Chapter 54

By the time they reached the ancient town, it was already 9PM. However, as someone who entered S city during the peak tourist season, 9PM was actually the time when the nightlife started.

The two people strolled around the town for a bit before slowly making their way to Wangjun lakeside. Compared to the ancient town, Qiao Yanzhou was not adapted to the comfort and ease brought by the lakeside.

Truthfully, Qiao Yanzhou didn’t have much interest in buying things and watching performances in the town. He’d been to the ancient town in S city and similar places before. Currently the only thing he was interested in was the Wangjun lake behind the town. 

When Qiao Yanzhou came to S city previously with his friends, they went to every big and small area except for Wangjun lake. Qiao Yanzhou wanted to go each time but was stopped by every big and small issue in the past. 

Finally he found a chance to come over, however when Qiao Yanzhou was finally brought over by Gu Zixing, he felt that something wasn’t quite right. 

The top of the lake had a lot of multicolored lights. If you walked past the bridge, in the ancient town facing the lake, there was a bar and there were arts and crafts stalls. From the distance, you could tell how lively it was.

“Two dudes walking by the lakeside. Isn’t it a bit gay… look at the lakeside, it's all one guy with one girl.” Qian Yanzhou was even holding onto a few sticks of roast fish that they just got from the town. As he ate, he looked around before coming up with this statement.

“Doesn't matter if it's with me, I’m just a guide…” Gu Zixing shrugged his shoulders.

“Besides, there are so many people, even the bridge is crammed…” Qiao Yanzhou smacked his lips. “We can only wander the edges of the lake.”

Gu Zixing couldn’t help but laugh, “Then be a bit more careful.”

“Why?” Qiao Yanzhou didn’t understand. 

The bridge was almost in front of them. There were alot of people and Gu Zixing and Qiao Yanzhou weren’t willing to cram themselves in. They might as well stop at the lake edge and lean against the railings there. 

“Xiao Qiao, do you know why it's called Wangjun Lake?”

Note: Wangjun is something along the lines of "Expecting a Gentleman"

“Nope.” Qiao Yanzhou shook his head and waited for Gu Zixing to explain as he turned the roast fish to an unbitten side to let Gu Zixing try a bite. 

Gu Zixing wasn’t used to eating this kind of roast fish, but taking a bite once in a while was fine. 

He took a bite then pointed at the opposite bank of the lake and continued to speak, “It was said that hundreds of years ago, there was a village near the lake. In the village, there was a woman called Sui Shi, she was very beautiful.”

“A certain village beauty surnamed Sui.” Qiao Yanzhou summarized in a moment.

“Pretty much.” Gu Zixing nodded his head. “But later on because the other women in the village were jealous of the village... this Sui Shi’s beautiful looks, hence they grouped together to devise a trap for Sui Shi.”

“Stop… How dramatic.” Qiao Yanzhou immediately regarded it with disdain. “A cliché palace drama.”

“Just listen to me.” Gu Zixing laughed, however he also thought it was melodramatic. “Sui Shi’s husband was taken by the government to join the military at the time, so those women devised a trap for Sui Shi, saying she had an affair with a lunatic in the village named Wang Wu.”

“A lunatic?”

“A lunatic is good because no one listens to a lunatic.” Gu Zixing said. “Their idea was that since Sui Shi’s husband wasn’t by her side, Sui Shi was a sex addict and even went after the village lunatic.”

“.....”

“Then this group of people carelessly made a plan. Because they couldn’t expose her, they just captured her one night and put her in a cage.”

“.....” Qiao Yanzhou paused for a moment, “Then put her in this lake?”

Gu Zixing nodded his head. “So from then on, every man who passed by this lake alone would hear a woman singing from the bottom of the lake. The men who are enticed will jump in and kill themselves, enter the lake to accompany Sui Shi.”

Qiao Yanzhou listened earnestly to the story until the end before he understood. “Oh, so this is a ghost story.”

“Folk legend.”

“Same thing.”

“But it’s said, if there is already someone in your heart when you’re at this lake, then you won’t be entranced by the song.” Gu Zixing leaned against the railing and raised his head. “Xiao Qiao?”

“En?”

“Be careful not to be kidnaped by the female ghost eh.”

Qiao Yanzhou just now understood why Gu Zixing told him to be careful earlier. It was originally because of this ne. 

Although he knew that Gu Zixing was just joking with him, Qiao Yanzhou still couldn't help but look distracted for a moment. 

“Then what about you? You’re not afraid of getting kidnapped?” Qiao Yanzhou asked in return. 

“The female ghost has no interest in gay guys.” Gu Zixing laughed and turned to look at Qiao Yanzhou, “Besides, there's someone I like.”

“Eh… really.”

Gu Zixing had someone he liked. 

This wasn’t terrible news to Qiao Yanzhou and in fact, made him laugh a bit.

Qiao Yanzhou turned his head to look at Gu Zixing only to find him staring back at him. 

It's said that the eyes were the window to the soul. This quote was tried and tested with Qiao Yanzhou’s body because he was simply someone who could not conceal whatever was in his mind.

But Gu Zixing wasn’t the same. Qiao Yanzhou couldn’t dig out anything from his expression, or perhaps it was because Gu Zixing simply didn’t want you to be able to perceive anything. No one was able to guess Gu Zixing’s thoughts. His eyes always carried a smiling expression, but it was very hard for someone to tell how intimate you were with him. 

Gu Zixing continued to stare at him. 

Everytime he was face to face with Gu Zixing, Qiao Yanzhou felt that it wasn’t that fair. 

Because although Qiao Yanzhou couldn’t see through Gu Zixing, Gu Zixing could cleanly see through all his inner thoughts. This feeling really did make him a bit uncomfortable. 

“Xiao Qiao…” Gu Zixing wanted to say something and had just opened his mouth when his cell phone suddenly rang.

He fished out his cellphone to take a glance at it. 

Qi Chen called. 

**

Around 11PM, Qiao Yanzhou was brought by Gu Zixing to a bar close by called Ruxi. 

This was a place Qi Chen had found. But there wasn’t just Qi Chen, there was also Fu Xiaohai, Tang Xuan, Yao Le, Zhao Qin and Qin Xiangnan. 

“If I had known earlier that you brought so many people, I would have just ignored you…” Qi Chen had run out to welcome Gu Zixing and Qiao Yanzhou when Gu Zixing told him this. 

Ruxi was a decently popular bar in S City. Sometimes when EG was celebrating, they would come here. 

The bar had a performance every night so the scene was very lively. Not to mention if the dates were different, then the performance was also different. 

The performance for tonight was pole dancing, Gu Zixing and them the moment they entered they saw 5-6 beautiful women in sparkling bikinis on the stage. There was one person spinning on each pole, completely enjoying themselves.

“Boss Gu came late, another round another round!” Having just welcomed Gu Zixing and Qiao Yanzhou, Tang Xuan hurried to pour him a cup. 

Gu Zixing laughed. Before he even sat down, he drank the cup that Tang Xuan poured for him in one gulp. 

“Come come, Xiao Zhou!” Zhao Qin also started to take care of him.

Qiao Yanzhou was a bit stupefied. Up till now he very rarely came in contact with Qi Chen and Tang Xuan, but how to say it, he felt that these people’s personality in the bar vs the competition scene were two different people.

Qiao Yanzhou, a bit embarrassed, looked at Gu Zixing. He didn’t think that in the next moment Gu Zixing would take the cup that Zhao Qin poured. 

“Xiao Qiao can’t drink, I’ll sub in for him.”

“Don’t Boss Gu ah!” Zhao Qin stared unexpectedly, then seeing as Gu Zixing was about to drink, he hurried to pour himself a cup to drink with him. 

The bar was chaotic. They sat at a semi circle booth inside which just also happened to let them have a good view on the show onstage. 

“Xiao Hai’s eyes watched until they turned straight, hurry and wipe your saliva!” Qin Xiangnan couldn’t help but smile by the side. “It’s only just a few pretty girls!”

“Go go go!” Gu Xiaohai dragged Qin Xiangnan. He retracted his gaze and shook the cup on the table. “Who wants to play dice?”

“Not playing, playing with Gu Zixing is too scary.” Tang Xuan hurried to reject. “Last time we played this and he drank me under a table. In the end, he didn’t even drink two bottles.”

Gu Zixing smiled and didn’t utter a word. 

“Then Xiao Zhou sub in for Boss Gu to play. If Xiao Zhou loses, then Boss Gu drinks!” Qi Chen came up with a rotten idea again.

“Go go go, then I’ll play!” As soon as he heard that Gu Zixing wasn’t playing, Tang Xuan immediately had confidence again. 

Qiao Yanzhou panicked a bit, turned his head to look at Gu Zixing. 

Sensing that Qiao Yanzhou lacked confidence and was looking at him, Gu Zixing laughed and leaned next to Qiao Yanzhou’s ear. “I feel targeted.”

“How come you’re not protesting?” Qiao Yanzhou laughed along with him. “I’m afraid that in the moment, I’m going to have to carry you back.”

“Nope,” Gu Zixing narrowed his eyes, purposely responded to Qiao Yanzhou coyly, “Someone wants to carry the bride across the threshold.”

“Psycho.” Qiao Yanzhou mocked, extended a hand to grab a dice cup in front of him. 

“And there's one more spot, who wants to play!” Tang Xuan shouted as he shook his own dice cup. 

“I’ll play.” 

Yao Le, who hadn’t spoken the entire time, suddenly sat up in the booth. He grabbed one of the superfluous cups of dice. 

Yao Le was as expressionless as before, but his cheeks were flushed. It should probably be because of the alcohol. 

To ones surprise Yao Le shook the dice cup in his hand and pointed at the bottle next to him, “Each one is half a bottle. Play or not.”

“No problem no problem!” Tang Xuan didn’t even think about it before answering. 

Qiao Yanzhou was not good at playing dice, he was basically making wild guesses. In the past he played it with his friends at KTV. Didn’t matter if he was rolling or someone else was, he still lost. 

Qiao Yanzhou classified these circumstances as bad luck. At first, it seemed like there was nothing wrong with it.

“Among us besides Boss Gu, Yao Le is the best ba.”

These people continued to play as Tang Xuan kept asking questions. 

“I’ve received Boss Gu’s techniques.” Qi Chen laughed.  “Come, 8 and 6.” 

“12 and 6.” Yao Le didn’t even think about it before speaking. 

“Don’t believe….”

When Qiao Yanzhou hesitatingly said the word “believe’, Gu Zixing already picked up the bottle. 

“My 8 and 6, Tang Xuan, Qi Chen, Xiao Hai, can you guys get 7?” Yao Le opened up his dice cup and asked. 

“Mine is 4.”

“Mine is 3.”

Yao Le lifted his head and skipped over Qiao Yanzhou, seeing Gu Zixing sitting by his side, he smirked. 

“Drink.”

JADE: I think the dice game is just Craps, but I've never played it so not sure of the rules.