Chapter 211: Ghost Stories at School

They say every school has at least one or two terrifying tales passed down among the students.

In Jiang Ning’s previous life, the ones she heard most often were the story of the “Red Shoes Senior” and the tale of the “Crybaby Ghost.”

The former was relatively plausible.

It was said that a senior girl, struggling with declining grades and the emotional turbulence of adolescence, confided in her boyfriend—only to discover he had someone else.

Heartbroken and furious, she put on the little red leather shoes he had given her and jumped from the top of the teaching building.

Ever since then, late at night, rhythmic “tap-tap” footsteps could sometimes be heard echoing through the school building.

Accompanied by a dragging sound, like someone smashing their head against the ground.

Rumor had it that someone actually saw a figure with long, disheveled hair, hanging upside down, crawling step by step through the stairwell.

It scared several girls to tears.

The school even brought people in to keep watch overnight.

All they caught were a few amorous stray cats—nothing else.

And so the matter was quietly dropped.

The “Crybaby Ghost” story, on the other hand, was a bit more bizarre.

It was said that in several buildings on campus, the girls’ restrooms would occasionally echo with soft sobbing—“woo woo,” “woo woo.”

There was no pattern, no fixed location.

Day or night, it didn’t matter.

Some even claimed that while using the restroom in broad daylight, basking in the sunlight, they could still hear the weeping from the next stall.

At first, people thought it was just a prank.

But when a few brave girls decided to stake out the bathrooms on different floors to uncover the truth behind the “Crybaby Ghost,” one of them suddenly fainted inside the restroom.

When the others found her and managed to wake her up, she seemed possessed.

She would crouch in a corner, covering her face, letting out soft sobs of “woo woo woo.”

No one could talk her out of it.

Eventually, her family arranged for her to transfer schools, and only then did she start to recover.

The incident caused quite a stir at the time.

No one knew if it was true or not.

Jiang Ning, for her part, had just treated it as entertainment.

After all, these kinds of ghost stories always seemed to happen in girls’ bathrooms or the Girls’ Dormitory.

They rarely had anything to do with boys.

Supernatural events, it seemed, preferred women and avoided men.

That was just how it was…

Uh…

Wait a minute.

Preferred women and avoided men?

Hmm.

Jiang Ning instinctively placed her hand on the doorknob of her dorm room.

The empty hallway beyond filled her with a sudden, inexplicable unease.

“It’s true!”

“I heard it just now when I was walking up the stairs—a giggling sound, ‘hee hee, hee hee.’”

“I even turned around to see who was messing with me.”

“But there was no one there. I looked up and down the whole stairwell.”

Yuan Lu sat in her chair, recounting her recent experience with a serious expression.

“I even asked Xiao Mai about it.”

“But she said she didn’t hear anything at all.”

Mai Wanting, sitting on her bed, gave a soft “mm” in response.

The strange, surreal tale left the other girls wide-eyed in disbelief.

Especially when Yuan Lu mimicked the giggling sound.

Even Miss Jiang couldn’t help but get goosebumps.

Just then, Yang Ke, sitting on the edge of her bed, suddenly spoke up:

“That reminds me—there’s a rumor at our school.”

“My sister told me. She graduated from No. 1 High two years ago.”

“She said that one night, after evening self-study, a girl realized she’d forgotten her homework and went back to get it.”

“As she was walking through the hallway, she kept hearing someone giggling, ‘hee hee hee.’”

“She looked around and even called out.”

“But there was nothing—no one.”

Stories like this usually have an ending, so Miss Jiang pressed for more.

“And then?”

Yang Ke glanced at the girl curled up on her bed, hugging her knees.

“Then the girl came down with a high fever for three days.”

“They said she was delirious.”

“She kept repeating that weird giggle, ‘hee hee, hee hee,’ over and over.”

“After that, a warning started going around: if you ever hear someone giggling like that in the hallways of No. 1 High…”

“Don’t look back. Don’t respond.”

At those words, all the girls in the dorm turned to look at Yuan Lu.

Under their collective gaze, even someone as bold and brash as Yuan Lu couldn’t keep a straight face.

“I-it’s fine!”

“That’s just an old rumor!”

“…I’m not scared!”

But was she really not scared?

Old Man Jiang, after hearing the story, couldn’t shake a creeping sense of dread.

She felt like she’d heard that same “hee hee” sound somewhere before.

But she couldn’t be sure.

Was it just the girls playing around?

Or was there really something hiding in the shadows, watching her, giggling quietly to itself…

Night fell.

The moonlight was hazy.

It was especially hot tonight.

So the dorm windows had been left open.

Which meant the curtains fluttered now and then in the night breeze.

Miss Jiang’s thoughts were carried along with the shifting curtain.

Her mind began to wander.

First, she thought of that creepy little girl crawling out of the well.

Then the tiny spider descending from the attic.

Then she imagined the school office hidden in some alternate dimension.

The more she thought, the more spooked she became.

Finally, she sat up, leaned over the railing, and whispered down to the bunk below:

“Wenwen~”

“Hmm?”

“Should we close the window?”

“Won’t it be too hot?”

Fair point.

In a dorm with no fan, a breeze through the window was a rare luxury.

But Miss Jiang just couldn’t fall asleep.

And so, she began to stir up trouble again:

“Xiao Mai, are you asleep?”

“.Not yet.”

“Did you finish the physics worksheet for tomorrow?”

“.Yeah, I did.”

“What about math?”

“……”

“Yang Ke~”

“.What is it?”

“Your bra’s on the floor~”

“.I’m wearing it.”

“Huh? Isn’t that uncomfortable?”

“.”

“Yuan Lu~ Yuan Lu-lu~”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT!!!”

“Heh, knew you weren’t asleep.”

“It’s too hot to sleep, okay?!”

“Ehehehe~”

“Stop laughing!!!”

For a moment, the whole dorm erupted in a chorus of complaints.

Startled, Miss Jiang instinctively shrank back under her covers.

But just then—

From the hallway outside came the sound of the Dormitory Supervisor making rounds.

Instantly, the room fell dead silent.

Only the sound of measured footsteps and the occasional sharp reprimand echoed from outside.

“Room 202! No talking!”

“Any more noise and you’ll lose life points!”

“Room 203! Bai Dandan! Who gave you permission to wash your hair after lights out?!”

“Take it up with your homeroom teacher tomorrow!”

“Room 205! Where’s that light coming from?!”

“Open up! Room inspection!”

A long while passed.

Then, the footsteps of the Dormitory Supervisor suddenly faded away.

Lying in bed, Miss Jiang waited and waited, assuming the teacher had finally left.

But when she lifted her head—

Well, damn.

A blank, expressionless face was staring straight through the dorm door’s glass panel.

Her eyes locked directly with Miss Jiang’s.

In that moment—

Jiang Ning experienced what could only be described as cardiac arrest.

Holy shit.

This woman’s gonna scare me to death one of these days.

It was a long time before that face finally disappeared from the glass.

Just as Miss Jiang was calming down, ready to pull out her phone for a few rounds of Snake—

A petite figure suddenly lifted her mosquito net.

Then—

Like a little fish, she slipped right into Miss Jiang’s arms.

“Jiang Jiang… I’m scared…”

Big, teary eyes, lips trembling.

Her pale little face—

It was enough to melt Old Man Jiang’s heart.

“There, there. Don’t be scared.”

“Brother’s here.”

And then—

A sharp yell rang out from the hallway.

“Room 207!”

“Open the door!”

Ten minutes later.

After watching the Dormitory Supervisor finally leave, Miss Jiang gave the bed frame a quiet tap and whispered down to Little Qi:

“Don’t take it personally.”

“That woman’s probably got hormonal issues and no one to love her.”

“Why else would she still be out here picking on us at eleven at night instead of going to bed?”

“Alright, Jiang Ning. Zip it before you summon her back again,” Yang Ke’s voice drifted up from below.

“Okay…”

Miss Jiang pouted.

——————

The next morning.

Jiang Ning was woken up early by the chatter of her dormmates.

Groggy and half-asleep, she leaned over the railing and checked the time.

Grumbling, she said:

“It’s only five-thirty!”

“Even the roosters aren’t up yet!”

That earned her a round of eye-rolls.

Only Little Qi—

Gently patted the railing of the top bunk.

“Come on.”

“Time to wash up.”

“Placement exams are coming. Let’s go review early.”

Sigh.

Listen to your wife and you’ll never go hungry.

With a dramatic sigh—

She summoned her strength.

Time to get up!

Alright!

First attempt—failed!

Second try!

Push!

Aaaah!!

Forget it.

Let the world burn.

(End of Chapter)