The middle-aged man did not believe any words out of Chen Ge’s mouth at all, he looked at Chen Ge alertly. Then he pulled Zhang Ya over to his side and asked, “Daughter, is this young man your friend?”
“Yes, he is my friend.” Zhang Ya smiled awkwardly. This was a situation that was quite curious, a zombie was pulling along a Red Spectre who was trying her best to protect a normal person. “Dad, Chen Ge just got released from the hospital, he just needs to find a job. How about we go into the house to talk this over? After all we have no visitors at this moment anyway.”
“Why should we go into the house to talk this over? There is nothing to talk about! Have you been tricked by him? He treats our Haunted House like his own home. I have not even activated any of traps, he already know where all of them are located, he must have planned this for a long time already!” The middle-aged man was still grumbling. Zhang Ya appeared like she was feeling embarrassed. She forced the middle-aged man into the Haunted House.
“I am not yet done!”
“Chen Ge, why don’t you come in?” Zhang Ya led Chen Ge once again into the Haunted House. She had Chen Ge sit down at the spot where the visitors were usually requested to sign the disclaimers. “There are bottle of mineral water on the table. You can sit here first. I will go and get mom, if she agrees, then you can start working here.”
“What do you mean by that? Your mom agrees and he can work here? No, over my dead body!” Zhang Ya’s father seemed to be on the lower rung of the totem in this family. Even though he was still complaining, Zhang Ya had already run away to the second floor where the Minghun scenario was. Chen Ge and the middle-aged man occupied both sides of the table. The middle-aged man thought there was a serious awkwardness in the air but Chen Ge felt very much at home. One minute later, Zhang Ya and a woman who was slightly shorter than her walked down the stairs. Perhaps both of them were in ghost make up, the woman did not look like Zhang Ya’s mother, she looked more like Zhang Ya’s older sister.
“Mom, this is Chen Ge who is here for a job application.” Zhang Ya and the middle-aged woman sat at the middle of the table. The woman studied Chen Ge closely and then moments later, she shook her head. “It is not that i do not wish to employ him but the young man has a kind face and a sunny presence. I am afraid he won’t be able to scare anyone even if we put him in a ghost costume.” Zhang Ya’s mother said with concern.
After hearing what Zhang Ya’s mother had to say, Chen Ge’s smile turned even more shyer. “Auntie, actually I have worked in a Haunted House in the past. Erm, how about this. You can give me a trial period of half a month, if in that period, I fail to bring any changes to our Haunted House, then I won’t take any salary from you.”
“I knew you have an ulterior motive behind this all along! Working for free for half a month? Not taking any salary? Tell me honestly, you are here to get close to our Zhang Ya, aren’t you?” The middle-aged man wore the rather pudgy zombie costume and directly waved his hands. “I do not agree. Not everyone is suitable for the job of a Haunted House actor. One has to learn many things to be able to scare the visitors.” He stood up from his seat. “Kid, it might look like our Haunted House do not have any visitors now but a few years ago, we were the most famous Haunted House at Xin Hai. In terms of scaring people, we are the most professional.”
“Sir…”
“Don’t call me that, it gives me the chills.”
“Uncle, I have the same opinion as you do. The career of Haunted House is not as simple as people thing, a good Haunted House can help the visitors vent their negative emotions and can bring the visitors an immersive experience, I understand what you are trying to say complicated.” Once Chen Ge opened his lips, he proved how professional he was. He followed up on Zhang Ya’s father’s point of view. Just from visiting one scenario, Chen Ge could already list out the current problem of the Haunted House and the key point was, not only did he point out the problems, he even came up the solutions to solve them. Initially Zhang Ya’s parents did not pay him much attention but as they listened to him, they could not help but be hooked into his professional extrapolation. They talked for about half an hour before Chen Ge stopped. By then, Zhang Ya’s parents already had a great change of perspective on him.
“I think Xiao Chen is quite talented. How about we give him half a month to try out?” Zhang Ya’s mother turned to look at her husband. Zhang Ya’s father who was initially very averse to Chen Ge also started to falter. “I mean it will seem harsh to say no to a good talent like him.”
“Then it shall be decided.” Zhang Ya’s mother looked at Chen Ge smilingly. “No matter whether there is any positive effect or not, we will still pay you the salary, just go ahead and do anything that you want.”
“Thank you, auntie and uncle, but there is something that I need to tell you beforehand.” Chen Ge opened his backpack and took out the recovery certificate from the hospital and his own identification card from inside it. “I do not wish to hide anything from you. Zhang Ya already told you I have just been released from the hospital but she did not mention what kind of hospital. It was a mental asylum. Actually I was caught in a car accident and I was diagnosed with serious delusion.” Normally in a job interview setting, the boss would never hire people with mental illness and many applicants would try to hide their best as best as they could, but Chen Ge did not wish to do that.
“Delusion? Then this won’t do!” Zhang Ya’s father slammed his fist on the table. “The working location of a Haunted House actor is oppressive and sometimes harrowing, you might relapse in our Haunted House! I suggest you go and find a more relaxing career option.”
When Zhang Ya’s father said that, Zhang Ya’s mother was looking through Chen Ge’s hospital files seriously. She then glanced at Chen Ge’s leg which had not yet recovered. “It says on here that the source of your delusion is because of your parents?”
“Yes, that car accident has taken many things away from me.” Chen Ge’s eyes were carrying a barely hidden pain.
“You will start working here starting from tomorrow. Before your leg is fully recovered, Zhang Ya will help you around.” Zhang Ya’s mother made the decision directly as she looked at Chen Ge with some concern.
“Honey, are you sure you do not want to consider this further? What if he suddenly acts up in the middle of the job and injures the visitors? What if his symptoms worsen due to his work here?” Zhang Ya’s father was a lot more rational. “You are too rash with this decision.”
“But that is no reason to discriminate against others.”
“I do not agree! Are you kidding me? How could a Haunted House hire someone with delusions to become its actor?”
“Zhang Ya, why don’t you bring Chen Ge around to help him familiarize himself with the layout of our Haunted House.” Zhang Ya’s mother ignored the middle-aged man.
“Of course.” Zhang Ya grabbed Chen Ge’s arm happily and led him towards the second floor, leaving behind the middle-aged man’s grumbling and annoyance.
“My father is a grumbler but he is actually is a very kind person. He once rescued a drowning child and cooperated with the police to solve many cases, he was even awarded the medal for good citizen by the major before.” Zhang Ya held onto Chen Ge’s arm. Because the corridor inside the Haunted House was quite small, they stuck very close to each other.
“Your father is quite impressive.” When Chen Ge heard Zhang Ya’s father had once cooperated with the police force to help with their cases, he instinctually felt more admiration for the man as if people who had done something like that would be someone that he should admire and learn from.
“He is just a man of sharp words, he does not mean most of them. Actually he was the one to first discover the white cat and had tried to sneakily feed it on his own but he got scratched in the face for it.” Zhang Ya could not help but giggle when she thought about that. “Your cat is very clever, it does not allow anyone to get close to it. It refuses to even let people touch its fur but for some reason, it is very obedient towards me, it will do anything that I tell it to.”
“Perhaps that cat… remembers something that we don’t.” Chen Ge uttered softly. The inside of the Haunted House was not that big. Chen Ge only used half an hour to tour all of the scenarios. He already came up with the full complete plan to change up the place the moment he finished the tour. “The first floor is the Night of the Living Dead, the second floor is Minghun and the third floor is still not yet open due to the lack of staff. If I wish to change the current situation of the Haunted House, I will have to start with the third floor.” Without direction from Zhang Ya, Chen Ge found his way to the staff breakroom. He found the pen and paper and started to jot down his plan.
There appeared to be endless scare plans in his mind and the words poured out of him. Zhang Ya stood quietly at the side and studied Chen Ge when he was seriously working, she did not disturb him. After using only about 10 minutes, Chen Ge had already finished with the draft of his plan. “These scares do not need too many props, you only need to add some small mechanisms and they will work.”
“How did you come up with these things so fast? That is impressive!”
“It feels like they already belong in my head.” Chen Ge smiled embarrassedly. “The night of the living dead and minghun will still be manned by uncle and auntie. I have decided to call the new scenario Murder at Midnight and I will be responsible for it myself.”
“Are you sure you can do it?” Zhang Ya hugged the white cat and voiced out her concern. “Scaring someone is a very technical work, you can’t be too deliberate but you can’t make it too boring either.”
“Don’t worry.” Chen Ge took the plan to go and find Zhang Ya’s parents. The latter were clearly professionals. After Chen Ge made some simple introductions, they already understood everything.
“We will need to start by updating the Haunted House and only after that should we find a way to do the advertisement.” Chen Ge found a piece of the disclaimer form. After reading all the clauses, he said, “We need to add a few clauses to this, for example, when a visitor faints inside the Haunted House, it will be none of our responsibility.”
“But we have never scared anyone until they faint before. And wouldn’t that be very difficult to do?”
“It is never wrong to plan ahead.” Chen Ge said with the same smile on his face. “After all the interior of the Haunted House has been upgraded, the next most important step is promotion and advertisement. First, we need to try our best to attract the attention of the existing visitors inside the theme park. After the foundation is made, we can make use of short videos and livestreams to gain popularity on the internet. I have quite a few brilliant video ideas, but those cannot be hurried. We have to work slowly at it, the number of fans will slowly grow and eventually the increase in quantity will translate into an increase in quality. Leave the camera work to me as well, I will set up the shoot at the third floor of the Haunted House.” Before Chen Ge came to them, he actually had already figured out everything.
“But won’t the insider secrets of the Haunted House be exposed if you make the shoot inside the Haunted House? When the visitors already know what is inside the Haunted House, they won’t be that interested to come visit anymore.” Zhang Ya’s father still did not quite agree with this.
“First we need to arouse people’s interest. Whether the interior design of the Haunted House will be exposed or not, you do not need to worry at all. I have the design of many scary scenarios in my mind. There is no need to bring any big changes, only by building on the pre-existing basic, we can bring a completely different exciting experience.” Chen Ge paused for a moment. “In other words, if the visitors follow the video that I have shot to base their tours on, then they will only get double the joy.”
Zhang Ya’s father still did not quite understand what Chen Ge meant by that, he was still not that invested in Chen Ge. “Are you sure you can handle a whole scenario on your own, after all your leg injury is still not yet recovered.”
“it will be fine, I only need to shuffle slowly inside the Haunted House. Sometimes, a killer does not need to move fast, by letting the visitors know about my presence, it will be enough to give them pressure.” Chen Ge handed the plan that he had written down to Zhang Ya’s father. “Shall we start to build the Haunted House scenario now? The earlier we are done, the earlier the business will get better.”
“You are too anxious of an employee to prove himself, I still think you have an ulterior motive behind this.” Zhang Ya’s father had his gaze move behind Chen Ge and Zhang Ya until he was forcibly dragged away by Zhang Ya’s mother.
Chen Ge was a man of action. He did not waste time with words. With Zhang Ya accompanying him, he came directly to the third floor and started to build up the scenario little by little. Even though Zhang Ya’s father appeared like he was averse to Chen Ge’s presence but in reality no matter what kind of props and materials that Chen Ge asked for, he would try his best to provide them as soon as possible. Absorbed in his work, and with Zhang Ya’s accompany, Chen Ge did not feel tired at all. This kind of peaceful life that had a goal to it appeared to be something that he had been trying to find in his life.
…
In three days, the relationship between Chen Ge and Zhang Ya’s parents was getting better and better. After the theme park closed its door, Zhang Ya and her parents would return to their own home while Chen Ge stayed at the staff breakroom. He worked even at night and rarely took breaks.
Every morning, Zhang Ya would bring an extra set of breakfast for Chen Ge. And during lunch time, Chen Ge would be invited by Zhang Ya’s family to have lunch inside the Haunted House. Even though they had not spent that much time together, the more Zhang Ya’s mother looked ath Chen Ge, the more satisfied she felt about the young man. She realized Chen Ge barely had any negative quality to him. He was hardworking, incredibly handy with his work, he was also very talented. Sewing, installing surveillance cameras, making mannequin, even make up, the man was good at everything.
Zhang Ya also liked to stay together with Chen Ge. Even though when they were not talking, just staying beside Chen Ge and looking at him work, she would not be bored. Even though Zhang Ya’s father still groused once in a while, he appeared to have accepted Chen Ge. Just occasionally, he would complain that his position in the family appeared to have dropped even further.
Life was like the stream in the forest, it flowed quietly and peacefully. Chen Ge had more and more smiles on his face. He worked until late into the night almost every day, he was often so tired that he barely had the energy to dream. He loved everything about his current life. After two more days, the inside of the Haunted House was updated fully. Chen Ge persuaded Zhang Ya’s father to organize an activity with the help of the theme park management, those who were available to clear all three scenarios at once and managed to maintain the volume of their scream under 120 decibel would be rewarded with 10000 RMB.
This reward money would be sponsored by Zhang Ya’s father and the theme park would only be responsible for the promotion. With this activity, Chen Ge managed to attract a large batch of visitors. The western side of the theme park that was previously so quiet now became so noisy with activity. Seeing so many people, Zhang Ya’s father regretted this decision immediately. But then something even more interesting happened. The first batch of visitors all ‘died’ inside the scenario for Murder at Midnight.
Chen Ge had his hands tied. He knew how important the 10000 RMB was for Zhang Ya’s father so to protect the money, this patient who had managed to fool even the doctors had given it his all. The fact that visitors had fainted and cried from a visitation to the Haunted House brought instant popularity to the Haunted House and more and more people knew about this place. When the theme park closed, Chen Ge, Zhang Ya and Zhang Ya’s father all collapsed on the table like three fish left out to dry in the sun.
Zhang Ya’s mother though was looking at the computer monitor with her eyes glinting. She counted the ticket money that they had acquired that day and the smile on her face was so big her lips could not close at all. The more she looked at Chen Ge, the more she admired this gutsy young man. “It’s time to get up, folks! We are going out to the restaurant to celebrate tonight!”
The few changed their clothes and went out for dinner. Zhang Ya’s mother dragged her husband and sat at one end of the table. She looked at Zhang Ya and Chen Ge who occupied the other end of the table and occasionally a mysterious smile would appear on her face. By the end of the dinner, Zhang Ya’s mother suddenly brought up the fact that she had forgotten to lock the house. After paying the bill, she dragged her husband away before he could even protest, leaving Zhang Ya and Chen Ge alone at the table.
“Auntie and Uncle are such nice people, they even treat me tonight.” This feeling of belonging was something Chen Ge had not experienced in a long time already. In his memory, he did not have any image of dining with his family and friend. He felt like even if he did not lose his family, the person that accompanied him the most was probably that white cat.
“You have been slaving yourself out for the past few days already, here, eat some more.” Zhang Ya appeared to have guessed why her mother had suddenly decided to leave. She kept her head lowered and her voice had become softer. The couple chatted over dinner. They always managed to find topic to talk about, the two seemed to share a bond, a connection between two souls.
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