CH 2.2

The Appearance of the Seven Ex-boyfriends…. WTF? (Part 2)

Actually, it wasn’t only Ye Chen who visited Tian Jingzhi tonight, but also Xue Lingqiao, the one that Ye Chen called a ‘mummified corpse’. But why did he refer to him as a ‘mummy’? He wasn’t completely dried, his body was still composed of at least 30% water. 

Xue Lingqiao did not want to have any close contact with humans, but she was the exception.

This was why he hesitated on saving her. It's really troublesome and couldn’t be explained clearly in one sentence. 

He had studied how humans go about their daily lives and also the development history of modern society in the library. It seemed that it was truly difficult for human beings to survive today. Due to overpopulation, every household was limited to living in a small cement grid of about tens of square meters. This was completely unlike in the past, where the house could be built casually. With no problem raising chickens and ducks in the yard and the air was always fresh and pleasant. Now when one walked and talked on the main road, their mouths would be full of debris. Whenever he walked by a human, their blood would either smell fishy or sour. The typical constitution of humans now were more acidic, with low-quality blood and excessive fat. 

Of course, compared to the past, there were also inventions that surprised Xue Lingqiao. The Internet being one of them. Through the Internet, he was able to obtain a lot of information conveniently. For example, the stem cell regeneration research center that had rented his body out from the private museum was headed by Professor Li Kunqing and his student Ye Chen. 

Before coming to Tian Jingzhi, Xue Lingqiao went to the stem cell regeneration research center. On the desk in the office, Xue Lingqiao saw, for the first time, a brochure about himself. The photo of the "mummified corpse" did not look like his current self at all. Even when he stood in front of them, no one believed that he was the missing mummy. 

Though he wasn’t even all that dry in the picture. 

There wasn’t any useful information from the research center. Xue Lingqiao walked out of the office when he heard chaotic footsteps in the corridor. At the other end of the corridor, Ye Chen quickly caught up with Professor Li. 

"Teacher, I was looking for you." 

"Any updates on the lost research material?" 

"We’re trying our best. Officer Li took the camera films by the intersections of the city that night. They are going to screen any suspicious vehicles, and also screen all warehouses and personal art galleries that could store the mummy... There are many possibilities, so it will take some time." 

"What about Tian Jingzhi?" 

Ye Chen’s head ached when he thought about his ‘wonderful’ ex-girlfriend, "She refused to meet, so there is no news. But as the only survivor of the car accident, Officer Li is closely monitoring her." 

"You know how important that mummy is to us. It's already been more than a month, we must find it as soon as possible. The more time we waste, the less hope that we will find it. We have spent a lot of money to get that specimen. How do we explain this to the sponsor?” 

"I heard that Tian Jingzhi had been discharged from the hospital, I will go and ask her tonight." 

"Great, then everything is up to you." 

"Teacher, leave it to me." 

Although Ye Chen said this, he was still internally uncertain. When Professor Li walked away, he breathed a sigh of relief and turned to walk towards the research room, exhausted. 

There was no way that Xue Lingqiao would deliver himself back to being a research specimen. And also that Miss Tian, although she saved him, he also saved her life in turn. They should be even, but as an elder, he must take care of the younger generation. So there will be some losses.  

At this moment, Xue Lingqiao was standing on a branch of a big tree that was facing Tian Jingzhi’s home. His arms crossed as he watched the ‘fashion-forward’ Miss Tian invite her ex into her house. And then with a tap of his toe, he flew towards her balcony like a scene from a martial arts movie. And like a bat, he hung upside-down, looking in the window.

Tian Jingzhi sat on the sofa in the living room and secutinized Ye Chen. Laughing a thousand times internally before she rolled her eyes. 

Ye Chen was currently rummaging through his bag. He saw the contempt on her face when he looked up. Smiling, he said: "You should take off your sunglasses so that I can see you rolling your eyes. You should make it clear that you hate someone, right?" 

Tian Jingzhi sneered, "My father told me since I was young not to hate others. Because hate is a strong emotion, and I don’t want to spend a single bit of my energy on you, Mr. Ye, understand?" 

In the past, Ye Chen pursued Tian Jingzhi  because of her deceptive face. She looked so pure and innocent. However, when they started to date, he realized how much of a headache she was, with her unreasonable mouth and her bad temper. But after three years of no contact, he once again bathed in her hurricane-like nature. Ye Chen was ashamed to admit he had some nostalgia. 

“That's good.” Ye Chen put the brochure and a photo on the table. "This is a promotional photo of the mummified corpse taken by the private museum. Their staff had named him 'Sleeping Beauty'." 

“Sleeping Beauty?”

This name piqued Tian Jingzhi’s interest. She took the brochure and the photo in her hands and alternately looked at it. 

"Wow, already a mummy, but still looking good! That's clearly a naked provocation to celebrities!... Hey, it looks like he had lived in this city before his death. It’s an honorable return, after being rented by you guys. Cause of death: The carotid artery was severed and suspected of being murdered… that’s too tragic, at least now he can return as a ghost and seek his vengeance..." 

Ex or not, it seems that she’s still the same as before.

Ye Chen didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Don’t think too much into it. This was long long ago. Even if he had an enemy, he would have already passed away. I heard the police say that you were thrown out of the car and fell on the glass shards of the car window. Think about it carefully, did anything unusual happen then?"

Tian Jingzhi replied, "Wasn’t it because the truck driver was sleep deprived? What kind of unusual thing can happen? It’s not like the mummy could get up and run away by itself…" 

"Although the police department determined that the driver was fully responsible for driving while fatigued, our mummy was lost. This could likely be a premeditated murder and theft. If it is a murder, wouldn’t you want to find the murderer who put you in the hospital?"

This sounded more like a suspenseful blockbuster, Tian Jingzhi wasn’t that gullible. She  silently struggled for a while, trying to find the best way to tell Ye Chen that he needed to see a psychiatrist soon. Otherwise he might fall into a state of paranoia. 

"Why would anyone want to steal a corpse? It couldn’t be that the cannibals who live in the mountains had a change of taste, right?" 

"No believe it or not, this mummy is really important, for he is..." 

“He is?” Tian Jingzhi was eager to hear some gossip. 

Ye Chen immediately closed his mouth, realizing that he had almost slipped up. Solemnly, he said, "I can't tell you." 

Tian Jingzhi's mouth twitched twice. Bro, why are you pretending to be so noble and glamorous when you’re here to ask for help? 

"Just thinking about it more..." Ye Chen said seriously, "I’ll owe you a favor." 

Tian Jingzhi refuted in her head, ‘your favor is not even worth a cent’, but in order to send him away quickly, she could only look closely at the photos. This mummified corpse really did look familiar, as if she had seen it in her previous life. 

"...Strange, why do I feel like I've seen it before?" 

Ye Chen's eyes sparkled with hope, he was persuasive and his voice became gentle and low, "Really? Keeping thinking. The place where the police found you was very close to the broken coffin. You may have seen it then." 

Ye Chen’s voice was hypnotizing. She soon took off her sunglasses to look at the photos carefully. She was trying to concentrate when a face flashed in her mind. The man who she had a glimpse under the streetlights, illuminated by the headlights of the car. She suddenly felt short of breath and her legs weakened. She suddenly felt weak in her legs and short of breath. The peacefully sleeping mummy in the photo suddenly opened its eyes. 

“Ahhh!!!~” Tian Jingzhi was so frightened that she threw the photo away and screamed uncontrollably. 

Ye Chen was taken aback by her reaction. He quickly hugged her and comforted her, "What happened? What do you remember?" 

After Tian Jingzhi cried out, she suddenly found herself in the embrace of her ex and fell into another frenzy, "Don't touch me! Get out, don't bother me!" 

“Xiaozhi…”

Tian Jingzhi gathered all of the papers and stuffed them into Ye Chen’s hands, pushing him out, “Scared me to death! I don’t remember at all! Nothing! Go! Get out of my house!”

Ye Chen was reluctant to go, "Hey, Tian Jingzhi, can't you think about it again?" 

"If you lose something, go to the police, it's none of my business! Don't come here in the future, or I'll sue you for harassment!" Tian Jingzhi slammed the door shut without hesitation. She then stroked her chest from shock, and murmured to herself: “It must be the scumbag Ye who brought something sketchy... It must be… There is always a perpetrator to injustice. The debt should be settled through him, quickly go to him..." 

Tian Jingzhi rubbed her hands together and earnestly chanted while bowing in all directions of the house. 

No matter how many years have passed, the human tradition of believing in ghosts and gods has not changed at all. 

Xue Lingqiao, who was originally hanging outside from the window, was frightened by Tian Jingzhi's unexpected scream. He lost his grip and fell head first onto the ground, and wasn’t able to recover until a while later.