Chapter 179
Chapter 179
Lu Yuanshi stared at Xiao Huai’s hand for a long time before reaching out and gripping it tightly, as though holding Xiao Huai meant holding an entire pillar of support.
His frightened act vanished completely, and he grinned. “All right.”
At first, Xiao Huai had wondered whether Lu Yuanshi was deceiving him. But once they reached the door to Lu Yuanshi’s room,
His suspicion immediately disappeared.
There really was a ghost inside.
To be honest, however, the ghost fit every stereotype a little too perfectly, as if it had been deliberately arranged to appear in Lu Yuanshi’s room.
Through the hole in the paper window, Xiao Huai saw a long-haired woman in white sitting on the bright red bed and combing her hair before a mirror.
The two watched through the hole for several minutes. The woman in white maintained the same position the entire time, never once stopping the motion of her comb.
By all logic, the female ghost should have noticed them by now.
But from her behavior, she seemed incapable of doing anything except combing her hair…
Xiao Huai glanced at Lu Yuanshi. Lu Yuanshi looked back pitifully and pointed to the woman, mouthing, “That’s her.”
Xiao Huai’s instincts told him the ghost seemed suspiciously fake, but he maintained the basic caution demanded by the game.
He sighed soundlessly and leaned toward Lu Yuanshi’s ear. “Forget it. You can sleep in my room later.”
Lu Yuanshi burst out laughing as though his scheme had succeeded.
This time, Xiao Huai caught the sound.
He raised an eyebrow at Lu Yuanshi. “What?”
Lu Yuanshi immediately looked aggrieved again. He wound himself around Xiao Huai’s arm and, despite being taller, acted as if he wanted to nestle into Xiao Huai’s embrace.
His addiction to acting had probably flared up.
“This is the first time anyone has invited me to spend the night in their room. I’m a little shy.”
Xiao Huai fell silent.
His expression froze for two seconds. Then Xiao Huai pointed to the ground. “I meant you could sleep on the floor.”
“Are you embarrassed? It’s not as if we haven’t slept together before,” Lu Yuanshi said with an infuriating grin.
Xiao Huai frowned. He had passed out from exhaustion those other times. How did that count as sleeping together?
Besides, could this occasion be compared to the others?
Every room had been prepared as a bridal chamber this time.
According to Chinese custom, a bridal chamber was reserved for newlyweds.
One person sleeping there was already absurd. Two left him completely speechless.
“You sleep on the floor.” Xiao Huai was no good at arguing with Lu Yuanshi. In the end, those were the only five words he managed.
“Gladly.”
Xiao Huai walked away. Lu Yuanshi narrowed his eyes with a smile and followed with unexpected obedience.
Xiao Huai looked ahead. The operatic singing had not stopped.
The truly important matter was not the female ghost combing her hair in Lu Yuanshi’s room. It was the identity of the person singing.
On their arrival, every player had seen the large theater stage.
That was also where Butler Yang had first mentioned the Young Lady of the Yang Residence.
Xiao Huai quieted his footsteps and followed his memory to the courtyard with the theater. Before opening the gate, he caught a strange smell.
Pale smoke curled toward the sky, and the odor of burning funeral money filled the air.
Through a gap in the gate, he saw someone in white mourning robes crouched before a basin of fire.
The person held a stack of funeral paper and continually fed sheets into the flames.
Xiao Huai narrowed his eyes and pressed close to the gap, concentrating as he tried to see who it was.
Then two hands suddenly settled on his waist.
Xiao Huai’s pupils shook. Before he could react,
He was lifted off the ground.
What?
Lu Yuanshi held him up as effortlessly as if he were lifting a cat.
Xiao Huai had wanted a better look inside, but there had been no need to hoist him into the air. He nearly kicked Lu Yuanshi on reflex.
But something else soon caught his attention.
Held aloft, he could see farther, and his field of vision widened.
That allowed him to see the person on the stage.
Red cloth veiled the theater. Through the firelight of the burning funeral paper, the curtain revealed a hazy silhouette.
Every movement the performer made upon the stage was exquisitely graceful. Even without seeing the person herself, the shadow alone was enough to captivate every gaze.
She had been born for the stage.
In that instant, this was the only thought in Xiao Huai’s mind.
The curtain drifted lightly in the wind as light and shadow intertwined.
Suddenly, the person burning paper stopped moving.
As though sensing something, he looked behind him.
Xiao Huai patted Lu Yuanshi’s hands where they rested against his waist, intending to be lowered. Then he abruptly gripped Lu Yuanshi’s fingers and signaled him to stop and keep holding him up.
Because when the figure turned, Xiao Huai saw his face clearly.
Under the firelight, his empty eye sockets resembled bottomless abysses. There were no eyes within them at all.
Butler Yang.
Could he see? Or… could he not?
Because for one instant, the eyeless Butler Yang seemed to meet Xiao Huai’s gaze.
Xiao Huai turned his head aside and found Butler Yang’s line of sight unchanged.
So Butler Yang had not been looking at him.
With a thud, Butler Yang dropped to his knees, kowtowed three times toward the west, then raised his head as bloody tears flowed from his sockets.
He pounded his chest. His choked voice pierced the wind, mingling with the opera singer’s desolate, grief-stricken song.
Every word reached Xiao Huai’s ears.
“Young Master Huo, when will you return? The young lady… misses you…”
Xiao Huai raised an eyebrow. This time, he looked down and gestured for Lu Yuanshi to leave.
Lu Yuanshi lowered him with obvious reluctance.
Gravity had pulled up the hem of Xiao Huai’s shirt, exposing his waist and abdomen. Lu Yuanshi even seemed to run his hands across the skin twice.
The muscles of Xiao Huai’s lower abdomen trembled. Given the situation, however, he could only glare at Lu Yuanshi, straighten his clothes, and head back.
Lu Yuanshi caught up with a laugh and whispered beside Xiao Huai’s ear, “My hand slipped. It slipped.”
Xiao Huai was a grown man. Another man accidentally touching his waist hardly counted as taking advantage of him.
He shook his head and prepared to continue, but Lu Yuanshi caught his hand. “Why don’t you touch me twice? Then we’ll be even.”
Xiao Huai’s eyes widened, and he pulled his hand free.
“I’m not into that,” he replied.
Lu Yuanshi said, “Plenty of people want to touch me and never get the chance. Are you sure? This is a one-time offer. Go on, touch me. I’ll let you.”
Xiao Huai remained silent.
For the rest of the walk, Lu Yuanshi seemed intent on selling himself. Eventually, Xiao Huai began to feel that having his waist touched was nothing unusual at all.
He glanced at Lu Yuanshi’s current behavior and, for one instant, imagined a peacock fanning its tail.
Lu Yuanshi continued his sales pitch the entire way. Xiao Huai remained unmoved.
Only when they reached the door to Xiao Huai’s room
Did Lu Yuanshi transform from a displaying peacock into a puppy with drooping ears. Just as his hand touched the door and prepared to push it open,
Xiao Huai seized the back of his collar.