Chapter 38— You Scared Me to Death
Director Hu Pang’s office was inside the teaching building. If anyone raised their voice a little, the class next door could hear most of it.
By evening, the whole story had already blown through every class group at Nancheng No. 7 High.
[Wang Lu’an: It all happened so fast! The moment Ding Xiao’s mom charged forward, the top student reacted like lightning, stepped in front, smacked that woman’s bag aside, then cool and low said, “He is my deskmate. Do not touch him.”]
[Zhang Xianjing: And then?]
[Wang Lu’an: Then Ding Xiao’s mom questioned the top student. Yu Fan, who had not said a word, suddenly shot to his feet. One finger at Chen Jingshen, one finger at that mom’s nose, arrogant and domineering, he said, “He is my bottom line. You can curse me, but you cannot curse my deskmate. My deskmate is the best under heaven, way better than your son.”]
[-: Get lost. Who made up that story?]
Yu Fan sat at his desk, towel around his neck, drying his hair as he replied. He jabbed the screen so hard the poor phone thumped.
[Wang Lu’an: That is how it went. Class Twelve next to Director Hu’s office heard it with their own ears, then told Class Nine, Class Nine told Class Eight, and Zuo Kuan told me.]
[Zuo Kuan: So is it true or not? I asked you this afternoon and you would not say.]
What kind of dumb question is that?
Would he ever say something like “You can curse me, but not my deskmate”?
[-: I am leaving the group.]
[Wang Lu’an: Hey hey hey, do not. Come plan tomorrow’s outing.]
[Zhang Xianjing: The top student has not even chimed in. What is there to plan?]
[Wang Lu’an: I asked him privately. He said anything is fine, he is OK with whatever.]
Yu Fan leaned back with the towel still on his shoulders and watched them chitchat about tomorrow.
His phone buzzed.
Nine o’clock, right on time. Chen Jingshen sent a problem-solving video.
Yu Fan stared a few seconds at the hand showing in the preview, typed: [From -: Stop sending these. I am done studying.]
He hovered over the send button for two full minutes.
While he hesitated, two voice clips arrived.
“Problems are a little harder lately. Try to keep up. Yu Fan, for the next monthly exam, let us aim for top 600 in the grade.”
Who wants to aim for top 600.
And who is your “us.”
Yu Fan played the next one.
“I bought the advanced version of ‘Slow Bird.’ I can bring it for you tomorrow.”
“…”
You are bringing a workbook on a day out?
“Get lost,” Yu Fan held the talk button. “Bring it and I will make you sit on the curb and finish it there.”
He only looked up their plan the next morning.
Zuo Kuan and Zhang Xianjing were coming too. They had spammed hundreds of messages and finally decided to start with a new, highly rated themed escape room, then grab dinner together.
They would meet at the escape room.
Because of that voice clip, Yu Fan’s first instinct when Chen Jingshen arrived was to check the guy’s hands for any suspicious items.
Thankfully, empty-handed.
“Sorry, traffic,” Chen Jingshen said.
“No problem, we set three anyway. You are early,” Wang Lu’an said. “Come on, top student, pick a theme. The new ones are famous.”
Yu Fan leaned on the counter, half-focused on Snake. That faint minty scent was getting closer.
Chen Jingshen wore a white tee with black cargo pants. With the baggy school uniforms off, his build looked even cleaner and sharper. Narrow shoulders but wide, long legs, standing there he made both Zuo Kuan and Wang Lu’an seem shorter.
He stepped up beside Yu Fan like it was natural and glanced at the pamphlet in Wang Lu’an’s hands. “Any of them is fine.”
Wang Lu’an looked at Yu Fan. Yu Fan did not lift his head. “Whatever.”
He had zero interest in this kind of thing.
“Then let us do the scariest one,” Zhang Xianjing said, pointing at the poster taking the center spot. “This.”
Yu Fan glanced over. In the middle of the poster, a bride in a red veil sat on a wedding bed, sinister as hell. Beside her, blood-red characters: Bride of the Dead.
The owner snapped his fingers. “Great eye, miss. This is our scariest set. Heavy chase-and-scare, and it is made for five. Every reviewer was terrified. Absolutely thrilling.”
Wang Lu’an’s legs gave a little. “Maybe not. I think the cozy fairy-tale one next door looks pretty good. ‘The Prince is lost in the woods and cannot find Sleeping Beauty, his fate depends on our puzzle-solving courage’…”
“You go help that useless prince on your own,” Zhang Xianjing rolled her eyes. “All right, the two of them do not care, that leaves the three of us. So far it is one to one. Zuo Kuan, your pick?”
Funny, thought Wang Lu’an. Sophomore year they screened “The Ring” on the class computer. Zuo Kuan watched from the window and screamed louder than him. For a long time after, the two of them were basically tethered, going to the bathroom in pairs, sometimes even dragging Yu Fan along.
“Do you even have to ask?” Zuo Kuan strode to the poster, patted Bride of the Dead, swiped a thumb under his nose and told Zhang Xianjing, “Fairy tales are for cowards. Real men pick the hardest stuff. I choose what you choose.”
Wang Lu’an: …
That was that. The five of them followed a staffer to the entrance.
They were told to put on blindfolds and enter with hands on shoulders.
Yu Fan was first. He let them guide him through a few turns and into a room.
When the announcement told them to remove the blindfolds, he saw complete darkness all around. They were inside an ancient-style room. Only four of them were here.
“Ahhhh!” Zuo Kuan’s shriek came from somewhere far off. “Help! I cannot! Why am I alone… turn off this music I am gonna pass out…”
His voice was so loud the staff radioed inside. “So, this part separates one person from the group. Do you want to swap roles?”
Hand to mouth, Wang Lu’an yelled back, “Zuo Kuan, it is not that we are not helping you. We are just scared too!”
“We are not swapping,” Zhang Xianjing said into the walkie. “The guy lives to show off. Scare him good.”
The noise was annoying. Yu Fan rolled his eyes and was about to say he would go when someone tugged his hem from behind.
Chen Jingshen stood in the dark. When Yu Fan turned, he could only make out the boy’s outline.
“Yu Fan,” Chen Jingshen said, looking at him. “I am scared too.”
“?”
Yu Fan frowned. “Why did you not say so earlier?”
“I did not want to embarrass myself in front of you.”
“You are more embarrassed now.”
“Can’t help it,” Chen Jingshen said, still clutching his shirt. His voice did not even waver. “It is too scary.”
“…”
Another death wail from outside.
Yu Fan gave the guy a look he usually reserved for helpless idiots, remembered the darkness meant that look was wasted, then said very clearly, “Coward.”
“Mhm,” Chen Jingshen replied. “I am.”
“…”
Zhang Xianjing was just about to ask what they were whispering about when the door banged open. The NPC, dressed as an ancient groom with a chalk-white face and blood-red mouth, staggered in and tried to shove his face into each player’s. “She is going to kill me, she is going to kill me!”
The tug on Yu Fan’s hem tightened. Chen Jingshen seemed to be backing away in fright.
“This NPC is a head shorter than you. What are you afraid of?” Yu Fan reached back without thinking and patted Chen Jingshen’s wrist, telling him to let go.
The grip on his shirt loosened.
Yu Fan was about to pull his hand back when the hand behind him slid along his fingers and suddenly laced them together.
Chen Jingshen’s palm was cool, his grip firm.
The NPC heard what Yu Fan said and lunged into Yu Fan’s face, screeching, “Be polite— ah, she is going to kill me!”
Yu Fan stared at the ghostly face without blinking. His fingers were going a little numb from that hold. He shook their joined hands. “Chen Jingshen, take a step back.”
Chen Jingshen shook their hands too. “I cannot. I do not dare open my eyes.”
“…”
For one second, Yu Fan wondered if he was faking.
Who the f*** is so scared they grab someone’s hand like this?
The moment the NPC left, the lights snapped on.
Wang Lu’an was plastered to Zhang Xianjing’s shoulder. Zhang Xianjing, disgusted, patted his back. “It is fine. Move. Really, move. Why would I lie to you?”
“Wuuu…”
Yu Fan: …
He shook their hands again, voice cold. “Loosen up. Do not hold so tight.”
Halfway through, Zuo Kuan finally rejoined them.
His face was chalky. Even clutching Wang Lu’an’s arm did not help. He turned to his other bro. “Yu Fan, should we hold hands too?”
Yu Fan held on to Chen Jingshen with one hand and the lantern with the other. The light from below turned his face downright vicious. “Scram.”
Zuo Kuan: …
The NPC stumbled into the control room, panting, and peeled off the talisman on his face. It was the owner who had welcomed them earlier.
He watched the monitors and briefed the next actor. “They are about to hit a solo mission. Here is the breakdown,” he said, pointing at the feed. “The girl, and the one with the scary face, do not bother. Their guts are big. Focus on the other three, especially the tallest one. He keeps hiding behind the other boy. I did not scare him much. Push it. Scare him to death.”
The solo mission meant each player had to walk alone to the end of the corridor to fetch something. The rest had to wait in the room.
Everyone else finished, even Zuo Kuan stumbled back, only the last scaredy-cat remained.
Chen Jingshen stood in the doorway and suddenly asked, “If I do not come back, will you come find me?”
Yu Fan: “No.”
“Can you keep talking? I get afraid if I cannot hear you.”
“No.”
“Will you stand here and wait for me?”
“You are playing a game, not going to war,” Yu Fan snapped. “Are you going or not? If not, I am kicking you.”
He went.
The owner leaned forward over the monitors, excited. “Go go go! Scare him! Run him back, make him do it twice!”
Just as Chen Jingshen reached for the prop, the bride ghost spider-scrambled toward him, shrieking.
No reaction.
The actress figured she had messed up, so she screamed again.
He picked up the item, glanced at her, calm as water.
Then he turned and left.
As he walked, he looked at the floor and adjusted his steps to avoid her exposed work boots.
The ghost: “?”
The owner: “???”
At the corner, Chen Jingshen looked back. “Excuse me, could you scream one more time?”
The ghost: “…Ah—”
Inside the room.
Zuo Kuan clapped hands over his ears. “Why is she screaming again?”
“Why is the top student not back yet? There is no sound out there,” Zhang Xianjing said. “Did they actually drag him away?”
Yu Fan waited at the door a few more seconds, clicked his tongue, and said, “I will go—”
Footsteps pounded from the end of the hall.
“Chen Jingshen?” Yu Fan called.
“It is me.”
Chen Jingshen sprinted back. Yu Fan stood in the doorway and, before he could think, reached a hand out.
Chen Jingshen barreled in and grabbed him, pulling him into a quick hug. Just like after running the three-thousand.
Yu Fan blinked. Before he could react, the arms were gone.
“Did the lady jump at you too? Were you terrified?” Zuo Kuan asked.
Chen Jingshen set the item on the table, gave him a flat look. “Mhm. Scared me to death.”
The owner who had watched the entire thing: “???”
Scared you to death? Really?
He had seen girls fake fear to cuddle with their boyfriends. But a grown man? If you insist on faking, why not dive into the pretty actress’s arms? What are you doing hugging a guy?
Yu Fan could not figure it out either.
This run wore him out. He had a coward hanging off his hand, and the NPCs kept refusing to accept defeat and jump-scared him face to face.
For the last task, they had to pair up and take turns performing a ritual to send the bride ghost off. Only one person got to stay in the room and win by doing nothing.
That spot went to Zuo Kuan.
Yu Fan took Chen Jingshen to the “ancestral hall” to do the rite.
On the way, the lights brightened a bit, enough to see each other.
In the narrow fake alley, Yu Fan glanced sideways. Chen Jingshen’s face was the same blank slate as always.
Now he was curious. What did Chen Jingshen look like when he was scared?
After a few seconds, Yu Fan looked away. He gave their joined hands a shake. “There is no one here. Let go. My palm is sweating.”
Chen Jingshen shot him a look and let go.
At the corner, Yu Fan slowed down on purpose and let Chen Jingshen step ahead.
He reached out and poked Chen Jingshen in the waist.
Almost at the same time, the bride ghost shrieked again. Yu Fan flinched, looked up at the ghost charging them, and thought—
He did not get to finish thinking.
The lights dimmed. Chen Jingshen turned toward him.
Yu Fan lifted a hand to grab him and run. In the next instant, his feet left the ground.
He was being carried.
Not a shoulder throw either. One arm under the knees, one around the back. A full-on princess carry.
Yu Fan blanked. He shouted, “Chen Jingshen! Chen Jingshen!” several times.
No answer. The boy ran fast, and the path was narrow. The bounce and his survival instincts made Yu Fan reflexively hook his arm around Chen Jingshen’s neck. His tongue was full of curses, but he glanced back and locked eyes with the ghost actress for a few seconds.
When you are off the ground, people get more fragile than usual.
So he tightened his hold around Chen Jingshen’s neck. “Run faster. Did you skip meals? Wait, where are you going, that is not the way back to the room—”
He looked forward and saw a red bridal sedan in the courtyard set, draped with a curtain.
No way, he thought. No way he is dumb enough to go in there. If you go in, you are just sitting and waiting to be scared.
The next second, he was carried inside.
Yu Fan: …
The sedan was even tighter than he imagined.
A boy who was 185 carrying a boy who was 180, crammed into a box. There was no spare space.
Yu Fan curled his legs a little, soles braced on the sedan’s side, back pressed to the wall.
He caught his breath and ground out, “Chen Jingshen, you—”
“A ghost touched me,” Chen Jingshen said, voice low and rough. “Did it scare you?”
Yu Fan’s temper fizzled.
Come on. It was a poke. Does that really scare you this much?
He was about to retort when the sedan swayed. Nails clawed down the outside.
He shut his mouth and cooperated with the performance.
To be ready in case the NPC burst in, Yu Fan stared at the curtain without blinking.
After a moment, he frowned and looked up.
The sedan was pitch-black. He could see almost nothing.
Except the curtain glowing a sinister red, and Chen Jingshen’s dark eyes.
One of Chen Jingshen’s hands rested on Yu Fan’s knee. The other braced behind his back to keep him off the wood. In the dark, he looked at Yu Fan in silence.
After that run, Chen Jingshen’s breathing was heavy, warm against Yu Fan’s ear. Their bodies were close enough for Yu Fan to feel every breath.
He felt wrapped up in mint.
His heart hammered. He curled his fingers. “Watch the curtain. Someone will rush in.”
“I do not dare look,” Chen Jingshen said.
“Then why the f*** did you run in here?”
He thought a second. “I was too scared.”
There was noise outside. Yu Fan stiffly turned his head and kept staring at the curtain.
A few beats later, he could not take it. He groped in the dark, found Chen Jingshen’s eyes, and clapped a palm over them. “Do not look at me.”
Chen Jingshen hummed, breath warm against his hand.
Yu Fan’s skin zinged, heat racing up his neck to his ears. He gritted his teeth, lifted his other hand, and pinched Chen Jingshen’s nose. “Also, stop breathing.”
Chen Jingshen: “…”
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