"Hey, did you guys know? Something haunted happened in our class's girls' dorm last night."
Morning self-study had just ended, and it was time for breakfast.
Although Huang Yifan was a day student, he usually ate breakfast at school.
At that moment, while everyone was eating, a classmate named Xia Cixiang spoke loudly in the classroom.
Gossip like this was always attractive.
As soon as Xia Cixiang started talking, a group of boys gathered around him, all asking what had happened.
"I don't know the details either. I just heard that last night, screaming suddenly came from our class's girls' dorm, and some of the girls were scared to tears. In the end, even the homeroom teacher rushed over."
"No way, that serious?"
"So was there really a ghost or not?"
"Yeah, what happened afterward?"
…
"Hah, believing nonsense like a haunting."
Huang Yifan sat to the side, calmly drinking his soy milk, completely uninterested in this kind of gossip.
However, his deskmate Zhang Huiping had a slightly flushed face and tugged awkwardly at the corner of his clothes.
"What's wrong?"
Huang Yifan was already used to Zhang Huiping lightly pulling at his sleeve whenever she wanted to talk to him.
Without even turning his head, he continued drinking his soy milk and asked.
"Huang Yifan, I'm sorry. The ghost story you let me read yesterday… I told Weiwei about it."
"Oh, that."
Huang Yifan nodded, looking rather unconcerned.
Although he had told her not to let Jiang Weiwei see it, it really wasn't a big deal.
Besides, given Jiang Weiwei's personality, a bit of pestering would probably make Zhang Huiping talk anyway.
"It's fine. If you told her, you told her."
But Zhang Huiping still looked embarrassed, her voice very low, as if she had done something wrong.
"What's wrong?"
Huang Yifan found it a bit strange. "Zhang Huiping, it's a small matter. You don't need to apologize over something like this."
"No… that's not it."
Zhang Huiping still looked like a little girl who had made a mistake, stammering as she spoke. "I didn't listen to you and told Weiwei and the others. As a result, they were all scared to tears last night. In the end, the whole dorm was afraid and didn't dare sleep, worried there were ghosts. Then Teacher Lin came too. And… during morning self-study, Teacher Lin called Weiwei out to ask about it. I don't know if Teacher Lin will come looking for you because of this."
"So the haunting last night was real!"
After hearing Zhang Huiping's explanation, Huang Yifan suddenly understood.
They were still just little girls.
Talking about Strange Tales in the middle of the night, forget them; even adults would feel uneasy. Moreover, Strange Tales was a classic of Chinese supernatural literature. Compared to modern horror written purely for shock value, Strange Tales might not seem that terrifying, but its stories have been refined over hundreds and thousands of years.
On the surface, they were short tales, yet they struck straight at the human heart, far more powerful than modern horror fiction.
Just the "Biting a Ghost" story alone, linking the idea of sleep paralysis, was enough to leave a deep impression.
And "Biting a Ghost" was only an ordinary story within Strange Tales.
Fortunately, last time he had only written that one and not the classic "Painted Skin."
If he had written "Painted Skin," the image of a female ghost wearing a human skin mask would have caused an even bigger scare.
Still, Huang Yifan only smiled wryly after hearing this.
Although the haunting incident had indeed caught him off guard… it didn't really have anything to do with him, did it?
Unfortunately, Huang Yifan was wrong.
Even though he believed the matter had nothing to do with him…
He had only written a ghost story for Zhang Huiping. As for the chain of events that followed, they had no direct connection to him.
Teacher Lin Jinfeng still called Huang Yifan in.
Which, on second thought, was quite normal.
After all, the source of everything was that ghost story.
And more importantly, Huang Yifan's grades had always been poor.
As a poor student, even if the matter had little to do with him, it still had to be related to him.
Put another way, if Huang Yifan had been a top student with excellent grades and good conduct…
Then this matter would probably have been treated very differently.
The moment Huang Yifan walked into the homeroom teacher's office, he understood this clearly.
But Huang Yifan was no ordinary middle schooler.
Having lived two lives, even facing this kind of situation, he remained calm and composed.
"Huang Yifan, do you know why I called you here today?"
Homeroom teacher Lin Jinfeng was in her thirties. She was usually very strict in class, and with her short, almost masculine haircut, the students were always a bit afraid of her.
Huang Yifan wasn't afraid, but she was still his homeroom teacher.
Out of respect, he replied, "Yes. Because I wrote a rather scary ghost story."
"Oh? You're quite self-aware. Then tell me, why did you write such a scary ghost story?"
"Zhang Huiping said she wanted to read it, so I wrote it."
"Uh…"
Lin Jinfeng was momentarily speechless.
She had been about to accuse him of deliberately causing trouble and affecting others' studies.
But with Huang Yifan's answer, it was hard to continue.
And the way he put it made it seem like last night's incident had nothing to do with him at all.
Still, Lin Jinfeng shot him a glare.
How could she not know what Huang Yifan was thinking?
Clearly, he wanted to attract the girls' attention, which was why he wrote ghost stories.
After more than ten years of teaching, she believed she thoroughly understood the psychology of middle school students.
This age was when they were most likely to develop fantasies about the opposite sex. But they were still young and immature, so they often did things specifically to draw attention from girls.
"So, according to you, you still don't know why I called you here today?"
"I really don't know."
Huang Yifan looked completely innocent, as if he truly had no idea.
"Then think carefully."
Lin Jinfeng felt a headache coming on.
Normally, weren't these students terrified when speaking to her?
Even the most troublesome ones would still feel uneasy.
But Huang Yifan, in front of her, looked unbelievably calm.
Calm?
Maybe that wasn't the right word.
He looked relaxed.
As if being called in today was just a casual chat between friends.
"Could it be, Teacher Lin, that you called me in today to talk about life and ideals?"
Huang Yifan seriously thought for about a minute, then suddenly said this.
"Talk about life?"
"Ideals?"
Lin Jinfeng almost burst out laughing.
She barely managed to suppress it to maintain her teacherly dignity.
"What life, what ideals, nonsense. Huang Yifan, be serious, I'm asking you a question."
"Teacher Lin, I am answering your question."
"You… you…"
After saying "you" several times and suppressing her frustration, Lin Jinfeng said, "Huang Yifan, I won't beat around the bush. I'll ask you directly. Did you write that ghost story on purpose to scare the girls in class?"
"Unjust accusation, Teacher Lin!"
Huang Yifan shouted the words "unjust accusation" dramatically, startling Lin Jinfeng.
"Don't you think deliberately writing a ghost story to scare girls is ridiculous and childish?"
"Well… it is kind of ridiculous."
Lin Jinfeng replied subconsciously.
Thinking about it, it really was ridiculous and childish.
"Then, Teacher Lin, do you think someone as smart as me would do something so insulting to my intelligence?"
"Fine, then you just wanted to attract the girls' attention. Isn't that it?"
Lin Jinfeng hesitated before saying this, but she truly didn't know how else to deal with Huang Yifan.
She thought that "exposing a student's inner thoughts" like this would hurt his self-esteem.
But Huang Yifan showed not the slightest reaction and immediately replied.
"Teacher Lin, ideas like that, I stopped using them when I was three years old."
…
For a full half hour, Lin Jinfeng questioned Huang Yifan in her office.
But during that half hour, she not only failed to get anything out of him, but she was left utterly speechless by him.
And the worst part was that everything Huang Yifan said actually made sense.
This wasn't a middle schooler at all; he was practically a seasoned schemer.
Better to just let him go.
There was no point in continuing.
The more she asked, the more she felt that this incident really couldn't be blamed on Huang Yifan.
Still, that kid's ghost story was really something. The title was even quite artsy, Strange Tales.
When she read it, even her own back felt a little chilly.
Heh, who knows where he copied it from?
With a teasing thought, Lin Jinfeng decided not to pursue the matter any further.
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