Chapter 58: The Complexity of Human Nature

"Old Jiang, why are you only just getting here? We've been waiting for you."

Fatty Wang said, "I knew you were a busy man, but I didn't think you'd be this busy. I told you about this last night, and you're still late today."

"I got held up by something, my apologies."

I picked up a glass of beer, "I'll fine myself a drink."

In the freezing cold weather, downing a glass of beer sent a chilly sensation straight through me.

"Hahaha, I'm just messing with you. What's all this about fining yourself? We were just waiting for you, let's all dig in now," Fatty Wang said with a smile.

Fatty Wang had always been easygoing and carefree. Sometimes I really liked his thick-skinned personality; it was never annoying.

"Are you in the student union?"

Suddenly, a young woman asked me.

She was the roommate of Fatty Wang's girlfriend. Her looks? Not bad. I wouldn't call her stunning, but she was definitely far from ugly.

"What makes you say that?"

I didn't rush to deny it.

"Seeing you so busy, I figured you must be in the student union." The woman voiced her guess.

"No, I suppose you could call it starting my own business."

After pondering for a long time, I finally settled on this phrase.

At least I ran a studio, even though the work we did might sound like a fairy tale to some, given that they had all received standard education from childhood.

Still, I made my living with my own two hands.

"Starting your own business? Wow!" The woman's eyes instantly sparkled. "Can you tell me specifically what you do? Can I drop by and take a look at your studio sometime?"

???

We weren't even that close yet, and she was already firing off so many questions.

She even wanted to visit my studio. To be honest, I couldn't even bear to look at my studio myself; it was too chaotic, with items strewn everywhere.

Expecting the old man to clean up was impossible, and as for me, that was even less likely.

Occasionally, when Liu Qingya came over, she might help us tidy things up a bit.

"Maybe another time."

I politely declined.

"Chen Feier, are you trying to hit on our Lao Jiang?" Fatty Wang chimed in directly. "If you want to make a move, just say so. Let me tell you, our Lao Jiang here is a hot commodity. Li Yifeng from our school often flirts with him."

Aside from that, there's also another quite pretty girl who frequently comes looking for our Lao Jiang. If you want to win him over, you're going to have to put in some serious effort!"

"What are you even talking about? Can't I just ask a question?"

The girl called Chen Feier flushed crimson and defensively talked back.

"Let's eat, the food is getting cold."

Someone made a remark to smooth things over, effectively dropping the subject.

...

There were eight of us at the table, and with Fatty Wang playing the clown and cracking jokes, the atmosphere wasn't awkward at all.

Halfway through the meal, Fatty Wang suddenly sent me a private message, telling me not to get too close to the girl named Chen Feier.

I replied with a question mark.

To my surprise, Fatty Wang didn't reply further.

We continued eating, and afterward, we went karaoke singing.

Tonight's outing was actually quite enjoyable. Around ten o'clock, everyone started getting ready to head back; any later and the dormitory gates would be locked.

I didn't walk back with them. Instead, I waited downstairs at the KTV for the old man to come pick me up.

As we parted ways, Chen Feier, that girl, insisted on adding me on WeChat.

The moment she added me, this girl sent me a message: [We get along pretty well when we talk. Can we be friends?]

Can we be friends?

The way she phrased that felt like she was up to no good!

I politely replied: [Sure. You're the roommate of Fatty Wang's girlfriend, so of course we can be friends.]

[Then can I take you out tomorrow?]

The other person sent another message right after.

Just as I was about to reply, the old man had already hailed a cab and arrived downstairs at the KTV.

Without bothering to reply to the message, I got into the car, ready to go earn some money.

...

The driving instructor's place wasn't far from our school; the cab ride took only ten minutes or so.

When we arrived, Coach Yang was already waiting inside his apartment.

Seeing that it was me, Coach Yang looked somewhat surprised.

Without even pausing to greet me, he looked at the old man as if seeking a lifeline: "Master, I heard you can solve this. Please, can you help me?"

Coach Yang's voice carried a hint of a sob, and his face was deathly pale, devoid of any healthy color.

Judging by his appearance, the poor guy must have been scared out of his wits last night.

"Immeasurable Heavenly尊, since this poor Taoist has come, leave this matter to me." The old man put on the airs of an expert. "Tell me, exactly what kind of entity did you encounter last night?"

Hearing these words, a look of profound pain crossed Coach Yang's face, and he hurriedly spoke: "I was teaching student Jiang Chen how to drive last night, and it got a bit late on the way back."

"On my way home, I suddenly saw a white figure. Seeing something like that in the middle of the night scared me so much I almost lost my soul. I wanted to slam on the brakes, but in my panic, I hit the gas pedal instead and drove straight toward it."

"Who would have thought that my car actually passed right through the white figure? It... it actually appeared inside my car! When I looked at the rearview mirror, I saw its face was ghastly white, staring straight at me."

The more Coach Yang spoke, the more frantic and incoherent he became.

It was his first time seeing a ghost in his life, so being this terrified was entirely normal.

"Did that ghostly entity have any other distinct features?" The old man asked.

"No!"

Coach Yang shook his head.

"Are you sure there weren't any?" I interjected. "If there truly weren't any, why would she latch onto you? As the old saying goes, it takes more than one cold day for the river to freeze three feet deep. You don't run into ghosts overnight!"

My voice was loud, almost delivered as a stern rebuke.

Those words echoed relentlessly in Coach Yang's mind.

I could see that he was in torment. "I'll talk, I'll tell you everything. Three months ago, on my drive home at night, I ran into a woman in white. At the time, she seemed to be running away from something. If my eyes didn't deceive me, she was being robbed."

"The men chasing her looked ferocious and had knives in their hands. How could I dare stop back then? The woman in white blocked the road, and I sped past, seemingly hitting her right arm as she tried to stop the car."

"I didn't think much of it at the time. Later, there were reports about it on TV, saying that this woman was brutally murdered by robbers, though the perpetrators were brought to justice."

"I really didn't mean to... and I was scared too. What if I had stopped the car and that gang of robbers blocked me as well?"

By the end of his confession, Coach Yang had broken down crying.

A grown man blubbering like that made me somewhat impatient.

"The car you drove home, was it the one from the driving school?" I asked.

"Yes. Driving school cars aren't allowed to be driven off-site, but security is lax at night. Sometimes when I couldn't catch a cab, I'd drive the driving school car home."

After answering my question, Coach Yang once again looked at the old man with a pleading gaze, hoping the old man could resolve this nightmare for him.