He raised his right hand. It was clean.
But if he sniffed carefully, a lingering scent of blood still remained.
...
Zhu Xi Ning tossed and turned in bed. The sound of snoring drifted from the other room—it was Zhao Mingming's mother.
She worked in the factory cafeteria every day and had to care for Zhao Mingming's father after returning home.
Fortunately, the factory looked after her. Recently, they had assigned her to wash vegetables, which was a lighter task that gave her time to check on things at home.
Zhu Xi Ning saw it all. Zhao Mingming's mother worked very hard.
But Zhao Mingming didn't put much thought into the household. Or rather, her personality had changed significantly after her face was injured.
Before sleeping that night, Zhu Xi Ning stood by the window. She wanted to see if she could find any traces of the person who had mimicked a cat the previous night.
But Zhao Mingming's mother saw her and thought she was having another episode. This woman, who was only in her forties but looked sixty, wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
"Mingming, don't think about it anymore. Just go to sleep."
The woman's voice was filled with helplessness and bewilderment. She didn't know why heaven was treating her this way.
Her husband was basically useless after his workplace injury, and her daughter's face, once in the prime of its youth, had been disfigured in that stampede incident.
She felt as if her back was about to break under the pressure.
"The factory director's family is beyond our reach. Stop thinking about it. I'll help you find an honest and reliable man in the factory."
The woman rambled for a long time before finally sighing. "You just have too much pride, and you think too much."
"I've asked around. Li Hui didn't go that time. She didn't hurt you."
Zhu Xi Ning, who had been listening with her back turned, paused. Zhao Mingming suspected her face was ruined by Li Hui?
No wonder they had a bad relationship.
"Actually, you know it in your heart. Li Hui is so gentle that she even cares for stray cats. How could she lay a hand on you?"
"Besides, she has always looked after you, hasn't she?"
"Don't be so hostile toward Li Hui. She's already married, and she has never had any contact with Zhong Guochao."
"You're such a smart child. Why can't you see clearly whenever it involves Zhong Guochao?"
"Mom..."
As soon as Zhu Xi Ning spoke, the woman looked at her daughter expectantly.
Her daughter hadn't spoken much to her since the injury.
"What's the story with Yang Xufen?"
The woman was both annoyed and amused. She knew her daughter still couldn't let it go.
Well, everyone went through that at that age.
"You're asking me about Yang Xufen? You two used to be the best of friends. Didn't you fall out because of Zhong Guochao?"
"But she isn't right either. She didn't even come to see you after your face was hurt."
Mother Zhao's burden was too heavy, and she easily drifted off-topic when she spoke.
Zhu Xi Ning pinched her fingers. The other Yang Xufen that Chi He mentioned, the one who wrote him a love letter, was her former best friend?
She had been careless. Because of Zhao Mingming's personality, it wasn't very convenient for her to explore clues.
This person, Yang Xufen, had only appeared this morning, and it wasn't until tonight that she learned of their relationship. She would definitely have to find someone to ask about her tomorrow.
Her mind full of thoughts, she climbed into bed and soon fell asleep.
"Creak."
"Creak."
The old door was moved by the wind, making a strained sound as if it were under a heavy load.
Zhu Xi Ning opened her eyes. Her room led directly to the small outer room, while the room for Father Zhao and Mother Zhao was to the right of hers.
Her bed faced the door, so she saw at a glance that the main door, which should have been closed, was now open.
The screen door was still properly shut, but the wooden door outside was open a crack, swaying back and forth.
"Creak. Creak."
Zhu Xi Ning stared intently at that door.
The door swayed as if moved by the wind.
But in this muggy, windless weather, where would the wind come from to move a heavy door?
Was it the wind moving the door...
Or was someone outside, mimicking the wind, repeatedly opening and closing her door?
The moment Zhu Xi Ning thought of this, she saw a pale hand appear at the edge of the door.
The hand was cold, white, and stiff, looking nothing like the hand of a living person.
The hand that appeared out of thin air gripped the door tightly, opening and closing it with a stiff motion.
"Creak."
"Creak."
Half a face appeared behind the door. Long hair covered most of it, leaving only pitch-black eyes and...
A curled smile visible.
The corners of that mouth were pulled up all the way beneath the eyes. It was not an expression a human could make.
The face emerging from the long black hair was pale, with greyish-white lips pulled high.
"Heehee..."
The eerie laughter seemed both far and near, drifting to Zhu Xi Ning's ears through the muggy air.
Her heart skipped a beat.
When she looked again, there was no one behind the door. With no one pulling it, the door soon came to a stop.
Only a dark gap remained.
...
While Zhu Xi Ning was thinking about looking for clues regarding Yang Xufen tomorrow, she didn't know that the person she was thinking about lived on the first floor of the female dormitory opposite her.
The distance between them was less than eighty meters.
Yang Xufen hadn't fallen asleep either.
Two days into the mission and she was still dazed. The lifestyle of this era was different from theirs.
The interpersonal relationships were too complex.
People of this era ate communal meals and lived in dormitories. The social web was entirely intertwined and impossible to untangle.
The situation she currently grasped was that her persona was named Yang Xufen, a female workshop worker with an average family background.
Yang Xufen loved beauty. There were many mirrors in her room, as well as vanishing cream.
Her roommate didn't have any, and many other female comrades didn't either. It was likely expensive and not easy to get.
Also... Yang Xufen seemed to have a male comrade she liked. She had found a half-finished love letter.
"Dear Comrade Zhong, spring has arrived, and all things are awakening..."
Yang Xufen didn't comment on the way the love letter was expressed, but she hadn't locked onto a target for this Comrade Zhong yet.
There were several people in the factory with the surname Zhong. Even the factory director was surnamed Zhong. Yang Xufen loved beauty, and the clues dropped inadvertently by her roommate suggested she was quite vain.
She likely liked the factory director's son.
But just in case.
Yang Xufen's relationship with her roommate wasn't very good. It seemed to be because the original Yang Xufen was quite aloof and didn't have many friends.
Gathering information wasn't that easy.
Yang Xufen tossed and turned in bed. She was a bit hot. Had the roommate outside closed the door?
The dormitory was filled with fellow workers from the factory, all unmarried young people. When it was hot, they would leave their doors open.
All twenty dormitory doors along the corridor would be open.
Everyone said the weather was strange this year, for April to be this muggy.
Yang Xufen got out of bed and lifted the door curtain to walk out. The door was indeed closed.
She glared at her roommate, who had already rolled over and fallen asleep. The roommate was facing the wall, wrapped in a quilt with only her head showing.
Wasn't this person hot?
The irritability from being unable to sleep for so long made Yang Xufen's movements a bit loud when she opened the door.
But the roommate wasn't woken up.
She returned to her room, but her hand lifting the door curtain suddenly paused.
She remembered...
Her roommate had long hair.
Rate on N.U.
