Chapter 77: Begonia

Later, Chu Susu was woken up by Han Yao patting her.

After feeling her shoulder being touched a few times, she blankly opened her eyes. She had just wanted to search for that familiar figure when she only saw Han Yao beside her, retying her ponytail.

“Get up.” The other said, “The organizers are here to pick us up.”

After all, this was an itinerary they had planned. Even in extremely bad weather, they naturally couldn’t let the guests be trapped for too long.

Chu Susu looked outside and saw that quite a few staff members draped in raincoats were standing outside the venue. They had already cleared away most of the accumulated water, making it basically walkable again.

The sounds of tires splashing through rainwater had come earlier—no doubt the shuttle bus had pulled up outside the park to take them back smoothly.

Her gaze swept around the surroundings as if searching for someone. Aside from Han Yao and herself, there was no one else here.

Clearly, some people had already quietly slipped away without a sound.

Chu Susu had just had a long dream, making her feel like a lot of time had passed. But when she checked her phone, it had only been half an hour.

“Sorry to keep you two waiting.” A staff member came in, rainwater slowly sliding off his raincoat. “We’re truly sorry. We didn’t expect such a heavy downpour today. Today’s itinerary is canceled. We’ll send you back now…”

Those ceramic dolls stood obediently in place, maintaining their original poses, showing no abnormalities.

The staff member noticed Chu Susu’s gaze, which seemed a bit unusual. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

She shook her head and soon took the umbrella handed over by the staff along with Han Yao, following behind them as they walked out.

It had to be said that their cleanup of the ground had been pretty quick. Now that the rain had eased, there was no sign left of the earlier thunder and lightning, the massive spectacle.

Guests from the other halls had also been picked up and were lining up in a long queue, boarding the buses one after another.

It wasn’t until Chu Susu was seated on the shuttle bus that her phone finally got a signal, and a dozen or so new notifications popped up all at once.

Rebecca had sent quite a few worried messages asking about her situation, while the organizers’ group chat was full of progress updates from the staff to reassure the trapped guests.

“You think, why was there no signal on our phones earlier?” Chu Susu heard Han Yao beside her ask in an extremely soft voice.

The others nearby had all closed their eyes to nap, so Chu Susu kept her voice low as she replied, “Rainy weather. Normal.”

Han Yao smiled, seemingly not buying that explanation.

But she didn’t dwell on the topic and instead said, “Earlier, you were pretty brave, huh.”

“…Is that a compliment?”

“You can take it that way.”

Chu Susu gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Then I guess I should thank Eldest Miss Han for the praise?”

“Mm.”

Han Yao nodded solemnly. “No need to thank me.”

This attitude really made one want to snap back at her, but Chu Susu quickly told herself in her heart, whatever—she was Han Xuan’s sister, after all.

Even for Han Xuan’s sake, there was no need to bicker with her.

At that thought, something else suddenly surfaced in Chu Susu’s mind, and she frowned as she glanced at Han Yao.

“Later, are you staying in a room by yourself? Or with an assistant or something?”

“By myself. Why?”

Chu Susu subconsciously raised her brows. “Aren’t you afraid of Wandering Spirits?”

The hotel they were staying at had been built by the government in conjunction with the amusement park for integrated sightseeing and lodging, and it had only officially opened recently.

Weren’t hotels prime spots for horror movie tropes, especially brand-new ones? Han Yao staying alone… those unclean things…

“That I won’t. I’ve been seeing ghosts for so many years; I’ve got some ways to deal with them.”

Han Yao said lazily, “At least I can run fast.”

Indeed, if she had no backup plans, she’d have left this wonderful world long ago. How could she still be standing in front of Chu Susu, talking to her?

Seeing that Han Yao didn’t seem worried at all, she didn’t ask further.

But these two half-sisters—one who saw ghosts frequently, the other who was anything but ordinary—did the Han family genes have something special?

Chu Susu couldn’t help but think of that “mental illness” explanation again.

If the person spreading that rumor was referring to talk of ghosts and spirits, she could confidently say it had nothing to do with “mental illness.”

After all, she had seen it with her own eyes too.

And as if she could read her mind, while Chu Susu was lost in thought, Han Yao suddenly spoke up:

“You’re probably wondering why both Han Xuan and I are so ‘special,’ right? Go ahead and guess.”

The root cause went without saying. Not only had Zhou Xiaoying mentioned it, but Han Yao had confirmed it herself: Fucheng’s president—her father—was always messing around with superstitious stuff at home, filling the whole place with bad vibes and giving Han Yao her ghost-magnet constitution.

But Han Xuan didn’t seem to have that worry. Ghosts were the ones afraid of Han Xuan, after all—she had that special ability…

Chu Susu had never really thought about it before, but now she pondered it seriously.

This ability had to be innate, not something cultivated later.

Otherwise, given how the Fucheng president was terrified of ghosts knocking on the door, he’d naturally prefer it to show up in his eldest daughter Han Yao. It would be a powerful business weapon—Fucheng could make any deal they wanted.

If it was innate…

“Han Xuan’s ability was inherited from her mom?”

Chu Susu asked in a volume only the two of them could hear, puzzled.

But this was just a guess. She’d never heard Han Xuan mention her mother, who seemed to have passed away long ago.

Han Yao confirmed her thought. “Yeah.”

A mocking smile tugged at her lips. “Her mom—that woman—had that ability… even stronger than Han Xuan’s.”

Hearing her refer to Han Xuan’s mother as “that woman” told Chu Susu their relationship wasn’t amicable.

But that was normal. Han Xuan was the illegitimate daughter, so her mother was probably Father’s mistress. How could anyone speak nicely of their father’s lover?

“Guess why my dad hooked up with her and even had an illegitimate daughter.”

Han Yao’s voice carried a breathy quality, so soft that any quieter and it would be inaudible.

Her smile grew even more strange and eerie.

Han Yao’s looks were on a different level from Chu Susu’s. When she deliberately showed aggression, it was fiercely sharp.

Even when wearing a sarcastic expression, it was the same.

Chu Susu had a vague feeling. “Could it be…”

The sound of tires rolling through rainwater drowned out their voices, but from the lip movements, she could still make out what the other was saying.

Han Yao said—

“That’s right, because of her ability.”

“Guess why my dad started believing in ghosts and gods.”

Chu Susu parted her lips in slight surprise, suddenly arriving at a terrifying conclusion in her mind.

If that was really the case, considering Han Xuan’s mother had already passed away…

Could it be that Father had done something guilty toward Han Xuan’s mother—maybe even directly caused her death—and she’d left behind something like a curse before dying? That would explain why he was so terrified, resorting to desperate measures.

Thinking of it that way, it made sense.

For an ambitious businessman, not exploiting Han Xuan’s ability would be a waste. Yet Han Xuan had been raised in her relatives’ home from childhood—clearly no one in the Han family wanted anything to do with her.

The reason behind it was likely Father’s fear.

He was afraid of Han Xuan and the ability she carried.

Han Yao said no more, merely giving Chu Susu a deep look, knowing she had pieced together the truth.

“Why are you telling me all this?”

Chu Susu thought it over again and still asked in confusion, “This is your family secret. I’m just an outsider. Aren’t you afraid I’ll spread it around?”

Han Yao didn’t reply, just lazily closed her eyes again. “Would you spread it?”

“…Of course not.”

And even if she did, no one would believe it. Without witnessing it firsthand, who would believe any of this was real?

“Then that’s that. Just think of it as me being bored and wanting to chat.”

With that, Han Yao turned her head away, signaling the end of the conversation. She leaned against the window, looking like she wanted to nap again.

Seeing this, Chu Susu didn’t speak to her anymore, just stared ahead in thought.

There was still quite a bit of standing water on the road, so the shuttle bus couldn’t go too fast—rain-slicked roads were prone to accidents. What should have been a fifteen-minute trip dragged on for a full half hour.

During this time, Chu Susu closed her eyes too.

Though she’d never seen what Han Xuan looked like as a child, the moment she shut her eyes, she could easily picture that slender girl’s figure—frail and timid, like a delicate white flower that could snap at the slightest bend.

She couldn’t help but wonder what kind of feelings little Han Xuan had harbored while living with her relatives.

Even if Han Xuan had never mentioned it to her, Chu Susu figured she must have once fantasized about what a complete family was like.

It was the deepest hope in everyone’s heart.

Even with her own stiff relationship with Chu Zhen—though she’d long stopped expecting anything unrealistic—Chu Susu still sometimes wondered:

Would there ever come a day when Chu Zhen opened up a bit and tried to understand her?

Even just a little would be enough.

What about Han Xuan, then? Had she ever tried to return to the Han family, only to ultimately fail due to Father Han’s taboos…

She squeezed her eyes shut tight, as if she could see Han Xuan helplessly pressing the doorbell, ignored by all, turned away at the door.

She could even see Han Xuan despondently hugging her knees, sitting alone in the rain, drenched and bedraggled, with only the wind whistling past to keep her company.

Chu Susu suddenly recalled a sentence she had seen somewhere.

—”When you like someone, you always irrationally find them pitiable.”

She abruptly touched her own face.

It felt a little feverish.

…

Meanwhile, Han Yao by her side actually wasn’t asleep. After a moment, she slowly opened her eyes.

She stared idly at the glass of the window, where the reflections of her own face and Chu Susu’s were visible.

“Why tell you?” Han Yao thought. “Don’t you already know all this? You’ve just forgotten for now.”

It was just idle chatter anyway, something to pass the time.

But she could sense that after hearing this, Chu Susu had shown a bit of heartache for Han Xuan, which made Han Yao fall into contemplation.

She wouldn’t have accidentally… played wingman, would she?!