222. Lin Nan’s Past 【37/170】
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As the movie kicked off, the room was filled with a relatively harmonious vibe.
Wu Guodong and his nephew, Wu Jiaming, were discussing the recent international situation like two distinguished diplomats. Liu Xinyi, leaning against the well-ventilated window while puffing on a cigarette, occasionally perked up to throw a question in between huffs. Then there was Lin Nan, crumpled up like a burrito in the corner, feeling like a lost sock at a laundry party.
“Hey, Xinyi, when did you start smoking?” Wu Guodong shot her an annoyed look, then retrieved a cigarette of his own, handing one to Wu Jiaming while wagging his finger. “Girls shouldn’t smoke!”
“I’m just having fun,” Liu Xinyi shrugged, couldn’t care less about the judgment.
Suddenly, Lin Nan realized she was the only one in the room who didn’t smoke.
Wu Jiaming waved his hands in protest, busy chatting with his girlfriend on his phone.
“When are you going to get married, Cousin Jiaming?” Liu Xinyi, our nosy little gossip and queen of curiosity, leaned in. “I heard you have a girlfriend!”
“When haven’t I?” Wu Jiaming smirked, looking up. “I’m barely in my twenties; I’m not rushing to the altar.”
Wu Guodong was quaking in his boots at the topic, determined to blend into the wallpaper.
“Uncle hasn’t gotten married yet, and if he does, we still have our big cousin at twenty-five on top of that. What’s the rush?” Wu Jiaming kicked back, suddenly glancing at Lin Nan. “But honestly, Nan, you might be the first of us to tie the knot, right?”
Lin Nan, all balled up against the wall, silently rolled her eyes before finally looking up and weakly explaining, “It was just a loan! Not a betrothal gift!”
“You may see a loan, but they might think it’s a betrothal gift,” Cousin Jiaming teased. “What if someone’s after your heart and you don’t even realize?”
“I do realize!” Lin Nan pouted, turning her head away, her cheeks slightly flushed.
Liu Xinyi, with a sly grin, leaned closer to Lin Nan, who was submerged in her blankets. “Cousin, you haven’t… given it away yet, have you?”
Lin Nan’s face turned a deeper shade of red as she dragged the blanket over half her face, leaving just her eyes exposed. “No…”
“You sound super guilty!”
But seriously, it almost happened.
“Come on, spill the tea about this guy! Got photos? Is he rich? How old is he?” Liu Xinyi nudged Lin Nan, sporting a smirk that said girls know what’s what.
But Lin Nan was utterly lost.
“We’re just really close friends… that’s why he lent me money for surgery.” Lin Nan shot back. “And don’t you think you’re accepting this a bit too easily? You don’t find it strange that a cousin’s a cousin and a sister’s a sister?”
“Aren’t you already playing the sister role?”
It was true! But even so, her casual acceptance was a little unsettling.
Lin Nan had no comeback and turned her gaze back to the wall where the movie projected.
The plot finally started progressing with some tension, and thankfully, it was a bit less horrifying, which eased Lin Nan’s nerves. The atmosphere from the movie, however, was getting tenser by the second, making everyone’s emotions run high.
Gradually, conversation faded, and all four were absorbed in the film.
After a long stretch of no jump scares, they leaned closer to dissect the plot quietly. Just as Lin Nan started to relax, the movie plunged into a tense scene. The sound effects ramped up as the main character started feeling the heat, and tension wrapped around Lin Nan like a tightening vice.
“Cousin, are you really that scared?” Liu Xinyi glanced over at Lin Nan, only to find her subtly shaking.
“I’m fine…” Though her voice was composed, the moment a scare filled the screen with a ghostly figure, Lin Nan squealed, burying her face in the blanket like a startled turtle.
Her shriek jolted the other three into a mini heart attack—Lin Nan’s reaction was scarier than the movie!
The scream didn’t last long, but Lin Nan had thoroughly snuggled her head under the covers, quaking like a leaf.
“Wow, you scared the pants off me! You’re scarier than the movie,” Wu Jiaming chuckled, totally baffled by her extreme reaction.
“Didn’t you used to watch scary movies without squealing?” he continued, trying to fathom the upsized fright.
Liu Xinyi, on the other hand, was patting Lin Nan’s shoulder, gently comforting her cousin. “It’s alright, it’s alright. Just peek again. It’s not scary anymore.”
Hesitating, Lin Nan finally uncovered her eyes, but as soon as she did, the main character faced another ghostly encounter, accompanied by a crescendo of spooky music. This time, Lin Nan swallowed her scream but couldn’t control her shivers, burying her head back into the blanket again.
Liu Xinyi wore a mischievous grin.
I should have avoided scary movies entirely…
I thought all girls’ screams were just dramatic embellishments…
Now it seems like I’m doing the same!
Lin Nan was nearly crying from fear, her heart racing like a runaway train. Her head was swirling, and she trembled all over.
As a kid, she had her share of spooky movie fear, but for some reason, the older she got, the more terrified she became. Now, she actually questioned if ghosts existed and kept her distance from horror films.
Do I really have such a weak heart? This is so embarrassing…
Lin Nan abruptly threw off the blanket and announced, “I’m done! I’m going back to play on the computer.”
She flung the door open, only to find a pitch-black hallway outside. Apart from the glow from the projector in the bedroom, every other light was off.
The switch to the hallway light was probably about five feet away on the wall.
Taking a step forward, she suddenly felt countless eyes lurking in the shadows, and her feet froze like a deer in headlights.
Needless to say, she awkwardly backpedaled, turned around, and nervously asked the three inside, “Could someone, anyone, please turn on a light?”
Wu Guodong sighed and flicked the bedroom lights on. When he looked at Lin Nan, he couldn’t help but chuckle at his niece’s all-too-adorable, teary-eyed expression. It made him want to tease her more.
But Lin Nan clearly wasn’t going to endure this movie any longer.
Just as he thought about standing up, Liu Xinyi had already bounded off the bed, slipped on her slippers, and rushed over.
“I’ll help you! I didn’t want to watch anyway! Let’s go together.”
Liu Xinyi sidled up to the pitiful Lin Nan, opened the door, and marched straight to the switch, flipping on the hallway lights.
Lin Nan cautiously peered outside, then quickly retracted her head. “Can you turn on the lights upstairs and downstairs too…”
“You really are that scared?”
She mumbled as she darted back and forth a couple of times before finally flipping all the lights on throughout the three-story house. Now, the hallway was devoid of any shadowy corners.
Finally gathering her courage, Lin Nan stepped out, accompanied by Liu Xinyi, hurrying toward the upstairs bedroom.
Meanwhile, observing everything from the second-floor bedroom, Wu Jiaming couldn’t help but wonder, “Is Lin Nan really that afraid? Does being a girl diminish your courage?”
“You have no idea. She actually ran into a ghost when she went to the back mountain before.” Wu Guodong, no longer interested in the movie, stood up to tidy up the projector.
“You were in the provincial city during middle school. Lin Nan would sneak off to the back mountain after school and wouldn’t come back until around midnight, looking like a lost puppy, all dazed and confused.”
“Seriously?”
“Otherwise, why would your grandparents dote on Lin Nan so much?”
Wu Guodong reminisced, continuing, “Later, they even got a monk to ‘fix’ her. She’s fine now, no lasting effects, though her courage seems to have diminished—didn’t know it was this bad… Phew, Lin Nan has really had it tough since she was little.”
Just when Wu Jiaming thought he could handle horror movies, he suddenly felt a chill, twisting to glance out the window at the dark silhouette of the back mountain. He hurried to close the curtains.
Tonight is likely going to lead to some nightmares.
