🌻Chapter 4: Zhou Zhao
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In a way, Bian Xu had to thank the ghost encounter. Strangely enough, it had helped him finish an entire week’s worth of drafts in one go.
He towelled his damp hair dry as he reviewed the manuscript, eyes scanning for places that still needed polishing, when his phone suddenly rang.
He glanced at the screen. Zhou Zhao.
The moment he picked up, Zhou Zhao’s voice came through sharp and immediate. “Bian Xu, why aren’t you replying to my messages?”
Bian Xu froze for a second, then opened WeChat.
What he saw made him fall into a long silence. Zhou Zhao’s chat icon showed 87 unread messages.
He inhaled sharply.
Since when had Zhou Zhao sent him so many messages?
Scrolling up, the earliest one dated back to the night he had moved in. Zhou Zhao had asked if he could sleep.
Bian Xu swallowed. “If I say I didn’t see them… would you believe me?”
A cold snort came through the phone.
He gave a dry laugh, quickly changing the subject. “So, what do you need?”
Zhou Zhao let out a strange little laugh, the kind that made Bian Xu’s skin prickle. He didn’t answer immediately, dragging out the silence until Bian Xu asked again.
Only then did he speak slowly. “Can you help me move dorms?”
“Huh?” Bian Xu frowned instinctively.
Zhou Zhao clearly had no patience for explanations. He sent over an address and time, then hung up.
The busy tone echoed in Bian Xu’s ear long after the call ended.
Only then did it hit him.
If he remembered correctly, Zhou Zhao had recently moved into the apartment building right next to his.
What?
It had come out of nowhere. Zhou Zhao hadn’t mentioned it to him at all.
When Bian Xu helped move Zhou Zhao’s things into the new place, he finally asked, “Didn’t you say you didn’t want to move before?”
Zhou Zhao didn’t answer right away. He poured him a glass of water first, and only when Bian Xu took a sip did he reach out and ruffle his hair.
“Wanted to be closer to you,” he said casually. “Is that not allowed?”
Bian Xu shot him a glare, but Zhou Zhao didn’t care. If anything, he leaned in further, pinching his cheek and letting his gaze linger far too long on his lips.
“Tsk,” Bian Xu said, swatting his hand away. “Are you ever going to tell me the truth?”
He didn’t believe a word of that excuse.
Zhou Zhao raised a brow, amused by his seriousness. Then he smiled. “I just couldn’t bear to be away from you. Believe it or not.”
Something about it felt off. Since when did Zhou Zhao talk like that?
Bian Xu studied him carefully, then pressed a hand to his forehead. Normal temperature.
After a pause, he voiced the most absurd thought he could come up with. “Don’t tell me… you also ran into a ghost?”
“Also?”
That was when Bian Xu told him everything, including the talisman.
The talisman meant a lot to him.
When he was a child, he once had a strange dream. In it, a faceless man was trying to propose to him. He couldn’t speak, no matter how hard he tried, and the panic had been so real he’d woken up screaming.
He had cried so hard it frightened his parents.
Back then, he was too young to form proper sentences, only able to sob incoherently while his parents panicked helplessly.
His mother, superstitious, had insisted it was something unclean. She found a master through someone she knew.
That master turned out to be the old Taoist priest he had once met under the overpass. One look at him, and the man declared he had been bound in a ghost marriage.
No one knew exactly what methods the old Taoist used, but in the end, he helped break the so-called marriage and gave Bian Xu a protective talisman.
He had told the young Bian Xu to carry it at all times, warning him that without it, he wouldn’t live long.
And Bian Xu had believed him completely. For more than ten years, he never took it off.
With it, he felt safe.
“Is that talisman really that important to you?” Zhou Zhao asked lazily, letting go of the hair near Bian Xu’s ear and instead playing with his fingers.
Bian Xu nodded seriously.
Zhou Zhao gave a soft chuckle. “Then I’ll get you one another day.”
His tone was too casual. It made Bian Xu uncomfortable.
“No need,” Bian Xu said quickly, avoiding his gaze.
A faint laugh came from Zhou Zhao, light and almost dismissive. That made Bian Xu frown.
Zhou Zhao held his ring finger as if measuring it, then looked up at him.
Bian Xu pulled his hand back sharply and stepped away. “Zhou Zhao?”
For a moment, Zhou Zhao didn’t respond. When he finally lifted his head, his gaze was sharp, almost predatory, like he was about to discipline an unruly pet.
Then, just as quickly, it vanished.
“Zhou Zhao?” Bian Xu called again.
Zhou Zhao suddenly pulled him closer.
Bian Xu lost his balance and fell straight into his arms.
Zhou Zhao rested his chin on his shoulder, exhaling softly against his ear. “I’m here.”
It was far too intimate.
Panicked, Bian Xu shoved him away, muttered some excuse under his breath, and left in a hurry under Zhou Zhao’s amused gaze.
Something about all of this felt wrong.
His hands were still trembling when he poured himself a glass of water, trying to calm his racing heartbeat.
“What’s wrong?”
Only then did he notice Wen Xun sitting on the sofa.
He wore casual home clothes, a magazine in hand. Today, he had even put on silver-framed glasses. Under the cold white light, he looked almost like a statue, beautiful yet distant, divine in a way that felt unapproachable.
Bian Xu hesitated, then thought back to Zhou Zhao’s behaviour. A chill crept up his spine.
Could Zhou Zhao also be one of his “rotten peach blossoms”?
At first, they were just roommates. Nothing unusual. But gradually, Zhou Zhao began inserting himself into his life with unsettling ease.
Meals together. Study sessions together. Even an invitation to go home for New Year.
Bian Xu’s stomach tightened.
Did Zhou Zhao… like him?
His phone rang again.
Zhou Zhao.
He stared at it, reluctant to answer.
Before he could decide, Wen Xun took the phone from him.
Bian Xu barely had time to react before Wen Xun answered it.
He didn’t know what Zhou Zhao said on the other end. Wen Xun’s expression stayed calm the entire time. Then, at the very end, he lifted a brow slightly and let out a faint, almost mocking laugh.
When he handed the phone back, something in Bian Xu strangely settled.
“I’m hungry,” Wen Xun said, looking at him directly.
“…Alright,” Bian Xu sighed. “I’ll cook.”
He was getting faster at it now. After days of practice, he could finally manage a simple three-dish-one-soup meal without a recipe.
But today, his mind wasn’t on cooking.
It was full of Zhou Zhao.
His thoughts tangled like messy thread. Every time he tried to pull one end loose, it only got worse.
He didn’t want to admit the obvious conclusion forming in his mind.
Zhou Zhao liked him.
Just thinking about it made him uneasy.
“Egg’s going to burn.”
Wen Xun’s voice came from behind him.
Bian Xu hurriedly flipped it, but it was already too late. One side had turned black and charred.
“Tsk.”
Wen Xun took off the apron hanging on the wall and gestured with his chin. “Help me.”
Bian Xu glanced at the pink cherry apron and laughed despite himself.
He helped him put it on, but at the last moment deliberately twisted the bow into a messy, ugly knot.
Wen Xun didn’t react, only reached up and tapped his forehead with a faint smile.
“Don’t you like it?” Bian Xu asked, chin raised.
Wen Xun looked at him for a long moment. Then he smiled. “No.” A pause. “I don’t like it.”
With that, he gently pushed Bian Xu out of the kitchen.
What surprised Bian Xu was that Wen Xun actually knew how to cook.
After the dishes were served, Bian Xu grabbed his wrist. “You can cook?”
Wen Xun glanced at his hand. “Did you only just realise that? A bit late, isn’t it?”
Bian Xu let go.
The food was excellent. The aroma alone made his appetite surge. After tasting a bite of fried egg, he even gave Wen Xun a thumbs-up in approval.
Wen Xun had just washed his hands, droplets still clinging to his fingers. When he touched Bian Xu’s cheek, it felt cool. “Eat.”
Bian Xu frowned slightly at the casual touch.
Then he hesitated before asking, “Do you also know a bit of… supernatural stuff?”
Wen Xun didn’t even look up. “You’re only realising that now?”
Bian Xu wasn’t good at handling strange things, but he adapted too quickly to question much. Especially when it came to Wen Xun.
He forced a nervous laugh. “Let me ask you something. Will you answer me honestly?”
Wen Xun set down his chopsticks and rested his head on one hand. “Why wouldn’t I?”
A chill ran through Bian Xu.
His voice was soft, almost coaxing, like he was luring a curious little animal into a trap.
And the “little animal” was already halfway in.
“Can you catch ghosts?” Bian Xu asked directly.
Wen Xun smiled. “Eat first. I’ll tell you a story after.”
Same trick as that night he first encountered the ghost.
Bian Xu pouted but gave in, eating faster instead.
At that moment, Chips rushed over, rubbing against his leg and meowing.
Bian Xu chuckled and scratched its head.
“Greedy thing,” he said, getting up to fetch it a treat.
Everything about the cat reminded him of Wen Xun. Lazy, content, only active when food was involved.
Speak of the devil.
Wen Xun walked in.
He opened his mouth to say something, then stopped.
Bian Xu didn’t ask, just smiled. “It looks like you.”
Wen Xun picked the cat up without hesitation.
Chips protested furiously mid-air, waving its paws as Bian Xu laughed and told him to put it down.
“Let it eat,” Bian Xu said, patting the bed. “I want to hear your story now.”
Wen Xun hesitated, eyes darkening for a moment before smoothing over into something unreadable. “Which one?”
To Bian Xu, Wen Xun was like a book written in a language he couldn’t fully understand.
Strange, mysterious, and impossible not to keep reading.
He looked straight at him.
“Tell me first,” he said quietly, “who exactly are you?”
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I will be posting two chapters every Tuesday and Friday.
(My translation is far from perfect, so if you see any mistakes please let me know in the comments)
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