“Little Yu, it’s been a while—hey, you look even paler. Have you been cooped up at home without stepping outside?”
“Of course not, Doctor Chen. I go downstairs every day to pick up takeout.”
“You and your takeout. How have things been lately? Anything fun happen?”
“Not bad. Work’s going smoothly. I moved to a new place in a cheap apartment complex. The environment there really helps with my writing.”
“Sounds great. Are you settling into the new home okay?”
“Yeah… overall, I guess I’m adjusting.”
At that, the female doctor with gentle features smiled warmly.
“What do you mean ‘overall’? What about the details?”
The young man sitting across from her looked utterly serious.
“I haven’t figured out the reason yet, but some strange things have been happening.”
“Strange things? Care to tell me about them?”
“For example, starting the day before yesterday, I’ve been hearing knocking sounds coming from the pipes in the walls. And it only happens at night.”
The doctor listened attentively, a smile on her face.
“Like marbles dropping?”
“No, not that. I know marble sounds could be from wood-boring beetles—there’s a scientific explanation for those. But I can’t explain this noise. It’s too close, like it’s embedded right in the wall, just inches away from me. Faint but clear. Definitely not coming from the neighbors.”
A subtle chill prickled across his skin.
“…What kind of knocking?”
“Thump, thump, thump. Like knuckles rapping on a pipe. Very crisp. The night before last, it was random and sporadic. But last night, it got rhythmic. It played a tune I know very well, over and over.”
The doctor instinctively held her breath and straightened up slightly.
“What tune?”
In the frozen air, she watched the young man across from her. For once, he fell silent for a long moment before speaking slowly.
“Twinkle, twinkle, little star.”
“…”
The doctor nearly choked on her own breath, her face blank with confusion. “Uh, L-Little Star?”
“Yeah, the children’s song melody.”
After a brief silence, the doctor laughed again, her smile warmer this time, laced with indulgence and a touch of exasperation.
“Looks like the move really sparked your creativity.” She teased. “Feeling that inspired?”
Nestled into the plush guest sofa, Yu Bai thought for a second. In the end, he decided not to put his longtime psychologist in an awkward spot.
“Sorry, Doctor Chen. I just thought of it on the spot. Could make a decent story hook.”
“No worries. I think it’s pretty intriguing myself. If you ever write it out, let me read it.”
She paused, then added, “Or mail it to me.”
Warm afternoon sunlight streamed through the window, bathing the room in brightness. On the sofa, the young man had pale skin, a pair of black-framed glasses perched on his high nose bridge. His shoulder-length brown hair was tied into a small bun at the back of his head. Dressed in a simple white tee and khaki shorts, he looked every bit the laid-back homebody.
Doctor Chen, her hair streaked with gray, still had a pair of gentle, clear eyes. She gazed at his face, a hint of wistfulness in her voice. “Blink of an eye, and you’re all grown up.”
“But you’re as beautiful as ever.”
As he spoke, Yu Bai rose from the sofa. He pulled a neatly wrapped box tied with a bow from his backpack and handed it to her.
“Congratulations on your retirement,” he said sincerely. “Take it easy. Happy travels.”
“Oh my, a gift too.”
Doctor Chen took the box, smiling as she opened her arms. She turned her head slightly, hiding the tiny tears glimmering at the corners of her eyes.
Yu Bai leaned down to hug her. “Thank you for all these years.”
Now much shorter than him, the doctor patted his head gently. “If anything ever bothers you, you can still call me anytime.”
Yu Bai thought the gift he’d chosen suited her perfectly.
Inside the box was an exquisite ceramic angel figurine.
He took a deep breath and replied, a little insincerely, “Yeah, I will.”
But even an angel probably wouldn’t believe someone was playing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” through the pipes at midnight.
That was his biggest headache right now.
As a “patient” who’d been under the care of a veteran psychologist for twelve years, both Yu Bai and Doctor Chen firmly believed he had no mental conditions that could cause hallucinations or auditory illusions. His psychological state was perfectly healthy, his outlook on life positive and sunny.
…Which made the “Twinkle, Twinkle” in the pipes all the more terrifying.
While Doctor Chen discreetly wiped away her tears, Yu Bai let out a quiet sigh.
Before the hug ended, the angelic psychologist gave him one last encouragement. “Little Yu, live well. Your dreams will come true.”
“I hope so,” he said.
After bidding farewell to Doctor Chen, Yu Bai walked alone to the bus stop.
The streets bustled with noise and crowds. Having just parted from a longtime elder, amid the throng of people, a touch of melancholy settled in his heart.
Under the eaves along the street, a group of buzz-cut men in floral shirts had been huddled together pretending to play cards. They all froze and looked up at him in unison.
Seeing that, Yu Bai’s melancholy vanished. Without hesitation, he quickened his pace and hurried out of their sight.
He dashed onto a bus that had just pulled into the station. Only after the doors closed and it pulled away did he finally relax, grabbing an empty seat.
The bus wasn’t crowded, but his frantic boarding drew glances from a few bored passengers. A young woman looked at him curiously, her gaze darting between him and the scenery outside the window.
Yu Bai ignored all the stares and pulled out his phone.
As usual, the magazine editor had sent a reminder about the deadline. The story he was writing was nearly finished. If he hadn’t lost sleep over Little Star the night before, he would’ve submitted it today.
Rent was due the day after tomorrow. Should he ask the landlord if anything like this had happened before?
A few seats away, the woman’s persistent staring irked her boyfriend.
“Why are you always staring at him?” the boyfriend grumbled jealously. “Is he that hot?”
“Shh, keep it down. Look outside—there are some scary-looking guys by the window. Like debt collectors. Were they chasing that guy just now? Kinda creepy.”
“Didn’t see. What’s it to me? Stop gawking.”
Yu Bai kept ignoring the outside noise, his fingers hovering over the phone screen.
If he asked, he’d have to explain honestly. Judging by Doctor Chen’s reaction today, would the landlord—who he’d only met once and who knew his job—take it seriously and help, or decide he’d gone nuts from writing and was a problematic tenant?
He figured the latter was more likely.
“What’s with your attitude!” The woman’s voice rose. “As if you don’t check out girls all the time!”
“What are you talking about? I don’t. Keep it down, will you?”
“Now you want me quiet? Not admitting it, huh? I’ve put up with you long enough! And don’t think I don’t know you added my best friend on private!”
The whole bus perked up their ears.
Yu Bai closed his eyes, trying to focus.
If he couldn’t seek outside help for now, he’d have to investigate on his own. To rule out even the slim chance of his own mental issues causing auditory hallucinations, he could call Yan Jing as a witness.
Yan Jing had been his friend since elementary school, witnessing countless dramatic moments in his life. He had a high tolerance for weird stuff but wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, so he couldn’t offer much real help.
Or maybe, to pursue his lifelong dream, he should stop overthinking and probing. Perhaps the weird noises would vanish tonight, and life would return to its usual calm.
“What do you mean I added your best friend? That was just asking A-Ling for a favor—for work. Let me explain…”
“Huh? You added A-Ling too?! I meant Lili!! How many did you add? No, what the hell are you up to—”
…Forget calm. It never existed.
The couple’s argument on the bus grew more melodramatic by the second. The onlookers listened with relish; even the driver slowed down unconsciously.
In the midst of the chaos, Yu Bai stood up expressionlessly and got off at the next stop early.
He’d walk home instead.
He hoped this quiet side street wouldn’t bring any thug robberies, collapsed pedestrians, trapped kittens, or shady deals—just a boring, ordinary path.
Yep, he’d unluckily run into all of those before.
So Yu Bai’s life dream was simple and humble: He just wanted to be the most ordinary person, with a life so bland it was utterly unremarkable. A family that wasn’t necessarily perfect but wouldn’t split too soon. Live out the average lifespan, then die in a relatively normal way (preferably natural causes).
However, throughout his life up to now, all sorts of incredibly dramatic events had kept popping up—sometimes ones he witnessed from the sidelines, and other times ones that happened to him directly.
Walking along a rare peaceful little road, the intense sunlight bathed Yu Bai’s hair tips, turning them a translucent light brown like clear honey.
People often asked him what shade of brown he’d dyed it, but it wasn’t dyed at all.
It was the legacy of the first dramatic event in his life.
This natural brown hair was inherited from his birth mother, apparently due to a lack of melanin in her body.
Yu Bai had never met her, but he’d heard from his father, Yu Jiaping, that she was a woman beautiful enough to be a movie star.
Her life had played out like a film: heartbroken, she went traveling to clear her head and met a taciturn but kind-hearted man. She was first drawn to his unusually rare surname, then fell for his clumsy but sincere care, leading to a whirlwind romance and shotgun wedding.
Unfortunately, life isn’t a fairy tale. Married life grew monotonous, caring for an infant was utterly exhausting, and the world outside still glittered with vibrant colors. So one melancholy morning, she tearfully kissed her son’s cheek, packed up all her luggage, and left alone—leaving the bewildered baby with just two teardrops and a bright red lipstick mark.
Yu Bai’s father was the kind of utterly ordinary man who’d get lost in a crowd—plain-looking, not great at communicating, working a job that barely kept food on the table. His only real virtues were his steadiness and willingness to work hard. After his wife vanished without a word, he quietly raised their son on his own.
For such an extraordinarily mundane man, there were only two brilliant highlights in his life: the first was catching the eye of a beautiful woman who seemed to live in another world, and the second was riding his little electric scooter to bravely rescue what he thought was his son in peril.
That happened back when Yu Bai was in elementary school. At a zebra crossing, a gaggle of chattering kids were crossing the street when a sedan deliberately barreled toward the pedestrians. Yu Jiaping, who had come on his scooter to pick up Yu Bai from school, witnessed it all. In that instant, he chose to charge straight into the car, altering its path so it slammed into a wall instead. Many people were saved as a result.
No one could say for sure what had been going through his mind—was it because he spotted a familiar face among his son’s classmates and assumed Yu Bai was there too, or was it pure selfless heroism?
In any case, Yu Bai hadn’t been in that group of kids crossing the street. He’d been held back by his new homeroom teacher to write an apology letter—during morning exercises, his brown hair had gleamed so brightly in the sun that it stood out like a sore thumb, drawing repeated stares from the inspecting officials that day. First the principal got chewed out, then the teacher, and finally Yu Bai himself. He had to stay behind and write a guarantee that his hair color was natural.
When the terrible news arrived, the homeroom teacher looked mortified and reluctant to tell him what had happened. Suddenly, his hair color didn’t matter anymore.
From middle school to high school, every time he transferred, teachers always started off suspicious about his dyed hair, only to end up sympathetic once they heard he was the son of that heroic citizen who’d acted bravely. They were extra lenient, accepting his hair color and explanation as a special exception—even though it really was natural, no one truly believed him.
And so, Yu Bai’s father departed this world in the most dramatically heroic fashion, leaving him a cramped, empty home, a hefty compensation payout, the prestigious title of “son of a heroic citizen,” a psychologist initially assigned by the government who later offered free sessions out of her own initiative, and…
“Hey, get in there quick. I’ve got the gate open for you.”
A deliberately lowered voice snapped Yu Bai out of his thoughts.
Unbeknownst to him, he’d already reached the neighborhood entrance. The kindly old Gatekeeper Grandpa poked his head out from the security booth, proactively unlocking the gate and waving him in.
“Hurry up, hurry up—those guys are staring at you.”
The old man kept a sharp eye on the buzzcut guys across the street while enthusiastically shoving him inside the neighborhood. He sighed in exasperation, shaking his head like a disappointed parent.
“Who knows how much he owes them. Looks like such a clean-cut student kid. What a shame!”
“…” Yu Bai hesitated, wanting to explain. “Thanks, Grandpa. I’m not being chased by debt collectors.”
“Alright, alright, I’m closing the gate. Head home quick—don’t hang around outside!”
Yu Bai gave up and shut his mouth. Before turning to go home, he waved half-heartedly at the guys across the street by way of greeting.
The buzzcut men immediately straightened up, faces full of respect, and waved back in perfect unison, their floral shirts flapping in the breeze.
From behind came the Gatekeeper Grandpa’s astonished “Whoa!”
Yu Bai didn’t need to look to know what the scene looked like. His head throbbed just thinking about it.
He was thrifty and financially stable, so of course he wasn’t dodging debts.
To be precise, these buzzcut guys—who didn’t look like upstanding citizens at all—were his personal bodyguards.
This was one of the unexpected legacies from his father’s death.
There hadn’t been an elementary school kid named Yu Bai in that crowd at the zebra crossing, but there had been a tall, burly man with floral arm tattoos who was just about to cross.
He happened to be a local gang boss who struck fear into everyone’s hearts.
After this near-death escape, the Black Boss—saved by that heroic little scooter—clearly had his soul saved too. He realized life was fleeting and kindness priceless. From then on, he washed his hands of the underworld, went straight, and turned to legitimate business. He swore to treat the heroic citizen’s orphaned son like his own, repaying the debt that way.
Though the Black Boss had indeed changed his line of work and did everything he could for Yu Bai, his subordinates’ thuggish vibes and flashy style were still pretty intimidating.
Back in school, Yu Bai had once been caught by a teacher hanging out with the bodyguards. The young, gutsy teacher saw the gang looking numerous and menacing, yelled at them, grabbed Yu Bai, and bolted. The baffled buzzcut guys gave chase, turning the whole thing into a group marathon.
Seeing the growing crowd of clueless onlookers itching to join the pursuit, the dumbfounded Yu Bai blurted out that he was interviewing them for a social practice report. That ended the farce.
He’d used that excuse multiple times for similar incidents, and before long, he’d proudly snagged first place in the province-wide high school social practice report contest—launching him, by a twist of fate, into a career as a columnist for popular magazines.
As an adult, Yu Bai had protested the bodyguards, but the Black Boss—engraving his gratitude deep in his heart—insisted it was an industry tradition for his safety. No compromises.
That is, until one routine visit to Doctor Chen, when a patient in the throes of a psychotic episode burst in with a knife. Thanks to the vigilant bodyguards subduing him on the spot, nothing bad happened. From then on, Yu Bai gradually accepted their presence.
Speaking of that patient…
Ugh, too tiring. Didn’t want to think about it.
The miraculous events he’d witnessed in his life could fill three days and nights of storytelling.
In short, all he wanted now was to go home, flop down, and veg out for the day. Going out was seriously exhausting.
Nightfall was still hours away, so Yu Bai shoved the issue of Little Star to the back of his mind and decided to savor the current peace first.
He strolled through paths shaded by lush greenery, entered the stairwell, and felt a pleasant tranquility in the quiet atmosphere.
This was the city’s infamous Haunted Neighborhood, which boasted beautiful surroundings, prime location, sparse residents, and cheap rent—perfectly matching Yu Bai’s needs as a renter. The various rumors around the place even fueled his writing.
He’d never believed in ghosts. If they really existed, why hadn’t his dad ever come back to visit?
At the very least, his old man should’ve shed some ghostly dad tears over Yu Bai’s ups-and-downs these past years.
The elevator was right there on the first floor. Yu Bai pictured the cool blast of AC, snacks, and soft sofa hug pillow waiting for his solo unwind time. He stepped briskly into the car.
He was just about to reach for his floor button when he noticed it was already lit.
There was a stranger in the elevator—a tall guy standing awkwardly in the corner, head down so his face was hidden. All Yu Bai could see was the slightly curly black hair fluffing out from his forehead.
Yu Bai glanced at him but didn’t pay much mind. Probably a new neighbor from his floor or a visitor.
He had zero interest in chitchatting with strangers—that was just asking for trouble.
Compared to the outside world that erupted into epic drama at the drop of a hat, holing up safe and sound at home was pure bliss.
Thinking this, a faint, pleased smile finally crept onto Yu Bai’s face.
Ding. The elevator doors slid slowly shut.
“Hey—wait!”
With hurried footsteps, a hand shot in, blocking the doors just before they closed.
