Chapter 14: There’s a Ghost in the Diary
Across the distance, his eyes met the other’s. That gaze was soul-stirring, as if it could tear through any mask or disguise with a single look.
Xie Jiuchen looked embarrassed. He could only turn his head away as if nothing had happened. “It’s nothing. I was just speaking casually.”
Jiang Louqi kept his hands in his pockets, the corners of his eyes crinkling slightly. He was very satisfied with this reaction.
“I found it!”
Over in the corner, Chen Peiwen poked his head out from a pile of miscellaneous junk, holding a cardboard box.
At some point, several spiderwebs had caught in the boy’s hair, and his once clean and tidy face was now smudged with dirt. He looked quite disheveled.
Yet he didn’t seem to care at all. He stumbled out and placed the box in front of Jiang Louqi.
Unlike the other filthy and disorganized items, this cardboard box was exceptionally clean, looking entirely out of place in its surroundings.
The tape used to seal it was perfectly neat, and the box itself was undamaged. Once opened, it revealed books and notebooks stacked in an orderly fashion.
“Student Chen, you’re quite the meticulous one.” Jiang Louqi picked up a few books and flipped through them quickly. Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly spotted the diary Chen Peiwen had mentioned.
It was a ledger with a very simple cover. The exposed pages had turned a yellowish-black.
What kind of heart-wrenching story did this girl named Ren Yu have? In the end, she could only find redemption by entrusting her feelings to the written word.
Just as he was about to flip it open, Jiang Louqi instinctively looked at Xie Jiuchen and hurriedly explained, “Don’t misunderstand! I don’t like peeking at people’s diaries. I just simply want to see why Ren Yu became the way she did.”
Xie Jiuchen let out a soft cough and forced a stiff smile. “Feel free. This is Director Jiang’s job; there is no need to explain it to a mere piano teacher like me.”
“Well, I have to make sure I leave a good impression on you.”
Jiang Louqi spoke to himself as he looked down to wipe a dark brown stain off the cover, failing to notice the unnatural expression on the man beside him.
Flipping to the first page of the diary, several striking words were written in red ink—’I want to die’.
October 12th, Rain
The thunder outside is so loud. The wind and rain just won’t stop. I’m so scared. Is the Heavens crying for me, too?
Actually, this is quite nice. I can’t hear them arguing, and I can’t hear the sound of them throwing things. It won’t be so annoying anymore.
October 17th, Overcast
While I was cleaning the room today, I actually found our family portrait under the bed.
This is great! I’ve been looking for it for so long. I must cherish it!
Looking at that family portrait, I feel like I’ve gone back to my childhood in an instant. Dad and Mom are smiling so happily.
That’s me at six years old, and my two-year-old brother.
But later, Dad said I never had a brother. He even refused to let me eat because of this, making me reflect on my mistakes.
I don’t understand. Did I remember it wrong?
October 29th, Sunny
Why?! Why did he do this to me?
Why did he pull me into the basement to do those things that are too shameful to speak of? I only went there to hand in my homework…
Oh no, my eyes are so blurry. I can’t see the words clearly anymore.
November 10th, Partly Cloudy
I don’t know why, but for several nights now, I haven’t heard Mom crying. There aren’t even any sounds of arguing. Did they make up?
I stood at the bedroom door wanting to give Mom some ice cream, but Dad hurriedly chased me away.
Next time, I’ll definitely try to see more than just Mom’s back while she’s lying down.
November 16th, Overcast
Lately, I keep smelling something rotting. It must be the vegetables and fruits in the fridge going bad.
I’ll throw them away when I have time.
November 18th, Rain
Dad seems to like going out at night, especially when it’s raining. He often carries several black bags in his hands. When I asked him what he was doing, he said he was going to throw out the trash.
By the way, Mom is gone. Her clothes, her suitcase, everything is gone.
I think she must have gone to Grandma’s house. Every time they argue, Mom stays at Grandma’s for a while.
The diary stopped on this page. Everything that followed had been torn out, leaving behind nothing but jagged edges.
“Hmph. Talk about spine-chilling.” Jiang Louqi closed the notebook and placed it back in its original spot, a cold light flashing in his eyes. “There’s more between these lines than just confusion. Or rather… she knew.”
He suddenly shifted his gaze to Xie Jiuchen, wearing a half-smile. “Right? Teacher Xie, it looked like you were reading along just now.”
“Mhm. People with excellent grades generally aren’t too slow on the uptake.”
Being called out by Jiang Louqi like that made Xie Jiuchen feel like he was losing face. He tried to move his injured arm behind his back, only to accidentally bump it against the corner of a table.
“Hey! Your arm is still hurt! Don’t move it around like that. It hurts just looking at it!”
In an instant, the pain seemed to pierce right into Jiang Louqi’s own heart. He wanted to check the injury, but the other man instinctively dodged him. Left with no choice, he could only step back to give him some space.
Xie Jiuchen was left speechless. It was his arm; why was Jiang hurting?
“Aaaaaah! There’s a ghost!”
Chen Peiwen collapsed onto the floor, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. He clutched the sealed bag containing the torn family portrait tightly to his chest.
Jiang Louqi held his forehead. This boy’s screaming was making his head feel like it was going to explode. How could someone be so cowardly?
He suddenly understood why Su Qian had been so angry.
The anger on the man’s face vanished, replaced by a kindly expression. “Student Chen, don’t make such a fuss. Those are just minor spirits lingering around from the old mass grave. They aren’t harmful.”
Looking up at the ceiling, several ghosts with missing limbs were floating in mid-air. They darted back and forth between the walls, letting out eerie, cackling laughs.
“I-Is that true? They look so terrifying.” Chen Peiwen’s face was ashen. His legs had gone so weak he couldn’t even stand up.
Jiang Louqi dropped his friendly facade, his face turning solemn. “Nonsense. When has a ghost ever not been terrifying?”
“It’s alright. Director Jiang will protect you.” Xie Jiuchen reached out to pull Chen Peiwen up from the floor, lightly dusting the dirt off the boy’s back.
“Thank you, Teacher…” Chen Peiwen had barely grasped the other’s hand before he instantly regretted it.
That hand was like ice and jade, but it was also eerily cold. It was a chill that seeped into him bit by bit, as if it were freezing his very bones.
His whole body shuddered, and he hurriedly pulled his hand back.
Beside them, Jiang Louqi’s teeth itched with jealousy. A sour, stinging feeling rose within him from the inside out. “I haven’t even held it yet!”
“Stop joking, Director Jiang.” Xie Jiuchen stood to the side, not taking the man’s nonsense to heart. He then pointed to the transparent sealed bag in Chen Peiwen’s hand, his voice softening slightly. “Shouldn’t you use some glue to put it back together?”
“Mhm… I’ll look for some glue.” Chen Peiwen poured the photo fragments from the bag onto the table and carefully pieced them together according to the jagged edges.
Just as he was about to fix them in the center, he realized a piece was missing—the piece that corresponded exactly to Ren Yu’s face.
Jiang Louqi, holding the glue, had already finished sticking the other parts together. He didn’t look up as he said, “Check if it fell into the box.”
“Okay, I’ll check!” Chen Peiwen picked up the cardboard box and cleared out everything inside, but the last piece was still nowhere to be found. He crumpled the sealed bag in his hands, nearly frantic with worry. “What should I do? What should I do? I can’t find it… Ah! What’s that?!”
Something behind him suddenly yanked on his hair. Then, he felt an invisible hand scratching the back of his neck…
Chen Peiwen’s scalp tingled. He squeezed his eyes shut and screamed as he dove behind Xie Jiuchen to hide.
“What is it now?” Distracted by the scream, Jiang Louqi nearly knocked over the glue and spilled it on the photo.
He looked up toward the front with annoyance, feeling both angry and amused.
A ghost was floating in the air right where Chen Peiwen had been standing. It looked simple-minded and not yet fully evolved.
Its face was pale white, as if painted with a layer of oil, and it was currently holding the missing fragment in its mouth. It looked completely harmless.
Translator’s Note:
- Spine-chilling (細思極恐): A popular Chinese internet term that literally means “it’s terrifying when you think about it carefully.” Looking at Ren Yu’s diary entries, the implications of the “black bags,” the “smell of rot,” and the “Mom lying down” are absolutely horrifying.
- Ice skin and jade bones (冰肌玉骨): A classical Chinese idiom used to describe a person with exceptionally beautiful, fair, and smooth skin. Here, it also emphasizes the supernatural coldness of Xie Jiuchen’s body.
- Teeth itching (牙痒痒): A common expression meaning to be annoyed or frustrated, often used in a jealous context in romance novels.
- Mass Grave (亂葬崗): Historically, many schools in China (and in web novel tropes) are said to be built on old mass graves to use the “yang energy” of the students to suppress the “yin energy” of the spirits.
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