Free Web NovelChapter 184: Chapter 162: Grandma
Gazing at the familiar face they had just seen not long before, Yang Xiao and Song Yan were stupefied.
Xu Yu!!
In that moment, Song Yan had already thought of the various ways he might die, while Yang Xiao felt a surge of sadness—he hadn’t even spent his last paycheck.
Dressed in casual attire, Xu Yu slowly walked over from the doorway. Song Yan hadn’t expected that his text message wouldn’t deceive the "ghost," but instead had lured her here.
As Xu Yu approached, Yang Xiao and Song Yan began to slowly back away, but neither dared to turn and run; after all, one cannot outrun a ghost.
In other words, the moment they saw "Xu Yu," it was certain that today they couldn’t escape death.
"Teacher Xu Yu, let’s talk this through, please don’t be violent!" Yang Xiao pleaded loudly without any dignity, "Keeping us alive is to your advantage; we can help you, join forces against that bastard Sun Shengnan—I’ve disliked her for a long time!"
"Exactly, exactly, I can help you arrange a meeting with her, we can fish for the law!" Song Yan, not wanting to be outdone, also begged loudly.
But as she got closer, Yang Xiao and Song Yan saw clearly that Xu Yu’s eyes were red-rimmed, her gaze passing over them to where the car had driven away, her voice hoarse, "It really is him..."
Unable to discern the situation, Yang Xiao and Song Yan didn’t even dare to breathe too heavily.
After a moment, Xu Yu turned to look at them, explaining in a hoarse voice, "I am Xu Yu, just now... I saw everything."
"You’re the real Teacher Xu Yu?" Song Yan was the first to disbelieve, "You’re human?"
Xu Yu nodded.
"But weren’t you at school? How did you get here so quickly?" Song Yan was skeptical about this point.
But before Xu Yu could explain, Yang Xiao slapped Song Yan on the back. Smiling at Xu Yu with a very flattering expression, Yang Xiao said, "Why explain? Could there even be a fake Teacher Xu Yu? Besides, Teacher Xu Yu, we just received a call from Director Ding asking us to come over, so..."
"I really am Xu Yu, you don’t have to doubt it." Xu Yu’s gaze remained steady as she looked at him.
"I know, of course I know, let’s talk more tomorrow, we have a lot to tell you, it’s just that Director Ding is rushing us," Yang Xiao’s acting was so sincere, he’d never appeared so dedicated even when performing.
"Right, right, Director Ding is a very suspicious person; if we’re late, he’ll definitely be suspicious," Song Yan chimed in to back up Yang Xiao.
Xu Yu held out her hand, "Let me see your phone, I know the director’s number."
The situation now became tense; Yang Xiao had no phone, and the only phone was in Song Yan’s hands, and the call history completely lacked any call from Director Ding that night.
"Teacher Xu Yu, this..." Song Yan started, troubled, wanting to explain but not knowing what to say.
"I wasn’t at school earlier, I was nearby, I’ve rented an underground chamber," Xu Yu said, her expression betraying no flaw.
"What did you rent an underground chamber for?" Yang Xiao had no choice but to ask, toughing it out.
Xu Yu fell silent for a moment, then turned and walked towards the roadside, "Follow me."
Looking at Xu Yu’s retreating figure, and then at the inn that was just within reach, Yang Xiao and Song Yan decided against the idea of running away and, with a sense of grim resolution, followed her.
Xu Yu waved for a taxi, and after a bumpy ride, they arrived at a quiet residential area. Soon, the three of them were standing in an underground studio that was still reasonably spacious.
As the lights overhead came on, the scene inside the basement came into view for the two of them, a simple folding bed, an armchair, and a wooden table placed against the wall, on which sat an old printer.
The printer was obviously old, its originally white casing now slightly yellowed and the style quite outdated.
There were bundles of colorful paper next to the printer, and upon closer inspection, Yang Xiao realized that this paper was of the very cheap variety. Underneath the table, on the ground, lay already duplicated flyers. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Yang Xiao picked up one, its striking headline making his pupils tremble.
"Unrighted Wrong, Tongue is the Murderer!"
Xu Yu finally spoke up, "This is what I consider my workshop. I write articles here, print them, and then distribute them. Teacher Wang is wronged. He is a good teacher, this incident shouldn’t be buried!"
At this moment, Yang Xiao and Song Yan also believed that the person before them was indeed Xu Yu. After all, it made no sense for a ghost to be entangled with them for so long.
Yang Xiao slowly put down the flyer he was holding and sighed, "It must be tough on you, by the way, you said you saw everything, you saw that person who looked exactly like you, right?"
Talking about this, Xu Yu couldn’t help but burst into tears, choking up, "I saw, I saw. It must have been Teacher Wang. I always thought it was just a hallucination, but I can’t believe he really came back, he really did!"
"You’ve seen him before?" Song Yan quickly focused on the main point.
Xu Yu took a seat, falling into her memories, "I have, but... but I didn’t know. I thought it was just my hallucination, and he never appeared in his original form. I think...I think he didn’t want to scare me."
"Can you elaborate?" Yang Xiao’s voice softened as he sensed that Xu Yu’s state was off, worried about upsetting her.
"The first time I encountered such a thing was a year ago, on the anniversary of my grandmother’s passing. I went back to the old house in the town, and I had a very strange dream. I dreamt that I woke up, and my grandmother was sitting beside me. She patted my head, then turned and went outside to the stove. Not long after, she brought in a bowl of boiled eggs and peeled them for me to eat."
"When I woke up, I realized it was just a dream, but the image of my grandmother was so real, as if she was truly there. I cried beside the bed for a long time."
"But the dead cannot come back to life, I just thought it was because I missed her too much. It wasn’t until I had composed myself and walked to the outdoor stove that I realized things weren’t so simple. The stove had been used. I reached under the stove and found...found it was still warm, someone had recently lit a fire!"
"But how could that be? Since my grandmother passed away, the old house had not been lived in for a long time, and besides myself, there was no other family, and only I had the keys to the old house."
"The one who came...was it Teacher Wang?" Yang Xiao continued probing.
Xu Yu slowly nodded, "It must have been him. After that, I had those dreams more than once, and little by little, I started noticing things weren’t right. When she was alive, our family was very poor, poorer than you can imagine. We seldom had eggs to eat, only Teacher Wang would bring some over, and he would also boil eggs for me in his dormitory."
"From my previous experiences, I kept vigilant, and in the last dream, I suddenly noticed that my grandmother was using her left hand to peel the eggs for me, but she was clearly used to using her right hand!"
"Only Teacher Wang used his left hand, only he would peel eggs for me to eat."
"I realized something was wrong while I was in the dream. Every time after eating the eggs, I would fall asleep, the kind beyond my control."
"But that day, I forced myself not to fall asleep. I secretly clutched a piece of eggshell in my palm, gripping it tightly. Whenever drowsiness hit me, I would grasp it harder, to the point of bleeding, but thanks to the pain, I really didn’t fall asleep."
"I pretended to be asleep, but she didn’t know. After waiting for me to fall asleep, she patted my head and then cleaned everything up before walking outside."
"I stealthily followed from behind, peeking through the gap in the door. It was late at night outside, everything was dark, but she didn’t need any light and just walked out with her head held high. Gradually, I was shocked to see her neck getting longer and more twisted, until she disappeared into the night."
