Сказка о принцессе Сонг в Хэйан-кё

Глава 24

“Fang Manting did come back.” Xu An, who had been silent all along, suddenly blurted out.

Gao Xiaoyuan and Chen Shuai both looked at Xu An.

Xu An continued to stare at the table.

The table was old and worn, and the original patterns looked messy.

Xu An pointed to a patterned area on the right side of the table: "This area has been wiped clean."

"You can tell that?" Chen Shuai sneered.

Xu An brought his nose close to the spot and smelled it, saying, "There used to be a bloodstain here."

Upon hearing this, Chen Shuai quickly leaned closer to smell it, his expression suddenly changing: "Could this be my mother..." Chen Shuai didn't dare to finish his sentence.

"Where will Fang Manting take Principal Chen?" Gao Xiaoyuan asked, puzzled. "And why does she want to take Principal Chen away? Is the secret Principal Chen wants to tell us related to her? Or does Fang Manting know something?"

Chen Shuai and Xu An both looked at Gao Xiaoyuan, but neither of them spoke, seemingly deep in thought.

“Ah—this…” When Gao Xiaoyuan turned the photo frame over, she saw several words written in blood on the back of the frame.

Teacher Xia

"Teacher Xia? How come Teacher Xia's name is on the back of this photo frame?" Gao Xiaoyuan asked in surprise.

“Ms. Xia was our homeroom teacher in Class 0 of the first year of high school. That night, all the students disappeared, but Ms. Xia was fine. That’s really strange.” Chen Shuai said, frowning.

“We made a very basic mistake,” Xu An suddenly said.

Chen Shuai and Gao Xiaoyuan both looked at Xu An.

“Teacher Xia died on the concert hall stage; she was probably murdered. The police investigated, but couldn’t find the cause, and we haven’t investigated Teacher Xia’s home either,” Xu An said confidently. “I believe we will find something at Teacher Xia’s home.”

“If the police can’t find anything, what can we find?” Gao Xiaoyuan said.

"Since the words 'Teacher Xia' are written on the back of this picture frame, it must be hinting at something. Perhaps we can find clues that the police can't find!"

Teacher Xia, Gao Xiaoyuan suddenly had a strange feeling in her heart, and she couldn't even describe what kind of feeling it was.

Five people went missing at Teacher Xia's house.

The elevator stopped on the ninth floor, and Gao Xiaoyuan, Xu An, and Chen Shuai stepped out of the elevator lobby one after another.

Ms. Xia's house is at the end of the corridor around the elevator corner, and it's easy to find, but the door to Ms. Xia's house is tightly locked.

"How do we get in?" Gao Xiaoyuan looked at Xu An and then at Chen Shuai.

"Lend me your hair clip for a moment," Xu An said.

"What are you doing with that hair clip?" Gao Xiaoyuan had barely asked the question when she suddenly realized, "Are we going to sneak in again?"

"Teacher Xia was all alone. She's dead now. No one will open the door for us unless it's a ghost," Chen Shuai said, deliberately trying to scare Gao Xiaoyuan.

Gao Xiaoyuan glared at Chen Shuai, then looked at Xu An and said, "What we're doing is trespassing, isn't that a bit inappropriate?"

Xu An suddenly reached out and took the hair clip from Gao Xiaoyuan's head, then squatted down and inserted it into the keyhole.

Gao Xiaoyuan looked on helplessly, suddenly realizing that she was powerless against these two boys.

In less than half a minute, Xu An opened the door to Teacher Xia's house. Gao Xiaoyuan really suspected that Xu An had been a thief before, as he was so skilled, even though he was still a student.

Chen Shuai gently opened the door, and at that moment, Xu An glanced back at the neighbor's door.

The door seemed to be slightly ajar, but when Xu An looked over, it closed again.

Chen Shuai glanced at it as well, but didn't think much of it. The three of them slipped into Teacher Xia's house as quickly as possible. Just then, the neighbor's door opened a crack again, and an eye peeked out, staring intently at the three of them.

Teacher Xia's home is a one-bedroom apartment, and the room is very clean.

The living room is similar to that of a typical family home, with a sofa, coffee table, TV cabinet, dining table, and some photos of Teacher Xia.

Chen Shuai looked at Xu An and Gao Xiaoyuan and said, "I'll be in charge of finding clues in the living room, Xu An, you'll be in charge of the kitchen, and Xiaoyuan, you'll be in charge of the bedroom."

"Okay." After saying this, Gao Xiaoyuan and Xu An went to their respective assigned areas.

When Gao Xiaoyuan pushed open the bedroom door, the first thing that caught her eye was the large photograph hanging on the wall above her bed. In the photo, Teacher Xia was wearing a stylish long dress, posing gracefully, her hair styled in an updo, and her makeup impeccable; at first glance, she looked like a movie star. Sadly, Teacher Xia is no longer with us.

Gao Xiaoyuan felt sad and didn't want to look at the photos anymore. She quickly walked to the bedside table, opened the drawer, and rummaged through it, trying to find some new clues.

There were some cold medicines in one of the drawers.

The second drawer contained photo albums and some jewelry.

Gao Xiaoyuan took out a photo album and looked through it.

The album is full of photos of Ms. Xia and her students, including a group photo with Class 0 of Grade 11.

Looking at these photos, Gao Xiaoyuan felt extremely conflicted. Some of these students from Class 0 of Grade 11 were already dead, while others, though still alive, were hiding everywhere, afraid to see the light of day. To this day, Gao Xiaoyuan still didn't know why they were hiding.

"squeak--"

Gao Xiaoyuan raised her head and looked around the room. She had just heard a faint sound. Gao Xiaoyuan stood up, walked to the bedroom door, and opened it.

Chen Shuai was rummaging through the sofa cushions when Gao Xiaoyuan opened the door and immediately asked, "Any new discoveries?"

Gao Xiaoyuan shook her head and said, "No." After saying that, she closed the door again and went back to the bedroom. She thought that she might have misheard, so she went to the bedside and continued to look at the photos.

"squeak--"

It's that voice again.

Gao Xiaoyuan suddenly raised her head and looked around the room, her gaze finally landing on the wardrobe.

The wardrobe was slightly ajar.

Gao Xiaoyuan stood up and slowly walked towards the wardrobe, grasped the handles with both hands, and then slowly pulled the wardrobe open...

In that instant, Gao Xiaoyuan's eyes widened.

In the kitchen, Xu An's gaze was fixed on several upside-down water glasses on the cabinet. He reached out and picked one up, then wiped the inside with his hand. He picked up another glass and wiped it again, only to find water stains. Xu An frowned and brought the glass to his nose to smell it. Suddenly, a scream came from Gao Xiaoyuan in the bedroom. Xu An quickly put down the glasses and rushed out of the kitchen.

"What happened?" Xu An asked Chen Shuai.

Chen Shuai shook his head: "It's Xiaoyuan calling."

The two rushed into the bedroom.

The bedroom was very clean, with only a photo album on the bed, and nothing else, including Gao Xiaoyuan.

Gao Xiaoyuan has disappeared in the bedroom!

Xu An and Chen Shuai looked at each other, neither of them knowing how things had happened.

"Xiaoyuan!"

"Come out quickly!"

Xu An and Chen Shuai shouted as they lifted the sheets to look under the bed.

There is no one.

After glancing around the room, Xu An and Chen Shuai simultaneously looked at the wardrobe. Neither spoke, but they gestured with their hands as they slowly approached it. Upon reaching the wardrobe, they stood on either side, and after Xu An gestured, they both opened it at the same time.

The wardrobe was full of clothes.

Chen Shuai quickly searched through the clothes, but still couldn't find any trace of Gao Xiaoyuan.

"How could Xiaoyuan have disappeared from her room?"

Xu An stared blankly at the wardrobe, unable to utter a single word.

8. Midnight Ghost Broadcast

The radio came on in the middle of the night

Gao Xiaoyuan has disappeared.

The school and home were in complete chaos.

Chen Shuai revealed the truth about Gao Xiaoyuan's disappearance but concealed Xu An's situation, making him the subject of a police investigation. However, his biggest worry remained Gao Xiaoyuan's safety.

It was very dark, so dark that even the moonlight was obscured.

Grandpa Liu took a sip of water, put the cup on the table, wiped his face with his hand, put on a thin jacket, picked up a flashlight, and walked out of the gatehouse.

The school was completely silent.

Grandpa Liu turned on his flashlight and began his night patrol.

The teaching building was quiet; there wasn't a single person in sight.

As usual, Grandpa Liu started his patrol from the first floor, but when he got to the original classroom of Class 0, Grade 11, he couldn't help but stop because he found that the classroom door was not locked, even though he clearly remembered that the door was locked.

Grandpa Liu scratched his head, and thinking about what had happened in Class 0 of Grade 11 recently, he couldn't help but shudder. He hesitated for a moment before pushing open the classroom door of Class 0 of Grade 11.

A cold wind blew by.

Startled, he quickly withdrew his hand and scanned the classroom rapidly, noticing that a window was half-open and the cold wind was blowing in from outside.

Grandpa Liu walked unsteadily into the classroom, glanced around, then slowly walked to the window and reached out to pull it in.

The door slammed shut at that moment.

Startled, he turned around, dropping the flashlight to the ground, and the light went out immediately.

"Who...who's there..." Grandpa Liu asked, trembling.

No one answered.

Grandpa Liu slowly bent down, and just as he reached for the flashlight, the door suddenly flung open again. Startled, he fell to the ground with a thud, staring wide-eyed at the doorway.

The sound of footsteps rang out softly.

Grandpa Liu remained motionless, not even daring to breathe loudly.

A male student in a school uniform appeared at the door.