My Gorgeous Neighbor Is Cooking Every Day - Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Jiang Yingyue slowly shook her head. Of course, she didn’t feel uncomfortable talking to Xia Xingye.

At first, she was a little unaccustomed to having someone constantly talking in her ear, but after a few days, she had grown used to Xia Xingye’s chattering presence.

“See? I knew it,” Xia Xingye pressed against her arm and said, “I want to be the bestest, bestest, bestest person in the world with Sister.”

Jiang Yingyue wasn’t sure what “the bestest, bestest, bestest person in the world” meant, and it was unlikely she would figure out Xia Xingye’s full intentions in the short term. However, she clearly felt a distinct, indefinable emotion well up inside her when Xia Xingye said that.

Liu Xuantong, worried they wouldn’t sleep well, thoughtfully prepared milk for them. After placing the milk outside the door, she told them to treat the place like home. Xia Xingye and Jiang Yingyue drank the milk and fell asleep peacefully.

The next morning, when the two arrived at the gate, the security guard saw Xia Xingye and immediately said: “What are you doing here again? You ran away yesterday, and you dare to come back today? Do you think I’m old and have a bad memory?”

“Not at all,” Xia Xingye rubbed her hands together and said, “Actually, I was here to find someone yesterday, but I forgot her name, so I lied and said I was from the school.”

The security guard looked at her skeptically. Xia Xingye quickly explained: “It’s true. Her name is Dong Yiyu. If you don’t believe me, you can ask the school leadership if such a person exists.”

“There are tons of people with the same name. How do I know if you just guessed the name by chance?”

“Could you talk to your leader first? If you don’t, I’ll have to find a way to get in,” Xia Xingye said, part-threat and part-plea for pity. “I’m really here to find someone. It’s not like I’m going to do anything strange, is it?”

She looked at the security guard pitifully, the image of an innocent university student with pure sincerity in her eyes, looking nothing like a cunning villain.

Hearing Xia Xingye say this, the security guard hesitated for a moment and finally nodded: “Alright, I’ll talk to the leader. If this person really doesn’t exist, you’ll leave honestly.”

The security guard then called the school leader. The leader he could reach was naturally not a high-ranking one, just his superior. After explaining the situation, the person said: “With so many students in the whole school, she tells you to look, and you actually do it?”

However, despite saying that, the person didn’t make things difficult and told the security guard to give the phone to Xia Xingye.

Xia Xingye took the phone. Without waiting for the other party to tell her to leave, she quickly stated her purpose: “I’m looking for a student named Dong Yiyu. She used to say she was going to enroll in your academy, but later I lost her contact information. Now I can only come here to check if she is in your academy.”

The person on the other end of the phone said seriously: “Little girl, we don’t have to help you just because you want to find someone. The school has a lot of things to do.”

“Please hear me out first,” Xia Xingye rushed to say, fearing the person would hang up, “I came this early because her childhood friend died, and no one has collected her body, so I could only come this early.”

Sorry, Ren Ruofang, I have to mention you.

Xia Xingye silently apologized in her heart, instantly selling out Ren Ruofang.

But thinking about it, Ren Ruofang never said she couldn’t be mentioned, so Xia Xingye wasn’t exactly doing anything wrong.

The person on the phone was taken aback, truly not expecting Xia Xingye to say that. But the necessary caution was still there: “Since you say a body needs to be collected, there should be documents or something, right?”

Xia Xingye hesitated for a moment and said: “Okay, I’ll go get the documents.”

Returning the walkie-talkie to the security guard, Xia Xingye said: “We’ll go get the documents and be back soon.”

Xia Xingye and Jiang Yingyue walked to a secluded spot before Xia Xingye looked at Jiang Yingyue’s pocket: “You heard what I just said, right?”

“I heard it,” Ren Ruofang replied, “But my family collected my body.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Xia Xingye said, “You died in an accident, right? In the case of an accidental death without family present, there should be records at the police station.”

Xia Xingye waited for Ren Ruofang to reply, but Ren Ruofang hesitated for a long time without speaking. Xia Xingye sensed something was wrong: “Are you hiding something else from us? If we’re helping you find someone, hiding things will only make our search much harder.”

“It’s not that I want to hide it,” Ren Ruofang was also a bit confused. She whispered and explained, “I don’t remember other things very well. I don’t remember how I died, nor do I remember which police station was involved.”

Xia Xingye: “…”

She took a deep breath, looked at Jiang Yingyue, and said: “Sister, how about we just climb over the wall?”

After all that preparation, Ren Ruofang ended up saying she didn’t know anything. Xia Xingye was ready to give up helping her.

Sensing Xia Xingye’s frustration, Ren Ruofang quickly said: “I really didn’t do it on purpose. Maybe… maybe I forgot when I became a ghost.” Her mind was solely focused on finding Dong Yiyu and fulfilling the agreement with her. Even though she was late, she had to come. Everything else had become unimportant.

Jiang Yingyue listened to what Xia Xingye said, then actually looked at the wall, ready to climb over it. Xia Xingye laughed and stopped her: “Good Sister, I was just kidding.” Climbing over the wall in broad daylight would definitely be seen, and no matter how articulate one was, they wouldn’t be able to explain why they didn’t enter through the front gate.

Xia Xingye pulled Jiang Yingyue aside, making sure she wouldn’t climb the wall, and then asked: “Where’s Little Jiang? Ask it what it thinks?”

Little Jiang had previously been able to calculate when she would be hit by a car, which led to her getting hit—by a bicycle, but still. Its calculation was quite accurate, and she did get a free lunch that day.

Jiang Yingyue took Little Jiang out of her other pocket. Xia Xingye immediately asked: “Little Jiang, Little Jiang, can you calculate where Dong Yiyu is?”

“I don’t know,” Little Jiang said. Seeing that Xia Xingye was about to ask another question, it quickly preempted her: “I can only calculate things related to you two. I can’t calculate anyone else’s affairs, I can only occasionally point out directions.”

Xia Xingye stared at Little Jiang strangely. What did it mean by only calculating things related to ‘them’? Did it mean her and Jiang Yingyue?

She stared until Little Jiang looked like it desperately wanted to grow legs and run away. Xia Xingye then said: “You are truly strange. Is it because only we can hear you talk, so you can only calculate for the two of us?”

Little Jiang perfunctorily agreed: “That’s right.” It quickly took the excuse Xia Xingye had provided.

It was obvious that Little Jiang was lying, but Xia Xingye didn’t want to dig deeper now. She returned Little Jiang to Jiang Yingyue and said: “Sister, can you try to summon a ghost? You can ask Yin Nianyun again, the one we met last night, while I go ask people I know if anyone knows Dong Yiyu.”

They were in the same city, after all. Although they attended different schools, maybe someone knew her. Xia Xingye’s school also offered art classes, just with fewer art students.

After separating from Jiang Yingyue, Xia Xingye returned to her own school and went straight to her homeroom teacher. She got the art class homeroom teacher’s contact information from him. Just as she was about to rush over, her homeroom teacher called out to her: “What are you looking for the art class homeroom teacher for? You’re not going to cause any trouble, are you?”

Seeing her homeroom teacher look at her like that, Xia Xingye pouted and said: “Teacher, is that how you see me? I’m heartbroken.”

The homeroom teacher waved his hand. Xia Xingye put away her exaggerated expression and answered seriously: “I know someone who is looking for her childhood friend. Her childhood friend seems to be in the art academy. I can’t get in, so I want to ask if anyone at our school knows her.”

Hearing that Xia Xingye genuinely wasn’t going to cause trouble, the homeroom teacher let her go. Xia Xingye was puzzled the whole way, wondering why her homeroom teacher thought she would cause trouble.

After finding the art class homeroom teacher, the teacher was happy to help Xia Xingye after hearing her explanation. She immediately sent a message in their group chat. Not long after, she looked up and asked Xia Xingye: “You’re looking for an art student. Do you know her name?”

“Yes, her name is Dong Yiyu.”

The homeroom teacher froze, looking at Xia Xingye with a strange expression: “Where did you hear that name?”

Xia Xingye said indirectly: “I told you, it’s someone I know. What’s wrong? What about this person?”

The homeroom teacher’s expression remained a bit odd. Xia Xingye craned her neck to look at her phone, but the teacher quickly put her phone away and said sternly: “Go and tell that person that the person she is looking for has been dead for a long time.”

“What?” Xia Xingye was stunned, but the homeroom teacher didn’t plan to explain and just waved her hand, telling her to leave.

But Xia Xingye had finally found a clue. How could she leave just like that? She clung to the door frame, refusing to leave, and said: “Teacher, if you don’t tell me, I’m staying here today.”

The homeroom teacher was briefly speechless but wasn’t deterred by Xia Xingye’s shamelessness. She stood up and said: “Then you can stay here and guard the door for me.”

Xia Xingye quickly stood up and hugged the teacher’s leg: “Teacher, how can you be so cruel? This person I know is also just worried about her childhood friend, which is why she asked me for help.”

“What childhood friend? The person you mentioned is her childhood friend? Have you been fooled? Her childhood friend has been dead for a long time.”

Xia Xingye couldn’t explain to the homeroom teacher that the Ren Ruofang she knew was a ghost. She could only resort to pleading: “Teacher, please don’t worry about whether she’s her childhood friend or not. Is she some kind of terrorist? Why can’t you even talk about this?”

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to sleep tonight if I tell you,” the homeroom teacher said, deliberately looking at Xia Xingye with a spooky expression. “Your teacher is doing this for your own good. You shouldn’t ask too many questions.”

Xia Xingye was someone who had seen a real ghost, so how could she be scared by her homeroom teacher? She couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Seeing her reaction, the homeroom teacher’s face immediately darkened: “What’s so funny?”

“Teacher, are you being too dramatic? Whether I get scared or not is my business. Besides, I’ve seen a ghost. How could I be scared by such a small matter?” Xia Xingye said, “If I were that easily scared, why would I even attend university? Would I even go on stage to defend my graduation project?”

The homeroom teacher frowned: “Those are two completely different things.”

Xia Xingye didn’t care if they were two different things. She tried a different approach, gripping the homeroom teacher’s hand and saying: “Teacher, just tell me. I promise not to spread it around. Even if I really can’t sleep tonight, it’s not your fault. If you don’t tell me, I really won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

The homeroom teacher looked at her for a long time and said: “You promised not to spread it around.”

Xia Xingye quickly nodded. The homeroom teacher then patted her head and said: “Get up.”

Xia Xingye let go and stood up. The homeroom teacher sighed and said earnestly: “Dong Yiyu has been dead for several years. The school there suppressed the news, and only a few people know about it.”

Xia Xingye immediately poured a cup of tea. The homeroom teacher took the teacup, took a small sip, and continued: “Dong Yiyu’s death was very strange, and they even invited a Taoist priest to perform rituals.”