Chapter 17: Thinking About How You Usually Exercise

Xu Huai went out to handle the discharge procedures, and the hospital room door was closed.

Xie Jing’s eyes stared vaguely at a certain spot. After a while, he withdrew his gaze and looked at the child floating outside the window.

The child in the hospital gown that Xu Huai had seen in the “Nightmare” had now changed into a black mandarin jacket. He spread his hands, tilted his head slightly, and wore an intoxicated expression on his face.

He’s a true veteran actor.

Xie Jing coldly shot him a glare, and the child immediately shivered, withdrew his hands, and even spoke with a bit of a tremor, utterly spineless: “W-what? I didn’t scare him just now. I only put a little blood in the bathroom.”

Xie Jing: “Not scaring him and not having scared him are not the same thing.”

Seriously, dude?

That guy’s a Taoist priest, right? Wouldn’t it be weird if he didn’t see anything terrifying when pulled into a “Nightmare”?

He’s seen more terrifying things in the past than you can shake a stick at. Is it necessary to be so careful?

Can’t stand love-struck brains.

Can’t stand it at all.

With Xu Huai gone, Xie Jing didn’t bother to pretend.

Seeing that the little ghost was misbehaving, Xie Jing’s voice was now frighteningly cold, laced with a hint of threat as soon as he opened his mouth: “If you do anything unnecessary again, go back to the mountains.”

The little boy shrank his neck, somewhat unwilling: “Alright, alright, I got it.”

“You have no idea how much effort it takes to create a ‘Nightmare,’ and you still want to come in. It’s like I opened a two-person dungeon, exhausting me.”

Xie Jing never had much sympathy: “I thought you were enjoying it.”

For instance, when he came to watch the show while taking medicine, even with a talisman drawn on the window, he still had to go in and watch.

Little boy: “…”

Okay, maybe a little.

The little boy poked his head to the side: “Hey, are the procedures done that quickly? That Taoist priest is walking back.”

Noticing the little boy’s way of addressing Xu Huai, Xie Jing corrected him: “Call him ‘Sister-in-law.'”

Little boy: “?”

??? The little boy was shocked, and his entire ghostly body flickered.

How could he possibly call a human Taoist priest “Sister-in-law”?

That person was just a human who looked like he would break if you touched him, weak as anything, and would faint just from drawing a talisman.

Why should he?

He could beat ten of those Taoists!

A hundred!

The little boy’s face was very ugly, unwilling to speak.

Xie Jing naturally noticed the little boy’s face, which was like a color palette: “Unwilling?”

A rhetorical question. He couldn’t beat Xie Jing, but he refused to acknowledge a human Taoist priest as his sister-in-law.

There’s no way that could be happening!

Even if that Taoist priest smelled nice, it wasn’t going to happen!

Not daring to curse openly, the little boy grumbled a few times in his mind.

Hearing Xie Jing ask that, he didn’t say a word, stubbornly resisting.

“It’s okay.” Xie Jing didn’t dwell on it.

Just as the little boy was surprised that this usually dictatorial person was being so “easygoing,” he heard Xie Jing say again:

“You can call me ‘Sister-in-law.'”

Little boy: “?”

Seeing the child’s pupils shake, looking like his entire ghost was about to shatter, Xie Jing lowered his eyes and curled the corners of his lips: “Just kidding.”

Little boy: “?”

Ahhh, this ghost is too much! Is there anyone who can control him?!

I want to beat him up, but I can’t beat him ahhh!!

…

This private hospital, which primarily serves the affluent residents of the neighboring villa area, has on-call doctors available 24 hours a day in every department. Even in the early morning hours, staff members are on duty at the procedure window.

Xu Huai smoothly completed the procedures and returned to Xie Jing’s ward. As soon as he opened the door, he was met with a blindingly white body.

Unfortunately, when he opened the door, Xie Jing had just removed his coat and was facing the entrance, exposing his bare upper body. The noise of the door opening caused the owner of that body to tense subconsciously, accentuating the smooth lines of his muscles. In contrast, the powerful muscles in his abdomen contracted slightly.

Xu Huai’s gaze lingered for a moment on his employer’s abdominal muscles, which were hidden in his trousers, before closing the door again:

“Sorry, I didn’t expect you hadn’t changed yet. I should have knocked first.”

“It’s okay.” As he spoke, Xie Jing had already put on his clothes, his slender fingers buttoning the collar. “I was just too slow.”

Xie Jing looked at the receipt in Xu Huai’s hand: “Finished the procedures?”

Xu Huai nodded: “Yeah.”

Until the black business car drove out of the hospital, Xu Huai and Xie Jing didn’t exchange a word.

Xie Jing sat in the passenger seat, looking at Xu Huai’s somewhat tense face and serious eyes, and said, “Are you thinking about how to find someone later?”

The roadside lights flashed past rapidly in the night, and the wipers swept away the rain falling on the windshield. Occasionally, spots of light flashed across Xu Huai’s face. In the dim car, Xie Jing could see the expression on Xu Huai’s face very clearly.

As soon as he asked this question, he saw Xu Huai’s serious expression relax a little:

“No, I’m not.”

What was there to think about finding someone? He didn’t know the specific situation yet, so there was no point in thinking about it at this time.

He was wondering why Xie Jing had such perfectly proportioned muscles and was so pale, despite the villa not having an indoor gym.

Xu Huai: “I was thinking about how you usually exercise.”

Could it be possible to achieve a perfect body indoors, without the need for exercise equipment?

Xie Jing was stunned for a moment: “Why would you want to know that?”

The smile in Xie Jing’s words made Xu Huai feel a bit… indescribable embarrassment.

Therefore, Xu Huai didn’t answer.

Seeing the car quiet down again, Xie Jing said, “Sometimes I go swimming, but more often I go hiking.”

Xie Jing paused: “But if you want to exercise, I also have some secret ways to train.”

The business car stopped at a red light, and Xu Huai turned his head: “What?”

Xie Jing didn’t speak.

Using the light from the streetlights outside the car window, Xu Huai saw Xie Jing’s expression clearly, and his scalp inexplicably tingled.

…His long-absent, mysterious sixth sense had emerged.

What Xie Jing meant wouldn’t be something he wanted to know.

At least not something good.

Xie Jing curved his lips into a smile and said meaningfully, “You’ll know in the future.”

Xu Huai didn’t catch any information from it, only wondering what was so mysterious.

Xie Jing added, “If I say it now, will it distract you?”

Xu Huai was slightly stunned when he heard this and didn’t ask any further.

So, his employer wanted him to focus on his work.

Although the employer claimed he would help others first, he actually felt uneasy and wanted to resolve Li Fang’s matter as quickly as possible.

Being haunted by a ghost wasn’t desirable, and no one wanted to be pursued by that thing every day, right?

Even though he was covered in bruises from being haunted by the ghost, he was still selfless, willing to let himself be haunted by the ghost for a few more days so that he could help someone else, a stranger he didn’t even know.

A kind employer.

The green light came on, and the black business car started smoothly.

Raindrops fell on the roof of the car, making irregular ticking sounds, and the two people in the car fell silent again.

“Generally speaking, there’s a reason why ghosts haunt people. The most common way to deal with it is to understand the employer’s past experiences and guess who the ghost is. Understand, persuade, or help the ghost resolve their regrets, and then politely send the ghost away.”

Xu Huai’s voice rang out in the car, each word clear. Xie Jing didn’t interrupt Xu Huai and listened quietly.

“If people act recklessly, the police will take care of it, judging the punishment based on the severity of the injury. It’s the same with ghosts. Some things restrict their actions, using rules and means to prevent wandering ghosts from easily hurting people.”

“Ghosts are also punished for hurting people, and it’s not necessarily time-limited.”

It might even be related to reincarnation.

The price that ghosts pay for hurting people is much higher, and most wandering ghosts are wary of this, at most making some noise to scare people.

At this point, Xu Huai paused: “It’s rare for a ghost like the one haunting you to appear, directly attacking and not making any sense.”

Not knowing what he was thinking of, Xie Jing heard a hint of gnashing teeth when Xu Huai said the words “not making any sense.”

Perhaps thinking that laughing in this situation was too inappropriate, Xie Jing suppressed the corners of his lips: “I only moved here a few days ago. Before that, I lived in Xilin County next door.”

Xilin County?

Xu Huai’s expression paused slightly.

That was where Zhang Daoquan disappeared.

He had reported it to the police before, and the police said that Zhang Daoquan’s last disappearance was in Chengjiu Mountain in Xilin County.

Xie Jing: “I just moved into the villa and hadn’t lived there for a few days when those marks inexplicably appeared on my body.

“I was still thinking about how to solve this situation when a friend here found out I had moved. We hadn’t seen each other for a long time, and they said they wanted to have a meal together. I had no reason to refuse, so I agreed.”

“During the meal, I mentioned the strange events I had encountered in the newly moved-in villa and wanted to ask if they knew anyone who could handle that kind of thing. They said I could try my luck under the bridge near that business district.

“After the meal that night, I thought I had nothing to do anyway, so I wandered around and walked in the direction of that bridge. I hadn’t walked far when I met you.”

Xie Jing pretended to think: “Recalling it again, I still can’t think of anything that could have offended a ghost. That ghost is unreasonable.”

Xu Huai pondered for a while.

“There’s one possibility,” Xu Huai said. “Houses that have been uninhabited for too long may occasionally have little ghosts come to stay. If a house lacks human presence, it will attract some more yin things.”

Xu Huai: “It’s one thing to live in your house, but to hurt you is another. It would be more convenient to use violent means to deal with this kind of unreasonable ghost.”

Hearing this, Xie Jing looked at Xu Huai, almost unable to suppress the corners of his lips.

He hadn’t even said what kind of violence he would use, and Xie Jing saw the peach blossom eyes of the person beside him droop a little.

Xu Huai looked at the road ahead, and the expression in his eyes was a bit cold: “But that ghost is hiding, and I can’t find him. Before, in the villa, in the hospital room, there were no traces or clues that could lead me to him.”

Xie Jing: “What if you can’t find him?”

As soon as Xie Jing asked this question, before Xu Huai could react, a voice in his head spoke up first.

If I can’t find him, I’ll give myself to you as compensation.

Xu Huai: “…”

If he could, Xu Huai wanted to travel back to that night under the bridge and slap himself for being blinded by money.

Not everything can be said carelessly.

Thinking about it carefully, he was too skilled when he said that, almost without any psychological burden.

He didn’t know why, but it was as if he was possessed. At that moment, he was terrifyingly confident.

Xu Huai: “…”

Now he was deeply regretting it.

Xu Huai reflected.

He reflected very seriously.

After a long while.

Xu Huai: “I’ll find him.”

It wasn’t hard to hear the reluctance in Xu Huai’s words squeezed from his lips: “I’ll help you deal with it.”

Xie Jing raised his eyebrows.

“If I agree to the commission, I’m involved in your karma. I won’t abandon you halfway.”

Everyone has their destiny. Just like a script, since he had forcibly joined the other person’s script and decided to help them, he couldn’t quit casually. Otherwise, it would also affect him.

Xu Huai: “So, don’t worry.”

Don’t worry, even if I can’t find him, I still have to look for him. There’s absolutely no way that kind of heaven-defying event of giving myself away will happen!

Xie Jing: “…Is that so?”

Xie Jing liked the saying “involved in your karma.”

Perhaps having received a guarantee, Xu Huai saw the corners of his employer’s lips turn up in the rearview mirror.

Xie Jing: “Then I’ll wait for you to take responsibility for me.”

Xu Huai’s gaze froze: “?”

That’s not right.

Wasn’t there something wrong with that sentence?