After the Storm (1)
“Why did the alarm go off?” Hong Hong joined Huo Cheng at the window, their faces plastered to the glass.
The door of the room was open and there seemed to be a few people near it.
The girl opposite the window noticed that a face had suddenly appeared in the glass and screamed out in horror. Frightened by her screams, they all followed her gaze and looked out the window.
“It’s just two people, no need to make a fuss out of nothing.” The grade rep, recognising Hong Hong and Huo Cheng, entered the room and opened the window. “What are you two doing here?”
Hong Hong scratched his head awkwardly. “I’m looking for Fang Yichang.”
At this, Fang Yichang, who had also been near the door, entered the room.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine. It was these guys who came here to explore after eating too much and scared themselves.”
“——” So they were the ones behind the chaos. “And the fire alarm?”
“Someone panicked and accidentally set it off. I’ve already explained it to the hotel,” the grade representative replied.
Hong Hong was stunned. “Huh? Someone was that scared? Are there really ghosts here?”
“Ghosts my ass,” Fang Yichang cursed. “If they’re wise, are you wise, too?”1 lit. “they are wise, so you are wise”; he’s basically saying that the 4 of them are idiots and Hong Hong is just as stupid as they are to believe what they believe.
“——” The four wise men fell silent.
“Okay, since there’s nothing wrong, everyone can go back to your rooms first and gather on time in the morning.” The grade rep kept the four “explorers” behind while sending the rest away.
The manager of the hotel also stayed behind to discuss how to best resolve the night’s matter with the grade rep.
As Hong Hong left, he commented to Huo Cheng, “Man, those four are finished. They’re not going to let such a big disturbance slide.”
Huo Cheng walked off as if he hadn’t heard a word.
The corners of Hong Hong’s mouth twitched as he watched the boy’s quickly vanishing silhouette. “This guy really needs to be smacked.”
After Huo Cheng walked back to the hotel alone, he didn’t go looking for Shen Wanying, heading instead for the westernmost room of the first floor.
The grade rep and the hotel manager were still in the room, along with the four boys. Knowing they were in big trouble, they shrank against the wall like four quails, awaiting their sentence.
Huo Cheng looked up at the nameplate on the door. On it was written “Lost and Found”.
A male student who had been squatting by the wall saw what Huo Cheng was looking at and said in hushed tones, “Don’t you think those three words feel kind of foreboding?”
“——”
Huo Cheng didn’t reply. A female classmate piped in. “Like you’re one to talk. If you hadn’t screamed like that, would any of this have happened?”
Singled out, the boy was indignant. “This is my fault? If your face hadn’t suddenly appeared in the window, I wouldn’t have been scared like that.”
“Ahh, such a coward and you still went looking for a haunted room. Only you would do such a thing.”
“What? Is this mess not big enough already?” The grade rep came out to chastise them. They were instantly silenced, cowering like chickens.
“Huo Cheng, did you need something?” the grade rep asked, having noticed him standing at the door.
He pointed to the oil painting on the wall. “This painting is…?”
The hotel manager followed the direction he pointed in, letting out a little oh of recognition. “This was painted by one of our past guests; they left it here when they checked out. Generally, when a guest leaves something behind, we call them, but if we can’t get hold of them or they don’t come back, we store the items they left in this room.”
“It’s from a long time ago,” Huo Cheng said.
The hotel manager looked at the date inscribed on the painting. “We periodically clear things from this room. But when I noticed this painting was very skilfully done, I thought it would be a waste to throw it away, so I hung it up instead.”
Huo Cheng said nothing else, only stared at the artwork. The manager, noticing that he seemed to care a great deal about it, asked, “Did you know the artist?”
“This was painted by my mother.”
Those words shocked the whole room. The grade rep glanced at the signature, recalling the name in the information he was given when Huo Cheng had registered into the school.
It did actually match.
Except, she had already passed away.
So if one thought about it, the painting could be considered a relic of Huo Cheng’s mother.
The grade rep spoke with the hotel manager for a moment. The manager nodded, and said to Huo Cheng, “If you want to take the painting with you, you just need to drop by my office to register that you’ve claimed it, and it’s yours.”
Huo Cheng: “Okay.”
Manager: “Just give me a moment. When I’ve settled this, I’ll take you there.”
When the grade rep and the hotel manager were done talking, they led the quartet away. They would each have to write a reflection paper and present it at the next week’s assembly. The four boys were ashen-faced as they left. Huo Cheng watched them leave, before following the hotel manager to his office.
Having filled out the claim form for the missing item, he put down the pen and asked, “May I ask if you remember when she was staying here?”
The manager replied, “This painting is from seven years ago; before I started working here.”
Huo Cheng nodded. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
With the procedure finished, the manager had one of the staff take the painting down from the wall and hand it over.
Back in his room, Huo Cheng stared at the oil painting.
Seven years ago, his mother was here, but he had never heard her talk about it.
The date on the painting was January 20X6. At the beginning of February that year, her health had begun to fail, and she had moved to the villa in the mountains to recuperate.
Was it because of her illness that she did not come back for the painting?
The cell phone on the table buzzed, startling him out of his reverie. When he picked it up, there was a message from Shen Wanying.
【Shen Wanying: Are you back in your room?】
【Huo Cheng: Yes, are you?】
【Shen Wanying: I’m also in my room. Tonight really was a bad false alarm 😅】
【Huo Cheng: Mmhm. You’re still injured, so if there’s nothing else, you should rest early】
【Shen Wanying: Okay, see you tomorrow then】
【Huo Cheng: Please don’t stand on ceremony with me】
Shen Wanying sat on the bed, staring at this most recent message.
Zhao Yimeng emerged from the shower only to find her friend spacing out. She leaned over. “My Lady, what are you looking at!”
Startled, Shen Wanying hit the smartphone’s lock button at lighting speed. “Nothing. Don’t scare me like that, I’ve had enough for one evening.”
“Oh——” Zhao Yimeng swallowed her tongue2To swallow one’s tongue – to keep one’s mouth shut about something, especially something one isn’t supposed to know about.. Why did it seem like Lady Shen felt guilty?
“It’s late, I’m going to sleep first.” Shen Wanying set her phone aside and threw the blanket over herself.
By this point, Zhao Yimeng was no longer in the mood to continue watching the drama. She lay on the bed for a while, playing with her phone until she felt sleepiness creep up on her, eventually switching off the light at her headboard and also going to sleep.
After that, there were no more waves to rock the proverbial boat that night.
♥♥♥
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