Chapter 7: Yingying

Underneath the painting, there was a note from Principal Wang. It said the painting was an image of a Bodhisattva, blessed by a senior monk for protection against evil spirits.

I thought to myself, That's surprisingly thoughtful of him. He must have heard about the weird things that happened to me the other night. I unrolled the painting and took a quick glance. I couldn't tell which Bodhisattva it was, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to hang it on the wall.

That night, things felt normal. At midnight, I locked the door and lay on my bed. Honestly, I was still a little scared, so I looked at the painting on the wall and touched the bag of grains the old man had given me. It gave me some comfort.

Most importantly, I didn't feel cold anymore. That eerie sensation of someone being nearby was gone. I felt much more at ease and eventually drifted off to sleep.

To my surprise, everything stayed normal for a while. No strange events, no sightings of the girl in the dress. However, Principal Wang still hadn't hired a replacement. During the day, the teachers took turns watching over the place, but I never asked why.

I figured I'd quit when the new semester started. With the school on break, I'd have time to look for another job while still collecting a couple of months' salary.

About half a month passed without incident. The holidays were approaching, and one afternoon, I was too lazy to cook, so I headed to the school cafeteria for a quick meal.

I had just gotten my food when a girl suddenly walked up to me.

"Are you Gu Yan?" she asked. "What's your WeChat?"

I blinked, caught off guard. I looked up at her. "Do I know you?"

She scoffed. "Why do you talk so much? Just give me your WeChat already."

Normally, if someone talked to me like that, I'd have cursed them out. But I had a weakness for good-looking people, and this girl had a striking presence—she looked a lot like Joey Wong. So, I held back.

I pulled up my WeChat QR code and said, "Here, scan it yourself."

She took out her phone, scanned it, checked her screen, and then casually placed my phone back on the table before walking away without another word.

I sat there, dumbfounded. What just happened?

I spent a while trying to figure out why she'd asked for my WeChat, but in a place like this, weird things weren't exactly uncommon. I shrugged it off as just another odd encounter.

That night, just as I was about to sleep, I got a WeChat message from her.

"Are you asleep?"

I was exhausted and didn't feel like replying. But then she sent another message.

"Don't pretend. I know you're awake."

That actually made me laugh. I replied, "What do you want?"

"Do you remember who I am?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said. "You're Joey Wong from this afternoon."

She replied, "You're the Joey Wong! My name is Xu Nuo."

I checked her WeChat Moments. She had a lot of posts, mostly selfies. Her edited photos looked even more refined than she did in person.

I hadn't chatted with a girl in a while, and I was kind of enjoying the attention. So I asked, "Why did you ask for my WeChat earlier? You into me or something?"

"Don't flatter yourself," she replied. "I lost a game of Truth or Dare with my roommates, and they dared me to get the security guard's WeChat."

I scoffed. "Security guard? You mean me?"

She laughed. "Yep. So now you know."

I yawned. "Alright, you've had your fun. I'm tired. If you want to keep talking, I'm gonna start charging—one yuan per minute."

To my surprise, Xu Nuo immediately sent me a red envelope with 200 yuan.

I was stunned. "What the hell? What's this for?"

"You're too cheap," she said. "Here's 200. Consider it an all-night pass."

I quickly refunded her, but she refused to take it back. "I spend more than this on afternoon tea," she said. "Just take it."

I felt a bit guilty, so I forced myself to stay up and chat with her for two hours. She told me all sorts of gossip about the school.

At one point, I asked, "Do you know a girl named Yingying? I think she lived in the same dorm building."

Xu Nuo sent a question mark. "Why do you ask?"

I told her the truth. "I lent Yingying 100 yuan a while back, but she disappeared. I heard her family had some issues, but I haven't seen her since. I just wanted to check if you knew her."

She didn't reply for a long time. Just as I started wondering if she had fallen asleep, she suddenly sent me a long message.

She said she knew a lot of people but had never heard of anyone named Yingying living in that dorm. However, when she first started school, she vaguely remembered hearing about an upperclassman named Yingying from the 2016 batch. She was the campus beauty back then. But one night, she had a fight with her boyfriend and stormed out of the school. She was hit by a car and didn't survive. It was a well-known story around campus.

Then she asked me, "You didn't see a ghost, did you?"

Her words sent a chill down my spine.

I quickly replied, "No, I must be mistaken. The Yingying I met probably wasn't from this dorm."

Xu Nuo told me to be careful. "This place is weird sometimes," she said. "You know that reservoir nearby? A lot of people have drowned there. We don't go out at night."

I replied with a simple "Got it."

Lying in bed, I felt strangely disappointed. I had only seen Yingying twice, but her face kept lingering in my mind.

I really hoped she was just a regular student who had to leave due to family problems. That way, I might see her again.

But then I thought about that bottle of Coke, about how she had asked to borrow money for a taxi home. Doubt crept into my mind.

Maybe… the Yingying I met that night wasn't human.

I slept fitfully, dreaming of her face. In my dream, she looked at me intently and asked, "Gu Yan, do you believe me?"

For the next few days, Xu Nuo kept messaging me every night. One time, I jokingly asked, "Doesn't your boyfriend get jealous with how much you talk to me?"

She told me she had just broken up recently.

At first, I thought she was just looking for some comfort during her single phase. But as time passed, things started getting a little… weird.

She began sending me pictures of clothes, asking which ones looked good. I just casually responded, "You look good in anything."

Then she escalated. She started sending me photos of lingerie, asking which colors I liked.

One day, she even threw me a small bag from her dorm window.

I opened it and found a pair of stockings.

Completely dumbfounded, I asked her, "What the hell is this?"

She replied, "I wore them. Thought you might need some company while you're stuck on night shifts."

I was speechless.

She put her hands on her hips and said, "Do you know how many guys would kill for these? Just be grateful."

Then she turned and walked away.

I had no words.

At that point, I felt like things were getting out of hand.

I started keeping my distance, responding to her messages less and less.

A week before the holidays, she sent me another message.