Chapter 39#
Those Who Listen to Stories (Part 6)#
After Xia Wenshi finished speaking, he played a WeChat voice message in front of the three of them.
A woman’s slightly sorrowful voice came through.
“Are you looking for Xiao Can? Xiao Can she… passed away three years ago. She suffered from depression after taking a leave of absence in her sophomore year. She often talked nonsense and her mental state was very poor. A month before she jumped off the building, she even frequently experienced auditory hallucinations, saying that she always heard someone knocking on her window in the middle of the night. Sometimes the knocking was slow, sometimes it was urgent, but she never dared to open the curtains to see what was outside. We originally wanted to take Xiao Can for a checkup, but the night before going to the hospital, Xiao Can jumped from the window. Our home is on the twenty-sixth floor, and she just jumped down like that.”
Speaking of her biological sister’s death, the older sister couldn’t help choking up again.
After the voice message finished playing, Li Guangyun was the palest person in the room.
He looked as if his last soul had been taken away. He let go of the hand gripping Huang Qiqi’s arm and sniffed.
A burly and strong man of 1.8 meters started crying “woo woo” in the front hall.
With teary eyes, his lips trembling from fear, he wiped his tears: “I’m sorry, I was wrong, I really know I was wrong. I will never cheat again, never lie again. Let me go, I was wrong, let me go.”
Huang Qiqi’s attention was no longer on him. She also felt a chill down her spine and said, “Boss, is this also someone who has walked the Verification Bridge?”
Xia Wenshi’s eyes were still slightly red, and he nodded: “Yes. But why? If the Verification Bridge verifies true hearts, shouldn’t her boyfriend be the one to die? Her boyfriend was the heartless one! Our entire club witnessed how good she was to her boyfriend back then!”
Ye Sheng was thoughtful and didn’t speak. He thought of the Story King’s post scriptum.
[post scriptum:
Those heartless people who are targeted, do not count on luck.
Because justice will come sooner or later.
Love is the thing that needs lies the least in this world.]
His first reaction when reading it was: Story King, you know shit about love.
Now it seemed that was indeed the case. The female ghost of Lover’s Lake might not be “Cupid” at all, but a lunatic.
Ye Sheng said: “Senior, have many people died at Huaian University in recent years?”
Xia Wenshi shook his head dejectedly: “Average, not too many.” He suddenly thought of something and froze: “By the way, Junior, I remembered something—the senior sister’s boyfriend seemed to have also died in a car accident during his internship in his senior year.”
Ye Sheng: “Car accident?”
Xia Wenshi nodded: “Yes. He was considered a famous playboy in the college back then, changing girlfriends every semester. After the senior sister dropped out, he seamlessly found a new one. Every couple walks the Verification Bridge at Lover’s Lake, and that playboy must have walked it at least ten times. If you walk by the river often, your shoes are bound to get wet. I heard that when the playboy got into the car accident, his legs were crushed into mud, and he died from the pain.”
Xia Wenshi gritted his teeth when talking about the scumbag’s end.
But Li Guangyun cried even more brokenly.
He wailed and grabbed Huang Qiqi’s hand tightly, trying to clear his name as a scumbag: “Qiqi, when we were dating, I didn’t do anything excessive besides cheating on you, right? I didn’t cheat you out of money, didn’t PUA you, and didn’t use cold violence on you. Every time we went on a date, I tried every way to make you happy, buying you lipsticks and bags. I just slept with your best friend when I was drunk, just a little bit of scum, you can’t watch me die helplessly.”
Huang Qiqi really had her eyes opened.
Huang Qiqi pushed his hand away: “Are you the reincarnation of a washing machine? You’re so good at whitewashing yourself. Things that normal people would do actually became bonus points for you here, idiot.”
And she felt that Li Guangyun was sick in the head. What could she, an ordinary female college student, do?
Li Guangyun’s face was covered in tears. He was completely desperate now and didn’t know what to do at all, looking at everyone with teary eyes.
“What time does your haunted house close? How about letting me sleep on the floor here?”
It was morning now, and there were few customers.
Generally, the flow of people in the haunted house was concentrated in the afternoon and evening.
Xia Wenshi said: “Are you crazy to sleep in a haunted house? Isn’t it your own fault for cheating and provoking ghosts? Who do you expect to save you?”
Li Guangyun cried bitterly: “Even if you don’t save me, save other innocent people. Look at your club senior sister, wasn’t she innocently selected? Maybe that female ghost can’t stand flaws in love. If one person lies, two people suffer retribution.”
Huang Qiqi was so angry that she slapped him to shut this idiot up.
Xia Wenshi had absolutely no interest in saving a scumbag, but he was now half-believing and half-doubting the female ghost of Lover’s Lake.
Xia Wenshi was originally doing supernatural live broadcasts and wasn’t that afraid of ghosts and monsters. He said: “I know a ghost exorcist master, I can recommend him to you. But don’t sleep tonight, find a crowded and safe place to hide.”
Li Guangyun nodded.
Huang Qiqi hesitated for a while and said: “Go to Lingguang Temple.” She pursed her lips, thinking that she had also walked the Verification Bridge, and still had lingering fears. She said: “Boss, how about we go to Lingguang Temple together tonight? After all, you were also present that night. I don’t know why, I always feel uneasy.”
Xia Wenshi nodded and said: “Okay, let’s go together.”
After speaking, his gaze fell on Ye Sheng.
Ye Sheng refused before he could speak: “I’ll just stay at school.”
Xia Wenshi sighed: “Junior, better safe than sorry.”
Ye Sheng said lightly: “It’s fine.”
He was waiting for that “sorry”.
Xia Wenshi found Li Guangyun unlucky and directly drove him away.
Li Guangyun rolled out dejectedly to book a ticket for the temple’s guest room.
At noon, the sun came out. The warm sun shone, dispersing the gloomy chill a bit, and Huang Qiqi breathed a sigh of relief.
Xia Wenshi felt sad about the senior sister’s suicide and went to work on the ghost bride scene alone.
After Ye Sheng finished the cleaning work, he borrowed Huang Qiqi’s student ID and password. The haunted house was on Huaian Middle Road, very close to Huaian University, and the campus network still had two bars of signal.
He found a seat in the front hall, sat down, turned on the computer, and entered the campus BBS with Huang Qiqi’s number.
This time he searched directly for Lover’s Lake and found the post previously posted by [I am a little cloud bean].
[Deep digging into the mystery of the Verification Bridge female ghost]
Ye Sheng made a summary of the people who died in these stories, trying to find similarities. But they were male and female, old and young, including tourists besides students, without any pattern.
It seemed that this female ghost really killed people randomly.
The matter of the live broadcast trending on hot search had been fermenting. Many people came here because of the fame and finally witnessed the handsome guy’s true appearance today. While Ye Sheng was checking, suddenly two or three people with colorful hair and selfie sticks in their hands came over excitedly.
“Handsome guy, handsome guy, is it convenient to take a photo with us?”
Ye Sheng didn’t even lift his head, his tone cold: “Not convenient.”
At this time, Huang Qiqi took the initiative to smooth things over: “Sorry, Little Ye is just working a summer job, and he doesn’t like his photos being uploaded to the internet.”
The crowd left resentfully.
Now the “Scare You Jump” haunted house only had a spirit doll scene, and tourists basically came for Ye Sheng. Such a handsome guy with outstanding looks and cold temperament, just sitting there was like being able to refrigerate in July.
The haunted house couldn’t seat everyone, so a group of people sat in the milk tea shop across the street. This alley was very narrow. Drinking milk tea in the summer while watching the handsome guy next door typing on the keyboard was also a kind of enjoyment.
Ye Sheng didn’t like being watched, but this was the only place that could connect to the campus network. Fortunately, he could focus without distractions when doing things.
He checked Lover’s Lake for a long time but didn’t find any common points among the deceased.
However, he found that more people had accidents at Lover’s Lake in summer than in winter, and several people who had accidents in winter had colds.
At this time, another group of people holding selfie sticks and mobile phones squeezed in.
Huang Qiqi spoke first at the front desk: “Sorry, photography is not allowed in our haunted house.”
This group of people included men and women, led by a short-haired girl and a fat man.
“Oh, okay.” Hearing Huang Qiqi’s words, the short-haired girl immediately took the phone off the selfie stick and turned off the camera. She took the initiative to step forward and said: “Hello, I’m looking for your boss.”
Huang Qiqi was stunned: “Looking for our boss?”
The short-haired girl nodded and introduced herself: “Yes, my name is Qi Lan, a colleague of your boss. I went to explore Luohu Mansion with him last time. This time I came to discuss something with him.”
The fat man next to her also said cheerfully: “My name is Brother Tiger, also a friend of Little Stone. The popularity of our exploration of Luohu Mansion last time was not small and was noticed by the officials. The outdoor section of Xingyun Live has opened a special topic on Huaicheng Luohu Mansion this time, and we want to ask Little Stone to go together.”
Huang Qiqi nodded quickly: “The boss is inside, I’ll call him out for you.”
Luohu Mansion was the place Xia Wenshi went to at the end of June. The matter of the hostess dismembering her husband and filling the refrigerator shocked Huaicheng back then.
Xia Wenshi came out excitedly when he heard the names of Qi Lan and Brother Tiger. After seeing them, his sadness dissipated a bit. “Why are you here?”
Brother Tiger said: “Came to share good news with you. We’ll go to Luohu Mansion again at the end of the month—this time it’s an official event held by Xingyun, and every live broadcast room will have a recommendation spot reward.”
Xia Wenshi’s eyes lit up instantly upon hearing about the recommendation spot.
“Recommendation spot?”
Brother Tiger said: “Yes, just say if you’re going or not.”
Xia Wenshi said: “Go, go, go!”
Qi Lan smiled: “Last time we were just focused on live broadcasting and didn’t even go to the third floor of the villa. This time it’s an event organized by the platform, and they got us the keys to all the rooms in Luohu Mansion.”
Xia Wenshi was overjoyed: “Rich! Big spender!”
After chatting and explaining the specific matters.
Qi Lan’s gaze fell on Ye Sheng, amazed: “Is this your employee? Amazing. Last time on the hot search, I only saw a photo and thought he was heavenly. I didn’t expect the real person to be even more handsome. Why is he working for you? Hasn’t he been scouted by talent scouts with looks like this?”
Xia Wenshi laughed incessantly and sighed: “Little Ye is just working a summer job. He scored 680 in the college entrance examination, why enter the entertainment industry? Besides, Little Ye’s friend drives a ten-million-dollar car. Do you think he’s simple?”
Brother Tiger was stunned, his eyes widening: “A ten-million-dollar car?!”
Xia Wenshi’s tone was complex: “Yes.”
Cars priced over ten million globally could be counted on one’s fingers. Brother Tiger was shocked: “Who is his friend? In Huaicheng, could it be someone from the Qin family?”
Xia Wenshi shook his head. Ever since that black Bentley appeared last time, he realized that he didn’t understand Little Ye at all. Previously, he only knew that he came from Yinshan, had no parents, and no one to rely on. Now he realized that what he knew was really too one-sided.
The sun was setting in the west, and it was suddenly five o’clock in the afternoon. Ye Sheng thought that Ning Weichen was coming to pick him up to take medicine.
In a sense, that was also “abortion medicine”, right?
“…”
Ye Sheng decided to walk through Lover’s Lake alone tonight.
If the female ghost selected people randomly.
Then he was now wanted by the entire anomaly forum. The female ghost of Lover’s Lake was the work of the Story King. The first target might soon switch to him.
“Handsome guy, can I invite you to dinner later?” Although Ye Sheng had rejected many people with a “strangers keep away” face, as getting off work approached, there were still people who didn’t give up and stepped forward to invite him.
Sitting opposite Ye Sheng was a young man with a cute appearance and a slender figure. When sitting opposite him, he deliberately licked his lips teasingly.
Ye Sheng said: “No. I have an appointment.”
The young man had observed him all afternoon and raised his eyebrows: “An appointment? You’re lying to me, right? What, afraid of me?”
He observed very carefully. Although Ye Sheng was very handsome and had a cold temperament, his clothes were very cheap.
A high-cold, poor male college student, the more he looked, the more he wanted to hook up. The first time he saw Ye Sheng, he knew this was his ideal type. Moreover, he had contacted such people and “confidently” believed that prying open their inarticulate shells would definitely make a twenty-four filial loyal dog boyfriend.
Ye Sheng probably couldn’t imagine that one day he would be labeled with such a mess of tags.
If he knew the thoughts of the young man in front of him, he would definitely be shocked. Dating him, he would definitely not be twenty-four filial, but might send the other party to mourn.
He was not suitable for the role of a lover.
Ye Sheng actually didn’t really want Ning Weichen to come to the store to pick him up. He planned to walk to the street intersection and wait for him to come over.
But he was entangled by this young man.
The young man was determined to win: “Don’t be afraid of me, handsome guy. Look at me, I don’t believe you are completely uninterested in me. Am I not to your taste?”
Ye Sheng lowered his eyes, closed the computer, and told him with an ignoring attitude that he was really not interested.
The young man was furious and wanted to say something more.
Suddenly the door of the haunted house opened with a ding. Huang Qiqi looked up: “Welcome…” The word “guest” was swallowed back by her.
A guest with a very unique temperament came to the door.
Brother Tiger and Qi Lan, who were talking to Xia Wenshi, looked up and were also stunned when they saw the person coming.
The scattered people in the front hall and the group of people watching the show in the milk tea shop and restaurant across the street all lost their voices.
After Ning Weichen walked in, he smiled at the girl at the front desk who was staring blankly at him.
It was very easy for him to make strangers have a good impression of him.
However, Ning Weichen didn’t say a word. His lazy gaze only carried a bit of seriousness after falling on Ye Sheng.
Ye Sheng naturally saw him too and stood up from the chair. Ignoring the young man’s clamor.
He walked over quickly.
Ning Weichen smiled brightly at him, his peach blossom eyes full of affection: “I’m here to pick you up from work.”