Ghost Stories Series 10

Chapter 34

Qingluo took the document with a puzzled look and saw that it was a beauty salon's information: "What...why give this to her?" Although she had been in contact with them for some time, she still couldn't figure out their temperaments.

"Sigh! You're all so good-looking, how could you know how important appearance is to us ugly people! Especially for a woman! I heard the other day that technology is so advanced these days, men can even become beautiful women, so I reckon it's no problem for ugly women to become celestial beings." Eighteen explained seriously. Ever since he heard Ling'er talk about Meiniang, he felt particularly sorry for her and always hoped to help her.

"Why does this gentleman call himself ugly?" Yu Xiao sized up the tall and imposing man in front of him. Although he couldn't compare to the others, he certainly couldn't be considered ugly.

Upon hearing this, Shiba lowered her head in self-consciousness: "A-Yi's handsomeness is well-known throughout the school, and his arrogance has also shone brightly this time. As for me, I'm nothing..."

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this, and their sorrow instantly lessened. What was supposed to be a tearful farewell was resolved by Shi Ba's few words.

Ling'er laughed and said, "Who said you're nothing? You're the source of joy for all of us!" As she spoke, she stood on tiptoe and patted Shiba's head with great effort.

"All good things must come to an end. I will remember your great kindness. If you ever need my help, I will do my utmost. Luo'er and I will take our leave now." With that, he took Qingluo's hand and turned to leave. Ever since Kuang Ao had truly shone in the case of the Eastern Inspector, Hu Yi and Shi Ba's attitude towards him underwent a complete transformation. They even imitated Kuang Ao in some aspects of their lives, and even his trump card was completely mastered by the two of them—each of them had a nail clipper attached to their keychain! Whenever things didn't go their way or their demands weren't met, they would throw a tantrum, causing Lei Zhu'er to become quite indoctrinated! Her snake tail had been thoroughly trained during this time.

On the other hand, since Hu Yi entered Ling'er's school, he has firmly held the position of the school's number one handsome guy. Naturally, he is also the focus of everyone's attention and the object of imitation. He has carried forward the rather constructive activity of "suicide", which has become popular in the school. As a result, the nail clippers in the school supermarket were in short supply for a while!

(9) The Old Man of Fate

The bell had just rung when Ouyang Xing walked towards Ling'er.

"Ling'er, you haven't been at school for the past few days, I've already arranged for you to stay home!"

"Oh, I had something urgent to do at the time and left in a hurry without having time to say goodbye to the school. If it weren't for you, the homeroom teacher would definitely have given me a hard time nagging! Thank you so much, Ouyang!" Ling'er said sincerely.

"Are you in trouble? Why couldn't I get through to your cell phone the past few days?" Ouyang Xing asked.

"I..." Ling'er didn't want to lie to him because Ouyang genuinely cared for her. But she didn't know how to tell him. She couldn't very well say that all these days, she had traveled from the Underworld to the Realm of Light and back again to the Underworld in place of a woman from the Nuwa Clan, and then returned to that place and "cracked" a great demon from the Extreme Domain, could she? If she did, Ouyang Xing would surely think she was crazy.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine." Ouyang Xing saw Ling'er's shifty eyes and didn't want to press further. "You this afternoon..."

"I have an appointment this afternoon."

Chang Xiao was already waiting outside the classroom. She smiled slightly at her.

"Ling'er, what's wrong with me?" Ouyang Xing looked at Chang Xiao, who was inferior to her in every way, with a sense of dejection.

“Ouyang, you are a very good boy, it’s my own problem…”

"Ling'er, can we go now?" Chang Xiao's timely words broke the awkward silence between the two.

"Ouyang, I'm leaving now. I hope we can still be good friends." Ling'er ran towards Chang Xiao outside the classroom without waiting for him to say anything more. "What did he say to you?" Chang Xiao asked with a hint of bitterness. In matters of love, no one can escape this rule.

"Oh, he didn't say anything. He said he helped me get leave when I didn't come a few days ago," Ling'er said casually.

"You're still lying to me! I heard him ask you out!" Chang Xiao said angrily, putting his arm around Ling'er's shoulder.

"Alright, alright! Since you heard him ask me out, you must have also heard me reject him! Where shall we go today?" Ling'er quickly changed the subject.

"Go to your place! Haven't you always said your skills are great? I want to see if you've improved at all!" Chang said with a smile.

"Hmph! You actually look down on me! I'll show you what I'm made of today!" Ling'er said confidently.

However, neither of them noticed that a deep, unfathomable gaze was watching them from the rooftop of the teaching building. When the two arrived home, they found that Lei Zhu'er wasn't there. Hu Yi had left a note saying that they had gone shopping that day; he was going to buy some cosmetics and pick out a nice nail clipper, while Lei Zhu'er, of course, had gone on a date with the Wolf King.

"Haha, Pearl and Wolf King are making such good progress! I would never have believed that these two sworn enemies could become lovers!" Ling'er laughed as she looked at the note.

“I was also very surprised. Wolf has completely changed since he got together with Pearl. He has actually started to pay attention to his clothes. You know, he has only had two sets of clothes in all these hundreds of years…”

"Huh? It can't be that exaggerated, can it?"

Chang Xiao shook his head helplessly.

"Shall we cook together?" Ling'er looked at the greasy pork ribs in her hand. She didn't want to be the one to suffer, so at least he should keep her company in the kitchen.

"But cooking isn't something men do!" Chang Xiao's ability to whine was no less than Hu Yi's; after saying that, she darted out of the kitchen.

"Fine! You better not regret this! Don't you know that a woman's heart is the most poisonous thing in the world? You're finished this time!" Ling'er muttered.

An hour later.

"Ling'er...you really surprised me! I...can I not eat this...?" Chang Xiao looked at the first dish on the table with a bitter face; it really didn't look very appetizing.

"Why? You've never even tried it!" Ling'er's eyes were filled with disappointment, as if she would burst into tears if Chang Xiao said another word.

"I... I was just kidding, how could I not eat it?" Chang Xiao picked up her chopsticks, hesitated for a long time, but ultimately didn't put the black "braised pork ribs" into her mouth...

Ling'er remained silent, continuing to gaze longingly at Chang Xiao.

Chang Xiao gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and popped the pork ribs into his mouth. He swore that even carrots, which he hated most, wouldn't taste this bad! Chang Xiao would rather fight the Eastern Inspector again, no! He'd be happy to face all his enemies at once. Just don't let him eat Ling'er's cooking! But then again, it was indeed no easy feat to cook pork ribs into such an indescribable flavor.

"What's wrong? Is it not to your liking?" Ling'er asked feigning concern. Even an idiot would know from Chang Xiao's expression that he was in pain!

"It's...it's alright..."

"If you don't like it, don't eat it. I also cooked some other things, and you'll definitely love these!" Ling'er smiled in a somewhat eerie way.

"Okay! I'll eat something else. This pork ribs aren't really to my liking..." Chang Xiao suddenly saw a glimmer of hope.

Ling'er walked out of the kitchen carrying a plate in each hand.

"What???" Chang Xiao felt like the sky was falling, it was actually the carrot he hated the most!

“This is braised carrots, this is steamed carrots…” Before Ling’er could finish speaking, Chang Xiao stared at her intently and said, “Ling’er, listen to me, cooking is not something girls do…”

"But……"

"No buts!"

Ling'er nodded helplessly. Since Chang Xiao strongly opposed her cooking, there was nothing she could say. However, a faint smile, barely perceptible to others, flashed across her face.

After the two finished their meal, Chang Xiao handed Ling'er a tissue and said, "Takeout always tastes better..."

“I think carrots taste pretty good too!” Ling’er said with a mischievous smile.

"Did Pearl tell you that?!"

"What did Pearl tell me?" Ling'er was taken aback, not understanding why Chang Xiao asked this.

"Let me tell you, my nemesis is carrots..." That girl, Pearl! Seriously!

"No, she didn't say that."

"How did you know?" Chang Xiao couldn't help but ask, his heart pounding again.

“I…” Ling’er suddenly couldn’t speak. Yes, no one had ever told her that Chang Xiao didn’t like carrots, so how did she know?

Chang Xiao suddenly pulled her into his arms, groaning in pain, "Ling'er...no! It can't be that fast!" It was as if he was telling her something, or as if he was talking to himself.

"Xiao, what's wrong with you? You're hurting me..." Ling'er was startled by his reaction. His arms were wrapped tightly around her, making her feel like she was about to suffocate, but she felt very secure.

Upon hearing this, Chang Xiao loosened his grip slightly, but still couldn't bear to let go of her. Why did it have to happen so suddenly? Was her memory slowly returning? Ever since she mentioned the God Lord to Qing Luo, his heart had been in turmoil! He greedily inhaled the fragrance of her hair and said, "Ling'er, have you been having some strange dreams lately?"

Ling'er thought for a moment and said, "Not recently, but I used to often dream of strange things." She knew that Chang Xiao was talking about their past life.

"That's good, that's good!" He knew things would be better without Lan Lei, and it seems Lei Zhu'er was right.

"Why are you so worried?" Ling'er looked up at his star-like eyes.

"Because I love you!" Chang Xiao kissed her warm, soft lips, and his heart pounded just like when they first kissed.

Ling'er was startled by the sudden kiss, followed by a tingling sensation that ran through her body like an electric current. She used to think that authors exaggerated kissing scenes in romance novels, but now she realized she was wrong.

“Master…” The door was suddenly opened, and Tearsdrop stood frozen at the doorway, carrying large and small bags.

Ling'er felt her face, her body, and even her heels burning. She stole a glance at Chang Xiao and found his face as red as a monkey's bottom, his head bowed, staring intently at his toes. Ling'er couldn't help but chuckle; he could actually be shy sometimes.

"It's Wolf's birthday! Master, what should I buy?" Teardrop acted as if she hadn't seen anything.

"Is Wolf having a birthday party?" Chang Xiao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought he would be severely scolded by Lei Zhu'er this time.

"Huh? You've known Wolf for so long and you don't even know his birthday??" Teardrop asked angrily!

"I remember the wolf's birthday, but it seems like it's still three months away..." Chang Xiao was a little confused.

"Only three months left!! It's absolutely urgent!" Tears practically screamed.

"Ugh... Pearl, it's still early." Ling'er said with a helpless smile.

"Oh, Master said it's early, right? By the way, did I interrupt your kiss just now? I'll go back to my room, you can continue!" Teardrop said seriously.

"Uh... I have something to do, I have to go back!" Chang Xiao's eyes twitched incessantly, and he quickly walked out before Ling'er could say anything.

“Zhu’er, I…” Ling’er said, blushing.

"It's just a kiss, what's the big deal!" Tearsdrop said, sitting down on the sofa after Chang Xiao left.

"You don't object to me being with him anymore?" Ling'er asked, puzzled. Before, she would burst into tears the moment someone touched her hand, causing chaos wherever they went...

"Master, what do you think I should buy for the wolf?" Teardrop asked, seemingly unrelated to the question.

"..." Good heavens! It seems it's true that women in love generally have low IQs. Ling'er originally wanted to go back to her room to call Chang Xiao, but Lei Zhu'er kept pulling her along, asking what she wanted to buy. Ling'er felt like she wanted to find a nail clipper and end it all. Helpless, she was finally dragged out to the street to help the Wolf King find a gift. As soon as they came downstairs, Lei Zhu'er exclaimed, "Oh no! I forgot my phone! The Wolf said he'd text me tonight."

Ling'er gave her a headache-inducing look: "Go quickly! I'll wait for you downstairs!"

"Master, you're so kind! Wait a minute, I'm coming down right away!" After saying that, he kissed Ling'er's cheek, turned around and ran into the stairwell.

"Holy Lord, it's been a long time!" an aged voice rang out.

Ling'er was startled. She saw a kind old man smiling at her and said, "Old man, do you know me?" Although she didn't know what the Holy Lord was, she knew that she was the Holy Lord.

The old man smiled slightly, said nothing, and turned to leave.

Ling'er was taken aback, then followed. This old man must be no ordinary person, otherwise how would he know that she was the Holy Lord? As the old man's figure gradually shrank, Ling'er didn't care about being discovered and hurriedly used her lightness skill to follow closely behind. However, what puzzled her was that when she sped up, the old man sped up, and when she slowed down, the old man slowed down. The two always maintained a certain distance between them. Ling'er was so preoccupied with figuring out the old man's origins that she forgot to watch where she was going. When he finally stopped, they were already deep in a forest.

"Grandpa, how did you know me?" Ling'er waved her hand to wipe away the sweat that had flowed from running.

"I am the Old Man of Destiny, and I know you, not only you, but all living beings in the world!" the old man said with a kind smile.

"The Old Man of Fate?" Ling'er sized up the venerable old man before her, finding it hard to believe he was mentally ill. But what else could he be but mentally ill? The Old Man of Fate? Never even heard of him! It seems appearances can be deceiving. Thinking this, Ling'er unconsciously took a step back.

"You don't believe me? Heh, I can't blame you. It seems your memories are truly sealed away, Holy Lord!"

His words startled Ling'er. If he were mentally ill, how would he know she was the Holy Lord? "Then what is the Old Man of Fate doing?"

"I control the past and future of all living beings in the world," the old man said calmly.

"Oh? Then you're very powerful?" Ling'er asked, half believing and half doubting.

"You flatter me, Your Majesty!"

"But how can I trust you? You know..." There are so many liars these days! But she didn't say those words out loud.

"Naturally, I will prove my identity through my abilities," the old man said with a smile, stroking his beard.

Ling'er looked at him in confusion. She saw the old man clasping his hands together and muttering incantations. Although she couldn't understand what he was saying, it felt very familiar. After thinking for a while, she remembered that when Leizhu'er entered the Realm of Light, she had used this kind of language.

Ling'er sensed that the air in front of the old man was being compressed until it formed an object the size of a basketball, resembling a crystal ball.

“Holy Lord, look!” the old man said, pointing to the crystal ball.