Chapter 18: That Damned Physical Reaction

Perhaps because of the context and the person, that sentence “wait for you to take responsibility for me” sounded indescribably strange to Xu Huai.

Their previous conversation was about whether he could find the ghost and how he would compensate if he couldn’t.

So now, could Xie Jing’s words “waiting for him to take responsibility” be understood as: Xie Jing was sure that he wouldn’t be able to find the ghost, and it was only a matter of time before he fulfilled his previous promise?

Xu Huai tapped his fingers lightly on the steering wheel.

It couldn’t be that Xie Jing was joking with him, teasing him, right?

He hadn’t even resolved the argument with his “friend” and was already saying this to him. Was his employer that much of a scumbag?

During the break at the traffic lights, Xu Huai glanced at Xie Jing again with a strange look.

Xie Jing: “?”

There was too much information contained in that look, and even Xie Jing couldn’t successfully read it.

Xie Jing: “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Xu Huai wanted to say directly, “You need to have some male virtue and not tease people casually.” It’s one thing to tease me, but it’s just the two of us here, not even a ghost. If you say this somewhere else, what if your “friend” hears it one day and gets angry and leaves? Don’t come crying to me about your love life then.

But thinking that this person was his employer, Xu Huai’s words were more tactful: “If you have someone you like, it’s best not to say the words ‘take responsibility’ to people casually when you’re out and about.”

You need to possess a male virtue!

After saying this, Xu Huai noticed a clear look of confusion on Xie Jing’s face.

Xu Huai: “…”

“Someone you like?” Xie Jing repeated the key words in Xu Huai’s words.

Xu Huai’s palms were sweating slightly as he gripped the steering wheel.

This wasn’t good.

The night he met Xie Jing and helped him with his palm reading, his stamina and mana bars were running low, so he didn’t cast a divination, just casually looked at Xie Jing’s palm. Without the Eight Characters or a divination, he couldn’t tell if Xie Jing already had someone.

He had been making assumptions all along.

In other words, everything he had imagined was most likely wrong.

Sure enough, Xie Jing’s first words were deadly enough.

“How did the boss see that I have someone I like?” Xie Jing was stunned. “Did you secretly cast a divination while I wasn’t looking?”

Xu Huai looked away.

Absolutely not. Divination was essentially peeking into fate. If he did things that violated normal destiny and rules for no reason, the retribution would naturally fall on him.

Xu Huai: “…No, it was just a simple guess.”

“Is that so?” Xie Jing’s tone sounded a little disappointed. “I thought you were more concerned about my relationship status.”

Xu Huai: “?”

Why would he care about that?

Xie Jing: “I don’t have anyone I like, and I’ve never met anyone.”

Xu Huai raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Xie Jing smiled: “Why do you look like you don’t believe me?”

“No, I don’t,” Xu Huai paused. “I’m just surprised.”

Xie Jing: “Surprised?”

Xu Huai turned his head back and looked at the road ahead.

Xu Huai: “You have good qualities in every aspect.” He was rich, handsome, and had a good body. It didn’t seem like someone like that would be single.

After saying this, Xie Jing let out a low laugh beside him.

Perhaps because the environment in the car was quiet, making everything sound clearer, the ending of Xie Jing’s laugh was even more magnetic, and it was evident that its owner was pleased.

Xu Huai’s ears were inexplicably hot.

Xie Jing: “Wouldn’t that be judging by appearance?”

Xu Huai didn’t change his expression: “Not entirely. It’s just a judgment based on previous experience.”

Relying solely on experience to judge, mistakes would occasionally occur.

Xie Jing: “?”

Xie Jing: “Previous experience?”

It was difficult for Xu Huai to ignore the burning gaze cast from the passenger seat. It seemed that Xie Jing’s soul for gossip wasn’t any worse than his.

Xie Jing’s tone was faint: “Are there many people like me around you?”

Xu Huai didn’t notice the apparent change in Xie Jing’s tone. Under Xie Jing’s gaze, Xu Huai nodded.

Then he spat out three words: “Tons of them.”

Xu Huai wasn’t lying. He often encountered them.

It likely stemmed from wealthy individuals engaging in a trend of gene selection from the outset. The affluent people Xu Huai met in college were not particularly unattractive. These wealthy individuals were still young, playful, and switched partners more quickly than they changed clothes. Essentially, none of them were settled down.

After graduating, Xu Huai dedicated more time to helping individuals interpret their Eight Characters and perform divinations. He also encountered wealthy individuals who had advantageous external circumstances. The more possessions rich people acquired, the more they seemed to care about them.

Houses smaller than 100 square meters didn’t talk about feng shui, and wage earners who were still struggling with life rarely paid attention to feudal superstitions other than getting rich.

The wealthy people in society were even more outrageous. Xu Huai had previously met one who had even an ex-boyfriend’s lingering spirit on his back. He asked him in a roundabout way if he wanted to talk to him after he resolved the spiritual event, and even commented on his competence.

Xu Huai found it abstract, solved the matter, took the money, and ran away, deleting the person completely.

Immediately afterward, Song Lianzhou received a complaint saying that his service attitude was poor.

Xu Huai thought at the time, how could he have a better attitude?

He took his salary and worked conscientiously.

His employer wanted to take a bath, cover himself with a quilt, and do that to him.

Sometimes, he didn’t want Song Lianzhou to get angry with the intentionally sent red complaint emails.

Overall, the wealthy individuals he had encountered were primarily womanizers.

That was why he was a little surprised that Xie Jing didn’t have a partner.

Suddenly, the electronic screen in the car flickered, lit up briefly, and then quickly went dark again.

Then, the screen began to flicker, and some effects, such as snowflake noise, appeared. Xu Huai heard the crackling sound from the car audio and raised his hand to turn off the multimedia in the center console.

It was a bit noisy and gave him a headache.

Xu Huai: “The smart screen in your car seems to be broken.”

“Yeah,” Xie Jing said, his voice slightly deep. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll have someone fix it another day.”

The rain outside the window gradually lessened, and Xie Jing turned his head, looking at the rain streaks sliding down the window.

Looking at himself in the rearview mirror, Xie Jing realized that the fake smile he usually wore on his lips had disappeared.

He didn’t know why, but he was a little unhappy.

Tons of them.

Those three words kept echoing in Xie Jing’s brain.

Although he couldn’t know the exact number that the word “tons” referred to, Xie Jing thought that if it were only two or three, Xu Huai wouldn’t have used such a word.

There was a kind of irritability that suddenly discovered that a few flies were buzzing around something that had already been classified as his own.

Xie Jing thought that he didn’t need to care about those things. What was haunting Xu Huai was just a person.

“Although I have seen quite a few.”

Xu Huai’s voice came from the driver’s seat, interrupting Xie Jing’s train of thought.

The owner of that voice, like Xu Huai himself, initially had a hint of coolness.

“But they are far from you.”

The temperature in his words, however, was like a small flame that suddenly burst into flames.

Xie Jing retracted his gaze from the rearview mirror and looked at Xu Huai in the driver’s seat.

Just then, Xu Huai came to his senses and found that the employer beside him had turned his head to look out the window; his whole demeanor was listless, and he seemed a little sullen.

Recalling the “tons” he had just said, and the employer’s somewhat strange tone since “Don’t worry about it.”

Xu Huai speculated:

Oh crap, is the employer a little angry?

Young masters are all a bit arrogant. Being rich, handsome, and having a good body are the employer’s advantages!

When the employer asked him, “Are there any people like him around you?” it could be directly translated as: I’m super awesome, there’s no one as awesome as me around you.

He didn’t understand the meaning of the words at the time and honestly said, “Oh, there are tons of them.”

What he said…wasn’t that like suddenly saying something that ruined the mood when the employer was showing off: Just so-so.

Xu Huai: “…”

Xu Huai reorganized his words: “I’m not lying to you. Those I’ve met are all ordinary-looking, and they’re just so-so after looking at them for a long time.”

Xu Huai: “Their character is also not good.”

Xu Huai didn’t often comfort people, and he didn’t know how to comfort people.

The black business car stopped at the intersection, waiting for the left turn signal to light up.

The regular ticking sound of the left turn signal became the only accompaniment in the car after Xu Huai finished speaking.

Xie Jing’s simulated heartbeat frequency unconsciously synchronized with that rhythm. His pupils shrank, as if he wanted to say something.

Then, he met Xu Huai’s eyes.

“Although we haven’t spent much time together, I know you’re different from those people after getting to know you. Appearance and money are all external. Putting aside the external conditions, there’s also the most important thing, the inner qualities.”

Xu Huai: “You have both. They and you are completely incomparable.”

In the corner of his eye, the green light at the intersection lit up.

Xu Huai retracted his gaze and focused on driving the vehicle, not having time to pay attention to the employer, who was stunned after hearing the “sincere killing technique.”

It wouldn’t hurt to praise someone, and it didn’t matter if he exaggerated a little.

Everyone likes to be praised.

Let’s leave it at that.

He couldn’t make up any more, and it would be too cheesy to say it even if he made it up. Saying any more would be a different price.

Xu Huai thought secretly.

Turning around, Wangjiaba Police Station was where Li Fang was located. Chatting along the way, the half-hour journey wasn’t that boring.

Xu Huai casually found an empty parking space and parked in it. As he unbuckled his seat belt and prepared to get out of the car, the interior lights came on, and he glanced to the side.

–He saw Xie Jing’s earlobes, which were so red they were about to drip blood.

Xu Huai: “Hiss…”

Xie Jing was mobilizing all the strength in his body to suppress his body’s damned reaction desperately. Before he could hide it, the interior lights came on.

Then he heard Xu Huai’s gasp.

Xie Jing felt his heart being lifted along with it.

Xu Huai: “It seems like I forgot to take your fever medicine. It’s still on the bedside table.”

His employer hadn’t fully recovered from his fever caused by yin energy.

———

Little Ghost: Boss is the most awesome in the world. (Sincerely)

Xie Jing: Do I need you to say that? Get lost.

Xu Huai: They are incomparable to you. (Rainbow fart)

Xie Jing: !! (My wife said I’m the best she’s ever seen, my wife said I’m the best she’s ever seen, my wife said I’m the best she’s ever seen, my wife said I’m the best she’s ever seen.)

Xu Huai: (Worried) Why are you still red, bro?

Little Ghost: These two are so innocent that I want to laugh.