and it was almost midnight. I was in good spirits that day. Although it was almost midnight, I didn't feel sleepy. So I took some clean clothes to the washroom to wash them."

"For some reason, the light in the washroom broke that day, but since it was the weekend, the lights in the hallway were still on, so although the washroom was dim, it was still passable."

“When I arrived at the washroom, I only glanced around and there was no one else in it.” She added, “But afterwards I couldn’t be sure, because firstly I didn’t pay close attention, and secondly the light in the washroom was indeed very dim.”

I nodded to indicate that I understood, and she continued, "I found a spot near the door to start washing my clothes. At that time, many rooms in the hallway had already turned off their lights, so it was very quiet. But just then, I felt the lights in the hallway suddenly dim, so I turned my head to look. And as soon as I turned my head, I vaguely heard a soft voice coming from the far end of the washroom behind me say, '...Flower!'"

"I immediately turned around and tried to look into the washroom using the light in the hallway, but all I saw was darkness, and there seemed to be no one there. I thought about it and realized that I hadn't heard any other water running while I was washing clothes, so there shouldn't be anyone else there. I thought for a moment and then assumed I had misheard."

"But as soon as I lowered my head to continue washing my clothes, that voice came from there again, this time clearer than before. I could clearly hear that soft voice was intermittently chanting '...rose...flower...'!"

"I suddenly felt a chill in my palms. Trembling, I raised my head and asked in a trembling voice, 'Who's there?'" "After a long while, no one answered, and the voice didn't reappear. But I felt an increasing fear, so I immediately decided to wash the clothes tomorrow." "I picked up the basin and hurriedly left the washroom, but just as I turned to go to my room, a figure suddenly appeared in front of me! "Normally, I would have just been startled, but this time, because of the faint voice, my nerves were on edge. So when the figure suddenly appeared before me, I screamed 'Ah!' and dropped the basin I was carrying." "(Hearing her recount this, I realized she must have been quite frightened. Although her name sounds elegant, she's a very lively and cheerful girl, and among the girls I know, besides Chu Yi, she's one of the bravest—judging from the scene she described, if it were A Fei or my younger sister, they would have screamed and run away the moment they heard the first 'flower,' instead of asking 'Who' like she did. But even she was scared into screaming, which shows how terrifying it must have been.)" The sound of the basin falling to the ground startled me, but the person who suddenly appeared in front of me remained unmoved. She simply raised her head slowly, looking at me with a faint smile. "Her long hair was somewhat disheveled, with a few strands falling across her forehead, and the dim lighting made her smile look very strange. I steadied myself and looked closely before realizing it was Su Quan." "When I saw it was someone I knew, I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed by my earlier timid behavior. I forced a smile, intending to explain, but before I could speak, she asked, 'Hi, have you seen Zhou Hua?' I knew she was referring to the Zhou Hua who was the boy both she and Han Ying liked, but it was almost midnight; how could he possibly be in the girls' dormitory? So, I didn't understand what she was talking about and could only shake my head. But she didn't seem to care about my answer. She smiled again and asked, 'Have you seen the rose Zhou Hua gave me?'"

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [13]: "When I heard her say that, I stood there dumbfounded. I can't describe how I felt at that time, because maybe I didn't feel anything at all. You can't understand the terror I felt at that time if you haven't experienced it yourself. "As she said this, her hand on the table began to tremble involuntarily. I quickly grabbed her hand that was trembling slightly. I knew that she had a high level of literary cultivation and was currently studying in the Chinese Department, so her experience was even more infectious when she told me about it. Even though I was in such a lively canteen, I couldn't help but feel a chill, let alone the feeling she had when she experienced it herself. Gradually, her hand stopped trembling. She looked at me somewhat embarrassed, carefully withdrew her hand, glanced at me again, and continued her narration: "However, at this time, several people ran out of the room because they heard my shout. When they saw me, they asked me what was wrong. I was able to come back to my senses and just told them that I had accidentally dropped the basin on the ground." They looked at me, somewhat disbelieving, but after glancing at Su Quan, they didn't ask anything. They helped me pick up my clothes from the ground and then went back to their dormitories one after another.

I glanced at Su Quan again and quickly went back inside. But before I pushed the door open, I looked back at Su Quan one more time and saw her standing alone in front of the window, looking at something.

"The next day we heard that Su Quan went to the hospital for treatment due to mental health issues, and some of us started to spread rumors that it was because of Zhou Hua, etc."

After listening to her recount her experience, I realized the whole thing was getting increasingly complicated. I originally wanted to learn more about Su Quan through her, but instead, I ended up not only failing to find out any specific details but also causing this whole mess.

As I pondered these seemingly unrelated events, I casually remarked, "And then..."

"Later, there was nothing more. You know, I'm not the kind of person who likes to ramble on, and that kind of thing never happened again, so I just took it as a hallucination. As for what Su Quan said, I just thought it was her ramblings when she was mentally unstable and didn't pay any attention to it, so I didn't mention it to anyone. It was only today when you asked about Su Quan that I remembered this matter."

I gave a soft "oh" in response, but she said, "Alright, I've told you everything I know about her. Now it's your turn."

I was quite helpless. Although I was becoming increasingly confused about Su Quan and wanted to sort things out quietly, I first briefly told Liu Shiyan about some of the things that had happened in the past two days.

After hearing this, she frowned for a long time before asking, "Is there really such a thing?"

I pursed my lips and said, "It is indeed a bit hard to believe."

She seemed to consider something for a while, but finally shrugged and said, "I'll leave such a strange thing to you to handle. I'll just wait and see your story."

I mimicked her tone and snorted, saying, "Cunning."

She smiled and said, "It's alright."

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [14]: After dinner, Liu Shiyan and I took her back to the girls' dormitory. I told her to let me know if there was any new information in the future, and she readily agreed. Then I walked slowly back to the dormitory by myself, carefully sorting out what I knew so far.

First, a girl named Su Quan fell to her death yesterday at noon; the cause is unknown.

Then, last night, Su Quan's boyfriend came to see me and told me that the day before Su Quan died, she mysteriously told him that she was going to be killed, and that she had an unusually accurate vision of how she would die. And in fact, her words came true the very next day.

Then, at noon today, Han Ying, a girl who shared a dorm room with Su Quan, came to me and Chu Yi out of fear and told us about the conflict between her and Su Quan.

Finally, just now, I learned about Su Quan again from Liu Shiyan, but in doing so, I also learned about another strange thing about Su Quan.

I roughly recalled the events of the past two days and found that, from a common-sense perspective, all of these events seemed to have no connection whatsoever. However, my intuition told me more and more clearly that there must be an extraordinary connection between them.

This may sound contradictory, but it's something I've been doing all the time. I've encountered events that defy common sense more than once, and I often follow my intuition to investigate these strange occurrences. Although my intuition isn't always entirely correct, I feel it's a hundred times better than simply letting things slide.

Up to this point, I've found that the more I try to understand Su Quan, the more suspicious things I uncover about her. And those bizarre events related to her have forced me to reconsider Zhou Hua's words.

As I was thinking, I arrived at my dormitory building. I suddenly felt that I might need to go find Zhou Hua, because no matter what, he should be one of Su Quan's closest people. Although his words might be a bit emotional, Zhou Hua was probably the only person I could ask if I wanted to get to know Su Quan better.

I went back to my dorm to put down my bag, and then prepared to go upstairs to find Zhou Hua. But as soon as I reached the top of the stairs, I heard a commotion upstairs, as if many people were arguing about something.

I walked upstairs and saw a lot of people standing in the middle of the corridor, but because the crowd was so dense, I couldn't see who they were. So I went over to see what was going on.

As I was walking, someone poked their head out of the dormitory, and I asked, "What's going on?"

The man replied, "I'm not sure, it seems like a fight is about to break out."

Upon hearing this, I frowned and turned to continue walking. Just then, the group of people parted to make way for me, allowing me to see what was happening in the crowd.

Through the crowd, I saw two people locked in a tense standoff, one appearing calmer than the other. Most of the others were trying to break up the fight.

I quickened my pace and walked over, and heard the agitated person repeatedly shouting, "Let me go! Don't stop me!"

Two people were grabbing his arms to stop him, but they were starting to lose their strength as he struggled.

The seemingly calmer man opposite him didn't say anything, but the anger in his eyes was quite obvious. The people around him kept urging him to leave for a while, but he remained unmoved, and no one could force him in front of his tall figure.

I squeezed through the crowd for a closer look and was shocked to find that the person shouting was none other than Zhou Hua, the man I was looking for!

Although I didn't know what had happened, I did know that if he were to use force against that person, given his "refined" physique, the result would likely be that he would have to stay in the hospital for some time.

So I was about to shout and step forward to stop him, but before I could make a move, Zhou Hua, in that semi-crazy state, broke free from the two men and rushed forward to throw a punch at the man opposite him.

Seeing that the situation was not good, I didn't even have time to shout. I rushed out of the crowd and stood between Zhou Hua and that man to stop him.

Zhou Hua and that man were only four or five steps apart, but by the time I blocked his way, Zhou Hua had already rushed in front of me. Although it was only for a split second, I still saw Zhou Hua's expression in that instant. I can say that I have almost never seen such an angry expression before. His facial muscles were twisted horribly, and the rage that seemed to be about to burst forth from his eyes seemed to devour everything in front of him.

His mental state was clearly in a state of extreme disorder, so when I suddenly appeared in front of him, he couldn't recognize me at all, and almost without thinking, he threw a punch at me.

I instinctively ducked and raised my left arm to parry his punch, but I immediately realized I had made a mistake—I had underestimated him. His punch had been brewing for a long time, and people often unleash unprecedented potential when they are extremely emotional. As a result, his punch not only made my left arm ache, but I also had to take a step back to cushion the force of the blow.

Taking that punch made me decide immediately that, although I didn't know what had happened, if he continued to act recklessly, someone in the hallway might get hurt, and if the building manager was attracted, the trouble would be even greater. So I took a step forward with my right foot, lowered my waist, and struck him in the stomach with my elbow.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [15]: The abdomen can be said to be a very vulnerable part of the human body, especially for someone like Zhou Hua who has not undergone any training. Although I only used 50% of my strength and it was by no means enough to injure him, it was enough to make him scream and fall forward.

I took the opportunity to stand up and catch him as he was about to fall, silently apologizing. After all, I had hit him "too hard" before fully understanding what had happened. Although this was the only way to calm him down at that moment, I was prepared to apologize to him properly later, no matter what.

At this moment, several people around exclaimed in surprise, and the two people who had been holding Zhou Hua back came to me. They looked at Zhou Hua, who was clutching his stomach with his hands, sweating profusely on his forehead, unable to utter a single word, and looked at me with some helplessness.

I glanced at them and said, "He's fine. I just want him to have some peace and quiet for a while."

One of them hesitated before saying, "You are..."

I said, "I am his friend, my name is Lu Haofeng."

When they heard my name, they both said "Oh," as if they had heard of me before.

I continued, "Don't worry, leave him to me first."

They both nodded, but then turned their heads with some difficulty to look at the person Zhou Hua had just tried to fight. Just then, that person said to me, "Are you his friend?"

"yes."

"Fine, since you blocked his punch, I won't pursue this matter any further. But tell him that whenever he wants to come looking for me again, I'm ready." With that, he turned and left, still looking angry.

His words were extremely impolite, and I realized that there must be a significant conflict between him and Zhou Hua. However, since I did not yet know the cause of the conflict, I had no choice but to tolerate his attitude for the time being.

I watched that person leave, and then helped Zhou Hua back to his dormitory.

I laid him on a bed behind the door. He seemed a little better, but he was still groaning. I turned around and whispered to the two men who had followed me in, "Who was that person just now?"

They looked at each other, and one of them whispered, "It seems to be Xu Wenkai, a chemistry major."

I felt that the name sounded familiar. After thinking about it carefully, I remembered that Han Ying had mentioned her current boyfriend at noon, and it seemed to be this name. So I roughly guessed what caused the conflict between the two of them.

I said, "Oh, I understand." Then I pointed to Zhou Hua and said, "He'll be done in a bit. I want to ask him something."

The two men understood what I meant and politely withdrew.

I saw them off, closed the door, found a chair, and sat down on the edge of the bed. At that moment, Zhou Hua slowly stopped groaning and opened his eyes.

The moment he saw me, he looked somewhat surprised and said, "Lu Haofeng, is that you?"

I knew two things from his question: first, he had regained his senses; second, he had been so angry that he couldn't even tell who was in front of him.

I asked, "How are you? Are you feeling better?"

Although he had just "come to his senses," his thoughts were quick. After only a brief pause, he said, "Was that you just now?"

I felt a little embarrassed, but I still nodded and said, "I'm sorry."

I then changed the subject, asking, "What happened just now?"

Upon hearing my words, his face immediately showed that extremely angry expression again, and he gritted his teeth and said, "That bastard, he, he actually dared to insult Su Quan like that."

I asked, "What exactly happened?"

He took a deep breath and said, "I just came back from outside and was on my way back to the dormitory when I overheard that bastard talking about Su Quan."

I didn't interrupt him and let him continue.

“I didn’t mean to listen to what he was saying, but he and two other guys were walking in a row, blocking the hallway, so I had no choice but to follow behind them.”

"I had just walked up behind them when I heard one of them mention Su Quan, and then that guy continued, 'Hmph, that monster, it's good that he's dead!' "When I heard him say that, I couldn't suppress my anger anymore. I shoved him from behind and yelled at him, 'Who the hell are you talking about?!' "He stumbled from my shove, but then turned around and glared at me angrily, saying, 'What business is it of yours who I say? And who are you?' "I didn't answer him at all, and I didn't care who he was. I went up to him and was about to punch him, but I was stopped by two people next to him. Later, more and more people came, and then, I think you know what happened next."

I listened to his entire explanation with a furrowed brow. Actually, according to him, the conflict between him and Xu Wenkai couldn't be entirely blamed on him—in any case, Xu Wenkai's words about a dead man were extremely offensive. But it was Xu Wenkai's statement that truly perplexed me: he called Su Quan "that monster, it's good he's dead." This was the second time today I'd heard someone use that word to describe Su Quan. In modern Chinese, this word is rarely used anymore. Although I suspect he heard it from Han Ying, hearing it still gave me an uneasy feeling.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [16]: Since I had remained silent, Zhou Hua asked, "What's wrong?"

I quickly gave a vague answer, saying, "It's nothing. By the way, do you know that person from earlier?"

He shook his head and asked me in return, "Do you know him?"

I was secretly glad that he didn't know Xu Wenkai, otherwise the two of them would probably have already started fighting. So I lied and said, "No, I don't know him either."

He said with the same indignation, "You know a lot of people, help me find out who that bastard is, I won't let him get away with this!"