Chapter 47

Is anyone in the room next door?

Bai Wei heard the dull sound of a heavy sack being dragged, as if someone was trying to hide a bag of dead weight in a cupboard. But the movement was slow and strained, not like something a normal person would do.

“What happened in this school has nothing to do with me.”

Bai Wei initially planned to ignore this oddity—however, he suddenly remembered that next door was Longxia’s art studio.

He saw students playing volleyball on the distant playground. Bai Wei walked over to the field and picked up a volleyball, throwing it hard at the window of the Long family art studio, as if it were an accident caused by the students.

There was a loud “bang!” as the glass shattered.

Bai Wei waited in the shadow for quite some time. After some curious students peeked at the window for a while, Longxia’s head finally appeared through the broken glass. He looked outside cautiously. Bai Wei didn’t need to see his expression to know that something was wrong inside.

Otherwise, Longxia would have immediately stuck his head out of the window to look for the child who broke the glass. He was clearly guilty, that’s why he waited so long before finally peering out.

At this moment, Bai Wei, holding a book, walked between the students and the art studio’s glass. He turned around and frowned at the students, “Who threw the ball?”

The students, who were juggling the ball, looked at each other. Some shook their heads vigorously.

Bai Wei said, “You’ve broken the classroom window. Do you know how dangerous this is?”

In the midst of the students’ nervousness and embarrassment, he took a glance at the art studio. The studio was dark, and Longxia’s body blocked every gap that might allow someone to see inside.

The awkwardness and concealment made Bai Wei feel somewhat pleased. Then, without making a big deal of it, Bai Wei turned around and said to the students, “Forget it, everyone disperse. Be careful next time.”

“Thank you, Teacher Bai!”

“Teacher Bai doesn’t scold us, Teacher Bai is so nice!”

A dozen students ran off as if pardoned. A few of them just ran a little farther away, holding their balls and sneaking peeks at Bai Wei’s face. Bai Wei, with no guilt, was looked at by these students with grateful eyes.

He didn’t wait for Longxia to speak, instead, turning and heading towards the door of Long’s studio. He knocked on the door.

The door was opened only a crack, and Longxia looked at Bai Wei cautiously: “What do you want?”

His nervousness was a far cry from the wary look he had when he called “Brother Bai Wei” yesterday.

“The glass is broken. I came to help you clean up,” Bai Wei said. “Your leg is inconvenient, right? Also, the ball is still inside the studio.”

He peered through the gap and looked inside: “Did anything get smashed?”

In a quick glance, Bai Wei saw not only the easel but also a freezer inside the studio.

“I’ll handle it myself! No need for you to worry!” Longxia raised his voice.

His voice trembled. Bai Wei knew that testing him was excessive, so he said, “Alright. For the window, remember to call the janitor yourself.”

With a “bang,” Longxia slammed the door shut, separating Bai Wei and his shadowy gaze with a tightly closed door. But at that moment, Bai Wei could still smell something coming from inside.

The smell of blood. Bai Wei thought.

Back in his office, Bai Wei called the school’s janitor. He waited for only half an hour before hearing Longxia telling the janitor to leave.

Now, besides Bai Wei, a group of students knew that Longxia had been staying alone in the studio recently.

Now, besides Bai Wei, two janitors also knew that Longxia didn’t want anyone entering his studio—this wasn’t just about privacy anymore. The window glass was broken, and he, a disabled person, wouldn’t let anyone come in to clean.

What could be in that studio, if not a ghost?

He must be paranoid, Bai Wei thought. It just seemed odd that Longxia, with such a large family, had insisted on working in the school’s studio these past few days.

Moreover, Bai Wei’s office was only one wall away from this studio.

Bai Wei only had one class to teach today. After the class, he was about to head toward Lu Sen’s classroom when he saw the vice principal behind the door.

“You did a great job teaching! And now, the entire school is speaking highly of you,” he said. “They say you’re knowledgeable, courteous, and humble. Although Teacher Qiao will be back in a week… I wonder if you’d be interested in giving lectures to the students regularly in the future?”

“Uh…” Bai Wei felt a headache coming on. He really didn’t want to get more involved with the people in this small town. “Maybe, depending on the situation.”

“Haha, I know it’s a bit of a hassle for you… How about next Wednesday? Before you leave, would you mind sharing something with everyone? Anything is fine,” the vice principal continued, enthusiastically, “The students are really looking forward to it.”

“Are they really that eager?”

Bai Wei felt troubled, but unable to refuse, he politely agreed. Then he realized that, without realizing it, he and the vice principal had already arrived at Lu Sen’s classroom door.

“…” Facing the vice principal’s “I know exactly what’s going on” look, Bai Wei explained, “This was just by coincidence.”

It was just by coincidence that they walked here.

The vice principal laughed, “Haha, it’s definitely not a coincidence. I specifically led you this way because I knew you’d come to pick up your husband after work.”

Bai Wei: …

Why does everyone in the world think he and Lu Sen are so lovey-dovey?!

With the vice principal there, Bai Wei couldn’t just turn and leave. He had to find a spot near Lu Sen’s classroom in a visual blind spot to avoid drawing attention.

But students who came out to use the restroom still noticed him.

“Teacher Bai is by the flowerbed!”

The students, halfway through their class, started peeking again. Bai Wei felt under immense pressure.

Fortunately, the class ended after only three minutes.

After taking Lu Sen, who was sitting in a wheelchair, Bai Wei nearly buried his face in his hands. Lu Sen gazed at him affectionately: “Darling, today my left and right brains were betting that you would come to pick me up.”

Don’t you have nine brains? What about the other sixteen left and right?

Unfortunately, the students were nearby, so Bai Wei could only ask, “So what did your right brain bet on?”

Lu Sen pointed at his right brain: “It said I would appear on the path you take to pick me up.”

Appearing behind me when I try to escape, huh?

Bai Wei couldn’t take it anymore. He felt he’d better push Lu Sen away quickly. As he pushed Lu Sen away, the students behind them said, “Goodbye, Teacher Lu and Teacher Bai!”

“Goodbye, Teacher Bai and Teacher Lu! Have a happy end of work!”

They walked through the campus lined with ginkgo trees. The ginkgo leaves of late spring had yet to turn golden yellow; in the sunlight, they looked like little green fans, reflecting the white-topped red walls of the classrooms, the blue sky, and white clouds. On this colorful evening, even the sky seemed quiet.

It made one feel like they could live here for many years.

“Little cat, they all like you,” Lu Sen said. “On the way, many students greeted you. Even if we leave Snow Mountain Town in the future, they will remember us.”

That’s really too bad. It’s not a good thing for future criminals to leave an impression.

Bai Wei was about to continue protesting the nickname “Little Cat.” He was tall, with long arms and legs, and had been a model all his life. Where was he a “little cat”? Don’t little cats have short legs? But just then, a few students ran past them in groups.

The girls among them had bangs, and the boys had buzz cuts. They were all wearing school uniforms, carrying their backpacks in a disorganized manner, and running toward the setting sun. But when they accelerated toward them, it turned out they were coming over to greet them.

“Hello, teacher!”

“See you tomorrow, teacher!”

“See you tomorrow!”

A girl looked back and smiled at them. The wind lifted her long ponytail, and her white, beautiful teeth were exposed.

Bai Wei froze for a moment at that moment.

“See you tomorrow!” Lu Sen said to them.

It was only then that Bai Wei reacted. Due to his earlier daze, he didn’t have time to tell them he would see them tomorrow. The children had already disappeared around the corner.

“Don’t be upset, you can tell them tomorrow. After all, you’ll see them again tomorrow. If you can’t tomorrow, you’ll see them the day after,” Lu Sen said. “Just like how I’ll be by your side tomorrow. Tomorrow, the day after, the day after that.”

Bai Wei: …

That strange feeling in his chest, caused by those kids, immediately vanished into thin air.

Couldn’t Lu Sen stop bringing up their relationship every chance he got? They were just a married couple, nothing so special.

Lu Sen: “Kitten, kitten, kitten, meow meow meow.”

“…”

Why did he suddenly start saying such strange things!

Bai Wei could no longer hold back. While driving, he grabbed Lu Sen’s mouth with his hand. “Shut up, you stinky dog.”

… Bai Wei’s life was still as chaotic as ever. Because he had grabbed Lu Sen’s mouth with one hand while on the road, and Lu Sen had licked his hand, he ended up hitting the car curb. They also happened to bump into a female police officer, who took them to the station for a report.

“Alright, just be more careful next time,” the female police officer, Chang Xiao, said nonchalantly. “I’ve heard of you. Are you teaching at Bai Ma High School now? My cousin goes there and often mentions you, says you’re really handsome.”

Bai Wei felt desperate. He just wanted to kill his husband, but now he had become the town’s new heartthrob, and even had his name on the police station’s records.

How was he supposed to sneak away from here now?!

Maybe life would never be entirely satisfying. But after returning home, Bai Wei sat back at his desk.

Outside the desk, the roses in the garden had grown fully. He took a deep breath and looked at the papers in front of him.

All the printed papers and documents were blank. In the past, he told everyone that he was working, that everything was fine, but in fact, for almost a year, he hadn’t written a thing.

Words are a tool for expressing emotions. A killer who must hide his true self could never write anything.

But today, he started typing.

“I share…”

“I want to share…”

The words flowing from the screen were free. They didn’t belong to business, nor to the microblogs.

They didn’t belong to the publishing house under his biological father’s name either.

The study door was tightly closed. Lu Sen knew he shouldn’t disturb Bai Wei while he was writing. So, he didn’t open the door but secretly let a little light and one eye peek through the crack. He held one eye up, quietly watching what Bai Wei was doing.

Tonight, he still wanted to lick Bai Wei. But Bai Wei was working. Bai Wei’s work couldn’t bring him anything, couldn’t accompany him, and couldn’t satisfy his desire to kiss and lick Bai Wei.

He had come to Snow Mountain Town to live with Bai Wei, not to be a substitute teacher. Whether the students learned something or not was irrelevant to him.

But Lu Sen didn’t rush to satisfy his desires. He also thought it was strange.

That night, he just held one eye up, quietly watching Bai Wei, enduring all his needs.

—-

Bai Wei had spent the whole evening preparing to share his report. But when he arrived at school the next day, he felt something was off.

When he entered the office, he saw that the two art teachers who had been chatting immediately dispersed. They watched him quietly, unsure of what they had just been talking about.