CH 31

The signal light ahead turned red and the car stopped slowly.

On both sides were bright street lights, falling on half of their side faces.

Lu Yingjiu said word by word, “Which priest are you?” 

Jing Xian said, “I’m not…”

“There is no need to make excuses anymore.” Lu Yingjiu said bluntly, “With your strength, you are at least a well-known priest. No matter how one looks at it, you are like a living person, and can even stay in the human world for a long time. I can only think of one possibility: you came to the world with a human body.”

Jing Xian didn’t answer, but just stared at Lu Yingjiu intently.

“You should know that priests are completely different from ordinary ghosts.” Lu Yingjiu looked at him, “The price for priests coming to the world with a human body–on one hand, their strength is limited, and it may not even be ten to twenty percent. On the other hand, it is gambling your endless life. If you die here, you’ll really die, and your soul will fly and disperse. So to speak, only a lunatic would do this.”

“Honestly,” he said, “I can’t think of any reason why any priest would do this.”

“Jing Xian, why did you come to the human world? Do you have unfulfilled wishes, a request for me?”

The two stared at each other for a long time.

The street lamp fell into Lu Yingjiu’s eyes, and was slightly covered by a few tree shadows, almost having the appearance of clear and flickering water waves and shadows.

Jing Xian turned his head to look at him, there was not much expression on his face, no emotion could be seen.

After a long time, Jing Xian said, “No, I don’t have any unfulfilled wishes.”

Lu Yingjiu exhaled lightly.

He said, “Then please go back. I like getting along with you very much, but this is not the place for you to stay. You are a priest and I am a human being. We should never meet in this life. I will say it again, the different paths between humans and ghosts are not just talk.”

His tone was not strong, but firm.

Lu Yingjiu recalled the days when Jing Xian was with him – of course he knew that Jing Xian was good to him. As for Ye Feng’s statement that Jing Xian did not seek wealth, but rather lust, Lu Yingjiu was not very sensitive to emotions either, thus it could only be regarded as half believing and half doubtful.

But one thing was certain: Jing Xian likes him very much.

No matter what kind of liking it is.

He was also very reluctant in his heart: Although he has only been with Jing Xian for a few dozen days, nonetheless, after all these years, it is rare to meet someone who can walk with him.

Ye Feng was very righteous, and accompanied Lu Yingjiu during the most difficult time. But Ye Feng’s style of acting was different from him. He had many other friends and had his own life, which was different from Jing Xian’s existence.

Although Jing Xian and him seem to have come out from two locations, they have a similar aura and get along happily, it could be said to not only be a perfect match—but perhaps, a person that had been with since childhood. Lu Yingjiu had been looking forward to such a friend.

A friend who could almost be called “like old friends at first sight”.

This was also the reason why Lu Yingjiu had not spoken out to Jing Xian for a long time.

Now, sitting in the suffocating silence inside the car, Lu Yingjiu thought ‘I’m also quite a selfish person’.

He’d always been very principled. However, on the first day when he found out that Jing Xian was a priest, Lu Yingjiu should have let him go back.

But he coveted a little time to be accompanied.

Jing Xian came to the human world out of impulsiveness, therefore he should stop all this.

It’s time to draw the line, he’d put it off for far too long.

“Is this farewell?” Jing Xian asked.

“…….Yes.” Lu Yingjiu replied, “The reason I’m talking about this today is because tonight’s yin is particularly strong, which is the most suitable for you to return to the ghost world. If you miss it, you may have to wait for another month or two.”

“This is not a demand, this is a request from a friend. Jing Xian, just go back tonight.”

There was another suffocating silence.

The signal light turned green, but Jing Xian didn’t step on the accelerator, and the car still remained quietly at an empty street corner.

Of course Jing Xian knew that what Lu Yingjiu said was correct. There were invisible laws in this world, and both humans and ghosts would be bound by it, even he was no exception.

But he doesn’t care.

Let alone that his strength was restricted, even if he became blind and disabled, no ghost would dare to say half a sentence more before him.

He had slept for more than ten years, a group of ghosts without a leader would be in chaos, each showing aggressive ambitions. Even so, no matter how rampant those evil spirits were, no ghost would ever dare to set foot on his final resting place.

——They didn’t even dare to step half a step.

However………

He could hear the faint guilt in Lu Yingjiu’s words.

For Lu Yingjiu, this night was already chaotic enough. What he needed most was probably to calm down by himself and reorganize his emotions and thoughts.

Lu Yingjiu insisted, “Jing Xian, tonight, just go back.”

Jing Xian: “…..”

Jing Xian said in a low voice, “This seems to be the first time you’re ‘requesting’ me to do something. You also know that I can’t refuse you…I understand what you mean.”

He took a deep breath, lightly stepped on the accelerator, and the Pagani drove across the night.

The two were silent all the way until Jing Xian parked the car downstairs of Lu Yingjiu’s apartment.

They got out of the car and stood in the night wind.

Jing Xian said, “That, I’ll really leave?”

“En.” Lu Yingjiu nodded, but still smiled, “It’s not that we can’t meet again, if you want, you can still come in the form of a ghost.”

Although both of them knew that the form of a ghost could only stay in the world for tens of minutes at a time.

There was nothing special about this farewell.

Jing Xian stood beside the car and hugged him tightly.

Lu Yingjiu smelled the familiar cold fragrance, like flowers blooming in the snow under the moon.

Then he felt that Jing Xian’s body gradually became lighter, and the strength holding him gradually weakened.

In the end, his eyes lit up, his arms were empty, and the light that had been blocked by Jing Xian shone brightly.

Lu Yingjiu stood there for three seconds.

The wind was getting stronger and stronger, because his clothes were thin, he felt a little chill on his back.

Then he smiled lightly and walked home.

The lobby was empty, and everyone else had already gone to bed. He took the elevator and slowly climbed up the floor. The elevator door opened with a “ding”, and the voice-activated lights in the corridor turned on accordingly.

Lu Yingjiu turned right, but the corridor on the right was pitch black.

He turned on the flashlight of his mobile phone and looked up, he saw that the light bulb above his head was broken, and there were shards of glass on the ground.

The building was so old that the property management didn’t care much about things. Lu Yingjiu kicked the shards of glass to the side so as not to cut anyone, thinking that he would have to call tomorrow and tell them to change the light bulb.

When he reached the door of his house, he opened the door, and the cow cat came up to meet him, rubbing against his feet with its tail upright.

Lu Yingjiu knelt down and scratched its chin, but the cow cat circled around the door, meowing, as if it was looking for something.

Lu Yingjiu froze for a moment, remembering that Jing Xian would feed the cat every day during this time.

This cat had no conscience, its eyes glowed green when it saw cat food, and it quickly established a close relationship with Jing Xian who fed it. Compared to Lu Yingjiu, it may look forward to Jing Xian returning home more.

He grabbed the cow cat, rubbed its head violently, and said with a smile, “You little white-eyed wolf, have you forgotten who is the owner so quickly? He won’t come back.”

The cat couldn’t understand what he said, it only flicked the tip of its tail and yawned lazily.

Lu Yingjiu heated up a glass of milk, sat down at the table, and took a deep breath.

Jing Xian left, he seemed to let go of something, the strong sense of guilt finally disappeared – on this night, amidst so many chaotic thoughts, this kind of relief was really rare.

It had to be said that Jing Xian really understood him very well.

Even leaving was according to his will, without any entanglement or making it difficult for him.

His heart was still empty, but he had always been able to control his emotions, suppress his reluctance, and when he picked up the brush to draw the talisman paper, he would be the calm and self-controlled Lu Yingjiu again.

****

Noon the next day.

The tea restaurant was full of voices, and there was a constant sound of clashing cups and bowls and chopsticks.

Ye Feng concentrated on cutting a large piece of steak. The five-ripe beef oozes juice, dipped in black pepper sauce, served with onions and French fries, making people have a good appetite. Lu Yingjiu, who was opposite him, maintained the usual elegance of eating, and drank the mushroom soup slowly.

When most of the steak was eaten, Ye Feng suddenly raised his head and asked, “Why haven’t I seen your gold master today?” (TL: sponsor, term for people who give you money)

“What gold master?” Lu Yingjiu said, “I’ve said it all, Jing Xian is an employee of my firm.”

“All right, all right, that’s what you say.” Ye Feng said, “Where has the other person gone? Have you finally figured out that the six thousand salary is not worth his running around like this? It seems that he is not spendthrift and foolish.”

Lu Yingjiu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “How can you joke so much every day? He just went back to his hometown and didn’t want to do it anymore. If you don’t eat quickly, didn’t you say we’re supposed to be there at two o’clock to see the client?”

Ye Feng immediately speeded up, took a few big mouthfuls, and drank water desperately when he was choked.

The client’s address was not far from the restaurant, and it would only take ten minutes to drive there.

Lu Yingjiu drove his second-hand Honda.

Jing Xian left behind two or three luxury cars, neatly and shiningly parked in his garage. But Lu Yingjiu used to drive a broken car to the scene, and, after all, it was Jing Xian’s stuff, not his.

When he went to get the car in the morning, he was stunned for a moment, almost thinking that Jing Xian was still there.

When they got there, he followed Ye Feng upstairs.

This was Ye Feng’s commission. He came to listen to it because he was simply bored and couldn’t rest.

The client was an old lady, and she dragged Ye Feng into a lot of ramblings, saying that every morning, someone would knock on her window. But she was staying on the 12th floor, how could there be anyone out there knocking on the window?

Ye Feng asked her about the situation in detail.

Lu Yingjiu sat on the sofa, holding a glass of water and listening casually.

He subconsciously touched the longevity lock on his chest.

This was not a difficult case, and Ye Feng quickly figured out the situation. There used to be a person who hanged himself on the roof of this building, probably because the resentment had not dissipated, he harassed the residents every day.

So, facing the blood-red light of the setting sun, Lu Yingjiu and Ye Feng went up to the rooftop.

The man hanged himself with a clothesline.

Originally, the roof was covered with colorful quilts and clothes to dry. After someone died, people felt that it was bad luck, so they didn’t dare to come up. On the current roof, there were only a few empty clotheslines, swaying by the wind.

Ye Feng pasted talisman papers around the roof. Lu Yingjiu stood behind him and said, “This one is a little further to the left, and there are two more talisman papers at the southwest corner, and the west side…”

After arranging all the talisman papers, Ye Feng pinched a spell, and the talisman papers burned, only to hear a sharp scream in the air!

All the clotheslines tensed in an instant, as if some weight was hanging on them, such as…a dead body.

The wind blew so hard that it almost sounded like howling. In front of them, the hanged ghost with a pale face and a long tongue slowly appeared.

The hanged ghost looked around, and his eyes quickly fell on Lu Yingjiu, who didn’t have a single talisman.

With a flick of its crimson tongue, it screamed and rushed forward!

Then screamed to death, and scattered into a cloud of black mist.

The whole process took no more than half a second.

Lu Yingjiu clapped his hands. “Okay, let’s go back and hand in the commission.”

Ye Feng muttered, “Every time I come out with you, I feel that it is too fast.”

Lu Yingjiu laughed.

After solving the problem, the old lady was very grateful, and even took Ye Feng’s hand, saying that she had never seen such an efficient exorcist, and that she would definitely write a thank you letter and send a silk banner to Ye Feng.

Ye Feng kept saying ‘no need, no need’.

“Besides, I’m not the one who is the best.” Then he turned around to show Lu Yingjiu, but it was in vain.

Lu Yingjiu had already gone downstairs–he had guessed that the old lady would chatter for a long time, thus he decided to go back to the car to catch up on sleep.

Sure enough, Ye Feng was entangled by the old lady for more than ten minutes, after finally getting out, he returned to the car, “Ah you slipped very fast.”

Unexpectedly, Lu Yingjiu was on the phone.

He remembered the light bulb and was going to urge the management office to fix it.

It was a lazy aunt’s voice who answered the phone. Lu Yingjiu explained the situation to her and asked her to change the light bulb.

But the only aunt said casually, “Oh, I know the situation. We really don’t have enough manpower these days, and the master is also very busy. I can only arrange for you as soon as possible.”

“When is the earliest time?” Lu Yingjiu asked.

“I don’t know about that, just wait, at least two or three days.”

Lu Yingjiu hung up the phone.

Ye Feng asked, “Why, the light broke?”

“Yeah.” Lu Yingjiu said, “I don’t know why the light bulb broke. This property management doesn’t care much about the matter, and it’s probably going to drag on for a long time again.”

“That’s really inconvenient.” Ye Feng muttered, “Aren’t you considering changing to another neighborhood?”

Lu Yingjiu was of course not short on money.

In fact, if he wanted to, he could buy a suite in the city center with full payment and move out now.

But Lu Yingjiu shook his head and said with a smile, “Got used to it. You also know that, I tend to miss the past easily.”

Ye Feng didn’t say any more.

He knew the reason why Lu Yingjiu stayed here.

Lu Yingjiu’s family was not well off when he was a child, and the cost of hiring a ghost exorcist and burning incense and worshiping Buddha everywhere was a huge expense, they couldn’t afford it at all.

After a long time, Lu Yingjiu’s father was the first to collapse.

He made the most cowardly decision: divorce and let go.

So in the following days, Lu Yingjiu’s mother, Zhuang Xue, begged for help everywhere, worked several jobs at the same time, ate the cheapest lunch box, just to save some money before begging the next person.

Lu Yingjiu was talented, and after learning how to draw talisman paper, he relieved a lot of pressure. However, the ghost marriage made the situation significantly better, and Zhuang Xue was overjoyed—the work pressure was relieved, and she no longer lived in anxiety every day. She even had some spare money, bought flowers and went home after getting off work, humming a song and arranging flowers in the living room.

Every time she arranged flowers, Lu Yingjiu would study all kinds of talisman papers beside her when he came back from school.

Unlike him, Zhuang Xue had absolutely no talent for exorcising ghosts.

Although she worked hard to learn the technique of exorcising ghosts for Lu Yingjiu, until now, the talisman paper still looked like a bunch of ghostly drawn talismans, moreover she did not understand anything.

Therefore, Zhuang Xue, who just finished arranging the flowers happily, harassed Lu Yingjiu from time to time. “Oh, what do you think looks good?”

Lu Yingjiu looked away from the talisman paper, carefully looked at the flowers and plants, shook his head and said, “I don’t think there is any difference.”

Zhuang Xue complained. “How come you haven’t inherited any of my aesthetics?”

After a while, she asked again. “Do you like baby’s breath more or foxtail grass?”

“Foxtail grass.” Lu Yingjiu replied, while steadily drawing lines.

After a few seconds, when he put the drawn talisman paper beside him, the back of his neck felt itchy.

When he turned his head, his mother was scratching him with a piece of foxtail grass. Seeing him turning his head, she bent over with a smile.

Lu Yingjiu said helplessly, “How many times have you scratched me, what so fun about it?”

“I also want to say, why are you talking so old-fashioned, not interesting at all.” Zhuang Xue poked him with the foxtail grass again, “You’re still at a young age, why aren’t you a little childish and energetic? I’m looking forward to it every day, when you cry and ask me for pocket money to buy lollipops. Come on, hurry up and cry for mom.”

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

Lu Yingjiu: “Am I really your own…”

“Of course.” Zhuang Xue said, “No one else can have such a lovely child.” She rubbed Lu Yingjiu’s hair vigorously, “If you could be more headstrong and play coquettish with me, it would be more perfect. “

Later, their family situation got better and better, and they finally bought a second-hand house during the time when Lu Yingjiu was in high school.

——It was the place where Lu Yingjiu was living now.

The second-hand house was not expensive, but it was much better than their previous small house of no more than 50 square meters.

Lu Yingjiu had already made a lot of money, and could buy a bigger and more luxurious house, but what he misses the most was this place.

After all, there used to be huge bouquets of flowers here.

“……”

Ye Feng came back to his senses and saw Lu Yingjiu looking out the window.

Ye Feng followed his gaze and looked out.

Someone was selling flowers on the street. The budding roses, big carnations, orchids and gypsophila, with crystal water drops on the petals, attracted several girls to gather around and chirp to ask the price.

Ye Feng said, “What, do you want to buy flowers?”

“No, I just remembered that my family used to buy flowers.” Lu Yingjiu said.

Ye Feng said “Oh”, and said, “Your mother’s flower arrangements are really beautiful, but unfortunately I am covered in artistic bacteria, and I don’t know how to appreciate them.” He smiled, “I still remember, she used to say to me the most ‘Don’t you think Lu Yingjiu isn’t acting like a child”, and then urged me to take you to an Internet cafe, saying that you are going to study yourself stupid.”

Willful and coquettish.

Lu Yingjiu had been insulated from these two words since she was a child.

He had always been extremely restrained, and his rational thinking was far greater than his sensibility. Therefore he didn’t get to fulfill Zhuang Xue’s wish

Ye Feng just said that casually, but Lu Yingjiu answered him after a few seconds. “Still self-willed.”

“Huh?” Ye Feng asked.

“It’s only once.” Lu Yingjiu looked at the blooming bouquet, thinking of Jing Xian, “There will be no next time.”

Facing the last rays of the setting sun, the Honda hit the road.

Lu Yingjiu dropped Ye Feng on the way, and drove home by herself.

When he took the elevator upstairs, he was ready to turn on the flashlight of his mobile phone.

The efficiency of that troublesome management office is so low, it is conceivable that the light bulb must not have been changed.

But to his surprise, after walking a few steps, everything was bright in front of him, and the light at the doorstep was turned on.

Lu Yingjiu was thinking to himself that the property management had finally done its job, but when he suddenly stood still under the light bulb…..

Something is wrong.

He squinted and looked at the light bulb.

The glass, the tungsten filament, the holder…all normal, the bulb glowing softly, and welcoming him home.

But he just sensed a very light, a very light yin energy.

This……

This is a light bulb from the underworld!

——Lu Yingjiu came to a conclusion in an instant.