Hualian AU ~ 1. The Ghost Groom

Part 3

On the next day, Xie Lian went to the canteen that was by Mount Yu Jun, Chance Encounter, and sat down to have the foil-wrapped sandwich he prepared himself that very morning. Many would be embarrassed to sit there without buying anything, but not him. He was living on a tight budget, so he was happy to save money with his home-made food.

He was too focused eating, and only noticed he had company after they were sitting down, each on one side of the table, looking at him intently. It was Feng Xin and Mu Qing.

"Hey guys. What's up?", he said, munching.

The two of them didn't look happy to see him, and just sat there.

"What the fuck you're eating?", Feng Xin then asked, with a disgusted face.

"A sandwich? Cheese, dried tomatoes and salad", Xie Lian replied.

"You can't live on that. C'mon I'll buy you proper lunch.", he offered.

"Thanks Feng Xin, but I have started already so it's all good", he replied, smiling, minding he didn't have bits of salad on his teeth.

"Right. Then can we talk about work then?", Mu Qing said.

"Work?"

"Yeah. We're here to assist you with your assignment." He said, sounding very patronising. Xie Lian knew Mu Qing well, and he always acted high and mighty if he had the chance, so he paid no mind.

"To test the app and discuss, we mean", Feng Xin added, frowning slightly at Mu Qing.

"You sure?", Xie Lian said. "Because if you guys are busy I can go to this lab by myself and..."

"You won't even be able to enter the lab with a student pass", Mu Qing said.

"I'm sure Ling Wen can sort that one out. I just hope she didn't trick you into coming to work with me", Xie Lian said.

"We volunteered", both of them said.

"Right then", Xie Lian swallowed the rest of his sandwich, dusting off bread crumbles from himself.

"Let's go", and he got up. They walked to Mount Yu Jun in silence; they were childhood friends, but their relationship became strained by mutual guilt. Xie Lian felt guilty for driving them away when he was down, and Feng Xin and Mu Qing felt guilty for leaving Xie Lian behind when he was down.

They got to the building, which was a top-notch lab with high security, and not even their PhD Researcher passes Mu Qing was boasting off worked on its front door.

"What the hell?", Mu Qing said, exhaled.

"Ling Wen said she was going to send me access codes", Xie Lian said, taking his mobile off to check.

"No. It has to be a fucking physical pass. They're issued on a limited basis", Feng Xin said. "I'll go and see Ling Wen now", he said. Feng Xin was into cyber security, he was in his element.

"I'll go too. I need to get some stuff from my Palace", Mu Qing said.

Xie Lian looked around, saw a low wall surrounding some flowerbeds, and sat on it, saying, "I'll wait here then."

"Yeah?", Feng Xin said. Xie Lian knew he was just being polite, and replied, "Yep. I'll just stay here and chill."

They walked off. Xie Lian sat straight, closing his eyes to meditate for a bit. He didn't want to impose on Feng Xin and Mu Qing; after all he was #mostlikelytobeexpelled. He stayed there, clearing off his mind. It was getting dark, the cloudy sky had a reddish colour, making everything looking even more sinister at that time of the day.

After a while, Xie Lian felt he was being observed. He slowly opened his eyes, just to see a silhouette in front of him, his tall frame against the reddish sky. The person said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you". He had a pleasant deep voice.

Xie Lian replied, "Oh no you didn't. I was meditating for a bit", and he smiled. Then he thought, Feng Xin and Mu Qing were gone for quite a while now, and they didn't text or anything. The guy nodded, and opened Mount Yu Jun's front door with a pass. Then he turned around, and smiled to Xie Lian, saying, "You coming?".

Xie Lian meant to wait for Feng Xin and Mu Qing, but for some reason he just got up and followed the guy, thanking him.

"You were meditating, you say?", he asked. "Hard to find someone not passing their time playing mobile games..."

Then Xie Lian saw him; he was tall and good-looking, with pale skin and very black hair on his face, in urgent need of a haircut. He wore an oversized red jacket over a white hoodie. Xie Lian replied, "I don't have games on my mobile. I once downloaded a sudoku to play during a flight, just to find out it needed data..." and he pffted a laught.

The guy laughed too, "It's always the case. Or, when we need the GPS, is always somewhere with no signal".

They got in the lift together. "Hum, Ming Guang Palace?" Xie Lian asked. The guy nodded and pressed a button. Right after, the lights inside the lift became red, bathing them in what looked like a crimson rain. The guy smiled again and said, "This is generator powered.", and he added, reassuringly, "Don't worry". Xie Lian smiled back.

"Is this your first semester?", he asked. Xie Lian felt relieved he didn't know he was #mostlikelytobeexpelled, and was just being friendly and polite. "Yes you could say that", he said, smiling. "I'm doing soundtrack music production". The guy said, "We might work on some project together one of these days. I'm doing film production". Xie Lian thought, he had that limited pass Feng Xin mentioned, he must be some hot shot.

The lift stopped. "This is you", the guy smiled, putting his hand on the lift door.

"See you later". Xie Lian walked off, and when he turned around to thank him, the door closed, and he was gone.

"Oh", he sighed, quite embarrassed and disappointed, feeling he was rude, he didn't even ask his name! 'Oh well', he thought, 'We might see each other around soon', and he brightened up.

He looked around Ming Guang Palace, and said to himself, "Alright, now, focus. There's work to do".