Ch100 - A Special Case

“Fuck, it seems like it’s really Director Fan!” After Han Tianyu heard the commotion outside, with eyes still heavy with sleep, he climbed out of bed and dashed outside. He saw the paramedics wheel Fan Zeng out, with Ji Xiunian and Lu Xu following behind them.

Song Zhe and Xu Haoming also got up after hearing the commotion. The three of them stood at their doorway to look outside.

“Weird, when did Xu ge go out? How come I completely didn’t hear the sound of the door opening?” Xu Haoming immediately noticed Lu Xu at a glance, and was a little stunned.

“Probably because we were too dead asleep. We didn’t even notice when the ambulance came.” Song Zhe couldn’t help furrowing his brows at the side, praying that nothing bad had happened to Fan Zeng. Otherwise, the entire program group would meet a lot of trouble.

Ji Xiunian followed Fan Zeng over, but was stopped by Fan Zeng. “You stay. Otherwise if we’re all gone, the children will panic.”

“Okay. Fan ge, don’t think of them right now. We’ll figure it out after you go to the hospital and get checked out.”

Lu Xu followed the two of them and sent them off to the elevator, before being pulled over by his dormmates.

“Xu ge Xu ge, what happened to Director Fan?”

“Yes yes, why did he suddenly get sent to the hospital?”

The trainees in the other dorm rooms also couldn’t help looking over. The situation was too sudden; many people had only come out after hearing the noise, only for Fan Zeng to have already been sent away.

The more they were kept in the dark, the more uneasy they became. As the only person who knew anything out of all the trainees, Lu Xu naturally became the focus of attention.

He also didn’t want to create any panic, and merely pursed his lips and said, “Being overworked all the time caused a bit of trouble. He’s okay now, so everyone shouldn’t worry and should go back and get a bit more sleep in.”

Lu Xu didn’t specifically mention what bit of trouble had happened, and the others didn’t feel like they could chase after this line of questioning.

Work hours within entertainment circle jobs were not set; there weren’t many chances to get a good night’s sleep. Along with the fact that there weren’t set times for meals, who knew how many people often fainted because of low blood pressure.

Since Lu Xu said it wasn’t something big, nothing too bad must have happened.

“Enough enough, let’s go back and sleep.”

“Right right, let’s talk about whatever happened tomorrow instead.”

The trainees filtered back into their dorm rooms. Room 201 followed suit.

“Let’s go back and sleep, Xu ge.” Seeing that Lu Xu was still standing at the entrance, Xu Haoming casually wanted to pull him back. Only when he looked back did he discover that Lu Xu’s other elbow was caught by Ji Xiunian.

Ji Xiunian had sent Fan Zeng off to the ambulance, and immediately ran back upstairs to catch Lu Xu. “Can we talk for a bit?”

Xu Haoming subconsciously relaxed his grip, his gaze revolving back and forth between Lu Xu and Ji Xiunian.

Ji Xiunian seemed tranquil, but his expression was a little different from before. The depths of his eyes seemed to carry a tumultuous expression, as if he were to collapse at a single event.

“Xu ge?”

Xu Haoming wasn’t clear as to what had happened between the two of them. He was afraid Lu Xu would get the short end of the stick, and unconsciously voiced his concern out loud.

“It’s fine, you guys go rest first. I have something to discuss with Nian ge.”

“Okay.” Xu Haoming raised his hand and rubbed the back of his head. He turned back to the dorm with a yawn, and could only pretend that he didn’t know anything.

“Meow…” Seeing Lu Xu leave, Ba Mei immediately jumped off the bed, and landed into Lu Xu’s embrace.

“Let’s go to your room.” Lu Xu closed the door, and smiled at Ji Xiunian.

Ji Xiunian nodded. “Sure.”

In dorm 201, the other three couldn’t help but stare at each other.

Han Tianyu spoke first. “Do you guys feel like Nian ge’s attitude towards Xu ge isn’t the same as his attitude towards us?”

“For sure. Their relationship seems really good, even just from a glance.”

Han Tianyu shook his head. “Not that, it’s different from treating a friend. God, do you think Nian ge is trying to prey on Lu Xu?”

“What are you even talking about? You think someone like Nian ge would do that? Not to mention that Xu ge isn’t the type to let himself get preyed on.”

Xu Haoming spoke right to Han Tianyu’s heart, thinking that although Lu Xu was young, he wasn’t the weak type.

“All right all right, stop talking about these useless things, hurry up and get ready for bed,” Song Zhe couldn’t help but interject. The topic was getting wilder and wilder.

Compared to the others, Song Zhe’s main concern right now was how Fan Zeng was doing.

They had only filmed half of the show. He hoped that Fan Zeng would be able to recover and become healthy.

“Have a seat.” Ji Xiunian was burning with questions, but he didn’t even know where to start. Out of habit, he went and poured Lu Xu a cup of milk. The two of them sat across from each other, and it was Lu Xu who broke the silence.

“If you have any questions, you’d best just ask.”

The smile on his face was as usual, there was no discernable change at all. It had to be said that Lu Xu had really good skin. No matter what, if he smiled at you, it was hard to feel anything else.

After he noticed this, Ji Xiunian realised then that he really was screwed.

Even if Lu Xu just saw him as a work statistic, he could accept that.

“That person just now said that if you lost the order, it would be troublesome, right?”

Lu Xu didn’t think that Ji Xiunian would be more concerned about his work rather than his own wellbeing, and unconsciously raised a brow in curiosity. “It’s all right. It affects me but it’s not a big deal.”

His tone was light, but Ji Xiunian thought about Peng Hanfei’s words and had the impression that Lu Xu wasn’t the kind to air out his troubles.

“Do you need me to go along for the investigation?” He was willing to help Lu Xu with his troubles if he could, although there was probably no need for it at all.

As expected, when Lu Xu heard his words, he shrugged and smiled a little devilishly. “What, Nian ge wants to die?”

“Eh?” Ji Xiunian was dumbstruck, and suddenly realised why Lu Xu hadn’t let that other man take him away.

Lu Xu put his hands on his knees as he leaned forward and said quietly, “People are inherently mortal. There is no need to rush the inevitable.”

Every time he said something, Ji Xiunian felt a little closer to him.

He glanced at the aura of death emanating from his body, and laughed bitterly. “It’s probably my time soon, anyway.”

Following his gaze, Lu Xu also glanced at the deathly aura coming off Ji Xiunian, and thought that something was strange.

Logically, there was no way a living person could have such a thick aura, not even a stowaway.

With so much death around them, normal people wouldn’t be able to survive it.

Lu Xu thought over the things that had happened in the past, and asked Ji Xiunian, “Do you still have the jade pendant? Let me look at it.”

“Mn?” Ji Xiunian was confused, but he still pulled that broken piece of jade from his pocket.

It was the one item his mother had left him. Even though it was broken, Ji Xiunian still kept it carefully on him.

Lu Xu took the jade pendant, and for the first time, saw the material clearly.

Before the jade pendant broke, he had roughly glanced at it, and hadn’t seen anything divine about it.

But now that the pendant was broken, it seemed that the purpose of this jade pendant was completely different from what he’d thought initially.

This jade pendant was supposedly used to repel evil and preserve harmony.

But the material inside wasn’t used to repel evil. In other words, this piece of jade wasn’t used to protect Ji Xiunian from being influenced by an aura of death, it was more likely used to prevent the aura inside him from getting out.

So, what kind of person was Ji Xiunian’s mother, exactly?

Lu Xu was a little curious. To be able to harbor such an aura, who exactly was Ji Xiunian?

“Is there a problem?” Ji Xiunian saw Lu Xu falling quiet, and sensed that he had discovered something.

“Mn.” Lu Xu nodded, and relayed his findings to Ji Xiunian. “Do you know what your parents used to do?”

“I don’t know.” It was Ji Xiunian’s turn to be confused. His parents had passed on very early in his life, and he really didn’t know what his mother used to do.

His father ran a family business, and left him a lot of inheritance. As for his mother, Ji Xiunian knew nothing.

Lu Xu was deep in thought. There were still a lot of things they didn’t know.

“Why did you suddenly mention my mother? Does this have something to do with the aura around me?” Ji Xiunian asked, because he didn’t understand.

Lu Xu didn’t answer immediately. He just quietly shut his eyes.

After a moment, a breeze entered the room.

The windows were closed, but there was still a strange gust of air, blowing until Ji Xiunian couldn’t keep his eyes open.

When the room settled, the Lu Xu who had been sitting there looked very different.

The wind blew through Lu Xu’s shirt, as though it was moving on its own. His eyes had darkened a few shades, and glinted with a light, as though they were an abyss. If one wasn’t careful, they could get sucked in. There was also a thick aura of death surrounding Lu Xu, to the point that the lights in the room were dimmed.

Dressed in black, Lu Xu sat there, like a devil of the night. This was the way people perceived death.

“You…” Ji Xiunian looked at the aura around Lu Xu’s body, and was rooted to the spot.

“I was suppressing this before, but now I’m letting you see it.” Lu Xu raised his eyes, his smile gentle. “What do you think? Isn’t it similar to yours?”

Ji Xiunian was shocked. He looked at Lu Xu, then at himself, and felt that Lu Xu was right.

Their auras were very similar.

Lu Xu already had an answer in his heart. He realised that what everyone had thought, including himself, had been wrong from the very beginning.

Without waiting for him to come back to his senses, his supervisor was already calling, “Xiao Xu, you’d better hurry back, the higher-ups have assigned a task for you!”

“Okay.”

Lu Xu hung up the phone then looked at Ji Xiunian, his lips curved into a smile. “Nian ge, I have to go take care of something. Let’s talk when I get back.”

“Okay.” Ji Xiunian seemed to hear something, but he didn’t want to cause more trouble. His eyes were dark. “I’ll wait for you.”

Lu Xu gave Ba Mei a scratch on the head, concealed the deathly aura around him, then disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“…”

Faced with the empty spot Lu Xu had just been in, Ba Mei seemed used to it. Ba Mei jumped onto Ji Xiunian’s lap, and cutely begged for cuddles.

Ji Xiunian scratched under Ba Mei’s chin, his emotions a mess because of how strange this was.

When he remembered Lu Xu having to frequently go to the bathroom, he suddenly realised something—

It seemed that some people didn’t go to the bathroom because of kidney problems, but because they had to do something big like become the grim reaper.

He had just seen a version of Lu Xu that was completely unknown, but Ji Xiunian felt that the two personalities were more similar than he thought.

Just because someone faced you with politeness didn’t mean you were that great.

But once you began understanding things that others didn’t, you became something special, even to the point of being the only one…

Lu Xu returned to the Grim Reaper Bureau. A lot of people greeted him, and morale was clearly very high.

When he entered the bureau, he realised that the usually smiling Department Head had a serious expression for once.

As soon as Lu Xu entered, he shook his head and sighed. “Aiya, xiao Lu, we’ve gotten the entire Ji Xiunian situation completely wrong. None of us expected this at all.”