Xie Sheng was utterly confused. “You don’t even know what he looks like, what he does for a living, what his family background is, or even if he’s single… and you already… you already like him?”
Shen Yusi picked at the celery in her bowl. “I didn’t say I like him. I’m just a little curious about him. I really enjoy chatting with him. You know I’ve never liked chatting online. I think meeting in person is much better. But with him, I find it really interesting.”
The metal chopsticks clinked against the porcelain plate. Shen Yusi mumbled, “Besides, I actually look forward to his messages.”
“You…” Xie Sheng was speechless for a long moment, finally squeezing out, “Well, just keep it in check.”
Xie Sheng rarely had nothing to say. Shen Yusi was always in control of her emotions. This was probably just another whim. She hoped Shen Yusi would lose interest in this Z soon.
Shen Yusi understood what Xie Sheng meant. She explained, “Of course I can handle it. I only have a tiny, little crush on him. It’s not to the point of liking him. Don’t worry.”
Xie Sheng took another sip of soup. “So, do you want to ask him out for a meal?”
Shen Yusi immediately shook her head, a look of reluctance on her face. “No way.”
“If you have a crush on him, you should meet him in person and find out more. What if he’s a super handsome guy?”
“What if he’s really ugly?” Just thinking about it was enough to make Shen Yusi want to collapse. She couldn’t accept that the elegant and refined Teacher Z in her head was, in reality, an average-looking or even ugly man.
“I have no intention of taking it further. Meeting him would only shatter my fantasy. And besides, I’m so pretty. What if he falls for me when we meet? Then I’d have to reject him, and after that, I’d have to find a new calligraphy teacher.”
Xie Sheng nodded in strong agreement. “You’re right. It’s actually good to keep this kind of relationship.”
Xie Sheng then asked, “So, do you still like Lin Yingzhou?”
“Yes, I do. Who says you can only like one person at a time?” Shen Yusi answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Xie Sheng saw right through her. “Oh～I get it now. You like Z’s inner self, Lin Yingzhou’s face, and Qi Yue’s personality, right?”
Shen Yusi nodded vigorously. “Yes! You get me.”
“And Xia Xifan?”
“He… he has a nice body. And he’s handsome, too.” Shen Yusi added, “But I don’t have any feelings for him. Don’t misunderstand.”
Xie Sheng laughed. “I know. Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease.”
For a moment there, she had honestly suspected that Shen Yusi had been cursed from a distance and was considering contacting a Daoist priest from Mount Mao to perform an exorcism.
—
“Zhouzhou, no matter what happens, you must never, ever open that door.”
The woman’s pallid hand clenched Lin Yingzhou’s wrist bone. “Absolutely not. Do you understand?”
Her voice echoed in the confined space, and only when Lin Yingzhou nodded in assurance did it fade.
The clock’s hand ticked past midnight. He was still drawn to push that door open. The light spilling through the crack was an eerie, dark red.
It was blood.
Lin Yingzhou’s pupils contracted sharply. The bathtub was filled with a pool of blood so thick it was almost black. It boiled and bubbled over the edge.
The scarlet liquid snaked up the walls in vein-like patterns, slowly climbing over his feet.
Lin Yingzhou stumbled back as he ran. The red chased him, accelerating, wrapping itself around his throat with a sickening, metallic stench.
An alarm sounded. Doctor An woke him from the hypnosis. “Lin Yingzhou, wake up.”
He pressed the warm ceramic cup into Lin Yingzhou’s cold hands. “Are you alright?”
The scent of disinfectant mixed with sandalwood hung in the air of the treatment room.
Lin Yingzhou stared at the moving liquid in his cup, his voice rough. “I did it again…”
“I know.”
Doctor An looked at the data curves on the tablet. It was clear that the gradual exposure therapy he was using had been very effective in the early stages.
It had allowed Lin Yingzhou to go from being completely unable to accept the color red to only being able to tolerate small areas of red and large areas of light red.
But as the low-threat stimuli gradually increased to high-threat ones, he would inevitably repeat that dream, deepening his fear of red.
The fluorescent lights in the treatment room hummed softly. Lin Yingzhou leaned back in the leather chair, his back soaked with sweat. He lowered his eyelids, waiting for the doctor’s next ‘judgment.’
“When was the last time you saw a large area of red without having a stress response?”
Lin Yingzhou took a deep breath and answered precisely, “September 1st, 11:48 PM. I took off the glasses you gave me.”
Doctor An was surprised by this answer. Those specially made glasses were designed to reduce the stimulation of red and prevent him from having a stress response.
To continue the exposure therapy smoothly, Lin Yingzhou had, on his advice, tried removing the glasses. When he encountered a triggering image, he would immediately look away to avoid the symptoms.
But on occasions where he had to be exposed to red, he would still voluntarily put the glasses back on.
Doctor An had assumed it was due to the external circumstances, but it turned out Lin Yingzhou had chosen to experience it.
“Why?”
“Because I was curious about what the color red—” Lin Yingzhou paused, “—actually looked like without the glasses.”
More precisely, he was curious about what the red on Shen Yusi had looked like at that moment.
Doctor An continued, “And then? You took them off. What kind of red did you feel?”
“Lively, vigorous, full of life.” Lin Yingzhou closed his eyes. In his mind’s eye, he saw the hair clinging to the back of Shen Yusi’s neck. “It was like… a flame.”
Doctor An was taken aback. This might be a significant turning point. “So, how long did you last?”
“Three seconds.”
After just three seconds, Lin Yingzhou had frantically put his glasses back on.
As usual, Lin Yingzhou’s treatment report was delivered to Lin Yunzhi’s desk on time.
The last line of the report read: Recommend increased contact with vibrant red, preferably with living, moving things. Through subtle influence, change the concept in his mind that red represents death to…
Red is the pulse of life.
Lin Yunzhi looked at this passage, lost in thought.
—
After official classes began, the tyranny of the 8:00 AM class started to wear down Shen Yusi’s mental defenses.
Every morning, Room 403 was filled with a series of pitiful wails, reminiscent of a slaughterhouse.
Li Yu tapped her knuckles on the iron bed frame. “Get up, quick! We have the Dean’s big lecture today. The good seats will be impossible to get. I’m going ahead. You guys catch up.”
Oh, right. The counselor had announced it in the group yesterday.
Shen Yusi threw off the covers and scrambled out of bed. She quickly washed up and sprinted to the classroom with her other two roommates.
Li Yu was already sitting in the front row, directly in front of the lectern. Four books were laid out in front of her, and the morning light shone on the ends of her hair. At that moment, she was like a triumphant seat-reserving goddess.
This was the dean’s first public lecture, and many people wanted to make a good impression on him. Half an hour before class started, all the front-row seats were gone.
Xu Yiyi sat down and gave Li Yu a thumbs-up. “Awesome, dorm leader! You can probably see the dean’s hair follicles from here.”
Li Yu smiled slightly. “I’m flattered.”
Shen Yusi pulled out milk, granola, and beef jerky from her bag. “I figured you wouldn’t have had much to eat this morning, what with saving seats. Have some energy.”
“Thanks.”
Lin Yunzhi pushed open the wooden door of the lecture hall and stepped in as the pre-class bell rang. Shen Yusi heard a very soft exclamation from the back row.
No one expected the over-sixty-year-old dean of the School of Fine Arts to look so young in person.
Today, Lin Yunzhi was wearing a traditional Chinese-style stand-collar shirt, with the cuffs revealing a half-smoke-grey bamboo pattern. The whole person had a warm, refined, and elegant aura, like a piece of jade meticulously polished by time.
He walked steadily to the lectern, his fingers flipping through the class roster. “This year, as usual, our new students are mostly female. But the male-to-female ratio is much more balanced than in previous years.”
The theme of this public lecture was the hundred-year history of the Yunchang Academy of Fine Arts, the goal being to give the new students a deeper understanding of the school.
Lin Yunzhi was a bit more humorous in class than in daily life, telling the school’s history in a lively and interesting way.
As class was about to end, he handed out pieces of letter paper. “I’d like to ask you all a favor. Write down on this paper which interest-based classes and campus activities you’d most like to take part in over the next four years.”
After class, before he left, he gave an instruction. “Later, Shen Yusi can collect these letter papers and bring them to my office. It’s on the sixth floor of the Administration Building.”
Called out so suddenly, Shen Yusi jerked her head up. “…Okay.”
A buzz of whispers immediately erupted in the classroom. Even her roommates looked at her in surprise.
“You know the dean?!” After Lin Yunzhi left, three faces, suddenly looming close, trapped Shen Yusi in her seat.
She smiled awkwardly. “It’s not really knowing him. I met him while visiting an exhibition before school started. We just chatted for a bit. I don’t know how he knows my name.”
After she answered his question back then, Lin Yunzhi had only asked if she was the one brought by Editor-in-Chief Yu. He didn’t say anything more after that.
Could Yu Shushu have told him privately?
Shen Yusi was also wondering about it. Taking advantage of the bell not yet ringing, she quickly collected the opinion forms with her roommates and took them to the office.
After a long walk, Shen Yusi arrived at the Administration Building, only to find the office door locked. No one answered when they knocked.
The three of them stood at the door, looking at each other.
Li Yu suggested, “We can come back another time. The dean isn’t here, and the door is locked. These opinion forms probably aren’t needed urgently. It’s fine to turn them in a few days later.”
Xu Yiyi, weak from hunger, quickly agreed. “Yeah, let’s go eat. Eating is the most important thing.”
The three of them had no choice but to head to the cafeteria.
After returning to the dormitory, Shen Yusi had just sat down to rest when her phone rang, showing Yu Shushu was calling.