The Butterfly Dreamed of Zhuang Zhou (1)

"Yang Jian! Stop sleeping! Come help me carry these!

Wang Shanshan staggered into the classroom, carrying a towering stack of test papers.

He opened his eyes groggily. His entire left arm had gone numb from being pinned beneath him, temporarily losing all feeling, so he could only slump over his desk and stare blankly at Wang Shanshan.

Looking at Yang Jian's dazed expression, Wang Shanshan said, "Did you dream about a ghost? Come help!"

"Wang Shanshan, let me help you." Fang Jing came up from the back row and reached for the test papers in her arms.

Wang Shanshan immediately said in distaste, "Get lost!"

Turning to Yang Jian, she said, "Yang Jian, the teacher will be here soon! Hurry up and help me hand out the papers!"

"Oh, coming."

Yang Jian stood and took the test papers from Wang Shanshan. They felt cold in his hands.

These test papers... felt as though they were made from human skin.

Yang Jian shook his head hard. What was he thinking?

After helping Wang Shanshan hand out the test papers, Yang Jian returned to his seat, propped up his chin, and stared blankly out the window.

He wondered when school would end.

Ring... ring...

The class bell rang.

The students playing and fooling around in the hallway immediately returned to their desks and sat down, waiting for the teacher to arrive.

"Hey, have you heard? A new teacher came today."

"Yeah, I heard. I went to the principal's office to carry some water the other day. They said something about him being one of the ten outstanding volunteer teachers in rural areas."

"He's coming, he's coming. Stop talking."

The classroom immediately fell silent, and everyone stared at the figure in the hallway.

Knock, knock, knock...

After knocking three times on the classroom door, a middle-aged man walked in.

He wore a Zhongshan suit and had a stern, unsmiling expression.

The man turned and wrote three large characters on the blackboard.

"Zhang Xianguang."

The man named Zhang Xianguang was brisk and efficient in his manner. Without unnecessary words, he briefly introduced himself, then began calling the students' names one by one.

"Yang Jian."

No one in the classroom stood. Yang Jian was looking out the window, pondering the dream he had just had.

Zhang Xianguang raised his voice a little.

"Yang Jian!"

A student behind him quietly reached out and nudged Yang Jian in the back.

"Hey... Yang Jian, he's calling you!"

"Huh?!" Yang Jian immediately stood.

"Here!"

Yang Jian's reaction sent the whole class into peals of laughter.

"Yang Jian, did you really dream about a ghost? Looks like your soul's been lured away."

"Maybe it was a female ghost."

Zhang Xianguang tapped the blackboard.

"Quiet, everyone."

He continued calling names.

"Zhang Wei."

This time, everyone looked at the desk beside Yang Jian's. That was Zhang Wei's seat, but it was empty now.

Zhang Xianguang raised his voice a little more.

"Zhang Wei!"

"Heeere!!!"

Zhang Wei's pig-slaughtering howl came from the classroom's back door.

Everyone looked toward the sound. Zhang Wei had a bag of bread dangling from his mouth, a bottle of yogurt in his left hand, and his schoolbag in his right. There were bruises on his face, too.

Panting, he said, "Hello, sir! I was doing a good deed just now, helping an old lady cross the road! But then a dog suddenly shot out and chased me! I accidentally fell into a drainage ditch! That's why I'm late!"

"Hahahahaha... Zhang Wei, did you step in dog shit? Is that why the dog chased you?"

Everyone in the classroom immediately erupted in thunderous laughter.

Zhang Wei's face flushed red. "I was helping an old lady cross the road!"

"All right, don't let it happen again. Go back to your seat."

"Yes, sir!"

With the bread dangling from his mouth, Zhang Wei bounded over to his seat in a few steps and tossed the bread to Yang Jian.

"Yang Jian, what's with you? You said you'd wait until I finished taking a shit. Why did you run off?"

Yang Jian turned his head. "You weren't holding this bread in your mouth while you were taking a shit, were you...?"

"Of course not."

Zhang Wei took out his textbook and continued.

"I just bought the bag you're holding."

"Then where's my original bag?"

"I ate it while I was taking a shit."

Zhang Xianguang put down the chalk in his hand.

"All right, everyone, that's all for today. Go home and properly digest what I covered today. I'll be testing you at random in class tomorrow."

With that, Zhang Xianguang took his teaching text and left the classroom.

"School's finally over."

Zhang Wei stretched. He had enjoyed a very satisfying sleep during that class.

"Zhao Lei! Liu Qi! Want to team up at the internet café?"

Zhao Lei waved a hand. "You guys go. The college entrance exams are coming up, and now they've suddenly changed our homeroom teacher, too. I'm planning to go home and study properly."

With a schoolbag on, Liu Qi also said, "Yeah, I feel like the pressure's a mountain on my shoulders. I'm going home to hit the books."

"Clutching at Buddha's feet at the last minute," Zhang Wei said disdainfully. "Then Yang Jian and I will go."

"Come on, Yang Jian. What are you spacing out for?"

Zhang Wei noticed that Yang Jian had been staring at the blackboard, so he looked over. It held the material Zhang Xianguang had just covered in class. He had been sleeping and hadn't taken in a word.

Bold, forceful chalk writing covered the entire blackboard.

"What's this?"

Zhang Wei read out one of the passages.

"When facing supernatural incidents, some things don't need testing. If something feels wrong, it is wrong. Intuition is the warning sign; the details are the answer."

"Anything can happen. Sometimes you cannot trust your own memories. Follow your instincts and investigate the source of this supernatural phenomenon."

"What the hell? What a mess."

Zhang Wei nudged the dazed Yang Jian.

"Oi! Let's go!"

Yang Jian raised his head, a trace of confusion flashing through his eyes.

"What is it... Zhang Wei?"

"We're going to the internet café!"

The two passed the Buddha statue in the middle of the school and walked out through the gates.

"Hey! Yang Jian!"

A girl's voice came from behind them.

Yang Jian and Zhang Wei turned to look. A girl with a ponytail jogged up to them.

"What is it, Miao Xiaoshan?" Yang Jian asked.

Miao Xiaoshan reached out and tapped his forehead with a finger. "You've been spacing out all day. You must not have remembered any of the key points the teacher covered, right? Here, take this."

Miao Xiaoshan took a yellowed notebook from her schoolbag and handed it to Yang Jian.

Yang Jian felt the thick notebook in his hands. It was heavy, and he kept feeling as though he had seen it somewhere before.

"What's this?"

Miao Xiaoshan held her hands behind her back, a faint pink blush on her cheeks. "My notes. I wrote down everything Mr. Zhang covered in class today."

She turned and ran onto a bus, looking back to say to Yang Jian.

"Yang Jian, study hard. We're going to the same university."

Zhang Wei picked his nose.

"Do you owe her money? She won't let you get away even at university."

"No."

"Don't hide it from me if something's up. I might be dirt-poor most of the time, but I can still help you pay back a few million in pocket change."

"I really don't, A Wei. I'm feeling really unwell today. I want to go home and get some sleep."

With that, Yang Jian headed home. He felt muddled and dazed all over, and all he wanted now was to lie down in bed and have a good sleep.

"Huh?! None of you are going? What am I supposed to do, then? Maybe I should go read for a while, too."