Chapter 803 - 803: Nie Longjiao, Timid as a Mouse

"Xiao Feng, since he's asleep, let him sleep on the sofa tonight. You should hurry back to your room. Jiaojiao is really timid. I bet she's still awake," Nie Lan said.

"Timid?" Xiao Feng said with interest.

Nie Lan took a sip of water and said, "Yeah, that child has been very timid since she was little.

Even listening to a ghost story scares her so much that she can't sleep and insists on having me sleep with her. She doesn't dare to go to the bathroom alone at night and always calls me awake to accompany her."

Xiao Feng nodded knowingly, thinking to himself that part of Nie Shouping's resentment towards Nie Lan is at least due to Nie Longjiao.

"By the way, there's a new pair of slippers here, take them and wear them," Nie Lan said, picking up a pair of still-packaged slippers from the shoe rack at the door and handing them to Xiao Feng.

Xiao Feng didn't stand on ceremony and took them, then walked toward the west room and pressed down on the doorknob.

Sure enough, the door was locked from the inside.

"Open the door," Xiao Feng said, knocking lightly.

Nie Longjiao's voice came through the door, "Let my mom come over."

Xiao Feng turned around and looked at Nie Lan helplessly.

"It's late, and after your dad made a fuss, you still won't settle down. You two father and daughter, will you ever let anyone live?"

Mumbling discontentedly, Nie Lan walked to the west room's door, knocked, and said, "I'm here, what's up?"

"Mom, I want to sleep with you tonight!" Nie Longjiao said with an indescribable firmness.

Nie Lan said grumpily, "Give me a reason first."

"Xiao Feng made me angry, I won't stay with him."

"Fine, fine, open the door, I'll make do for a night."

"Mom, are you sure you're not lying?"

"I'm sure, sure, sure," Nie Lan said impatiently, "If you don't open the door, I'm leaving."

"Don't, I'll open it now."

A moment later, with a "click", the door opened.

Standing behind Xiao Feng, Nie Lan pushed him in without a word and closed the door, saying, "Young couples argue at the head of the bed and make up at the end, there's no such thing as harboring grudges overnight.

Take your dad for example, if I held grudges against him, I'd have died of anger long ago.

You two, sort it out and talk it through, and there'll be no problem."

Nie Longjiao covered her face with both hands, feeling utterly overwhelmed.

She even wondered if she was truly like what her mom said when she was a child—not her biological child but picked up from beside a garbage heap.

Does a mother treat her own daughter like this?

Xiao Feng tossed the slippers' packaging into the trash and casually placed the slippers at the end of the bed, saying, "Before we sleep, buy the return tickets for tomorrow."

"There's no need for your reminder; I've already bought them. We're departing at nine in the morning and arriving at eleven," Nie Longjiao said, rolling her eyes.

After speaking, she glanced at the slippers Xiao Feng placed on the floor and adjusted the direction of one of them.

Seeing this action, Xiao Feng couldn't help but pause, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"The tip of the shoe can't face the head of the bed; otherwise, you'll easily experience sleep paralysis, commonly known as 'ghost pressing the bed'," Nie Longjiao explained sullenly.

"Didn't expect you to be quite superstitious," Xiao Feng said, amused.

Nie Longjiao replied earnestly, "It's not superstition; it's my personal experience.

When I was in school and staying at the dorm, nothing happened. But when I got home, I encountered sleep paralysis.

My bunkmate gave me a tip: arrange the tips of the shoes to face opposite directions, and there won't be any problem. I tried it, and it worked.

Later, I found out her grandfather was a well-known feng shui master."

Seeing Nie Longjiao speaking with such conviction and not joking, Xiao Feng puzzledly asked, "Why does arranging the shoe tips in opposite directions prevent sleep paralysis?"

"I asked that question too. My classmate said the invisible dirty things determine the bed's position through the direction of the shoe tips.

If placed oppositely, the dirty things won't find where the bed is," Nie Longjiao explained.

"I see!" Xiao Feng nodded, a barely noticeable mischievous grin appearing at the corner of his mouth.

He turned and walked to the head of the room, made a pause, then turned again to the bedside, paused, and continued walking.

"Why are you pacing back and forth?" Nie Longjiao frowned and asked.

Xiao Feng didn't look back, muttering, "Where's the bed? Can't find where the bed is?"

Nie Longjiao froze, as if she thought of something, the next moment her eyes widened, her mouth slowly opened, and then she exploded into a piercing scream, "Ahhhhhh!"

Xiao Feng covered his ears, hurriedly saying, "Just kidding, just kidding, calm down, calm down!"

While speaking, he walked toward Nie Longjiao.

"Don't come over!" Nie Longjiao shouted, grabbing a large teddy bear at the head of the bed to block in front of her.

Xiao Feng, looking frustrated, said, "It's just a joke, you don't scare easily, do you?"

"Stay there, don't move, or I'll be rude!" Nie Longjiao said excitedly.

"I..." Xiao Feng was a little exasperated, pointing at the shadow on the wall, saying, "Your classmate should have told you, dirty things don't have shadows, right?"

After a moment of silence, Nie Longjiao, still skeptical, asked, "Are you sure you're human?"

"..." Xiao Feng.

If it weren't for Nie Longjiao's expression and tone filled with fear, he might almost believe she was insulting him.

"I'm very sure; I'm human, with flesh and blood, a living person standing right in front of you," Xiao Feng said with a stern face.

Nie Longjiao thought for a while, then dragged her mat to the furthest point from the bed, looking wary, saying, "You sleep on the bed. Tonight, we'll sleep with the lights on. If you can't sleep, there's an eye mask in the bedside cabinet."

Xiao Feng took off his coat, leaned back onto the pillow, stretched comfortably, and smiled, "The bed is indeed comfortable."

Nie Longjiao snorted coldly and laid down on the mat.

Seeing the other party ignoring him, Xiao Feng sat up and said, "Earlier today, you mentioned you set up a welfare home, initially to atone; what did you mean?"

"Why should I tell you?" Nie Longjiao retorted, sounding sulky.

Xiao Feng was instantly displeased, "Are you going to tell me or not?"

"I'm not!" Nie Longjiao said firmly.

"Alright, you forced me to do this!" Xiao Feng said with a cold smile.

Nie Longjiao immediately sat up, hands crossed in front of her in a defensive posture, "What do you want?"

"Nothing much, just want to tell you my story; do you want to hear it?" Xiao Feng said calmly.

Despite her doubts, Nie Longjiao nodded, "Go ahead, just say it from the bed, don't come onto the mat."

"Okay." Xiao Feng agreed readily, cleared his throat, and began his story, "When I was little, around five or six years old, I was in kindergarten.

I came home from school, and my mom, as usual, waited for me at the entrance of our building.

Our building didn't have an elevator, and we lived on the top floor, so we had to climb a lot of stairs.

I remember the stairwell was dark, even during the day, with very little light inside, so every time I was climbing it alone, I was scared.

My mom took my hand and we went upstairs, but she didn't use the key to open the door—she rang the doorbell.

It was about half a minute before the door opened, and guess what I saw?"