Novel Bin Ch101.2 - The Cycle of Karma, What Goes Around Comes Around (15.2)
Chapter Ch101.2 - The Cycle of Karma, What Goes Around Comes Around (15.2)
translator: baumkuchen editors: serefina, GlitteryPanda
Next to him, Gan Yu saw his bright, shiny eyes and shook his head in disapproval.
Chi Xiaochi had a skill: Even if he’d been tired for an entire day, even if he had only slept for five minutes, once he woke up, it would be really hard for him to fall back asleep.
No matter how you looked at it, this kind of battery-like work and rest cycle wasn’t healthy. It needed to be fixed.
So, Gan Yu pulled out his phone, tapped it a few times, then placed it next to Chi Xiaochi’s pillow.
Chi Xiaochi, “......En?”
Gan Yu got up. “I have a broadcasting app on my phone. I have some audio clips downloaded on it, I listen to them when I can’t sleep.”
Chi Xiaochi thought, these should be the audio dramas of legend. I don’t know if there’ll be any meat.
As a person of both highbrow and lowbrow tastes, who could be both elegant and vulgar, Chi Xiaochi pricked up his ears, standing at 120000% attention, ready to hear some action.
However, what Chi Xiaochi found a little unexpected was, what was saved inside were children’s stories. As for “meat”, there was indeed meat, it was a story about a lost little fish returning home.
He glanced at Gan Yu. He hadn’t thought that he would still have this kind of childish innocence.
The storyteller’s voice was pleasant to the ear, warm and light. Even just two sentences from them was enough to soften one’s heart.
“The little fish set out from the South Pacific, swishing its tail, listening to the South Pacific ocean’s breaths. It thought, it wanted to find its coral reef.”
This voice wasn’t Gan Yu’s, nor was it 061’s, but the way the storyteller paused to punctuate their sentences and how they pronounced words dazed Chi Xiaochi slightly. His thoughts, which had originally been somewhat shaken, also firmed up.
Gan Yu’s voice had become a lot softer. As it mixed in with the male narrator’s voice, it didn’t seem contradictory, rather, it had a slight hypnotic effect. “It would be best if you slept a little more. We need to get up at 8am tomorrow. If you sleep early, your skin will be in better condition, making it more convenient for Tangtang to apply makeup on you.”
After that, he got up and set the air conditioner to the lowest temperature possible. That way, the dry quilt would feel even warmer when draped over one’s body.
As he was moving around, Chi Xiaochi was watching him.
The person before him was unfamiliar, the voice in his ears was unfamiliar, but when they were put together, they made it so that he couldn’t help but think of Lou Ying once again.
He had always thought that, after so many years, Lou Ying had long since become a symbol in his heart. He would make him feel warm when he thought of him, but in reality, he was nothing more than a cold, substanceless thought.
However, many years later, he actually felt that long-lost, steadfast warmth in an ancient, ghost-infested castle, making him think, if Lou-ge were still alive, this was how fortunate he would probably feel.
He had once felt this kind of care from Dong Feihong in Dong Ge’s world, but that care had never gone too far, never going past the care an elder would show for a junior. Even holding hands had been taboo. Hence, Chi Xiaochi had seldom deluded himself. At most, he’d only doubted if he was connected to 061.
......But now......
Gan Yu looked at that absent-minded expression that didn’t show on his current body’s face, but showed internally on Chi Xiaochi’s own face. He really couldn’t quite help but want to poke him on the forehead. “Sleep.”
In an act that was rare for him, Chi Xiaochi listened, closing his eyes.
He, too, was someone who knew not to go too far.
It didn’t matter whether Gan Yu was this world’s Lou-ge, or whether he was Liu-laoshi, or whether he was a trap set by the Lord God behind 061. Since he was currently using another person’s body, he wouldn’t let himself indulge.
......Yi, so obedient.
Seeing Chi Xiaochi close his eyes, Gan Yu’s gaze turned gentle. He pushed his phone over towards him.
In the broadcast, the little fish which had, hiding between a shark’s teeth, travelled thousands of li away from home, had already set out, full of hope, on a journey to find the coral reef in which it had been born.
In the coral reef were its favourite food of plankton, its siblings, and its mother.
On the way there, it was met with a lot of danger, as well as a lot of coral reefs that were like the one it had come from. It would just go in and swim around, meet many friends, fill its stomach, then continue on its way.
Because all those coral reefs weren’t its home.
It was a tiny little clownfish, but it had the romanticism of “after seeing the clouds over Mount Wu, all other clouds are mere puffballs above”.
After confirming that Chi Xiaochi’s consciousness had already sunk into a deep sleep, only then did Gan Yu open his eyes and gaze at the person sharing the bed with him with a tender look in his eyes and fall into a reverie.
061 had already tried all the methods he could think of to reveal his identity in secret, but as long as his main intentions were to reveal his identity, then that sentence or that action couldn’t be done.
......Really a struck by lightning.
Chi Xiaochi’s role was using vowels to reply.
A, E, I, O, U, so versatile.
Because they’d shot a lot of night scenes the day before, the director specially adjusted the next day’s start time, wanting everyone to get a good rest.
However, it didn’t make any difference.
Other than the Gan siblings and Chi Xiaochi, the rest of them all had haggard looks on their faces, clearly the result of a sleepless night.
It was “Guan Qiaoqiao” who looked absolutely radiant, even having carefully dusted on a peach blush, making her skin seem even more tender. She could be considered a refined female ghost, nothing at all like those garish bitches who would smear their faces with tomato sauce and have a head of hair that had gone unwashed for two weeks but were still afraid that they weren’t scary enough.
They’d acted together the other day, and furthermore, it was currently daylight. With the guts of a coward, Chi Xiaochi took the initiative to walk over and greet her, “Had a good rest?”
“En.” “Guan Qiaoqiao”’s lips curved upwards slightly. “We’ll be filming our date scene in the morning, so I made my makeup look a little nicer. I’ll have to change it in the afternoon.”
It was predicted that there would be heavy rains over the mountains that afternoon, so they might have to change their shooting schedule and shoot the scene of being chased through the rain by a ghost. The main stars would be the male lead, Pigtail guy, and the female ghost.
Fortunately, the position of “female” ghost had been taken over by “Guan Qiaoqiao”, so there was no need for Chi Xiaochi to go out in cosplay to get soaked in the rain.
Accordingly, Pigtail guy had a face full of anxiety, with blisters at the corners of his lips. After hearing the director announce the shooting plans in the dining hall, his face twisted.
After this scene, he would die, being forced onto the diving board and falling straight down from a height of 10 meters to his death in the swimming pool which had yet to be filled with water.
......This kind of death was sufficiently cruel, and a little familiar.
What Song Chunyang could find out, Pigtail guy naturally could as well, however, the experience he’d accumulated after eight task worlds had taught him how to control his emotions, so he wasn’t going to flare up on the spot. He could only use the excuse of going out to smoke to rush out to the corridor.
Chi Xiaochi gave Gan Tang a look. She followed Pigtail guy out and stayed outside in the corridor for a while. After getting her news, she went back in to report to Chi Xiaochi.
Pigtail guy had gone to the director to ask for a change of scenes, wanting to postpone the important scene, but had unexpectedly been rejected by the director.
The crew had brought a high-pressure water cannon, but there was currently ready-made rain, why should they waste it? If it really wouldn’t work, they could at least shoot one version first to see how it turned out. If it didn’t turn out well, they could just do it again another time.
Pigtail guy almost got into a fight with the director right then and there, and was currently still trying to debate it, but from how things seemed, the director had already made up his mind.
This could be seen from the look on Pigtail guy’s face when he returned.
He sat there in a daze. Ponytail lady and Tall lady came over to comfort him. Keeping in mind that “Guan Qiaoqiao” was there, they didn’t bring up how they were planning on killing “Guan Qiaoqiao”, just leaving it unsaid as a tacit mutual understanding.
But Chi Xiaochi noticed, “Guan Qiaoqiao” kept looking over in their direction.
Those looks were all extremely cold, not holding any friendliness, a bit like how a snake would look at its prey.
Even just observing it sent a chill down Chi Xiaochi’s spine. Terrified of such a gaze being cast on him, he lowered his head to drink his own spicy soup.
Gan Yu, too, saw some ominous hints. He dipped his finger in the condensation left on the table and wrote, “What happened?”
Chi Xiaochi shook his head.
“Because he put forward wanting to postpone filming the scene, he triggered something?”
Chi XIaochi shook his head once more.
He needed to observe a little longer to figure out the difficulty of this task. Other than acting out this movie without a script, what else was there?
If the requirement of “not going out of character” meant not NG-ing, that would be far too ridiculous.
Even Chi Xiaochi couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t NG. Forgetting lines, walking to the wrong position, involuntary laughter, lighting failures, so on and so forth, there were too many factors that would result in a NG. If the director was strict, even if the actor performed well, the same shot would be filmed over and over again and refined. Filming the same scene over three to four days was commonplace.
Chi Xiaochi often felt that since the ghost hiding below Guan Qiaoqiao’s skin had been assigned to their eighth task, there definitely would be some special difficulties involved.
Clarifying his concerns, Gan Yu asked, “What are you planning on doing?”
Chi Xiaochi said, “Use the current to push the boat.” He still had a whole morning, he could afford to observe for a while longer.
Unfortunately for Yuan Benshan, with “Guan Qiaoqiao” in his proximity, he had no way of getting close to Chi Xiaochi, only able to watch on from the side with endless worries scratching at his heart.
Chi Xiaochi hadn’t actually forgotten him. From time to time, he would toss a loving glance his way, making Yuan Benshan’s heart itch constantly.
Guan Qiaoqiao had already died. There was no one else who knew about him pulling Song Chunyang down with him in the beginning. As of today, Song Chunyang was absolutely devoted to him, even willing to give him one of his eyes. The string of plots which had countered every hit and hit back had completely dispelled Yuan Benshan’s intentions to harm him. He had finally resparked those emotions from when he had first gotten into a relationship with Song Chunyang, making his feelings of love as well as a hint of regret towards this little kitten with mismatched eyes who was utterly infatuated with him rise.
Noticing the rise in the regret value by 2 points, Chi Xiaochi let out a slightly sarcastic smile.
Two points, not even enough to exchange for the lowest level “Prosperous Beauty” card. So fucking stingy.
Hearing him sneer, Xi Lou asked, “What happened?”
Over these few days of interaction, Chi Xiaochi had given him a basic rundown of the Slag Reconditioning System. Now, when he was told of Yuan Benshan’s regret value rising, Xi Lou was also contemptuous.
He had seen a lot of trashy people before, and knew that some people could be a hundred times more terrifying than ghosts.
However, after listening to his theories about human nature, Chi Xiaochi’s expression was neutral. As he held up his steaming hot sweet rice cake, sucking up the scalding honey, he said, “So that’s why I fear ghosts, not humans.”
......Xi Lou had thought that he would come to the opposite conclusion, such as the human heart was more terrifying than gods or ghosts or something along those lines.
“No matter how despicable a person can be, they’re still nothing compared to a ghost,” Chi Xiaochi lightly explained at a pace that was neither too slow nor too fast, “Because humans can be hit, can be hurt, can be killed.”
His tone was far too cold, and held a hint of easy confidence, making a chill go down one’s spine.
......Just that how he looked holding up his sweet rice cake, sucking at the honey as he nibbled away due to being scared of being scalded really dampened the effect.
Next to him, Gan Yu smiled placidly, picking up a tissue and placing it in his palm. “Don’t get your hands dirty, it’s sticky, it’ll be hard to wash off.”
Xi Lou snapped back to his senses. Seeing Gan Yu try to get on Chi Xiaochi’s side, he felt disgust swell up in his heart. He said to Chi Xiaochi, “This person is just being fooled by Chunyang’s appearance, he doesn’t know what you’re thinking in your heart. If he were to know...... Hmph.”
Next to Chi Xiaochi, Gan Yu was peeling a tea egg, his expression calm and gentle.
......Don’t worry.
Even if I’ve seen through you, I still really like you.
The author has something to say:
A chapter filled with sweetness! [Puffs out chest with pride]
#“Learning words of love along with Lou-ge” Series#
sere: I can’t believe CXC figured it out???? OMG UWU im excited
baum: He hasn’t though? Currently, it’s just conjecture, and he already decided he wasn’t going to dwell on it.
As he said, he’s someone who knows not to go too far. Plus, that line about 061 maybe being his first love is a jokey line, don’t take it too seriously.
panda: It would seem kinda far fetched in reality so maybe he doesn’t really believe it yet, but I’m glad he’s catching on faster than other dumb protagonists who need 2 and 2 put together for them.