Chapter 4: Forbidden Ground, Another Corpse Appears (1/4)

Tang Haoyang sat silently before the mirror, staring blankly at his own reflection, replaying Zheng Huiwen's voice and smile over and over in his mind. He touched his own utterly ordinary face, then picked up his phone and checked Zheng Huiwen's updates. She didn't post much, and what she did post was just about her studies and daily life. After a moment, Tang Haoyang sent her a message: "Huiwen, are you free tonight?"

Before long, he received a reply: "I have class tonight. What's up?"

Tang Haoyang felt disappointed again, and sent back: "Nothing much, just focus on your class."

"Mm-hmm."

He then put down his phone and, facing himself in the mirror, let out a sigh.

The next day, while Tang Haoyang was in class, Ren Jie sent him a message asking him to have lunch together. Without a second thought, he agreed, and went to find him as soon as class ended. Passing by the flower bed, he saw Ren Jie standing under a willow tree with a girl—Tang Haoyang could tell at a glance that she wasn't Ren Jingting. She wore heavy makeup and trendy clothes, was rather short in stature but somewhat plump. She rose on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around Ren Jie's neck, and tried to kiss him. Ren Jie shoved her away in disgust and turned to leave, but the girl said with brazen confidence, "If you dare disobey me, I'll make Ren Jingting's life worse than a dog's!"

Ren Jie stopped abruptly in his tracks. The girl stepped forward and reached her hand toward the inside of his clothes. Ren Jie still couldn't help but push her away, pointing at her nose and cursing, "Don't be so shameless. There's a limit to a person's patience."

"Tch," the girl said with a curl of her lip, "You should count yourself lucky that I've taken a liking to you. What kind of man couldn't I have? Whose fault is it that your face is so seductive? I know exactly what you and Ren Jingting are to each other. If you two behave and obey me, I can let you live in peace. But if you make me angry, all I need to do is tell my father, and the two of you won't even have a place to bury your bodies."

Ren Jie said furiously, "Don't think we'll be threatened by you."

"You can try me." The girl said smugly.

Ren Jie glared at her, then turned and walked away, in that instant completely forgetting about Tang Haoyang. So Tang Haoyang followed him, all the way into the administrative building. Seeing no one around, he called out to him. Ren Jie was startled, but relaxed upon seeing it was him, and asked what was going on.

You asked him: "Who was that woman? Your ex-girlfriend?"

"What are you talking about? When did I ever have an ex-girlfriend?"

"I saw her kissing and hugging you."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Ren Jie shouted, then, realizing he'd lost his composure, lowered his voice a bit and said, "I have things to do, I won't keep you company."

With that he turned and walked away faster than anyone. Tang Haoyang stood rooted to the spot, filled with doubt. He didn't think that woman looked like Ren Jie's ex-girlfriend, and yet Ren Jie seemed to fear her deeply.