Chapter 64: Holiday Hot Spring Trip (5)
At this moment, Li Nuo was no longer in the mood to enjoy the hot spring.
After telling An Ran'er and the others that he was leaving, he started walking back to his room.
As he walked, he kept reading forum posts about the supernatural incidents at White Jade House. The more he read, the more uneasy he felt.
Even though he was scared, he still wanted to keep reading.
Maybe it was just human nature to do the opposite of what was good for oneself.
After reading, he would start imagining things, giving himself psychological suggestions, and then interpreting ordinary events as ghost sightings.
That had always been Li Nuo's explanation as a firm atheist.
But now, he was no longer completely sure that ghosts did not exist.
Meanwhile, a tall young man checked into the inn.
The newcomer was Zhou Qikuan.
Looking around at the old inn, he felt surprised. He had never expected Xiao Lu and her friends to stay in a place like this. Because of that misunderstanding, he had ended up checking into the hotel next door instead.
But now that he knew they were staying here, things would be much easier.
After finishing the check-in process, Zhou Qikuan put his luggage in his room.
Then he went looking for Ye Feilu.
While walking through the hallway, he happened to see a blue-haired girl.
He remembered seeing her with Ye Feilu earlier, so he quickly walked over and stopped her.
"Hello, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
The blue-haired girl kept her head down, still looking at her phone.
"Do you know where Ye Feilu is right now?"
"Ye Feilu?"
The blue-haired girl raised her head and looked at him.
The moment he saw her face, Zhou Qikuan froze.
She looked far too much like his good friend Li Nuo.
Of course, the hair color and clothing were completely different.
(At this point, Li Nuo had already changed back into girls' clothes. He was no longer wearing the shirt and shorts from earlier!)
"Wait... are you... Li Nuo?" Zhou Qikuan asked carefully.
The moment Li Nuo saw Zhou Qikuan, he almost turned to stone.
Fortunately, he had already prepared for this possibility when he told Zhou where they were staying.
He quickly replied,
"That's right! I'm Li Nuan-chan, the lead singer of The Girls. Are you here for an autograph?"
He blinked and gave a sweet, adorable smile.
"Li Nuan? Lead singer?"
Zhou Qikuan looked even more confused.
However, his instincts told him that this girl had to be connected to Li Nuo somehow.
"Are you really not Li Nuo?"
"It's Li as in the flower 'lily,' not Li as in Li Nuo's name. Please don't say it wrong, okay? Li Nuan-chan will be sad."
Li Nuo puffed out his cheeks in fake anger, making them look round and cute.
At the same time, he deliberately used a sweet, childish voice.
The cute tone and adorable behavior completely destroyed Zhou Qikuan's suspicion.
In his mind, there was no way Li Nuo would ever act like this.
Maybe they just look alike.
But they really look way too similar. Could that guy have a sister or something? I definitely need to ask him when I get back.
"Sorry, sorry. You just look way too much like a friend of mine."
Zhou Qikuan scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"A friend? Is your friend as cute as Lino-chan?"
Li Nuo placed a finger on his lips, tilted his head, and asked innocently.
The head tilt and childish voice completely convinced Zhou Qikuan that this person could not possibly be Li Nuo.
In fact, he even found himself wondering whether Li Nuo would somehow look even cuter if he copied that pose.
"My friend is just as cute as you are," Zhou Qikuan said with a laugh.
"The only difference is that he's a boy."
"Eh—really? Then you absolutely have to introduce him to me! I loves cute kids the most!"
Li Nuo widened his eyes, made his mouth into a surprised "O," and spoke in an extremely cute voice.
"Okay, okay."
Zhou Qikuan was reaching the limit of how much cuteness he could handle.
"So can you tell me where Ye Feilu is now?"
"If you're looking for Little Xiao Lu, she's over at the outdoor hot spring."
Li Nuo pointed in the direction.
"Great, thanks."
After getting the information, Zhou Qikuan immediately waved goodbye and left.
Once he was out of sight, Li Nuo nearly gagged.
Even he had been disgusted by the act he had just put on.
Thankfully, it had worked.
This was the plan he had thought of before: combine Ye Feilu's usual mannerisms with Wu Yuxin's favorite phrases and create a completely new character—Lino.
Still, he felt he had gone a little too far.
He had disgusted even himself.
That idiot Zhou Qikuan is probably feeling sick from all that too, he thought.
What Zhou Qikuan was actually thinking was:
"That girl named Li Nuan is pretty cute."
"But my Xiao Lu is still cuter."
"Ahhh—!!"
Just as he was comparing Li Nuan and Xiao Lu in his head, a girl's scream suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts.
"It's Xiao Lu!"
He recognized the voice immediately.
Worried, he rushed toward the source of the scream.
When he arrived at the outdoor hot spring, he saw Ye Feilu curled up in the arms of a short-haired girl.
Walking over, he asked An Ran'er,
"What happened?"
"Xiao Lu says she saw a ghost again."
Even An Ran'er looked slightly nervous this time.
"A ghost?"
Zhou Qikuan blinked.
What kind of hardworking ghost appears in broad daylight?
"Yuxin saw it too."
Wu Yuxin spoke expressionlessly.
"It was a person with long hair and white clothes. It was over by the bamboo forest, and then it suddenly disappeared."
Seeing Ye Feilu trembling in Wu Yuxin's arms made Zhou Qikuan's heart ache.
A sharp look flashed through his eyes.
"There is no way there's a ghost in the middle of the day. And even if there is one, I'll catch it for you."
With that, he ran toward the bamboo forest.
An Ran'er finally came back to her senses.
She did not believe ghosts could appear during the day.
Actually, she did not believe in ghosts at all.
After thinking it over, she decided that the so-called ghost was probably some kind of peeping stalker wearing a disguise.
After changing clothes in the changing room, she immediately called the police.
Li Nuo also rushed over after hearing Ye Feilu's scream.
After asking what had happened, he finally understood the situation.
When he learned that Zhou Qikuan had charged into the bamboo forest to catch a ghost, he could only sigh helplessly.
Still, he had to admit that this was exactly the kind of thing Zhou Qikuan would do.
All he could do now was hope that nothing bad happened to him.