Chapter 7: The Ghost Drew Him a Heart
Although Duan Gaozhi said he could rest for a while, Lan Yu felt that his condition didn’t warrant strict bed rest, so he requested training the very next day.
When he first arrived at the restaurant, he had undergone three days of training. Duan Gaozhi, having learned from a major hotel, had relatively high standards for his employees. The waiters he trained back then were now learning front desk reception and customer service duties.
“You don’t know how to use a computer at all? Have you never used one before?” The receptionist in charge of teaching Lan Yu was astounded by his level of computer illiteracy.
Lan Yu lowered his head, his face flushing red all the way to his ears.
“Then you can’t do this job.” The receptionist was clearly troubled.
“I can learn now,” Lan Yu said.
“You can type, right?”
Lan Yu hesitated slightly but nodded. “The key layout should be the same as on a phone, right? I can type, it just might be a bit slow at first.”
“Alright, then I’ll teach you how to do it. Write down the process on paper.”
Lan Yu’s nervousness finally eased thanks to the other person’s earnest teaching. He also took his lack of computer skills to heart and began searching online for computer learning courses.
Looking at the dazzling array of tutorials, Lan Yu found that he couldn’t understand them at all.
What should I do?
“How is it? Is it easy to pick up?” Duan Gaozhi’s voice suddenly appeared in front of him. Lan Yu looked up abruptly, his face full of panic.
“He doesn’t know how to use a computer, not at all. It seems he’s never used one.” The receptionist beside him cut in before Lan Yu could speak.
“Doesn’t know how to use a computer? Then teach him. If it really doesn’t work, write the important things down on paper. If you guide him through it, he’ll get it. It’s not like we’re using particularly difficult software.” Duan Gaozhi’s attitude was very good; he was extremely lenient towards an employee like Lan Yu who worked very seriously even without days off.
“I am teaching him,” the receptionist said.
“That’s good. Thanks for your hard work. If there’s anything you don’t know, you can ask me too,” Duan Gaozhi said to Lan Yu.
Lan Yu pursed his lips and suddenly spoke up just as Duan Gaozhi was about to leave. “I want to learn how to use a computer, but there are so many courses online, I don’t know which one to choose.”
“So that’s what you were looking at just now.” Hearing this, the receptionist’s tone, which had been slightly complaining, suddenly softened. “I thought you were playing on your phone.”
Lan Yu blinked.
Duan Gaozhi simply walked around the front desk to Lan Yu’s side. “Let me see what you searched?”
Lan Yu showed Duan Gaozhi the search results. Duan Gaozhi scrolled through a few and laughed. “Why would you need to learn these? This is programming. What you need to learn are the basics. Just search for ‘zero-foundation computer tutorials’ online. No need to buy courses; there are plenty of apps with free course sharing. We’re a restaurant, not an IT company; we don’t need this stuff.”
Although Lan Yu didn’t fully understand, he latched onto the phrase “zero-foundation computer tutorials” and nodded obediently.
That night, Lan Yu put down his earphones and rubbed his ears. Since the earphones didn’t fit well, the pain from wearing them for a long time was relieved quite a bit.
He looked around. Even Lin Zixi, who usually liked to play games until the latest hour, was already asleep. The roommates on the night shift had also returned and been asleep for a while.
He had been studying until now, watching a pile of basic courses. He felt that some basic computer operations didn’t seem particularly difficult. He had memorized a lot of content, but unfortunately, he didn’t have a computer to practice on and consolidate his memory.
Although he wanted to learn computers, a computer wasn’t a necessity for him. He probably only needed to learn the operations required by the restaurant.
Computers were simply too expensive. Although he had some surplus money now, it was hard for him to make up his mind to make such a large expenditure.
Lan Yu put his phone aside and sighed.
There were too many things he didn’t know. He hadn’t attended school properly; he was essentially half-illiterate. Fortunately, he could at least recognize all the characters.
Returning to reality from his studies, he realized he really needed to use the bathroom.
Lan Yu got up, grabbing the wooden stick he used as a makeshift crutch. It was originally a broken mop handle, but as long as it worked, he didn’t really need to spend money on a proper crutch.
He got up and went to the bathroom, quietly turning on the light. He propped himself against the doorframe and hopped in. The dormitory bathroom was narrow, but being able to hold onto things everywhere actually made it better.
After relieving himself, he turned around, but his suspended foot suddenly bumped into the toilet. Lan Yu hissed but immediately bit his lower lip, enduring the pain while bending halfway down. It took a good while for the pain to subside.
He took back his earlier thought; being small wasn’t good at all.
Straightening up again, Lan Yu propped himself against the sink to turn around. He inadvertently glanced up, and that glance froze him on the spot.
In front of the sink was a simple, frameless mirror. And at this moment, inside the mirror, besides himself, in the narrow bathroom, there was something else…
Black…
There is something black in the mirror.
Directly behind him in the mirror, a blurry silhouette clung tightly to his back within the cramped bathroom. It looked like a sketch where the center had been blackened by repeated strokes, leaving behind graphite crumbs of pencil lead. The edges bristled with burr-like black particles, and those crumbs floated in the air, swallowing all light that dared to touch them.
Lan Yu’s mind went blank. He could only stare wide-eyed, fixated on that black shadow.
Roommates… the roommates are outside.
Make a sound…
If I call out, someone should respond.
Lan Yu tried to open his mouth, but his will ran contrary to his courage. He didn’t even dare turn his eyeballs to look directly at the pitch-black object behind him.
However, the pitch-black color covered Lan Yu’s mouth and nose. Lan Yu vaguely felt something extending into his mouth, pressing down on his tongue so he couldn’t call for help. In the mirror, he could only see a mass of black mist shrouding his mouth and nose. What is pressing down on me? The unknown sent Lan Yu’s fear skyrocketing.
On the mirror in front of Lan Yu, water vapor began to surface bit by bit. His reflection gradually blurred, and a chill arose in the room that should have been warm and sheltered from the wind and rain.
On the mirror, upon that water vapor, two words were gradually written out stroke by stroke—Go Home.
Lan Yu’s mind was blank, yet after these two words, the strokes didn’t stop.
Gradually, a symbol appeared before Lan Yu’s eyes.
— (T﹏T)
Lan Yu: “…” ?
The writing started a new line and continued on the mirror surface.
— miss you <3 ?
Lan Yu confusedly craned his neck forward, trying to see clearly if what was written on the mirror was indeed what he thought he saw. However, whether he looked left, right, up, or down, those characters were unmistakable.
There really is a heart.
Although his English wasn’t good, he still knew what “miss you” meant.
“Lan Yu.” Suddenly, Lin Zixi’s voice, thick with sleepiness, came from outside the door. To not disturb the other roommates, he lowered his voice to a whisper. “You’ve been in there for a long time. Are you okay?”
This voice suddenly interrupted Lan Yu’s daze. He instinctively turned his head toward the bathroom door, but then remembering the black shadow behind him, he whipped his head back to look at the mirror again. There was nothing in the mirror.
Let alone black mist, even the water vapor had disappeared completely.
Lan Yu eagerly pulled open the bathroom door and saw Lin Zixi standing there.
Propping himself up on the mop-handle crutch, he came out of the bathroom and slowly reached out his hand toward Lin Zixi.
His hand grasped a piece of Lin Zixi’s clothing. From that tiny area of contact, Lan Yu finally felt, through his trembling fingertips, the sense of safety that only a living person could bring.
“The dorm is haunted?” When Duan Gaozhi heard this, he immediately frowned and looked at Lan Yu. “You saw it?”
“Um, yeah.” Lan Yu nodded obediently.
Lin Zixi immediately added, “I saw it before too. It was black, a very scary-looking thing.”
“It wasn’t that scary.” Lan Yu had been dazed by the heart on the mirror. Once he was safe and recalled the incident, he found it quite baffling.
That black shadow didn’t seem to have any malice toward him. His fear of ghosts was innate, but that ghost acting cute was also an undeniable fact.
Lan Yu scratched his cheek, his expression very subtle. “The ghost drew me a heart.”
Lin Zixi: “…Huh??”
Duan Gaozhi’s expression was extremely complicated. “Do you guys have some issue with the dorm?”
“No, we don’t,” Lin Zixi said blankly.
“I rented that clean apartment specifically for you guys. Everything about it is good. If you don’t maintain it well yourselves, are you going to run to me to make trouble?” Although Duan Gaozhi said this, he couldn’t bring himself to be tough. His mind was full of Lan Yu saying “the ghost drew him a heart,” which didn’t look like they were intentionally picking a fight.
“But there really is a ghost. Zhao He saw it before too,” Lin Zixi whispered.
“You’re dreaming.” Duan Gaozhi was clearly unhappy now. He scolded sternly, “Stop looking at nonsense all day. Going to sleep early is better than anything. What if you stay up so late you hallucinate and delay your work?”
“No, Brother Duan, we…” Lin Zixi tried to explain something but was suddenly interrupted by Lan Yu.
“No, Brother Duan, it’s nothing.”
Duan Gaozhi looked sternly at Lan Yu and Lin Zixi for a good while before saying, “If you’re tired, rest for a few days. If that really doesn’t work, go home. Stop thinking about those crooked notions and go back to cleaning quickly.”
Once Duan Gaozhi left, Lin Zixi asked, “Why did you interrupt me just now?”
“Maybe it really was just a dream,” Lan Yu said.
“Can everyone dream the same thing together?” Lin Zixi asked hesitantly.
Lan Yu actually sensed from Lin Zixi’s unclear attitude that Lin Zixi wasn’t very sure about the ghost encounter last time either. He only wanted to talk about it with Lan Yu because Lan Yu had brought it up.
“Maybe our dreams weren’t quite the same, just sounded similar,” Lan Yu said, hesitating slightly. “Brother Duan seemed a bit unhappy just now. Could he be saying that if we make more trouble, we shouldn’t work here anymore?”
“Huh? Did Brother Duan say that?” Lin Zixi thought back and frowned. “I don’t think so?”
Lan Yu wasn’t sure if he was being too sensitive, but changing the subject in advance was good. Duan Gaozhi’s words might have sounded like a casual threat to Lin Zixi, but they meant something different to Lan Yu. He didn’t want to lose this job which, despite having no days off, paid very well for him. Moreover, Duan Gaozhi hadn’t fired him even though he was in a cast; he didn’t want to complain too much.
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