Ch32 - He Said He Was Scared

At 6 o’clock in the morning, Lu Xu and Ji Xiunian bumped into each other in the hallway.

Ever since moving into the apartment, there hadn’t been many opportunities for Lu Xu and Ji Xiunian to interact with each other. Every day, apart from filming, there was training. It was difficult when so many people were around all the time.

Based on their current level of interaction, there wasn’t really anything off about Ji Xiunian.

But Ji Xiunian was still on the list of stowaways. He must have kept many things deeply hidden.

Lu Xu wanted to break the balance of the current situation. The moment he glanced at the rope on the ground, he had an idea.

“Nian ge, do you feel like… there was something terrifying here just now?” As Lu Xu said this, he didn’t forget to glance around, his expression a little confused and also a little afraid.

“Meow…” When Ba Mei heard those words, it couldn’t help but swish its tail, turning its head to look at Ji Xiunian.

Only heaven knew how shocked Ji Xiunian was to hear those words.

Since the beginning, it seemed like the only one who could see those things was him alone. Ji Xiunian had no way of telling others what he was seeing and hearing. Sometimes he even wondered if the things he was seeing were just illusions.

But now Lu Xu was standing in front of him. He should try to ask him if he sensed anything.

Ji Xiunian really wanted to tell him what he had just experienced, but he couldn’t help but hesitate––

Lu Xu was only 18 years old. Would a boy who had just grown up believe these kinds of fantastical things?

Ji Xiunian didn’t know what Lu Xu would think of him once he heard what he said. He was thinking of just gulping his words down, but Lu Xu laughed bitterly. “Nian ge, you might not believe me when I say it, but when I took the rope, I felt like I heard a woman talking…”

Woman?

Ji Xiunian immediately thought of that hanged female ghost, and couldn’t help but feel a bit worried. He opened his mouth and asked anxiously, “What did you hear?”

Lu Xu frowned, as though he was trying to remember, “Something about love…”

The beautiful boy had only just opened his mouth, but he shook his head to comfort himself. “I must have heard it wrong. How could this rope be used to fall in love. Nian ge, isn’t that right?”

When Lu Xu spoke to Ji Xiunian, his chin was slightly raised, clean and beautiful.

The person who loved to laugh had uncertainty in their eyes. Those beautiful peach blossom eyes were misty, which only made others feel a little guilty. It was just a simple facial expression, but Ji Xiunian knew that he had interpreted many emotions from it. Pretty things always made people feel protective, and so did pretty people.

The female ghost in uniform had originally come for him, but Lu Xu had picked up the rope by mistake in the end. The originally peaceful life was about to be turned upside down. Ji Xiunian couldn’t help but feel a little upset.

After pondering about it for a moment, he decided to prepare Lu Xu mentally for it, so that he wouldn’t be too shocked if he were to one day see those things too.

“Lu Xu, do you believe there are ghosts in this world?”

Hearing those words come from Ji Xiunian’s mouth, the corners of Lu Xu’s mouth curved upwards, but his expression still carried a sense of surprise as he said, “I’m not too sure, but I think anything is possible… There isn’t one standing right beside me now, is there?”

“There isn’t,” Ji Xiunian denied it immediately, and continued, “She suddenly left just now.”

Based on that female ghost’s initial attitude, it could be said that she was overly bold and arrogant; logically she shouldn’t have run away so fast. Did he miss something earlier on?

Lu Xu kept asking questions, his tone of voice curious “She? Nian ge, this ‘she’ you’re referring to is the ghost?”

“Yes.” Ji Xiunian also didn’t know where this female ghost had come from, let alone whether she was malicious to people or not. It was just that the action of shoving rope at people wasn’t very friendly, so Ji Xiunian didn’t know whether she would do something out of line.

He briefly gave an account of the experience he just had with the female ghost. Seeing Lu Xu’s ensuing silence and taking it as worry, he said comfortingly, “I saw her following others before. She won’t bother you if you don’t meet her gaze. Don’t worry too much.”

Having said this, Ji Xiunian was actually afraid he had said too much.

Things like seeing ghosts wasn’t something to be shared casually. Even he felt that it was incredible, never mind what other people thought. That was why he had never said anything about it before, because he didn’t want to be seen as weird. Even now he didn’t know what Lu Xu would think of him.

“That’s good.” Lu Xu seemed to have only just regained his senses, his expression sullen. “Thank you, Nian ge. You don’t know how scared I was just now. Luckily, you were here.”

“Meow?” Ba Mei had been yawning, but forgot to close its mouth after hearing Lu Xu say he was scared, its tongue still hanging out.

Lu Xu glanced at Ba Mei and blinked, everything said without any words.

“It’s all right, I’m always here.” Ji Xiunian hadn’t even noticed that Lu Xu was placing him on a pedestal, he just felt that he had the responsibility to take care of a younger didi. “It looks like they haven’t had any bad intentions so far. I’ll contact a friend later, and see if there’s any way to solve this.”

Lu Xu’s eyes curved as he smiled, trust written all over his face. “Okay, Nian ge.”

After six o’clock, people started to come up to prepare.

There were bustling voices in the corridor. Ji Xiunian wanted to tell Lu Xu that they could discuss this after they went back, but saw him bend down and pick up that rope.

“What are you doing?”

Lu Xu coiled the rope up in his hand and smiled at Ji Xiunian with innocence. “I’m scared that other people will get entangled if they pick up this rope. Anyway, I already touched it, so I’ll take charge of it.”

When Ji Xiunian heard this, his emotions became inexplicably complicated.

He knew where that rope had come from, and his first thought was that no one should get hurt.

“It’s too dangerous. I should do it.” In the end, he was the one who first saw that ghost, he should bear the burden instead of dragging Lu Xu into it.

That was what Ji Xiunian was thinking. He reached for the rope.

However, Lu Xu didn’t let him, and only gently pat his hand, as though giving him a high-five, and said in a relaxed manner, “If it’s dangerous then even more reason why I can’t give it to you.” When he saw Ji Xiunian surprised for a moment, Lu Xu suddenly smiled again, his eyes glimmering. “Because I’ll be worried for you.”

When the youth said this, his expression was serious with a smile on his face, his eyes bright as though the stars were shining.

This eighteen-year-old grown boy who had just said that he was afraid of ghosts, was now saying he didn’t want Ji Xiunian to be in danger.

So, rather than himself, Lu Xu was more concerned for him?

Ji Xiunian’s feelings were complicated. It was like his heart had been hit by something invisible. It was a refreshing feeling –– strange yet warm.

Before he could compose himself, a trainee appeared in the corridor.

Everyone was in groups of three to five, laughing and chatting. They went to practise in groups based on their dormitories.

“Meow…” Ba Mei witnessed the interaction between the two of them, and couldn’t resist putting their front paws against Ji Xiunian’s calf as it stood up, meowing and meowing. No one knew what it wanted to express.

Lu Xu held the rope in his hand, picked up Ba Mei and smiled at Ji Xiunian. “Nian ge, I’ll head down first and prepare for filming.”

Ji Xiunian’s reaction was a bit late, but he still nodded in the end. “Go ahead. Good luck.”

“Hello, Nian ge!”

“Xu ge, congratulations!”

Several trainees walked closer, greeting Ji Xiunian when they saw him, and then excitedly congratulated Lu Xu. But Ji Xiunian was afraid that they would be cautious in front of him, so he went downstairs ahead of Lu Xu.

“Uh?”

Lu Xu hadn’t paid attention to the numbers at all, so he just raised his brows at the words.

“Oh my god, you still don’t know!” One of them took out his mobile phone and clicked to the voting page to show Lu Xu. “You’re number one in the online popularity poll!”

“Ai?”

Lu Xu was pretty surprised himself, still thinking that Bai Ze shouldn’t have gone to so much effort.

“Xu ge, you’re too amazing. We all think that you should be first, I already gave you my vote…”

“That’s right, Xu ge, you’re number one in our hearts…”

“I feel like it’s only a fair competition when you’re number one…”

They continued to talk noisily, obviously of the disposition that Lan Gaojie wasn’t qualified to be in first place.

While they spoke, Lu Xu only listened without replying. Before he got the chance to say he was leaving, Lan Gaojie had already walked into the corridor with a sullen look on his face.

He had obviously heard them talking, and walked in front of Lu Xu, bumping into one of the B-rank trainees without looking back.

“Ai, what’s wrong with that guy?”

“He doesn’t even apologise after bumping into someone?”

“Did he hear us say that it’s only a fair competition if Xu ge is in first place?”

“If he heard it then he heard it, I also think that in my heart, can’t I say it?”

Lu Xu hadn’t said anything since the start. He only looked at Lan Gaojie’s back and calculated the time ––

He was one step closer to collecting an order!

He had no intention of staying around, so he politely bid goodbye to the other trainees.

He turned around and wanted to leave, but heard He Xinghua yelling from behind him, “Master Lu Xu, we’re all A-rank!”

Lu Xu didn’t even look to the side. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you, Master! Nian ge is the one who helped evaluate us!”

“Mhm.” Lu Xu wasn’t the least bit surprised. Ji Xiunian wouldn’t have appeared outside the practise studio so early otherwise.

“Nian ge really is a great person, ai!” He Xinghua’s eyes gleamed when he spoke, seeming to have become one of Ji Xiunian’s fans.

Lu Xu laughed and didn’t say anything, only listening to He Xinghua as he continued to talk. “Sorry, Master Lu Xu. Yesterday, I was in the practise room the whole time and didn’t get to participate in the support activity yesterday with everyone else, but you have to believe that I really super support you!”

Lu Xu caught on to some words and immediately asked, “What support activity?”

It looked like Master Lu Xu still didn’t know!

He Xinghui immediately described the event of Xiao Bai and their group pulling in votes through dreams. The dead died in different ways, they also had different ways of thinking.

Lu Xu was the only one who could unite all the ghosts to do something.

However, when Lu Xu heard this, he only had one thought. If word of the dreams got out, he was afraid that other people would make noise about it.

Lu Xu was right, because not long after the voting results were tabulated, the internet started to discuss the growth curve of his voting numbers.

If it was an average increase then never mind, but it was the highest at around midnight. Those numbers made people feel like something wasn’t quite right.

Especially after the program staff came out to say that there was no problem with Lu Xu’s votes, the netizens became even more suspicious ––

[@Blue Everyone’s Jiejie: The numbers are so weird, but they say there’s no vote swiping? You believe that?]

[@Blue Clucks: I just genuinely want to ask if there’s really no problem with how the votes are all concentrated in the early morning? I want to invite all those fans who voted for Lu Xu in the middle of the night to come out and explain, do you guys stay up all night without sleeping, or are the ones who voted ghosts and not people?]