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Lu Chi had not even finished speaking when he suddenly froze. His eyes widened as he stared ahead, his face filled with terror and disbelief.

The boys facing him suddenly felt a chill run down their backs. Someone stammered, "...W-what's wrong?"

Lu Chi could not even speak. He could only raise a trembling arm and point ahead.

All the boys felt a gust of icy wind sweep past them, making every hair on their bodies stand on end. Someone who refused to believe it slowly, stiffly turned around—

At the end of the long corridor, a ghostly figure suddenly appeared, its body rigid, its arms pale, its posture bizarre. It wore a bright red, lace-trimmed ball gown that dragged along the floor, with long black hair hanging loose over its front. A faint voice drifted through the air. "You—"

"Ah—"

"There's a ghost—"

"Help—"

More than a dozen high-pitched male screams erupted at once. In the chaos, Lu Chi opened the bathroom door again, and all the boys squeezed forward wildly with their eyes shut.

The terrified screams drew the girls out of the movie room. The girls sitting in a circle on the carpet rolled their eyes, annoyed and amused. "These boys are so childish! Do they seriously think they can scare us?"

"Come on, let's go out and take a look too. I want to see what other tricks those boys can pull!"

Qiao Shiyu snorted, tossed aside her chips, clapped her hands, and stood up. Surrounded by the other girls, she flung open the door with great momentum. "Hey, you boys are way too bor—"

Before she could finish, a female ghost with disheveled hair and a bizarre red lace-trimmed ball gown stood silently in the corridor—

"Ah—"

"There's a ghost—"

The girls slammed the door shut with a bang, but it was no use. The female ghost outside was already pounding hard on the door—

"There really is a ghost—"

The girls braced the door with tears streaming down their faces, crying and screaming, "What do we do? I don't want to die yet..."

"Waaah, help! There's a ghost..."

Lu Miaomiao stood at the door with tears on her face. Pursing her lips, she said in an especially gallant tone, "Don't be scared, don't be scared. I'll protect all my sisters—"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Shiyu, open the door. It's me!"

"Waaah, that female ghost even knows Pretty Sister's name! What do we do? Is she here to take Pretty Sister's life?"

Qiao Shiyu, whose life was supposedly being claimed by the female ghost, had already collapsed to the floor in fright, her mind completely blank.

"Shiyu, open the door! It's Dad. Dad came to celebrate your birthday. Open the door—"

"Wuwu, that female ghost is even saying she's Shiyu's dad—"

"Dad?"

"Uncle Qiao?"

The crying and screaming came to an abrupt halt.

The boys who had not managed to squeeze into the bathroom also froze. Everyone slowly turned their heads, while the girls in the movie room cautiously opened the door.

The disheveled "female ghost in red" was leaning casually against the wall. At the doorway stood Qiao Aiguo, dressed in a suit and looking utterly exhausted.

The man in his fifties looked at the two groups inside and outside the room, both annoyed and amused. "What on earth are you kids doing in the house?"

The air fell silent, and the scene became extremely awkward!

A few minutes later, the boys and girls sat obediently in the movie room.

The "female ghost comrade" who had nearly scared everyone into wetting themselves also revealed her true form—it was actually a life-sized SD Doll with long hair and a red dress. The doll even looked quite a lot like Qiao Shiyu!

"Of course it looks like you. I specifically sent your photos and height to the R Country headquarters and had them customize it based on your appearance. It took a full three months to make." Qiao Aiguo patted the doll's head and said wistfully, "For your birthday, Dad didn't know what to get you. I remembered that you'd loved playing with dolls since you were little, so I thought I'd buy you a big doll."

And it ended up causing such a mess!

Qiao Aiguo let out a long sigh. "You kids, why watch horror movies at home of all things? Wouldn't cartoons be better?"

The thought of how he had struggled upstairs carrying the doll, only to see a group of boys he had meant to greet scrambling into the bathroom as if they had seen a ghost, gave him a headache.

He turned to the boys and asked with concern, "Are you all okay? No one got crushed, right?"

The boys secretly rubbed their bodies, which had nearly been squeezed flat, and shook their heads in unison. "We're fine!"

Qiao Aiguo asked again, "The bathroom door didn't get damaged from all that squeezing, did it?"

The boys: "..." This was damn awkward!

The girls lowered their heads, desperately suppressing their laughter, but their trembling shoulders gave them away.

Qiao Shiyu instinctively turned her face aside. With a snort, she asked, "Why did you come here? Weren't you supposed to stay with your second daughter while she had surgery?"

Qiao Aiguo instinctively glanced at Xing Yuan. Xing Yuan stared at Qiao Shiyu in disbelief and shook his head. He did not know why Qiao Shiyu knew about it either.

Qiao Shiyu gave a cold snort. "What could possibly be kept from me? Grandma called me ages ago."

Hearing that, Qiao Aiguo coughed awkwardly twice and explained, "...Dad didn't expect something like this to happen either. Dad had originally planned to choose the equestrian club for you himself. But when your Aunt Wenhui found out, she said she wanted to do something for your birthday too. Dad happened to have an important client to entertain, so I entrusted your arrangements to Aunt Wenhui... She did not expect that equestrian club to be such a mess either."

Qiao Shiyu lowered her head, playing with a strand of hair as she snorted. "Didn't you say she was a great help in your business? Why are there so many things she didn't anticipate? Is she like this at work too?"

Qiao Aiguo was left speechless.

A perfectly good birthday had turned out like this. His daughter was upset, while the person who booked the equestrian club was also full of grievances: "Since I took this on, of course I chose the club with the best environment and the most complete facilities. If it weren't to make your daughter look good, do you think I was crazy enough to deliberately pick a problematic place? Besides, when people go to a restaurant for a meal, who has the time to investigate the owner's family history for three generations? There are so many high-end clubs on the market—which owner doesn't have some backing and connections? Why were the other members fine, yet something happened the moment your daughter went? Have you ever considered whether there might be something wrong with your own daughter?"