The Butterfly Dreamed of Zhuang Zhou (III)

Seeing the words on the test paper, Yang Jian's pupils contracted. As though struck by a sudden flash of inspiration, something crucial flashed through his mind. He looked up and said to Zhang Xianguang.

"Things have felt strange these past few days. I keep feeling that my own behavior and the things happening around me are very wrong. It feels like I'm..."

"Yang Jian!"

A heavy voice interrupted Yang Jian's thoughts.

Looking up, he saw Yang Xiao standing at the classroom door, holding a newspaper in front of his face, with that big black dog still beside him.

"Dad? What are you doing at school?" Yang Jian was a little surprised. Why had his father suddenly appeared here?

Yang Xiao walked in and stood opposite Zhang Xianguang.

"Mr. Zhang, Yang Jian's mother is sick. I need to take him home."

Zhang Xianguang silently stared at the newspaper in front of Yang Xiao's face, his gaze blazing like a torch.

After a long moment, he turned and said to Yang Jian.

"Go on. Take good care of your mother, and don't forget to review what we just covered."

"Oh, okay. Thank you, sir."

Yang Jian got up and followed his father out of the classroom.

What he failed to notice, however, was that the words on the test paper on his desk were slowly disappearing, and densely packed, large characters were beginning to appear on it.

"There's a ghost!"

After walking down from the teaching building, Yang Jian followed his father in silence.

That feeling... it's back. Every time I'm about to grasp something crucial, something suddenly happens to interrupt me...

The two passed the school's giant Buddha statue, and just then.

"Crack!"

Something seemed to fall from the top of the giant Buddha. Yang Jian looked toward the sound and saw a piece of glass embedded upright in the soil.

Because it was so far away, Yang Jian could only vaguely make out what seemed to be someone shouting at him inside the glass. That person even seemed to be bald...

Glass...?

Yang Jian's brows knitted tightly. Things were becoming increasingly wrong. It seemed as though he had subconsciously overlooked something.

Yang Xiao's voice came from behind the newspaper. "What are you looking at? Your mom is still waiting for you at home."

"Oh, coming."

Yang Jian hurried to catch up with Yang Xiao.

Once home, Yang Jian headed straight for his mother's room.

Zhang Fen lay in bed under a thick quilt, looking extremely weak.

Yang Jian asked worriedly, "Mom, are you all right?"

His mother had been perfectly fine when he left that morning. How had she become so seriously ill in less than a morning?

"I'm fine... maybe I've been too tired lately, and I caught a chill this morning. A few days of rest will do."

Yang Jian turned to look at Yang Xiao.

"Dad, let's take Mom to the hospital."

Yang Xiao's voice came from behind the newspaper.

"We've already been to the hospital. The doctor prescribed some medicine. She'll be fine after taking it for a few days."

...Already been to the hospital?

A flicker of surprise passed through Yang Jian's mind. He had only been at school for half an hour at most.

Yet even driving from home to the hospital took over ten minutes. The round trip alone would take half an hour, and there was still registration and seeing the doctor in between, not to mention that Yang Xiao had settled his mother in before coming to school to pick him up.

The timing doesn't add up at all...

Yang Jian slowly spoke.

"Dad... why do you keep reading that newspaper...?"

It was too eerie. Yang Jian suddenly realized that he had no memory of his father ever being so obsessed with newspapers. Besides, his mother was already this ill, yet his father was still holding the newspaper, refusing to put it down. Everything was far too abnormal...

"It's nothing. Look after your mother. I have something to do outside."

With that, Yang Xiao turned and left. He seemed unwilling to explain despite Yang Jian's questions.

Yang Jian stood up to follow him out, but glanced at his pale-faced mother in bed and ultimately sat back down.

Zhang Fen said weakly, "Yang Jian... don't blame your dad. He's always had a strange temper. Just stay here and keep me company."

Yang Jian nodded.

"Don't worry, Mom. I'll be right here. Tell me if you're hungry, and I'll cook you some noodles."

"All right..."

Zhang Fen turned her head to the side and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Seeing that his mother was asleep, Yang Jian prepared to get up and cook something.

Just as he raised his head, his gaze happened to fall on his parents' wedding photo on the wall above the bed.

A chill instantly surged up from the soles of his feet. In the photo, his father was actually holding a newspaper in front of his face, too.

Yang Jian stared at his father's figure in the photo in shock.

"How is that possible... how could he have been holding a newspaper even at his wedding...?"

"Wait... what does my father look like...? Why can't I remember at all...?"

Yang Jian immediately got up and began searching the room.

The household register, photo albums, driver's license...

In every photo featuring Yang Xiao, without exception, he held that newspaper in front of his face!

His back was already soaked in cold sweat. Yang Jian realized that he might have been caught in some terrifying reality without noticing it at all.

A sliver of moonlight shone through the window. Yang Jian whipped his head around.

He had been home for less than half an hour. How could it already be dark?!

Just then.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

An extremely regular knocking sounded at the door.

Yang Jian looked toward the doorway in terror.

"Who?! Who's there?!"

"Creeeak..."

A familiar face appeared behind the door.

Yang Jian was somewhat surprised. "Mr. Zhang?! What are you doing at my house?"

Zhang Xianguang strode inside, drew the curtains, and casually sat down on the stool opposite the bed, as though very familiar with the surroundings.

"It seems you've made some dependable friends. They're giving you hints."

Yang Jian stared coldly at Zhang Xianguang, his eyes full of wariness. Everything that had happened today was far too bizarre.

His hand had already closed around the lamp on the bedside table. If this new homeroom teacher before him showed any sign of abnormality, Yang Jian would knock him down without hesitation.

Yang Jian said coldly, "What do you mean? Why are you in my house?"

"I'm your dad."

"What?!" Yang Jian nearly charged at him.

Zhang Xianguang took an old photograph from his jacket pocket and asked, "Take a look. Who is this person in the photo?"

Yang Jian leaned forward. By the dim lamplight, he could vaguely make out a man in his thirties in the photo.

But once Yang Jian saw the man's face clearly, his expression changed. Apart from looking somewhat more mature, the man in the photo actually bore a seventy- or eighty-percent resemblance to him.

"Remember anything?"

Seeing no response from Yang Jian, he held the photograph beside his own face.

Yang Jian suddenly realized that his homeroom teacher's face was exactly the same as that of the person in the photo.

Yang Jian was too astonished to speak. Why had he never noticed something so obvious? Why had the people and events around him been so strange these past few days, with abnormalities showing everywhere?

Silence immediately fell over the room. The man seemed to be waiting for Yang Jian's response, sitting there and gazing at him quietly.

After a long moment, Yang Jian raised his head and looked at the man.

"I'm still dreaming..."

"...Before entering this dream, I was in the car with Lin Bei and Xiao Yuan... the ghost that was the source of this dream was right behind me. I was attacked..."

The man nodded and said approvingly.

"You're far more exceptional than I imagined."

Yang Jian stared coldly at the man before him.

"Are you human or a ghost?"