The girls' dormitory at Tieshikou Middle School.
Tieshikou Middle School had both day students and boarding students.
Day students lived at home, while boarding students lived in the school dormitories.
Zhang Huiping's home wasn't far from the school, so she didn't actually have to live on campus, but in order to get into high school, she chose to stay at school.
She hoped to make one last push in her final year, as to whether she could pass the entrance exam, which would depend on fate.
Finishing evening self-study later than most classmates, Zhang Huiping walked toward the girls' dormitory building.
"Huiping, still studying this late again."
At the dormitory entrance, Jiang Weiwei came out and spoke.
"No choice. If I don't work hard, I'm afraid the high school entrance exam will be hopeless."
"Heh, if only your deskmate Huang Yifan thought the same way. Oh, right, speaking of Huang Yifan, I haven't asked you yet. Huiping, did Huang Yifan write you a ghost story?"
"Ah, the ghost story…"
The moment ghost stories were mentioned, Zhang Huiping suddenly felt a bit uneasy.
She had read the ghost story Huang Yifan wrote at noon. At that time, it was midday, with people coming and going in the classroom, lively and noisy. Although the ghost story he wrote was somewhat scary, it felt manageable and not too frightening, but now it was already night. It was fine not to mention ghost stories, but once they were brought up, Zhang Huiping immediately thought of the ghost in that story.
"I thought so, I knew that guy just likes to brag."
Seeing that Zhang Huiping didn't speak, Jiang Weiwei joked with a smile.
"No, Weiwei, Huang Yifan did write it."
"Ah, he wrote it?"
Jiang Weiwei felt a bit awkward, but still asked, "Huiping, then what did he write? It must not have been good. It's not like I haven't seen his ghost stories before; they're not scary at all. Tell me what his ghost story was about, did he make any progress?"
"Forget it."
Zhang Huiping shook her head and didn't say anything.
She was already a little scared now, and if she talked about it, she might really scare herself to death.
"Oh, Huiping, it must be that guy who told you not to let me see it, right? I'm telling you, Huiping, you're valuing looks over friendship. That guy's only a bit handsome, and you listen to him so obediently! Come on, tell me, tell me."
"No, it's night already. It's really scary."
"Tch, what's scary about it? There are so many sisters here. What's there to be afraid of? Right, sisters?"
Jiang Weiwei shouted into the dormitory.
"Yeah, yeah, Huiping, what ghost story? We want to hear it too."
The other girls in the dormitory also joined in, asking excitedly.
"There's no ghost story! Go to sleep, go to sleep!"
Zhang Huiping still refused to speak.
"Huiping, you're really not being a good sister, keeping it such a secret."
Seeing that Jiang Weiwei looked a bit upset, Zhang Huiping felt bad.
In the end, she really couldn't resist Jiang Weiwei and finally spoke.
"Alright, I'll tell you, but this story is really scary. Don't be afraid after hearing it."
"There you go again, hurry up and tell it."
Seeing how eager everyone was, Zhang Huiping could only begin.
"That ghost, when a person is asleep, suddenly jumps out of the window. It stretches out a long tongue, about three meters long, dripping with blood. And that ghost's eyes are like candles, flickering as if burning with flames, its feet have sharp barbs growing on them, its body has no flesh and no bones. It can float in the air and vanish in an instant. Then the ghost suddenly bares its fangs and pounces on the person. With this kind of sleep paralysis, ordinary people can't see it. By the time you notice, all you can see is the person strangling their own neck while sleeping… So if you feel something pressing on you while you're asleep, you must not keep sleeping; it might be that ghost coming for you."
Girls were already timid by nature, let alone when it came to ghosts.
At first, a few girls in the dormitory listened with great interest, but after hearing it, they felt chills running down their spines.
Especially since the story was about things that happened while sleeping.
It was already close to ten at night, and they were about to go to bed.
But now, after hearing the story, they were suddenly too scared to sleep.
What if the ghost came after they fell asleep?
"I felt something pressing on me last night, too."
A few girls' teeth were already chattering.
"Huiping, I'm so scared."
"Weiwei, are you scared?"
"I… I… a little."
The entire dormitory became extremely eerie.
Suddenly, someone said, "A ghost, a ghost!"
In an instant, the whole dormitory erupted into screams.
Ah… ah… ah…
A ghost!
There's a ghost!
…
After finishing lesson preparations, Lin Jinfen, the homeroom teacher of Class 2, Third Year, was about to rest when her phone suddenly rang.
"Hello, is this Teacher Lin?"
"Yes?"
"Teacher Lin, please come take a look at the girls' dormitory for your class."
"What happened?"
"I don't know, a few girls in your class's dormitory are terrified and saying the place is haunted."
"Haunted?"
Lin Jinfen was a bit stunned. "It's late at night, don't joke around."
"Teacher Lin, I'm really not joking, please come quickly! I can't calm them down. If you don't come soon, some of your students are going to cry."
"Alright, I'm coming right away."
Seeing that the dorm supervisor didn't seem to be lying, Lin Jinfen hurried out.
Sure enough, the supervisor hadn't lied.
Several girls from her class were indeed terrified, and a few were already crying.
"What's going on? What's going on? What's wrong with you?"
"Don't cry, don't cry! What's there to be afraid of? There's no such thing."
"The teacher's here, the teacher's here! Don't be afraid, don't be afraid!"
"There's nothing to be scared of. Look, isn't the teacher standing right here, perfectly fine?"
"Don't be afraid anymore. Let's sing, let's sing something cheerful."
"Yes, let's sing together. The teacher will start."
"That's right, let's sing 'Unity Is Strength.'"
In the end, middle school students were still children, especially girls.
As the homeroom teacher of Class 2, Third Year, Lin Jinfen could only keep comforting them.
After quite a bit of effort, the girls finally calmed down.
"Sigh, you girls… what has the teacher been teaching you? Studying every day, yet you get scared by something that doesn't even exist."
Seeing that everyone was fine, Lin Jinfen finally let out a sigh of relief.
Luckily, she came in time. If the principal found out about this, she'd definitely get severely reprimanded.
Students being scared by ghosts would become big news at Tieshikou Middle School.
"Alright, it's fine now. Everything's fine. Go to sleep."
Although she really wanted to ask what exactly happened, Lin Jinfen knew that now wasn't the time to question them.
She would ask clearly tomorrow morning.
Otherwise, if something like this happened again, she couldn't possibly come every day just to tell them that there were no ghosts in the world.
If it came to that, she'd really be failing as a homeroom teacher.
…
"Weiwei, tell me, what exactly happened last night?"
The next morning, during early class, Lin Jinfen called Jiang Weiwei into the office.
"Well…"
At this point, Jiang Weiwei had completely recovered, but when the homeroom teacher asked about it, she still looked a bit embarrassed.
"What, still scared?"
"No, Teacher Lin, I'm not scared anymore."
"Since you're not scared, then tell the teacher what exactly happened last night."
"Actually, it wasn't much. Huiping told a ghost story that Huang Yifan wrote. At first, we didn't think the story was scary at all, but later, somehow, the more we thought about it, the scarier it felt. In the end, everyone got scared, and I got scared too."
"A ghost story?"
Lin Jinfen rubbed her forehead, feeling completely defeated by these kids. "You were scared just by a ghost story?"
"Wait, what did you just say? Huang Yifan?"
"Weiwei, what does this have to do with Huang Yifan?"
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