When the male lead found her, she was gloomily stacking up empty cups of noodles. Imagine her embarra.s.sment from being found by her crush in that kind of situation. It was truly awkward. She couldn"t help but turn away in a panic and hide her face and a scream came out of her throat, "Ahhhhh! Intruder! Go out! Go out!" However, Fan Zheng did not move away since he had already recognized her. "Miss Zhao?"
His voice was rather tense and hoa.r.s.e, and he said this in a doubtful tone. But she knew he was sure of who she was, and only confused about her reason for being at this place.
It made her s.h.i.+ver. For more than ten seconds she didn"t answer and only kept on burying her face in her hand while retreating in a corner. Her response was almost suggesting he was a bad person that she should stay away from, not that she was backing away due to not knowing what to do or say.
Fan Zheng felt odd in his heart. He spoke, "Miss Zhao. I"m glad to see you again. But how did you end up here? Do you know? On that day, we were very surprised to suddenly find you gone. You didn"t bid us goodbye or exchange contact information with us. Why did you leave just like that?"
Zhao Ai was embarra.s.sed and did not know how to answer him. "I, I... "
He just watched her do strange but cute gestures in the air, patiently waiting. For a while, he found it strange that the fierce girl from before turned to be this shy.
She looked down. It took her some time to turn his way. Still, she didn"t dare meet his gaze that seemed to be studying her face intently. She began with an apology. "M-Mr. Fan. I"m sorry. I, I left since I know... everyone apart from you dislikes me... which is reasonable given how I treated everyone before the escape."
The young man shook his head while slowly approaching. "All of us know you"re not like those people. My friends too just need a few days of rest to clear their minds. After all, we"re all on edge while fleeing so it"s not a wonder that their temper became quite explosive. However, by now, I"m sure they have calmed down... You... "
Fan Zheng paused for a while, torn between asking and not asking about the reason she became a tenant of this eerie mansion. He subconsciously looked around for a while then saw her few belongings after s.h.i.+ning his phone"s flashlight in the place. A lost expression surfaced on his handsome face. She stayed such a dirty place? And lived on instant noodles and biscuits?
Zhao Ai noticed his expression. Her face reddened so she bowed again. "Too shabby... right?"
Fan Zheng gave her a glance and felt distressed about her thin figure that he immediately a.s.sumed to be due to malnutrition. There were many girls amongst his acquaintances who were as thin, yet the girl before him was the only one who made him feel like she should not look this unhealthy.
"Hey, Miss Zhao. Don"t you have any relatives in the city? I thought you braved escaping with us because you have someone to depend on outside the village. Even I can"t help but feel bad for you now. "
Zhao Ai softly answered. "I have a mother who tried to escape from there. I can"t remember much since that time I was still little. But when I grew up and began to think more about my situation, I realized there"s a very small chance of her escaping successfully. Also, even if she did, I have no way to contact her. In short, I have no one to turn to here."
The place was dark but the crescent moon played its part. With some moonlight falling on her sad face, Fan Zheng just felt that something tightened within his chest. He disliked seeing her sad. In a minute, he forgot about his friend. All that was in his head was his pity for the beautiful girl.
"Alright. Don"t make that kind of face anymore. I appreciate your help last time, so I will give you a place to stay. My home is quite big anyway. However, you still have to work for your food and other necessities. Are you okay with that?"
His voice sounded very pleasant to the ears, especially since the words he said just now were good news to Zhao Ai. Her sense of shame was thrown away somewhere. She looked up and expectantly said, "I have no problem, working. I fear no hards.h.i.+ps. But can I really stay at your place?"
Fan Zheng smiled. "Yeah. Since it seems we both came to an understanding, it"s settled then."
She nodded and happily grabbed his hand. "Thank you. Thank you. I will work hard! I promise!"
She received a laugh from him as a reply.
In this way, although it happened at a weird time and weird place, the leads were brought back together.
The dirtiness of Zhao Ai"s face and clothes did not disgust Fan Zheng, but instead made him distress for her sake. So without seeing his friend who was supposedly his real reason for going there, he led Zhao Ai out of the eerie mansion and drove her to his apartment.
Zhan Rong?
An hour later, she walked out there by herself looking like a mess, a result of tripping on a metal bar and falling on a heap of garbage after being surprised by a pervert-looking ghost.
Following that encounter, she learned two valuable lessons. First, only those who could not control their expressions and emotions when faced with supernatural beings would end up being bothered by them. Seconds, spirits that could speak were way scarier than those who only chased people randomly. And nope, she didn"t realize this with the "help" of the pervert-looking male ghost.
It was on the late afternoon of the sixth day, after she did a preliminary survey of the next destination, a road famous for being a haunted spot of a white lady who allegedly died from a vehicular accident.
Due to the call of nature, which could also be blamed on her nerves being put to test too much, she dropped by a nearby mall to use the public restroom there.
When Zhan Rong was about to push open a door to the first cubicle which seemed the only vacant one at the moment, she suddenly heard that voice coming from inside. "There"s a human here, hey! You perv!"
She froze in shock and widened her eyes before stepping back. She then watched as the small opening on the door closed gently as if it was pushed by the wind from within. A moment later, she then remembered what the other party called her. Face flushed, she hurriedly said, "Sorry, sorry. I swear, it"s not on purpose... I didn"t notice somebody"s already inside."
"You talk too much, b*tch!" That sharp voice echoed again.
Afterward, Zhan Rong heard a grunt.
She knew the girl in the first cubicle was annoyed by her. But well, who wouldn"t? If that happened to her, she would definitely give the other a good demo of her killer eyes upon exiting.
However, Zhan Rong was also pretty annoyed herself. She faced the mirror and chose to comb her long straight hair to kill time, muttering under her breath, "B*tch, you say... But how hard was it to lock the door before doing your business? In a way, you"re also at fault."
A minute pa.s.sed and Zhan Rong had already checked the time twice on her phone.
The person in the third cubicle walked out and looked at her, then hurriedly exited the restroom. Another young woman came in, heading for the first cubicle.
Zhan Rong saw it all through the reflection so before she stepped into the most recently vacated spot, she instinctively opened her mouth to warn the new girl, "Wait, miss. There"s someone using that cubi---"
"Bam!" A loud sound of a door being closed reverberated, causing her to stop speaking, her mouth still open, and her jaws slowly dropping completely on the floor.
She had to say, her brain suddenly blanked out for a couple of moments.
Because she realized the new girl only came in there because there was n.o.body inside the first cubicle in the first place
So who spoke to her and called her perv? Who owned that voice that kept repeating in her head? Did that person leave without her noticing... even though she had always been standing opposite the door, never looking away from the mirror?
Zhan Rong closed her mouth and swallowed. While walking out of the restroom, she kept her eyes on the tiles, aware that if she raised her head, her eyes might wander and attract dirty things. She chose to head to another floor to settle her business.
Her first encounter with a talking ghost left her quite a psychological dilemma since she knew the voice would ring by her ears in her sleep for at least a day or two.
...
Zhang Rou who went off to do some shopping and food tripping to forget what happened on the first floor"s toilet did not know that before the new girl came inside the first cubicle, the latter first took a good look at her, tilting her head due to a feeling that she couldn"t name.
Also, before she closed the door, she looked at the inside of the place, finding nothing amiss... apart from a little female ghost that immediately scrambled off when it felt her presence. So was this what the woman wanted to talk about her?
The girl, who was actually as pretty as a celebrity star, with a mole near the left corner of her lips as her most memorable trait, wanted to reply to the other woman. However, before she knew it, Zhan Rong had already run away. And thus she could only shrug and treat it as a strange experience.
A couple of minutes later, the twenty-year-old girl smirked at the mirror outside the cubicles. Just when she finished retouching her makeup, her phone buzzed. The smile on her face turned wry at the name that flashed on her screen.
"h.e.l.lo, cousin!" she greeted enthusiastically in a sweet tone, as if she was not the one who reluctantly accepted the call.
"Gu Mochou, where the h.e.l.l are you?!" A displeased male voice echoed from the speaker. Gu Mochou"s pretty face warped into annoyance almost immediately. "You ran away again! For the nth time! Do you know that Uncle Gu and Auntie Gu are calling everyone in their phonebook to ask for your whereabouts?!"
The girl smoothed out her expression then checked her face one more time before walking out. While joining the mall-goers strolling around, she sheepishly replied, "Ahm, cousin. I"m sorry for worrying you... but allow me to clarify, okay? I didn"t run away, just visiting city B in advance. You know, my parents plan to transfer me to a university here. I figure it would be nice to familiarize myself with the place before the transfer."
Gu Yijun, her cousin who was also a busy graduating college student, went silent for some time. She guessed he took some time to calm himself, although he still ended up barking at her, "Just to survey some place, huh? Even if you want to check out your new school, shouldn"t you at least inform someone beforehand before disappearing for days? How worried do you think your parents had been?"
"Sorry." She softened her voice, dragged the two syllables, and made it sound very apologetic and sincere. However, her face had a cute smile on it as she took the escalator. It was easy to tell she was experienced in playing with her voice and expression to leave the best impression on her conversation partner or get away with something she should be quite guilty of.
Just now, a good-looking guy stared at her in disbelief hearing how different her words from her face were and she only grinned at her haughtily.
"I will contact mom and dad later to tell them how I"m doing. Will you still be angry with me?"
After saying that, she froze. Her eyes suddenly stopped on a familiar figure, a long-haired lady wearing tight jeans and a blue hanging blouse, with a pair of white pumps on her feet, complete with other expensive-looking accessories on her neck, wrists, and ears. It was the elegant girl in the restroom.
"When are you going back?" Perhaps because Gu Mochou really sounded repentant a while back, her older male cousin also softened his tone.
He didn"t know the girl on the other line was watching Zhan Rong intently.
Shortly after, Gu Mochou seemed to have remembered something so he just heard her say, "Cousin, the thing is... I don"t know when I"ll go back. And I just saw an acquaintance so I plan to catch up with her first. I"m really sorry. I"ll call you later, okay? Bye!"
A beeping noise echoed after she pressed the end call b.u.t.ton, leaving the man on the other line confused and angry again. Gu Mochou grabbed her bag tightly and then started climbing the moving escalator. Upon reaching the next floor, she did not hesitate to follow Zhan Rong.
Her gaze that had a hint of playfulness in it a while ago turned solemn, and even a bit sharp. Why? Because that glamorous woman just now had the aura of someone very familiar to her, Zhao Bolin. That autistic guy who had died in his attempt to free her from that village! Gu Mochou finally knew why she felt her connection with the other so without delay, she ran towards the woman.