Chapter 3

“You little devil! Are pranks like this supposed to be funny? You could scare someone to death!” Mingzi realized it was just his younger sister playing a trick on him, and although he was no longer afraid, anger flared up within him. It seems that being timid does make a man feel somewhat inadequate.

“Hehe…” Wei Zina gave Mingzi a teasing smile and then turned to Ye Chen, asking, “Ye Chen, you haven’t told me yet how you knew it was me?”

“Life is like a sheet of paper, we paint it with our colorful emotions; life is like a flower, its ever-changing coat painted in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet! Now you know?” Ye Chen recited, then bowed his head and smirked proudly at Wei Zina.

Wei Zina’s eyes darted around, her hands clenched, and her face contorted as she let out a scream. She shouldn’t have left her facial tissue on the washstand-what Ye Chen had just recited was the slogan for “Artistic Life” facial tissues.

Wei Zina should have screamed even more, but instead, she suddenly flashed a charming smile at Ye Chen and said, “Help me up.” Could it be that she only now realized she was still half-lying on the floor?

Ye Chen reached out and helped her up.

“Not bad, Brother Ye! When did you memorize the ad slogan for my favorite facial tissues?”

“…Ugh, such a cheesy line. I saw it once, and it’s hard to forget,” Ye Chen paused and added.

Wei Zina stood up and realized her hand was still holding onto Ye Chen’s. She quickly pulled away, a blush spreading across her cheeks, a woman’s instinctive reaction.

Ye Chen treated Zina like a younger sister, but Zina might not necessarily see him as a brother.

Sometimes, being liked by a woman you don’t fancy can be quite troublesome. Worse yet is when the feelings you harbor for her are ambiguous-this is where the “headache” really starts.

The simplest things are often the most complex. Gongye Jianqing, the former president of Shengze Mainstream Language and Literature College, once said this to the students in love.

Buddha once said: “If you insist on treating simple matters seriously, you will suffer greatly.” However, the reality is that even if you view these simple matters simply, you will still suffer. After all, monks who have experienced love are rare, and those who have been in love usually end up failing. So, if you also believe what Buddha said, there must be something wrong with your IQ! Would you believe someone who annotates “yes” with a phonetic symbol for “choke to death” when they tell you your English pronunciation is off? Only if you are dumber than they are! God knows, English pronunciation isn’t learned that way!

At this moment, Ye Chen was looking at Wei Zina and found her even more beautiful than usual. A warm, peach blossom-like tenderness flowed from his eyes, but before it reached his throat, it was interrupted by a sneeze.

“Hey! There’s no need to do that to me!” Ye Chen’s sneeze was directed right at Wei Zina, who, clutching her nightgown, complained as if the sneeze had soaked her clothes.

“I’m sorry, when it comes to psychological vs. physiological, I tend to address physiological needs first-I really don’t want to suffocate…”

“You! …Hmph!” Wei Zina, left speechless, huffed and sat down on Cai Erman’s bed.

“Ah!” A piercing scream emanated from Room 1301 of the dormitory, a sound wave strong enough to penetrate n walls, n corridors, and n windows. It was now past eleven o’clock, and after that scream, half of the rooms in the Zone N dormitory building turned on their lights, with several heads peeking out of the windows, fearful of missing the spectacle of a “UFO” visiting the “Shengze Mainstream Language and Literature College.”

At the “Shengze Mainstream Language and Literature College,” incidents of naughty boys sneaking into girls’ dorms and causing mischief are often described as “‘UFO’ events.”

“Ah… Oh my gosh! Did she just win something?” Cai Erman was about to shout but quickly covered his mouth with both hands.

“Win? What do you mean?” Mingzi, who had just been looking fiercely angry, widened his eyes upon hearing Zina’s scream. Hearing Cai Erman mention winning, Mingzi exclaimed in a lost voice, his eyes still fixed on Zina’s pained expression.

“Unfortunately, it seems my spiked running shoes ended up under her butt,” Cai Erman choked out as he looked at Zina’s face contorted in pain. He knew that offending such a fiery princess would have its repercussions, even if it was unintentional.

Ye Chen placed his index, middle, and ring fingers in front of his mouth, remaining silent.

If standing by idly does not make one a gentleman, then the three men in this room might at least be accused of having no compassion for beauty.

Zina, grimacing in pain, struggled to her feet and turned to grab the spiked running shoe that was lying on the bed. She glared at Cai Erman and said, “How many times have I told you not to leave your shoes at the head of the bed! Do you ever listen? Ouch…” Zina moaned, her left hand pressing on her buttocks.

“Ah!” Ye Chen was about to exclaim but quickly swallowed his words as he saw the bloodstained marks on Zina’s left buttock.

“Ah! Cai Erman!… You just wait!…”

“Bang!”

Zina lifted her left hand to her eyes, saw the blood on her palm, glared at Cai Erman, screamed his name, and then hurled the shoe at him with lightning speed. Cai Erman and Mingzi quickly dodged, narrowly avoiding it. Zina, frustrated and angry, stumbled out the door, slamming it hard behind her. It was a case of trying to catch a chicken but losing the rice instead!

“Mom, there’s blood!” Cai Erman called out.

“My sister…” Mingzi shook his head and walked towards the bathroom.

“Heh heh…” Ye Chen shook his head and chuckled.

“By the way, those aren’t snakes in the bathtub, they’re four ricefield eels,” Ye Chen called out towards the bathroom.

“Got it!” Mingzi answered.

After washing up, the three of them lay down, and by then it was about midnight. Unexpectedly, the weather in May had turned so hot. Cai Erman, who was sleeping by the window, put on his slippers, drew back the curtains, and pushed open the window, only to be startled by a sudden gust of wind that blew into the room, causing him to retreat abruptly and crouch on his bed in alarm. Ye Chen, sleeping next to Cai Erman, instantly perked up, and Mingzi also sat up.

“Could it be about to pour?” Mingzi exclaimed in surprise.

“But the weather forecast said Hailing would be clear these next few days,” Ye Chen said as he turned on the light. Besides a switch by the door, there was also a switch next to each bed in the dormitory.

“That’s what the forecast said,” Cai Erman agreed.

“It couldn’t be…”

“Don’t say it!”

Mingzi was about to say something when Cai Erman quickly interrupted him. It seemed that no one wanted to hear those words at that moment.

“You mean the eighteenth floor? You believe in such ghost stories, huh? Psh… the world is never short of thrill-seekers.”

Hearing Ye Chen mention “the eighteenth floor,” both Cai Erman and Mingzi scrambled onto Ye Chen’s bed.

“Easy for you to say. Dare you spend a night on the eighteenth floor, and we’ll call you ‘boss’ tomorrow,” Mingzi challenged.

“Thump, thump!…”

“Ah!…” Suddenly, a rapid knocking at the door startled Ye Chen, Mingzi, and Cai Erman, causing all three to scream out loud. It seemed that whether courageous or not, everyone gets scared at some point.

“Ye… Ye Chen, you go open the door!” Mingzi said in panic.

“You’re closest to the door, you go!” Ye Chen retorted, suddenly turning timid.

“Open up! It’s me, Zina!” A sharp female voice came from outside, finally easing the tension among the trio who were nearly hugging each other in fear.

“Goodness, it’s your lovely sister again,” Cai Erman said, breathlessly.

“Hurry up and get dressed!” Ye Chen urged.

“Coming, just a sec!” Mingzi looked back at Ye Chen and Cai Erman to make sure they were dressed before he opened the door.

“The two beauties in our dorm haven’t returned yet, and the wind is banging the windows around. You know, I’m on the seventeenth floor…”

The “Shengze Mainstream Language and Literature College” Zone N dormitory building is the only one where both male and female students reside. The male students occupy the first to the fourteenth floors, while the female students are unfortunately placed on the fifteenth to eighteenth floors. This arrangement was inevitable since the male students moved in first.

“Don’t worry, I’ll share a bed with Ye Chen. You can sleep on mine,” Mingzi interjected, already understanding what Zina meant before she even finished speaking.

“I’m not here to sleep with you guys! I want you to watch TV with me! Dream on!” Zina suddenly raised her voice.

“Oh man, another sleepless night,” Cai Erman complained.

“Just accept it…” Ye Chen sighed and lay back down on his bed.

“Not willing, huh? Then have the guts to come with me to the eighteenth floor?” Zina was annoyed by Cai Erman’s tone.

“Fine, let’s go, who’s scared of who!” Cai Erman retorted stubbornly.

Zina initially intended to scare them off, but she didn’t expect Cai Erman to take her up on the challenge. Surprised, she widened her eyes and said, “Alright! Let’s go!”

Cai Erman had only spoken on a whim, but Zina’s daring response triggered his false sense of machismo. Thinking about things like “Atheism”, he mustered his courage and said, “Do you think the three of us are cowards? Let’s go!” Truly, his bravery didn’t want to leave his brothers behind.

So, they braced themselves and grabbed their flashlights as they headed for the elevator. With four people and only three flashlights, it was clear how intimidated they were by the eighteenth floor.

“Let’s… let’s not go,” Cai Erman finally admitted his reluctance.

“We’re going! You said it yourself!” Despite Zina’s brave words, she was actually the most scared. Her stubbornness usually didn’t serve her well. If it weren’t for Ye Chen being there, she would have surrendered already. Someone who was afraid of even the seventeenth floor wouldn’t dare to mess with the eighteenth floor.

As they reached the elevator, Cai Erman’s fingers trembled as he pressed the up button. Once inside, the group fell into an uneasy silence. Mingzi attempted to press the number 18 on the panel, but his hand froze, his macho facade crumbling against his inner fear. After a few moments of hesitation, he withdrew his hand. Cai Erman couldn’t bring himself to look at the panel, staring intently at the floor instead. Noticing the inaction, Zina decisively jabbed the button for the eighteenth floor with her right index finger, setting the elevator in motion. As it began to move, everyone’s heart seemed to drop to their feet, faces turning ashen as though they’d lost their spirits.

When the number 18 finally lit up, they all instinctively held their breath. It seemed the elevator hadn’t reached the eighteenth floor in ages; the doors opened slowly to reveal a pitch-black corridor.

“Chirp chirp!” Ye Chen attempted to whistle, though it came out awkwardly and with a slight quiver. The corridor lights on the eighteenth floor were sound-activated, and his whistle managed to turn on all twelve 100-watt bulbs. The sudden brightness brought a faint sense of security to the group.

The night wind’s howling ceased, and the windows remained still and silent. As they walked, they made no sound. Suddenly, there was a loud “bang” as the wind howled once more. They all gave a start but dared not make a peep. Unconsciously, Zina had wrapped her hands around Ye Chen’s right arm, revealing that familial ties didn’t always equate to a sense of security.

Every door was quietly shut, yet every window trembled restlessly, as if the wind were “music” and the windows were lively young lads dancing to the passionate tune. Meanwhile, the doors seemed like elderly gentlemen, unimpressed by the present chaos. Under the harsh light, their surfaces appeared grim and foreboding. Gazing at them filled the onlookers with unease and agitation.

Footnote:

1. Choke to Death(噎死):“Choke to death”, its sound in Chinese pronunciation and the sound of “yes” in English are similar. So some learners will use the similar pronunciation to help them learn English, which can lead to misleading language pronunciation among some language learners.