Deliberate Possession [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Diary

“What are Big Joker and Little Joker? Poker cards?” Su Mumu glanced at them, thought for a moment, and then nodded. “However, the gray clown is indeed the Little Joker.”

Jiang Yumian licked her lips and quietly explained, “We were playing Fight the Landlord last night, and two cards were missing: the Big Joker and the Little Joker…”

As she spoke, she couldn’t help but move closer to Jing Xiaoyan.

It wasn’t so bad when she wasn’t thinking about it, but the moment she did, she was afraid. This was what Jiang Yumian feared most. She didn’t dare to close her eyes for fear of the images flashing in her mind.

Chu Qianyuan looked bewildered, blinking. “You played cards yesterday and didn’t invite me?”

Su Mumu nudged her, whispering a reminder, “You’re getting off topic.”

As they chatted and ate, the staff came over to remind them that the equipment was about to be turned on and to get ready.

Jing Xiaoyan looked at them. Turning on the cameras while they were still eating breakfast meant they were getting to the core of the matter.

It didn’t actually matter whether the three of them played with those cards or not. After all, the Big Joker and Little Joker would certainly appear in the later recording. However, after playing, they knew more, which led them to inevitably guess, and guessing made them scared.

So, the cards were intentionally used to frighten them.

The frightened expressions of the others confirmed this. This breakfast was being eaten with a chill down their spines.

The director truly had a wicked heart.

Luo Cheng shrank her neck. “So the Little Joker is out. Then, then, then, where is the Big Joker?”

Xie Yunhuan’s face was pale. The gray clown and the person with the pure white mask were scary enough, and now he was told there was another one.

“How about we finish the recording in one day? Not two days. I don’t want to stay here anymore.” He spoke without shame. He was timid, and he really couldn’t take it anymore.

Jiang Yumian also nodded vigorously. “Yes, I think that works!”

Lu Zhi was a little surprised that they planned to finish the recording in one day. Were these people so diligent that they didn’t need a break?

It wasn’t until a staff member said they didn’t dare to sleep here for a second night that she realized. They were probably frightened today.

But were all these people so timid?

Lu Zhi decided not to show up. She felt like they would scold her. She nodded, looking at the assistant next to her. “Fine, if they don’t want to rest, then let them finish the recording in one day. The post-production team will have an extra day for editing, so they won’t be so rushed.”

That was a good point.

Since they were rushing to finish filming and leave today, they would start shooting immediately.

Hearing the director agree, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Chu Qianyuan pointed at the camera. “Lu Zhi, at least you have some conscience. I won’t scold you today.”

Su Mumu pinched her on the back of the neck.

She was so arrogant.

While eating breakfast, a few people finally realized something was wrong. Only the eight of them were left in the small breakfast room. All the staff members from earlier were gone.

Jing Xiaoyan put down her chopsticks and walked to the door, twisting the doorknob. As expected, it wouldn’t budge. She turned back to the people at the table and said, “The door won’t open.”

Jiang Yumian was stunned. “It’s starting already?”

Chu Qianyuan walked to another door and opened it. The door actually opened. She had wondered why such a small room had two doors.

“They probably want us to go this way.”

Chu Qianyuan held Su Mumu’s hand before daring to peek out the door. It wasn’t pitch black inside, just a small corridor with bright lights.

As the group walked out the door, Luo Cheng suddenly realized, “So, we’re playing an escape room adventure?”

She thought they were just here to find the reason for Jiang Xiaomian’s abnormality. She hadn’t expected such a large villa to have a secret room.

Jiang Yumian and Jing Xiaoyan walked at the back. Although there were lights, she felt uneasy. She kept thinking that the unknown “Big Joker” would suddenly appear to scare them.

She no longer cared about distance and moved closer to Jing Xiaoyan, almost pressing against her as she walked.

Chu Qianyuan and Su Mumu stopped ahead. A door appeared before them, and a sign that read [Grade 1 (10) Class] was hanging on the wall.

Lin Xi looked up and asked, “Is that a classroom inside?”

Just as Su Mumu reached out to push the door open to see what was inside, the corridor lights instantly went out.

“Aow!” Xie Yunhuan, without shame, covered his head and screamed, startling the group into huddling together, hesitating to move.

It was Jing Xiaoyan who finally couldn’t stand it. She pushed the crowd from behind, moving them, and then they all took small, hurried steps into the room.

Jing Xiaoyan had one arm around Jiang Yumian and the other pushing Ling Yisong’s back shoulder. She wondered if all eight of them were timid.

She was initially scared too, but she was only afraid of being alone. Now that so many people were scared here, she seemed to not be afraid anymore.

She suddenly felt a little helpless.

If even one brave person were here, she would probably be hiding too.

Chu Qianyuan clung to Su Mumu, adamantly refusing to move. “No, no, there’s something up ahead!”

Su Mumu’s throat tightened. “I, I’ll look for the light switch.”

“No, no! I’m scared!”

As soon as Su Mumu took a step, she was pulled back by Chu Qianyuan and hugged tightly.

Su Mumu put her arm around her. She was actually terrified herself, but Chu Qianyuan was even more scared, so she could only pretend to be strong.

Just as they were deadlocked, the room lights came on.

It was Jiang Yumian, who had her eyes closed and was blindly pressing against the wall. The light switch in a typical classroom is near the entrance, and she actually guessed correctly.

Everyone collectively sighed in relief. They saw the layout inside: neatly arranged desks and chairs, and a blackboard. It was indeed a classroom.

The “thing” Chu Qianyuan saw ahead was just a podium.

After the lights came on, Jing Xiaoyan let go of Jiang Yumian’s hand. She rummaged around inside for a bit and quickly found Jiang Xiaomian’s books on a desk.

“This must be Jiang Xiaomian’s desk. Was this her first year of high school?” Jiang Yumian flipped through the books on the desk. The first page of each was written [Grade 1 (10) Class Jiang Xiaomian]. The handwriting was neat and beautiful. Underneath were a few test papers and a homework book.

Lin Xi leaned over to look, teasing, “No, no, this is your desk. Let Mom see how your first-year grades were. Were you as rebellious then?”

Jiang Yumian pouted. “You’re getting too into character.”

All those acting scenes ended yesterday, she wasn’t Jiang Xiaomian anymore.

Lin Xi flipped through the test papers. “They’re all math. The scores fluctuate wildly. There are scores over 100, and scores in the 70s.”

This was a bit different from what they learned yesterday. Yesterday, the teachers at the school praised her for her good grades and the fact that she acted so arrogantly, as if she knew the answers but intentionally got them wrong.

Su Mumu took the homework book and looked at it. It was also math. The homework was decent, seeming to be a middle-to-upper average grade. Not bad, but not excellent either.

She put the homework back and thought for a moment. “Maybe her math scores weren’t very stable in the first year.”

Chu Qianyuan wanted to see if there was anything else in the drawer. She pulled the chair back to sit down, but the chair wouldn’t move, as if it was glued to the floor.

She was confused. “It won’t move?”

Ling Yisong moved the other chairs. “These can move.”

“I found my desk.” Xie Yunhuan’s voice came from the side. He was with Luo Cheng, looking for other clues.

His desk had a student ID card, written with “Student Xie,” and a younger photo of him.

Jiang Yumian looked over. “Are there any special clues?”

Luo Cheng took two crumpled pieces of paper from the drawer. “Just these two.”

“They look like passing notes.”

Luo Cheng opened one and read as she spoke. “One says this Student Xie is discussing with others how to bully Jiang Xiaomian, how to scare her, imitating how they bully female classmates on TV, deliberately gluing her chair, putting scary bugs in her desk. Jiang Xiaomian isn’t the only girl they bullied. It says it was her turn this time because they didn’t like her.”

It sounded like they were repeat offenders who had done this many times, very arrogant.

Lin Xi angrily kicked the chair, frowning. “So, they glued this chair?”

Jing Xiaoyan pursed her lips, bent down, and looked inside the drawer. She took out a diary and a few test papers. There were no bugs. The drawer was clean.

“These are test papers from the second half of the semester. Math scores are consistently above 120.”

Jing Xiaoyan looked at each test paper, then paused as she handed them over, and opened the diary to read.

“February 27th, it’s been a few days since school started. Those classmates are playing pranks on me again. I’m actually not afraid of bugs, so I didn’t tell Mom. But they don’t see my fear, so they don’t feel accomplished and will bully me more. So I can only pretend to be scared, but I’m so tired, and I can’t study properly at all. I’m starting to fall behind in my studies.

High school is so tiring. I can’t hold on anymore. I told Mom I wanted to take a few days off to rest at home, just a few days, just a few days would be enough, but Mom said it was nothing, that she went through the same thing. She said high school is tiring, which is normal. She said she bought me a new dress to cheer me up, to study hard and not overthink. She said she loves me. Hmm, what she said is quite right.”

“March 5th, I’m so tired, and it’s so noisy. My deskmate is afraid of bugs. She couldn’t take it anymore and switched seats.”

“March 10th, too tired. My aunt came to the school. She helped me talk to the teacher. They finally stopped bullying me. My aunt cried when she left. She saw me being wronged and felt sorry for me. She asked me to go home and live with her, but I didn’t agree. Mom is waiting for me at home. She works so hard. I can’t make her worry.”

“March 11th, so tired. My aunt and Mom argued. She said Mom didn’t care about me and wasn’t sorry for me. I told my aunt that Mom is also tired and that she does care about me. My aunt said I was foolish.

After my aunt left, Mom hugged me and cried, apologizing, saying she loves me. She said Dad is gone, and told me to study hard, that I’d be the only one she could rely on in the future.”

“March 14th, they started bullying me again. I fought back, but it seemed useless. They got even more excited.”

“March 20th, a classmate has been coming to see me these past few days. Her classroom is across from mine, quite far away. She actually wants to be friends with me. I didn’t dare to talk to her until today when I saw her tidying up my drawer. I realized that the reason my desk has been clean these past few days is because she’s been helping me. We’ve become good friends.”

“March 21st, this older sister is in the top class. She’s so amazing. She said she’d help me with my homework and study with me. She’s so good to me.”

“April 7th, with my sister accompanying me, my grades finally improved, and no one is bullying me anymore. She’s really incredible.”

“April 25th, those classmates who bullied me actually came to apologize. It’s all thanks to my sister. I really like her. I asked her why she helped me. She said she saw me being bullied when she was across the hall. She felt very sorry for me. She said I was very cute and that she liked me.”

“May 7th, my grades made it into the top ten of the class. The teacher praised me, and classmates slowly started playing with me. That’s great.”

After reading the diary, Jiang Yumian sighed heavily.

Xie Yunhuan lightly cleared his throat, breaking the relatively somber atmosphere. “I have another note here. It must have been written on the day they apologized to Jiang Xiaomian, discussing how to apologize, but the attitude doesn’t seem very sincere.”

Jing Xiaoyan flipped through the diary again. Before they could discuss anything further, Chu Qianyuan had already opened the door.

“Mumu, praise me!”

Su Mumu stood next to her and gave her a thumbs-up. Amazing.

Everyone walked over, seeing the unlocked combination lock in her hand, and were dumbfounded. They were just reading the diary, and the door was already open?

Jiang Yumian blinked. “How did you open it?”

Chu Qianyuan pointed to the math problem on the blackboard. “It’s just a set theory problem from Grade 1. Finding the range. It’s not difficult.”

Jing Xiaoyan nodded and walked over. Chu Qianyuan was always very good at academics.

Thinking they had finished reading the information inside, she held the notebook and saw them crowding the doorway. “Then why aren’t you leaving?”

Chu Qianyuan stepped back. “You go first.”

She pointed to the dark corridor. It felt very long. The light from the door only illuminated a short section.

It was eerie and gave them the chills.

Jing Xiaoyan looked left and right, her gaze stopping on Ling Yisong’s face.

Ling Yisong: “…”

He was on the verge of tears. Why was she pushing him forward just now, and not letting him off the hook now!

In the end, he and Jing Xiaoyan walked at the front, with Xie Yunhuan and Luo Cheng bringing up the rear.

They moved inch by inch on this path. They walked for several minutes and hadn’t even reached the halfway point.

Lu Zhi sat in front of the screen, completely exasperated. Why were all eight of them so useless? If they continued walking like this, when would they ever finish?

She took a walkie-talkie and instructed the staff inside, “Don’t wait for them to reach the middle. Blow the air machine now.”

Jing Xiaoyan walked in front, her hand being held by Jiang Yumian behind her. She patted Ling Yisong next to her. “Do you feel a breeze coming through?”

Ling Yisong was startled by her words. Before he could answer, the small breeze started to blow, hitting them head-on.

Lin Xi, walking in the middle, was also being blown hard despite having people blocking her. She said irritably, “Where is this sudden gust of wind coming from!”

Jiang Yumian held her breath, not speaking. Although Jing Xiaoyan was shielding her, the wind still made it hard for her to breathe.

She pressed forward against Jing Xiaoyan’s back and quietly inhaled. She felt better now. Just as she was about to take a step forward, the person in front suddenly turned around, hugged her, and pressed her hand on the top of her head.

She heard Ling Yisong’s scream in her ear.

Chu Qianyuan was so scared her voice trembled. “Oh my god!”

Su Mumu was pushed backward by the crowd, not daring to look up. “What’s wrong!”

Ling Yisong knew to avoid suspicion. He couldn’t hug one person and didn’t dare to touch another, so he just squatted down in fear. “Up ahead, up ahead is the Little Joker! The gray clown!”

Perhaps squatting felt safer. The whole group squatted down.

Lu Zhi stifled a laugh, then closed her eyes and sighed heavily. They were only given a brief glimpse of the Little Joker at the end of the path, and they were already this scared. If they retreated further, they’d go back to the start.

She picked up the walkie-talkie and said with an exasperated laugh, “Arrange for the other one too. Don’t wait. Looking at them, forget two days, they won’t even finish in three days if we wait any longer.”

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