At 8:00 a.m., the rising sun cast its light over the plaza before Yuzhou South Station.
A Titanium Gray Electric Bike was parked in the station plaza. Jiang Ning pulled out the key and headed toward the entrance.
Before the holiday, Teacher Guo Ran had kept telling him to visit her, saying she would treat him to some local specialties.
Today, he finally got the chance. Jiang Ning wore a black trench coat and carried a shoulder bag, traveling light.
On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, many travelers had begun their return journeys, hurrying along while Jiang Ning strolled forward at an unhurried pace.
Then someone suddenly called from behind him, "Jiang Ning!"
Jiang Ning turned his head and saw a girl whose pale skin practically reflected light. She was Lou Keke, a patient with Bipolar Disorder who carried the aura of the "Ghostfire Widower."
"Oh, what a coincidence." Jiang Ning gave her a once-over and found that she seemed to be doing fairly well. His electric treatment appeared to have worked quite nicely.
"Keke, you know him?" a boy beside Lou Keke asked.
There was another girl present as well, sizing Jiang Ning up.
The two were Lou Keke's friends and classmates, both locals from Yuzhou who attended Nanshi High School Affiliated to Normal University.
The two peers carried an air of privilege between their brows, worlds apart from a mud-legged fellow like Zhang Chi.
They found it strange. In the past, even when Lou Keke ran into acquaintances at school, she never took the initiative to greet them. She would always pretend not to see them, go about her own business, and immerse herself in her own world.
But now...
The boy, in particular, stared at Jiang Ning with a trace of nervousness.
Lou Keke