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

Su Ting paused.

“Then I’ll chase after him,” he said softly. “I’ll chase him in my dreams, I’ll chase him in real life, and I’ll chase him in my next life.”

After saying that, he pushed open the door.

There was no light inside, but it wasn't exactly dark either. It was an ambiguous gray, like the gray between dusk and dawn, with a faint smell of medicine and a wisp of orange candy in the air.

He walked inside.

Countless doors lined both sides of the corridor, each swaying slightly, as if someone behind it was crying, laughing, or struggling not to die. The door at the very end was half-open, letting in a warm yellow light, much like the little nightlight by my mother's bedside in my childhood memories.

He walked over step by step, his heart pounding harder and harder.

open the door--

Ward.

White sheets, an IV stand, and the green line on the electrocardiogram slowly flattening. The woman on the hospital bed was so thin she was almost unrecognizable, but her eyes still held the same gentleness as when she was a child.

“Mom…” Su Ting’s throat tightened, and she could barely speak.

The woman slowly turned her head, saw him, and a smile appeared on her lips: "...You've come?"

"I'm here." He rushed to the bedside, knelt down, and grasped her withered hand. "I'm sorry... I'm late..."

Chapter 1310 Didn't make it back before I got back

"It's not too late." She gently squeezed his hand back. "I've been waiting for you to speak."

“I heard you.” Su Ting’s voice trembled. “I heard you say ‘Slow down, don’t fall.’ I’ve always remembered that… I really heard you.”

Tears streamed down the woman's face.

“I don’t blame you.” Su Ting lowered his head, his forehead resting on the back of her hand. “I don’t blame you for not holding on until I came back. I don’t blame you for not crying out when you were in pain. I don’t blame you… for leaving me all alone.”

The woman's hand trembled slightly.

"Go now." He lifted his face, tears streaming down his face. "You've done enough. You're the bravest mother. Now... you can close your eyes in peace."

As soon as he finished speaking, the electrocardiogram showed a long, flat line.

"drop--"

The bell rang.

The door began to close slowly.

The woman's image gradually faded, but at the last moment she reached out and stroked his hair, just like when they were children.

"When you get home...remember to eat candy," she whispered.

Then, it disappeared.

Su Ting slumped to the ground, and his pocket watch suddenly clicked, the hands shifting slightly—from 6:17 to 6:18.

Outside the door, Lin Wan and Xiao Yin stood quietly.

Three minutes later, the door opened.

Su Ting emerged, his face pale, but his eyes were clearer than ever before. He still clutched the pocket watch tightly in his hand, his knuckles white.

Xiao Yin looked at him and asked softly, "Has she... left?"

Su Ting nodded.

Lin Wan let out a breath and grinned: "Well done, you actually managed to finish three sentences. I thought you'd get stuck on the first sentence and cry until the time was up."

Su Ting glared at him, but had no strength to refute, and only whispered, "In the end... she told me to eat candy."

"She was still worried that you were hungry." Xiaoyin's nose tingled, and she turned her head to sniff. "Even when a mother is about to die, she still wants to feed you something sweet."

Lin Wan patted Su Ting on the shoulder: "Let's go, mission accomplished, we can leave now. Your mother's last wish has been fulfilled, and your dream has come to an end."

Su Ting did not move.

He looked up at the night sky; the moon was obscured by a thin layer of clouds, its light flickering.

"Lin Wan," he suddenly said.

"Ok?"

"What if... there's still one dream I haven't woken up from?"

Lin Wan was taken aback: "What do you mean?"

“That child.” Su Ting slowly turned around, his gaze falling back into the depths of the corridor. “Is he awake? Is he really awake? Why was he trapped in the classroom seven times? Did anyone… speak those three sentences for him?”

The air was quiet for a moment.

Xiao Yin frowned: "You mean—he's actually... already dead?"

“I don’t know,” Su Ting shook his head. “But I remember him saying something like, ‘I went to deliver medicine to my mother that day, but she didn’t open the door.’”

Lin Wan's expression gradually changed: "You mean... he died on his way to see his mother? And that 'mother' taking him home was his dying wish?"

“If that’s really the case…” Su Ting’s eyes sharpened, “then no one will fulfill his last wish. It’s not that he didn’t want to wake up, it’s that he… dared not close his eyes.”

Xiao Yin gasped: "So the eighth time he 'woke up' was actually his last chance? And if no one went in and told him, 'I heard you, I don't blame you, you can go now'—he would be trapped in that classroom forever, waiting for a mother who would never come?"

The three fell into silence.

The wind blew through the corridor, making the iron bells jingle like children's laughter.

After a long silence, Lin Wan spoke softly, "...Su Ting, you don't want to go back, do you? You just came out of one dream, and now you want to go into another? You know the rule—the living can't enter the corridor of the dead's obsessions, it's taboo."

Chapter 1311 No one can save you

“I know.” Su Ting smiled, a calm smile. “But you also said that I didn’t become the main character because I kicked you. It’s because I remember those who couldn’t speak up.”

He turned around and placed his hand on the mahogany door that had just closed.

“This time, it’s not about the key, nor is it about creating a closed loop in the persona,” he said softly. “It’s about a child, so that he can say with peace of mind, ‘Mom, I’m leaving.’”

"Are you crazy!" Lin Wan grabbed his wrist. "If you go in, you'll likely be annihilated! No one can save you!"

“Then wait for me.” Su Ting turned to look at him, her eyes resolute. “If I don’t come out in three days… finish writing my story. Don’t start with ‘Mother’s Tears,’ write— ‘There was a fool who went back again.’”

Lin Wan gritted her teeth and slammed a punch into his shoulder: "You fucking... you have to be the savior, don't you?"

Su Ting grinned and patted him on the shoulder: "Isn't this the kind of plot you love the most? 'The protagonist sacrifices himself to light up the darkness,' how satisfying."

Xiaoyin suddenly stepped forward and grabbed his arm: "I'll go with you!"

“No.” Su Ting shook his head. “The rules say only one person can enter at a time.”

"Then I'll wait at the door!" she glared. "If you dare to die in there, I'll go to your building every day with a soda bottle and read Lin Wan's tragic ending! I'll read it until your soul leaves your body!"

Su Ting smiled and ruffled her hair: "Okay, I'm listening."

He took a deep breath and pushed the door open again.

The wind chimes rang the moment the door opened.

At the end of the corridor, an unfamiliar door slowly appeared—on the door was a crooked drawing: a little boy holding his mother's hand, with a rainbow painted in the sky.

Su Ting stepped inside.

The door closed behind him.

Lin Wan and Xiao Yin stood outside the door, saying nothing.

Three minutes later, the bell rang.

The door was closed.

Xiao Yin asked in a trembling voice, "...Why hasn't he come out yet?"

Lin Wan stared intently at the door, her face pale: "The time has come... but the door isn't closed... which means... he's still alive, but... he hasn't completed the mission."

"What should we do?" Xiaoyin grabbed his sleeve. "Can we... wait any longer?"

Lin Wan gripped the lantern tightly, her voice hoarse:

"Wait. Even if it takes forever."

suddenly--

A faint ray of light seeped through the crack in the door.

Then came the children's laughter.

Then, a childish voice softly said:

"Mom, I'm leaving."

Laughter, like silver bells, echoed in the quiet corridor, like the first breeze of spring blowing through the wind chimes.

The light from under the door gradually diffused, warm but not glaring, like the afternoon sun shining through a quilt, creeping inch by inch up to Lin Wan and Xiao Yin's toes. The mottled mahogany door trembled slightly, as if it had been gently pushed, but did not open fully.

Xiao Yin gripped Lin Wan's arm tightly, her voice trembling: "He...he's still inside?"

Lin Wan didn't answer, his eyes fixed on the crack. He saw tiny dust particles floating in the light, slowly rotating, like some unseen life breathing.

"Su Ting—!" Xiao Yin couldn't help but shout. Her voice hit the wall and bounced back, leaving an empty and unsettling feeling.