Цветы персика - Глава 12
"Your friend?" Mo Yan opened and closed his mouth, looking unnatural.
“Yeah! We’re best friends from the same dorm.” Apple put her arm around my shoulder. “Why do you seem a little reluctant?”
"How could I! Shall we start now?"
"Let's begin! Teaching one is teaching, teaching three is teaching too!" A jeep came to join in the fun.
"Okay, today I'll start teaching you how to shoot. You can now find an invisible parabola between yourself and the basket..."
Although Mo Yan was shy, he was very serious when facing basketball, without the slightest hint of disrespect.
"I'll pass the ball to you!" Apple tossed the ball over.
Section 31: Seven Years of Unresolved Issues (6)
To avoid spending time alone with Mo Yan, I dragged Apple and Big Jeep along to help me practice shooting hoops. But how could I forget? Don't let Apple's small stature fool you, her basketball skills are amazing! The game she played before she started dating Big Jeep stunned the entire department. Her dribbling, her layups—a series of movements like a delicate needle, unstoppable. Learning to shoot hoops with me now is child's play, right? Sure enough, they got bored in no time. Big Jeep used the basketball as a stool, sitting on it and chatting away with Apple.
The center of the stadium was once again left just for Mo Yan and me, which made me very uncomfortable.
Around five o'clock, male students from various departments who loved basketball rushed to this small court and claimed the hilltop. The basketball hoop instantly transformed into a tireless hen, endlessly laying eggs. Basketballs flew everywhere like giant locusts with wings, leaving me nowhere to practice.
"Let's go! We can't practice here anymore." He pointed to the open space where Apple and the others were sitting, and I walked over.
Apple looked up at me, and the Jeep chuckled happily.
I found that smile to be sly.
"Hey," Apple pulled me aside, "Have you thought this through?"
"What have you decided?"
"That big, dumb guy."
"What big oaf?"
“It’s that big guy who taught you how to shoot,” she gestured toward Mo Yan, “Even a fool could see that he’s interested in you.”
"Don't talk nonsense." I corrected her seriously. "I just want to learn how to shoot. I forgot that you're good at basketball. If I had just asked you to teach me, I wouldn't have had to bother someone else."
"No!" she waved her hands repeatedly. "I only know how to have fun by myself. If I were to teach others, I would definitely mislead them."
"I asked you and the Jeep to come and keep me company because I didn't want to be alone with him."
"You didn't explain clearly. I saw the jeep baring its teeth at you and him, and I thought you two were having an affair."
"I'll get angry if you keep talking nonsense."
"Okay, I won't tell, I won't tell." She grinned mischievously at the jeep and winked.
A pair of thieving adults.
"No other meaning, Jeep just meant well and wanted to bring you two together."
"What?"
"Look, the great forest is gone, and you're all all alone..."
"Alright, you guys are just making things worse!" I turned to Mo Yan. "Thank you for teaching me how to shoot, but I won't be coming back. Goodbye!"
Mo Yan was stunned: "You haven't learned it yet."
"Someone will teach me later." I smiled at him and turned around.
"In the future... will someone be there?"
"My boyfriend will teach me." It was the first time I'd used the word "boyfriend," and I found myself surprisingly not blushing. Love is a game of cat and mouse; some are caught up in the hustle and bustle, while others remain detached and indifferent. You can never predict whether someone else will be able to commit at the same time as you.
The three people behind me remained standing still. I could vaguely hear the Jeep asking Apple, "Is Ruoxi out of her mind? Didn't you say that man from the Great Forest was dead?"
"You're not allowed to call it 'Great Forest'!" Apple snapped.
“Oh… her name is… Lan Ruoxi…” Mo Yan’s voice.
The ground trembled and clanged as the basketball dominated the center of the court, with everyone following its every move.
The ruler doesn't seem to be human...
I've discovered that even ghosts can be bold sometimes.
Section 32: Case Investigation (1)
Case Tracking
It's past six o'clock now, and the golden afterglow of the sun still shines on the sink counter in the laundry room. The ghost has already appeared.
The dormitory corridors are perpetually dark, the air is cool and musty, and the drafts are chilling. I was doing laundry when the ghost stood behind me; for every inch I moved, it moved half an inch.
"Why do you always haunt me?" I asked Shi Quan.
"I have not yet avenged myself, and I will not die with resentment."
"I've already called your sister as you asked, why are you still bothering me?"
"You can see me."
"So what?"
"I need a middleman to talk to my sister, and you're suitable."
What if I don't want to?
"How could I not be willing?"
The tap water gushed and splashed, soaking me completely, yet it passed right through his body and soared through the air. There was no one else around; the occasional passerby thought I was talking to the wall.
"I can pretend I can't see you, I can't hear you, you can go find someone else."
"You won't."
Why not?
"You have a kind heart."
"Well?"
“My sister is taking her medicine in the car. Can you give her some water?”
"Does a kind-hearted person necessarily have to help you?"
"I was wrongfully killed."
How would I know?
"I'll tell you everything you want to know."
My hands, which were scrubbing the clothes, stopped. Time seemed to stand still, and even the sound of splashing water disappeared...
The snow-white tiled walls in front of me have all disappeared, replaced by a narrow alley.
"Where am I?" I exclaimed.
“Yousi Hutong.” Shi Quan was right next to me.
I looked up at him and saw that his face had returned to normal, and he was quite dignified. He pointed and said, "Look, they're calling me over to play cards." Then he walked over.
As I looked, sure enough, there were three people playing cards around a square table in the alley. One of them greeted Shi Quan: "You're here, sit down, sit down, we've been waiting for you."
It seems he knows this place quite well.
I walked over and stood beside them. Each of them was intently studying their own cards, trying to guess the other's hand. They seemed completely oblivious to me. I heard Shi Quan say, "I don't have a mother. She passed away when I was very young. My father never remarried; he was always busy with his business. He ran a tea, tobacco, and alcohol business on the border. Later, his business grew, and he opened several nightclubs, and his hotel gradually became operational as well. My sister and I depend on each other for survival in this city. My father is only concerned with his business; apart from sending us money regularly, we rarely see each other."
The person at the table opposite Shi Quan immediately sighed, "Oh dear, that's so sad! You don't even have a single friend?"
"Friends? They're alright! I got into university when I was twenty, and I got along well with my roommates." Shi Quan spoke casually and without any guile. "I don't have any other hobbies, I just like playing cards."
"That's great!" the person next to him quickly chimed in. "You can bring your dad to play cards sometime, and you can also tell him to work less. He only needs enough money to get by, so he shouldn't work so hard. It would be so much better if he could enjoy family time with you!"
Shi Quan shook his head, speaking with a hint of resentment: "My dad owns a hotel in Vietnam, he's made tens of millions and is still making money, but he doesn't have time to come back and see me. How could he have time to play cards with me!"
These words, once spoken, immediately caused trouble. The expressions of the two people around him changed, proving that what is said without intention can be taken to heart by the listener.
Before long, it gradually got dark.
"I'm done playing, I'll play again tomorrow!" The people at the card table dispersed and went their separate ways.
Shi Quan was walking towards a relatively secluded residential area, and I followed closely behind. Suddenly, I noticed that two people had been following him from the side road.
"Shi Quan! Shi Quan!" I called to him, "Be careful! Someone's following you! They seem to have ill intentions..."
But he seemed not to hear at all, and went upstairs humming a little tune.
The two men who had been following them also went upstairs.
"Sister!" Shi Quan used his key to open the door to a sixth-floor apartment. "I've come to get a change of clothes."
There was no one in the house. He went in and found a note on the coffee table: "I went to my in-laws' house. Your brother-in-law is on night shift today, so there's no food at home. Go out and get something to eat by yourself! —Leaves by my sister, Shi Mei."
He crumpled the note and threw it in the trash can, then lay down on the sofa and fell asleep.
Just then, the door started moving; more precisely, the doorknob was shaking violently. This wasn't the sound of a key being used to open the door; someone was maliciously damaging it—someone was trying to pick the lock!
"Hey! Shi Quan!" I called to him, "Wake up! Shi Quan! Someone's coming in!" But it was no use. He was fast asleep and I couldn't wake him up.
With a creak, the door opened, the sound not loud, as sleazy as the footsteps of the two people who entered.
"Ah—" I screamed.
It's no use! They can't hear or see me at all.
"Shi Quan, wake up! Someone's come in!"
He opened his eyes abruptly, but it was too late. The two men had already put a rope around his neck and were strangling him tightly. He couldn't scream, his expression contorted in agony. He tumbled from the sofa to the floor, kicking and shattering a glass on the coffee table. The rope tightened further, his eyeballs seemed to burst as if under vacuum, the veins on his forehead bulging as if about to explode, and he flailed wildly, trying to grab onto something…
Neither of the two perpetrators showed any mercy, continuing to strangle Shi Quan until he completely died.
I was terrified and tried to run away, but a pair of hands grabbed me.
Section 33: Case Investigation (2)
"Ah—" I turned around in shock and saw Shi Quan.
"You...weren't you just strangled to death?"
He nodded at me and pointed down.
I looked down and almost fainted: his lower body was empty, swaying lightly back and forth. After a while, the other half of his body emerged from under the ground and became one with his upper body.
I understand now. This is his soul, which has been separated from his body.