Geister des alten Grabes

Kapitel 15

"Yang Mian didn't tell me."

“Chongchong just called and said she can’t find you. She’s staying at the Grand Hyatt Hotel near the station, room 202. Go pick her up and take her to her dorm at school.”

"Mom~~~~~~~~~~~~~, the college entrance exam hasn't even started yet, and she's already got into our school? Is that even possible?"

"I don't know, but that's what her father said. If you don't take her to school, then take her to Yang Mian's apartment. The hotel is a complicated place, and it's not good for a girl to stay there alone."

"this......"

"Alright, that's enough. We've always been neighbors, so let's just help her out. That's all."

Having no other option, Gu Xing hung up the phone, wondering if the girl named Chongchong was now a very pretty girl. With anticipation in his heart, Gu Xing walked towards the station.

When Gu Xing arrived at room 202 of the hotel, he knocked on the door.

"The door isn't closed, please come in." A girl's voice came from inside, but the voice sounded a little strange.

Gu Xing opened the door, only to find no one inside. The bathroom door was tightly closed, but there was the sound of water coming from inside.

"I'm taking a shower, wait a moment,"

Gu Xing swallowed hard: "This... I'm Gu Xing. Do you remember me? We used to play together a lot when we were kids, along with Yang Mian."

"I remember, I moved around when I was in first grade." At that moment, the bathroom door opened, and a girl came out.

Upon seeing her, Gu Xing took a few steps back in fear and asked tremblingly, "You...you are...Chongchong?"

“Yes, I am Chongchong.” Xu Chen said, pinching his nose as he wore cute pajamas.

Gu Xing was so shocked that his eyes widened and he couldn't speak for a long time. Xu Chen, however, just sat on the bed as if nothing had happened and slowly said, "I went to Yang Mian's house a few days ago. That idiot was so scared that he went to the hospital. Later, he went to see you and, feeling bored, played with you guys for a few days."

"So it turns out that Yang Mian's affair was also your doing."

Xu Chen nodded and said, "I'm a student at your school now, so you have to take good care of me from now on."

"The college entrance exam hasn't even started yet."

"It's okay, I won't pass the exam anyway."

"Then how can you get into our school? Admissions haven't even started yet."

"Your principal said it's okay, you can ask him if you don't believe me."

Gu Xing thought to himself, "It seems the principal hasn't had an easy time these past few days either."

Xu Chen stood up and said to Gu Xing, "Let me change my clothes first, then pack my luggage. You can take me to your school."

When Gu Xing heard her say she was going to change her clothes, he was about to leave the room to avoid her when he heard Xu Chen call out to him from behind: "Hey, where are you going? Aren't you going to help me get ready?"

"Didn't you say you were going to change..." Gu Xing said, turning around. He saw Xu Chen wearing a T-shirt and a short skirt, already changed.

Gu Xing wasn't surprised. He just stood there and watched her pack up.

After she finished packing, Gu Xing offered to carry one of her heavier pieces of luggage and walked ahead of her.

In dormitory room 202, the door had already been closed by Yang Mian. He was smoking, drinking, and eating snacks when he said to Da Kai and the others, "Things are finally over. Now let's discuss the trip."

"Shouldn't we wait until Gu Xing comes back?" Li Xu was eating when he suddenly remembered someone else: "By the way, when we go to Zhang Da's hometown this time, besides inviting Fang Yi, let's invite Feng An as well."

"What?" Da Kai said, sounding very dissatisfied: "I'm happy if Fang Yi goes, but I'm not happy if that kid goes."

“He’s quite interesting, let’s ask him to go.” Yang Mian agreed with Li Xu’s idea, his tone pleading.

Da Kai slammed his hand on the table: "Li Xu is troublesome enough, adding another one will only make it more troublesome."

Li Xu also got angry and argued fiercely with Da Kai, which then turned into a quarrel. Yang Mian helplessly took a puff of his cigarette and looked at Zhang Da, who was eating something while flipping through a book.

Just then, the dormitory door opened, and Gu Xing appeared in front of it with Xu Chen.

Da Kai suddenly rolled off the bed, pulling out a wooden stick from somewhere. Li Xu put down his beer and took out a copy of the Diamond Sutra. Zhang Da cowered at the foot of the bed, trembling with fear. Yang Mian simply lay down on the floor, chanting, "Wake up, wake up..."

Gu Xing kicked Yang Mian on the ground: "It's not a dream, it's real. Face it."

"Don't be like this, everyone. I'm not that scary, am I?" Xu Chen looked at the frightened Yang Mian and the others with a blank expression.

Gu Xing sneered: "Not afraid? You're scarier than a ghost."

Yang Mian got up from the ground: "You're more terrifying than the zombies in Resident Evil."

Da Kai sat back on the bed: "You're even better than Tyson."

Li Xu put down the Buddhist scriptures: "You are more like a female demon than a female demon."

Zhang Da looked at the others and then said to Xu Chen, "They've said everything I wanted to say."

Xu Chen leaned against the wall behind him, feeling wronged, and tears slowly streamed down his face. Gu Xing walked to the table as if nothing had happened, opened a beer, and said to Yang Mian, "Do you remember when we were little, we used to play with a girl named Chongchong?"

Yang Mian nodded, and Gu Xing pointed at Xu Chen: "That's her."

Yang Mian looked at Xu Chen in surprise. Gu Xing didn't want to bring up the strange incident a few days ago that had scared him so much that he ended up in the hospital, so he said to Yang Mian, "Never mind her, let's drink."

Gu Xing turned around again and saw that Xu Chen was still crying, so he said, "Tell me when you've cried enough, and I'll help you carry your luggage to the girls' dormitory."

At this point, Xu Chen burst into tears. Gu Xing and the others nervously walked up to her and said, "Don't cry so loudly, or people will think we did something to you."

"Who told you to lie to me?" Xu Chen stopped crying. "That's why I've made things difficult for you these past few days."

Gu Xing asked, puzzled, "When did I lie to you?"

"When I was a child"

Just then, Mo Xiaoqiang and Zhang Qing happened to pass by outside. Xu Chen waved to them, and the two of them walked in blankly as if they were bewitched. As soon as they entered the dormitory, they stood there. Xu Chen clapped his hands again, and Mo Xiaoqiang said to Zhang Qing in a shrill voice, "Chongchong, you're moving in a few days. We won't be able to play anymore."

Zhang Qing, in a coquettish voice, pretended to be a little girl and said, "Brother Gu Xing, will you still remember me after I leave?"

"Of course, I'll come find you when I grow up."

Why wait until you grow up?

"Because that's when we had money."

"What if you don't have money when you grow up?"

"Even if I grow up and have no money, I will definitely come to find you."

"I will marry you then."

“Okay, let’s pinky swear.” Mo Xiaoqiang extended his finger.

Immediately, the two of them, disgusted as children, started waving their fingers together. Seeing this, Gu Xing shook his head and sighed, "A tragic fate."

Upon hearing this, Xu Chen angrily waved his hand, and Mo Xiaoqiang and the other person walked out of the dormitory in a daze. Xu Chen said, "In short, after I leave, just act like nothing happened, and forget about me completely in a few days."

Xu Chen kept berating Gu Xing, who sat on the bed, buried his head in his hands, and kept repeating in a low voice, "This isn't real, this isn't real... my childhood."

Yang Mian and the others chuckled to themselves as they drank their wine.

A few minutes later, Xu Chen was also tired, but Gu Xing was still sitting on the bed, lost in thought. Feng An came in from outside at this time. Upon seeing him, he frowned. Yang Mian, Zhang Da and Li Xu were very happy and invited him to sit down.

Feng An was actually a literature student, but he loved to nitpick over words and was always talking in classical Chinese. Da Kai hated him, but Gu Xing and others found him very interesting.

After Feng An sat down, he noticed Xu Chen, stood up, and said with a frown, "My name is Feng An, courtesy name Shunfu, from Fenggu Town, Zhejiang. It is truly an honor to meet you, Miss."

To others, Feng An might seem like he'd lost his mind, but Yang Mian and the others found it amusing and chuckled. Xu Chen glanced at Feng An and muttered, "Why does it sound like the name of a servant?"

Feng An then asked, "May I ask your surname, Miss?"

Xu Chen frowned at this moment: "This humble woman is from the Gu Xu family."

Upon hearing this, Gu Xing stood up, pointed at Xu Chen, and shouted, "Don't talk nonsense, you scoundrel!"

The people in room 202 burst into laughter.

Feng An also jokingly said to Xu Chen, "So it's your wife, please come over and have a drink with us."

Xu Chen walked over smugly and started drinking. In less than half an hour, he had almost finished a whole case of beer. Gu Xing had also drunk quite a bit by this time, and everyone was a little drunk. Taking advantage of his drunkenness, Yang Mian said loudly, "Come on, let's go to my house and drink some more."

Everyone responded loudly, closed the dormitory door, and went to Yang Mian's apartment.

Upon arriving at the apartment, Yang Yi greeted Xu Chen with great joy. Yang Mian had bought several cases of beer on the way back, and Xu Chen surprisingly drank them down in one go, finishing two in less than two minutes, clapping his hands enthusiastically: "Good, good!" Feng An, standing beside Xu Chen, called out, "Bring the beer."

And so, everyone became completely drunk and unconscious.

At nine o'clock in the morning, several people were lying haphazardly in Yang Mian's house. Yang Yi was cooking breakfast when Xu Chen touched his head behind her and said, "It hurts so much. I won't drink it anymore."

Yang Yi smiled and then asked shyly, "Sister Xu Chen, did you come here to see Brother Gu Xing?"

"Not entirely, I just think they're funny."

"You told me last time that you wanted to marry Brother Gu Xing..."

Xu Chen smiled and said, "That was something from when I was a kid. I was just saying it."

Upon hearing this, Yang Yi felt relieved. After the two finished preparing breakfast, Yang Yi took it out. Xu Chen then went to the living room and started stomping on everyone's stomachs, calling out, "Get up, time to eat!"

After being woken up by Xu Chen, the group sat down at the table and started eating, like lost souls. While eating, they started talking about traveling, and Xu Chen raised his hand: "Me too, me too."

Feng An chuckled and said, "If my sister-in-law were to go as well, this trip would certainly be much more enjoyable."

Gu Xing picked up the fork and looked at Feng An: "If you say anything more about your sister-in-law, I'll stick this fork up your nose."

Yang Yi stared at Feng An, who dared not say anything more.

Yang Mian continued talking, bringing up the issue of funding. He planned to cover everyone's travel expenses by himself. Yang Yi looked at him and said, "Brother, where are you going to get so much money?"

"Just ask Dad."

"It's still not good. Let's each pay for our own travel expenses." Gu Xing didn't want Yang Mian to become a spendthrift.

"But it will cost money once we get there, and I'm also planning to hire a car to go."

Zhang Da said, "That's a rural area, so it won't cost much."

Yang Mian waved his hand: "Alright, I've made up my mind. Don't say anything, just leave it all to me."

Xu Chen gave Yang Mian a thumbs up and said, "Okay, it's up to you now."

Upon hearing this, Yang Mian seemed to have forgotten the tragic events that had occurred because of Xu Chen in the past few days. He smiled at Xu Chen and said, "Just you wait. We finally get to go on a trip, and I'm going to make sure everyone has a great time."

Upon hearing this, Gu Xing sighed, rubbed his eyes, and looked at Xu Chen again. He saw her eating breakfast with her head down, occasionally talking to Yang Yi. But Gu Xing had a premonition that Xu Chen was definitely up to something bad this time.

It seems this trip is bound to bring about something unimaginable.

Chapter Ten: A New Story – People Who Burn Their Lives (and Other Living Beings)

Nearly a week has passed, and everything is ready. Yang Mian has been actively planning the trip and has already notified everyone who will be attending. Now, he's just waiting for the time to pass. Xu Chen lives in the girls' dormitory and quickly became friends with everyone around him, but he hasn't done anything out of line.

Gu Xing kept a close eye on her. Although they had played together as children, Xu Chen seemed to be hiding something enormous. Those secrets behind her were like a magnet, drawing Gu Xing in. But Gu Xing knew that approaching Xu Chen now was like walking blindfolded in the dark, constantly risking falling into a bottomless abyss. Xu Chen gave Gu Xing a sense of mystery and terror, but also an invisible attraction. This trip, with Xu Chen accompanying him, filled Gu Xing with a mixture of fear and anticipation...