The Secret of Second Marriage

After telling so many lies, for a moment I actually believed them.

But then I thought, Shen Xing is an actor, and he's a professionally trained actor. What kind of roles hasn't he played? Playing a devoted younger brother wouldn't be a problem for him.

This time, I replied impatiently, "Who cares if you like it!"

Shen Xing smiled faintly, took out a boxed lunch and handed it to me, and even prepared chopsticks and forks. He said that this was the first time in his life he had cooked for a woman.

"And what about your cousin?"

I say.

Shen Xing shook his head and said, "Sis, I'm a germaphobe. Anyway, I'll only cook for the girls I like in my life."

I thought to myself, why not eat it? I was hungry anyway.

Shen Xing took out two neatly arranged lunch boxes, filled with delicious food.

My order was a steak with pepper sauce, served with spaghetti, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and individual grains of rice.

Shen Xing's serving was curry chicken with carrots and potatoes, broccoli, tomatoes, and rice.

He also prepared fruit for the meal. The box was neatly arranged with green grapes, red cherries, peeled and cut kiwis, oranges with distinct flesh, peeled and diced peaches, and red watermelon cut into triangular pieces.

A box full of cut fruit, the various colors combined together are pleasing to the eye.

Having been a housewife for so many years, I could tell at a glance that the grapes and cherries were imported fruits and quite expensive.

I said, "Thank you."

"Sis, is there anything else?"

Shen Xing took out the final fruit from her bag: a durian weighing two or three pounds, which looked round and heart-shaped.

He said, "I searched so many supermarkets last night before I finally found a durian shaped like a heart. Sis, praise me for being so clever!"

"sharp"

I say.

Perhaps it was because there was food, or perhaps it was because the production crew was filming nearby, that my expression softened towards Shen Xing, but that doesn't mean I've forgiven him.

Shen Xing heated up both lunches in the Starbucks microwave and brought them over.

I ate my lunch in small bites; Shen Xing's cooking skills are really good.

The steak was pan-fried until fragrant and tender. The broccoli was blanched and then stewed in the beef broth, making it exceptionally soft and flavorful. The tomatoes were sweet and sour, and paired with rice, it was very filling.

We've finished lunch.

I tasted the fruit.

Shen Xing's fruit bento box was quite small and exquisite. It contained a variety of fruits, but there were only three or four pieces of each. I ate a few pieces of watermelon and green grapes, which were quite refreshing.

Shen Xing ate the rest of the fruit.

As for durian, I really couldn't eat any more.

Shen Xing wrapped the durian in plastic wrap again and put it into the big black bag he was carrying on his back. I had always thought that he carried something like a game console in that big black backpack.

I didn't expect that what he was carrying was today's date lunch, as well as the heart-shaped durian he gave me. It was still in its shell and must have weighed three or four pounds; it felt quite heavy in my hand.

After we finished our date at Starbucks, Shen Xing asked me where we were going on a date in the afternoon.

I do not know either.

I'm actually not interested in dating.

Shen Xing took my hand and said she wanted to take me to a haunted house.

He heard some dating advice from somewhere, saying that the best way to deepen a relationship is to take your girlfriend to a haunted house.

In that terrifying atmosphere, timid girls are more likely to run into a boy's arms.

But what he didn't expect was that I was no longer a little girl, but a mature woman in my thirties, and I wasn't afraid of ghosts at all.

I'm not afraid of ghosts, snakes, or cockroaches.

So I calmly went to the haunted house with Shen Xing.

We went to the largest amusement park in Yunnan city, where there was a haunted house attraction. After buying tickets and going through a long passage, we finally entered the haunted house with other tourists.

What I didn't expect was that Shen Xing was even more timid than me.

As soon as we entered the haunted house and pushed open the door, we saw a dilapidated ancient wooden building. Inside was a sedan chair, similar to those used for weddings in the Qing Dynasty, covered with talismans and bound with red threads. It looked quite eerie.

The bright red wedding candles were still lit, but they suddenly went out the moment we went inside.

Shen Xing immediately grabbed my hand tightly, clearly terrified. Even though he was scared himself, he rushed in front of me to protect me, saying, "Sis, don't be afraid. I'll protect you. Even if ghosts come at me, they can just go for it!"

I'm not afraid.

I say.

I glanced around; we were in this haunted house on a mission.

I heard that if you participate in this haunted house, you can find game coins, silver coins, and gold coins. After you find them, you can exchange them for money. One copper coin is worth one dollar, one silver coin is worth ten dollars, and one gold coin is worth one hundred dollars.

This is a hidden perk that makes this haunted house so popular.

My thought at the time was that I had to earn back the money we spent on tickets.

The production team only gave them 100 yuan.

Shen Xing and I went to the haunted house. He even borrowed the money from his agent by calling him. The ticket price for the two of us was more than 700 yuan.

I said, "Let's go, let's do the mission."

After I finished speaking, I pulled Shen Xing to go to the ghost bride's place to search for gold coins, silver coins, copper coins, and the like.

Shen Xing was so frightened that he couldn't leave for a long time.

I had no choice but to let him wait there, but it seemed like some terrifying memory had been triggered in him. He immediately grabbed my hand and said, "Sis, don't leave me!"

I won't abandon you.

I said, "Come with me!"

Shen Xing pulled me into the house, which was an antique-style Chinese-style haunted house. It was pitch black, and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. There was mournful music coming from the room.

He is very afraid of the dark. When he was little, his stepmother locked him in a closet as punishment and kept him locked up all night. He has been afraid of the dark ever since.

He was also afraid that the person he loved most would abandon him.

I took Shen Xing's hand and told him to close his eyes and follow me without being afraid of anything. Then I walked step by step to the ghost bride sedan chair, lifted the red sedan chair door, and touched it. Suddenly, my hand was grabbed by an icy hand.

A mournful female ghost's voice rang in my ears: "Husband, are you here to marry me?"

"Aaaaaah! Sis, the female ghost is moving! I'm so scared, let's go!"

Shen Xing was so frightened that she screamed and almost fainted on the spot.

"You're just an NPC, stay out of the way and don't interfere with my making money."

I immediately shook off the ghost bride's hand and said.

The ghost bride was also quite helpless, not expecting that I was so bold as to not be afraid of her at all.

She said, "Hehe, sister, welcome to the Chinese-style bride haunted house! We have three brides here. If you can find the real bride, you can get 5 gold coins!"

"What clue did the mission provide? A clue to the real bride?"

I asked.

The ghost bride sitting in the sedan chair gave a hint: "The visitor has triggered a quest. There is only one true ghost bride, and that is: 'Eternal love may end, but this hatred will last forever!'"

Shen Xing said from the side, "Sister, I'm so scared, let's go back."

"If you're afraid, you'll come back. Don't be afraid if you stay with me."

I say.

Shen Xing gripped my clothes tightly, as if she wanted to hold me close and not let me leave for even a moment.

I found 5 copper coins and 3 silver coins in the first bride's sedan chair, which should add up to 35 coins.

I put the money into a pouch that the staff member who had just checked my ticket from the haunted house had given me, and the pouch rattled a little when I shook it.

I said, "Let's go find the real ghost bride."

"Sister, don't leave me, I'm scared."

Shen Xing said.

He held me tightly and followed behind me with his eyes closed. We walked into the second room, and right at the entrance was a large coffin filled with mannequins, all of them ghosts dressed in white with black hair.

Shen Xing was so frightened that she didn't dare to look.

I counted them—one, two, three, four, five—and there were six fake ghosts. I wasn't particularly scared, though.

Shen Xing and I continued walking forward. Among these mannequins was a real NPC—a white-haired bride with red lipstick and disheveled hair. She stood up from her chair and startled us, saying, "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!"

"Why aren't you moving faster!"

I asked him, "Where is the real ghost bride?"

The visitor triggered the Ghost Bride prompt, which read: "May we be birds flying wing to wing in heaven, and trees with intertwined branches on earth!"

When the white-haired female ghost realized she hadn't scared us, she gave us a hint.

After receiving the clue, I searched the entire room and found 10 copper coins and 5 silver coins, but not a single gold coin.

Sure enough, only by finding the real big boss could one obtain those 5 gold coins.

However, I had already inquired about this haunted house before I came in, and the ghost bride was the scariest of the five haunted houses.

I suspect that many tourists who come here are scared away. They don't even care who the ghost bride is, let alone look for the gold coins.

Shen Xing accompanied me into the second room. When we got to the third room, we had to walk through a series of corridors. The corridors were covered in blood, and he was so scared that his legs were shaking uncontrollably.

He said, "Sis, sis, let's go back. I'm scared, I'm really scared!"

"It's okay to be afraid."

A wicked smile suddenly appeared on my lips. Then, I let go of Shen Xing's hand, ran ahead, closed the door, and left him in the corridor. After Shen Xing realized I was gone, he shouted, "Man, where are you? Don't scare me, I'm really scared!"

I just wanted to scare him.

Who told him to lie to me with my ex-husband before? He came to my house to tutor my daughter, but actually he was colluding with my ex-husband to seduce me. Is that fun?

I was holding my breath.

But I didn't expect that I would scare him to tears.

I hid in the shadows and heard him crying. After about three or four minutes, I finally couldn't bear it anymore, so I pushed open the door, went to his side, took his hand, and said, "I'm here."

"sister"

Hearing my voice, he hugged me tightly and said, "Don't scare me like that next time."

"Okay, I won't scare you next time."

I say.

Although Shen Xing was very scared, she still accompanied me to the third haunted house.

The third haunted house has a lot of fake ghosts inside wine jars at the entrance, as well as a stove with a pot inside.

As Shen Xing and I approached the stove, an NPC suddenly jumped out. She was a very fierce woman, brandishing a knife, and said to us, "Run! Run!"

Shen Xing quickly said, "We're just passing by, we're just passing by, sister, let's go!"

I don't care.

I understand that it's all an act by the actors to create atmosphere.

I pulled him by the hand and led him through that terrifying tavern to the actual bridal chamber, which looked exactly like the bridal chamber of a ghost bride.

As soon as you enter, you hear a woman crying. On the table are red candles, plates, wine glasses, and red lanterns. There is also a mirror in the room, and in the mirror is a mannequin that can change its expression.

In short, the whole room was really scary.