After tidying himself up, Tong Xiaosong pulled the bed curtain closed and wrapped himself in the airtight blanket.
Why is life so bitter?
When his sister carried potatoes and faced the gossip of the villagers, did she also experience such bitterness?
His sister could endure everything with tears in her eyes, so could he.
What if he wet his pants?
It’s nothing. When he was crawling on the ground like a dog after being beaten by Zhu Fan and others, wasn’t that humiliating enough?
Classmates had been making fun of him for a long time.
What is there to be afraid of?
He’s not afraid.
Under the blanket, Tong Xiaosong gritted his teeth, suppressing the urge to cry. His eyes were wide open, as if trying to prevent the tears from flowing out by keeping them inside through sheer will.
Don’t cry!
He must not cry! His sister never cried!
Tears streamed down, and Tong Xiaosong immediately buried his face deep into the blanket. The suffocation made him dizzy, but he felt relieved; at least the tears were finally gone.
In the quiet dorm room, sunlight streamed in.
A shadow was cast on the bed curtain, as if embracing Tong Xiaosong on the bed.
***
Afternoon.
Tong Xiaosong sat in the classroom, with unabashed mockery echoing in his ears. He opened his book as if he hadn’t heard anything.
“Tong Xiaosong.”
Tong Xiaosong lifted his head slightly, looking at Gu Xuan who stood in front of him with a smiling face.
Gu Xuan chuckled, “Don’t give me that look. I’m here to give you a gift.”
Tong Xiaosong didn’t know what kind of expression he was using to look at Gu Xuan, afraid of offending him. He quickly lowered his head.
A light blue pair of jeans was handed to him.
Gu Xuan said, “Here, it’s for you.”
Someone in the classroom burst into laughter, “Pants! Tong Xiaosong, why don’t you hurry up and take them? Change out of your wet pants quickly.”
Tong Xiaosong felt tense all over, clenching his fists slowly.
Even though no one slapped him, his face now felt hot and stinging.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Vb vlgas.
Vb vlrueralcu.
Kbcu Wljbrbcu ibkfgfv tlr tfjv, jcv lc tlr wlcv, atf uilcalcu yijvf oijrtfv jujlc.
***
Ktf rfcrjalbc bo tbivlcu atf xclof, ilxf kliv ugjrr, ijcvfv lc Kbcu Wljbrbcu’r tfjga. Ktf gbba ribkis fzafcvfv, qlfgmlcu lcab tlr tfjga, olgwis bmmeqslcu la jii, rqgfjvlcu abkjgvr atf rbei.
***
The bell rang, and the physical education teacher came in, calling out, “Go downstairs and line up! It’s time for exercises!”
All the students cheered and rushed out.
Tong Xiaosong slowly stood up. The physical education teacher noticed something was wrong, stopped, and looked for a few seconds. He walked over to Tong Xiaosong and asked, “What’s wrong with you? If you’re not feeling well, you can take a leave.”
“No…” Tong Xiaosong walked out slowly, the knife still haunting his mind.
If he couldn’t cut others, could he cut himself?
No… that’s not possible!
Tong Xiaosong suddenly woke up, shook his head with a sense of dread. He couldn’t entertain such thoughts!
He must not let down his sister!
***
During the physical education class.
Following everyone in the exercises and sweating, Tong Xiaosong felt a bit relieved. The string in his mind that was about to snap wasn’t so tightly wound.
A physical education class exhausted students who usually didn’t exercise.
Tong Xiaosong, malnourished, was shaky and his vision darkened.
After class, he breathed heavily, resting for several minutes before returning to the classroom.
Reaching into his desk, he wanted to take out his water bottle, but his hand touched fabric first.
It was the jeans that Gu Xuan had given him to mock him.
The water bottle was behind the jeans, and with a dry swallow, he reluctantly pulled out the jeans.
His vision went dark, and he hastily grabbed the desk for support.
When he finally saw clearly again, he found himself holding a tattered pair of jeans stained with blood and torn apart.
The dark red bloodstains emitted a bloody odor, like a dead mouse in a dark corner.
“Ah!” Tong Xiaosong exclaimed, as if electrocuted, tossing the jeans onto the table.
“Damn! Tong Xiaosong, you scared the hell out of me!” scolded Zhu Fan.
Students in the classroom looked at Tong Xiaosong, then shifted their gaze to the horrifying jeans on the table, showing a look of disdain. They withdrew their eyes, indifferent to what was happening.
Zhu Fan couldn’t help but taunt, “Haha, see how much you disgust people.”
Yeah, truly disgusting.
Tong Xiaosong’s wildly pounding heart gradually settled down from the scare.
Perhaps it was some girl who liked Gu Xuan and hated him, so she took advantage of the time when everyone was away during physical education class to destroy these jeans as a warning to him.
Shouldn’t he have gotten used to it by now?
If you get used to it, you won’t be frightened.
Tong Xiaosong picked up the jeans, intending to throw them away.
A blood-stained note fell out from the jeans onto the table.
Tong Xiaosong picked it up and glanced at the chaotic and frantic handwriting on it, as if it were written with fingers stained in blood.
[Give it back to him]
Tong Xiaosong let out a sarcastic chuckle.
It seems someone is jealous that Gu Xuan gave him jeans.
Thinking he’d be willing to take it?
This filthy thing made him feel utterly disgusted.
There’s no way to return it now.
If he sent it back in this condition, Gu Xuan would definitely be infuriated, and his fate would be even worse than any beating he had suffered before.
He pulled out a black plastic bag from the desk, wrapped the jeans and the note together, and threw them into the trash bin behind the school.
Whoever wants it can pick it up.
He hoped Gu Xuan’s things would never appear in front of him again.
***
The bell for class rang.
Nobody noticed that at the back of the classroom, there was a faint shadow on the wall.
The fingertips of that shadow were stained with a piercing red.
***
After school in the evening, Tong Xiaosong was having dinner in the cafeteria when a group of people passed by, making a lot of noise.
Just by listening to their voices, he knew it was Zhu Fan and his gang.
He glanced up.
After getting their meals, the three of them sat not far from him, discussing something.
Suddenly, the three of them looked in his direction.
Tong Xiaosong immediately lowered his head, put down the food on his tray, pretending he had finished eating, and walked away with the tray.
“Hey! Tong Xiaosong! Come over! Why are you hiding!”
Tong Xiaosong felt a sinking feeling.
This was bad.
He stopped his steps, debating whether he should just run away.
The voices from behind came again.
“Tong Xiaosong, don’t force me! My hand is not fully healed yet! Don’t you want to be expelled?”
Despair spread throughout his body.
Tong Xiaosong turned numbly and walked over to Zhu Fan and his friends’ table.
Zhu Fan warmly said, “Come, have a seat.”
Seeing Tong Xiaosong sit down, Zhu Fan grinned, “Tong Xiaosong, how about joining us for another game tonight?”
Tong Xiaosong immediately shook his head, “I, I need to study tonight…”
“Tong Xiaosong.” Zhu Fan’s voice was full of threats and warnings, “If you don’t agree, I’ll immediately report to the school leaders. Don’t blame me if you get expelled; it’s your fault for using a knife on me.”
Tong Xiaosong’s lips trembled as he hesitated, but ultimately accepted his fate, “Uh, okay, I’ll join…”
***
Midnight.
The four figures appeared again in the old building of Class Three, Grade Four.
The two white candles seemed to have been lit again, burning cleanly.
Zhu Fan picked up the paper, “Damn, who is this? Still using red ink to play tricks.”
Tong Xiaosong looked up, only to see that on the paper, someone had drawn a big X with something extremely resembling blood, done in a dark red color.
Cui Jian glanced at it, uninterested, “Leave it; it’ll add some horror atmosphere for future generations.”
Zhu Fan laughed, “Right.” He looked at Tong Xiaosong and said, “Tong Xiaosong, let me tell you about today’s game. Have you heard of the Four Corners game?”
Mr. Ghost, plz protect my baby! : Thanks for the translation MiniPickle! ~~
ˁ•ᴗ•ˀつ～ 💞
ahhh they’re digging their graves deeper and deeper
The shadow lurking behind them twitching, already bloodstained hands: yeeeeeeeeeesssssss
Boring boy with the knife. I’m going to stick the knife in his throat. Unbearable irritating
Our baby doesn’t need to worry about knives, let the chat take this knife and stick it through this idiot’s throat.
This mentioning about his sister and that potato again. If he think it’s that hard of a work why not let his sister come to school and he as a man, go do the work and take care of his mom? He never mention why it’s him that get to attend school.
A certain commenter is ignorant