Lebensberater für die Südliche Song-Dynastie

Kapitel 12

As expected, the person didn't scream and obediently let Xu An restrain him.

"Turn your head around," Xu An commanded.

The person slowly turned their head.

“You are Li Wenbin.” Xu An showed no surprise.

Li Wenbin didn't say anything, he just stared straight at Xu An.

What are you doing here?

Li Wenbin remained silent, simply staring at Xu An with a blank expression.

"You don't want to talk, do you?" Xu An sneered.

A strange expression appeared on Li Wenbin's face, and he suddenly threw the flashlight in his hand to the ground.

"Who is it?" Chen Shuai's voice immediately came from downstairs.

Xu An was startled, and Li Wenbin seized the opportunity to strike Xu An hard on the back. Xu An cried out softly, the blow landing squarely on his wound, causing immediate pain. Xu An collapsed to the ground, and Li Wenbin rushed to the window, nimbly leaping out. Just as he jumped out, a photograph fell to the ground.

"Who is there?" Chen Shuai shouted, and footsteps came from the stairs.

Despite the excruciating pain in his back, Xu An rushed to the window, picked up the photo from the ground, and jumped out as fast as he could.

When Chen Shuai pushed open the door, there was no one in the room, but he noticed a few bloodstains on the floor that extended all the way to the window.

Chen Shuai rushed to the window and looked outside.

Outside the window, the rain was pouring down harder and harder, but there was nothing else.

Gao Xiaoyuan sat at the table, staring blankly at the photo of Class 0, Grade 11 in her hand.

Peng Zhi, Su Siyu, Qiu Wangzi, Li Wenbin, and Deng Zhuofan are all clearly visible in the photos.

It seems the photos have been changed again sometime ago. Who could have broken into her room and switched them?

Gao Xiaoyuan couldn't understand it. She looked down at Deng Zhuofan in the photo. He looked exactly like Chen Shuai, with the same handsome face and the same unruly demeanor.

They couldn't possibly be twins, could they?

Gao Xiaoyuan made wild guesses.

Suddenly, a hand gripped the window, and Gao Xiaoyuan was so frightened that she stood up and backed away repeatedly.

Another hand reached up.

"Someone...someone come here..." Gao Xiaoyuan was so frightened that she wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

"Don't...don't call out..." Xu An's face appeared, but his face was as pale as a sheet of paper.

"Xu An—" Gao Xiaoyuan was surprised to see Xu An. She rushed to the window and grabbed Xu An's hand, pulling him into the room. However, she noticed blood on the back of Xu An's clothes.

"You're bleeding!" Gao Xiaoyuan exclaimed.

"It's nothing... the wound just reopened."

"I'll take you to the hospital."

"No need!" Xu An grabbed Gao Xiaoyuan's arm. "You don't have anyone at home, do you?"

My parents are away for the past few days.

"Can I stay here for a few days?"

"Okay, but what about your wound?"

"I'm fine, some medicine will do the trick." Xu An smiled wryly and looked at Gao Xiaoyuan: "I can only come to you now."

Gao Xiaoyuan suddenly felt like crying.

"Xiaoyuan, do you believe me?"

Gao Xiaoyuan raised her head, her eyes already moist: "I believe you."

"Can you do me a favor?"

Gao Xiaoyuan nodded.

Xu An took a paper packet out of his pocket and handed it to Gao Xiaoyuan: "Could you take this for me to do a DNA test?"

Gao Xiaoyuan took the paper package, slowly opened it, and found two slender black hairs inside: "Whose are these?"

Xu An smiled faintly, but did not answer Gao Xiaoyuan's question.

“Okay, I’ll go tomorrow.” Gao Xiaoyuan decided to help Xu An. Most importantly, Xu An was back.

That night

These past few days, Gao Xiaoyuan has been taking care of Xu An. He often sits alone at the table, lost in thought, sometimes drawing something, sometimes frowning. He rarely speaks to Gao Xiaoyuan, who takes care of him meticulously, almost like a servant. But Gao Xiaoyuan is already very happy. As long as Xu An is by her side, she is happy.

A few days later, Gao Xiaoyuan received the DNA test results, which showed that the two hairs Xu An had tested were directly related by blood. When Xu An saw the results, a meaningful smile appeared on his face.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Gao Xiaoyuan asked out of curiosity.

Xu An was about to say something when Gao Xiaoyuan's doorbell rang.

Xu An frowned.

Gao Xiaoyuan glanced at her watch; it was a little past seven in the evening. "Who could be looking for me at this hour?" she wondered. She had no friends, and usually no one would come looking for her. Even if Lin Nana was her friend, she didn't know where Gao Xiaoyuan lived. Thinking this, Gao Xiaoyuan walked out of her bedroom and into the living room, opening the door.

Chen Shuai stood right in front of her, his face still bearing that carefree smile.

Why haven't you been to school these past few days?

"I'm sick." Gao Xiaoyuan tried to close the door, but Chen Shuai blocked it. "Are you really sick?" Chen Shuai reached out his other hand and touched Gao Xiaoyuan's forehead.

Gao Xiaoyuan was taken aback at first, but then quickly dodged away: "I'll be going to school tomorrow, you can go now!"

"Don't you want to know about me?" Chen Shuai suddenly said.

Gao Xiaoyuan immediately released her grip on the door, looking at Chen Shuai in surprise: "Are you trying to tell me that you really are Deng Zhuofan, and that you didn't die back then?"

Chen Shuai gave a wry smile: "That's right, I'm still alive."

Gao Xiaoyuan stepped aside: "Let's talk inside."

Chen Shuai walked to the sofa and sat down. Gao Xiaoyuan poured a glass of water and handed it to Chen Shuai.

“Actually, Principal Chen is my adoptive mother. She adopted me from the orphanage. My original name was indeed Deng Zhuofan.”

"I just want to know what happened back then."

"I'd like to know too."

Gao Xiaoyuan suddenly looked at Chen Shuai: "How could you not know? Principal Chen told me that all those students perished in the fire back then..."

"That's what she told me too. Besides me, no one else would survive, but I always felt that things weren't that simple."

Were you in that concert hall at the time?

Upon hearing the words "concert hall," a look of fear suddenly appeared on Chen Shuai's face: "That night, the power went out, and we lit candles, but a gust of wind blew them out, and we were plunged into a dark panic... Later," Chen Shuai took a deep breath, "I was knocked unconscious and didn't know anything after that. When I woke up, I was at home, and my mother told me that all my classmates were dead."

"Then why didn't you show up afterwards?"

"After that, my mother sent me to study abroad, hoping that I would leave this sad place. So I stayed abroad for a year."

“That incident happened a year ago. Since you've been abroad, why did you come back now? And how did you end up in the first year of high school again…”

"I want to know what happened that night, why I was knocked unconscious, and why all my classmates died."

"You really don't know?" Gao Xiaoyuan looked at Chen Shuai suspiciously.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have come back." Chen Shuai suddenly grabbed Gao Xiaoyuan's hand: "I know you've been secretly investigating Class 0 of the first year of high school. Will you help me now?"

Gao Xiaoyuan blushed and tried to pull her hand away, but Chen Shuai held it even tighter.

"I really need your help."

"Let go of her hand!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Xiaoyuan and Chen Shuai both looked towards the bedroom door. Xu An had already appeared there at some point, his cool and handsome face revealing displeasure.

Chen Shuai slowly stood up, looking at Xu An in surprise: "Prince, you're still alive?"

“He’s not a prince, he’s Xu An, the prince’s twin brother,” Gao Xiaoyuan quickly explained.

"Are you really not a prince?"

“I’m not a prince, but your identity is suspicious.” Xu An handed the DNA report to Chen Shuai.

After flipping through a few pages, Chen Shuai's expression suddenly changed: "Are you trying to tell me that Principal Chen is not my adoptive mother, but my biological mother?"

"You're very clever; you guessed the origin of this report right away."

"But I don't believe it. If Principal Chen is my biological mother, she has no reason to hide it from me."

“That’s what I want to know too.” Xu An handed Chen Shuai another photo.

The photo shows Principal Chen when she was young; her belly is protruding, and it's obvious she's pregnant.

Chen Shuai's face grew increasingly grim: "Why did she lie to me...why..."

Gao Xiaoyuan looked at Xu An. Now she knew whose hair those two strands belonged to, but the mystery remained unsolved.

My phone suddenly rang, and it was that strange sound again.

Gao Xiaoyuan quickly walked to the door, picked up her schoolbag, and took out her phone.

It's still a message.

Gao Xiaoyuan opened the message without hesitation.

It's still a photo, but this time it's of a person, and Gao Xiaoyuan happens to know this person—Lin Nana.

"Huh, that's weird, who sent me a picture of Lin Nana?" Gao Xiaoyuan muttered to herself.

Chen Shuai suddenly looked up, rushed to Gao Xiaoyuan, snatched the phone, and stared wide-eyed at the photo on the screen: "It really is Lin Nana."

"You know him?" Gao Xiaoyuan was surprised.

"She was also a classmate in Class 0 of the first year of high school."

Gao Xiaoyuan was stunned.