Chapter 221: Illicit Behavior
Following Chang Xi’s voice, Zhou Shiqing abruptly stood up.
He didn’t know if this action was due to being possessed, or if he was angered by Chang Xi’s words, or if he was simply scared by Shi Mei’s earlier behavior.
Although it wasn’t clear exactly which situation Zhou Shiqing was in, Xuan Xia could clearly sense that Zhou Shiqing’s mood was very low at the moment.
And it was still continuing to drop.
Xuan Xia simply sat up as well and looked toward Zhou Shiqing in the darkness.
Only then did she see clearly that Zhou Shiqing not only had a very low mood, but his upper body was heaving, as if he was extremely angry.
“What’s wrong with you?” Xuan Xia couldn’t hold back and curiously asked.
Zhou Shiqing was silent for two seconds, and when he spoke, his tone had been deliberately adjusted, stiffly saying: “Nothing.” Even his volume was controlled, not daring to be too loud.
“Really nothing?”
Xuan Xia had just asked casually, but Zhou Shiqing sat back down, sorted out his emotions, and then said: “I just remembered something from before.”
“Hm?” This time, Xuan Xia became interested.
Zhou Shiqing exhaled a breath of turbid air, “Something from shortly after I debuted. It’s not a big deal, just a sasaeng.”
“Ah.”
“That time there was a problem with the hotel side, somehow letting the sasaeng sneak into the room, and it wasn’t discovered until after falling asleep at night.”
The sasaeng back then was just like Shi Mei tonight, sneaking to the bedside while he was asleep, and it was the sasaeng suddenly laughing that woke him up since he was a light sleeper, who knows what else might have happened that night.
In any case, that time was really too similar to tonight.
After finishing talking about the sasaeng incident, Zhou Shiqing fell silent and didn’t speak again.
Zhou Shiqing spoke of it lightly, as if it really wasn’t a big deal.
At this time, Chang Xi also turned over and sat up. She didn’t know much about sasaengs and such, so after hearing Zhou Shiqing recount the past, she just treated it as listening to a story, and the story was quite novel.
“And then?” Chang Xi curiously asked for what came next.
Speaking of what came next, Zhou Shiqing’s tone became even more nonchalant, “Zhuang Yu lived next door to me, heard the noise and called the police. Later it was learned that the other party had mental health issues, so it ultimately came to nothing.”
“Oh.” Chang Xi said as if understanding, though actually not really understanding.
But Xuan Xia could understand his current emotions.
Shi Mei’s earlier action must have been extremely similar to the sasaeng’s behavior back then.
Not to mention Zhou Shiqing who had already experienced it, even Xuan Xia found it quite frightening earlier; ordinary people really couldn’t handle it.
Thinking again about how Zhou Shiqing said he encountered that kind of sasaeng right after debuting.
How old was he when he debuted? Wouldn’t a young boy really be scared into psychological trauma?
It was also possible that it did happen, leading to the current bad-tempered Zhou Shiqing.
Xuan Xia thought about it and suddenly felt much more tolerant toward Zhou Shiqing’s temper.
So Xuan Xia spoke up: “Chang Xi, why don’t you tell him about your illusionary scenery.”
“What?”
“Courtesy demands reciprocity.”
“No, why do I have to tell it?” This was what Chang Xi was dissatisfied about.
“Because you heard his story. Courtesy demands reciprocity, shouldn’t you share something too? It’s not good to say other things, so I chose the illusionary scenery story for you.” Xuan Xia spoke in a tone as if completely considering her feelings.
Chang Xi pouted, but because it was in the darkness, Xuan Xia couldn’t see this expression at all.
After a second, Chang Xi reacted and automatically withdrew her expression, said nothing, got up, stepped over Xuan Xia, and squatted down beside Zhou Shiqing.
“Come, let me tell you what illusionary scenery is. Although once you go out, you’ll immediately forget.” Even as she was about to start telling, Chang Xi didn’t forget to add this.
Thus, Zhou Shiqing had one more question.
While Chang Xi was explaining illusionary scenery to Zhou Shiqing, Xuan Xia turned her head toward the bedroom direction.
She didn’t know why Shi Mei did that, whether it was deliberately to scare people, or unable to suppress her liking.
But whatever the reason, Xuan Xia thought about it for a long time without figuring it out.
Almost right as Chang Xi had just explained to Zhou Shiqing that what they were in now was within the illusionary scenery, not any dream, and certainly not his dream, suddenly from outside came the sound of a bell ringing “ding-a-ling ding-a-ling.”
And at that moment, the bedroom door opened, followed by the lights turning on inside the room.
With light, everyone could now see each other clearly.
Shi Mei had her hair disheveled, as if she had just gotten out of bed. Seeing the three of them, she didn’t realize they had been awake all along and explained to them on her own: “This is the signal for the sacrifice.”
“Sacrifice?” Xuan Xia repeated doubtfully.
Shi Mei nodded, worry starting to appear in her brows and eyes, her little face turning deathly pale, completely unable to connect her now to her perverted behavior earlier.
“There should be strangers who arrived, so a sacrifice needs to be held.”
Xuan Xia’s attention turned to more strangers arriving in this world, immediately guessing that it might be those staff members who had been missing for so long.
But how could they arrive later than her?
A knock came from the front door, followed by an old woman’s voice: “Shi Mei, it’s time to head to the sacrifice ground.”
Xuan Xia had heard that voice before; it was one of the old women responsible for chanting during the sacrifice.
Shi Mei quickly replied to her.
But the old woman outside didn’t leave immediately, instead knocking again and solemnly and carefully instructing Shi Mei to wash and dress up properly, to have a good mental state, and telling her not to be late, to set off as soon as possible.
As the old woman instructed, Shi Mei’s little face grew paler and paler, her voice trembling as she replied to the old woman.
But the old woman outside seemed completely oblivious, confirming she had given all the instructions before finally leaving.
As soon as the old woman left, Shi Mei immediately covered her face and started crying.
Xuan Xia and the others watched the crying Shi Mei, none of them speaking.
They vaguely knew why Shi Mei was crying; the old woman’s deliberate instructions seemed to tell everyone that Shi Mei was today’s sacrifice victim. But honestly, no one felt much sympathy.
Especially Zhou Shiqing, whose face was as taut as if someone had died.
Shi Mei didn’t cry for long, and since no one spoke, she lowered her hands, wiped the tears from her face, and muttered to herself: “I’ll go wash my face; Granny Li said to wash and dress up properly.”
After saying that, Shi Mei went back into the room.
Xuan Xia and the others thought she would stay inside for a while, but in just a few short seconds, Shi Mei came back out.
The Shi Mei who came out again was indeed refreshed.
Her disheveled hair was braided into a slanted fishtail braid, with a hair tie specially chosen to have little flowers, and she had changed into a light-colored long skirt. This styling matched her still childish face, making her look beautiful like a little fairy.
However, as soon as the little fairy faced Xuan Xia and the others, tears soon started falling again patter-patter.
Shi Mei cried as she asked: “You really can’t take me away?”
Xuan Xia and the others still didn’t answer her.
Shi Mei cried even more heartbrokenly.
Another knock came from the door, this time a man’s voice, urging Shi Mei to open the door: “Shi Mei, it’s time to go to the sacrifice ground.”
Shi Mei quickly wiped her tears and walked over to open the door.
Standing outside was the male neighbor who had first greeted Shi Mei when they returned last night, also the leader who yesterday at the cave sacrifice ground entrance wanted to drag Shi Mei back for the offering.
Shi Mei said nothing more and obediently followed the man out.
She didn’t even say goodbye to Xuan Xia and the others to go together.
Chang Xi asked Xuan Xia beside her: “What do we do now?”
Xuan Xia said: “Let’s go see if the Sea God has really revived.”
After saying that, she took the lead and followed.
