Chapter 35 ~ Fourth Game Pt.6 ~
Who taught bad things to this notebook?
It wasn’t easy to respond to this joke.
Gu Yian raised her head and looked at the road which was empty of vehicles and then at the bus stop where there was no one.
She looked down at the notebook and deliberately asked, “I’ll turn into the notebook then? And you become me? You want to become a girl?”
The notebook didn’t seem to expect Gu Yian to ask this, so it immediately showed new words to correct Gu Yian’s thoughts.
“It’s not what you’re thinking.”
Of course Gu Yian knew the notebook didn’t mean it like that.
She asked again, “How did you know I was going to give him a protective talisman? Did you hear it? At that time, weren’t you with the counselor?
The notebook didn’t even know she rejected that Student Union member, so how did it know she planned to send him a protective talisman?
Thinking about this, the notebook might have heard her call with the counselor when it was there at the time and how she wanted to buy a protective talisman, so it guessed that she wanted to send the talisman to the other party as thanks.
The notebook was unresponsive.
Gu Yian looked at it with suspicion and then confirmed, “Did you do something?”
She had asked the notebook where it had gone before, but it kept avoiding the question. Only now was it discovered to have gone to the counselor.
Gu Yian instinctively felt that the notebook did something again.
Faced with Gu Yian pressing in on it, the notebook silently closed itself.
It conveyed a vivid and symbolic message to Gu Yian—it was closing itself off.
Seeing the notebook’s act of pretending to be dead, Gu Yian thought for a moment and decided to let it go.
The notebook protected her so many times in the dark, it wasn’t good for her to constantly suspect it.
She put the notebook into her schoolbag and reminded it along the way, “If I buy protective talismans later, stay away from them.”
If the protective talismans Gu Yian bought lost their effects immediately because of the notebook, then she would have to buy them again.
There was no movement from the notebook, but the small charm on the phone in Gu Yian’s pocket moved slightly, as if promising Gu Yian.
Gu Yian didn’t notice the movement on her own phone. She put on her schoolbag and stood, holding up her parasol again, and looked into the distance.
Her counselor had arrived.
“Professor Huang.”
Gu Yian gave her greetings first.
The counselor always had a smile on her face, giving people a sense of intimacy. She said, “Yian, I’m sorry I made you wait so long. Something happened just now.”
Gu Yian replied right away that it didn’t matter.
She was a person who was used to arriving early, so she was the one who came early.
Gu Yian didn’t get to the bottom of why the counselor ran late; everyone had their own emergencies.
The counselor took the initiative to find a topic to chat with Gu Yian.
“When did your protective talisman lose its effect?”
Gu Yian made up an answer, “I’m not sure, probably around nine at night. I was at my rental place and didn’t sense anything dangerous at the time.”
The counselor nodded pensively and then she changed the topic, asking, “Did you know that someone summoned the Spirit Pen a while ago again?”
Was this the counselor wanting to divulge information to her?
Gu Yian thought for a little bit and then said, “I heard of this.”
The counselor said, “Maybe Zhou Yaling and the others are back.”
She looked at Gu Yian with concern. “Yian, you might be in danger.”
Gu Yian had predicted this a long time ago, so her expression was calm.
The counselor looked at Gu Yian’s calm expression and thought it was because Gu Yian didn’t know the seriousness of this situation.
She sighed, “You don’t understand. When they were alive, they told me many opinions about you.”
The counselor began to slowly recount what she had learned.
Gu Yian listened seriously.
Ten minutes later, the bus they had been waiting for picked them up.
In the restaurant, the original customers all disappeared because of the death.
The police sealed off the scene and the restaurant owner was brought away for questioning.
Brother Zhang took the male player and the two female players around for a stroll for a while and, after confirming no one recognized them as companions of the deceased, he went to a small internet cafe that could help customers use other people’s ID cards to surf the internet.
He selected the innermost row of the internet cafe and saw there was a closed side door next to them.
There were four of them and four seats. The male player happily turned on a computer.
One female player looked at him and couldn’t help but say, “Haven’t you thought about how, just earlier, you might have seen a ghost in the restaurant too?”
Maybe the male player was the first to see the ghost.
The male player replied, “Didn’t I meet one? The ghost saw how handsome I was and couldn’t bear to kill me.”
He completely didn’t look like his terrified self when he saw the ghost last night.
Brother Zhang glanced at him and secretly thought about how fools had their own fortune.
The other female player kept silent and held something in her hand.
It was something she went into the back kitchen to grab at the time when the restaurant was in chaos after discovering a body. There were too many people and movements and now the restaurant was closed, so the restaurant people probably wouldn’t notice they were missing something for a while.
That thing was hidden in her clothes and Brother Zhang also couldn’t see what she took.
Brother Zhang recalled this female player’s name, Han Qiu. Back then, she told him she wanted everyone to kill Little Gu but was rejected by him.
In all likelihood, the hint God gave was that the ghosts had malice towards Little Gu.
Moreover, there was something strange around Little Gu and maybe someone was protecting her in the dark.
Brother Zhang wasn’t planning on looking for his own death. If the female player wanted to go, then she could go.
He turned on the computer and quickly opened a browser to search for what he wanted to know.
From the corner of his eye, he saw that the female player called Han Qiu hadn’t moved, sitting in her seat woodenly, and she seemed to stare at the computer in front of her in a daze.
“Little Han, search for Huang Qiao’s information too, don’t just sit there,” Brother Zhang casually said.
When Han Qiu heard Brother Zhang’s voice, there a flicker of light in her eyes.
Her voice trembled. “Brother Zhang, I see a pair of eyes staring at me.”
There was finally an expression on her face.
But it was an expression of horror.
Brother Zhang heard this and immediately straightened. This world had ghosts and, moreover, they could kill people in broad daylight. They were already being targeted by ghosts, so they were likely to be attacked again.
He touched the props in his pocket with one hand while cautiously asking Han Qiu.
“Where?”
They were currently sitting in front of a row of monitors so, in front of them, there were only the computer monitors. The computer towers were all underneath.
Brother Zhang eyed Han Qiu up and down and discovered that her eyes were on the monitor.
His mind whirred and he was about to say something, but he glanced at Han Qiu’s eyes again.
Brother Zhang pretended not to notice anything and said with a temper, “You haven’t turned on the computer, so what you’re seeing is your own eyes.”
Although the lights in the internet cafe weren’t very bright, there were still reflections on the display screen and people’s faces could be seen on the screen.
The meaning of Brother Zhang’s words were that Han Qiu was seeing herself.
The other female player heard this movement and looked at Brother Zhang and Han Qiu.
Brother Zhang raised his voice and said, “Look at your own reflection. Little Han just scared herself.”
Upon hearing this, the female player comforted Han Qiu at her side with a few words and then turned to scold the male player on her other side who was shouting because he was playing games.
Han Qiu sat in her seat. On her left was the argument between the other female player and male player, and on her right was Brother Zhang searching seriously for information.
She stared at her own eyes blankly on the display screen.
Those pair of eyes looked straight at her, filled with greed, malice, and killing intent.
“I’m not seeing wrong, there’s someone looking at me.”
Because the ghost was in her eyes!
Han Qiu pulled out what she had been hiding all this time with a shaky hand. Although her hands shook, her actions were without hesitation.
She slashed directly at the monitor.
She didn’t want to see a ghost!
The violent and sharp noise pierced everyone’s ears instantly.
Brother Zhang looked at Han Qiu, who was beside him, right away.
He saw clear what she was holding.
This girl was holding a kitchen knife in her hand!
How did she hide it!?
Despite his shock, Brother Zhang forcibly grabbed Han Qiu’s arm and yelled to the other female player, “Quick, let’s go.”
Taking advantage of the distance between the internet cafe owner and them, Brother Zhang left his seat and decisively grabbed the male player immersed in his game with his other hand, rushed out the side door, and began their escape.
On the other side, Gu Yian and her counselor arrived at the Taoist temple.
It was a small temple.
At the entrance there was a fat uncle wearing black sunglasses and a white tank top, who had set up a simple stall. There were familiar protective talismans there.
There was a bamboo pole beside the uncle with a simple long cloth strip tied to it. On it was written, “Five hundred for one, buy it or not.”
Gu Yian looked at this and then said to the counselor, “Last time, I made you spend a lot.”
At the time, the counselor told her it was a few dollars for one and gave Gu Yian the protective talisman.
Gu Yian told her, “Professor Huang, I’ll buy you one later.”
The counselor smiled and shook her head. “I still have mine. Go and buy some.”
Gu Yian came to the stall and held out the cash she had prepared.
“Owner, I’ll buy three.”
The fat uncle scrutinized Gu Yian through his sunglasses for a while and then, as if wanting to confirm something, he took off his sunglasses, revealing his small eyes, and looked Gu Yian up and down again.
The uncle really couldn’t restrain his inner doubts and asked her with astonishment, “Why do you want protective talismans when you’re raising a ghost? You’re not afraid of harming your ghost?”
By ghost, did he mean the notebook?
It was discovered by another person this easily?
Gu Yian didn’t think that was right.
She said, “I’m not raising any.”
The uncle replied, “Little girl, seeing how pretty you are, I won’t argue about you lying to me. The ghostly aura on you is this heavy, I don’t believe you when you say you aren’t raising one.”
The counselor also heard the uncle’s words and she explained in Gu Yian’s stead, “She’s not raising any. She’s been targeted by several ghosts and escaped by chance.”
The fat uncle pulled out a smirk. “How many could there be?”
The counselor answered, “At least seven.”
She didn’t include the notebook that claimed to be a demon.
“Seven?” The uncle’s smirk froze.
“Seven ghosts and she can still survive?”
The uncle felt it was extremely inconceivable.
His small eyes shone brightly and he scrutinized Gu Yian’s clothes, shoes, and schoolbag.
They were brands he didn’t recognize, but the workmanship was good and the design was nice, so the family was well-off.
Thinking about it more, she brought out 1,500 RMB at the beginning and didn’t haggle.
This was a big sale!
The uncle swept away his earlier sloven attitude and said righteously, “Little girl, are you looking for me to get rid of your ghosts? My ability to get rid of ghosts is greater than my ability to draw talismans. One ghost, 100,000 RMB, and I promise you will have no future trouble.”
Gu Yian waited for him to finish and then said, “Three protective talismans.”
With the notebook, it wasn’t that she was scared of the ghosts, but that the ghosts were scared of her.
Gu Yian only needed the protective talismans.
The uncle felt very disappointed. He looked at Gu Yian and then gave her an extra protective talisman with extreme reluctance.
“I’ll gift you one. It’ll block a bit more when you’re about to die. Then, seeing as how I gifted you a protective talisman, remember to call me. It doesn’t cost much to have me come out, only 200,000 RMB. You can also make an offer, like 100,000 RMB.”
He spoke as if Gu Yian was about to die immediately.
Gu Yian accepted the protective talismans and asked calmly, “What’s your phone number?”
The uncle smacked himself on the head and pulled out a crumpled business card from his jacket.
“You can call this number.”
He looked at the undamaged protective talismans in Gu Yian’s hand and finally believed a little in Gu Yian’s claim that she wasn’t raising a ghost. The smile on his face became a bit more friendly.
The uncle then looked at the counselor next to Gu Yian again.
“Oh, it’s you. I gave you one last time too. A malicious ghost is hard to raise, you… are on your own.”
The fat uncle didn’t say anything more.
The counselor heard his words and smiled. “It’s not what you think, Venerable Sir. I accidentally came in contact with one.”
“Alright, alright.” The uncle put on his sunglasses and sat on his little stool.
The counselor watched him, shook her head with a smile, and said to Gu Yian, “Let’s go back.”
Gu Yian followed the counselor, turning around, and organized a sentence before asking, “Professor Huang, you haven’t encountered any danger, right?”
She took out a protective talisman and decisively handed it to the counselor with quick movements. “Professor, take it.”
The counselor replied helplessly, “I gave you one, but you returned one to me again.”
After Gu Yian gave it over, she took half a step away. Her attitude of not wanting the counselor to return it was evident. Gu Yian took note of the protective talisman; it didn’t burn, so there was no problem on the counselor’s body at this time.
The smile in the counselor’s eyes became more real and she said, “My little sister was also much like you. Young, pretty, and popular with the boys.”
Upon speaking of her sister, the counselor’s mood dropped.
She added, “You’re stronger than Qiao Qiao. She was defeated by rumors.”
When the counselor said the word “rumors”, her eyes were somewhat evasive, like a person who knew their mistake but was unwilling to mention it.
What Gu Yian wanted to hear was the counselor talking about her sister, Huang Qiao.
They walked through an alley with few passersby.
Gu Yian calmly said, “Professor, how is your little sister now? She recovered, right?”
“She passed away.”
The counselor saw Gu Yian’s slight surprise and laughed, “You don’t need to comfort me. At the time, this school still didn’t arrange for counselors to mediate conflicts between students. She couldn’t endure public opinion and committed suicide.”
She looked at Gu Yian, her eyes carrying a bit of something else. “Yian, not everyone is like you, able to be fearless of rumors.”
Faced with the counselor’s praise, Gu Yian smiled a little but didn’t say anything.
On their way to the Taoist temple, the counselor talked about the opinions Zhou Yaling and the others had before their deaths. Most of it was Zhou Yaling and the others feeling that Gu Yian was solitary, had a strange temper, was too unsociable, and hard for people to like.
Gu Yian felt nothing when she heard this. These words didn’t count as rumors, and couldn’t compare to their words after they became ghosts and tricked the players.
Most importantly, during the time Zhou Yaling and the others were still alive, Gu Yian didn’t hear any bad remarks about her at all.
So, the authenticity of the counselor’s words was worth close scrutiny.
The point of the counselor telling her about Zhou Yaling and the others’ words might have had a good intention, that she wanted Gu Yian to pay attention to this Spirit Pen matter, and that Zhou Yaling and the others might harm Gu Yian after they came back.
But Gu Yian had another guess.
They reached the bus stop.
There were not many people waiting at this bus stop and, soon, the people originally waiting at the stop got on the bus they were waiting for and only Gu Yian and the counselor were left at the bus stop.
It was almost evening and the sun wasn’t as harsh as it was before. Gu Yian and the counselor stored away their parasols.
Gu Yian spoke, “Professor Huang, may I ask a question?”
The counselor looked at her with a smile, “Speak.”
Gu Yian asked, “Professor, you said they spoke to you before, then do you know when they got the idea to play Spirit Pen?”
She looked at the counselor’s eyes, waiting for her answer.
The counselor was slightly surprised when she heard this.
“I’m not clear about this.”
She looked at Gu Yian and said in a joking tone, “Yian, you aren’t doubting me, are you?”
Gu Yian nodded.
She was extremely honest. “Professor Huang, I’m doubting you.”
The counselor was dumbstruck. “What are you doubting me for? I’m just a counselor.”
Gu Yian explained, “But before we came here, you told me that, during your talks with them, they said bad things about me.”
The counselor was puzzled. “Is there a problem with this?”
A bus stopped in front of them, but they didn’t move and so the driver drove off again.
Gu Yian said, “You knew all their troubles. They trusted you and told you their thoughts about other people. Professor, I also trusted you at the beginning. You treated me well and also treated them well. But it’s precisely because of this that I can’t trust you.”
The counselor said doubtfully, “This is unrelated to whether or not you can trust me. You can still trust me.”
She seemed to regard Gu Yian as a child being difficult and said with tolerance, “Yian, don’t think too much. I’m your teacher and a counselor. My job is to care about your student lives, your interpersonal relationships, and all aspects of your lives.”
The last person who did things like what the counselor was doing now was Lu Zize. He was a big liar who didn’t say a single word of truth.
Gu Yian wouldn’t believe the counselor’s one-sided statement.
She said, “Professor, why didn’t you bring up that your little sister passed away in our dormitory? The Spirit Pen Yaling and the others summoned is your sister, right?”
The word “little sister” was the counselor’s sore point and, this time, she couldn’t maintain her smile.
The counselor looked at Gu Yian and was helpless. “Yian, I don’t understand. I’m also afraid of this possibility. When Qiao Qiao was alive, she wouldn’t even say harsh words to someone.”
She didn’t immerse herself too much in the past.
The counselor settled her emotions and smiled at Gu Yian. “You’re throwing me away after using me like this. After taking you to buy protective talismans, you suspect me.”
Gu Yian didn’t feel embarrassed. Instead, she said, “Because you’re concealing some things from me.”
The counselor replied, “It isn’t important.”
“No, it’s very important.”
Gu Yian said seriously, “When Yaling and the others died, you were the first person to believe me.”
She had once been moved by the counselor’s trust, but it didn’t extend to lies built on the deaths of others.
“Because you knew the Spirit Pen they summoned might be your little sister.”
Gu Yian observed the counselor’s change in expression without blinking.
After seeing a change in her expression, Gu Yian changed her words.
“No, the Spirit Pen is your sister.”
The counselor did not refute this.
Chapter 35 ~ Fourth Game Pt.6 ~
Who taught bad things to this notebook?
It wasn’t easy to respond to this joke.
Gu Yian raised her head and looked at the road which was empty of vehicles and then at the bus stop where there was no one.
She looked down at the notebook and deliberately asked, “I’ll turn into the notebook then? And you become me? You want to become a girl?”
The notebook didn’t seem to expect Gu Yian to ask this, so it immediately showed new words to correct Gu Yian’s thoughts.
“It’s not what you’re thinking.”
Of course Gu Yian knew the notebook didn’t mean it like that.
She asked again, “How did you know I was going to give him a protective talisman? Did you hear it? At that time, weren’t you with the counselor?
The notebook didn’t even know she rejected that Student Union member, so how did it know she planned to send him a protective talisman?
Thinking about this, the notebook might have heard her call with the counselor when it was there at the time and how she wanted to buy a protective talisman, so it guessed that she wanted to send the talisman to the other party as thanks.
The notebook was unresponsive.
Gu Yian looked at it with suspicion and then confirmed, “Did you do something?”
She had asked the notebook where it had gone before, but it kept avoiding the question. Only now was it discovered to have gone to the counselor.
Gu Yian instinctively felt that the notebook did something again.
Faced with Gu Yian pressing in on it, the notebook silently closed itself.
It conveyed a vivid and symbolic message to Gu Yian—it was closing itself off.
Seeing the notebook’s act of pretending to be dead, Gu Yian thought for a moment and decided to let it go.
The notebook protected her so many times in the dark, it wasn’t good for her to constantly suspect it.
She put the notebook into her schoolbag and reminded it along the way, “If I buy protective talismans later, stay away from them.”
If the protective talismans Gu Yian bought lost their effects immediately because of the notebook, then she would have to buy them again.
There was no movement from the notebook, but the small charm on the phone in Gu Yian’s pocket moved slightly, as if promising Gu Yian.
Gu Yian didn’t notice the movement on her own phone. She put on her schoolbag and stood, holding up her parasol again, and looked into the distance.
Her counselor had arrived.
“Professor Huang.”
Gu Yian gave her greetings first.
The counselor always had a smile on her face, giving people a sense of intimacy. She said, “Yian, I’m sorry I made you wait so long. Something happened just now.”
Gu Yian replied right away that it didn’t matter.
She was a person who was used to arriving early, so she was the one who came early.
Gu Yian didn’t get to the bottom of why the counselor ran late; everyone had their own emergencies.
The counselor took the initiative to find a topic to chat with Gu Yian.
“When did your protective talisman lose its effect?”
Gu Yian made up an answer, “I’m not sure, probably around nine at night. I was at my rental place and didn’t sense anything dangerous at the time.”
The counselor nodded pensively and then she changed the topic, asking, “Did you know that someone summoned the Spirit Pen a while ago again?”
Was this the counselor wanting to divulge information to her?
Gu Yian thought for a little bit and then said, “I heard of this.”
The counselor said, “Maybe Zhou Yaling and the others are back.”
She looked at Gu Yian with concern. “Yian, you might be in danger.”
Gu Yian had predicted this a long time ago, so her expression was calm.
The counselor looked at Gu Yian’s calm expression and thought it was because Gu Yian didn’t know the seriousness of this situation.
She sighed, “You don’t understand. When they were alive, they told me many opinions about you.”
The counselor began to slowly recount what she had learned.
Gu Yian listened seriously.
Ten minutes later, the bus they had been waiting for picked them up.
In the restaurant, the original customers all disappeared because of the death.
The police sealed off the scene and the restaurant owner was brought away for questioning.
Brother Zhang took the male player and the two female players around for a stroll for a while and, after confirming no one recognized them as companions of the deceased, he went to a small internet cafe that could help customers use other people’s ID cards to surf the internet.
He selected the innermost row of the internet cafe and saw there was a closed side door next to them.
There were four of them and four seats. The male player happily turned on a computer.
One female player looked at him and couldn’t help but say, “Haven’t you thought about how, just earlier, you might have seen a ghost in the restaurant too?”
Maybe the male player was the first to see the ghost.
The male player replied, “Didn’t I meet one? The ghost saw how handsome I was and couldn’t bear to kill me.”
He completely didn’t look like his terrified self when he saw the ghost last night.
Brother Zhang glanced at him and secretly thought about how fools had their own fortune.
The other female player kept silent and held something in her hand.
It was something she went into the back kitchen to grab at the time when the restaurant was in chaos after discovering a body. There were too many people and movements and now the restaurant was closed, so the restaurant people probably wouldn’t notice they were missing something for a while.
That thing was hidden in her clothes and Brother Zhang also couldn’t see what she took.
Brother Zhang recalled this female player’s name, Han Qiu. Back then, she told him she wanted everyone to kill Little Gu but was rejected by him.
In all likelihood, the hint God gave was that the ghosts had malice towards Little Gu.
Moreover, there was something strange around Little Gu and maybe someone was protecting her in the dark.
Brother Zhang wasn’t planning on looking for his own death. If the female player wanted to go, then she could go.
He turned on the computer and quickly opened a browser to search for what he wanted to know.
From the corner of his eye, he saw that the female player called Han Qiu hadn’t moved, sitting in her seat woodenly, and she seemed to stare at the computer in front of her in a daze.
“Little Han, search for Huang Qiao’s information too, don’t just sit there,” Brother Zhang casually said.
When Han Qiu heard Brother Zhang’s voice, there a flicker of light in her eyes.
Her voice trembled. “Brother Zhang, I see a pair of eyes staring at me.”
There was finally an expression on her face.
But it was an expression of horror.
Brother Zhang heard this and immediately straightened. This world had ghosts and, moreover, they could kill people in broad daylight. They were already being targeted by ghosts, so they were likely to be attacked again.
He touched the props in his pocket with one hand while cautiously asking Han Qiu.
“Where?”
They were currently sitting in front of a row of monitors so, in front of them, there were only the computer monitors. The computer towers were all underneath.
Brother Zhang eyed Han Qiu up and down and discovered that her eyes were on the monitor.
His mind whirred and he was about to say something, but he glanced at Han Qiu’s eyes again.
Brother Zhang pretended not to notice anything and said with a temper, “You haven’t turned on the computer, so what you’re seeing is your own eyes.”
Although the lights in the internet cafe weren’t very bright, there were still reflections on the display screen and people’s faces could be seen on the screen.
The meaning of Brother Zhang’s words were that Han Qiu was seeing herself.
The other female player heard this movement and looked at Brother Zhang and Han Qiu.
Brother Zhang raised his voice and said, “Look at your own reflection. Little Han just scared herself.”
Upon hearing this, the female player comforted Han Qiu at her side with a few words and then turned to scold the male player on her other side who was shouting because he was playing games.
Han Qiu sat in her seat. On her left was the argument between the other female player and male player, and on her right was Brother Zhang searching seriously for information.
She stared at her own eyes blankly on the display screen.
Those pair of eyes looked straight at her, filled with greed, malice, and killing intent.
“I’m not seeing wrong, there’s someone looking at me.”
Because the ghost was in her eyes!
Han Qiu pulled out what she had been hiding all this time with a shaky hand. Although her hands shook, her actions were without hesitation.
She slashed directly at the monitor.
She didn’t want to see a ghost!
The violent and sharp noise pierced everyone’s ears instantly.
Brother Zhang looked at Han Qiu, who was beside him, right away.
He saw clear what she was holding.
This girl was holding a kitchen knife in her hand!
How did she hide it!?
Despite his shock, Brother Zhang forcibly grabbed Han Qiu’s arm and yelled to the other female player, “Quick, let’s go.”
Taking advantage of the distance between the internet cafe owner and them, Brother Zhang left his seat and decisively grabbed the male player immersed in his game with his other hand, rushed out the side door, and began their escape.
On the other side, Gu Yian and her counselor arrived at the Taoist temple.
It was a small temple.
At the entrance there was a fat uncle wearing black sunglasses and a white tank top, who had set up a simple stall. There were familiar protective talismans there.
There was a bamboo pole beside the uncle with a simple long cloth strip tied to it. On it was written, “Five hundred for one, buy it or not.”
Gu Yian looked at this and then said to the counselor, “Last time, I made you spend a lot.”
At the time, the counselor told her it was a few dollars for one and gave Gu Yian the protective talisman.
Gu Yian told her, “Professor Huang, I’ll buy you one later.”
The counselor smiled and shook her head. “I still have mine. Go and buy some.”
Gu Yian came to the stall and held out the cash she had prepared.
“Owner, I’ll buy three.”
The fat uncle scrutinized Gu Yian through his sunglasses for a while and then, as if wanting to confirm something, he took off his sunglasses, revealing his small eyes, and looked Gu Yian up and down again.
The uncle really couldn’t restrain his inner doubts and asked her with astonishment, “Why do you want protective talismans when you’re raising a ghost? You’re not afraid of harming your ghost?”
By ghost, did he mean the notebook?
It was discovered by another person this easily?
Gu Yian didn’t think that was right.
She said, “I’m not raising any.”
The uncle replied, “Little girl, seeing how pretty you are, I won’t argue about you lying to me. The ghostly aura on you is this heavy, I don’t believe you when you say you aren’t raising one.”
The counselor also heard the uncle’s words and she explained in Gu Yian’s stead, “She’s not raising any. She’s been targeted by several ghosts and escaped by chance.”
The fat uncle pulled out a smirk. “How many could there be?”
The counselor answered, “At least seven.”
She didn’t include the notebook that claimed to be a demon.
“Seven?” The uncle’s smirk froze.
“Seven ghosts and she can still survive?”
The uncle felt it was extremely inconceivable.
His small eyes shone brightly and he scrutinized Gu Yian’s clothes, shoes, and schoolbag.
They were brands he didn’t recognize, but the workmanship was good and the design was nice, so the family was well-off.
Thinking about it more, she brought out 1,500 RMB at the beginning and didn’t haggle.
This was a big sale!
The uncle swept away his earlier sloven attitude and said righteously, “Little girl, are you looking for me to get rid of your ghosts? My ability to get rid of ghosts is greater than my ability to draw talismans. One ghost, 100,000 RMB, and I promise you will have no future trouble.”
Gu Yian waited for him to finish and then said, “Three protective talismans.”
With the notebook, it wasn’t that she was scared of the ghosts, but that the ghosts were scared of her.
Gu Yian only needed the protective talismans.
The uncle felt very disappointed. He looked at Gu Yian and then gave her an extra protective talisman with extreme reluctance.
“I’ll gift you one. It’ll block a bit more when you’re about to die. Then, seeing as how I gifted you a protective talisman, remember to call me. It doesn’t cost much to have me come out, only 200,000 RMB. You can also make an offer, like 100,000 RMB.”
He spoke as if Gu Yian was about to die immediately.
Gu Yian accepted the protective talismans and asked calmly, “What’s your phone number?”
The uncle smacked himself on the head and pulled out a crumpled business card from his jacket.
“You can call this number.”
He looked at the undamaged protective talismans in Gu Yian’s hand and finally believed a little in Gu Yian’s claim that she wasn’t raising a ghost. The smile on his face became a bit more friendly.
The uncle then looked at the counselor next to Gu Yian again.
“Oh, it’s you. I gave you one last time too. A malicious ghost is hard to raise, you… are on your own.”
The fat uncle didn’t say anything more.
The counselor heard his words and smiled. “It’s not what you think, Venerable Sir. I accidentally came in contact with one.”
“Alright, alright.” The uncle put on his sunglasses and sat on his little stool.
The counselor watched him, shook her head with a smile, and said to Gu Yian, “Let’s go back.”
Gu Yian followed the counselor, turning around, and organized a sentence before asking, “Professor Huang, you haven’t encountered any danger, right?”
She took out a protective talisman and decisively handed it to the counselor with quick movements. “Professor, take it.”
The counselor replied helplessly, “I gave you one, but you returned one to me again.”
After Gu Yian gave it over, she took half a step away. Her attitude of not wanting the counselor to return it was evident. Gu Yian took note of the protective talisman; it didn’t burn, so there was no problem on the counselor’s body at this time.
The smile in the counselor’s eyes became more real and she said, “My little sister was also much like you. Young, pretty, and popular with the boys.”
Upon speaking of her sister, the counselor’s mood dropped.
She added, “You’re stronger than Qiao Qiao. She was defeated by rumors.”
When the counselor said the word “rumors”, her eyes were somewhat evasive, like a person who knew their mistake but was unwilling to mention it.
What Gu Yian wanted to hear was the counselor talking about her sister, Huang Qiao.
They walked through an alley with few passersby.
Gu Yian calmly said, “Professor, how is your little sister now? She recovered, right?”
“She passed away.”
The counselor saw Gu Yian’s slight surprise and laughed, “You don’t need to comfort me. At the time, this school still didn’t arrange for counselors to mediate conflicts between students. She couldn’t endure public opinion and committed suicide.”
She looked at Gu Yian, her eyes carrying a bit of something else. “Yian, not everyone is like you, able to be fearless of rumors.”
Faced with the counselor’s praise, Gu Yian smiled a little but didn’t say anything.
On their way to the Taoist temple, the counselor talked about the opinions Zhou Yaling and the others had before their deaths. Most of it was Zhou Yaling and the others feeling that Gu Yian was solitary, had a strange temper, was too unsociable, and hard for people to like.
Gu Yian felt nothing when she heard this. These words didn’t count as rumors, and couldn’t compare to their words after they became ghosts and tricked the players.
Most importantly, during the time Zhou Yaling and the others were still alive, Gu Yian didn’t hear any bad remarks about her at all.
So, the authenticity of the counselor’s words was worth close scrutiny.
The point of the counselor telling her about Zhou Yaling and the others’ words might have had a good intention, that she wanted Gu Yian to pay attention to this Spirit Pen matter, and that Zhou Yaling and the others might harm Gu Yian after they came back.
But Gu Yian had another guess.
They reached the bus stop.
There were not many people waiting at this bus stop and, soon, the people originally waiting at the stop got on the bus they were waiting for and only Gu Yian and the counselor were left at the bus stop.
It was almost evening and the sun wasn’t as harsh as it was before. Gu Yian and the counselor stored away their parasols.
Gu Yian spoke, “Professor Huang, may I ask a question?”
The counselor looked at her with a smile, “Speak.”
Gu Yian asked, “Professor, you said they spoke to you before, then do you know when they got the idea to play Spirit Pen?”
She looked at the counselor’s eyes, waiting for her answer.
The counselor was slightly surprised when she heard this.
“I’m not clear about this.”
She looked at Gu Yian and said in a joking tone, “Yian, you aren’t doubting me, are you?”
Gu Yian nodded.
She was extremely honest. “Professor Huang, I’m doubting you.”
The counselor was dumbstruck. “What are you doubting me for? I’m just a counselor.”
Gu Yian explained, “But before we came here, you told me that, during your talks with them, they said bad things about me.”
The counselor was puzzled. “Is there a problem with this?”
A bus stopped in front of them, but they didn’t move and so the driver drove off again.
Gu Yian said, “You knew all their troubles. They trusted you and told you their thoughts about other people. Professor, I also trusted you at the beginning. You treated me well and also treated them well. But it’s precisely because of this that I can’t trust you.”
The counselor said doubtfully, “This is unrelated to whether or not you can trust me. You can still trust me.”
She seemed to regard Gu Yian as a child being difficult and said with tolerance, “Yian, don’t think too much. I’m your teacher and a counselor. My job is to care about your student lives, your interpersonal relationships, and all aspects of your lives.”
The last person who did things like what the counselor was doing now was Lu Zize. He was a big liar who didn’t say a single word of truth.
Gu Yian wouldn’t believe the counselor’s one-sided statement.
She said, “Professor, why didn’t you bring up that your little sister passed away in our dormitory? The Spirit Pen Yaling and the others summoned is your sister, right?”
The word “little sister” was the counselor’s sore point and, this time, she couldn’t maintain her smile.
The counselor looked at Gu Yian and was helpless. “Yian, I don’t understand. I’m also afraid of this possibility. When Qiao Qiao was alive, she wouldn’t even say harsh words to someone.”
She didn’t immerse herself too much in the past.
The counselor settled her emotions and smiled at Gu Yian. “You’re throwing me away after using me like this. After taking you to buy protective talismans, you suspect me.”
Gu Yian didn’t feel embarrassed. Instead, she said, “Because you’re concealing some things from me.”
The counselor replied, “It isn’t important.”
“No, it’s very important.”
Gu Yian said seriously, “When Yaling and the others died, you were the first person to believe me.”
She had once been moved by the counselor’s trust, but it didn’t extend to lies built on the deaths of others.
“Because you knew the Spirit Pen they summoned might be your little sister.”
Gu Yian observed the counselor’s change in expression without blinking.
After seeing a change in her expression, Gu Yian changed her words.
“No, the Spirit Pen is your sister.”
The counselor did not refute this.
