Both people found the options presented to them ridiculous. Zhan Rong, for example, was dumbfounded and could not relate the options to ghosts. All of these… if she hired a tutor or exposed herself to the field, wouldn"t she learn them all the same? Why the h.e.l.l did she have to suffer from the pursuit and pestering of those clingy spirits? A bunch of them almost followed her home!Zhan Rong had no answer to this as she didn"t want to entertain the conclusion that survival was already the best she could ask for. She was in a low mood even after she reached home and climbed onto her bed.
As her eyes darkened, she thought, "Who said everything happened for a reason? Clearly, there are things that happen without one. A lot of things about life could not be controlled and planned, rendering one powerless and helpless. However, who is to blame? Who asks us to be mere mortals?"
She had these misgivings in mind for a long while before she busied herself pondering over the second-to-the-last line. A pet needed to be coaxed first before the reward could be obtained, huh? Didn"t it mean a break? That was, after all, that one thing she was hoping for in the first place.
The longer she took to choose, or please this whoever ghost should mean the farther she was from getting another weird mission, right?
She took some time to convince herself.
After that, she went to sleep with a slight peace of mind, although the ultimate reason was still the extreme mental fatigue the whole week gave her, including the fake seven days in that ridiculous place.
...
It happened on the same night.
Jiang Li… This bitter ghost did not get to hear anything from the girl despite the shameful hint so he was wearing a gloomy look on his face all night long.
Feeling a bit suffocated, he floated out of the room and killed time by exploring the girl"s neighborhood. Somehow, he also accidentally scared a lot of night owls and ghosts, the former referred to people whose concept of night and day was reversed. Since the place was walking distance to the university and it was currently summer break, a lot of his victims were students partying together, doing broadcasts for money, or chitchatting the night away with their friends or lovers.
"I didn"t really do a thing besides phasing through walls," he shook his head and forced a laugh.
Some people had been spooked out by him, yet it was not really his intention. He was too old to childishly vent on innocent people. In actuality, since this would be his first day in the city, he merely thought it would be necessary to grasp how technologically advanced this world was. Albeit there were some accidents, his goal was achieved when he managed to confirm that outside of the ghost and cultivation matters, it was like a normal twenty-first-century world.
One thing though that nearly wiped the ever-present frown from his face was his discovery of a few websites run by ghosts who wanted to scare people this way. He had to say, it was quite the eye-opener.
…
Zhan Rong woke up around noon the next day and then pretended she was having a hard time choosing her reward. Jiang Li was in control of the panel now and didn"t urge her in whatsoever ways. Although a bit concerned about the villainess" oddity, he didn"t leave the girl"s side, letting the situation continued for days until Zhan Rong reluctantly chose "Singing".
"I want to know how the h.e.l.l a ghost would teach a human how to sing."
"Since this is supposed to be a skill, it should not be the pet ghost only making weird noises, right?"
She had this thought in mind, completely forgetting how scared she was of talking ghosts. She then spent days going to tourist spots in another city with the excuse of needing a relaxing place to ponder how she would please her exclusive pet. A great plan would only be made in a stress-free environment, she claimed when she talked to herself. The ghost was amusedly watching her from her necklace.
Zhan Rong had no other companion this time. She didn"t invite her usual travel buddies, and not like she wanted to see them nor they had the time to do so.
Fan Zheng and Zhao Ai were in their own world, and the others were either busy coordinating with the police or spicing up this pair"s romantic lives.
It was currently their strange moment of peace. In Jiang Li"s mind, it also meant the leads" drama phase.
Guo Hanying, the oddball lady who brought the ouija before had a crush on the male lead and was quick to notice the interest Zhao Ai had for Fan Zheng. The girl naturally brought Fan Lan on her side and kept on staging small acts to discredit the female lead.
It was quite a mess that was painful to the eyes of dramhaters. Because no one died, everyone was quick to move on. Guo Hanying was upgraded from an extra into a minor villain whose role was to bully the female lead and made the latter appear more lovely and pitiful to Fan Zheng. Even though her reason for treating Zhao Ai coldly was pretty reasonable, the male lead only concluded his friend had become bad. This male lead couldn"t see her love and care, only Zhao Ai"s plight. What a pitiful girl Guo Hanying was. Due to the plot"s impromptu revision, even if she knew Zhao Ai did a bit of help for them to escape, her jealousy was stronger than her brain.
But practically all stories had something equivalent to this since no one true pairing would appear strong and realistic without being tried by fire. It, basically all boiled down to one fact, "the leads are simply a magnet for drama and troubles, especially when they are together". Two, if the saying "all minor people who will obstruct their love will become idiot," would be put into consideration.
It was precisely because of this that Jiang Li had not done anything to stop Zhan Rong from leaving. Thankfully, the girl was also not incompetent to not hear about the ongoing drama on her Daoist friend"s side.
"Sorry, I"m currently busy with something serious and important so I couldn"t answer your previous phone calls... I might only be back next semester... Hmm? What do you mean I"m not being a good friend for not supporting you? Can"t I cheer for you from afar?... Oh, wait, Hanying, my business partner is here. Good luck. And cotton up to Fan Lan more. I think his sister dislikes that girl very much too since she"s the one who got the most tongue-las.h.i.+ng. Bye."
Zhan Rong indifferently ended the call, nodding slightly to the waiter who brought her meal and drinks. In a way, she was not lying. Her business right now was to eat so, of course, the one who brought her meal was qualified to be called a business partner. It would be a give and take relations.h.i.+p after all. The waiter delivered the food, she paid it with her money. It could be called a small-scale transaction.
"How can she look so elegant while lying through her teeth?"
Jiang Li had a good laugh inside the necklace. Afterward, since the leads were not a problem, for now, he thought of another person who might become more of a trouble to them.
"Apart from those two people raining dog food[1] and dog blood[2] there, Gu Mochou is also in City B. But instead of going to Fan Zheng, she"s after Zhan Rong. Would that girl be crazy enough to chase Zhan Rong here?"
This was a piece of information he got from a ghost staying at Gu Mochou"s place. That ghost was lucky to be female and was thus allowed to loiter around by that villainess, but because Jiang Li was one step away from becoming a ghost king, the ghost listened to him more and agreed to be his spy.
Through this, he actually discovered he was the real target of that woman. Specifically, it was his current ident.i.ty. But he didn"t have this self-sacrificing mentality. Even if it was to help Gu Mochou not be entangled with Fan Zheng and Zhao Ai, he didn"t plan to risk himself nor Zhan Rong.
He was always blocking any tracking spell from Gu Mochou, and even invaded the world wide web when the latter tried to commission hackers.
Look how good he was to this girl.
Sadly, she was not aware of it. Wasn"t it a bit tragic to work for someone"s welfare and not get credit for it? When the h.e.l.l would she call for him?
After her meal, Jiang Li stared helplessly at the girl happily strolling outside and taking pictures of a heavily decorated ancient arch bridge.
[1] PDA in Chinese
[2] cheesy drama that could make people vomit? haha