Two lonely, gentle people healed each other. On this stormy night, they sat together.
Rain hammered against the window like a frenzied drumbeat. Inside and outside the cottage felt like two entirely different worlds.
The violent storm outside vented its fury and rage, but inside it was quiet. The clock ticked softly, and steam still rose from the red tea on the dining table.
"I was supposed to be the one comforting you, but every time those things come up, I lose control. I keep thinking I've gotten used to it, but I'm really just fooling myself."
"This rain probably won't stop tonight." Zhang Ya stood up, checked the window, and drew the curtains. She moved to the other end of the sofa. "I've told you about Teacher's matter. Starting today, I won't run away anymore. You need to start moving forward too."
She took out her phone. "Call your father. He must be worried about you. And I'd like to have a proper conversation with him as well. A teacher won't let what happened to her happen to her own student. Whatever the problem is, I'll do everything I can to help you deal with it."
In her school days, Zhang Ya had been slandered, ostracized, and talked about by everyone. She had lived through all of that and knew the pain intimately, which was why she was so careful to look after her students.
All those scars were etched into her, making Zhang Ya both gentle and strong.
She never became a dancer. Instead, she became a teacher.
Perhaps somewhere in her heart she had once thought: if that teacher hadn't lied back then, if she had chosen to stand up and clear the truth, maybe everything would have turned out differently.
She couldn't change the past, so she chose a different path. At the very least, in her classroom, she would never let something like that happen again.
Everything seemed to be heading in a good direction, yet a quiet unease crept into Chen Ge's heart. If you want to make a person experience despair, you first let them have everything beautiful — then you shatter every last piece of it.
"You still don't trust your teacher?"
Under Zhang Ya's encouragement, Chen Ge dialed his father's number. It was picked up after just two rings.
"I'm at our teacher's house right now…"
A simple, warm conversation — nothing out of the ordinary. The relationship between father and son was harmonious, built on mutual respect and understanding. There was none of that "I'm your parent so you have to do what I say" dynamic.
After Chen Ge finished, Zhang Ya also exchanged a few words with his father. The two discussed Chen Ge's education at length.
Around eleven at night, Chen Ge lay on the sofa clutching Zhang Ya's blanket, burying his face in it. "So soft."
"Be careful tonight. Cover yourself properly and don't catch a cold." Zhang Ya stood at the bedroom door. Her apartment wasn't large — just one bedroom.
"You're the one who needs to be careful. Remember to lock the bedroom door." Chen Ge waved his hand.
"I hardly need you to remind me. Good night."
"Good night. Sweet dreams."
After the bedroom door closed, Chen Ge lay alone on the sofa, his mind pleasantly empty. "I haven't eaten this happily in so long, and I haven't rested this comfortably in ages. I can't believe this is a world behind a door."
His body was in a state of complete relaxation. Chen Ge half suspected he would fall asleep the moment he closed his eyes. "I can't let my guard down. Ming Tai and Yu Jian must be looking for an opportunity constantly."
He turned off the lights. At midnight, he slipped into the bathroom and changed back into his clothes. They still weren't fully dry, but they were no longer uncomfortable to wear.
"Time to go. There are no clues related to Yu Jian at Zhang Ya's place. Staying any longer is just a waste of time." Reason told Chen Ge he should leave now and use the nighttime to search through Liwan Town. But every time the thought formed in his mind, his body recoiled from it, as though another voice inside his head was urging him to stay.
"I came here because I wanted to see if I could find any clues at Zhang Ya's home. There probably won't be another chance like this, which means this might be the last time I come here — the last time in every sense of the word." At the doorway, Chen Ge paused. He turned back to look at Zhang Ya's bedroom door. "The eighteen-year-old Zhang Ya became a Red Dress. The twenty-five-year-old Zhang Ya became a dedicated, responsible teacher. Only when you put these two versions of her together do you get the real her."
Truthfully, when Chen Ge had first received Zhang Ya's love letter, his only reaction was fear. Death had hung over his head like a dark cloud.
The first time his perception of Zhang Ya shifted was during the midnight chase-stream, when he and the killer had encountered each other in the forester's cabin on the back mountain. Zhang Ya's warning had saved his life.
Later, he had summoned the courage to visit the Xicheng Private Academy. When he saw what Zhang Ya had gone through in the dance studio, his fear of her hadn't disappeared — but mixed in with that fear was a thread of heartache.
It was precisely because of that heartache that he had helped Zhang Ya track down the culprit from all those years ago.
The scene of their first meeting felt as though it had happened just yesterday. The span of time wasn't that long, but everything in between was far too complicated to sum up in a few simple sentences.
"Before, I only ever saw Zhang Ya the Red Dress. This time, behind the door, I finally came to truly know her." Chen Ge walked to the bedroom door and gently placed his palm against it. He didn't know whether Zhang Ya on the other side was asleep. After a long hesitation, he whispered: "Meeting you is my good fortune."
He picked up his backpack, took the black umbrella from under the coffee table, and left the red umbrella behind.
Quietly opening the front door, Chen Ge didn't stay the night at Zhang Ya's place. He ventured out into the rain.
Following his original plan, Chen Ge began searching from the eastern district of Liwan Town.
The small town in the downpour was nothing like usual. No streetlights, no glow of any kind. Not a single car on the roads.
"It feels like after nightfall, I'm the only person in this entire town."
Chen Ge was long accustomed to the dark. He inspected building after building, finding nothing — and seeing not a single soul.
"This place feels like it's getting more and more oppressive, but I can't pinpoint what's wrong. Everything and everyone looks exactly the same."
The rain stopped at dawn. Chen Ge returned to the school early, vaulted over the wall, climbed in through the classroom window, and settled back into his seat.
Students filtered in one after another. Today's first period was English. Before the teacher arrived, Chen Ge borrowed Du Ming's homework and finished it in a whirlwind ten minutes.
"Thanks. When I've got time, I'll invite you to tour the haunted house." Chen Ge handed the homework back. He noticed with some surprise that Du Ming, who was usually quite talkative, hadn't said a single word this time. He looked like he was in a terrible mood. "Are you alright?"
Du Ming still didn't speak. He just kept his head down, as though he didn't dare look at Chen Ge.
…
After the morning classes, Chen Ge stretched. He was about to chat with Du Ming, but the chubby boy picked up his bag and walked off on his own.
"Something's off. I need to find out what's going on." Chen Ge walked fast. The moment he stepped out of the classroom, he bumped right into two other male students.
"Sorry about that." Chen Ge didn't want trouble, so he apologized on his own.
"Real bad luck," one of them said, brushing off his clothes. He seemed to hate Chen Ge, muttering a few curses under his breath.
His voice was low, just loud enough for Chen Ge to hear. The gist of it was that Chen Ge had been born but never raised — attacking him for coming from a single-parent family.
"Classmate, name-calling isn't right. I'll come back sometime and explain to you exactly why." Chen Ge wore a smile on his face. He memorized the faces and voices of both students, then walked off with a carefree air.