Ch127 - I Wanted To See You

“Xu ge, you went to eat a meal, why did you also change your clothes?” Xu Haoming was puzzled and couldn’t help asking this.

As soon as he spoke, Song Zhe and Han Tianyu also turned their gaze to Lu Xu and noticed that it wasn’t just the clothes, even his hair was wet.

In what situation did one need to take a shower after going to someone else’s room for a meal?

Xu Haoming regretted his question almost immediately. He felt like there might be some secret between Lu Xu and Ji Xiunian that couldn’t be spoken of.

It wasn’t that he was overly sensitive, but just a moment ago, the two of them had looked very close at the doorway. It didn’t seem like they were merely friends.

He was also an adult, not a child who didn’t understand anything. During his time in the entertainment industry, he had encountered quite a few same-sex individuals who expressed interest in him. So, he wouldn’t be surprised if Lu Xu and Ji Xiunian really were together.

However, this kind of thing was something he should have just kept to himself after finding out. Asking about it now would just make everyone feel awkward.

Xu Haoming absentmindedly scratched his forehead, thinking about how to end this conversation.

However, Han Tianyu was daring, and directly added fuel to the fire. “I also want to know. Xu ge how did you end up taking a bath while eating hahaha…”

Song Zhe nudged him upon hearing this, indicating for him to say a little less.

Lu Xu remained calm as usual, his tone natural as he explained, “I accidentally knocked over the takeout, and my clothes got messed up. Fortunately, Nian ge generously offered for me to shower at his place, so I didn’t have to go back and wait in line.”

“Hahaha, I knew it, it must be because of the takeout, hahaha…” Xu Haoming immediately felt relieved and chuckled, not even sure what he was laughing about.

Han Tianyu rolled his eyes at him and casually remarked, “Definitely because of the takeout. What else could it be? It can’t be that something happened between Xu ge and Nian ge, right haha.”

The other party’s words were unintentional, but both Xu Haoming and Song Zhe’s expressions changed in unison. They almost wished they could seal Han Tianyu’s mouth shut.

However, Lu Xu playfully pouted and said naturally, “It’s only been half an hour since I went to Nian ge’s room. Are you looking down on Nian ge or looking down on me by saying that?”

???

The other three were slightly surprised by these words. So, Lu Xu was also someone who knew how to drive?

Although Lu Xu had always been a person who had always smiled ever since they had first met, there had always been an indescribable sense of distance about him. Even when he was right in front of them, he had always emanated a coldness about him.

Boys often exchanged such talk with each other, but Lu Xu had always been the type to listen without joining in.

Now, he had suddenly chimed in with such a remark, catching his roommates off guard.

His attitude was just too casual and natural, causing even Xu Haoming and Song Zhe, who were beginning to suspect his relationship with Ji Xiunian, to waver.

Maybe they were simply just friends; they might have overthought it.

The topic was dropped after a few laughs and jokes.

At around five or six in the early morning, Lu Xu went out to pick up two orders.

By the time his roommates woke up, they all left together to have breakfast and got ready for rehearsals.

“Good morning, shijie.” Upon entering the dance studio, Lu Xu noticed that the guest vocalist, Yu Manman, was already there, wearing headphones and watching a video with her head down.

He touched the talisman in his pocket and greeted her quietly.

Yu Manman raised her head upon hearing his voice and gave a faint smile when she saw Lu Xu. “Good morning, shidi.”

Since encountering Ba Mei last night, Yu Manman hadn’t slept soundly all night. She had seen cats before, but the kind of fear Bamei instilled in her was unprecedented.

Even when she returned to her room, every time Yu Manman closed her eyes, she saw Ba Mei. Even in her dreams, she found herself turning into a small fish, while Bamei grew to enormous proportions, squatting beside her and drooling.

Feeling a sense of unease, Yu Manman couldn’t help but inquire about Ba Mei after engaging Lu Xu in some small talk. “Xu zai, how long have you been raising Ba Mei?”

“For a pretty long time.” Lu Xu didn’t want to say thirty years upfront, but he also didn’t want to lie.

Yu Manman continued, “Does Ba Mei really like to eat fish?”

Lu Xu raised an eyebrow at her words and looked Yu Manman up and down, the hint of a smile on his face. “Not really. Usually, Ba Mei eats more beef jerky, chicken jerky, and similar snacks. Also, I give her a lot of canned poultry. As for fish, I don’t really feed it that much.”

“That’s good, that’s good.” Yu Manman inexplicably sighed with relief. She sensed her question might have sounded odd, so she quickly explained, “I didn’t mean anything by asking that. I just really like Ba Mei and wanted to buy it some snacks.”

“Got it.” Lu Xu shrugged, appearing casual and giving a small nod,.”Feeding it more is a good idea. Ba Mei likes people who feed it. The little one can really eat; you basically just need to offer it food, and it’ll come over for some petting.”

“Being a good eater is a blessing.” With Lu Xu’s assurance, Yu Manman felt more at ease. Regardless of whether Ba Mei had any special abilities, as long as it was well-fed, it probably won’t bother her.

With these thoughts in mind, Yu Manman opened up Taobao and began focusing seriously on searching for local cat snack stores.

By the time Lu Xu returned to the dormitory in the evening, he noticed that the room somehow seemed smaller.

Upon closer inspection, he realised that the balcony had gained a considerable number of snacks.

Before Lu Xu could ask, Xu Haoming had already spoken up, “Lu ge, Director Tang seems to like Ba Mei too. He just brought in several boxes of canned food and snacks and fed it before leaving…”

Before his words could settle, a knocking sound came from outside.

Han Tianyu, being closer to the door, went ahead to open it and was somewhat surprised. “Manman?”

“Ai?” Upon hearing the name of his goddess, Xu Haoming immediately sprung up from his seat, walking towards the door while stealing a glance at the mirror on his desk. “Manman is here?”

“Good evening, everyone.” Yu Manman smiled at them as she approached, a pile of canned food and snacks at her feet, along with a bunch of cat toys. It was unclear how she managed to carry it all up.

“Meow…” Ba Mei followed the scent and walked forward, squatting next to Lu Xu and peering outside. It couldn’t help but lick its nose when it saw the canned food. It seemed to be in a good mood.

“Lu zai, these are the canned food and snacks I bought for Ba Mei. I’m not sure if they’re the right ones. Give them a try and see if it likes them. If not, I’ll order something else.”

Yu Manman had purchased top-quality brands, and it was evident that she had chosen them carefully.

Lu Xu thanked her on behalf of Ba Mei and politely asked if she wanted to come in to feed the cat.

“No, it’s alright. I have something to do, so I’ll leave. Take care and rest well.” Yu Manman didn’t intend to enter, so she left after delivering the things.

Xu Haoming looked at Ba Mei thoughtfully and realising something, sighed. “So Manman likes cats. If I had known earlier, I would’ve gotten a cat too!”

Lu Xu nearly burst out laughing at his words. He thought to himself that Yu Manman wasn’t feeding Ba Mei just because she liked it.

However, since he couldn’t explain the situation easily, he didn’t say much.

In preparation for the third performance, all 36 trainees were busy with practising.

In the blink of an eye, two days passed. Just as Lu Xu found a moment to rest, he saw Ji Xiunian at the entrance of the practice room.

Yao Yulong was the first to notice Ji Xiunian’s presence. He leaned over to Lu Xu and whispered, “Nian ge was pacing outside earlier. It seemed like he was looking for you.”

“Mhm.” Lu Xu nodded in acknowledgement and thanked Yao Yulong before getting up and heading towards the door.

“Nian ge, were you looking for me?”

In response to Lu Xu’s question, Ji Xiunian pulled him aside and showed him his phone.

On the screen was a Weibo page, and when he clicked on it, it revealed a missing person notice posted by the media:

[Li Beibei, male, eighteen years old…]

According to the information provided, Li Beibei had gone missing two days ago. When his family couldn’t reach him, his father rushed over. Investigations revealed that Li Beibei’s money, clothes, and ID were all in the hotel dormitory, so running away from home was unlikely. Moreover, Li Beibei had a lively personality and had recently started working in Dongcheng. He didn’t have a romantic partner nor any enemies.

After questioning, it was found that Li Beibei had attended a gathering with friends on the night he went missing. He later left by taxi on his own. Since then, there had been no news, and no one knew where he went…

After all, Li Beibei was his first client, so Ji Xiunian did care about his situation.

“You think they’ll be able to find him, right?”

Lu Xu raised his gaze and glanced at Ji Xiunian, then returned the phone to him. “They will, but whether they find him has nothing to do with us.”

Ji Xiunian was slightly taken aback by Lu Xu’s words. He understood Lu Xu’s meaning and suddenly felt a bit uneasy. “Lu Xu, do you think I’m too soft-hearted?”

Lu Xu shook his head. “No, that’s not the case. It’s normal when you’re new to the job. As long as it doesn’t affect your work and you remember the guidelines of being a grim reaper, I don’t mind anything else.

Speaking of which, Ji Xiunian had only taken on a few assignments.

Once he became accustomed to life and death, he probably wouldn’t be so soft-hearted.

Human death came in all forms, and the scenes were all different.

Death was common, and once the soul was gone, the body became meaningless.

However, Lu Xu didn’t tell him any of this. After all, many things could only be truly understood after experiencing them firsthand.

They had a long time, to the extent that he and Ji Xiunian would be forgotten by the passage of time. Ji Xiunian had plenty of time to understand this world and death; he only needed to remain silent and stay by Ji Xiunian’s side.

“Lu Xu…”

“Mn?”

At that moment, Ji Xiunian felt that Lu Xu’s eyes were deeply profound, as if they contained countless surging waves. He couldn’t see through Lu Xu’s heart in that darkness and found himself a bit at a loss.

Subconsciously, Ji Xiunian called out Lu Xu’s name, but for a moment, he didn’t know what to say.

Lu Xu looked at Ji Xiunian, blinking his eyes as if he was asking what it was that Ji Xiunian wanted to say.

Ji Xiunian came back to his senses and smiled at Lu Xu. “It’s nothing. I will definitely become a qualified grim reaper.”

Ji Xiunian had heard about the incident with Xie An from Lu Xu, so he had long since memorised the code of conduct for grim reapers.

He looked at Lu Xu’s gentle smile and inwardly resolved not to let his emotions cloud his judgement. The more he liked Lu Xu, the more he should focus on his own duties. Only by doing so could he stay by Lu Xu’s side for a long time.

Seeing Ji Xiunian’s composed expression as if he had figured something out, Lu Xu nodded. “Mhm, let’s work hard together.”

After Lu Xu returned to the practice room, Ji Xiunian went on to attend to his own tasks.

Before going to bed, when thinking about Li Beibei, he couldn’t help but feel that something was bothering him. Without realising it, he had already clicked on the follow-up information on the missing person notice that had been posted before.

At this point, it had been two days and two nights since Li Beibei went missing. Local media had just released the latest news:

East City’s missing person notice location: Tonight at exactly nine o’clock, search and rescue personnel retrieved Li Beibei’s body from a well not far from the bus stop. For details, click on the video…

The content of the Weibo post was accompanied by a two-minute video. The local search and rescue team leader narrated the entire search process.

“After receiving a request for assistance from the police, we immediately released the missing person notice and then gathered volunteers from the entire city to search for Li Beibei’s whereabouts. Based on what we knew, there was no information about Li Beibei after he got off the bus. So, we focused our search on the surrounding area. When I looked at the map, I noticed a well nearby, and my heart skipped a beat. I thought, ‘Oh no, what if he fell into the well…'”

“There’s a complex network of pipes beneath the well, and the recovery operation was very complicated…”

“First, we found a box of 22 Taishan cigarettes near the wall at the bottom. We asked if Li Beibei had a history of smoking and what brand he smoked. Later that night, his friends who had dinner with him confirmed that they had bought him two boxes of Taishan cigarettes. We thought that it was likely he had fallen into the well…”

“The conditions inside the water passage were complicated. The first team spent three hours down there trying to recover the body, but they had no success. They were about to come up, and just as they were preparing to change the personnel to continue, something lucky happened. They accidentally hooked onto the body and brought it up…”

“The body had been submerged for two days, so it was clear that he had passed away. We eventually managed to recover the body. It’s really a shame. The poor child lost his life, and his phone was left in the well, unrecoverable…”

The more Ji Xiunian read, the more he felt that something was off. In his memory, they had clearly pulled the body up and even left the cigarettes at the edge of the well. Why did the scene seem to show a different situation?

He couldn’t figure it out after much thought, and suddenly he thought of another possibility. After hesitating for a moment, Ji Xiunian decided to send a message to Lu Xu—

[ss-Ji Xiunian: Did you go back to the well?]

Lu Xu replied after about five minutes—

[ss-Lu Xu: I was practising and just saw this. Are you asking about Li Beibei’s body? I’m the one who put it back in the water.]

Ji Xiunian was somewhat bewildered and didn’t understand why Lu Xu had put the body back into the water.

Before he could ask, Lu Xu had already provided an explanation—

[ss-Lu Xu: Nian ge, he died accidentally. His body should have been waiting to be discovered in the water. If someone else found his body and it looked like he had been dragged ashore, wouldn’t it waste police resources on an unnecessary investigation?]

Ji Xiunian was taken aback by this response. He realised that he had only been thinking about doing something for Li Beibei, without considering the potential chain of the consequences of his actions.

He hadn’t expected that Lu Xu had already taken all these factors into consideration.

[ss-Ji Xiunian: I’m sorry, I didn’t think things through. But if you had already thought about all this, why didn’t you tell me at the time?]

If Lu Xu had told him, he definitely wouldn’t have insisted on doing that.

In the end, he had to trouble Lu Xu again. Ji Xiunian couldn’t express his current emotions.

Lu Xu didn’t give him time to overthink, and replied once more—

[ss-Lu Xu: Nian ge, I’ve said before that as long as it doesn’t violate the rules of being a grim reaper, you can do whatever you want. I know you sympathise with Li Beibei. If it makes you feel better, I don’t mind being there with you.]

Ji Xiunian looked at Lu Xu’s reply and couldn’t help but feel a bit absentminded. Even though the tone was as natural as could be, he could sense a hint of sweetness in it.

No matter what feelings Lu Xu might develop for him in the future, at least for now, Ji Xiunian knew that Lu Xu cared about his feelings.

Being cared for and cherished by someone was a very happy thing, especially when that person was someone you liked.

Ji Xiunian stared at this reply for a long time, feeling that the four words “being there with you” looked more and more beautiful the more he read them.

He first bookmarked this message and then couldn’t help but take a screenshot to save it.

He intertwined his own feelings with Lu Xu’s reply. His originally empty heart instantly filled with something, and the more he thought about it, the happier he felt. His lips unconsciously curled up.

After finally calming his emotions, Ji Xiunian quickly replied to Lu Xu—

[ss-Ji Xiunian: Where are you?]

Lu Xu didn’t understand why he had asked, but still replied—

[ss-Lu Xu: I’m still in the practice room. What’s wrong, Nian ge?]

This time, Lu Xu didn’t have to wait for Ji Xiunian’s reply. After a short while, he saw Ji Xiunian’s figure at the entrance of the practice room.

After exchanging a few words with his teammates, he left the room and came to Ji Xiunian’s side to ask why he had suddenly come over.

Ji Xiunian looked at Lu Xu, who was standing in front of him, and felt his heart beating loudly as if something was about to burst out. He placed a hand over his chest, then smiled at Lu Xu, his eyes curling up. “It’s nothing, I just came to take a look.”

I suddenly wanted to see you…

Really wanted to see you…