Do you really have to mess with people like this

Before Yoshie had a chance to say anything, the bathroom door at the end of the corridor on her left opened a crack.

Qingxia poked her head out and called, “Why did the power go out?”

“I don’t know. It suddenly went out. Maybe it’s because of the thunderstorm,” Yoshie replied.

“More importantly, the water stopped too! I was just about to rinse off the shower gel, but the water stopped before I could. What am I supposed to do?” Qingxia shouted.

Just then, someone called from upstairs, “Su Yang!”

“What is it?” Su Yang called back.

“Can you come upstairs for a moment? The water and power are out.”

“Me?”

“Sis Mie, you come up too,” Qingxia called to Yoshie.

“Oh, okay.” Yoshie took out her phone and turned on the flashlight, then said with a smile, “Su-san, it rained and the power went out last time too. And now it’s happened again.”

Su Yang smiled helplessly. “What a coincidence.”

“Hey, can you two stop chatting and hurry? Sis Mie, come over here!”

“Okay, okay. I’m coming.” Yoshie smiled and headed toward the bathroom.

Su Yang went upstairs as well. He soon reached the bedroom and asked, “Where are you?”

“Where do you think I am? I’m in the bathroom.”

“Dry yourself off, put on some clothes, and come out.”

“I... I’m covered in shower gel. How am I supposed to dry myself?”

“Wait, you didn’t rinse off either?”

“What do you mean, ‘either’?”

Su Yang slapped his forehead and walked to the bathroom door. “Never mind. Why did you call me up here?”

“I... I’m a little scared. The power suddenly went out, and I can’t see a thing. I wanted you to come up and keep me company while we wait for the power to come back. Then I’ll finish rinsing off and come out.”

Hearing this, Su Yang smiled helplessly and leaned against the doorway. “What if the power doesn’t come back tonight? Are you planning to stay in there forever?”

“It won’t come to that, will it?” Li Yuanying asked worriedly.

“How do you know? If the power only flickers, it usually comes back after a few seconds. But it’s already been out for several minutes, so I’d guess it won’t be coming back anytime soon.”

“What? Does it have to be this troublesome?” Li Yuanying complained.

“I’m telling you, don’t wait around anymore. Dry yourself off, put on some clothes, and come out. You can rinse off again once the water and power return.”

“It’s uncomfortable! I’m covered in shower gel. It’ll feel awful just wiping it off.”

“Then stay in there. I’m going downstairs.”

“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t go!” Li Yuanying hurriedly shouted. “Fine, fine, I’ll wipe it off.”

“That’s more like it. Hurry up, then.”

“But...”

“What now?” Su Yang asked.

“I threw the bath towel onto the bed after my shower. Could you bring it in for me?”

“There’s only one towel in there? I thought there were two.”

“You used the other one last night! It’s still wet!”

“You’ve got to be kidding. How could I get a whole bath towel wet just drying myself off?”

“Oh, stop arguing. Just bring me the one on the bed.”

“Fine, fine.” Su Yang turned around, walked to the bed, picked up the towel, and returned to the bathroom door. “Open the door.”

“Don’t look at me when I open it, okay?”

Su Yang rolled his eyes. “It’s pitch-black in here. Even if I wanted to look, I couldn’t see anything!”

“Oh, right.” Li Yuanying giggled and opened the bathroom door.

Thinking Su Yang couldn’t see her, she didn’t merely open it a crack. Instead, she pushed it all the way open.

Su Yang stared at Li Yuanying for two seconds, then handed her the towel. “Not bad. You’ve got a pretty good figure.”

“Ahh! You said you couldn’t see!” Before Li Yuanying could take the towel, she quickly ducked behind the wall.

“Stop hiding. I didn’t see anything,” Su Yang said with a laugh.

“Then why did you say I had a good figure?”

“I could see a silhouette. Does that not count?”

“Oh... Is that so? Fine... I guess.”

Li Yuanying stepped back into the doorway and reached out to take the towel.

But just then, click—the bedroom suddenly lit up.

Li Yuanying’s outstretched hand froze in midair. The two of them met eyes—or rather, Li Yuanying stared at Su Yang’s eyes.

Su Yang, however, wasn’t looking at her eyes. His gaze was directed downward.

For a brief one and a half seconds, the air seemed to freeze.

Then Li Yuanying’s face visibly flushed. She snatched the towel from him and slammed the door shut.

“Seriously? Did the power do that on purpose? It picked the perfect moment to come back,” Su Yang muttered to himself with a smile.

He replayed the scene in his mind, then turned around and sat down on the bed.

Li Yuanying didn’t make a sound. She turned on the shower to test it, and a few seconds later, water began pouring out again.

Worried that the power might go out again, she quickly rinsed the shower gel off her body, dried herself, put on some clothes, and came out.

Su Yang turned to look at her and smiled. “All rinsed off?”

Li Yuanying glared at him. “I’m so mad.”

“Who made you mad?”

“That stupid power!” she said angrily as she walked out of the bedroom.

Su Yang smiled and quickly followed her.

By then, Qingxia had finished rinsing off downstairs and was sitting on the sofa with Yoshie.

When the two of them came down, Qingxia looked at Li Yuanying and asked, “Yuanying, are you done?”

“Yeah. This stupid power is such a pain. It made me—”

“Made you what?”

“Nothing... Go ahead and cut out again if you’ve got the nerve!”

The moment she finished speaking, crack—the room suddenly went completely dark again.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Li Yuanying nearly burst into tears. She turned to Su Yang. “Did you do this?”

Su Yang rolled his eyes at her. “Do you think I’m the God of Thunder? Can I control electricity?”

“Then why does it go out the moment I say something, and come back whenever it feels like it?”

Su Yang was speechless. “How should I know?” He walked over and sat down on the sofa.

Yoshie turned on her phone’s flashlight, barely illuminating the area around the sofa. Li Yuanying quickly ran over and sat down beside Su Yang.

“At least I didn’t wash my hair the second time. Otherwise, who knows when it would’ve dried.”

“Ugh, we were going to watch a movie, but who knows if the power will come back,” Qingxia said, leaning against the sofa.

“Who knows? The power’s acting really strange tonight. What time is it?” Su Yang asked Yoshie.

“Nine.”

“It’s only nine? I thought it was already eleven.”

Li Yuanying took off her shoes and sat cross-legged on the sofa. “What do we do now?”

“Let’s just sit here for a while. It’s too early to go to bed, and we probably wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway,” Su Yang replied.

“Fine. I guess that’s all we can do.”

Yoshie turned off her phone’s flashlight. The first floor fell into pitch darkness, and the four of them leaned back against the sofa without saying anything for the time being.

Nobody played with their phones. They simply sat there.

“Is this for real? Why is no one saying anything? This is so creepy,” Li Yuanying suddenly said.

Su Yang rested both hands behind his head against the back of the sofa and replied, “There’s nothing wrong with sitting quietly for a while. This kind of atmosphere is perfect for contemplating life.”

“Contemplating life? There’s nothing for me to contemplate. I’m the master of my own life. I don’t need to think about it.”

“Stop talking for a moment and just take in this moment.”

“What am I supposed to take in?”

“Quiet down and listen carefully to the rain outside. Sounds like that can cleanse the soul.”

Li Yuanying turned and rolled her eyes at Su Yang. Yoshie and Qingxia didn’t say anything either, and for the moment, she couldn’t think of anything else to talk about, so she fell silent.

The atmosphere sank into silence once again.

Su Yang closed his eyes. At that moment, Li Yuanying was sitting to his left, while Yoshie and Qingxia were sitting to his right.

The different scents wafting from the three of them suddenly made it hard for Su Yang to keep his mind calm.

Su Yang opened his eyes and shook his head. “Stay calm, stay calm. Otherwise, I’m going to commit a crime. Phew…”

He forced himself to push the chaotic thoughts from his mind.

The four of them sat there doing nothing for another ten minutes, but the power still hadn’t come back. Li Yuanying really couldn’t sit still any longer, so she spoke up again. “If we don’t say something soon, I’m going to fall asleep. Let’s have a drink!”

“Drinking again?” Qingxia replied. “My head still hurts a little from drinking yesterday.”

“What else are we supposed to do? My phone’s almost out of battery, too. I can’t even play with it.”

“Didn’t you bring a power bank?”

“That’s out of battery as well.”

“Okay, then.”

“It’s still early. If you don’t want to sit here, go back to your room and sleep. The rest of us will stay here and wait for the power to come back.” Su Yang turned to her as he spoke.

“I’m not going.”

“Then sit or lie down—whatever you want. You’d just be doing the same thing in your room anyway. We might as well stay here together on the sofa for a while.”

“Exactly. Besides, it’s pitch-black during a power outage. Being alone in a room is kind of scary.” Qingxia chimed in.

“Scary? Hey, why don’t I tell you all a ghost story?”

Li Yuanying suddenly grew interested and grinned.

......