Chapter 102 - My Costar Is Jealous

Yao Shen opens the message immediately. 

As he watches, 'Heimao' continues typing, apparently unaware that all his messages are being read just as they're delivered. Something that only makes Yao Shen more suspicious.

[Heimao: Hello]

[Heimao: I really like you]

[Heimao: people say you like Xin Hulei, but I hope that's not true]

[Heimao: lots of people already like Xin Hulei so I don't think you should bother]

Yao Shen has to laugh at that. Instead of replying, Yao Shen takes a screenshot and sends it to Xin Hulei.

[Little Menace: what is Heimao doing now? because I think he's texting me right now]

Xin Hulei doesn't reply right away, and in the meantime, Heimao continues typing:

[Heimao: i think you should like me instead, you won't have to fight with anyone else]

[Heimao: are you reading this? I can't tell]

Yao Shen feels a little sorry for him, but he can't answer, just in case he really is a regular fan who happens to have an oddly familiar profile name.

After some time, Xin Hulei finally gets back to him.

[Xin Hulei: I don't know, I'm out with Tan Liansi and our agents]

That sours Yao Shen's mood. He can imagine the kind of stuff Tan Liansi is saying about him. He doesn't know if imagining Xin Hulei defending him makes things better or worse. Especially if what Tan Liansi is accusing him of is true.

She has good reason to be protective of Xin Hulei, and even better reason to suspect Yao Shen.

He doesn't know if she ever saw him back then, but it's safe to assume Xin Hulei told her that Yao Shen resembles the 'guy from the brothel'.

His mobile vibrates again, distracting Yao Shen from his morose thoughts.

[Xin Hulei: why aren't you saying something? are you jealous because 'a lot of people like me'?]

Shaking his head, Yao Shen fires back with a text of his own:

[Little Menace: a lot of people like me too, including your cat, apparently. You should be the jealous one]

[Xin Hulei: I am. I'm furious. Heimao is not going to get his 'kitty cat meow' treats today]

He remembers Xin Hulei's terrible display of jealousy and sends him  a 'doubt' emoji.

It's getting late, and Yao Shen has a busy day ahead of him tomorrow. In more than one realm, maybe.

He texts Xin Hulei goodnight and sends him a selfie of himself in bed, the white bedsheets wrapped around his head.

[Little Menace: let me know what you find on the cameras]

He falls asleep before seeing Xin Hulei's answering selfie, looking into the camera with a small smile curling on the corner of his lips.

---

Bi Jialu calls him the next morning, bright and early. She doesn't have many news for him. The agency thinks it's for the best if they lay low for at least a week, so there is nothing scheduled for him. 

She's surprised by how okay Yao Shen is with the news, and promises to call him again as soon as she has any updates.

Yao Shen checks his mobile and is surprise to find no other message from Xin Hulei besides the selfie, which he saves as Xin Hulei's contact info.

After a quick breakfast, Yao Shen makes his way to Youdu.

The city is just as bustling as ever, and this time, he doesn't have a chaperone keeping an eye on him.

He tried to ask the System how long is 'Invisibility' going to last for, after the upgrade, but he doesn't get an answer.

There's the 'Persuasion' skill too. He has a fairly good idea of what it does -- he remembers that first lunch with Xin Hulei when he felt unable to refuse him.

Now, the memory sends a thrill down his spine. He wonders if there aren't other, more fun, uses, they can put that ability to.

It's a shame the System is apparently offline, and can't tell him how to activate the Persuasion skill, because it would really come in handy for what he needs.

---

Youdu's streets are filled with ghosts of all time periods. He can see old ghosts in ancient dress, who wouldn't look out of place in a period drama, more recent ghosts that still look shell-shocked as if they aren't yet able to process their own deaths wearing the latest fashions. 

A heartbreaking number of people he walks by wear the kind of clothes he associates with the second sino-japanese war.

Some of the ghosts look no different than regular people, others are horribly disfigured, unable to let go of the marks of their grisly deaths. Many of them, even the maimed ones, seem to be having the time of their uh...deaths.

There's an almost festive mood to Youdu. There are street vendors in every corner selling food of dubious precedence, and candied fruits so red and shiny that Yao Shen does a double take trying to figure out if it's truly sugar that coats them. 

The streets are narrow, and made even more cramped by the towering buildings flanking them. The towers, for lack of a better word, all look like individual houses stacked on top of each other. Where the lower levels are the oldest, and the top floors resemble modern, glittering apartments of steel and glass.

The whole thing looks like it can topple at any moment, seeing as it's balanced on top of  structures of either clay or wood.

Engineering in Youdu doesn't resemble anything Yao Shen has ever seen.

The Fragrant Peony is one of the few buildings that stands on its own. It takes up almost an entire square, and has only four floors. All of them built in the same style, and brightly lit by lanterns hanging from every corner of the verandas.

From the street, Yao Shen looks up at the building and contemplates his options.

He's wearing an old audition costume robe he had laying around his apartment, hiding a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Before stepping through the doorway to Youdu he tied a veil around his face.

He doesn't know if that will be enough to hide his identity, in case the ghost kings try to find out where he went, but it's all he has.

It's possible the brothel won't bring him any answers, but it's the only place Yao Shen can think of to start his investigation.

---

Inside the Fragrant Peony the mood is even more rowdy than in the bustling streets. In the lower floor alone, several patrons are already in a deep state of inebriation. Most of them are clinging to a courtesan, and seemingly unaware of their surroundings or of the spectacle they are making of themselves.

In the center of the large hall, on a dais, a woman with a heavily made up face plays the pipa, accompanied by an equally made up man playing the erhu. 

Yao Shen looks around without knowing where to start.

A woman in a flimsy robe approaches him. She smiles at him over the curve of her painted, hand-held fan.

"Is young master lost?"

"Yes, actually, it's my first time here," Yao Shen says.

Her eyebrows furrow subtly, and Yao Shen wishes he could take his words back. He realizes now, that in his efforts to hide his identity, he made himself stick out like a sore thumb. A 'ghost' wearing ancient clothing, with short hair, who was visiting the brothel for the first time? It didn't make sense.

He'll have to do better next time, and think of a more subtle disguise.

Who knows, maybe the ghost kings expect him to visit the brothel, anyway, and nothing will come of it if word reaches their ears that he was there.

The courtesan must notice the play of emotions on his face but decides to ignore it. "We have plenty of entertainers to choose from. However exotic young master's taste's are, I'm sure we'll find someone to meet them."

Her insinuating smile makes him worry about just how 'exotic'.

He casts his eyes around the inside of the brothel, as if in deep contemplation, after some time he points at the railings on the upper floor decks, which look to be made with different coloured wood.

"What happened there? Did the building suffer any structural damage?"

It's an incredibly awkward segue. The woman blinks at him in confusion over her fan. 

Yao Shen chuckles and rubs the back of his neck, like the handsome hero in a wuxia drama, led to distraction by the sight of a beautiful maiden. 

"I mean, I've noticed outside how unstable all the buildings look! I thought to myself that they must collapse often." He clears his throat. "I apologize, it seems little sister's beautiful face has turned all my words to dust."

She lets out a tinkling laugh and waves her fan daintily at him. "Young master is a flatterer." She looks at the place Yao Shen pointed at and shakes her head. "No need to worry about the structural stability of the buildings here, the Underworld doesn't obey the same laws of physics as the mortal realm."

"What happened there, then?" Yao Shen prompts. "Remodeling?"

She shakes her head again, and holds her fan over her mouth. Lowering her voice, she says, "Maybe young master doesn't know this, but there used to be ten ghost kings. Now there are only nine."