The Senior Student (female) Is Not Human - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Wardrobe – “It feels like they’re having a secret affair.”

You Jiayi stared blankly at the beautiful woman who was asking her to commit murder for love.

But Jiang Xiyao suddenly recalled how close her recent “prey” had been to her.

The place was full of people. When those difficult police officers came to question her, someone would surely be reckless enough to report her for “inciting murder.”

So, she slowly curved her lips and continued airily:

“Oh. I was just kidding. Don’t take it seriously.”

Despite the words, the bright, alluring eyes looking at You Jiayi held absolutely no trace of a smile.

—She was serious.

The moment she realized this, You Jiayi inexplicably shivered. She instinctively wondered, Has any of my roommates offended Jiang Xiyao?

Or, she thought, is Jiang Xiyao just trying to see how much my love weighs, if I have the courage to kill for her?

She wanted to find a chance to confirm, but the woman who had just spoken was already surrounded by guests. The adults who came to the Tang family funeral were all wealthy and generous.

You Jiayi couldn’t find an opportunity to be attentive again.

She could only watch as Jiang Xiyao completely forgot the invitation to light incense together and lazily walked up when another guest invited her.

You Jiayi couldn’t even squeeze to the altar; someone impatiently shoved her, causing her to bump against the coffin where the body was laid out.

…

“Are you… okay?”

Seeing You Jiayi return with a terrible complexion and a burn mark on the back of her hand from incense ash, Xie Shiwei asked out of basic politeness.

Even with her thousand-degree myopia, she could tell You Jiayi wasn’t okay—

But this was the daily reality of loving Senior Jiang.

It required not only intense love but also solid financial resources to pursue her, and the strength to fight off groups of rivals at any moment to defend the central spotlight.

Xie Shiwei, at least, didn’t have any of that.

She planned to wait for the crowd to disperse before going to light incense.

She ended up waiting until evening because Jiang Xiyao still hadn’t left, and the Tang family’s wake had become more lively than a celebratory event.

You Jiayi was frustrated but refused to leave. Her mind was still turning over Jiang Xiyao’s “joke.” Knowing Xie Shiwei had interacted with her crush a few times, she decided to seek information.

So, she gave her a tip first: “How long will you have to wait in the back of the line? Just walk over from the coffin side, put the incense in the burner, and that’s good enough.”

Xie Shiwei looked hesitant. “That seems… rude, doesn’t it?”

Moreover, outsiders usually weren’t allowed to go near the coffin at a wake with a viewing ceremony.

You Jiayi scoffed, recalling a glimpse she’d just caught:

“What’s rude? The coffin is empty. It’s just a formality. You don’t even know her well, why so serious?”

Xie Shiwei: “??!”

The… the coffin is empty? Why?

Her imagination ran wild, her face turned pale, and she began to tremble.

Until You Jiayi said expressionlessly, “It’s so hot out here. If they didn’t hurry up and cremate her, it would stink up the house.”

Xie Shiwei: Th-that makes sense, too?

I must have been having too much bad luck lately. I should finish the ritual quickly and ride the scooter back to school for a study session while it’s still light.

The moment the thought occurred, she saw the Tang family’s old butler, who was coordinating the guests, walk straight towards them.

“Mr. and Mrs. Tang miss their daughter very much. They are delighted to see her classmates here, and since Miss Tang always liked a lively atmosphere, they were wondering if you would like to stay overnight?”

“With you accompanying Miss Tang and talking to her, she will surely be happy underground.”

Xie Shiwei: …Stay?!

Tang Hui’s class president enthusiastically translated the message:

“Uncle is asking us to help keep watch over the spirit for a night? No problem. Mr. and Mrs. Tang are indeed getting on in years. Don’t worry, we’ll just chat and play cards until morning.”

“Hey, you two are freshmen, right? Girls shouldn’t stay up late. How about you two watch from 9 PM to 10 PM? Is that okay?”

Before Xie Shiwei could speak, You Jiayi looked at Jiang Xiyao, who was sitting in the center of the living room sofa, acting like the hostess, meticulously complaining that the grapes peeled by the Tang family’s nanny weren’t good enough:

“If she stays, we’ll stay.”

Xie Shiwei: …Wait, why “we”?

At this moment, the butler remembered something: “I heard Miss Tang borrowed some living expenses from you before. I’ll remind Mr. and Mrs. Tang tomorrow morning. The Tang family never takes advantage of anyone.”

He vaguely referred to the matter of the ten thousand yuan balance.

Xie Shiwei’s firm rejection suddenly felt impossible to voice.

At this time, a very soft scoff, like mockery, sounded from the sofa.

Xie Shiwei turned in confusion, seeing Jiang Xiyao viciously poking a translucent grape with a skewer. She wondered, Who annoyed the Senior this time?

It definitely wasn’t me, right?

You Jiayi also desperately wanted the answer to that question.

…

A Secret Rendezvous

During their one-hour shift of keeping the vigil that night, You Jiayi dragged Xie Shiwei along, analyzing which of their six roommates was most likely to annoy Jiang Xiyao.

“What do you think?”

Xie Shiwei: “Huh? Me?”

She opened a bag of a crispy snack and poured it into her mouth: “Me, I think… crunch, crunch… this question is… crunch, crunch…”

To be honest, she thought Jiang Xiyao hated everyone equally, except for herself.

But that answer was clearly unsuitable for You Jiayi, a fanatical admirer who believed the Senior would definitely fall in love with her.

She munched on the snack until her mouth became sore and she started searching the room for herbal tea. You Jiayi, annoyed by her noise, urged her to leave early.

Xie Shiwei checked the time. The other classmates were due to replace them in ten minutes, so it was a good time to go upstairs early and avoid You Jiayi during their bathing time, as they were sharing a guest room.

Unused to group living, Xie Shiwei had a habit of waiting for everyone to finish their routines and ensure she wouldn’t be woken up before going to sleep.

But she waited and waited, and her roommate didn’t return.

Xie Shiwei figured Jiang Xiyao had chosen a time around 2 or 3 AM for her shift, and You Jiayi was probably planning to stay up all night to watch over her crush.

Xie Shiwei, whose fervent love ranked below 99.99% of all her school rivals, calmly accepted her complete lack of competitiveness and decided to reflect on her shortcomings in a dream.

But she didn’t sleep well. She couldn’t even fall deep into a dream before she woke up with a start in the middle of the night.

“AH—!!!”

A scream came from downstairs. Xie Shiwei sat up in bed, trembling, instinctively turning on every light by her bedside.

In the bright glow of the wall lamps, she managed to calm herself, only to hear a knock at the door.

Three slow, measured knocks: “Tap, tap, tap.”

“…Who is it?!” Her voice was distorted.

The answer was a pleasant voice, whose melodious tone was audible even through the door:

“It’s me.”

Xie Shiwei froze. Her cold, sweaty hands and feet instantly warmed up. While thinking, ‘Oh no, she’s going to see how ugly I look right after waking up,’ she was also afraid of annoying Jiang Xiyao by making her wait, so she rushed to open the door.

Her knee slammed into the bed frame along the way.

A head, trying hard to hide a grimace and with hair like a dog’s fur, appeared behind the door: “Senior Jiang? Good evening. What’s going on outside?”

Jiang Xiyao stood calmly in the darkness outside the door, her arms crossed.

Her eyes showed clear disdain for Xie Shiwei’s awful appearance, and her reply was casual:

“They are playing hide-and-seek. I came to this room to hide for a while.”

Xie Shiwei’s brain stalled: “H-hide-and-seek? At this hour? Now?”

Jiang Xiyao’s eyes shifted, as if suddenly intrigued. She curled her lips with extreme patience:

“That’s right. One person plays ‘Tang Hui,’ and the others hide. Whoever ‘Tang Hui’ catches has to die in her place. Do you want to play?”

Xie Shiwei: “…??!”

Her head shook like a rattle, her eyes already looking somewhat vacant.

Until Jiang Xiyao said menacingly, “If you dare to faint and fall on me, you’re dead.”

Xie Shiwei was on the verge of passing out but was startled back to reality by the threat. She quickly let the person in, then desperately locked the door.

She spun around, frantically searching for a place to hide: “Under the bed? Too dirty? The bathroom? Smelly, maybe? Behind the curtains is too obvious. The wardrobe, is the wardrobe okay?”

Jiang Xiyao stood behind her.

Watching her earnestly look for a hiding spot, a malice deeper than ink filled her dark eyes.

—The hide-and-seek game is real, but no one is playing Tang Hui; Tang Hui herself has returned.

Tang Hui didn’t want to catch anyone else; she only wanted to catch Jiang Xiyao. However, that “resurrected” figure, if she saw someone daring to hide the treasure she was looking for, would probably tear the culprit limb from limb, right?

Jiang Xiyao narrowed her eyes, a look of anticipation and pleasure on her face.

Oblivious, Xie Shiwei was diligently arranging the wardrobe to be comfortable and suitable for hiding. Finally, she turned around, looking at her anxiously: “Is this okay?”

[Why is Senior giving me that smile again? It’s beautiful, but it scares me.]

Seeing Xie Shiwei briefly lose herself in staring and then quickly look away, Jiang Xiyao, who had originally decided not to play along, changed her mind, thinking about how she could watch Xie Shiwei’s look of despair through the wardrobe later.

The beauty condescended, bending down to enter the wardrobe.

But before she could fully settle her long legs, she felt a body temperature immediately follow her inside.

Jiang Xiyao: ?

Xie Shiwei, who had closed the wardrobe door, tightly hugged her knees, curled up across from her, and whispered:

“I’m so sorry, Senior. I’m a coward. Can I hide in here, too? I—I won’t take up space, and I absolutely won’t cause you to be discovered.”

The moment her voice fell, a soft snap sounded outside the wardrobe.

The lights in the room went out, and the world fell silent.

In Jiang Xiyao’s mind, a familiar scream arose:

[Aaaah! Who is so sick that they’d play this death-seeking game on the night of a vigil and pull the circuit breaker! If you want to die, don’t take me with you! I’m still young! I still have a mortgage… haha, I suddenly really want to die.]

[No, no, stupid brain, hold on. Don’t faint! Fainting now will make me touch the Senior. She’s a clean freak and hates being touched! And making a sound will attract people! Aaah, persist!]

Jiang Xiyao’s foot, which she had raised to kick Xie Shiwei out, suddenly paused.

In the darkness, she clearly saw Xie Shiwei’s back, curled up like a shrimp. It must have been a very uncomfortable position, as there were beads of sweat on the girl’s forehead.

…Just because she doesn’t like to be touched, is this person enduring this for her?

Jiang Xiyao’s life and memory were long, but even the longest experience couldn’t recall a moment that overlapped with this one—

This was the first time someone had chosen restraint for her sake.

The moment the thought surfaced, more thoughts rushed in.

[The wardrobe, ehehehe, a wardrobe with only my wife and me hiding in it. It feels like we’re having a secret affair. It’s perfect for some oxygen-deprived ‘play’~]

[When the eyes can’t see, you can only use your hands to touch the world. If I accidentally touched my wife in certain places, would I hear her make a tiny ‘ing’ sound?]

[It’s so crowded in here, and who knows? Suddenly, I have two cups of hot milk in my hands! I’m just a kid; I’m at the age where I need to drink my goodnight milk to grow up. Since things have come to this—]

Jiang Xiyao’s recently cleared face instantly clouded over.

Again?

The air in the wardrobe was indeed thin. Compared to the open space of the old school building, Jiang Xiyao was certain this little pervert had ten thousand reasons to pounce and carry out these lustful thoughts.

She completely stopped breathing, waiting to send Xie Shiwei to her death if she moved even an inch closer.

Yet, Xie Shiwei never moved towards her. Instead, she heard the girl panic in her mind about her thin sleepwear, worrying about wetting the clothes she was sitting on.

“Dong dong dong dong”

Someone was dragging their footsteps, slowly knocking on the door. A muffled female voice, with a hint of a smile, sounded:

“Is anyone inside? Can you please let me in?”

[Eruuuaaah! No, no, this is terrifying! Why do I actually think I hear Senior Tang Hui’s voice?!]

[I don’t care anymore! If I die, I die! Anyway, I’m just a useless life, woo woo woo! This is great! No more mortgage payments! Grandma and Grandpa, I’m coming! If you catch me, you’re not allowed to catch the Senior, hic—]

Accompanied by the hiccup caused by panic.

The person who had been excitedly scripting a colored fantasy just moments ago tumbled headfirst towards the side of the wardrobe door.

Jiang Xiyao belatedly realized that Xie Shiwei had not only tried to maintain her curled posture even before fainting, but she had also stayed in the position closest to the outside—the easiest spot to be discovered—since entering the wardrobe.

Although Jiang Xiyao had deliberately withheld the truth of the game to prevent her from fainting and dying too quickly, Xie Shiwei had taken the game seriously all along.

She had even been mentally prepared to be discovered by the “ghost” one step before Jiang Xiyao.

Jiang Xiyao wondered.

What is this?

Has she been protected by a coward?