Chapter Nineteenth: Winter's Living Snake

  "What's going on?" Hong Jun asked urgently, and a picture of a big man with a ugly face sneering at Rui Xin flashed in his mind, could it be... He unconsciously closed his eyes, not daring to think further.

  "Hmph, don't get any ideas. Nothing's going on." Rui Xin glared at Hong Jun, saying angrily.

  "I was thinking nothing, I didn't think anything." Seeing Rui Xin saw through his mind, Hong Jun was really startled, but this idea couldn't be put on the table, so he could only make excuses.

  "It's been half a month since we've been together, don't I know your temper by now? You're not good at hiding your emotions, take a look in the mirror and you'll see that your thoughts are all in your eyes." Rui Xin was really angry and shook off Hong Jun's hand.

  Hong Jun panicked, he knew he could no longer deny it, otherwise the emotions between the two might crack because of this. He puffed out his face and leaned in front of Rui Xin, gritting his teeth to apologize: "Good Rui Xin, I was wrong, I really was wrong, forgive me, okay? Think about it, a beautiful girl like you says something, how can I not think about that? Not just me, any normal man would have those thoughts."

  After hearing this apologetic yet praising speech, Rui Xin's expression turned from gloomy to sunny. She gently scratched Hong Jun's nose: "From now on, don't be allowed to have wild thoughts. I will be heartbroken."

  "I understand, I understand." Hong Jun nodded and bowed, "Good Xiner, quickly tell me what happened."

  "Oh, it was like that. That winter, the weather was particularly cold. Our northeastern winters are not exaggerated when they say 'water droplets turn to ice'. Because I had to get up early the next day and walk over ten miles to school to start the stove, I went to bed very early that night. It must have been around midnight, I was sleeping soundly, when suddenly I felt a ticklish, cool sensation on my face, as if something was crawling on it."

  At first, I thought it was just a dream, but soon I felt something was wrong. The itching sensation indicated that there was indeed something crawling on my face. Since we didn't have any pets like cats or dogs at home, and the doors and windows were tightly closed in winter, it was impossible for small animals to get into the house from outside. What could it be? Could it be a mouse? The thought sent shivers down my spine. It's well-known that girls are afraid of mice, and I'm no exception.

  I was completely awake, but I didn't dare open my eyes or move, afraid that if I opened them, I would see a huge rat perched on the bridge of my nose. So I lay there quietly, hoping the rat would leave my face soon.

  However, I soon negated the idea that it was just a mouse. If it were a mouse, the sensation on my face should have been fluffy, but what I felt was a long, legless thing sliding across my face, and it was also slightly chilly.

  "What's that?" Hong Jun couldn't help but interrupt.

  "Listen to me." Rui Xin said coquettishly.

  "Alright, alright, I won't interrupt anymore, you go ahead." Hong Jun pleaded guilty.

  "At that time, I couldn't help but laugh. This feeling... it's just like when a clothing strap touches your face. Could it be...?" Rui Xin said up to this point, her face turned slightly red, and she stopped talking.

  Hong Jun wanted to ask, but ultimately held back.

  Rui Xin looked at Hong Jun's face, which was red and flushed, and lowered her head. Her voice became much softer: "At that time, I thought to myself, could it be that the strap of my bra had slipped down from behind and slid onto my face as I moved?"

  Hong Jun didn't dare to laugh. Rui Xin's face was also too thin, and even when talking about the bra strap, her face turned red. However, her face, which was full of blushes, really looked good. Of course, if he could see her underwear strap now, it would be even better. Thinking of this, he raised his head slightly, hoping to catch a glimpse from Rui Xin's neckline, but the first thing he saw was Rui Xin staring at him intently.

  "What's up? Bastard."

  "I, I... just saw a fly flying around." Hong Jun started to lie. Rui Xin's face showed a hint of annoyance, but she was secretly amused. Her own body belonged to the person she loved, and she didn't mind him seeing it. Seeing Hong Jun like this, she actually felt very happy. Only when one's body has an attraction to the opposite sex will they be interested in trying to sneak a peek. Even if the mentally ill woman on the side of the road was naked, how many people would want to look?

  She and he both unintentionally entangled in this matter, Hong Jun was because someone discovered his attempt, a little guilty conscience, Rui Xin was for the girl's reserve, not convenient to mention. So, the scene just awkwardly stagnated, no one spoke.

  "Ding ding ding." A ringing sound broke the awkward silence, Hong Jun smiled slightly, pulled out his phone from his pocket and threw it heavily onto the bed. The phone bounced a few times on the soft sheets before finally coming to rest beside the pillow.

  "Advertisement." Hong Jun said. This sentence made the atmosphere lively. Rui Xin also laughed.

  "What happened afterwards?" Hong Jun brought the topic back on track.

  "What's next?" Rui Xin felt a little strange, but immediately understood. She cleared her throat and continued: "As I thought about it, I reached out of the quilt and grabbed the thing, but as soon as my hand touched it, I felt something was clearly wrong. The thing was cylindrical, smooth all over, and seemed to be alive, wriggling in my hand."

  I was scared, and with another hand I reached out to the bedside and pulled the light switch.

  I almost fainted at the sight of this."

  "What did you see?" Hong Jun couldn't help but ask.

  Rui Xin gave him a glance and pulled up his sleeve: "What did I see? Ah, I saw... a big pervert."

  Hong Jun was taken aback: "Big pervert? What big pervert? Alright, you're changing your tune to scold me, just you wait and see if I don't deal with you."

  "Ah, let me go... mm..." Their lips stuck together once again.

  "Alright, alright, let me finish speaking." Rui Xin finally managed to break free from Hong Jun's craziness, smoothed out her disheveled hair, and wiped the corner of her mouth with a tissue.

  Hong Jun took a deep breath, the fragrance on his lips was refreshing and made this summer day not so hot: "Okay, you tell me, I'm listening. By the way, what did you see?"

  Rui Xin's eyes suddenly had a thread of unease: "I turned on the light, took a look at my left hand, and indeed, I'm a left-hander, used to holding things with my left hand. You won't tell me you're also a left-hander, will you?" Rui Xin suddenly remembered the coincidence between the two of them, and asked Hong Jun, who nodded in confirmation that he was indeed a left-hander.

  "It's really fate." Rui Xin said, with a hint of bitterness flashing across her face, which flashed by in an instant and was not seen by Hong Jun. "In the dark night, when I suddenly turned on the light, even though it was very dim, my eyes still couldn't adapt, and I had to close them again. After a while, I adapted to the light and opened my eyes again. This time, I was scared out of my wits."

  Hearing Rui Xin's vivid description, Hong Jun also felt a chill run down his back. "Rui Xin, you wouldn't have caught a female ghost by the tail, would you?" Hong Jun thought to himself. As soon as he thought of the female ghost, his fear intensified and he even shivered with cold.

  "What's wrong? Are you scared of what I'm saying?" This chill didn't escape Rui Xin's eyes, she tilted her head, giggling and asking, with a look of disdain.

  "I, I, I..." Hong Jun stuttered, seeing Rui Xin's gaze, he suddenly remembered that a real man is not one who refuses to admit his own shortcomings, but rather one who dares to face them head-on, so as not to be looked down upon. So, he stiffened his neck: "I wasn't scared by what you said, but I thought of the female ghost I met, and it's a bit frightening in retrospect."

  "Hmm, yeah. When you mentioned seeing a female ghost back then, I was so scared that I didn't dare to sleep for several days. By the way, it's been a month now, right? Has that female ghost bothered you again?" Rui Xin asked.

  "No, this month, the female ghost has not appeared again. I sometimes wonder if Master Shi Kong has already gotten rid of her?" Hong Jun asked, seemingly questioning himself as well as Rui Xin.

  "Well, why don't you call Liu Ping and ask him? Didn't he leave his phone number with you? He should have been with Master Shi Kong all this time," Rui Xin asked.

  "What's the use of asking? What if it adds to my troubles?" Hong Jun shook his head. He wasn't without the thought of asking for clarification on this matter, and in his heart, he was also hoping that Liu Ping and Shi Kong had already subdued the female ghost. However, up until now, he still hadn't received a call from Liu Ping's phone. Since the person involved hadn't taken the initiative to make a call to report good news, Hong Jun already understood that this matter wasn't as optimistic as he had imagined. Nevertheless, he still wanted to reserve a glimmer of hope for himself. This was the reason why he didn't want to make a call to Liu Ping - in case a single phone call went through, and Liu Ping directly told him that there were no developments whatsoever, not just him, but also his friends around him might fall back into fear.

  It's better for him to remain forever mysterious than to know the truth.

  However, thinking of the female ghost, Hong Jun still felt a little nervous. This female ghost, why hadn't she come to cause trouble for herself in a month?

  "What's on your mind?" Rui Xin interrupted his random thoughts.

  "No, nothing. You go on, what did you see exactly." Hong Jun didn't share his own thoughts with Rui Xin, but instead urged her to speak quickly.

  "I opened my eyes again, and saw that," Rui Xin continued her own words, "in my left hand, was tightly grasping a snake, which was desperately twisting its body, trying to break free from my hand."

  "Hold on." Hong Jun interrupted her. Rui Xin tilted her head and looked at him.

  Hong Jun looked at Rui Xin, feeling that he had found a big loophole for Rui Xin, which made him wonder if what Rui Xin said was true or false: "Are you sure this happened in winter?"

  Rui Xin thought for a moment: "En na."

  "What's with the 'hmm' and 'uh-huh'? You're saying you graduated from university, studied for so many years, and have quite a bit of knowledge. I asked you, have you ever heard that snakes are active in winter? Snakes are cold-blooded animals, they hibernate in the winter. In the northeast with such cold weather, if it comes out of its hole in the winter, it will freeze into an ice stick within one minute." said Hong Jun.

  Rui Xin nodded: "I know that." vvwvv, ";”You still caught a live snake in the northeast winter of minus 20 or 30 degrees, isn't this nonsense?" Hong Jun sneered.