“What do you think? It probably escalated to the kind of stuff you’d only find on some obscure shady website,” Gu Yuqi said. With that, she opened the door to her room, slipped inside, and closed it with a dramatic flourish.
“I…” Liang Sheng was utterly lost for words. “W-what are you all staring at me like that for!”
With Gu Yuqi now gone inside her room, everyone’s eyes turned to the other person involved—Liang Sheng. Those gossiping faces had her shrinking back nervously as she quickly shut the door to her own room.
Wuwuwu… Why was she always the one who ended up hurt…
Clatter.
At that moment, the bathroom door slid open. Lu Ziqing and Song An’an had finished their showers and stepped out.
“What was all that commotion at the door?” Lu Ziqing asked, towel-drying the drips from her hair.
Song An’an’s face was still flushed pink as she looked curiously toward Liang Sheng.
Liang Sheng had no idea how to explain, so she glanced over at Ni Sihan.
Ni Sihan felt pretty awkward after catching a glimpse of Liang Sheng’s bare body earlier. She twisted her face toward the TV, refusing to make eye contact with any of the other girls.
“Uh…” It looked like she’d have to handle this herself. Liang Sheng sighed and launched into her feeble explanation. “Well, we were being way too noisy over here and scared the people next door. So they knocked to ask if everything was okay, if anything had happened or whatever.”
It sort of matched the facts… Well, not really. It was completely unrelated, actually.
Ni Sihan didn’t call her out on it. Truth be told, she hadn’t even registered the girls’ chatter. Her mind was still reeling from the sight of Liang Sheng’s pristine white skin.
“Oh…” The two other girls bought it completely.
“Right!” Liang Sheng smacked her forehead. “Tomorrow, that asshole principal won’t drag us up the mountain again, will he?”
The moment she said that, the other three girls froze. The room fell silent.
“Probably… not?” Ni Sihan was the first to break the quiet. She really didn’t want to trudge up that mountain in high heels again—hers had already rubbed her feet raw.
For the first time, these girls were desperately hoping to catch a cold or come down with a fever, anything to stay bedridden until this whole event was over.
“Everyone should just wash up and hit the hay,” Liang Sheng said dejectedly, flopping onto the bed.
Ni Sihan grabbed her pajamas and headed into the bathroom.
Phew~ This feels great.
Standing under the showerhead without that rowdy bunch around, Ni Sihan savored the peace and quiet all to herself. Perfect!
Peaceful times? Yeah… as if!
Suddenly.
Whoosh.
“Aaah!”
“Ghost?!”
The lights went out.
“Huh?” Liang Sheng peered at her phone screen. “Oh, this must be the room’s circuit breaker.”
With that, she flipped it back on.
The other two girls in the room: “…”
If we didn’t like you so much, with all the chaos you cause, we’d have jumped you by now.
Ah, no—not like that. We’ll still jump you later, though. But not in that way.
Glancing back, Liang Sheng spotted Ni Sihan sprawled on the floor like a slick, naked boiled egg.
The power outage had caught her in pitch blackness, freaking her out so bad she bolted for the door. But there was water on the floor, and she slipped, tumbling head over heels.
“Um… Sihan, do you need me to grab you some clothes?” Liang Sheng tried to break the awkwardness, only making it even worse.
“No need!” Ni Sihan scrambled to her feet and slammed the bathroom door shut with a bang.
Was this the punishment for peeking at another girl’s body?
Whatever. Better hurry up and get dressed. Ni Sihan grumbled as she angrily pulled on her underwear.
Splash.
The room plunged into darkness again.
“Aaah!” That familiar scream rang out once more.
“Liang Sheng!” Ni Sihan yanked open the bathroom door, fuming. “What the hell are you doing?! Look at how you scared everyone—screaming like that!”
“That was me screaming!” Liang Sheng groped her way toward the bed, shrinking back timidly. “This time, it wasn’t me who hit the circuit breaker!”
“…”
“Ghost?” Song An’an muttered softly.
“Shut up!” Liang Sheng yelped, diving straight into Lu Ziqing’s arms.
Lu Ziqing: “…Ahem. Hmph~” A little power outage, and she scored an unexpected bonus.
Click.
The sound of the door.
“Ni—Ni Sihan, was that you closing the bathroom door?” Liang Sheng stammered incoherently.
“No, it wasn’t!” Ni Sihan caught the panic bug and started stuttering too.
Liang Sheng shivered. “D-don’t scare me like that. If it wasn’t you… then what?”
“It was our room door!” Song An’an shrieked.
“Aaah!!” Liang Sheng’s legs gave out. Lu Ziqing couldn’t hold her, and she dropped to her knees on the floor.
Liang Sheng clasped her hands together and started chanting, “Namo Amitabha Buddha, begone foul demons and ghosts, begone foul demons and ghosts!”
She was the only one thinking ghosts; the others suspected burglars or something worse.
Snap.
The lights flickered back on.
The room lit up again.
Liang Sheng whipped her head around and saw the front desk staff standing in the doorway. She also felt the sharp pain in her knees from kneeling on the floor.
“Miss, what is this…?” The staffer delivered the killing blow with her question.
“I…” Liang Sheng opened her mouth to reply.
But before she could, the staffer noticed Young Miss Lu Ziqing gripping a fistful of Liang Sheng’s hair with her right hand. Miss Lu had tried to catch Liang Sheng as she slipped but ended up yanking her hair instead.
And Liang Sheng? She was now kneeling right in front of Lu Ziqing’s legs.
Lu Ziqing was wearing an especially short little nightdress, too.
“Uh… sorry to interrupt you two young ladies’ fun,” the staffer said politely, closing the door again.
Liang Sheng and Lu Ziqing exchanged a glance and instantly got it.
“Aaah! Come back! It’s not what you think!” Liang Sheng and Lu Ziqing shouted at the door in unison.
“So, what exactly happened?” Liang Sheng asked.
The staffer did come back, in the end.
She scratched her cheek awkwardly. “Your room was screaming so loud, it echoed all the way downstairs. We got worried you were hurt or that bad guys had broken in, so we came to check.”
“Th-then why didn’t you knock?”
The staffer gave a helpless smile. “I did knock. But your nonstop yelling drowned it out completely. I thought you were in real trouble, so I used the room key card to open the door.”
Phew… false alarm. But the embarrassment was off the charts.
“Ahaha,” Liang Sheng rubbed her head sheepishly. “We’ll keep it down next time. Promise, hahaha.”
After seeing the staffer off, the girls looked at one another, at a total loss for words. What a hectic night.
“Let’s… sleep,” Liang Sheng said obediently, climbing into bed.
Better not cause any more trouble.
As if you won’t.
