Chapter 17 A Trip

That must have been the most embarrassing moment of my ghost life. I replied in a fluster while trying to get off the tree. However, my clothes got entangled in the branches. I struggled for a bit before falling from the tree, head first.

I flushed instantly —— Illusion, this must be an illusion! How can a ghost flush?

“I… I’m not feeling anything…” I stood up feeling humiliated, and stammered, “That is… because I’m a ghost, I… can’t feel anything, the weather, the temperature, and such…”

I’m done. He must hate me.

I was supposed to appear in front of him as beautifully as I could. And I rehearsed this moment thousands of times, but in the end, it ended up like this…

“Is that so?” Mr. Wen smiled softly. “However, you can’t judge the weather only through physical sensation.”

I sat on the ground like a statue, staring at him. He didn’t get angry at me at all, and he even kept talking to me!

“Be it good or bad, the weather is a gift from mother nature. Humans use their eyes to see, their ears to listen, and their nose to smell. But, in the end, they also use their heart to feel,” Mr. Wen enunciated. “If they are in a bad mood, a sunny day will turn downcast, and vice versa. That’s how their mood influences their feelings.”

I stared at him, dumbstruck. And these words slipped from my mouth,

“Then… what do you think of the weather today?”

“Me?” Mr. Wen smiled. He looked at the evening crimson clouds in the horizon and said, “For me, it doesn’t make any difference.”

“No… no difference?”

“A sunny day is just a sunny day, and a rainy day is just a rainy day, like day and night, the eclipse of the moon, they’re just natural phenomenon,” Mr. Wen said flatly. “After all, my heart is dead.”

He said… his heart is dead. What happened to him?

Why would he say something like this?

Back then, I didn’t understand his words, but I could feel his loneliness through them.

But why did he say his heart was dead? He saved me from the monster back then. I firmly believed that I would see a warm heart if I managed to break through the ice shell.

I must do that…

——————————————————————

“Gu Yu, Gu Yu! You lazybones, get up!”

Bai woke me up in the morning using his little paws. I slowly opened my eyes and it took me a minute to see him clearly.

“Lazy boy! Get up!”

Probably because I wasn’t reacting to his attempts to wake me up, Bai began to jump up and down on my belly.

“You!” I grabbed Bai, sat up immediately, and said angrily, “I’ll cook you into a pot of weasel soup! You’re so annoying!”

“It’s my fault now?! You got up so late, aren’t you worried about being late for your classes?!” Bai shook his legs and struggled to escape from my grip. “How dare you to treat my kindness as ill will!”

Ah, shoot! Bai reminded me that I had classes this morning. I took out my handphone and realized that the class would start in just ten minutes!

“Shoot! I’m late!” I jumped out of the bed and hurriedly put on my clothes and shoes.

During the whole day I spent in school, Chu bai didn’t show up even once. It seemed that she suddenly became well-behaved and only replied with a few words, even when I talked to her.

…Did she find out that I peeped at her memory in the dream?

What’s more, I had become more curious about what happened between her and Wen Jiubo that led to the current situation.

“What are you thinking about? Move!”

Bai brought me back to reality. Oh, yes, it was already the afternoon. Wen Jiubo, Bai, and I prepared to head to the client’s village to seal away the man-eating monster Gudiao.

“Uh, okay, I’m coming.” I pulled my wandering mind back to the present, grabbed my backpack and jacket, before following them.

The fish tank was still placed on the wooden table in the living room. The goldfish given by Mr. Cat swam happily inside.

Actually, this fish was kind of cute.

“Gu Yu! What are you doing?”

That annoying weasel prompted me again. I pouted my lips and walked out of the yard.

“Where are we going?” I caught up with Wen Jiubo and asked.

“A place about sixty kilometers to the west. It’s a small village.” Wen Jiubo carried a cloth bag on his back, which was probably filled with weird charms and instruments.

“That far?” I asked. “So how are we gonna get there? By taxi?”

…It would be very expensive to call a taxi though.

“No, I have a car. There is no need to call a taxi!” Wen Jiubo gave me a smile and shrugged his shoulders.

Huh?

Before I could figure out what he meant, Wen Jiubo moved a few steps forward and uncovered a tarpaulin, which was so large that I didn’t notice it before.

Under the tarpaulin was a red Ferrari sports car. Yes, it was the same kind of car which Liang Kaifeng’s father drove.

My jaw dropped, I was speechless. “Is this…”

“It’s part of the payment from Liang Kaifeng’s father.” Wen Jiubo smiled radiantly. He opened the car door and sat in the driver’s seat. “Of course, I didn’t refuse since it was given free.”

I lowered my body and sat in the front passenger seat, replying angrily, “If you continue to show off like this, burglars will definitely target your house at some point.”

“Whatever.” Wen Jiubo smiled. “There’s nothing more worthless than money in my house.”

Huh? What does that mean?

“He means that if you sold those old books in the house, you would probably be able to buy ten Ferraris,” Bai interjected.

His words hit me harshly. Damn it, you’re rich, so what? Are you looking down upon the poor students who eat in the school cafeteria and save every penny like me?!

“Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mean like that.” Wen Jiubo started the car, driving the dazzling luxury car along the winding mountain road. “Money is worthless in this world. Humans’ love for money is similar to the love crows have for glass balls, it’s their most boring instinct ”

….I agree. But I think you are no better than a crow since you’re driving a Ferrari on a mountain.