Chapter 36 - Horror Variety (1) (2/2)

Although Ji Yun Xiao is dazzling on stage, his real personality is more on the gentle and quiet side. He has been recognised by everyone as someone who has a good personality but is also a little dense so, throughout the whole filming process, Ji Yun Xiao was the most unfortunate one. Even his own teammates teased him and tricked him into drinking mustard and bitter melon juice.

Ji Yun Xiao didn’t suspect his teammates at all and drank half the cup in one go. In an instant, his eyes went red and he couldn’t help but cough it back out, but he still didn’t realise that his teammates had done it deliberately. When he finally realised what was going on, he revealed a wronged expression.

The people present laughed like crazy. Even Cheng Zhi Chu in the audience laughed until his stomach hurt. After this round, because of his teammate’s sneaky moves, Ji Yun Xiao ended up losing the most points and he entered the punishment round.

“But before the punishment round, Yun Xiao has a chance to save himself. It’s the “Guess What I’m Acting?” game that you all know about.”

The host said this while smiling: “We will provide phrases that Yun Xiao will need to act out. One of your fans will come up on stage and they will try to guess it. There are five questions in total and the fan will need to guess them within the specified time. If three out of the five are correct, you can be exempt from punishment. There can only be a maximum of two wrong words in the sentence. Yun Xiao, do you want to take this challenge?”

“Yes.” Ji Yun Xiao nodded.

“Then Yun Xiao, please select your fan.” The host gestured towards the audience. “If any of the ‘Yuan Hao’s’ wants to be selected by Yun Xiao, please cheer loudly and let Yun Xiao feel your passion!”

With the hosts encouragement, Ji Yun Xiao’s female fans immediately started to shout and wave their hands. Some even got up and jumped around hoping that he could notice them.

Cheng Zhi Chu wasn’t as passionate as the female fans, so he didn’t shout out. He just sat quietly in his seat and looked both weak and helpless while being surrounded by a group of crazy, screaming female fans.

“………This time, I want to choose a male fan.”

After looking at the audience for a while, Ji Yun Xiao smiled and said this.

The female fans let out disappointed cries and could only sit back down. Their eyes then moved over to Cheng Zhi Chu because he was the only male fan of Ji Yun Xiao’s.

“……….”

W-what? They want me to go up? But he doesn’t know how to guess these things!

Being looked at by everyone, Cheng Zhi Chu suddenly felt nervous but, when he saw Ji Yun Xiao looking at him with a faint expectant smile, he could only get up from his seat and walk on stage. His ears flushed red and he was somewhat embarrassed.

Ji Yun Xiao smiled at him comfortingly and indicated to him not to be nervous. Seeing this, Cheng Zhi Chu gradually relaxed and he managed to be able to stand on stage more naturally.

“Today, you are the only male fan of Yun Xiao’s. You’re really lucky.” The host laughed, “May I ask for your name?”

“Hello everyone, my name is Cheng Zhi Chu.”

Cheng Zhi Chu took the microphone and said this slowly under the gaze of everyone: “I am very honoured and happy to be chosen by Yun Xiao today. I hope that I can live up to Yun Xiao’s expectations and help him avoid punishment.”

“I also thank you for coming to support me.”

Ji Yun Xiao added with a smile.

“Well then, good luck!”

The host smiled and nodded. The director below the stage signalled to the props team to pass over a whiteboard with several cards stuck on it. From these, the host was to randomly choose the card and give it to Ji Yun Xiao to act out and let Cheng Zhi Chu guess.

The host stood before the whiteboard and he took a card off. Ji Yun Xiao received the card and looked at its contents. His originally happy expression suddenly stiffened a little.

……..What on earth is written on it?

Cheng Zhi Chu was a little nervous. He started to worry about what he should do if he couldn’t guess any of it.

“Yun Xiao, are you ready? Okay, the time starts now!

After the host said those words, Ji Yun Xiao looked over at Cheng Zhi Chu and began to gesture. He first pointed at himself, patted his chest and made a gesture similar to tying a tie before raising his right hand over his head.

“I…..heart…..tie?”

Cheng Zhi Chu was confused. Ji Yun Xiao shook his head and again raised his right hand above his head. This time Cheng Zhi Chu understood, and he blurted out: “Young Pioneers of China??……Ah, the red scarf?”

Ji Yun Xiao nodded his head. He then patted his chest, interlocked his fingers in front of it and then spread it open, like he was doing a ‘glowing’ gesture. Cheng Zhi Chu frowned for a few seconds before suddenly understanding. He quickly guessed:

“The red scarf on my chest has become more vivid?”

“Congratulations you got the first correct answer!”

The host and the audience immediately applauded. Seeing that he had guessed it right, Cheng Zhi Chu secretly sighed in relief. At the same time, he couldn’t help but think about how nonsensical that sentence was. It looks like the next questions may be even harder to guess.

Sure enough, the next question stumped Cheng Zhi Chu. He completely couldn’t understand what Ji Yun Xiao was gesturing. He guessed several phrases but none of them were right. Seeing that this question seemed to be difficult to guess, Ji Yun Xiao quickly gave it a pass and moved on to the third question to avoid wasting too much time.

But for the third question, Cheng Zhi Chu also didn’t have a clue. Seeing that he couldn’t guess it at all, he could feel his palms sweating and he started to get nervous. His mind went blank and his answer started to get further and further away from the correct answer.

[I saw the answer. It’s “Since the older sister can, the younger sister also can”……]

At this moment, Cheng Zhi Chu heard a small voice in his mind. It was from the silver coin that had not spoken for the past few days.

[Why are you out again?] Cheng Zhi Chu was surprised but fortunately he didn’t reveal it on his face.

[………..So that I can atone for my mistakes, my master.]

The coin’s voice appeared to sound a little down.

[And I needed to prove to you that, as long as you free me, I would be able to bring you countless benefits…..]

Cheng Zhi Chu couldn’t help but dig at its sore spot: [Is it just on the level of helping me guess riddles?]

[……….] The silver coin kept silent.

“Cough……” Cheng Zhi Chu almost couldn’t hold back his laughter. He even felt pity for the silver coin, but he still definitely wouldn’t use it. This is something that won’t be changed.

Looking at the coins attitude, it didn’t seem like it was lying to him. Cheng Zhi Chu who now knew the answer felt a little relieved. After deliberately giving the wrong answer twice, he said the correct answer which was then followed by the applause from the host and the audience.

For the fourth question, Cheng Zhi Chu also managed to “guess” the answer with the help of the coin. Like this, Cheng Zhi Chu had already answered three questions correct and Ji Yun Xiao would be exempt from punishment. But according to the rules, he still had to guess the last one for the game to end.

[You don’t have to tell me the answer for the fifth question.] Cheng Zhi Chu said this to the coin. [If I can guess it, I’ll guess it. If I can’t, it doesn’t matter.]

He deliberately placed emphasis on the word, “doesn’t matter”.

The silver coin didn’t make a sound and had seemingly disappeared somewhere to be depressed alone.

“Here, this is the last question.”

The host handed Ji Yun Xiao a card. When Ji Yun Xiao saw the contents, he froze for a moment and suddenly appeared to be a little shy.

He looked up at Cheng Zhi Chu with the tip of his ears faintly red. He first opened both his hands and made a big circle. He then pointed to himself and then made a heart gesture with his hands before finally pointing at Cheng Zhi Chu.

“I, love…..ah, like…..you?”

Cheng Zhi Chu guessed seriously and managed to guess the words “I like you” correctly. Ji Yun Xiao pursed his lips and nodded shyly. He then gestured a big circle and then moved two fingers to gesture a small human walking.

Human and circle? What…..?

“Ah……..Is it ‘Earth’? ‘World’?”

Cheng Zhi Chu had a lightbulb moment. He suddenly remembered a song by Ji Yun Xiao that he once heard his sister mention: “Is it, ‘I like you the most in the world’?”

“Congratulations Zhi Chu, the answer is correct!”

White mist spurted out from the edge of the stage and the audience applauded loudly. Ji Yun Xiao looked over at Cheng Zhi Chu with a slightly red and embarrassed expression that also looked a little sexy.

The female fans screamed loudly. Because Cheng Zhi Chu is a male fan, they didn’t think nor care much about it. Instead, they were even more excited. There was even someone whose cheap mouth shouted “Kiss!” which resulted in laughter from the others.

Of course, a kiss was naturally impossible, but Cheng Zhi Chu also received a gift. It was Ji Yun Xiao’s CD with his signature on it and a hug from Ji Yun Xiao. When they hugged, the audience again started to cheer.

When Cheng Zhi Chu happily returned to his seat with the album, the female fan next to him began to look at him differently. It was as if he was suddenly glowing.

Ji Yun Xiao saw that Cheng Zhi Chu didn’t react much to that sentence nor his hug and his eyes darkened a little, revealing a trace of disappointment. He then quickly covered it up and continued to smile.

After this stage, the director gave everyone a ten-minute break. After that, it was time for the outdoor part of the filming. When they started filming again, the celebrity guests were supposed to draw lots and be assigned to different locations to complete different tasks.

“Although Yun Xiao lost the last stage, but because he and Zhi Chu answered four questions in “Guess What I’m Acting” correctly, he has received the benefit of being the first one to pick.”

The host made his introductory commentary. Ji Yun Xiao nodded and placed his hand inside the box. He pulled out a slip of paper that had the words “Villa Courage Test”.

“Ah…..It looks like Yun Xiao isn’t very lucky today. He has actually picked out the hardest task.”

The host shook his head with a smile. He then began to introduce this task.

“The so-called Villa Courage Test involves entering a villa that has been rumoured to be haunted. The task is to enter the villa to get a specific item before leaving. As for the details regarding the villa, please look at the big screen.”

The fans present were a little surprised. Some of the timider fans revealed scared expressions. Along with mysterious and eerie music, a video about the villa started to play on the big screen.

“‘Rose Manor’ is a villa located southeast of C City, by a lake. With very little human life, beautiful scenery and a quiet and peaceful environment, it was a secret garden that no one could enter.”

“But one day twelve years ago, its peacefulness was suddenly broken………”

“A young painter named Zhou Luo Chen was discovered dead in the villa. After the police inspected the scene, they concluded that it was death by suicide. However, it has been rumoured that the dead had passed away very mysteriously, and many believe that it was not because of suicide……….”

Zhou Luo Chen’s photo appeared on the screen. The young painter in the photo was beautiful and elegant but there was s hint of gloom in his eyes. He looked out a window and behind him was a wall covered with many paintings.

Most of the paintings were portraits and they were mostly of children. The children in the painting laughed brightly and innocently. Enveloped by the faint sun rays coming from the window, they looked particularly lovely.

But as they continued with the introduction, the photo gradually changed from colour to black and white. A few drops of red blood also appeared on the screen.

“ ……Rumours about his cause of death continued to spread. Some say that Zhou Luo Chen had died of homicide. He had owed lots of money from gambling and couldn’t pay it back hence resulting in his death………”

“Others say that his death wasn’t something that was done by humans and, instead, it was by something inside the villa……..”

“………”

“Since then, twelve years had passed. All the unanswered questions from then were gradually forgotten over time and no one knew what had truly happened……”

“The guest’s task is to enter this villa to find an item. Perhaps you might uncover some of its secrets in the process.”