Chapter 58.2 Dream
A strong feeling of weightlessness hit Lin Banxia. He gasped and woke up from his dream.
With the mottled ceiling above his head and the thin dormitory bed beneath him, Lin Banxia was covered in sweat, trapped in the darkness, panting violently. He didn’t know what time it was, but it was still dark outside the window. It would be a long time before dawn.
Lin Banxia wiped his face and felt the cold sweat on his hand. Because of this dream, Lin Banxia couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night. He tossed and turned in bed and couldn’t fall asleep. However, he found that he was not the only one who couldn’t sleep in the dormitory. After a while, he heard some mumbling. He poked his head out and saw that his roommate named Jiang Xin was pouring water for himself.
“Can’t sleep?” Lin Banxia asked quietly.
“Yeah.” Jiang Xin said, “I had a dream.”
“Nightmare?” Lin Banxia asked.
“Not really.” Jiang Xin’s answer was a little vague. He raised his head and glanced at Lin Banxia. Lin Banxia wondered if he was being too sensitive. He felt that Jiang Xin’s eyes looked a little different than usual. By the time Lin Banxia wanted to ask again, Jiang Xin had already climbed onto the bed and wrapped his body in the quilt.
Until dawn, Lin Banxia barely slept, constantly in a state of half-consciousness.
It was another sunny day, and it was Sunday so there were no classes. Students could finally sleep late. It was a pity that Lin Banxia had a nightmare, so he didn’t sleep well and woke up early. He was worried about disturbing his roommates, so after a simple wash, he carried his schoolbag and went out, intending to go to the classroom to do homework and self-study.
No day students came to school today, so the whole school was much quieter than usual. Lin Banxia walked to the teaching building and saw few people, but fortunately the classroom door was open. There might have been classmates before. Lin Banxia walked in but saw no one. The whole classroom was empty. He walked to his seat, put down his schoolbag and began to do his homework seriously.
The spring sun was particularly pleasing, shining warmly on people. Lin Banxia finished his English homework and felt a little tired. He raised his eyes and looked out the window. He could see the direction of the playground from his position. The normally bustling playground was deserted at this time, but Lin Banxia noticed that there was a person lying on the lawn of the playground, basking in the sun with a lazy expression – it was the person he dreamed about last night, Song Qingluo.
Lin Banxia didn’t know if it was because of that strange dream, but when he looked at Song Qingluo again, he felt a little uncomfortable for some reason. His pen was scratching on the notebook unconsciously, trying to take back his attention, but he couldn’t help staring at Song Qingluo out of the corner of his eye.
He is so good-looking, Lin Banxia thought. This was probably the most handsome boy he had ever seen.
Song Qingluo had no idea that someone was looking at him. He seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep and did not move for a while. Lin Banxia suddenly realized that he seemed to have lost his composure and quickly looked away, but when he looked at his draft book again, his expression froze, and he realized that he had unconsciously written Song Qingluo’s name over and over in the notebook.
Seeing that the three characters “Song Qingluo” were almost covering his draft book, Lin Banxia’s ears suddenly felt a little hot. Fortunately, there was no one around, so he tore out the page pretending to not care. He originally wanted to throw it away, but when he stretched out his hands he remembered that Song Qingluo’s name was on it, so after hesitating for a moment, he folded it carefully and stuffed it into the depths of his schoolbag.
Song Qingluo had been basking in the sun all morning. When it was almost twelve o’clock, Lin Banxia looked over again and found that the other person was gone.
It was almost lunch time, and Lin Banxia wanted to go to the canteen to have lunch. However, as soon as Lin Banxia walked out of the classroom, he heard the ringtone of a mobile phone coming from the end of the corridor. This tone was familiar to him. He had heard it on Qin Xu’s cell phone before. The cell phone should have been at Song Qingluo’s place at this time. Why did it suddenly ring? Could Song Qingluo be in the corridor?
Lin Banxia thought so and walked a few steps towards the corridor. However, before he reached the end, he saw a person appearing on the other side of the corridor. It was Jiang Xin, his roommate who also couldn’t sleep last night, who appeared in front of Lin Banxia at this time, still holding the mobile phone that should belong to Qin Xu in his left hand and making a call with an angry tone.
Lin Banxia wanted to ask him where he got the phone from, but he noticed what he was holding in his right hand – a fruit knife which he didn’t know where he got it from.
Jiang Xin cursed loudly into the phone and waved the blade in his hand exaggeratedly with his other hand, looking crazy like a madman. Fortunately, Jiang Xin seemed to turn a blind eye to Lin Banxia and roared: “Liar, Liar, you liar.” His eyes turned red, “You are lying to me, right? How could this be? How could it be possible?”
Lin Banxia was frightened by his appearance and couldn’t help but step back, which attracted Jiang Xin’s attention. Jiang Xin glared at Lin Banxia fiercely. Only then did Banxia realize that he was actually crying. Although his eyes were ferocious, the tears could not be faked, and they were almost exaggeratedly dripping down his face, which made him look ferocious and terrifying.
“Is what you said true?” Jiang Xin asked again.
Lin Banxia knew that he was not asking himself, but the person on the other end of the phone.
“Then I should give it a try.” Jiang Xin said, “Who should I try with?” When he said this, his eyes rested on Lin Banxia.
“Hahaha, hahaha.” Lin Banxia didn’t know what was said on the other end of the phone, but when Jiang Xin laughed again, the laughter was sad, “I don’t have a good heart like you, I can’t be like you…”
As he spoke, he kept walking, and the distance between him and Lin Banxia was getting smaller. Lin Banxia realized that something was wrong. As soon as he took a step back, he bumped into someone behind him. He turned his head in shock and found Song Qingluo standing behind him, looking down at him and whispering: “What happened?”
“He…” Lin Banxia hesitated, “He seems…” He originally wanted to say that something was not right with Jiang Xin, but when he looked back again, he found that Jiang Xin was no longer as crazy as before. Jiang Xin’s expression returned to calm. He even hid the blade in his hand behind his back and stared at Song Qingluo behind Lin Banxia. Only this time, the malice in his eyes turned into vigilance and panic, as if the person holding the knife had turned into Song Qingluo.
“Where did you get that mobile phone?” Song Qingluo asked.
“I, I picked it up on the roadside.” Jiang Xin said.
Song Qingluo looked at him without saying a word, his eyes slightly colder.
Jiang Xin looked at Song Qingluo, but he seemed to see a monster. His whole body trembled, and he stammered: “I’m sorry.”
Song Qingluo said: “Qin Xu is your friend, right?”
Jiang Xin was stunned.
“I remember that you had a good relationship.” Song Qingluo said, “Although you are not in the same class, you were together all day long. Are you sad that he died?”
Jiang Xin gritted his teeth. Although he did not answer, tears overflowed uncontrollably again, and a beast-like whimper came out of his throat. It seemed that some part of his body was in terrible pain, but he had to suppress the feeling.
Song Qingluo didn’t press him any further, and stretched out his hand to him, gesturing for him to hand over the phone.
Jiang Xin’s face was full of reluctance, but he couldn’t say no in the end. He took a deep breath and reluctantly handed the mobile phone that belonged to Qin Xu to Song Qingluo.
“And.” Song Qingluo said, “The knife.”
Jiang Xin was stunned.
Song Qingluo said: “You scared him.”
Jiang Xin was frozen for a while before he realized that the person Song Qingluo was talking about was Lin Banxia who was standing next to him. He was not very familiar with Lin Banxia. He even seemed to only remember this classmate’s name previously, thinking that it didn’t suit his face. After hesitating for a moment, he did not refuse Song Qingluo’s request and handed the knife in his hand to Song Qingluo.
“Go.” Song Qingluo said to him.
After hearing this, Jiang Xin felt as if he had received amnesty and ran away without looking back, leaving Song Qingluo and Lin Banxia standing quietly in the corridor.
Lin Banxia felt that the whole situation was strange. Starting from Qin Xu’s death, everything seemed to be filled with a sense of discordance. This sense of dissonance was erratic and could only be detected from some strange details. It even made him wonder if he was thinking and worried too much.
“Why was the phone with Jiang Xin?” Lin Banxia asked.
“I put it in a drawer in the office.” Song Qingluo said, “Under normal circumstances, he shouldn’t have gotten it.”
Lin Banxia said: “But he got it.”
Song Qingluo said: “So this is not a normal situation.” He glanced at Lin Banxia, ”You weren’t hurt anywhere, right?”
“No.” Lin Banxia shook his head.
“Let’s go, it’s time to have lunch.” Song Qingluo said, “I’ll talk to you on the way.”
Lin Banxia originally thought he was going to the office for dinner, but Song Qingluo took him to the school gate. Lin Banxia asked him where they were going, and Song Qingluo said: “To go eat your favorite food.”
Lin Banxia was wondering how he knew what he liked best, and then he saw Song Qingluo walking towards a small shop on the roadside. He was surprised: “How did you know…?”
Song Qingluo said: “Do you want the truth or a lie?”
Lin Banxia said: “The truth.”
Song Qingluo: “I dreamed about it.”
Lin Banxia said helplessly: “What is the lie?”
Song Qingluo: “I guessed.”
Lin Banxia wondered if he was telling the truth. Shouldn’t this guess be more reliable than a dream? However, he remembered the strange dream he had last night and Jiang Xin’s strange reaction. He was trapped in thought for a while, leaving only silence.
Song Qingluo walked into the small shop, looked at the menu, put his hand directly on the table, and called: “Boss.”
The boss, a middle-aged man, came over and asked with a smile what he wanted to eat.
“Give me some beef rice noodles.” Song Qingluo ordered for himself, then looked at Lin Banxia, ”Give him some rice noodles – add all the ingredients.”
Lin Banxia was stunned for a moment. He really liked the taste of this rice noodle, but the only one he had ever eaten was plain rice noodle with nothing added. He had never thought about rice noodles with all of the ingredients. He was immediately flattered and thought to refuse quickly.
Song Qingluo seemed to have guessed what he was going to say, without raising his head: “Don’t talk, sit down, and eat obediently.” He raised his eyes with critical eyes, “You have to gain weight…” He didn’t continue speaking, just showed a faint smile filled with an unknown meaning.
The author has something to say:
Song Qingluo: I am very smart.
Li Su: I kissed someone.
Song Qingluo: I am strong.
Li Su: I kissed someone.
Song Qingluo: Everyone is afraid of me.
Li Su: I kissed someone.
Song Qingluo grabbed Lin Banxia who was watching the show next to him.
Lin Banxia: Hey 0.0???
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