Quite awkward

Chapter 157 Yuening Ancient Town

Half a month ago, Qi Yu came to a place called Yuening Ancient Town to film. She walked on the stone road. The peach trees on the side of the road were full of pink flowers, swaying in the spring breeze, exuding fragrance.

Zhang Pei came to visit the crew that day. After Qi Yu finished work, he invited her to have dinner with him at the largest restaurant in the ancient town.

She smiled and waved goodbye to the crew members, then walked to a black car and opened the door. On the other side of the back seat sat a man in a suit with his eyes closed. She was very familiar with this handsome and well-defined profile.

She looked surprised and turned to look at Zhang Pei.

He smiled relaxedly and explained, "I just forgot to tell you that your second brother is here on a business trip, so I came with him. It's getting late, and I'm very hungry. Please get in the car."

Qi Yu lowered his eyes, feeling a little conflicted. After hesitating for half a minute, he got into the car under Zhang Pei's urging gaze.

The person driving the car was a professional driver, and Zhang Pei sat in the passenger seat.

The vehicle started and drove through a bumpy road. After a few minutes, it finally drove onto the flat main road.

In the car, Zhang Pei was concentrating on talking to a friend on the phone.

Qi Yu said nothing, holding the phone in his hand. He turned on the screen to check the time, then turned his head and stared out the car window in a daze.

After a moment, she felt an itch on the back of her hand. Turning her head, she met the gaze of the man beside her.

Mu Chenan raised one lip and looked at her with a deep smile. His warm fingertips continued to circle the back of her fair and delicate hand. The atmosphere suddenly became a little ambiguous.

Qi Yu's eyelashes trembled, and she quickly pulled her hand back, rubbing the place where he had just touched with her palm.

At this moment, Zhang Pei's phone call suddenly stopped. She glanced at the row in front of her, feeling guilty about being exposed, and then stared at Mu Chenan with her whole body on guard.

Mu Chenan smiled and didn't make any other movements. He raised his hand to untie his tie and placed it between their seats. The collar of his gray shirt was slightly open, and there was a sense of maturity and abstinence on his deep eyebrows.

Qi Yu hadn't seen him for a long time. The last time they met alone was in the eldest brother's study, and there was a kiss with a chocolate flavor.

Even after a period of time, she still felt wary of him, afraid that he would act recklessly in front of others, and even more afraid that he would indulge himself behind their backs.

Zhang Pei hung up the phone and glanced at the rearview mirror. Seeing that Mu Chenan had finally woken up, he asked with concern, "How long has it been since you last slept? You're working so hard that you're risking your life."

"I haven't slept for almost thirty hours. I wanted to take a break while it was quiet." There was not much emotion in Mu Chenan's tone. Due to lack of sleep, his voice became a little hoarse.

Qi Yu glanced at him sideways, obviously a little surprised.

The CEO of a group doesn't even have time to sleep. Is he torturing himself, or working hard for someone?

Mu Chenan felt her warm gaze, and a beautiful guess suddenly came to his mind. He raised his thin lips and asked, "What? Are you worried about your second brother?"

Zhang Pei also turned around with a smile on his face, wanting to join in their conversation.

Qi Yu was speechless for a moment, suddenly finding himself in a dilemma, and could only nod silently helplessly.

"Chen An, I'm so envious. It's really nice to have a sister who cares about you." Zhang Pei joked.

Mu Chenan nodded lightly, his brows relaxed, and he seemed to be in a good mood.

Looking at this situation, Zhang Pei estimated that after the Spring Festival, the two people would have reconciled, so there was no real conflict between them.

Arriving at the hotel in the ancient town, the three got off the car and, led by the waiter, entered a reserved new Chinese-style private room.

As soon as he sat down, Qiao Yijing appeared with his new girlfriend.

Zhang Pei stood up and greeted him with a smile: "I thought you, a local, would arrive earlier."

Qiao Yijing is considered a local because his family has been developing the tourism industry in this third-tier city for many years, and the Yuening Ancient Town is his family's commercial development project.

Qiao Yijing released his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders and made a gesture of surrender and begging for mercy.

"My new driver didn't know the way and took a long time to get here."

Immediately afterwards, Qi Yu stood up and greeted him.

"Mr. Qiao, long time no see."

"Hey, Qi Yu, you've become prettier again." Qiao Yijing laughed heartily and pulled the woman next to him over to introduce her to his friends, "This is my girlfriend, Shu Ya."

Qi Yu waved and greeted enthusiastically with a friendly smile on her face, thinking that finally there was another girl, and she would definitely not be bored anymore.

But Shuya simply curled her lips in response, and she seemed to have no intention of having a deep communication with Qi Yu.

Shu Ya held Qiao Yijing's arm and clung to him tightly. The two chose to sit opposite Qi Yu. She felt a little lost, but this feeling quickly passed.

Before the meal officially started, the waiter brought a few plates of appetizers, including spicy fish, pickled radish, peanuts, hawthorn slices...

Zhang Pei and Qiao Yijing hadn't seen each other for a long time. The friends had a lot to talk about, and Shu Ya occasionally interjected a few words.

Mu Chenan was looking at his phone, seemingly arranging work.

Qi Yuyu was bored, so she picked up her chopsticks to eat some food, and no one talked to her.

"Eat less and save room for the food later." Mu Chenan stood up and moved to the empty seat on her left, tapping the table with his fingertips and reminding her softly.

Qi Yu put down his chopsticks, supported his chin with one hand, and waited for the food to be served.

"Are you tired from filming recently?" Mu Chenan casually brought up the topic.

She responded by shaking her head, obviously too lazy to speak.

Mu Chenan didn't get annoyed, and asked with ulterior motives: "I heard that my brother has been very busy recently. He is going abroad for an exchange on behalf of the school. Is he free to contact you?"

"Yeah." Qi Yu responded casually.

The eldest brother contacted her at a normal frequency, and they would greet each other every one or two days. They were both busy and had no extra time to chat.

Upon hearing the answer, Mu Chenan's face fell, and his displeased expression radiated to the other side.

Zhang Pei hadn't listened carefully to what the two people were talking about. Sensing the bad atmosphere, he shouted, "You two are not allowed to quarrel anymore."

Qiao Yijing asked curiously what was going on.

Zhang Pei explained, "When Qi Yu celebrated her birthday this year, Chen An and she had a conflict. The two of them didn't even see each other. I could only act as a peacemaker and persuade them to reconcile quickly."

Hearing this, Qiao Yijing smiled and said, "I love watching quarrels, especially watching Chen An get humiliated in front of his sister."

He has always been a bad friend and loves to laugh at his friends.

Mu Chenan's expression was indifferent. He raised his hand and took a sip of tea. He said sarcastically, "That's definitely not going to happen as you wish. Qi Yu and I have a very good relationship. She always thinks of me as her good brother."

Qi Yu's face froze slightly, but he had no way to refute.

At this time, the waiters brought the dishes one after another and everyone started eating.

Muchenan imitated his elder brother and used the serving chopsticks to pick up food for her several times, then snatched the last lamb chop from the plate and gave it to her.

"Eat more. You've lost weight."

Qi Yu ate the meat with big mouthfuls and retorted, "I just want to lose weight!"

Mu Chenan thought she looked funny, patted her on the back of the head, and lovingly advised her to eat slowly.

Qi Yu was suddenly touched by a big warm hand and dodged with a start. There was a hint of light anger in her beautiful and smart eyes, without any oppression, as if a little rabbit was showing off its power.

Mu Chenan withdrew his hand and ate slowly.

"Want to drink?" Qiao Yijing asked.

"I'll drink it. Chen An won't drink. He hasn't slept for a long time. Drinking might affect his sleep tonight." Zhang Pei refused on behalf of Mu Chen An and got a glass for himself.

Qiao Yijing drank some wine and heard that Qi Yu was filming here, so he decided to tell a story about Yuening Ancient Town.

After coming here, Qi Yu had been staying on the crew to film and didn't have much time to learn about this ancient town. Suddenly, he became interested and sat up straight to listen carefully.

"The ancient town is inhabited by local residents. There's a three-story brick and tile house not far from the entrance. Did you notice it?"

Zhang Pei and Shu Ya shook their heads, indicating that they didn't see it.

Mu Chenan looked nonchalant and probably wasn't listening seriously at all.

Qi Yu was deeply impressed by this house. After thinking for a moment, he said, "This blue-tiled house is right across from the B&B where I live. It looks quite old and seems uninhabited."

Qiao Yijing curled the corners of his mouth with a meaningful smile, and deliberately knocked the edge of the table with his wine glass, intending to create an atmosphere of storytelling.

The rest of the people were unaware.

Before this, no one knew that he was going to tell a ghost story.

“It’s really old, because the house has been empty for many years.”

"Why? Since this place is going to be developed for tourism, it should be used rationally." Shu Ya asked, unconsciously continuing the story.

Qi Yu was also curious.

Yuening Ancient Town is becoming increasingly commercialized, but it is precisely this blend of simplicity and modernity that attracted the crew, so they chose it as the filming location for the TV series.

Qiao Yijing continued, "Why? Because many years ago, a supernatural event occurred in this blue-tiled house. The owner invited four neighbors from town to play mahjong at his home. The owner served them tea and water. They played mahjong until late at night. When the four of them were about to leave and go home, they habitually calculated their wins and losses. As a result, they found that everyone had won money."

Zhang Pei frowned slightly and murmured strangely, "No matter what kind of card game it is, it's impossible for everyone to win."

Shu Ya echoed: "Yeah, it's so creepy. Where's the master? Where did he go?"

Qi Yu drank some water nervously, feeling a little scared, but still listening attentively to Qiao Yijing continue speaking.

Mu Chenan frowned and finally interrupted, "You'd better stop talking so much."

Shu Ya clamored to hear it, Qiao Yijing smiled, patted her shoulder and said, "Then I'll tell you when I get back."

“No.”

Qiao Yijing shrugged helplessly and continued, "The four of them couldn't find the owner in the house. They waited until dawn the next day and found him coming back from outside. He had no recollection of inviting four people to his house to play mahjong. He couldn't explain where he had disappeared to that night. The four of them later suspected the house was haunted, so the owner deliberately called them in to verify the phenomenon, but he took the opportunity to run away."

"Where is the ghost?" Zhang Pei didn't think there was anything scary about this story. The word "ghost" was not mentioned in the whole story, and the conclusion that there was a ghost in the end was just the guess of the four people.

Qiao Yijing looked casual and natural.

"The ghost has been in the blue-tiled house all this time. Everyone won money. This is a warning from the ghost. Otherwise, the owner wouldn't have left the house empty. I sent people several times to buy his house at a high price and turn it into a street-facing shop, but he refused, fearing that he would anger the spirits occupying his house."

As men, Zhang Pei and Muchenan have always been very courageous and did not think that this story was scary at all. Besides, it was difficult to tell whether it was true or not, and it might not be true.

After hearing the story, Shu Ya hugged Qiao Yijing's arms tightly, with fear on her delicate face, saying that she was so scared.

Mu Chenan couldn't stand the woman's delicate appearance. On the other hand, Qi Yu remained silent throughout and remained calm and composed.

After a while, the conversation at the table turned to other topics, and Mu Chenan noticed that Qi Yu was staring at the table, holding the chopsticks for several minutes without moving.

He waved his hand in front of her eyes, forcing her to come back to her senses.

“Are you full?”

Qi Yu pursed her lips and shook her head, finally unable to hide her uneasiness. Her face wrinkled pitifully, and she said frankly, "I'm scared too."

Mu Chenan was stunned for a moment and suddenly found it funny.

“What’s so scary about it?”

Qi Yu's eyes looked particularly helpless and fragile.

"That blue-tiled house is right across from the guesthouse I'm staying at. I live on the second floor and can see it from the window. I've only been here a few days and found it strange that no one has lived there."

Mu Chenan didn't think too much about it at first, and just comforted her: "It's okay, just close the windows when you go to bed at night, and don't listen to Qiao Yijing's nonsense."

"But I still feel scared and now I don't dare to go back." Qi Yu shuddered, wondering whether to move to another place tonight.

She and the main actors stayed in the best B&B in the ancient town, while the other crew members stayed in a business hotel five kilometers away.

Ever since she heard this story, she felt uneasy for no reason and even forgot to eat the half bowl of rice left in her bowl.

"What should I do? I have to go back to the hotel in the main city after dinner."

Mu Chenan spoke in a casual tone, appearing to not care about her feelings, but in fact he had already noticed the fragility and sensitivity in her expression, and planned to wait quietly for her to ask him to stay.

Qi Yu couldn't leave the ancient town with him. She had a scene to shoot tomorrow morning and it would be too late for her to run back and forth.

She would be alone in the room tonight and would definitely not be able to sleep well. She might spend the whole night in fear and worry, and she didn't know what to do.

Now, it seems that she can only strengthen her heart. After all, she has not encountered any strange things in the B&B for so many days.

She took a chopstick of vegetables, chewing like a machine, and kept encouraging herself in her heart. But as the dinner was about to end and she was about to return to the B&B, she felt an indescribable fear in her heart.

Mu Chenan glanced at her sideways, then suddenly stood up and said, "I'm going back to the hotel to sleep first. Zhang Pei, you can take Yijing's car back."