“Wait, do you know her?”

“Well, I would say yes..” I answered with some hesitation. “But we’ve only just gotten to know each other not too long ago. She’s my classmate.”

Shi Yitong pulled me aside forcefully by my arm without allowing me to explain any further. “Hey hey! Aren’t you a bit too lucky to have such a pretty girl as your classmate? Introduce her to me, OK? I’ll treat you to a spicy pot! Or two!”

I simply didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. “I already said we just got to know each other not long ago. Besides, didn’t you just meet her too? Otherwise, how did you two show up together?”

“No, that’s because..” Shi Yitong scratched his head, feeling embarrassed. “I went into the milk tea shop to buy a drink but found out that I forgot to bring money after I ordered. Right at that awkward moment, this generous girl lent me some money. That’s all..”

I sighed, staring at this hopeless one with disappointment. “Ah, I don’t know what to even say about you. How much money did you borrow from her?”

“Well.. Fifteen.” Shi Yitong whispered.

I rummaged through my pocket and found fifteen yuan. As I walked towards Su Xiaoyun, she was happily playing with Coo and didn’t notice my conversation with Shi Yitong at all

“Umm, here’s the money that guy borrowed from you.” I passed the money to her. “I’m really sorry. He’s always like that.”

“So you two know each other.” Su Xiaoyun accepted the money and flashed me a bright smile.

“Yeah, he and I were childhood friends. We haven’t been in contact with each other for a long time, yet surprisingly we’re now in the same university.”

“Really? It’s such a small world.” Su Xiaoyun smiled as she rubbed Coo’s head.

I looked at the time. It was almost time for dinner, so the three of us decided to have dinner together and before returning to school. The back gate was not very far from the dining hall, but since we had to go up and down the stairs several times, it still took us quite some time.

“It’s really too late now, the dining hall must be packed already.” I couldn’t help but complain.

“Hey hey, who’s the one that caused all of this?” Shi Yitong immediately argued back, “It can’t be helped since you took so long looking for the cat.”

“Me looking for the cat has nothing to do with you. You’re the one who ran out to buy milk tea when it was almost time for dinner!” I immediately refuted.

Su Xiaoyun who had been walking next to us couldn’t restrain herself and burst into giggles.

“It’s not like that. I’m very grateful that Classmate Gu helped me find Coo.” Su Xiaoyun lifted the cat’s two front paws and waved them at me. “Look. Coo says ‘thank you’ to you too.”

I felt the hair all over my body standing on end the moment I saw that little bastard’s pair of claws. No, trust me, this thing would never say ‘thank you’ to me, NEVER!

Besides, the reason that I spent so much time looking for the cat was..

I hesitated for a moment but still decided to ask, “Well.. Do you know there is a very weird residence close to the back gate of our school? It’s on a hill full of weeds.”

“A weird residence?” I didn’t have any expectations when I asked the question at first, but Su Xiaoyun only thought for a little bit before she replied, “Ah! THAT residence. I know it.”

My heart tightened. “You know?”

“Yep, isn’t it a pharmacy?” Su Xiaoyun nodded.

Wait a second, a pharmacy? I was puzzled.

“A teacher talked about that place today,” Su Xiaoyun explained earnestly. “The old residence near the back gate is actually a Chinese medicine pharmacy. A lot of local residents go there to fill their prescriptions when they have a backache or something like that. There seems to be a very seasoned practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine there.”

“Ah, THAT place. I know it too. But it’s different from what I’ve heard.” Shi Yitong rubbed his chin as he said, “I heard from the elders that it’s very old. They said it was there even before the school was built. The owner of the residence was an omniscient priest. Whenever there was a ceremony for prayers or rain dance in the village, someone would go to the old residence and invite the owner to go down the hill to practice magic in the village. But I thought that was all nonsense. I guess he’s just some kind of shaman. Who knows how much money he has swindled out of the villagers!”

“I-is that so..”

In this case, I couldn’t continue the conversation at all. From their descriptions, the old residence had already become a legendary place. Who was that Mr. Wen?

And about this issue, how should I explain all of it to Shi Yitong?

By the time we finished dinner, it was already late. The setting sun slowly descended to the edge of the sky, painting the few clouds that lazily floated across into a flaming red color.

“The sweet and sour eggplant in the dining hall is so delicious~” Su Xiaoyun, still holding her cat, said with satisfaction.

“No kidding, you actually think it’s delicious? I would say it’s inedible.” Shi Yitong muttered.

“Isn’t it because of the dishes you ordered?”

“It can’t be. It just tastes bad.” Shi Yitong argued as if he found the question to be unbelievable. “It’s much worse than the dishes my grandfather cooks.”

Su Xiaoyun was a little surprised. “So your grandfather knows how to cook?”

Shi Yitong immediately puffed up with pride. “You wouldn’t know about this, but in my family, my grandfather cooks better than my grandmother. Grandpa is great at whatever he does.”

I glanced at Shi Yitong. As expected, his expression started to look uneasy right after he finished the sentence. He seemed to remember the matter with his grandfather, and his eyebrows drooped at once.

But Su Xiaoyun who was standing at the side didn’t seem to notice. Still smiling, she said, “Really? Your grandfather is so impressive!”

Sensing the atmosphere was about to become awkward, I quickly jumped out to ease the situation and changed the topic.

“Well.. Su Xiaoyun, where are you heading to later?”

“Ah? Me?” Su Xiaoyun was surprised for a second but still answered, “I’ll probably go back to my dorm. I still have a lot of things to tidy up.”

“Really? Which dormitory building are you in?”

“No. 29. Aren’t all the girls in our class living in that building?” Su Xiaoyun asked, a little confused.

“Ah, i-is that so? I didn’t notice.” I felt a bit embarrassed and dragged Shi Yitong to the side. “Well.. Since your dorm is that way, we’ll part here then.”

“Alright!” Su Xiaoyun didn’t take any notice of my strange behavior; she just smiled and thanked me.

“It was nice meeting you today, and thank you for finding Coo for me. See you tomorrow!

“En, see you tomorrow!”

Right after Sun Xiaoyun left, Shi Yitong immediately stared at me as if he was looking at someone who was mentally disabled.

“Gu Yu, what’s wrong with you? Isn’t your dorm also that way? Why are you dragging me to the school gate? Could it be that you still want to go home with me?”