WHI – Chapter 25

Chapter 25

That night, Lin Ting dreamt of Lin Fang after a long time.

Even though the scene had been etched in his mind, he had tried his best to ignore it for so many years. Apart from the first year, he rarely dreamt of it.

On a summer rainy night, besides the pattering of raindrops on the plastic umbrella, there was the sharp screech of tires on asphalt.

And a muffled thud, as if a cement bag had fallen from a tall building.

Lin Ting watched as the pedestrian, no more than a meter away, was directly scooped up by a car that ran a red light, sent soaring into the air. For that instant, it was so long that he even suspected the person in front of him had vanished into thin air.

The next moment, a blood-stained human body, like a twisted仿真人偶, appeared before him.

Screams gradually replaced the sound of rain. The pale, blood-splattered limbs were suddenly replaced by the owner of the car—Lin Fang.

Two faces, so alike, briefly met in the foul-smelling rain. Before he could speak, the car ran over the twisted limbs on the ground again and sped away.

Only a hint of alcohol lingered from the car window, and trembling eyeballs lay on the ground.

The next second, he knew nothing more.

He hadn’t dreamt of Lin Fang in a long time. He hadn’t even seen him once after he was arrested and imprisoned.

Everything that happened after that crashed down on Lin Ting like a landslide from a mountaintop.

The son of a murderer—this story was very popular among middle school students.

Lin Ting didn’t consider himself a violent person, but he wasn’t a pushover either.

He could wipe away the foul language scrawled on his desk; he could throw away the dead mice and bloody sanitary pads in his drawers.

It wasn’t until a girl who had confessed to him suffered the same fate that his fist tasted blood for the first time.

From then on, it was an uncontrollable spiral. When Su Li was called to the school, he saw a look of such unfamiliarity on his mother’s face for the first time.

It was as if she was looking at the “murderer” named Lin Fang through him.

Imprisonment, divorce, remarriage.

Su Li left without looking back.

Until Old Lin brought him back.

Until Old Lin kept him, and then departed alone on a crane to the west.

.

Lin Ting sat in the school cafeteria, finishing the last packet of Chinese medicine liquid, while Wen Lan stared at him intently from across the table.

“Can you stop looking at me like that?” Lin Ting sighed, throwing away the plastic packaging—this stuff was useless.

“What kind of look?” Wen Lan’s eyes were long and narrow, slightly upturned when he smiled, but with a hint of mischief.

Lin Ting felt that his smile hadn’t been like this before, but he had no photos for comparison.

“This kind of look. It makes me uncomfortable. I want to punch you.”

“I’ve always been like this.”

“That’s why I’ve always wanted to punch you.” Lin Ting said and got up to leave. Wen Lan had already finished eating. He didn’t understand why he would watch someone eat when he could be doing some practice problems.

Wen Lan got up and followed—for some reason, his usual cronies weren’t with him today.

“Don’t forget tonight, I’ll pick you up?” Wen Lan said.

“No need, I’ll go myself.”

For the past few days, he had been harping on about the birthday party, and Lin Ting’s ears were almost calloused.

The ski resort they finally decided on was in a neighboring city’s western suburbs. It seemed to have been built at the end of last year and was less than a year old. All the equipment was quite new, and they had everything.

Lin Ting didn’t feel much. He had only seen ski resorts online. Compared to the anticipation of new things, he was more concerned about spending two days and two nights with Wen Lan.

The thought of staying out overnight inevitably sent Lin Ting’s thoughts back to that night.

Damn it.

Since it was in a neighboring city, their group planned to go on Friday after school, pack their things, and set off. They would return on Sunday afternoon.

Wen Lan: “You’re going alone? Let’s go together, my driver can take us.”

Lin Ting: “I get carsick.”

Wen Lan: “Then we’ll take the high-speed train together.”

Lin Ting: “I get sick on the high-speed train too.”

Wen Lan: “Then you…?”

Lin Ting stopped and turned, smiling slightly at him, “I like taking green-skinned trains, the slow and smelly seated kind.”

Seeing the look of utter disbelief on the man’s face, as if he were surprised that green-skinned trains still existed in the world, Lin Ting slipped away and spent the entire afternoon with his head on his desk, ignoring him.

Then, he secretly opened 12306 and booked himself a first-class high-speed train ticket.

The reason was simple: Lin Ting was determined not to give himself and Wen Lan any opportunities for one-on-one time.

If the Chinese medicine didn’t work, then psychological therapy it was!

.

So, when Lin Ting met Wen Lan at the high-speed train station, the atmosphere was indeed a bit awkward.

Wen Lan spoke first: “The train station, I remember it seems…”

“Sold out,” Lin Ting interrupted, “Where’s your driver?”

“My dad had a last-minute business trip.”

“Oh.”

They silently passed security and got on the same carriage. As they sat in adjacent seats.

Wen Lan: “Good thing I didn’t buy a business class ticket.”

Lin Ting whispered: “I should have bought a second-class ticket.”

They spoke at the same time. Wen Lan frowned and turned to look at Lin Ting: “Are you avoiding me?”

“No, I said I almost bought a second-class ticket.” Lin Ting smiled.

“Haven’t seen you taking medicine these past few days? Are you all better?” Wen Lan asked.

Lin Ting put on his baseball cap and closed his eyes: “Mm, almost.”

“What kind of illness is it?” Wen Lan’s voice was slow and drawn out.

“Rhinitis.”

“Really? I haven’t seen you with a stuffy nose.”

“…”

“Are you hiding something from me?”

“…You’re overthinking it.”

“Hey, do you play snowboard or ski? Oh right, you said you don’t…”

“…”

“Are you sleepy?”

Lin Ting yanked off his cap and placed it on Wen Lan’s chattering head: “Shut the hell up and sleep.”

Time seemed to stand still for a few seconds until the high-speed train slowly started moving. The uniformed train attendant handed out snacks by the seats.

Wen Lan took off the hat, didn’t return it to Lin Ting, and kept it in his arms. He took the snack box from the attendant and nodded at him.

Sensing the continuous killing intent from the neighboring seat, he quickly put the hat back on and turned to look out the window.

.

The speed of the high-speed train was not much different from that of a car. By 9 PM, everyone had gradually arrived at the ski resort.

It was called a ski resort, but it was more like a resort town, or rather, a resort mountain.

From the small shops along the street at the foot of the mountain, past the amusement park halfway up the mountain, the taxi finally stopped steadily in front of a large hotel at the summit.

Lin Ting felt like throwing up as soon as he got out of the car. He gagged for a long time but couldn’t. He leaned on a tree trunk, until Wen Lan placed his suitcase beside him.

“Thanks,” Lin Ting said.

Behind the hotel building was the man-made snow field at the summit. Even though it was dark, one could still see large swathes of blinding white stretching towards the sky.

In the lobby, when everyone saw the two of them arrive, they waved hello. The tour guide sister had a logoed flag tucked into her pants pocket. She waved at them and walked towards the elevator: “The rooms are on the 7th floor. We’ll go up in batches.”

Lin Ting counted, there were over 20 people. Besides the familiar faces from the villa last time, he didn’t know the others.

The lackeys, upon seeing Wen Lan, acted as if they had seen their mother. They crowded around the elevator entrance, talking about how they had beaten someone up a few days ago, or how they had won a fight against students from another school.

Lin Ting glanced sideways at Wen Lan.

Wen Lan showed no guilt: “There’s another group chat, but it was too brutal so I didn’t add you. If you want to join…”

“No.”

Until the guide led them to a large dormitory-style room.

Lin Ting had a premonition when he arrived. The guide sister had only talked about tomorrow’s itinerary and the hotel’s hot springs and sauna on the way, never mentioning their room number.

So that’s why it was the same room…

Only Qin Wan and Fang Ran, the two girls, were assigned to a double room. Lin Ting looked at the remaining 20-odd brothers, his face darkening.

It wasn’t crowded. The tatami dormitory in front of them was as large as three or four classrooms, with four rows of Japanese futons neatly laid out, two columns side by side, head to head.

“What is this?” Lin Ting looked at Wen Lan.

Wen Lan’s face was also dark: “Who booked this?”

Yu Zhile happily and proudly raised his hand in the crowd: “I arranged it. When the guide sister introduced it, I thought this was great. You said we could play games and drink together tonight, how lively!”

The guide, sensing their thoughts, said “Wait a moment” and made a phone call. After a few “Mm, mm, I know, thank you,” she hung up.

“The rooms are full, it seems there’s another group.”

“Forget it, let’s just go with this.” Lin Ting was the first to enter the room and placed his suitcase on the storage board by the entrance.

Although the others could see that Boss Wen was in a bad mood, they also entered the room one after another.

Some who didn’t know Lin Ting were secretly inquiring about his background from others. Lin Ting couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could feel their eyes scanning him.

Tsk, not very pleasant.

“Let’s go, shall we grab something to eat?” Wen Lan nudged Lin Ting with his elbow.

“Let’s all go together. We’re sleeping together, so why form small cliques?” Lin Ting leaned against the floor-to-ceiling window, raising his eyelids to glance at Wen Lan.

Wen Lan looked at the group who were either playing games or cards and said, “I’ll only form a small clique with you. Let’s go.”

Lin Ting was indeed hungry, sleepy, and tired. He sighed, “Okay, you’re treating me.”

“So stingy,” Wen Lan pursed his lips, which unconsciously curved upwards.

When Lin Ting returned to the dormitory after a seafood buffet, he found that most of the lights had been turned off, leaving only the dim, yellowish light in the corners and a duck-shaped silicone night light in the center of the room.

And these 20-odd people had even pulled in the two girls from the next room. They were gathered in a large circle around the duck night light.

“Did I interrupt your sacrificial ceremony?” Lin Ting approached, seeing several bottles of beer and scattered cards placed in the middle of the circle, with an empty wine bottle lying in the very center.

From the looks of it, they were trying to revive the silicone duck in the middle.

Wen Lan’s laughter sounded uncontrollably from behind him: “You’ve never played before?”

“No,” Lin Ting frowned.

Wen Lan kicked Song Mi’s butt: “Make some space.” He then beckoned Lin Ting to sit down.

As Lin Ting joined the circle, where everyone’s faces were illuminated by the dim yellow light, he felt he must be quite ill.

“Whose turn was it just now?” someone asked.

“Let’s start again, everyone’s here now.”

The empty wine bottle lying in the center was spun by a pair of hands. Lin Ting seemed to have a dawning realization of what game this was.

The game loved by thousands of teenagers, second only to ‘Bi Xian’ in its silliness. A game for adolescent hormones to be reasonably vented—

Truth or Dare.