The Hand of Confession – Chapter 117

Volume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School

Guilt?

Don’t you think it’s funny?

Ren Yue slammed the dormitory door shut, her heart pounding wildly.

Her roommate looked at her strangely: “Why are you back so quickly? Finished shopping?”

Ren Yue’s whole body was trembling, speaking in a confused mess: “Umm… yes… the weather isn’t good… I mean… I want to lose weight, don’t want to eat anymore…”

Her roommate noticed something was wrong, looking at her with concern: “What’s wrong with you? Why are you so scared?”

Ren Yue leaned against the dormitory door, a smile appearing on her pale face: “It’s nothing… just too dark outside, and I’m a coward, you’re not…”

Before she could finish speaking, three knocks sounded on the door behind her.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

Each knock struck at Ren Yue’s heart.

She couldn’t control her shuddering, her whole body trembling, clearly terrified to the extreme.

Her roommate peeked over: “Who is it? Open the door, Ren Yue?”

“No!” Ren Yue refused without thinking, “Can’t open it!”

Shen Maomao had come for revenge… absolutely cannot open the door!!

Roommate: “Huh??”

Ren Yue repeated nervously: “Can’t open… must not… I’ll die…”

However, a jingling sound came from outside, a key being inserted into the keyhole, followed by the lock core turning. Ren Yue twitched twice as if electrocuted, then fled from the door like flying. She rushed to her desk, grabbed a fruit knife from it, tightly gripping the handle in her palm, as if this could give her a sense of security.

Her roommate was startled by this series of actions, also standing up, watching the door vigilantly: “W-what’s wrong?”

The door opened from outside, Shen Maomao stood in the doorway, head slightly lowered, eyes looking up, corners of her mouth twitching twice, looking as if she was smiling.

Ren Yue was almost scared to breakdown.

Her mouth gaped open, yet couldn’t make any sound, only able to keep backing up until her back pressed against the desk, with nowhere else to retreat.

The roommate didn’t notice Ren Yue’s abnormality, smiling and greeting: “Maomao? You’re back.”

Shen Maomao dry coughed twice, voice unusually hoarse: “I’m here to get some things, I’ll leave after getting them…”

Roommate: “Did you catch a cold?”

Shen Maomao couldn’t hold it in, letting out a “puchi” laugh: “Yaoyao, you’re really such an airhead.”

Ren Yue suddenly raised her head to look at Shen Maomao, Shen Maomao also smiled while making eye contact, saying: “That person isn’t here, Yaoyao, help me pass on a message to her, I have some things recently, might need to move out.” As for where to live after… that wasn’t her problem to consider anymore.

The roommate was stunned for a moment, hurriedly asking: “You’re moving out just like this? Will you still attend classes?”

“No, I’ve taken leave. Next time we meet will probably be at graduation.” If she could live until then.

As she spoke, she walked to her bed, taking out a suitcase to pack clothes.

She didn’t actually have many things, one suitcase plus one storage box was about enough.

While she was packing, Ren Yue sat on the chair, staring at her without blinking, as if trying to determine whether she was human or ghost.

Shen Maomao deliberately raised her head and flashed her teeth in a smile, sure enough scaring her into a shudder, almost knocking the water cup off the table.

She suddenly felt it was pointless, rather than spending time scaring Ren Yue, she might as well finish packing quickly and leave with Lou-jie.

An awkward atmosphere permeated the small dormitory, even an airhead like roommate Yaoyao noticed something was off between the two, wearing earphones pretending to seriously listen to music, but her eyes kept glancing towards where the two were.

Shen Maomao finished packing quickly. She tied a rope to the storage box, left hand on storage box, right hand on suitcase, a phone bag slung across her body, and a backpack containing some odds and ends on her back, looking like she was fleeing from disaster.

Throughout it all she didn’t speak to Ren Yue, only said goodbye to Yaoyao after packing, then walked straight to the door.

Yaoyao quickly pulled off her earphones to see her off: “Maomao bye-bye!”

Shen Maomao smiled: “Bye-bye, good luck with your graduate school entrance exam.”

“Wish you success in everything too!”

Four years of dormitory life together turned into a simple blessing, Shen Maomao taking one step ahead of them towards her unknown future, inevitably feeling some sadness in her heart.

Lou Jingmo, waiting at the door, naturally took the wheeled suitcase from her hand, leaving her to struggle with the storage box tied with rope.

Shen Maomao: “Lou-jie, help me carry one more? I look too weird with all these bags!”

Lou Jingmo: “Keep dreaming.”

As the two bantered while walking forward, barely two steps out, Ren Yue’s voice came from behind: “Wait a moment, Shen Maomao!”

Shen Maomao’s footsteps paused, she took a deep breath, turned around casually, looking at her with an expression as if looking at a stranger: “Something wrong?”

Ren Yue looked at her face, mumbling: “You’re not dead… that’s good…”

Shen Maomao almost laughed from anger: “May I ask from what position you’re saying this?”

Ren Yue looked around: “This isn’t a place to talk… let’s find somewhere private to talk, okay…”

Shen Maomao mocked: “Find a private place so you can conveniently stab me to death?”

Ren Yue’s face turned pale, almost pleading: “This is reality… killing people in reality is illegal…”

“If it wasn’t reality, were you going to make your move?”

“I didn’t…”

Shen Maomao smiled: “Ren Yue, I gave you countless chances, but back then you never explained to me. Now you want to explain, but I don’t want to listen anymore.”

Ren Yue’s face showed a pleading expression: “Maomao… don’t be like this…”

Shen Maomao just felt heart-weary.

Before, she thought girls like Ren Yue should naturally be protected, but now she just found Ren Yue annoying.

Who was she putting on this bullied act for? She was clearly the one who got bullied, wasn’t she?

“You’re the one who shouldn’t be like this.” Shen Maomao said, “We’re done, I’ll move out of the dorm later, I won’t do anything to you now, but you better pray not to meet us in the game, or I will take action against you.”

Ren Yue finally broke into tears, no longer caring about face or privacy: “I’m sorry Maomao, I already regret it… I was just too scared…”

That’s why she wanted to kill her in the instance to eliminate future troubles.

Shen Maomao sneered: “You think I don’t get scared?”

Ren Yue was stunned.

Shen Maomao… how could she possibly be scared?

She couldn’t quite understand, could someone as brave as Shen Maomao have times when she was afraid?

When she was too scared by ghost stories to sleep, Shen Maomao dared to hold mystery novels reading until late night, then go to the bathroom alone; when she screamed at insects, Shen Maomao dared to rush up and smack them dead, then calmly dispose of the insect corpses…

Maomao… could also be afraid?

Ren Yue came to her senses, pulled out a bank card from her bag, stumbling as she chased after them: “Wait—Maomao! Wait!”

Shen Maomao turned to look at her, eyes full of impatience: “What?”

Ren Yue, stung by her gaze, turned her face away while putting the bank card back in her pocket: “Returning this card to you… I didn’t use a single cent.”

Shen Maomao was confused: “Are you toxic? You scam money from me but don’t spend it? Then why did you ask me for money? Oh—I remember now, after I lent you money I entered the game using your face model, so the money was a medium, right? Now you’re returning the money to me, does that mean I have to go in for you again?”

“That’s not it…” Ren Yue shook her head, “I just… wanted to test how far you would go for me…”

Shen Maomao didn’t understand, but Lou Jingmo saw through Ren Yue’s purpose in one glance: “If Shen Maomao refused to help you, or only offered some useless chicken soup to comfort you, would you then feel justified in arranging for her to enter the game?”

Ren Yue, her intentions exposed, lowered her head in shame.

Shen Maomao still didn’t understand: “I lent you all my money, and that still wasn’t enough to satisfy you? Did I have to give you the money I worked hard to earn?”

Ren Yue almost buried her head in the ground, speaking with tears: “You being willing to lend me money already exceeded my expectations… but…”

But in the end, she still chose to let Shen Maomao replace her in the game because she was too scared.

So what Shen Maomao chose didn’t matter, because no matter what she chose, the result was predetermined, the only difference was whether Ren Yue let her enter with a clear conscience or with a guilty heart.

Shen Maomao could barely maintain her smile.

She tugged at Lou Jingmo’s clothes, speaking with difficulty: “…Let’s go… Lou-jie.”

Lou Jingmo, who had been calculating how to beat up Ren Yue, saw those eyes carrying a hint of pleading, and instantly couldn’t say anything else.

She grabbed Shen Maomao’s backpack with a little bear printed on it, saying: “Let go.”

Shen Maomao reflexively obeyed and released the storage box’s rope.

Lou Jingmo pulled off her backpack, putting that silly-looking little bear on her own back, then pushed her from behind: “Hold your storage box, let’s go.”

The two walked down the stairs one after another, only Ren Yue still stood in the corridor, staring blankly ahead, not moving for a long time.

At the bottom of the dormitory building, Shen Maomao finally couldn’t control herself and burst into tears.

One hand holding the storage box, one hand supporting her shoulder bag’s strap, occasionally using this hand to wipe away tears. She didn’t make much noise, just couldn’t stop choking with sobs, crying like a little fool in the wind.

Lou Jingmo quietly accompanied her, walking forward together.

When they were almost at the school gate, she finally cried enough, so she lowered her head to rub her eyes, saying with a trembling voice: “Made a fool of myself in front of you…”

Lou Jingmo handed her a tissue: “It is quite funny.”

“Huh?!” Shen Maomao looked at her angrily.

Her eyes still red from crying made her look more like a wronged little rabbit, Lou Jingmo couldn’t help laughing twice, saying: “Not saying you’re funny, I mean Ren Yue. With so many paths to choose from, she insisted on choosing the worst one, isn’t that funny?”

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The author has something to say:

I’ll explain the time issue tomorrow, heading back to school today, waiting for transportation _(:з」∠)_

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