Feeling something lightly brush her cheek—it was a little itchy—something was not right.
Yue Yiyue frowned and waved her hand discontentedly, only to touch a warm body. There seemed to be a voice near her ear.
She had suddenly lost consciousness right after entering the school, her vision going black. She rubbed her throbbing head. How did she fall asleep here?
Her head hurt. Hiss.
She should currently be participating in the activity with Gu Nanqiu, and then they would go back.
There were still some inexplicable things in her mind that she didn't have time to sort out.
That was because she felt the warm sensation beneath her hand and the even breathing scattered near her ear.
A soft chuckle followed, and a clear, clean female voice fell into Yue Yiyue's ear: "Get up if you're awake, Student Yue. You can't sleep here."
Yue Yiyue's sluggish mind finally processed two pieces of information: first, the voice sounded familiar; second, the person knew her.
She rubbed her eyes and carefully climbed out of the person's arms. When she looked down, an absolutely beautiful face came into Yue Yiyue's view. For a moment, she panicked, not knowing where to put her hands.
Long, straight black hair was casually draped over her shoulders. She looked a little pale, and her complexion was fair, but her beautiful lips were a translucent pink, like a Q-弹 (Q-elastic) jelly.
Her lovely peach-blossom eyes were particularly captivating to Yue Yiyue.
Seeming to notice someone observing her, the person smiled, her eyes curving into crescents.
At that moment, Yue Yiyue seemed to catch a faint scent of osmanthus.
Sweet.
Without needing to search through her memories, Yue Yiyue immediately knew who the person in front of her was.
Gu Nanqiu.
The Gu Nanqiu who was beloved by everyone.
It was summer, and the weather was muggy. She wore a loose white T-shirt, jeans, and comfortable sneakers. Yet, even the simplest clothing looked fashionable on her, the kind Yue Yiyue had once seen on an LED screen.
Because she was looking from above, Yue Yiyue noticed the person's collarbone was smooth and delicate.
A small red mole rested perfectly on it, subtly drawing attention.
"Why are you staring?" A playful voice rang out, but the way she drew out the words sounded strangely gentle, almost like the sweet nothings exchanged between lovers.
Thinking this, Yue Yiyue shivered and immediately took a step back, bowing to apologize: "I'm sorry, I was dazed from sleep! Are you alright?"
The young woman smiled and lifted her hand. Yue Yiyue instinctively reached out to help her up, only to be hugged tightly by Gu Nanqiu. The faint osmanthus scent from before grew stronger.
The softness of her body made Yue Yiyue instinctively take two steps back.
"Long time no see. I missed you so much. You never told me about this vacation. They kept trying to trick me, saying you had abandoned me." Gu Nanqiu reversed her grip, holding Yue Yiyue's hand and looping her arm through hers, speaking intimately as if their relationship was very close.
The overly intimate physical contact made Yue Yiyue feel slightly uncomfortable. She tried to pull away, but her brain immediately issued a forceful command to Yue Yiyue: "Accept."
Her limbs instantly became obedient, and she no longer resisted the intimate gesture as much.
Listening awkwardly as Gu Nanqiu spoke at length, Yue Yiyue had a question: Were these two characters in the book this close?
"Why are you spacing out? You seem a little strange today. What's wrong?" Gu Nanqiu tilted her head to look at the blank-faced Yue Yiyue, her eyes showing a hint of scrutiny, but more concern.
"You seem distracted today. What's the matter?" Gu Nanqiu put her hand on Yue Yiyue's forehead, lightly touched it, and quickly withdrew: "No fever. Did something happen?"
The buzzing vibration of her phone interrupted Gu Nanqiu's questioning.
Both their gazes fell on Yue Yiyue's pants pocket. Gu Nanqiu courteously stepped back: "You go ahead."
Yue Yiyue felt a surge of goodwill toward Gu Nanqiu because of this action, but when she took out her phone and saw the message on the screen, her hands and feet instantly went cold.
"Why are you standing so close to her?"
"You are cheating!"
"Baby, you can't do this!"
"Baby, make that vermin stay far away from you. Why? Why? Why????"
"She's doing it on purpose. She's disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting. Baby, don't be fooled by this disgusting person. She's only trying to bewitch you! Disgusting."
"Baby, don't you want to go back? Be good, and when the time is right, I will send you back."
"What is it?" Gu Nanqiu's voice pulled Yue Yiyue's thoughts back. She tilted her head and blinked, asking curiously, like a cunning fawn in a dense forest: "Are they rushing us to go upstairs?"
This voice snatched Yue Yiyue out of the dense text messages. She subconsciously lowered the volume button and forced a smile: "Just spam messages."
"Let's go. We should head up now and not keep them waiting."
Along the way, Gu Nanqiu spoke leisurely about her future plans, such as whether they should rent an apartment together in university, and whether they should try volunteering later on.
Yue Yiyue occasionally replied, but most of her attention was drawn to the constant barrage of text messages.
The frequency of the messages had increased since she arrived here.
Yue Yiyue was somewhat distressed.
But the sender of these messages seemed to know how to get her back…
Yue Yiyue thought she should just ignore them, as she had done before.
After all, if she didn't respond, she could still… go back, right?
"Are you willing to live with me later? You're the only person I know in that city."
"Huh? Oh, sure, maybe we can talk about it then." Yue Yiyue hadn't clearly heard what the other person said but nodded and agreed instinctively.
"Great, then it's settled. Thank you. It's so good that you're back."
These words sounded somewhat inexplicable, but Yue Yiyue's active mind wasn't focused on them.
She looked at the long corridor and asked in confusion: "Do we usually have to walk this far to get to the classroom?"
Although her memory was blurry, she vaguely remembered their class being on the top floor—the fourth floor—and it should only take eight minutes at most. But it felt like they had been walking for a long time today.
"Oh? Now that you mention it, it does feel a bit long." Gu Nanqiu anxiously moved closer to Yue Yiyue: "I heard them say there's a strange tale about the school during the holidays."
She purposefully lowered her voice while saying this and pressed herself close to Yue Yiyue. Her warm hand linked through Yue Yiyue's arm. The friction of their delicate skin made Yue Yiyue feel slightly unnatural.
For a moment, it felt like something cold was wrapping around her arm, but when she looked down, there was only Gu Nanqiu's hand wearing a silver bracelet.
"They say someone might accidentally enter the 'inner school' and get lost, becoming food for the ghosts."
Hearing this, Yue Yiyue breathed a sigh of relief because this was not in the original book: "Maybe we just walked slower because we were talking?"
After speaking, Yue Yiyue looked up and pointed to the "4F" sign: "Look, we've only reached the fourth floor now. But it's okay. If you're scared, I can walk you back later."
Later…
Thinking of what was to happen next, Yue Yiyue got a headache.
How many lives did these students think they had to dare to pull such a stunt?
She had to find a way to run away before that.
Looking at Gu Nanqiu, who was a little taller than her but was now leaning weakly beside her, Yue Yiyue thought she would take Gu Nanqiu with her when she ran. With the female lead's halo, she would definitely be safe.
As for the others…
She would try to persuade as many as she could. If they couldn't be persuaded, there was nothing she could do but shed a few tears when notifying their parents later.
After all, she was also just a clay Buddha crossing the river—she could barely save herself.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have ended up in this place while delivering takeout, shrunk down, and having to attend university.
"Okay, we're here." Seeing the familiar window, Yue Yiyue paused. She saw figures standing and sitting inside through the window. "This story was probably fabricated to prevent unauthorized people from staying at school, right? Don't be afraid, I'll protect you."
After speaking, Yue Yiyue pushed the door open and saw two girls and two boys standing inside. A chorus of surprise rose and fell.
"It's only been a few days since the holidays started, and I can barely recognize people!" A dramatic voice rang out. The overly enthusiastic girl with dyed red hair walked over and hooked her arm through Yue Yiyue's, squeezing between her and Gu Nanqiu: "Long time no see. You finally made it."
With the exaggerated movements and eye-catching hair color, the name automatically popped into her head—Zhang Yang.
"Wow, Gu Nanqiu, you actually honored us with your presence! Today is the last time we'll see each other, so I hope we can have a blast." The tall, big male student wearing a shirt pushed the shorter boy next to him: "Zhao Heyi, hurry up and take out your good stuff for everyone to see."
"You came with Gu Nanqiu, how enviable. By the way, how did you two get into the same university? I always thought you two got along, but I didn't expect this." The small-eyed girl's gaze had not left Gu Nanqiu since she walked in. She was clearly addressing Yue Yiyue, yet she didn't spare Yue Yiyue a glance.
Only her peripheral vision showed distaste when Zhang Yang accidentally touched Gu Nanqiu's clothes.
Zhang Yang naturally noticed. She turned her head, looked at the quiet, beautiful person standing there, and shot a provocative look at the small-eyed girl: "Wang Xiaoyan, are you coming over?"
"Don't all crowd around the classroom door. Come in and close the door, or the patrol might catch you. You'll be dragged into the room." Wang Yong said, deliberately lowering his voice and pretending to scare everyone.
"Wang Yong, that's not scary at all—" Zhang Yang teased, then turned to look at Gu Nanqiu: "Come in. We've been waiting for you for a long time. We thought you weren't coming."
Her tone was soft, almost like she was whining.
Yue Yiyue, who was thus ignored, wisely lowered her presence, found a random spot to sit down, and propped her hand up. She looked at the woman nearby who smiled as warmly as a spring breeze. As she answered her classmates' questions, she noticed Yue Yiyue's somewhat curious gaze and quietly waved in that direction.
Unfortunately, Yue Yiyue's attention was just then caught by a bird that suddenly jumped onto the windowsill outside the door.
She turned her head to curiously observe the strange-looking small bird. It had a patch of light blue feathers on its head, and its eyes were like purple crystal. It didn't look like an ordinary bird; she didn't know the species.
She stared at it for a moment and reached out to try and coax it, but the bird had no reaction and just stood there blankly.
A moment later, Yue Yiyue decided the dull little bird was uninteresting, so she retracted her gaze and continued to ponder the information she had just acquired in her mind.
She and Gu Nanqiu usually had a good relationship.
Then she must also try her best to act as if she and Gu Nanqiu were very good friends to avoid raising suspicion that the person inside had been replaced.
She had to maintain her current social relationships and then survive…
She recalled the only useful piece of information from the messy text messages: "Be good here and you can go back."
She would be good, as long as she could take care of Aunt Zhang.
A fleeting doubt in her mind was quickly thrown aside. Her brain instinctively avoided uncertainties, leaving only what Yue Yiyue cared about.
Noticing the person's gaze was not on her, Gu Nanqiu lowered her eyes and thought for a moment, then withdrew her hand as if nothing had happened.
She continued to answer everyone's questions methodically and asked how their holidays had been.
"I brought snacks to liven things up. What script are we playing today?"
Gu Nanqiu smiled brightly and asked in a friendly manner, but her gaze was fixed on the classmate who was trying to minimize her presence and keep out of the affair, Yue Yiyue. Her eyes were full of scrutiny.
The gazes of the people around them exchanged. They were staring intently at the young woman in the center.
They made no attempt to hide the greed and possessiveness in their eyes, answering in unison: "The Offering—"