Chapter 79 Looking at this makes me sick
Chang Xile covered Yang Guisi in her arms with one hand, and quickly picked up the fallen fox mask with the other hand. She faced the camera with her back straight, blocking Yang Guisi firmly.
Yang Guisi was trembling, thinking happily.
So she had to stay calm, otherwise her emotions would further affect Yang Guisi. Chang Xile could vaguely sense what the person in front of her was afraid of.
Chang Xile quickly and carefully tied the mask string behind Yang Guisi's head, then used both hands to steadily lift her up. She softly asked, "Are you okay? Should we end the live broadcast?"
Yang Guisi couldn't help but reach out and feel the mask shell. After making sure it was on his face, he took a deep breath and said to Chang Xile, "I'm fine. Keep going. Don't let all your efforts go to waste."
Jiang Yue grabbed the camera from the table, but seeing Yang Guisi had no intention of taking it, she had to temporarily control the camera. She zoomed in on the gray-black mass on the ground, then asked Chang Xile uncertainly, "So what is this thing..."
"You've already given the answer." Chang Xile squatted down and carefully observed the small animal that seemed to be in a defensive state, and replied, "It's a hedgehog."
"But, aren't we looking for the man in the crack of the wall? Why did a hedgehog appear instead?" Jiang Yue didn't understand.
Chang Xile looked at the hedgehog. It had just fallen from the ventilation duct on the wall. Given its small size and the free fall, the height was enough to seriously injure it. But perhaps thanks to the Qi-Concentrating Talisman thrown from Chang Xile, the hedgehog wasn't startled at all. It even breathed evenly, apparently still asleep.
Bubu, who had already jumped out of Jiang Yue's arms, fell to the ground and sniffed for a while. The kitten had lost its previous timid look. It came forward bravely and even had the courage to gently "push" the hedgehog's body with its claws.
"Bubu!" Jiang Yue was still unsure about the hedgehog's situation. She lowered her voice, scolded Bubu, and carried it back.
"There is no other man at all." Chang Xile smiled and raised his eyebrows to Jiang Yue, "Listen."
In the silence, the hedgehog's small body emitted heavy breathing, occasionally accompanied by a cough. This sound was almost identical to the strange male voice the three of them had heard just now, except that it was closer.
"It's also my fault for having a bad memory. I forgot that a hedgehog's cough makes the same sound as a human's." Chang Xile sighed.
"Really..." Jiang Yue exclaimed. She asked Chang Xile, "How did you know such unpopular knowledge?"
"When I was little, I often spent my summer vacations at my grandma's house." Chang Xile rested her elbows on her knees, her face in her hand as she recalled, "Back then, I loved sleeping in the same bed with my grandma. She always kept her room very clean, and she always smelled good..."
But little Chang Xile inexplicably disliked her grandpa. Grandma didn't know why, but she simply thought the older man's harsh voice had frightened the child. So whenever this little ancestor came, Grandpa would have to pack up and sleep in the guest room next door.
However, one night, little Chang Xile suddenly got up from her warm bed, looking unhappy and messy. She hugged her pillow and walked barefoot on the floor toward the door. Grandma was awakened by her movement and asked with hazy eyes, "Nannan, where are you going?"
"Grandpa's been snoring and coughing for half a month!" Chang Xile angrily pressed the doorknob, ready to go out and seek justice. She saw a figure half-lying on the sofa in the living room from a distance, and without hesitation, she raised her pillow and swung it at the figure twice.
"Eh? Eh! Who's that?" The man sitting on the sofa was startled by the two sudden blows, but Chang Xile was only in kindergarten after all, so his hands didn't have much strength. The two blows seemed like a joke, just to vent his anger.
"Grandpa, you should smoke and drink less in the future. The book says these bad habits can easily lead to snoring, and drinking can damage your throat. Your coughing has kept me awake for days..." Chang Xile advised him earnestly, like a little adult. These nights, the noise had kept her awake. Children need sleep to grow, and Chang Xile's lack of sleep had made her temper even more irritable.
"You're really wronging me!" Grandpa reached out and took the big pillow from Chang Xile's hand, pointing at the TV and saying, "I wasn't asleep just now, I was watching TV!"
Chang Xile glanced at the TV playing opera and said doubtfully, "Is that so? But I clearly heard..."
Besides her and Grandma, there was only Grandpa in the house. The snoring just now was also a man's voice. Who else could it be but him? Thinking of this, Chang Xile wanted to protest Grandpa for lying to the child. However, the two of them heard the same man's cough coming from Grandma's room.
Seeing Chang Xile's shocked expression, Grandpa laughed. He touched Chang Xile's head and said jokingly, "I'm afraid it's your grandma snoring! Look at you, you're so biased! Even the bad things done by grandma are blamed on your grandpa."
But just as she finished speaking, Grandma came out of the room, wearing a coat and holding a thin blanket. Seeing Chang Xile, she quickly walked over and hugged her with the blanket, muttering, "My little ancestor, you're running around barefoot, be careful not to catch a cold."
But Chang Xile did not throw herself into her grandmother's arms and act coquettishly as usual. She just looked at her blankly and then looked towards the room.
The three people living in this house are awake, so who made the fourth sound?
Chang Xile hadn't felt cold even when walking barefoot on the ground a moment ago, but now, goose bumps spread all the way from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. The two old men watched as Chang Xile's face turned pale.
Their granddaughter had sharp eyesight and always saw dirty things, which frightened her since she was a child. As a result, she developed a high fever that night.
That night, after Grandma and Grandpa turned on all the lights in the house to check, the unwanted coughing disappeared. But Chang Xile couldn't figure out where the sound came from. The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became, and the more frightened she became, the more she wondered about it.
The next day, grandma invited the village's exorcist to come and help, but after walking around the room several times, using various talismans and compasses for assistance, she still showed that there was no problem in the house.
It was truly bizarre. This old lady was always so mysterious. If she said there was no problem, then it really was. But all three of them had clearly heard the strange noise. Chang Xile wouldn't be able to sleep well until she found the source.
The powerful old lady warned them, "Don't let your children's words lead them astray. Could there be a thief in the house?"
Two elderly people with a child would be in serious trouble if they encountered a strong thief. They decided to call the police, believing it was better to believe it than not. However, the noises were so irregular that they couldn't find the source despite repeated searches. They figured even if there was a thief, he would have already taken the opportunity to escape.
This became a mysterious thing in the village at that time.
It was during the afternoon nap on the third day. The village was completely silent. Grandma was washing clothes in the yard when she saw Chang Xile running over to her, tugging at the corner of her clothes and whispering, "Come with me."
Chang Xile had been listless and listless since her fever broke that day, but now her eyes were bright. She lowered her voice, as if afraid of disturbing something, and took her grandmother's hand as she tiptoed back into the house.
As soon as she entered the house, the familiar coughing sound became clearer. Grandpa was out at the moment, and Grandma immediately became nervous, her palms sweating, and she began to look around for something handy, even planning to push Xile out to call for help.
But Chang Xile held her hand and made a "hush" gesture. She no longer looked scared, but smiled from ear to ear, patted her hand, and comforted her, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid."
The old lady hadn't seen Chang Xile so cheerful in a long time. Thinking something was amiss, she accompanied her granddaughter into the house. From a distance, she spotted a dislodged wooden plank and a speck of dirt in the corner of the room. Chang Xile let go of her hand, excitedly ran over to the spot, squatted, and waved to Grandma.
Following her gaze, grandma leaned over to look into the small hole, and finally found a hedgehog curled up in the gap between the wooden boards, breathing evenly in its sleep.
"This matter that had troubled our family for half a month was finally resolved," Chang Xile recalled, smiling. "Grandpa was very angry at the time and said I had wrongly accused a good person."
Yang Guisi had been listening quietly. When Chang Xile came to this part, he couldn't help but sigh, "They are so good to you."
Jiang Yue was amazed after hearing the story. After a while, she asked worriedly, "What should I do with this hedgehog?" Although the little guy was small, it was covered with thorns, and she didn't dare to touch it with her hands.
Bubu was still looking at the hedgehog curiously, and it meowed a few times as if communicating with it.
Chang Xile listened carefully to what Bubu said for a while and said in surprise, "Huh? It said the hedgehog has woken up."
"Is this true? Why isn't it moving?" Jiang Yue took a closer look. The hedgehog didn't move at all. If it weren't for the occasional rise and fall of its body due to breathing, it would be impossible to tell whether it was dead or alive.
However, Chang Xile felt that the hedgehog's body stiffened slightly as soon as she finished speaking.
Yang Guisi suddenly spoke up: "Hedgehogs are naturally timid and afraid of people. It was discovered when it came to your house to stay. When it woke up, there were three people surrounding it. Of course it didn't dare to wake up."
She stood up, clapped her hands and ordered, "Open the window, it will go away by itself in a while."
After they left the room, Yang Guisi took the camera from Jiang Yue. This "viewer submission commission" had come to an end. She was feeling down, ready to say a few closing remarks and close the livestream. However, Yang Guisi glanced at the number of people online and her eyes widened in surprise.
Just now, while they were waiting for the strange noise, their control over the situation was quite immature, and it was inevitable that they would turn the guests away. Moreover, even with so many props prepared in advance to deal with ghosts, the final result was still just "approaching science" and "approaching nature", which is really consistent with the style of the "Ghost Secretary" account, but the end result is the same...
But the livestream was surprisingly popular, with the number of people online far exceeding their combined follower count. The comments were constantly updating, so fast she couldn't even read them. From time to time, gorgeous special effects filled the screen, signaling someone was sending gifts.
Yang Guisi narrowed his eyes and read out the ID of the user who ranked first on the list: "Shuixiang?"
The barrage has long been a mess:
"It turns out it's neither a supernatural channel nor a legal column, but rather a program about man and nature..."
"I always watch Oni Si connecting with the audience online, but this time the format changed. I almost forgot her characteristics 2333"
"Ahhh, but if I hear a stranger's voice in my house, I'll be really scared. I'd never think it was a hedgehog. The host is very brave!"
"When the hedgehog fell just now, there was something transparent blocking it. Did you see it? What was that?"
"How many tens of thousands has my top brother on the Caobang rank spent? I'm a bit confused by numbers. Can someone help me count..."
"I just washed a few pairs of socks, how come it's over? What's wrong with that?"
"The host seemed to show his face just now, but I didn't get a screenshot. So annoying. Waiting for a kind person to give me a picture."
When Yang Guisi saw this, her eyebrows suddenly jumped. She felt a lump in her throat and could only say, "The live broadcast ends here." Chang Xile understood and added, "See you next time."
Gui Si ended the live broadcast.
Chang Xile held Yang Guisi's shoulders, a little worried: "Are you okay?"
Yang Guisi came back to her senses, shook her head, forced a smile, and said, "It's okay, let's pack up and go back."
When they returned to the study, the hedgehog had indeed left on its own. Jiang Yue thanked them again and again. Yang Guisi was absent-minded, but Chang Xile still touched Bubu's head and said with a smile, "Now Bubu doesn't have to be afraid anymore, and you can focus on your draft!"
When they left the house and checked the time, they realized that there was not much time left before the dormitory gate was closed. In order to avoid sleeping on the streets tonight, the two of them hurriedly started to hail a taxi.
Therefore, they didn't notice. The audience, still engrossed in the magical story, had formed a community to discuss it, and some even took their freshly recorded screens and began creating their own creations. Suddenly, terms like "Ghost Secretary," "Blue Eyes," "Hedgehog Cough," "My Cat is a Little Weird," and "Top Brother Shuixiang" slowly climbed to the top of the trending search list.
On the way back, Chang Xile and Yang Guisi sat at the two ends of the back seat of the taxi. Chang Xile turned his head to look at the other side, while Yang Guisi looked out the window, not knowing what he was thinking.
"Guisi, do you choose to wear a mask in public because you are camera-phobic?" Chang Xile put her hand on the back of Yang Guisi's slightly cold hand. She felt that Yang Guisi was still afraid.
Chang Xile speculated, "Are you afraid of the direct gaze from the audience?"
Nowadays, there are many anchors on the Internet who choose to show their faces during live broadcasts. Of course, there are also anchors who insist on not showing their faces, but they are not afraid of "exposing their appearance" to this extent.
Yang Guisi looked cool and arrogant, but in fact, he was very thoughtful. If Chang Xile didn't guide Yang Guisi to speak out a little bit tonight, she would definitely keep thinking about the "mask falling off" and couldn't fall asleep.
"Not exactly." Yang Guisi was silent for a long time before she spoke. "What I fear is someone's gaze. Once I reveal my appearance, every time I interact with the audience thereafter, it's possible that they're talking to me behind my back."
"…It makes me sick."
In a darkened room, a man sat in an office chair, watching a replay of the livestream. He stroked his cheek with his fingers, then chuckled softly, commenting, "Interesting."
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