Chapter 101 - My Costar Is A Bargaining Chip

As soon as Yao Shen steps through the door, the sounds and scents of Youdu assault him.

The city looks the same as he remembers, a big, bustling, underground metropolis -- and the only one.

He can tell that some part of him is drawn to the city, some primal corner of his soul must recognize it as home somehow. Even though Yao Shen's mind has no memories of the narrow streets, and towering wooden constructions, it's as if his muscles do, and they strain to follow familiar paths.

The ghoul keeps a close eye on him, Yao Shen can't explore at his leisure -- for now.

He's led to the same building, overlooking the decadent inner courtyard. There are four kings again this time, and they're surprised to see him.

The woman with the qipao takes a long drag of her pipe and looks Yao Shen up and down. "Good to see you're not in pajamas or underwear this time."

Yao Shen ignores her remark. "I have your answer."

Her narrow eyebrows climb up her forehead. "Well, aren't you industrious and hard working."

"Indeed," says the man with the bare chest and loose hair, pillowing his chin on top of his crossed arms. "It seems our Shi Wang was in a hurry to see us again."

Yao Shen grins. "I was actually." 

He ignores the looks of confusion that cross all their faces. The one they call Si Wang in particular, the fourth king he met the last time, is giving him a very complicated look. 

"I know that Xin Hulei tried to kill me the second time he came to the Fragrant Peony." He schools his features into a nonchalant look, and leans against the pillar behind him, inspecting his nails.

The man with the bodyguard robes and the tight topknot glares at him. "Do you know if he succeeded?"

Yao Shen sighs, as if they're all extremely dull and wasting his time. "No, and neither does he."

He bounces off the pillar and skips towards the group of them with his hands clasped behind his back. "I don't see why it matters though. It's clear that he's still holding a grudge, I want to get rid of him as soon as possible."

The good thing about being an actor, is that Yao Shen knows how to build a character. The one he's playing right now is reckless, childish, and petulant -- all things the ghost kings will see as easy to take advantage of.

Si Wang however keeps giving him that baffled look, although he remains silent.

The man with the loose hair, on the other hand, smiles almost beatifically at him. "Good thing we gave you the tools to do just that."

"Sure, but like you said before, Xin Hulei is not an idiot, he has some memories, and he keeps insisting I remind him of someone..."

The woman in red is the first to catch on to the undercurrent to Yao Shen's words. "What are you trying to say?"

"That it won't be easy to get any closer to him."

The man in topknot scoffs, as if he's about to call Yao Shen's bluff. "Don't think we don't know what goes on in the mortal world, according to the internet the two of you are plenty close, isn't that right, Jiu Wang?"

The man with the long hair and the peach blossom eyes nods and materializes a giant golden  mirror in the air next to him, on it, several candid pictures of him and Xin Hulei start scrolling by, like a social media newsfeed.

"You seem very close to me," Jiu Wang says with an insouciant shrug that makes his already barely on robe slip further down his shoulder.

Yao Shen is shocked to see those photos, but on the other hand, it shouldn't surprise him. As ghost kings it is their role to mete out punishment or rewards for the sins of the deceased, they should have access to all aspects of their mortal life. In the 21st century, that includes the internet.

"Those are all PR strategies to drum up interest in our drama. It happens all the time whenever two actors play a couple."

Jiu Wang glares at him as if he wants to disagree, but seemingly remembering that he doesn't know enough about the entertainment industry to disprove him, just shuts his mouth with a frown.

Taking a long drag of her pipe and blowing out a rain of smoky crows, the woman asks, "What do you want?"

"I want to be a ghost king again."

His words fall on the room like thunder, rendering everyone speechless. 

"What makes you think that's even possible," the man in the topknot asks.

Jiu Wang stops him. "No, Qi Wang, let's hear him out." He looks at the woman with a quizzical look. "We should be amenable, right, Er Wang?"

Reluctantly she nods.

Yao Shen knows it's possible because the System already gave him back his powers. Not that he intends to share that information.

"Let's say it's possible," Er Wang says, pacing the length of the room. "What is your goal with all this?"

"I want to return to my former position, don't I have a right to?"

It's clear from their looks that they don't think so. Only Si Wang keeps his features schooled into a mask of neutrality, as if he can't make sense of Yao Shen's actions.

"Of course you do," Jiu Wang finally says, his eyes curving down charmingly. "But it might not be that easy, there's a lot to consider..."

Yao Shen doesn't actually care, he just needed to ask for something major, in order to make them relieved when they eventually concede to a smaller request. 

"Fine, then at least I want permanent access to Youdu."

After some time, Qi Wang nods. "Done." He twists his fingers and a talisman appears on his open palm. "Use this, and you'll create a portal for Youdu whenever you need."

Yao Shen pockets the talisman with a nod. "And I want my own lodgings, I want to walk around the city, no offense but I don't like you."

Er Wang smiles. "My, so many demands....what will you do if we don't agree to them?"

"I won't kill Xin Hulei."

She looks like she was expecting that answer, her smile doesn't slip. "Remember that you don't have a choice."

Yao Shen clicks his tongue, trying to keep his cool, in the face of mounting stress. "That's not really true, is it? Otherwise you wouldn't need me."

From the corner of his eye, he sees Jiu Wang's beautiful face twist into an ugly frown, before he can say anything, Yao Shen adds, "I just think it's for the best if we help each other out, that's all."

"Fine, it will be arranged," the serious Qi Wang says.

"Oh, and I want to come and go whenever I want," he smiles at the disgruntled kings. "I have a job after all."

---

Yao Shen returns to his apartment feeling elated. He didn't expect things to work out so easily. He was even prepared to warn Bi Jialu that he had a family emergency and wouldn't be available for a while, if he wasn't allowed to come and go at will.

His legs feel unstable and shaky like a newborn colt's. He stumbles into his sofa with a relieved sigh.

He doesn't have any illusions about how easy things will be moving forward. The ghost kings will never help him get his memories back, he'll have to be discreet about that.

It's still a first step. Now that he has 'official' access to Youdu, he doesn't need to worry about going there using the System skills and being found out.

He takes the talisman out of his pocket and examines it. It might come in handy at some point, but for now he's just going to use 'Underground Access' to reach Youdu. Maybe once he figures out how to remove Xin Hulei's seal he can give it to him.

That night he goes to bed feeling oddly optimistic about the future -- a complete 180 from how he started the day.

Yao Shen doesn't know if he's going to like what he learns, but at least he'll have answers. 

For himself and Xin Hulei both.

Tomorrow Bi Jialu will call him with information about his schedule, and he can start splitting his time between the Underworld and the mortal world.

It would be useful to have some assistance there, but he doesn't know if Jia Hao can move this far from Hengdian.

He's wasting time on his cellphone when he gets a message on weibo. That's not unusual. From time to time, fans will message his official account expressing their admiration or declaring his feelings. Yao Shen has an automatic reply set up, that disabuses them of any notions that he might reply. 

It's pure coincidence that he's publishing selfies on his official account and notices the notification warning him of a new message.

The username catches his attention. ['Heimao' sent you a message.]