"Xiao Shan, your cousin is kind of a wimp," Yang Jian said as he sat down upon returning to the private room.
Even with providing backup for Shangguan Yun.
He dared not confront Ah Fei and his gang too harshly, just made them apologize and admit their wrongs before letting them go.
Yang Jian watched and thought that Shangguan Yun was being too merciful.
If it were him, he would have definitely made Ah Fei and his cronies leave behind something.
"And they let him come over here to look after you? I think you should suggest to your parents that they replace your cousin with me. How about that? I guarantee I'll take such good care of you that you'll end up pregnant—ah, sorry, my bad. I meant I'll take exceptional care of you."
Miao Xiaoshan's face turned red, and she glared at him, "Stop talking nonsense. You already have Wang Shanshan, and you're still flirting with me. If you keep this up, I'm going to ignore you."
"What I have with her is just the bond of classmates, a moral support. She can't compare to our six years of friendship," Yang Jian said.
Wang Shanshan was pale, sitting quietly without moving a muscle, her face expressionless.
"I'm about to go study out of province, so you better stop harboring any thoughts about me."
Miao Xiaoshan said, her cute cheeks flushing with color.
Zhang Wei, unable to watch any longer, knocked on the table and said sternly, "Miao Xiaoshan, please watch your language. The way you're speaking, it feels like you're tempting Yang Jian. He belongs to the group, not to you personally. It seems your ideological awareness needs improvement. Write a five-thousand-word self-critique and send it to me tomorrow."
"I don't want to talk to you," Miao Xiaoshan retorted with a roll of her eyes.
"Still not convinced, huh? Definitely feeling guilty. Yang Jian, I told you she has feelings for you. Otherwise, when I invited her to the get-together, she didn't reply, but as soon as I mentioned you were coming, she hurried over. Had I known she was so fickle, I never would have helped her cousin," Zhang Wei said.
Miao Xiaoshan retorted, "It's because your singing is just too unbearable."
"How could my singing be terrible? Look at my Adam's apple, it trembles when I sing. That's a talent only the God of Songs, Jacky Cheung, has."
Zhang Wei lifted his chin confidently, "Zhao Lei, how do you think my singing is?"
"It gives people goosebumps," Zhao Lei said.
"See, he's moved by my singing," Zhang Wei claimed.
Miao Xiaoshan retorted, "Ignoring you. I'm talking to Yang Jian. By the way, what were you doing when you went out earlier? Lucky you arrived in time, otherwise my cousin would have been in trouble."
"With all this fighting, I almost forgot. Actually, I stepped out to ask the waiter about something. Why did they serve seven beers for six people?" Yang Jian said leisurely, leaning on the couch.
"Is that strange?" asked Zhang Wei.
Miao Xiaoshan asked, "Isn't the promotion here 'one free beer per person'? Did the server make a mistake?"
Yang Jian shook his head, "No, the server said we didn't come in as six people but seven, so they served seven beers. In other words, there's an extra person among us."
Upon hearing this, everyone instantly froze.
"Earlier, at dinner, it was the same. There was an extra set of tableware on the table. At that time, it was me, Wang Shanshan, Zhang Wei, and Zhao Lei eating, four of us, but there were five sets of tableware."
Yang Jian continued, "I found it strange and was worried the restaurant had some paranormal activity going on, so I made you all leave early. But now it seems... the extra person didn't first show up at the restaurant but has been following us this whole time. If we're lucky, that person might even be in this private room right now."
a chill ran down everyone's spine, eyes wide with a sudden, inexplicable fear.
Once again, they recalled the fear dictated by the school.
"Are you saying there's a ghost among us? Then what are we waiting for, let's get out of here," Zhao Lei exclaimed, standing up and instinctively ready to flee.
But Yang Jian stayed seated, "For now, let's not run. It's useless; where can you run to? Clearly, the ghost followed one of us. And it's uncertain whether the ghost will switch targets after our gathering. If you leave and nothing happens, that's good.
"But what if the ghost follows you home? Then it's going to get a lot more complicated."
Hearing that, Zhao Lei, who had been about to run away, froze in place.
If a ghost were to follow him home, what terrors might unfold? Just the thought was frightening.
"Why would a ghost appear out of nowhere?" Zhang Wei said, feeling uneasy.
Yang Jian laughed, "How would I know? Aren't hauntings unpredictable? No warning, no reason. You're just unlucky if you encounter one."
"So, what do we do now?" Xiao Shan asked.
"We need to figure out who the ghost is following. Then the rest of us should leave to avoid getting involved. After that, I'll try to deal with it," Yang Jian said thoughtfully and seriously.
If he didn't help, one of these people would surely die.
"Just for what you said, I have to call you 'brother,' Brother Tui," Zhang Wei said, patting his thigh emotionally.
Zhao Lei also looked at him excitedly.
"Brother, Brother Tui," Miao Xiaoshan also called out somewhat sheepishly.
In front of a fierce ghost, there was nothing that couldn't be set aside.
Yang Jian spread his hands and said, "If I can't find that ghost, or if I'm powerless to deal with it, then I can only say sorry, as cruel as it is, but I have to tell you in advance to prepare yourselves mentally for what comes after."
"Brother Tui, don't talk like that, you must have a way, right?" Zhang Wei felt like he was about to cry.
"It's hard to be confident about resolving these kinds of things, by the way, where did big cousin go? He's missing," Yang Jian realized the big cousin was gone.
Miao Xiaoshan said, "Cousin went to the bathroom."
Indeed, Shangguan Yun was in the bathroom.
He took a punch to the nose, and now it was bleeding.
"This is just the worst luck, getting beaten up by a bunch of brats who've barely hit puberty," Shangguan Yun grumbled as he washed his face, feeling flames of anger inside.
But the way that Brother Ah Fei had shamelessly begged for mercy earlier made him unsure of how to get back at him.
Yang Jian had stuffed a gun in his hands, but he dared not use it.
Using a firearm to kill someone and not getting the death sentence would mean you had some serious clout, and he really didn't know what his little cousin's classmate was into, getting hold of guns and even seeming to have given that gang of thugs a tough time before, with several classmates treating him with great respect.
He was definitely a figure of bully-level prominence in the class.
"Is that kid thinking of making a move on my adorable little cousin?" Shangguan Yun wondered privately.
In front of the washbasin was a massive mirror, and as Shangguan Yun washed his face, he didn't realize that in the reflection of the mirror, a figure appeared very strangely within it.
However, in the bathroom, besides him there was no one else.
It was as if this person existed only in the mirror, absent in reality. Or perhaps, this person was right beside you, only visible through the mirror.
The person in the mirror was gradually approaching Shangguan Yun, who was washing up, coming closer from a distance.
He wasn't walking slowly, but the distance shown in the mirror was farther than one would expect—it was more than just the size of a bathroom.
Nevertheless, Shangguan Yun did not notice this detail; his nose bleed had started again, and he bent down to run water from the faucet, washing it off.
The person arrived right in front of the mirror, their form growing from small to large, gradually filling nearly the entire mirror surface.
"Got water in my eyes," Shangguan Yun blinked and fumbled to the side of the washbasin,
He remembered there were tissues placed next to it.
After fumbling a few times, he didn't find them; it seemed the tissues had been moved and were not in their original spot.
But then he felt two tissues; it seemed some kind-hearted person had passed them to him.
"Thanks," Shangguan Yun said.
The person didn't respond.
Shangguan Yun dried off the water and opened his eyes, looking in the mirror.
However, his reflection in the mirror was somewhat pale, his eyes hollow, lacking in luster.
"Hm?" Shangguan Yun touched his face.
Did his complexion look that bad?
But as he raised his head, the nose bleed flowed again, and he quickly bent down again, dabbing at it with the two tissues.
But as Shangguan Yun dabbed at his nosebleed with his head down, his reflection in the mirror remained static, not following his movement; instead, the reflection strangely turned its head, watching Shangguan Yun.