Let us get one thing straight.

Liu Haoyu was not a coward.

No, no, no. He was a real man (cough, a seventeen-year-old man, but still a man, okay?!). He might never talk to girls, but that was definitely because none of them met his sky-high standards. He might turn away and run with a red face whenever a girl brushed his arm, but that was because he was too cool to be a player. He might scream so much at horror movies that the neighbors thought he was a girl, but that was just because he didn’t want his friends to feel embarrassed for being scared, okay?!

So, naturally, because Liu Haoyu was such a brave and considerate and manly guy, he was the person voted to walk first through the haunted house at the edge of the city. It was the fifteenth day of the seventh month, Ghost Day—and his friends had all decided (he’d agreed of course! What was there to be scared of?!) to go and sneak into the abandoned courtyard house at the edge of the city. Everyone knew the Yangzhou Courtyard House was haunted.

“Listen, listen,” Liu Haoyu’s troublemaking friend, Zhao Ling had explained excitedly to the whole group that morning. “You know what’s said about the Yangzhou Courtyard House, right?”

“What?” Liu Haoyu asked, raising an eyebrow in a very uninterested and cool way (internally, he definitely wasn’t getting a bad premonition).

Zhao Ling leaned forward, eyes sparkling with mischief. “There’s a bronze mirror in that house. The reason nobody’s stolen it is because they say…” he flourished his hands dramatically. “...that it eats people’s souls!!!”

Liu Haoyu huffed, crossing his arms cooly (he definitely wasn’t internally praying Zhao Ling wouldn't say they should go see that crazy soul-eating mirror). “Yeah, right. Mirror’s can’t eat people. That’s just a story parents tell to scare their kids out of stealing. ‘Don’t steal, or the stuff you steal will eat your soul!’ You know.” Other boys in the group nodded in agreement. A mirror, stealing souls? What a crazy proposition!

Of course, in the end, they went. No one could resist Zhao Ling’s mischievous wheedling and pleading.

Liu Haoyu was definitely okay with this. He was totally okay. Why would he be scared or try to make an excuse not to go? Who kind of real man was scared of haunted houses and mirrors?

So, now they all stood in a dark, musty-smelling room filled with dust bunnies, in front of a small bronze mirror that was the ugliest, most dusty mirror any of them had ever seen. Liu Haoyu was in front, of course, having been voted the bravest of them all (this pleased him, because it was true, of course; his heart definitely wasn’t beating so fast as they snuck through the house that he thought it might explode).

“...It’s not much,” Liu Haoyu snorted, crossing his arms in a very nonchalant way to show that he wasn’t scared at all of this dusty-bunny-coated piece of metal that he couldn’t even see his own reflection in.

“Ah!” Zhou Ling yelped suddenly, a mischievous glint in his eye. He was right behind Liu Haoyu. “I forgot to tell you—for the mirror to eat your soul, you have to kiss it first! And then, bam! You’ll be eaten!”

The small group of friends burst into exclamations of disbelief and disgust.

“Kiss it? Do you see how much dust’s on there?”

“Are you crazy? Can’t you tell the difference between a girl and a piece of metal, you monkey?”

Zhou Ling shrugged. “It’s just what the legend says. You don’t actually believe it, do you? Or are you too scared?”

At this, everyone erupted into enraged protests.

“Too scared? Who are you calling too scared?”

“I’d do it! I’m not scared of my soul getting eaten!”

Liu Haoyu nodded in agreement. His insides definitely weren’t squirming in fear from being so closed to this dusty-ass mirror. What was there to be scared of from a silly old legend some person made up to give kids nightmares?

Zhou Ling always had a sharp eye. As soon as Liu Haoyu nodded, he blurted,

“Ah Yu, you’re always brave, right? Why don’t you give it a try first?”

Liu Haoyu froze.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“…”

…

…

Well, even if he was a brave, masculine guy, he—he didn’t want to kiss a mirror, okay?! It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he was scared of his soul being devoured or anything like that! It was just, kissing a mirror wasn’t very manly, okay?!

(Also, his hands definitely weren’t trembling slightly as all the eyes in the group turned on him expectantly).

“Yeah! Ah Yu’s already led us through the courtyard house. What’s kissing a mirror compared to that?”

“...” A bead of sweat slid down Liu Haoyu’s neck, his face pale. “...Ah…kissing a mirror isn’t very manly, right?”

Zhou Ling leaned forward, staring in disbelief. “Ah Yu, don’t tell us you’re too scared! Aren’t you the bravest of them all, the manliest man, the coolest bro?”

Uh oh. Now Zhou Ling was threatening his manliness. This wasn’t looking good. Liu Haoyu had to do something to save his image. If he didn’t kiss the mirror, his brave and manly reputation would be ruined forever. And if he did…nothing would happen.

Right?

(He definitely didn’t gulp right there).

“All right. I’ll do it! Watch me.”

With that, Liu Haoyu spun around, braced himself, and pressed his lips against the dust-layered surface of the mirror. It definitely wasn’t his first kiss or anything. No, his first kiss was definitely not with a dust-bunny infested haunted bronze mirror.

After a good three seconds, he pulled back, spitting and wiping his mouth furiously.

“How’s that?” He glared at Zhou Ling, heart definitely not pounding in his ears like a race horse’s hooves. “That was nothing!”

For some reason, Zhou Ling looked a little disappointed. Liu Haoyu didn’t notice, though; he was too busy definitely not internally shrieking in relief that his soul hadn’t just been sucked out of his body.

Though, he sighed in relief a little too soon.

Suddenly, Liu Haoyu stumbled. His vision blurred, flickering. Pain shot through his temples like a lightning bolt.

“Ah Yu? What’s happening?”

“What’s gotten into him? Catch him!”

“Ah Yu! Answer, what’s wrong?”

Liu Haoyu opened his mouth, but no words came out besides a choked sound that was like a dying dog. His knees turned to jelly, and he crashed to the dusty floor face-first, getting another delicious mouthful of dust. He heard voices, but they were far away, and like they came from above layers of water…

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!

All right, no use keeping up pretenses any longer! Liu Haoyu was absolutely, definitely TERRIFIED out of his fucking mind! He was a poser, okay?! He had almost had about fifteen freaking heart attacks walking through that courtyard house! And now, it had come to this? Was his soul seriously being sucked out of his freaking body?

That’s what he got for listening to a troublemaker and kissing a dirty mirror for manliness points! ARGH!

Internally weeping for both his manly image and his stupid death, Liu Haoyu slowly faded out of consciousness, until everything in the world was black.

“My lady! My lady! Please, my lady, wake up!”

Someone was sobbing and shaking him. Very, very hard. What the hell was wrong with them? He wasn’t a salt shaker, okay?!

The shaking and weeping continued until Liu Haoyu couldn’t take it anymore. With great pain, he opened his eyes and immediately winced. Bright light seared his eyeballs like a frying pan filled with oil.

The weeping voice began to sob with joy, and someone embraced him so tightly he could hardly breathe.

“My lady! You are all right! Oh! I thought you were going to die! You musn’t scare me like this!”

Slowly, Liu Haoyu opened his eyes again, and saw something he’d never gotten to experience in his past life. He didn’t know whether to rejoice or scream.

Hugging him so tightly he felt like was going to pop was a pretty girl with orange ribbons in her hair, wearing traditional white and orange hanfu. She had a petite figure, a small nose, and shining eyes that overflowed with tears as she buried her face into his neck, shaking with uncontrollable sobs.

…Did he know this girl???

Automatically, he patted her back slightly to comfort her, like he comforted his little sister when she cried. This only made the girl sob more, until she was shaking so much that she was practically vibrating.

By now, Liu Haoyu was a bit fed up. Who was the one who should be crying here? A random girl he didn’t even know? Or him, who’d just kissed a mirror, fainted, and woken up to this strange situation?! What’s more, he was in a room he’d never seen in his life! It looked like a traditional bedroom, with dark wood and paper screens painted with flowers. What the heck? Aish, this girl was still crying!

“All right, all right, calm down,” he said at last.

Liu Haoyu froze.

What…was that?!

“What the fuck?!” he shrieked in such a high pitch it could’ve broken a thin glass. The young girl jumped back immediately and grabbed Liu Haoyu’s face, studying it with great concern and swollen, teary eyes.

“My lady! What is it? Is something hurting you? Tell Yinuo, and she will fix it for you!”

Liu Haoyu didn’t even hear her. The look of terror on his face was so tangible that it seemed to be the face of a ghost.

In his daze, Liu Hoayu spotted what looked like a basin of water. He pushed the girl away roughly and ran to it, practically tripping over his own feet several times. When he reached it, he grabbed it and stared down into it, eyes so wide they seemed to be on the verge of popping out of his head.

His whole body froze.

His throat clogged up.

His heart stopped beating.

Because staring back at him…was the face of a very beautiful, very refined, very noble-looking GIRL!