Chapter 17: The Shock After the Haunted House

  I was just about to respond when Qiao Cheng added another sentence: "Don't tell me again that it's because you've had a sex change operation, I won't believe you."

  "Huh? When did I ever tell you that I had a sex change operation?" Have I really become so perverted as to confuse my own gender?

  "He stared straight ahead: 'You forgot? It was just when we didn't know each other for long.'"

  I rubbed my temples: "Your memory is really too good."

  He suddenly woke up and said: "So it's because your memory is too bad that you're not afraid of ghosts?"

  I rolled my eyes and leaned in close to him, saying in a gloomy tone: "Actually, I've never told you that since I was young, my body has been special, with yin and yang coexisting as one, allowing me to see real ghosts."

  He tilted his head in a huff: "I want to hear the truth."

  I casually slapped away the evil spirit's claw that was reaching out in front of me from the wall, and I disdainfully dodged to the side, saying to the long-tongued ghost standing next to me: "Then what do you want me to say? I already know these ghosts are just people in disguise, if I'm still afraid of them then I really am crazy."

  He didn't say anything anymore.

  After about ten more minutes, we arrived at the place where we had to get off and walk because it was a transfer station. The lights here were much brighter than before, and there were several tourists waiting to enter in front of us.

  Bai Yue was so excited that she started dancing: "It's great, it's great! Finally, I can walk in. This time, if I see those ghosts who are not dressed well, I will definitely beat them up!"

  The two boys walking in front of us were originally talking, but when they heard Bai Yue's clear and crisp voice, they turned their heads to look at her with surprise and uncertainty in their eyes.

  This loli with double ponytails is really too scary.

  I think they thought so.

  "Yu Yue, you really have a big nerve." Hua Jian smiled and patted Yu Yue's head, "Aren't you afraid that no boys will like you?"

  "Because I'm brave, you don't dare to like me. This kind of timid and fearful person is exactly what I dislike, humph!" Bai Yue started being arrogant again.

  "Do you know?" Hua Jian's low voice was as gentle as if he were speaking sweet nothings, "I just like girls with guts."

  My heart skipped a beat when I heard that. Turning around, I was so scared that my eyes almost popped out - Hua Jian had actually grabbed Bai Yue's hand right in front of us!

  I was just about to speak out when Qiao Cheng suddenly hugged me and whispered in my ear, "Calm down, this is also a tactic of Huajian."

  "What tactics are you using to get around the corners like this? If Yuyu really likes Hua Jian, what will happen?" I frowned at Bai Yue, who was proudly speaking just now, but now looked foolishly at Hua Jian and couldn't speak.

  "Relax, relax, didn't I say everything is on me?" Cheng Qiao An comfortingly looked at me. "A Yao, you have to believe in me."

  I stared into his eyes and we locked gazes for a long time, but I finally gave in: "Okay." But then I suddenly felt something was off. "The hands on my shoulders and the top of my head... are those yours?"

  He quickly withdrew his hand, and the smile in his eyes almost overflowed into a bright ocean: "Yes."

  I took a deep breath and calmed down my racing heart, then turned to shout at the bright red-faced girl: "Yueyue, open the way."

  She responded happily and immediately skipped ahead, leading the way in. Hua Jian followed, and I walked at the back with Cheng Qiao.

  When I was a kid, I went to the haunted house with Bai Yue. The biggest fun on the way wasn't watching ghosts, but watching Bai Yue and those staff members playing tug-of-war. This time is no exception, we listened to the screams coming from the front while watching Bai Yue pulling and tugging with the staff members dressed as ghosts, only to have an unexpected situation pop up halfway through.

  As we turned a dark corner, we saw a girl crouching in the corner of the wall. Her face was buried in her knees, and her body shook back and forth as if she were crying. In front of her stood a staff member dressed in black, holding a fake human head.

  You can faintly hear words like "Don't cry, this is my job" and "I have to earn a salary to raise my kids".

  Is she so scared that she's pregnant? I stuck out my tongue.

  I turned my head and saw Cheng Qiao staring at me with piercing eyes, I was speechless. Reiterating again: "Even if you stare a hole in my face, you won't see me screaming because I know this is a haunted house."

  "Are you scared when watching movies?"

  Even in the dim light, Cheng Qiao's eyes were still so bright that they couldn't be looked at directly. I was stunned: "Horror movie? I've seen it with He... no, with someone else before, not afraid, but..."

  He interrupted me before I could finish speaking: "Who?" Seeing that I didn't understand, he added, "Who did you go see with?"

  I dryly laughed: "With...my first love."

  I don't know why, but when I say this word in front of Cheng Qiao, I feel a strange and inexplicable sense of eeriness.

  He nodded and didn't respond.

  "So you were left behind by your friends because you were busy taking pictures?"

  I looked back and found that my younger sister and Hua Jian had already arrived beside the girl.

  When Bai Yue asked her question, the girl didn't respond and continued to sob with her knees hugged.

  I walked over: "What's going on?"

  "The staff said that the big sister was taking pictures alone just now, and he came out to stop her. As a result, she was scared to tears." Bai Yue pouted and complained, "It's really annoying, ghost houses can't take pictures anyway, and if you're so afraid of ghosts, why did you come to the ghost house? And you need staff to comfort you during working hours, which makes me unable to see a scene where a human head suddenly falls from above. It never happened before."

  I glared at her: "Do you think everyone is as reckless as you are, that even one hand can't grasp?"

  The boy beside her suddenly squatted down, gently comforting her by holding her shoulders, "Don't cry, you also saw that these ghosts are just staff members in disguise, they're all fake. What's there to be afraid of? Since your friend left first, why don't you come with us instead? We'll take you out."

  The girl finally lifted her head, a tear-stained face flickering in the dim light, looking pitiful: "Thank you."

  I couldn't help but sigh in amazement that I could run into a stunning beauty like her so easily in a place like this haunted house, it's really true that opposites attract.

  "Now that nothing's wrong, let's hurry up, I haven't had enough fun yet!" Ignoring the fact that a beautiful woman had joined their group, Bai Yue continued on ahead, nonchalant.

  Watching Hua Jian no longer walking beside Bai Yue, but instead supporting the shoulder of that long-haired beauty while chatting with her, I find it a bit unbelievable.

  Is this a tactic of loving the new and hating the old or is it just a clever trick? However, this beauty is too easy to talk to, she didn't even put up any resistance.

  Bai Yue was having a great time all the way. So she didn't notice anything unusual about Hua Jian's behavior until the light from the exit gradually appeared in front of her, and only then did she realize it afterwards.

  "Ah!" Bai Yue let out a sharp cry, staring at the two of them in disbelief. "Hua Gege, did you carry her like that all along?"

  Hua Jian nodded gently: "This big sister is afraid, and you used the wrong words, this is a hug, not an embrace."

  Bai Yue stomped her foot in frustration: "If I had known earlier, I would have pretended to be timid too. That way, you could have held me while walking."

  "If you're going to be a scaredy-cat, then we wouldn't have come to this haunted house."

  "Whatever." Bai Yue was stunned for half a second before getting excited again, "Sister, who told you to ruin my show?!"

  What a natural troublemaker. I walked around her and headed straight for the exit.

  Just as I walked out, I saw three girls standing nervously beside me talking, occasionally glancing at the exit, they should be the friends of that beautiful girl who just left.

  As expected, when Hua Jian and the beauty walked out, those three girls rushed towards them.

  "Sasha, are you okay? We were just scared and kept running forward. That's why we didn't notice you fell behind."

  "I originally wanted to go back and find you, but the staff wouldn't let me, and we didn't dare to enter from the beginning again. We had no choice but to wait for you here, fortunately, you are safe now."

  "Sasha, who are these two handsome guys?"

  The "handsome guy" in their mouths naturally refers to Cheng Qiao and Hua Jian. Noticing their infatuated gaze, I hugged Cheng Qiao's arm again, my eyes lightly scanning them in a circle.

  They awkwardly shifted a few steps to the side.

  Bai Yuetong stepped forward and blocked the way in front of Hua Jian: "We are the kind-hearted people who brought this girl out. Take your friend away immediately, no need to talk nonsense, great kindness doesn't require thanks!"

  The girl named Sasha finally struggled out of Hua Jian's embrace, looking at him with a shy smile: "Thank you, then I'll go with my friends first."

  "Come on, come on. There's no need to say anything, we didn't know each other in the first place!" Bai Yue pulled Hua Jian's arm and tried to leave. But after pulling for a long time, they were still standing in the same spot. Suddenly her eyes sparkled, "Hua Gege, do you want to go back into the haunted house and play again?"

  Hua Jian smiled and shook off Bai Yue's hand, then put one hand on Sasha's shoulder who was still standing beside him, and gently lifted her chin with the other: "You're Sasha? I couldn't tell you were so beautiful just now inside, come with us today." After saying that, he didn't even wait for a response, and directly leaned in to kiss Sasha's lips, only moving away after a while, his mouth corners slightly upturned, his eyes filled with an intimate tenderness as if treating her like a lover, "How about it?"

  Bai Yue was stunned, her face suddenly turned pale.

  I was stunned too, pinching Qiao's arm and unable to speak.

  "This is indeed a divine young man's heroic act, yet he actually dared to do such a thing in front of everyone to a girl he had just met for less than half an hour? And he did it so skillfully and naturally? Is his true nature actually that of a playboy? It's too tarnishing to his elegant appearance and temperament! Completely destroying my solid three views!"

  Chang Qiao suddenly pulled my hand and said seriously: "Hua Jian has never done such an excessive thing for the first time, it's all to help Yueyue cut the grass and eliminate the roots, so Ah Yao, you must not misunderstand Hua Jian."

  "Really for the first time?" I was astonished.

  "Ah, absolutely for the first time."

  "What a great sacrifice he made," I said, looking at Hua Jian with infinite emotion and regret. "His first kiss was buried with a completely unfamiliar girl."

  "No, A Yao," Cheng Qiao said with a blush, looking at me with embarrassment, "Hua Jian's first kiss... actually gave it to me."

  PS：

  This chapter makes up for yesterday's, and there is still another update tonight! Thank you to [Yao Yin] and [Zui Yi Xiao Hong Chen] for the peace talisman rewards! Thanks to [Zi Jia] for the update votes!