Ch19 - You Guys Heard That Just Now, Right?

The long hallway was eerily empty. Music floated out from the dance practise rooms behind him, somehow making the hallway seem even quieter.

The girl wearing the school uniform hovered in the corridor, stopping from time to time to stare in a trance at the trainees inside the practise rooms. She held a long rope in her hands, her face an abnormal, bruised colour.

“Wah, I love these abs…”

“Wow, the gege over here is also really handsome…”

Slurp…

She stared like this into the rooms, occasionally making a few comments.

When she felt someone looking at her, the girl slowly turned her head around, and her heart leapt for joy. “Aaaaaaa, male god!!!”

Ji Xiunian had debuted so many years ago that he  was no stranger to  forms of address such as ‘gege’, ‘male god’, and ‘husband’. But with just a glance, he was quite certain  this girl wasn’t a program staff member or even human—

No normal person’s tongue would hang out below their neck, swinging with each step.

When the girl saw Ji Xiunian, she unconsciously lowered her head to rearrange her skirt. She even raised a hand to tuck her hair behind her ears in an attempt to leave a good first impression on Ji Xiunian.

But Ji Xiunan had no intention of noticing these details. He steadied his breathing and continued to walk forward, his already cold and expressionless face becoming even more so.

“Oh my god, when male god doesn’t smile it’s so manly! I really like it!” The girl clasped her hands against her chest and stared starry-eyed at Ji Xiunian, who was walking closer and closer. She couldn’t help but mutter to herself, “I almost forgot male god can’t even see me. If I were still alive I could ask for an autograph…”

If I were still alive…

Ji Xiunian’s gaze wavered slightly and eventually, he managed to move past her without looking.

“He walks so fast. As expected, long legs are amazing.” As the girl chattered to herself, she floated behind Ji Xiunian. “Since male god can’t see me, it shouldn’t be a problem if I just touch him a little hehe…”

“…”

Ji Xiunian didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling at the moment.

He could pretend he didn’t hear the verbal harassment, but if she actually touched him, he wouldn’t be able to ignore it.

Ji Xiunian’s footsteps were vigorous and fast, and he went directly downstairs to Lu Xu’s dormitory.

The moment he knocked on the door, Ji Xiunian regretted it. Lu Xu was already burdened with the four ghosts following him around. Adding the female ghost behind him would make it five; he didn’t know what to do.

Just as he was wondering if he should first lure one away, the door opened.

Lu Xu’s head poked out, his face bewildered as he saw him standing there. “Nian ge, do you need something from me?”

“Hm? Can I come in to talk?” Ji Xiunian was afraid the female ghost would chase after him. His hand subconsciously pushed open Lu Xu’s door.

“Of course.” Lu Xu moved to the side to make way, his half-lidded eyes hiding the smile underneath.

Dong. The door closed, shutting out everything on the other side of the door.

The female ghost had been chasing after Ji Xiunian, but the moment she saw him enter room 201, she doubled back.

She wasn’t actually sure what was inside that room, but her instincts told her it was dangerous. Male gods were good but her ghost life was more important. It was better to go back upstairs and watch the other xiao geges dance.

Four heads popped out at the end of the hallway, forming a row from top to bottom. “The Film Emperor went in right?”

“Right.”

Tao Yingbo couldn’t help sneakily looking at his didis. “Do you think Ji Xiunian actually saw us today? Why else would he hurriedly run over to find Master Lu Xu?”

Despite the F4 not having had the chance to interact with the huge film star Ji Xiunian while they were alive, they had heard a few rumours regarding his personality.

Nicknames like ‘walking iceberg’ and ‘single beauty Ji Xiunian’ were all very suitable for Ji Xiunian. He didn’t have any scandals, had very few friends, and barely interacted with anyone outside of filming. This was probably the first time he had chased after someone else of his own volition.

He Xinghua contemplated deeply for a moment, then suddenly thought of something. “Is it because Master Lu Xu is too charming and even Nian ge is attracted…”

His words did make some sense.

Whether as a grim reaper or a trainee, Lu Xu’s personal charm was quite obvious.

Ji Xiunian was a mentor, so it also made sense for him to express interest in the student with the most potential.

At this time, only Ji Xiunian and Lu Xu were in the dorm room.

Before coming in, Ji Xiunian was still worried that the four strange things would be inside the room. After making sure only Lu Xu was inside, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

Lu Xu gave Ji Xiunian a cup of water. His expression was cute, but he observed the other’s behaviour the entire time.

As soon as he had left, the other’s footsteps had followed. He didn’t need to think about it to know it was due to the F4.

Lu Xu pulled out a chair for Ji Xiunian to sit in, then leaned against the table. “Nian ge, you still haven’t told me why you’re looking for me.”

The boy in front of him was still wearing his rank uniform. His refreshing and clean appearance made others feel pleasant just from looking at him.

Ji Xiunian didn’t understand why a boy like this would be haunted by ghosts. He didn’t want to frighten him, so he only casually replied, “It’s nothing. I came to cheer you on for tomorrow’s second round of evaluations.”

“Wah, did you come over just to cheer me on?” Lu Xu gently bit at his lower lip, raising his brows as he smiled. “Nian ge, you’re such a good person.”

Ji Xiunian had suddenly been passed a ‘good person’ card and was at a loss over what to say.

He wasn’t a person who often made conversation with others. After a moment of silence, he couldn’t help but ask, “Lu Xu, do you think ghosts exist in this world?”

“Ghosts?” Lu Xu involuntarily laughed out loud. He leaned forward slightly as he stared straight into Ji Xiunian’s eyes. “To tell the truth, there’s one behind Nian ge right now.”

Ji Xiunian immediately thought of the hanged ghost from just moments before. His entire spine was numb, and he felt that the temperature around them had dropped by quite a bit after Lu Xu’s words.

“Hahaha, I’m joking with you, Nian ge.” Seeing Ji Xiunian’s face turn pale, Lu Xu suddenly clapped his hands together and said with a laugh, “It doesn’t matter if you believe in these things or not.”

Faced with  his indifferent attitude, Ji Xiunian couldn’t help but shake his head lightly, however his mood became more relaxed.

“So you’re not afraid of ghosts?”

“There’s a pretty good saying that you shouldn’t fear ghosts knocking on your door if you aren’t guilty of anything.” Lu Xu sat on the table behind him and said half in jest and half in earnest, “Anyways, ghosts are always afraid of me. There’s no reason I would be afraid of ghosts.”

Ignorance was bliss

Upon seeing Lu Xu’s youthful attitude of not knowing fear, Ji Xiunian suddenly felt a bit envious.

This kind of Lu Xu was like a little sun as if he was surrounded by bright light. Even Ji Xiunian began thinking that seeing a ghost wasn’t a big deal.

“You’re right. You shouldn’t fear ghosts knocking on your door if you aren’t guilty of anything. Rest early and good luck tomorrow. I’ll head back first.”

“Okay.”

Lu Xu got up to send him off. Just as they opened the door, they encountered the three other trainees on their way back to the dorm.

“Instructor Ji?”

Song Zhe and the others looked at Ji Xiunian and then back at Lu Xu. No matter what, they hadn’t thought this big-name mentor would appear in their dorm room.

Ji Xiunian had almost bumped right  into them but didn’t think there was anything amiss  with him appearing in their dorm room. He calmly greeted, “Good evening.”

Xu Haoming watched Ji Xiunian leave, wondering when Lu Xu had become so close with Ji Xiunian.

He wasn’t the only one who was curious. Han Tianyu was bolder and went over to tap Lu Xu’s shoulder, unable to resist asking him, “Xu ge, why did Instructor Ji come over?”

Lu Xu tilted his head to the side and smiled. “It’s nothing. He came to cheer us on for tomorrow.”

“Ai?” Han Tianyu felt like something wasn’t quite right. “He came over to our dorm just to cheer us on?”

Lu Xu smiled but didn’t say anything else. He obviously didn’t have any intention of continuing on with this topic.

On the other hand, Song Zhe was deep in thought as he watched Lu Xu. He felt like Ji Xiunian treated Lu Xu differently from how he treated the rest of them.

Xu Haoming chimed in with good timing. “Instructor Ji cheered us on in the practise room earlier. I guess he saw Lu Xu leave early so he came over to cheer him on as well.”

Han Tianyu nodded when he heard this. “It does seem like it.” Seeing that no one had any intentions of continuing this topic, the conversation shifted  to another subject. “Didn’t that Xu Lele say before that the building has ghosts? Apparently, it’s true!”

The Xu Haoming who had already chanced upon ghosts, almost dropped his phone. He unconsciously leaned towards Lu Xu.

“Ai? Why do you suddenly say that, did you meet one?” Lu Xu asked with a quirk of his lips, apparently the most interested in this subject out of everyone in the room.

“What nonsense are you saying, my yang energy is so strong how could I meet any ghosts?”

“Stop, let’s not discuss this at night.” As the team leader, Song Zhe interrupted Han Tianyu’s storytelling time. “If you have the time to think of stories, why not put that  effort into  thinking of how you’re going to receive a good score at the second evaluation tomorrow.”

The mention of the competition drew their attention again. For the contestants, the competition was the most important part.

The four of them quickly washed up and laid down. The night passed by uneventfully.

Song Zhe and the others got up and changed their clothes before 5 the next morning, getting ready to rehearse the dance a few more times in the practise room.

Lu Xu had nothing to do by himself in the dormitory, so he went along with them.

The sun hadn’t even risen yet. The sky outside the windows of the hallway was still dark.

“We should be the earliest to arrive.” Xu Haoming yawned as he climbed up the stairs, propelled forward by his own spirit of tenacity.

They had just arrived on the third floor when they heard the hallway echoing with the sounds of the theme song. They followed the music and continued to move forward, only to realise that the music was coming from their own practise room.

“No way, someone came even earlier than us? I need to see who left their own practise room to mooch off of ours.”

The moment Han Tianyu pushed open the door, the music abruptly stopped. The practise room was completely empty, with no signs of any people.

He looked back at his teammates in terror, his tone weak as he asked in an extremely small voice, “Fuck, you guys heard that just now, right?”