As soon as Song Keyin entered the classroom, she noticed that Chu Yanyan was looking at her very strangely.
Besides the strangeness, there was also a hint of panic and suspicion in her eyes.
Song Keyin asked, her face pale, “What’s wrong?”
Chu Yanyan swallowed and leaned close to her ear. “Didn’t you ask me about Lu Qingye yesterday? She was found dead today in our school’s cheerleading practice room.”
Song Keyin’s brows twitched. Her heart lurched, and her pupils suddenly contracted in shock. Chu Yanyan was still muttering something, but Song Keyin didn’t hear any of it. Her ears were filled with bursts of ringing.
How can this be? How can this be?
Lu Qingye didn’t do anything this time, so why did she still die?
Why hasn’t the plot changed?
Doesn’t that mean…
Senior Jingyan will still die in the end?
Song Keyin was so frightened that she broke out in a cold sweat. Her whole body trembled uncontrollably, and her hands and feet were cold, without any warmth.
How can it be like this?
If she wasn’t targeted because she helped the senior to the infirmary and stayed there for half an hour, then what else could the reason be?
Song Keyin trembled even more violently. The cold sweat on her forehead ran straight down to her brow bones and almost into her eyes.
And next?
Who will die next?
Song Keyin pressed her temples with both hands and began to hit her head, forcing herself to recall those painful memories.
Chu Yanyan, next to her, was startled. She grabbed her hand and cried out in horror, “Keyin, what are you doing?”
Song Keyin ignored her. Fragments of memory slowly surfaced in her mind, and her eyes widened.
She remembered!
The next person to die was Wen Ziyu of the Green Olive Painting Club.
No! It can’t be!
I have to do something!
Could it be that she had managed to go back to before the incident only to go through the same pain again?
Song Keyin gritted her teeth.
Senior Wen Ziyu was recognized as the most talented painter the Green Olive Painting Club had had in all the years since its founding.
He was proficient in sketching, watercolor, gouache, oil painting, and printmaking, and he could also show off his skill in Chinese painting, which clearly showed how great his talent was.
She remembered that Wen Ziyu’s body had been found in the school swimming pool the day after Lu Qingye’s death. The pool had been abandoned for a long time and was full of all kinds of garbage, and few people ever went there.
By the time Senior Wen Ziyu was discovered, his limbs were already swollen, his muscles very stiff, and his expression grim. It was said that he had scared the student who found him half to death.
The school had quickly blocked the entrance to the pool, and no one was allowed in.
So how was Senior Wen Ziyu targeted?
As soon as Su Jingyan entered the classroom, he found that everyone was sitting together in twos and threes, chatting and gossiping, which was very different from their usual quiet, seated, studious atmosphere.
“What’s the matter with you all today?” He didn’t know whether it was because he had come to school with Lu Yichen, but he was in a particularly good mood.
The person he asked hesitated to answer, feeling that telling Su Jingyan about something so dreadful would pollute the class pet’s pure ears.
But there were many flatterers, and when he didn’t answer, the people next to him took the initiative to answer for him.
“I heard that one of our school’s cheerleaders was found dead in the cheerleading practice room.”
Su Jingyan opened his mouth wide in surprise and nodded to show that he had heard.
He didn’t like gossip, so he didn’t ask any more questions. He simply sat back in his seat and began to concentrate on his studies.
But a death at the school itself was a major event. Su Jingyan sat by the window, and during class he could see, out of the corner of his eye, people gathering around the cordon and police arriving one after another.
All in all, the school was in a state of panic.
Perhaps for the sake of strict school discipline, or for some other formal reason, all the teachers were called to a meeting, and even the third-year students inevitably had several classes canceled and changed to self-study.
However, for someone like Su Jingyan, who kept his ears shut and read only the classics and textbooks, it could be said he wasn’t affected at all, and he was happily reviewing the contents of his books.
After sitting through four full classes, Su Jingyan stretched, his cheeks slightly flushed.
It’s finally time to eat!
I get to eat with Lu Yichen!
At the thought, Su Jingyan grew a little excited. He held a lunch bag with two bentos in his hand and waited for the students around him to leave so that he could sneak into the woods.
As always, the students left very quickly and considerately. After a short while, the whole classroom was empty, and the corridors were sparsely populated, with few people left.
Su Jingyan breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and prepared to go to the forest.
As soon as he walked out of the teaching building, a familiar figure stopped him.
“Senior Jingyan.” The boy blocking Su Jingyan’s way wore glasses, had double eyelids and thin lips, and was tall and thin and looked very refined, the type who made people feel very comfortable.
Su Jingyan froze for a moment, looking at the boy in front of him.
It was his acquaintance, Wen Ziyu.
“Did you need something from me?” Su Jingyan blinked his shining doe eyes, a little doubtful.
Wen Ziyu tilted his head slightly, and a strange light flashed across the lenses of his glasses.
“Can’t I call on the senior even if I have nothing to do?” Wen Ziyu’s voice was as clear and pleasant as ever, with a bit of self-mockery in it as he said this.
For some unknown reason, from the very beginning Su Jingyan had had an indescribable feeling about Wen Ziyu, perhaps an inexplicable sixth sense, which kept him from ever getting truly close to Wen Ziyu.
To be honest, although he had known Song Keyin for a year less than he had known Wen Ziyu, in his heart he still trusted Song Keyin a great deal more.
Seeing that Su Jingyan was silent, Wen Ziyu slowly stopped smiling. He looked into Su Jingyan’s doe eyes, unconsciously licked his dry lips, and said lightly, “I came to see you this time, senior, but really I came to give you a present.”
Su Jingyan blinked and looked at him suspiciously, as if asking what the gift was.
Wen Ziyu’s smile widened. He took a framed watercolor painting from his school bag and handed it to Su Jingyan.
Su Jingyan opened his mouth in surprise when he saw clearly what the painting showed, and a flash of amazement crossed his eyes.
The painting wasn’t of someone else. It was of Su Jingyan himself.
It showed Su Jingyan as he used to be, in a corner of the painting club’s classroom, brush in hand, concentrating on his painting.
Wen Ziyu’s painting was so beautiful that even Su Jingyan couldn’t help admiring it.
The figure in the painting leaned against the window, the glow from outside falling on him, the scattered sunlight full of dappled light and shadow.
The expression of the person in the painting was focused and serious, with a sense of tranquility. He had bright starry eyes, snow-white teeth, and a slender figure, and he was so beautiful that he didn’t look like a real person.
All in all, it was very well drawn.
Su Jingyan accepted the painting and thanked him several times out of politeness. What was more, he truly thought Wen Ziyu’s painting was very good.
He curved his eyes and said with a smile, “Thank you.”
Wen Ziyu’s Adam’s apple bobbed, but his smile didn’t fade. He looked at the lunch bag the senior was carrying and invited him, “Senior, why don’t we go eat together?”
Su Jingyan’s expression stiffened, and he hurriedly shook his head. “I have an appointment with someone.”
Wen Ziyu lowered his eyes, and his bangs covered them so that his expression couldn’t be seen. He muttered from the corner of his mouth, as if talking to himself, “So that’s how it is, hehe.”
Su Jingyan was in a hurry to see Lu Yichen, so he waved goodbye and said, “Then I’ll go first!”
Before Wen Ziyu could reply, he ran off in a hurry, leaving Wen Ziyu standing alone, watching his back disappear into the distance.
Wen Ziyu watched with his mouth slightly open, staring at Su Jingyan’s back, and stood motionless until he could no longer see him.
When Su Jingyan had finally gone far away, Wen Ziyu lowered his eyes to the palm of the hand that had accidentally touched Su Jingyan. He raised it slightly, and it was trembling, not unlike a madman’s.
“So, senior, is the person you’re going to meet the boy in the photo?” Wen Ziyu opened the photo album on his phone, looked at the two boys in the picture, and sneered faintly.
Heh.
“Yichen! I’m here!” Su Jingyan was panting, a lunch bag in one hand and the painting Wen Ziyu had just given him still in the other.
Lu Yichen half-closed his eyes, his gaze fixed on the painting in Su Jingyan’s hand.
Su Jingyan casually set the painting on the ground, then took out the bento with a happy look on his face and handed it to Lu Yichen, the flush from running still on his cheeks.
A gleam flashed in Lu Yichen’s eyes.
Su Jingyan sat down, hugged Gulu, who was on the ground, and stroked its fur affectionately.
“Yichen, look at the bento I made for you!” Su Jingyan urged, looking shy and a little expectant.
Lu Yichen sat down, opened the bento in his hand, and paused.
The love bento Su Jingyan had prepared wasn’t as lavish as the one Lu Yichen had made the day before. There were few dishes, but it was clear that a lot of thought had gone into it.
The rice ball was shaped like a triangle, with a smiling face drawn in tomato sauce and a wig made of seaweed. Even the side dishes, like the carrots and cucumbers, had been carved with small patterns. Chicken drumettes and beef had also been prepared.
It looked very appetizing.
Su Jingyan looked expectantly at Lu Yichen’s face and asked cautiously, “Do you like it?”
Lu Yichen raised his head slightly, his chest trembling a little and his fingers slowly clenching into fists, and said in a hoarse voice, “I like it.”
I like it so much that it manifests as a physical desire.
Tsk.
Unfortunately, Su Jingyan didn’t notice the change that had come over Lu Yichen.
Lu Yichen’s gaze slowly moved to the painting Su Jingyan had set aside. He squinted at it, and there was no telling what he was thinking.
Seeing that he was looking at it so intently, Su Jingyan handed the painting straight to him and said, “One of my juniors in the painting club painted this for me.”
Lu Yichen’s response was noncommittal. His eyes flickered, and he didn’t look at the front of the painting but stared in a daze at the back.
He could clearly see what was painted on the side hidden by the frame.
Lu Yichen’s teeth rattled.
There were bugs.
Too disobedient.
Ah.