Chapter 3

The next day, when I woke up, it was already past 11 AM. I went to the living room and found that Lao Jiang and Yi Ge had gone to class, and the sound of snoring was coming from Fei Rong's room. I felt heavy-headed, dizzy, and the events of the previous night seemed like a dream. But I couldn't shake the feeling, so I went outside to check. When I got to the stairs and saw the bloodstain on the wall, I knew last night wasn't a dream. I continued down the stairs to the fourth floor and saw a few drops of blood scattered on the stairs. When I reached the landing and saw a large dried pool of blood, I knew something bad had happened—the cat must have bled out and died there last night. Fei Rong really didn't hold back with that kick. I cursed Fei Rong under my breath. The cat's death wasn't the issue; the real problem was offending the landlord. How could we find another place that was both cheap and comfortable like this?

I was panicking, but then I suddenly calmed down. Where was the cat's body? With so much blood, the cat must be dead, but where was its corpse? A sudden thought struck me: Could the landlord already know? Just then, I felt someone watching me. I turned around and saw a girl on the balcony of the fourth floor, looking at me. When she saw me turn, she smiled and nodded. I smiled and nodded back. I admit, it was love at first sight. She was wearing a pink dress, had long hair, fair skin, a pair of thick-rimmed red glasses, and clear eyes. Her smile in the sunlight gave me a warm, springtime feeling. Just then, a tall, long-haired guy walked out and said to her, "Let's go, I'm starving…" and then hurried down the stairs. She followed him.

I suddenly realized I was starving too, so I decided to go out and get something to eat. When I got to the fourth floor, I realized I didn't have any money on me, so I turned back to get some. When I reached the fifth floor, I absentmindedly continued up to the sixth floor, only realizing what I was doing after a few steps. What was wrong with me? Looking at the cold iron gate and the chain, I recalled the black cat's strange behavior from the night before, and I felt a deep discomfort.

Back in the apartment, I knocked on Fei Rong's door and called his name a few times, but the snoring continued. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. As I went downstairs to eat, I forced myself not to look at the bloodstain. When I reached the first floor, I noticed the landlord's door was closed, and there was no sound from inside, which made me even more anxious.

After eating, I went to the classroom for my afternoon classes, sitting with Qin Ye, Lao Jiang, and Yi Ge as usual. They were chatting away, but I couldn't follow the conversation. Lao Jiang and Yi Ge mentioned the bloodstain on the stairs and asked if I knew what happened. I said I didn't know either, and they didn't bring it up again.

That evening, I remember going to the library to study alone, but I couldn't focus on anything. My mind was filled with thoughts of the black cat and its cries. Around 9 PM, I left the library. On my way back to the apartment, I stopped by a small shop to buy some milk tea. While I was waiting, I heard a clear voice say, "Two jasmine milk teas, please." I turned to look, and our eyes met. Before I could react, she spoke first, "Hey, what a coincidence! Aren't you the guy who lives on the fifth floor?" She was rummaging through her bag for her wallet as she spoke.

"Yeah," I replied, noticing some Japanese textbooks in her bag. "You're a student at XX University too, right?"

"Yeah, I'm in the Foreign Languages Institute. Which school are you in?" she asked.

"Engineering. My name's Luo Fan. What should I call you?"

"My name's Xie Chenlin, but you can call me Xiao Lin," she replied. I then realized she was quite tall, about 1.7 meters, just half a head shorter than me. Subconsciously, I straightened up a bit… Thinking back on it now, I must have looked pretty silly.

"Hey, handsome, here's your jasmine milk tea," the shopkeeper said, handing me the cup. She then smiled at Xiao Lin and jokingly asked, "Aren't you going to buy one for your girlfriend too?"

The atmosphere instantly became incredibly awkward, and I was at a loss, quickly stammering, "Uh... well... we... we just met..."

Xiao Lin, however, calmly smiled and said, "Boss lady, I just asked you for two jasmine milk teas, didn't I?"

"Oh, haha, I was so focused on his order that I didn't hear you…" the shopkeeper replied with a smile and went back to work.

I sneaked a glance at Xiao Lin and saw her smiling at me, too. She probably found my blushing face amusing.

We walked back to the apartment together, making small talk along the way. I learned that she was from Suzhou and, like me, was in her junior year. When we reached the fourth floor, I heard beautiful piano music coming from her apartment. It must have been her boyfriend playing, I thought. After saying goodbye to her, I continued up the dimly lit stairs alone, my mind filled with thoughts of her, completely forgetting about the cat.

That night, I found myself in an unusually good mood. The gloom from the morning had somehow vanished completely. Fei Rong was nowhere to be found—they said he was already gone when they got back. This good mood lasted until we started playing cards.

"Lao Jiang, you mentioned bloodstains on the stairs this morning, but when I checked later, they were gone," Qin Ye said suddenly as he shuffled the cards.

"Exactly! I found that strange too. Maybe the landlord cleaned it up," Yi Ge added.

"What the hell, what kind of blood was it?" Lao Jiang said, smoking a cigarette, "This whole thing is creepy."

"It was just a little blood, what are you so scared of?" Qin Ye said, glancing towards Fei Rong's room, "It's almost 11 o'clock; where's that guy gone off to?"

"Probably doing what you did last night—getting a room," Yi Ge joked.

"Damn, could that jerk have lost his virginity before our Xiao Fan?" Qin Ye laughed, pointing at me. Ever since we met in our first year, he'd been constantly teasing me about being a virgin. "Xiao Fan, you should try harder!"

By then, my mind was already elsewhere, preoccupied with the mention of the bloodstains disappearing. I abruptly stood up and walked out, which made them curious enough to follow me. When I reached the stairs, I was shocked—the bloodstains on the wall and steps were really gone. But on closer inspection, I noticed faint reddish marks on the wall, as if someone had scrubbed it clean.

They asked me what was wrong. I wanted to tell them what had happened last night, but I didn't want them to blame Fei Rong. I decided it was best not to say anything and let Fei Rong come clean himself if he chose to. I said it was nothing, just curiosity on my part. As I walked back to the apartment and passed the stairs to the sixth floor, I caught a glimpse of someone standing behind the iron gate out of the corner of my eye. I immediately turned to look, but the darkness was so complete that I couldn't even see the gate.

That night, Fei Rong didn't return until around midnight when everyone was about to go to bed. We asked him where he had been, and he said he'd been at a reunion with his high school friends. I could tell he was lying, but seeing how worn out he looked, I didn't press the issue. No one brought up the cat, and he probably knew I hadn't said anything about what happened the night before.

I thought, since the bloodstains were gone, let's just let this incident fade into the past. It could be a secret between Fei Rong and me.