Chapter 160: Aftermath
“We’ve been robbed?! Where’s the painting?!”
“There’s ash in the bathroom? It’s been burned!”
After the ghost was destroyed and the lights around the hotel came back on, the hotel manager angrily called the police.
He was sure it was a dirty trick by a competitor!
But because the power had been out, the security cameras in and around the hotel didn’t work. Even after checking everything, the police couldn’t find any suspects.
Guests slowly started returning to the hotel, but some had already checked out and gone to stay somewhere else.
At that moment, Li Mu and the others were gathered in one room, all staring intently at Zhang Hui.
“W-Why are you all staring at me like that?”
Zhang Hui felt nervous. He had seen Xiao Jing’s head fall off a few times, and now he was stuck in the same room with her. It made him uneasy.
“Cousin, I’ve got a job for you.”
His cousin, who looked very much like a girl but had a serious face, introduced him. “This is Uncle Chen Yi. He’s a professional ghost hunter.”
He turned and looked at the middle-aged man leaning against the wall, playing with a straight-bladed knife.
Chen Yi smiled warmly and said, “Be my assistant. Let’s fight ghosts together and help people. How about it?”
Zhang Hui shook his head like a drum.
“Whether you work with us or not, with your luck, you’ll be seeing ghosts a lot this year. If you come with me, at least it’ll be safer.”
Zhang Hui laughed coldly. “A few days ago, you were pretending to be a cop. Now you’re talking about helping people?”
“I wasn’t pretending. I am technically a police officer,” Chen Yi said as he showed him his ID.
“Me too,” said Yu Fan, placing his ID on the bed. “Li Mu only came because he was worried about me. He’s just an ordinary student.”
Because ghost hunters often work with the police, most of them carry an auxiliary police badge. They aren’t official officers, don’t get paid by the government, and don’t even wear uniforms, but the badge helps them do their job.
“Hmph! Who's worried about you? I came because I was worried about Xiao Jing.”
“Exactly! Big brother was worried about Xiao Jing!”
“Call me ‘sister’... eh…” Li Mu nearly blurted out the wrong thing, then looked down and shot Xiao Jing a glare.
But Zhang Hui still kept shaking his head. “No way, I’m not getting involved no matter what.”
Chen Yi didn’t get angry. He smiled kindly and said, “In this job, we don’t get a regular salary. But tonight I made over 200,000 yuan. Yu Fan gets 50,000.”
Zhang Hui froze.
“We don’t see ghosts every month, maybe not even for half a year. But when we do, one job can pay more than a regular person earns in a year. When we’re not working, it’s like a holiday. I can even help you sign up for insurance and benefits.”
“Yu Fan only gets 50,000?” Li Mu pointed to herself. “What about me? I helped too, and so did Xiao Jing.”
“Hey, what’s mine is yours, right?” Yu Fan said, giving her a look.
“Yu Fan’s just an assistant. You and Xiao Jing... how about 20,000 each?”
Li Mu didn’t mind and quickly nodded. “Send it to my Alipay!”
Actually, Chen Yi wasn’t being stingy. Yu Fan was still new and didn’t have any ghostly helpers, so he couldn’t do much beyond assisting. It wasn’t quite a full partnership.
Seeing them dividing up the money made Zhang Hui’s eyes go wide with jealousy.
“I helped too! I watched the shadow for over an hour!”
“Heh.”
“I’ll be your assistant! I never said I wouldn’t!”
…………………………………………
Later, Zhang Hui followed Chen Yi into another room to talk about pay and learn more about ghosts. That left just two people and one ghost in the room.
Xiao Jing sat on the floor, looking up at the TV, laughing as she watched the “Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf” cartoon.
Li Mu sat by the window, quietly looking out at the peaceful night market outside. After a while, she softly asked, “Does it still hurt?”
Yu Fan was sitting on the rattan chair across from him. He touched the medicated patch on the back of his neck and shook his head.
“It’s okay.”
The two were quiet for a while, then Yu Fan carefully asked, “Um... are you free this weekend?”
“Why?”
“Want to go... um... to an internet café together?”
“......”
“Oh right, we made a lot of money today. How about I treat you to a big meal? What do you want to eat?”
Li Mu lowered his head, so his expression couldn't be seen. “Anything’s fine.”
“I remember you like seafood?”
“I don’t even remember.”
“Well, you always eat seafood-flavored instant noodles.”
Yu Fan lowered his head too, nervously wringing his hands. He was scared he got her preferences wrong, and even more worried about being flatly rejected.
He hadn’t even felt this nervous when facing ghosts.
“Seafood’s fine.”
Yu Fan looked up, happily surprised. “How about Saturday evening?”
“Okay.”
“What about me? What about me?”
Xiao Jing came over, her big eyes full of excitement.
This little sister-in-law was a bit tricky. Yu Fan thought for a moment, then asked, “How about I order you some delivery food on Saturday night? You can eat at home.”
“Ehh~~”
“I’ll order something worth a few hundred yuan!”
“You promised!”
Li Mu looked at the clock on the wall. After all the noise, it was already past 11 p.m.
“It’s late. I’m going to sleep.”
“Yeah, we still have class in the morning,” Yu Fan said as he yawned, “Let’s ask Uncle Chen Yi to drive us to school. We should make it on time.”
“Xiao Jing, when you get home tomorrow, don’t be too noisy. Just watch TV for the day. I’ll come home in the evening,” Li Mu reminded her.
“Got it.”
Yu Fan went back to his own room. Li Mu took a shower in the bathroom, then got into bed without even changing clothes.
Lying on the bed, he listened to the fading sounds of the street outside. Li Mu felt a bit melancholy and conflicted.
Xiao Jing turned down the volume on the TV and also climbed into bed, lying beside him.
Li Mu turned his head and looked at the girl next to him. He quietly said, “It’s been a long time since we’ve slept together like this.”
Even though he knew Xiao Jing’s body was technically a corpse, he didn’t feel uncomfortable.
“Really?” Xiao Jing tilted her head, her eyes reflecting the light from the TV. “What kind of person was I when I was alive?”
Li Mu tried hard to remember.
“You were kind of a little troublemaker. Even more noisy than now. You didn’t like studying, had a bad temper, and made our parents so mad they wanted to strangle you. I really couldn’t stand you...”
“Liar!”
“You always turned off my computer when I was playing games, and insisted on sleeping next to me at night. But the problem was, you snored... Oh, and on your first day of middle school, the teacher called our parents. The next day, you got into a fight, and I was so angry I went to your school and beat up the kid who hit you.”
“Then both of us got beaten up by Mom and Dad...”
Xiao Jing made a silly face. “Lies! Xiao Jing couldn’t have been that bad! Xiao Jing was a good girl...”
She suddenly stopped talking. She propped herself up a little and looked at Li Mu, whose breathing was calm.
“Are you asleep?”
She lay down again and slowly moved closer, aligning her arm with Li Mu's left, gently intertwining his fingers.
“Big sister... from now on, I’ll be the one protecting you.”