Courtyard House: My Long and Hard Body Makes Me Play with All the Women in the Courtyard

In the classroom, a thin boy huddled in the last row, clutching his schoolbag tightly with both hands, his eyes wide open and bloodshot.

"Don't come any closer!" the boy screamed. "I'm awake! It's real! It's real! You're not lying to me!"

Su Ting squatted down to look him in the eye and said softly, "I also thought I woke up seven times."

The boy looked up abruptly: "...What did you say?"

“I said,” Su Ting took out a candy box from his pocket, opened it, poured out an orange candy, and placed it on the desk, “I was trapped too. I woke up seven times, and each time I thought it was real. Until the eighth time, someone told me—'The candy your mother left for you was never left on the desk.'”

The boy was stunned.

"She always stuffs things into the hidden compartment of your backpack, right? Because she's afraid you'll sneak food in class and get scolded by the teacher."

Chapter 1308 Finally Reaching Out

Tears suddenly welled up in the boy's eyes: "You...how did you know..."

“Because my mother was like that too,” Su Ting said softly, “so I know you haven’t woken up yet.”

The boy sobbed, then finally reached out and picked up the candy.

The instant his fingertips touched the candy wrapper—

"Jingle Bell--"

The bell rang.

The lights go out.

In the darkness, the sound of high heels echoed down the corridor, step by step, approaching the classroom.

"Children—" a gentle female voice rang out, like a mother lulling someone to sleep, "It's time to go home."

Su Ting suddenly turned around.

Outside the crack in the door, a pair of black high heels stood at the entrance, their toes pointing inwards, as if they were smiling.

"Mom?" The boy stood up, trembling. "Is it Mom who's come to pick me up?"

"Shh—" Su Ting covered his mouth and shone the lantern toward the door, the firelight suddenly dimming.

There was no shadow beneath the crack in the door.

“That’s not your mother.” Su Ting gritted her teeth. “Your mother doesn’t wear high heels—you told me that when she was hospitalized, she only wore soft-soled cloth shoes.”

The boy trembled all over: "But...but she said she was going to take me home..."

“Home isn’t here.” Su Ting grabbed his hand. “The real exit isn’t behind the door, but in the moment you dare not believe you ‘wake up’.”

He pulled the boy back, and the light from the lantern illuminated a crack in the ceiling—there, a rusty pocket watch was slowly dripping dark red liquid.

“Do you see that?” Su Ting pointed to the crack. “That’s your memory anchor. As long as you don’t acknowledge that this is ‘reality,’ the dream will collapse.”

"But...but I'm so tired...I want to wake up..."

"You've woken up seven times already!" Su Ting roared. "This time, give me your trust in the people around you!"

The boy looked up at him, tears streaming down his face.

"Jingle Bell--"

The bell rang again.

She stepped into the classroom in high heels.

The lantern's flame had dwindled to a mere wisp of blue.

Su Ting held the boy's hand tightly, while her other hand reached for the candy box on her chest.

“One last time,” he whispered. “Let’s wake up one more time.”

The lights shattered.

The world collapses.

He is falling.

A woman's voice sounded in my ear, so gentle it was heartbreaking:

"Su Ting...come home, Mom is waiting for you to eat..."

Su Ting closed his eyes, but uttered a sentence between his teeth:

"I do not believe."

A burst of light shattered the darkness.

He suddenly opened his eyes—

Inside the classroom, bathed in bright sunlight, students walked out with their backpacks on. The boy stood beside him, pulling him forcefully: "Brother! We're out! He's really awake!"

Su Ting lowered his head, extinguished the lantern, but held a rusty pocket watch in his hand.

Inside the watch case, a line of small characters is engraved:

"Happy birthday, Su Ting. —Mom"

He opened the watch cover with trembling hands.

The pointer stopped at 6:17.

That was the time when my mother stopped breathing.

The boy suddenly looked up and asked softly, "Brother, are you crying?"

Su Ting wiped her face and realized it was covered in tears.

"No." He smiled and clutched the pocket watch tightly in his hand. "It's just... the wind is too strong."

He stood up and looked out the window.

Under the osmanthus tree in the distance, Lin Wan was holding a lantern and waving at him.

Xiao Yin hopped around, raised her soda bottle, and shouted something from afar, but it was hard to hear.

Su Ting took a deep breath and muttered to himself:

"Mom... I got the key."

He stepped out of the classroom, his steps firm.

Lin Wan came up to him and looked him up and down: "You made it out alive? You weren't kidnapped by your fake mother?"

“Almost.” Su Ting sneered, “She almost persuaded me.”

"Then how did you get out?" Xiaoyin asked curiously.

Su Ting took out a pocket watch from his pocket and handed it over: "Because I remember—my mother never said 'come home for dinner.' She always said…"

Chapter 1309 I need to practice a few more times

He paused, his voice trembling slightly:

"Slow down, don't fall."

Lin Wan looked at him and suddenly smiled: "Let's go. The Corridor of Last Wishes only opens at midnight."

The three walked side by side toward the osmanthus tree.

A night breeze wafted by, and the sweet aroma of glutinous rice balls wafted through the air once more.

Xiao Yin suddenly asked, "Su Ting, are you ready to say those three sentences?"

Su Ting gazed at the deepening night and gripped his pocket watch tightly.

"Not yet," he said softly. "I need to practice a few more times—I don't want to be late again in my dreams."

Lin Wan patted his shoulder, her tone suddenly becoming serious:

"So, have you figured out how to start the second chapter yet?"

Su Ting turned his head to look at him, and the moonlight fell into his eyes, like a spark being rekindled.

“Of course.” He smiled, not stopping his steps. “The very first sentence—”

"This time, it's my turn to knock on the door."

As soon as they finished speaking, the three of them continued walking without stopping, passing through the overgrown path in the backyard and heading towards the old building at the end of the town. The "Corridor House," which the townspeople avoided like the plague, stood silently. Outside the wall, the locust tree moved without wind, its branches like outstretched fingers, hooking the moonlight little by little and stuffing it into the window cracks.

Lin Wan carried a lantern, the firelight flickering, illuminating half of his face as if he were smiling, while the other half remained in shadow.

“Only one person can enter the Corridor of Last Wishes,” he said. “When a living person steps in, they will see the memories of the dying person’s last moments when they did not want to close their eyes. You have to say those three sentences before they speak—'I heard you,' 'I don’t blame you,' and 'Go now.' If you miss even one of them, you will have to stay in that scene forever, keeping their eyes open for them.”

Xiao Yin unscrewed the soda bottle, took a gulp, and said in a relaxed tone as if she were discussing what to have for dinner: "However, not just anyone can get in. Only people with 'unfinished business' in their hearts can."

Su Ting looked down at the pocket watch in his hand. Under the rusty cover, the hands marked 6:17 remained motionless. He murmured, "I never heard what she wanted to say last."

“Then listen now.” Lin Wan stopped and stared at him. “But remember—you can only listen once. The door is open for three minutes, and it will close when the clock strikes. If you miss it, you’ll never have another chance.”

They stood in front of a mottled mahogany door, with a string of iron bells hanging on it, shaped just like the wind chime candies sold outside the school gate when they were kids.

Su Ting reached out to push the door open.

"Wait." Xiaoyin suddenly tugged at his sleeve. "What if...she leaves before you finish speaking?"