"h.e.l.lo… Ah, yup, deliver everything to my house. I already gave the measurements and sent a note about his preferences. Thanks" Zhan Rong spoke softly on the phone. The other person replied in a flattering tone. "Miss Zhan, don"t worry. We"ve already prepared the items. I guarantee you"ll be satisfied. By the way, we"ve been in this for several days and our boss has noticed your excellent fas.h.i.+on sense. He wants to invite you for an exchange of ideas. Would it be alright to pa.s.s over your number to him for a talk?"
At that time, the rich lady was busy checking out Jiang Li from head to toe while wondering which colors and styles to make him wear next. Scratch that, she was busy watching the ghost make learning materials for her. It was such a novel experience. It took her some time to calm down and wipe the wide grin off of her face.
She asked the manager on the other line, "The owner of your store is a famous fas.h.i.+on designer, right? His name is Mr. Feng?"
"Yes. It"s Mr. Feng. He is called Gaston abroad and indeed, he can be considered quite famous. He"s partic.i.p.ated in some shows abroad and has been invited several times as a judge in local compet.i.tions."
"Admirable!"
Whether Zhan Rong was praising the boss of the manager or the one before her eyes, only she knew. "Since I found you tactful too and that you did not give my contact to others easily. Alright. I"m more than happy to exchange ideas with a professional."
The manager laughed, "I"ll tell my boss about this."
"It will be my honor." She laughed.
After reminding one last time for them to deliver her order to her door before nightfall, Zhan Rong ended the call.
A curious ghost floated over and asked, "Who"s that?" There was both a question mark and curiosity in his face when he took a seat.
The girl readily answered, "It"s the usual person from that clothing shop. Remember? She"s called Manager Song."
Jiang Li shook his head. "I meant the stylist. You readily agreed to meet him. And aren"t you taking a spirit"s outfit too seriously? To be honest, it"s already making me feel so overwhelmed and… a bit worried about your finances."
He meant what he said. The only reason he requested a set from her was that he didn"t want to appear in front of her looking like a regular villager of the 1990s. He didn"t know things would go this way. Look, she might even hire a personal stylist at this rate.
He was barely maintaining a straight face when a shy expression flashed across her face. "My pe---, Jiang Li, don"t worry about insignificant people. I promise to treat you well and I"m happy to do this. Moreover, I"m receiving a lot from you too."
"Exclusive rights in viewing, holding hands, chatting, receiving lessons…" Jiang Li almost laughed, not knowing whether to be flattered or be amused at the treatment he was getting.
Since that particular day, her fear of the unknown was thrown in the backburner.
Zhan Rong forgot she was the same person who complained about burning money to offer clothes to a male ghost. She also momentarily forgot all the bad memories a.s.sociated with spirits and how she dilly-dallied for so long to delay the summoning.
From that day onwards, she gained another hobby.
Buying expensive stylish menswear for her exclusive ghost pet!
Money was not a big problem as long as she could have her eyes feast on a beautiful ghostly being!
At first, of course, the girl was not very particular with Jiang Li"s get up. But after she verified to herself that he was really unlike any other malicious ghosts, she became relaxed around him and didn"t feel afraid of him.
She began to treat him as a model exclusive to her eyes. Her fas.h.i.+on sense for male clothing shot up a few notches that she almost considered leaving the Business Management department for Fas.h.i.+on and Design. If no accident happened, she would even have a meal with a famous designer.
By the way, the pet ghost also became a companion only she could see. Whenever she went out to sightsee, he would be there.
With this said, her break was not only spent on deciding which clothes to burn every few days, but also on several other soul-enriching activities. Ghosts were still part of her life, so did traveling, collecting information on the business world, and talking to Jiang Li. Unfortunately, for the latter, most of the topics were confined to music since that was the real reason why he could be summoned by her.
Well, at least she got to own an eye-candy unique to her. This ghost was also not that useless. If the system was not lying, then it meant there were so many talents to learn from him which she could use to kill time with.
The first one, so far… Jiang Li legitly knew so much about it and easily pointed out the flaws in her normal singing and how to improve it.
"If this pet of mine is this proficient to everything listed by the system, then he"s way more useful than simply showing me that not all ghosts are scary," she thought with twinkling eyes.
Days pa.s.sed and unsurprisingly, Zhan Rong got the gist of what her pet ghost wanted to teach her. Learning how to sing was not hard, after all, singing in tune and out of tune were all still considered singing. But she was quite unwilling to look like a fool before a hottie ghost, so she took the sessions with him seriously. She even went home and set up a recording studio when the ghost tasked her to make a recording.
After that…
"Hmm, alright. I think you already mastered the basics and with practice and more exploration of your own voice, you"ll find the type of singing that suits you best. To be honest, you have a way to bring out emotions in most songs, which I found very impressive. Ballad is a recommended direction," he said to her one day.
"What do I need to learn next?" she asked.
"How about you try to record another song. But an original one. You still remember the basics when writing tunes, right?"
She nodded.
After that, well... Zhan Rong quite regretted going over the top with her excitement and finis.h.i.+ng the song, that was to say, the homework, early.
When the ghost smiled, while it was not eerie and was actually very refres.h.i.+ng to the eyes, it felt a bit off since he was looking at her as if it was time to
"Thanks for the nice and smooth teaching-learning journey, my student. You"re a fast learner and it"s been a pleasure interacting with you. There"s more I could have taught you but I heard learning by doing is better than being spoon-fed with facts and information. I"m sorry if I have to leave you to explore the rest for yourself. This ghost needs to go to sleep now. Good luck."
"Ah? Good luck what?" Her eyes widened when Jiang Li no longer responded to her.
"Wait! No, wait!"
Who knew the pet ghost would disappear once the system deemed that she had successfully learned the rewarded skill?
She was not warned at all! She was not prepared!
Yet when she raised complaints about it to the system, on the panel all that was written,
[h.e.l.lo!]
[Congratulations on Getting Your New Skill!]
[Although you are just a beginner, according to your pet ghost, it"s enough to become popular in karaoke and live broadcast!]
[Work hard and you might become a prominent artist in this field, Host!]
"Who wants to be an internet idol here?" After she calmed down a bit, the words came out of her lips. She did not raise her voice even though there was only dissatisfaction and anger in her heart. However, her hands were still trembling.
How the usually mild-tempered girl wished the system was on her phone so she could grab it and throw it away to show how frustrated she was.
And those corny emojis and confetti GIFs under? Who wants them? Bring back her handsome floating pet!
The system must have read her mind, addressing her real complaint because as if someone was typing real-time behind the screen, a new set of phrases floated before her eyes that were gleaming sharply.
[Just a clarification, Jiang Li will now be taking his rest in your exclusive pet ghost dimension after completing his task. To summon him again, Host is advised to complete a mission that will let you select a skill as a reward.]
[Would you like to check the details for the next task?]
A yes and no b.u.t.ton popped up.
"..." Zhan Rong just froze in place.