Defeated By Love

Translated by Fairy_Dust

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Shu Nian nodded: “I have.” 

“You’re not afraid?” 

“I usually dub the supporting roles, the ones that are scared all the time.” When it came to the topic of dubbing, Shu Nian became more energetic. She thought back the memory and said: “I also dubbed a ghost which spoke like this——” 

Speaking to there, Shu Nian adjusted the state of her voice and her soft voice suddenly became sharper, hoarse and hysterical like two pieces of iron rubbing against each other. It sounded especially unbearable: “Give me back my life——!” 

“…” If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Xie Ruhe wouldn’t have believed that it was a sound produced from Shu Nian’s mouth. 

Fang Wencheng was probably not listening to their conversation and was shocked by the sudden ghost cry from Shu Nian. He suddenly slammed the car to a stop: “What the hell?!” 

Knowing that she scared him, Shu Nian felt a little guilty: “I’m sorry, I…” 

“It’s okay.” Fang Wencheng interrupted her and comforted her with a smile. “You sound pretty good.” 

The car started up again. 

Xie Ruhe asked: “Are you still afraid of ghosts now?” 

“When you’re dubbing, you have to immerse yourself in the character’s role. If you feel like you’re the ghost then you won’t be afraid.” Shu Nian’s shoulders fell. “But when I think about it afterwards, I would think the ghost that I dubbed was really scary.”

“…” 

Shu Nian honestly told him: “When I was alone during the dubbing period, I didn’t dare to speak.” 

Xie Ruhe looked at her: “Why?” 

Shu Nian carried a timid expression and answered in a low voice: “I was afraid of sounding like the ghost.” 

“…” 

Fang Wencheng drove the car into the community where Shu Nian lived and stopped outside the building. 

Because of his physical condition, Xie Ruhe didn’t get out of the car and continued to sit inside. Shu Nian said goodbye to both of them and got out before walking in the direction of the front entrance. 

Not much later, Xie Ruhe rolled down the window: “Shu Nian.” 

The cold wind blew over them and several dead leaves fell from a nearby tree. 

Shu Nian looked back: “En?” 

“If you are still afraid after you go home.” Xie Ruhe paused as if he didn’t know how to phrase his words. Several seconds later, he continued: “You can do what you did before.” 

Shu Nian didn’t understand his meaning: “Before?” 

Xie Ruhe didn’t explain any further. His eyes glimmered because of the street lamp and he raised the corners of his mouth at her. 

“Go home.” 

When she was in the car with Xie Ruhe, Shu Nian didn’t feel that afraid. However, the fear was still as persistent as when she watched it. 

Shu Nian had her heart in her throat and her mind was filled with the scene she just saw. When she was taking a shower, she didn’t dare to look in the mirror and when she closed her eyes, she felt that something strange was there next to her. 

In the short time span between putting clothes over her head after the shower, a thousand terrible thoughts came to her mind. 

Shu Nian had always told herself not to scare herself but it was useless. She went back to the bedroom with the script in her hands. This time though, she didn’t dare to find any movie that the second female lead had filmed in the past, instead, she found her interviews to listen to. 

Shu Nian listened to her voice and carefully wrote down some notes on the script. After a long while, she became sleepy and put the script on the bedside table. 

She took a second look and saw the mirror on her desk. She leaned over and put it faced down. 

Then, she buried herself in the quilt and slowly fell asleep. 

… 

… 

When she was young, Shu Nian didn’t know much and discovered many things little by little. She first learned about ghosts from a Hong Kong film called “Happy Ghost”.
  
Adults always liked to use that to tease their children. They would say words like, “if you don’t sleep then happy ghost will come to you at night”. 

Other children weren’t scared by it but Shu Nian started to be afraid of ghosts because of that. 

Later, zombie films began to be broadcasted on TV and Shu Nian was frightened by them everyday. She had to have the quilt raised to her neck when she slept in case she suddenly died in the middle of the night. 

Everyone who knew her also knew that Shu Nian was extremely afraid of ghosts. 

She wasn’t scared of anything except ghosts. She wasn’t afraid of the dark, going home alone, talking to bad people, rats or insects. She was only afraid of supernatural things. 

That time she met that pervert, Shu Nian was frightened for a few days but she soon forgot about it. She told Xie Ruhe that he didn’t need to send her home anymore but he just pretended to not hear it. 

After graduating from junior high school, Shu Gaolin came back from the city and gave Shu Nian a phone as a graduation gift. 

Although Shu Nian was very happy, it was not that useful to her. 

Because Xie Ruhe didn’t have a phone. 

And she had no one else to contact. 

Shiyan Town was a small place. The primary and junior high school were connected and there was only one high school. Although there was still a junior high school entrance exam, it was not very useful. No matter how well they did in the exam, all the students in the town would go to Shiyan High School. 

A family with expectations would have their children study in the city for the sake of their children’s future university choices. 

Shu Nian and Xie Ruhe both went to Shiyan High School. The classes were divided according to the results from the junior high school entrance exam and the two of them were divided into the same class. Many of her junior high school classmates were also there. 

Chen Hanzheng was of those people.

Because of high school, many students began to use phones. 

At that time, WeChat was still not very popular and most students used QQ, a form of social media. Although Shu Nian didn’t have a phone before, she had a computer at home and most of her classmates had added her on QQ. 

There was that one weekend. 

Deng Qingyu went to the city for her friends and told Shu Nian to have supper at her aunt’s house. 

After Shu Nian finished eating and returned home, she did her homework for a while and then laid in bed. She took out her phone and looked up any anime’s to watch. Not long later, Chen Hanzheng suddenly looked for her on QQ and sent a link. 

Chen Hanzheng:【 Hahahaha, quickly watch this, I’m laughing to death. 】 

Shu Nian didn’t think too much about it and clicked the link without any preparation. 

An extremely sharp ghost cry accompanied by a pale face appeared on the screen without any warning. 

Shu Nian was startled and frantically threw away her phone. The phone fell to the ground but the screams and howling kept echoing in her ears. 

Shu Nian sat in place for a while. The palms of her hands were sweating and she went to turn off her phone. Because of fear, her hands were still trembling. She stood up and turned on the lights feeling that the empty house was especially scary, like something covered in blood would emerge from the shadows in the next moment. 

She was so scared that she hid in the quilt for a few minutes but soon she couldn’t stand it anymore. 

At that time, the first thing she thought of was Xie Ruhe and ran in the direction of his house. 

It was not yet 9:00 pm but there was nobody out on the streets.

Xie Ruhe’s family didn’t live in the same residential area as her. They were at the end of another path and it took about 20 minutes to walk there. Shu Nian held the phone in her hands. She felt both wronged and afraid as she cried while she ran there. 

Shu Nian didn’t want to wake up his family so she didn’t knock on Xie Ruhe’s family’s door but went around to the back and nervously knocked on his window. 

Not long after, Xie Ruhe opened the curtains in his room. He was obviously unhappy and was frowning. Upon seeing her though, his eyebrows stopped frowning but he was taken aback by her appearance. 

“What’s wrong?” Xie Ruhe opened his window. 

Shu Nian handed him her phone. She swallowed and said something that didn’t make much sense: “There’s a ghost…” 

“…” Xie Ruhe took it but he didn’t understand what she meant: “What?” 

Shu Nian was still fearful: “There are ghosts inside…” 

Xie Ruhe looked at the phone and asked: “There’s a ghost in here?” 

Shu Nian was half scared to death, she continued crying and didn’t speak. 

Xie Ruhe turned on her phone. He suppressed the harshness of his voice and patiently asked her: “Where is it?” 

Shu Nian didn’t dare to look at the screen and she told him where it was as she wiped her tears. 

Xie Ruhe instantly understood what had happened. His expression turned icy and he didn’t open the link Chen Hanzheng sent. He closed his eyes to conceal up the anger in then: “Don’t be afraid, it’s all fake.” 

“How can it be fake…” Shu Nian pointed to her phone, thinking that he didn’t believe her. She was crying and was on the edge of losing her temper. “Open it and see for yourself. There really is a screaming ghost!”
  
“…” 

Shu Nian didn’t remember how she spent that night. 

She only remembered that Xie Ruhe had sent her back home. He talked to her until she fell asleep. 

Then, after going back to school on Monday. 

Shu Nian remembered that Xie Ruhe’s hand seemed to have been injured. 

Chen Hanzheng’s face was much more obvious though because most of it was blue. He said that he fell but everyone felt that it looked more like he got beaten. 

… 

… 

Shu Nian opened her eyes and got out of bed. She picked up her phone and looked at the time. It was only 3:00am which was barely halfway through the night. She didn’t know why she suddenly woke up but she felt a little bored. 

The room she was in was the same as before she went to bed. There were no changes. 

But the night was the easiest time to think absurd thoughts. 

Shu Nian suddenly remembered the ghost face from the movie and felt that something was looking at her in the small room, something that couldn’t be seen or touched. 

It made her extremely scared. 

Shu Nian looked at her phone and thought of something. Her heart was pounding and she became a little impulsive. 

She had no other friends. 

And he said that she could do what she did before… 

Shu Nian forced herself to find a reason and then dialled Xie Ruhe’s number. 

One, two. 

Before the third ring sounded, the call was picked up. 

Xie Ruhe’s voice came through and he sounded like he had just woken up. His voice was slightly hoarse making it appear more alluring and sexier: “Shu Nian?” 

Shu Nian swallowed and felt that she had just woken him up. She regretted her impulsiveness and didn’t know what to say next. 

Without hearing her voice, Xie Ruhe asked: “What’s the matter?” 

“It’s, it’s just that.” Shu Nian no longer stayed silent but she was not good at lying. She could only cautiously and awkwardly find a topic to talk about. “That, today… today’s stars are quite pretty.” 

“…” 

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