Lin Feng hadn't expected to slip, let alone press his face against Zhao Nan's underwear.
It's over, he thought, there's no way to explain this now!
"Little Teacher Zhao, it's okay, these are new, they don't smell."
Lin Feng awkwardly removed the underwear.
Zhao Nan, her face flushed, lowered her head and gritted her teeth, "They're not new, they're the ones I took off last night..."
By the end of her sentence, Zhao Nan's pretty face was so red it looked like it could bleed.
"Little Teacher Zhao, I, I really didn't mean to. I just slipped. My thoughts are very healthy."
"Uh, I have something to do, I'll be going now!"
Lin Feng had no idea how to explain.
The best way to break an awkward situation was to flee.
However, as soon as Lin Feng stepped into the stairwell, Zhao Nan chased after him.
"Wait up!"
Zhao Nan called out urgently to Lin Feng.
"Little Teacher Zhao, do you need something else?"
Lin Feng asked, confused.
Zhao Nan took a deep breath, walked up to Lin Feng, and held out her hand, "Give me back my underwear, you stuffed it in your pocket."
"What underwear?"
Lin Feng instinctively patted his pocket and was stunned to realize he had forgotten to return the underwear to Zhao Nan, having casually pocketed it as if taking a souvenir.
"Little Teacher Zhao, please don't misunderstand. I probably thought I was helping you discard it, I didn't mean to take it."
Lin Feng said with a dry chuckle. He really hadn't meant to.
"I don't need you to discard it. If it needs to be discarded, I'll do it myself!"
Zhao Nan snatched the underwear back.
She feared Lin Feng might take it to keep as a memento and indulge in some unsavory fantasies.
"Yuck, what's that smell? Why is it so pungent?"
Zhao Nan suddenly wrinkled her nose and sniffed several times.
"Probably the smell from your underwear," Lin Feng chuckled. He had also noticed a peculiar odor.
"Just shut up. My underwear doesn't smell that strong. It seems to be drifting up from downstairs!"
Zhao Nan rolled her eyes and followed the scent downstairs to take a look.
She discovered three sticks of incense burning at the doorway of a unit downstairs, the incense stuck in a bowl filled with rice.
Beside it were three large steamed buns and a vigil lamp.
The smell she detected was coming from the burning incense.
"Isn't that Teacher Hu's place? Why are there things like this outside his door?"
Zhao Nan found it strange, and the atmosphere felt somewhat eerie and chilling.
"Someone probably died in the house," Lin Feng replied thoughtfully.
"Ah? Someone died? Could it be Teacher Hu's mother?"
Zhao Nan immediately thought of the eccentric old lady living downstairs.
The old lady was Teacher Hu's mother, a bit deranged, often wandering the hallway late at night dressed in a black mourning gown.
Zhao Nan had been startled by the old lady several times when returning home late at night.
When she asked the old lady what she was doing, the old lady never responded.
Since then, Zhao Nan had been hesitant to go home alone late at night.
"It's likely. According to custom, the seventh day after death is the 'head seven', when the soul returns to its residence to have a look."
"If I'm not mistaken, the old lady you mentioned is likely having her head seven tonight."
Lin Feng smiled slightly, accustomed to such matters.
"Lin Feng, please stop talking. It's really scary."
Zhao Nan's face had turned pale, and her body trembled.
"I won't say more. I'll be leaving now. You should also go back and rest early."
Lin Feng, seeing that Zhao Nan was a bit scared, didn't say anything further.
However, just as Lin Feng was about to leave, Zhao Nan suddenly grabbed his arm.
"What is it? I don't have your things in my pocket anymore, are you still not letting me go?"
Lin Feng was a bit puzzled.
Zhao Nan showed a hint of distress and whispered, barely audible, "Lin Feng, why don't you come to my place for a while? I'll contact Xue Rou to come stay with me, and you can leave after she arrives?"
"Little Teacher Zhao, you don't mean you're afraid to be home alone, do you?"
Lin Feng had a rough idea of Zhao Nan's little plan.
"It's not that I'm scared, it's just that I have something I want to discuss with you."
Zhao Nan naturally couldn't admit she was scared. After all, she was a teacher, and if she believed in superstitions, she'd be laughed to death.
"Alright, then I'll stay with you for a while."
Lin Feng saw through it but didn't expose her, as he had nothing urgent to do anyway.
Returning to Zhao Nan's apartment, it seemed Zhao Nan was genuinely frightened by Lin Feng's words.
She didn't dare to go back to her bedroom alone. She changed into cotton pajamas, turned on the television, and watched it with Lin Feng in the living room.
"Lin Feng, do you think returning souls are real? Isn't this all just folklore?"
Zhao Nan hugged her knees, rested her chin on them, and asked eagerly.
"How would I know if it's real or not? However, there's no smoke without fire. Since there are such rumors among the people, there must be some basis for them."
"Just like when we burn incense and pray to Buddha, if Buddha were fabricated, why would these kings throughout history have worshipped so piously?"
"For example, the city we live in now, if you look closely, many buildings and streets are designed according to Feng Shui and metaphysics."
"So, it's better to believe in it than not believe in it."
Lin Feng said with a smile.
Zhao Nan nodded in agreement, "That's true. My family also has an ancestral shrine, and every year my parents and my uncles and aunts return to the old house for ancestral worship."
"During ancestral worship, they also hold strange rituals. When I was young, I didn't understand, but my father said it was a rule set by our ancestors and couldn't be broken."
"Also, every year when we go to the cemetery to pay respects to my grandparents, my parents don't let me go inside, saying that girls shouldn't go into graveyards."
"Perhaps, there really are some existences in this world that we don't know about."
Lin Feng found it a bit amusing. Rules are made by people. What's wrong with girls entering graveyards?
Ridiculous!
However, seeing that Zhao Nan was no longer as scared, Lin Feng didn't say anything further.
Unfortunately, the television wasn't very cooperative. It started showing a foreign horror movie called "Underground Morgue."
At first, neither Zhao Nan nor Lin Feng paid much attention to what was on TV.
But as the plot unfolded, Zhao Nan was surprised to find that the movie was a thriller.
It depicted a group of people being dissected, their bodies buried underground.
Then, the ghost of a little boy would appear intermittently, accompanied by terrifying music. Each appearance of the boy made Zhao Nan jump in fright.
"Quick, quickly change to a comedy. This movie is too scary."
Zhao Nan shivered with fear and pulled a thin blanket over herself.
"It's just a movie, why are you so scared?"
Lin Feng looked at Zhao Nan's pale face and found her increasingly endearing.
So, he switched to a more lighthearted comedy.
Around eight o'clock in the evening, Chen Xue Rou finally arrived.
"Nan Nan, why did you call me over so late?"
"Also, what's going on at Teacher Hu's place downstairs? Lighting incense and lamps in the hallway late at night, who are they worshipping?"
Chen Xue Rou said as she entered, changing her shoes.
Upon seeing Lin Feng also present, Chen Xue Rou paused.
"Xue Rou, you're finally back. You nearly scared me to death."
"Teacher Hu's elderly mother has passed away. Today is her head seven, and Lin Feng said that the souls return home during head seven."
"So..."
Zhao Nan, as if seeing a loved one, got up barefoot and rushed into Chen Xue Rou's arms.
After listening, Chen Xue Rou immediately gave Lin Feng a glare.
"So you were scared by his ghost stories? Where are there so many returning souls in this world? You believe his trickery!"
Chen Xue Rou patted Zhao Nan's back reassuringly.
She was an atheist and relatively bold, so she didn't believe in any returning souls.
"I didn't scare Little Teacher Zhao. She insisted on asking me, and I just answered casually."
Lin Feng stood up. Now that Chen Xue Rou was here, he could leave.