Xia Xianning continued: “Preventing problems before they occur is not a bad thing. If what you say is true, I think the more followers you have on Weibo, the more help requests you might receive, and you could help people solve difficulties, which would bring you good karma.”
Hearing this, Luo Mingbai suddenly thought that perhaps this method could help solve his mother’s illness. No matter what, any hope was worth trying. It seemed he should find a way to increase the popularity of “Brother White’s Blind Fortune-Telling.”
But while thinking this, he had to whine a bit. Luo Mingbai deliberately complained: “But if too many people find me, it’ll be exhausting. What if I can’t sleep in?”
This guy was playing dead again. Xia Xianning was speechless for a moment and said: “Then let them come to me.”
Luo Mingbai: “Hehe.”
Hearing his slightly proud laugh, Xia Xianning’s heart softened, and he couldn’t help but smile, saying: “Go to sleep.”
Xia Xianning’s expression was impassive as he poked Luo Mingbai’s ribs with precision, quickly tickling him twice before calmly watching Luo Mingbai jump up like a startled rabbit: “Hey, are you serious?”
Xia Xianning crossed his arms and looked at him, raising an eyebrow: “Feeling awake now? Let’s go.”
Luo Mingbai grumbled while getting out of bed, but the moment Xia Xianning turned around, he suddenly noticed traces of tears on the other’s face.
Had he had a nightmare again?
What could he have dreamed about?
But if he really wanted to talk about something, Luo Mingbai would definitely be the first person he’d tell. If he didn’t voluntarily bring it up, it would be hard to get him to talk about it.
Xia Xianning was silent for a moment, then soulfully interrogated: “…Senior brother, why are you washing something you don’t even have?”
Chapter 25: Catching Ghosts in a Play
Ou Ziheng was filming a period drama. When Xia Xianning and Luo Mingbai arrived, the crew was shooting. Xia Xianning showed the director his work ID and briefly explained their purpose. The director readily agreed to let Xia Xianning observe.
Xia Xianning took the script and casually flipped through a few pages, wanting to see what role Ou Ziheng was playing.
The two previously decapitated stars, one named Sun Mo and the other Tao Shaochen, had both investigated backgrounds showing they had played roles like male companions, performers, or courtesans, and had both experienced fires.
Xia Xianning wasn’t sure if these commonalities were related to their deaths, but he was disappointed to find that Ou Ziheng’s situation was different.
Ou Ziheng’s first drama was a light campus story where he played a rich second-generation male lead – the one who had caused trouble for Luo Mingbai. This second drama was a fictional historical palace drama. Ou Ziheng played the emperor, a very Mary Sue-like character who had nothing to do with male companions and even had his own male companion.
The scene for today’s shooting was already circled in red, featuring a confrontation between a male companion and a minister, with Ou Ziheng’s emperor character coming to resolve the situation.
As Xia Xianning was watching, Luo Mingbai suddenly squeezed over and pulled him, indicating he should look at the scene: “Look, something strange is happening.”
Xia Xianning followed his gaze. The director had finished explaining the scene, and the actors were on set. The actor playing the minister was one of the actors Ou Ziheng had invited home yesterday – Dai Weijie. The actor playing the male companion looked unfamiliar to him.
Xia Xianning checked the script. The male companion’s character name was Ling’anjun, played by an actor named Wei Le Yi. It was a complex character – a male who established himself in the inner palace, with good looks and skills, who entered the palace for revenge.
Facing others’ arrogance and viciousness, he was soft and respectful before the emperor – a typical scheming character.
But what caught Xia Xianning’s attention was the numerous ghosts surrounding Wei Le Yi at that moment.
He seemed like a honey pot attracting bees. During the performance, ghosts continuously approached him. When two female ghosts lifted Wei Le Yi’s robe and rubbed against his thigh with an intoxicated expression, Xia Xianning couldn’t bear to look.
He raised his hand to cast a spell to banish these spirits, but Luo Mingbai immediately stopped him.
Luo Mingbai said: “Don’t waste your energy. I’ve already tried. It’s useless. There are too many ghosts. We’re too far away. If you publicly use large-scale magic, we’ll probably make headlines with the special investigation unit tomorrow.”
Unable to expose the special investigation unit’s secrets, Xia Xianning considered and agreed. He lowered his hand: “We’ll wait until Wei Le Yi is off-set and talk to him privately.”
But the question remained: If Wei Le Yi was playing the male companion and showing strange symptoms, why were the severed heads targeting Ou Ziheng last night, not him?
However, while watching, he hadn’t forgotten his main task. When he turned back to speak to Xia Xianning, he found him standing alone in a daze.
Wei Le’s performance was too exaggerated, with everyone wearing a smile. Only Xia Xianning had a cold and stern demeanor, as if all joy was incompatible with him.
Lo Yingbai tapped on the script in his hand: “Hey!”
Xia Xianning was startled, and the script fell to the ground.
Lo Yingbai helplessly said: “What are you thinking about? You’ve been feeling down lately. Is there something bothering you that you’d like to share with me?”
Xia Xianning replied calmly: “Now that you’re back, what could possibly be bothering me?”
Lo Yingbai found his words strange and didn’t know how to respond. Xia Xianning had already tugged at him, saying: “There’s nothing to see here, let’s go out and look.”
Lo Yingbai had no choice but to follow him out. Just as they were about to reach the door, he suddenly heard laughter nearby. A figure lunged directly towards him.
Lo Yingbai instinctively reached out to support the person, suddenly feeling the scene was oddly familiar. The woman he was holding looked up, and their eyes met. They simultaneously exclaimed: “It’s you?”
Xia Xianning turned back and asked: “What’s going on?”
Lo Yingbai responded: “Nothing, just someone I know.”
Xia Xianning calmly looked at the woman Lo Yingbai was supporting, showing no unusual expression – which was not easy.
The woman Lo Yingbai was holding was the “female ghost” who had deliberately scared him at Ou Ziheng’s house the day before. When Lo Yingbai first saw her, he thought she was deliberately in makeup. Only today, under the bright sunlight, did he realize her face was disfigured.
Half her face was fair and delicate, with soft features, while the other half was charred and distorted, brutally ruining her originally beautiful appearance, looking particularly frightening.
“Sister, what a coincidence, how old are you?” Lo Yingbai said half-jokingly, helping her stand steady. “Your shoe is broken. Oh, did you twist your ankle too? Are you okay? Would you like to rest somewhere?”
The girl shook her head, steadying herself against the wall, and softly said: “No need, thank you.”
This was the second time Lo Yingbai had helped her. The first was yesterday at Ou Ziheng’s house when she almost fell. She had been hired to play a ghost for Ou Ziheng’s prank and had even pleaded for Lo Yingbai before, being rescued twice made her feel somewhat ashamed.
But the more one tries to avoid trouble, the more it finds you. Someone behind her impatiently said: “Zheng Yishan, are you going to rehearse the script or not? Don’t waste our time.”
Here is the edited article with the irrelevant content removed:
The tone was very discourteous, but Zheng Yishan seemed used to it. She responded flatly and stood up to move.
