After Joining the Same Variety Show as My Arch-Nemesis - Chapter 11

Seeing the so-called female corpse, everyone fell speechless.

Luo Wentao stood up from the floor, still looking somewhat shaken.

“This is way too scary.”

This time, even Lu Bin felt too embarrassed to laugh at him, because he had also made a fool of himself just now.

“Let’s first find somewhere to place the doll—no, this female corpse. Since it’s a clue, we need to take a proper look at it,” Owen said.

“I’ll do it.” Fang Zixu volunteered and stepped forward, picking up the doll. “I’ll put it in the living room downstairs first.”

“Mm.” Owen nodded, and Fang Zixu carried the doll out the door.

On the other side, after Gu Jingxi finally recovered and realized that Jian Lan had been comforting her, her expression immediately became a little unnatural. She subconsciously took a step back to avoid her and said quietly, “Thank you, Teacher Jian.”

Hearing that she was no longer deliberately calling her Jian Shen to needle her, but had changed to a relatively peaceful form of address, Jian Lan slightly curved her lips.

“It’s nothing. Are you feeling better?”

“Mm.” Gu Jingxi nodded stiffly. Only then did she look at everyone with embarrassment and say, “Sorry, I made a fool of myself in front of you all.”

“It’s fine, Sister Gu. Xiao Luo and I are two grown men, and we were scared too,” Lu Bin said with a smile.

“Let’s go take a look at that ‘female corpse’ first,” Jian Lan said. But clearly, she noticed that Gu Jingxi was still somewhat timid, so she could not help adding, “Or Xixi, you can rest upstairs first. We’ll go take a look.”

Gu Jingxi paused. With the way things were going, who knew how many more “surprises” that guy Fu Hang had prepared? Letting her face them alone? Forget it… she would die. She was better off following the group. At least with more people, it would not be that terrifying.

After some mental preparation, Gu Jingxi shook her head and said, “It’s… it’s fine. I’ll go down with you. I might be even more scared alone.”

Seeing this, Owen smiled and said, “Relax, Xiao Gu. It’s only a prop. It’s fine. Teacher Jian, we’ll trouble you to look after Xiao Gu.”

“Mm.” Jian Lan nodded.

Gu Jingxi really wanted to say there was no need, but under the current circumstances, when facing so many men, it seemed that Jian Lan was the only girl she could rely on.

Difficult to handle.

When she got back, she should still slaughter Fu Hang!

The group went downstairs. Fang Zixu placed the doll on the coffee table, and everyone stood around it together.

Gu Jingxi was still a little afraid and could not help moving closer to Jian Lan. Luo Wentao and Lu Bin, however, kept clicking their tongues.

“How did I get scared by this? When this airs, my image will definitely be gone,” Lu Bin said with a look of grief and indignation.

“If you suddenly saw something like this, no one would avoid getting scared, right?” Luo Wentao complained.

Owen smiled and said, “But Jian Shen wasn’t scared.”

The grown men choked and subconsciously looked at Jian Lan. Jian Lan’s expression was calm.

“No, I was scared.”

Liar!

Everyone could not help complaining inwardly.

What kind of person could be scared and still remain this calm?

“Ahem, shouldn’t we see what clues this ‘female corpse’ left us?” Fang Zixu cleared his throat and said.

“Mm. Brother Fang is right.” Owen stepped forward on his own initiative, then looked at the doll lying on the coffee table and smiled. “Let us see what secret is hidden inside Rose Manor.”

“What we can currently infer is that the deceased must have some inevitable connection to the mansion. Also, judging from this outfit and the silver accessories on her body, she was clearly someone either rich or noble,” Owen said calmly as he examined it.

“The wound is in the abdomen, and the murder weapon is still there. It looks like the body was deliberately hidden inside the wardrobe.”

“Wait, Teacher Owen, look at the deceased’s neck,” Lu Bin suddenly said, pointing at the doll’s neck.

Everyone looked over. There was a bruise painted there with a brush, clearly also part of the clue.

“This was caused by strangulation,” Jian Lan concluded.

“Mm.” Fang Zixu also nodded. “Now there are a pile of questions. Such a deep bruise would clearly also be enough to cause death, but the abdominal wound was definitely fatal too. Who exactly was she? Were these wounds caused by one person, or two people? And why was she killed?”

Gu Jingxi looked at the doll in front of her, her brows slightly furrowed. She suddenly remembered that among the many photos in her room, this qipao seemed to have appeared in several of them.

“Wait. Her identity might be in my room,” Gu Jingxi said.

“What?” Everyone could not help looking at her.

Gu Jingxi paused, then braced herself and said, “My room is full of photos of her.”

“Go up and take a look?” Lu Bin looked at Owen.

Owen instead looked at Jian Lan. Seeing Jian Lan nod lightly, he said, “Then let’s go up and take a look.”

The group returned upstairs. As soon as they entered Gu Jingxi’s room, Luo Wentao and the others could not help exclaiming in surprise.

“My god, it’s all photos, and none of the faces can be seen clearly.”

“It looks pretty creepy,” Lu Bin could not help muttering. Then he looked at Gu Jingxi and said, “Sister Gu, I didn’t expect you to be even calmer than Xiao Luo.”

Gu Jingxi laughed awkwardly. Luo Wentao could not help saying, “That was because the doll hit me in the face! It hit my face, okay!”

Seeing him like this, everyone could not help laughing. The tense atmosphere from earlier immediately eased quite a bit.

“Search around and see if there are any clues,” Owen said after looking around the room.

“Mm.”

In the small bedroom, six people began searching.

That posture looked as if they wanted to turn Gu Jingxi’s room upside down.

“Huh, there’s something here.” Lu Bin found a booklet in the dressing table drawer. It looked like a diary.

“There’s something here too.” Fang Zixu found a locked box deep inside the bedside cabinet. His brows furrowed slightly. “But there’s no key.”

“There’s nothing in the wardrobe.” Looking at the empty wardrobe, Gu Jingxi breathed a sigh of relief.

Just now, Jian Lan had opened the wardrobe right in front of her. At that moment, Gu Jingxi had practically been on tenterhooks, afraid another doll would appear.

It was too deadly.

Fortunately, there was nothing in her bedroom. If there had been…

Help. She would not dare sleep tonight!

“Then let’s look at the notebook first,” Jian Lan said.

“Mm.”

The group gathered in front of the dressing table, and Lu Bin opened the notebook and began flipping through it.

“August 7th. In a few days, it will be my birthday. They said they prepared a gift for me. I hope that woman doesn’t come and cause trouble. After all, in this family, I’m still the one who has the final say.”

“August 8th. Xiao Wen came back. I don’t know why, but he looked very afraid. A little strange. I need to go ask around.”

“August 9th. It’s that woman again! The butler told me that Xiao Wen ran into her when he came back. It must be because of that that Xiao Wen was so afraid! I’m going to cause trouble for that woman!”

“August 10th. Tomorrow is my birthday. That dark red qipao was also delivered. Mm, it’s very nice. I’ll wear this tomorrow.”

As Lu Bin flipped through the pages, he read aloud. But after August 10th, the next page contained nothing.

“That’s it.” Lu Bin looked at everyone.

“Then for now, what we can confirm is that the owner of this diary is that ‘female corpse.’ But at the same time, other characters have been drawn out—for example, ‘they,’ ‘that woman,’ and ‘Xiao Wen.’ Assuming there are at least four people, then among them, one or two are the murderer,” Jian Lan calmly analyzed.

Owen nodded slightly, then looked at the box in Fang Zixu’s hands. “Brother Fang, did you find the key?”

Fang Zixu shook his head. “No. There’s no way to open this box.”

“This is an old-fashioned lock. Why don’t we try prying it open directly?” Luo Wentao suggested.

The group fell silent for a moment. Lu Bin looked at him and said, “Xiao Luo, if you do that, the production team will cry.”

Luo Wentao awkwardly scratched the back of his head. Owen, however, smiled and said, “Alright. At least we’ve confirmed some clues. It seems this room was the deceased’s room before she died. Based on that, our rooms should also have once belonged to people who lived here. Everyone go back to your own rooms and see if you can find any clues.”

“Mm.” Everyone nodded.

Gu Jingxi blinked. Her room had already been searched thoroughly by everyone working together. Although she felt there was nothing for her to do, letting her just stay idle like this… did not seem very good.

Gu Jingxi had just been about to speak when she heard Jian Lan’s voice.

“Then Xixi can come with me to search my room. On one hand, she might be afraid alone. On the other, I also need someone to help,” Jian Lan said with a smile.

Gu Jingxi paused.

She very much wanted to say that she was not afraid! She did not want to go! But after everything that had just happened, she could not say it at all.

After all, everyone now knew that she was afraid of the dark and ghosts.

Her lifelong reputation had been destroyed just like that.

If she ever believed Fu Hang again next time, she would not be surnamed Gu!

Unfortunately, Owen also nodded and said, “That’s fine. There’s no time to lose. Let’s each go take a look. It should be lunchtime soon. Once we’re done, we can come out and make something to eat.”

“Okay.”

Since the decision had already been made, Gu Jingxi could only follow Jian Lan to her room.

Jian Lan’s room was very different from hers. It was clean and refreshing, with an air of books and ink.

For some reason, at that moment, Gu Jingxi felt that this room suited Jian Lan very well. It was as if it had been tailor-made for her.

“Xixi, are you ready to start?” Jian Lan suddenly turned back, looked at her, and asked.

Gu Jingxi, who was still spacing out: “Ah?”

Jian Lan looked at her and smiled helplessly. Then she said, “Forget it. Stand near the door. I’ll do it myself.”

Hearing this, Gu Jingxi immediately became displeased. “No. Didn’t you say I was here to help you?”

Hearing this, Jian Lan’s lips curved slightly. “Oh? Then you’re not afraid?”

Gu Jingxi stiffened. Then she stubbornly raised her neck and said, “They’re all props. I… I’ll try…”

Fine. By the end, even she herself had no confidence.

Jian Lan laughed aloud. For some reason, seeing her laugh like this made Gu Jingxi so angry that she only wanted to grind her teeth, then step forward and cover Jian Lan’s mouth.

What are you laughing at! Isn’t being afraid of the dark and ghosts only human nature?!

So angry! Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do.

Unexpectedly, that Jian Lan fellow reached out and rubbed her head.

“Alright then. You search the obvious places. I’ll handle the rest.”

Gu Jingxi: “???”

Take your hand away, hey!