Yan He never imagined there would come a day when he'd be fighting over a blanket with a little ghost at 3 AM.
He remained silent for a few minutes, attempting to tug his blanket from the small ghost's grasp.
It wouldn't budge.
In fact, the little ghost, following the blanket's movement, inched closer to him. It nuzzled the blanket contentedly, seemingly sleeping so comfortably that even in its dreams it hugged the blanket tightly.
The little ghost was incredibly close, almost nestled in Yan He's arms, sleeping soundly and completely unaware of what was happening.
Yan He stiffened momentarily, his hand's movement halting.
He rarely had such intimate contact with others.
Because he had always attracted unclean things since childhood, even cats and dogs were unwilling to get close to him, so he had long grown accustomed to being alone.
Yan He lowered his head slightly, looking at the little ghost in his arms. It was like a fluffy kitten, comfortably curled up against him. Its eyelashes were long and thick, its cheeks slightly flushed, sleeping deeply. It looked quite different from its earlier dusty appearance, seeming much more content now.
The little ghost probably had no idea it was now sleeping soundly on a living person's bed.
Yan He pressed his brow, staring at the little ghost on the pillow beside him for a long time, unable to discern what kind of ghost it was.
After a while, he finally picked up the air conditioner remote and turned up the temperature, without touching the blanket again.
At 5 AM, as dawn was breaking, a few weak rays of light leaked through the clouds, and the yin energy in the world gradually dissipated in the morning light.
On the light gray bed, the little ghost who had eaten its fill and slept well, crawled up from the bed, shaking its tousled hair, feeling utterly satisfied.
But when Mu Bai turned his head, he realized that he had been covered by most of the blanket, while the sleeping man only had a small piece.
He felt a bit guilty and hurriedly returned the blanket to the man, carefully tucking in the edges, wrapping the man snugly in the blanket.
The dawn light outside the window grew brighter, and Mu Bai hurriedly floated away. Before leaving, he nervously glanced back at the sleeping man.
The man seemed to be in a deep sleep, his posture unchanged from when he first fell asleep, as if he hadn't noticed anything amiss.
The little ghost standing on the windowsill let out a long sigh of relief. The dark gray curtains fluttered slightly, as if brushed by a morning breeze, and the little ghost vanished without a trace.
4 PM.
In the prime location of the city center, where land was worth its weight in gold, skyscrapers towered. The most eye-catching was a modern building hundreds of meters tall, almost reaching into the clouds.
In front of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows was a spacious desk, neatly stacked with a pile of documents.
A man in a black shirt was slightly bowing his head, reviewing documents. The Buddhist beads on his wrist occasionally clinked against his expensive watch, his demeanor reserved and calm.
The office door was gently knocked twice, and Yan He's deep voice said, "Come in."
The secretary lightly pushed open the door, quickly walked to the desk, and respectfully said in a low voice, "Mr. Yan, we've received a response from Master Hongbai."
Yan He's pen paused, and he looked up, asking, "What did they say?"
The secretary hesitated for a moment before saying, "The person who responded was Master Hongbai's disciple, not Master Hongbai himself."
"Master Hongbai's disciple said that Master Hongbai had left for a journey several months ago and his whereabouts are unknown."
"Master Hongbai's disciple said that if Mr. Yan has any matters, you can contact them."
Yan He made a sound of acknowledgment and put down his pen, saying, "Give me the contact information for Master Hongbai's disciple."
The secretary provided the contact information to the person at the desk, then quietly left the office, gently closing the door behind him.
In the office, Yan He leaned back in his chair and dialed the number according to the contact information.
The call was quickly answered, and the voice on the other end was that of a very young man. He laughed and said, "Mr. Yan, long time no see."
Yan He exchanged brief greetings, then leaned back in his chair, his knuckles lightly tapping the desk. After a while, he said in a flat tone, "Something has entered my house."
Hong Hui's voice on the other end of the phone immediately became serious: "You've been haunted again?"
Yan He made a sound of agreement.
When Yan He was young, the Yan Family discovered that his constitution was unusual. When he had a fever, it was more like being possessed. He wouldn't cry or make a fuss, often unable to wake up for days, and frequently talked to thin air.
The Yan Family then sought out Master Hongbai to read his fortune and take his pulse, exorcise the evil spirits, and rearrange the feng shui of the Yan Residence. Only then did young Yan He's condition improve.
But because Yan He had an extremely yin constitution, and the Yan Family had done Master Hongbai a favor in earlier years, Master Hongbai gifted him a string of rare purple sandalwood Buddhist beads for protection.
If an evil ghost had killing intent, it would immediately be destroyed upon approaching the beads.
Perhaps because so many evil ghosts had been destroyed, the deterrent effect was formidable, and it had been a long time since Yan He had to seek Master Hongbai's help for matters related to evil spirits.
Master Hongbai's disciple, Hong Hui, also knew about Yan He's past experiences of being haunted by evil ghosts. After pondering for a moment, he said solemnly, "Master is not at the temple now. What evil deeds has this little ghost done to you?"
Yan He, who had his blanket stolen last night: "..."
He was silent for a moment before hesitantly saying, "It's not really a major evil deed..."
Hong Hui on the other end of the phone said gravely, "What does the little ghost look like?"
Yan He: "It looks like a young boy, doesn't seem very old, not bloody like other evil ghosts."
Hong Hui pondered for a moment: "Can you tell what kind of ghost it is?"
Hanged ghosts would have protruding tongues and rolled-back eyes, while starved ghosts would have withered torsos and bloated bellies. Most common ghosts had some distinguishing features.
Yan He thought of the little ghost curled up sleeping sweetly on his bed last night, and with a peculiar expression said, "I can't tell."
Hong Hui thought for a good while, then sighed and said, "My skills are not as refined as my master's, I can't calculate what kind of ghost it is like he could."
"I'll try to contact my master for you in the next few days, see if I can reach him. If I do, I'll let you know immediately."
"You need to be very careful of that thing these days. It's best if you can figure out what kind of ghost it is, so we can come up with a way to deal with it."
Yan He agreed, then hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, his knuckles tapping the desk rhythmically, seeming to be deep in thought about what kind of ghost that little ghost could be.
In the graveyard forest on the outskirts of town, the well-fed little ghost suddenly sneezed.
He sat on a tree trunk, rubbing his nose and muttering softly, "Who's talking about me behind my back..."
But thinking it over, Mu Bai felt that no one would be thinking of him, except for his good friend the water ghost, Ah Sheng.
He had originally been a young scholar heading to the capital for the imperial exams in the early years of the Qian Emperor Era, but unexpectedly encountered a flood on the way and lost his life in confusion. When he woke up, he had become a little ghost wandering the world.
Before he died, he had been hazily thinking that he hadn't yet earned his mother the title of Imperial Decree Lady, and when he woke up, the first ghost he met was Ah Sheng.
But Ah Sheng, as a water ghost, was consistently more powerful than him, a mere bed-pressing ghost. Unlike him, who could only hide in the yin-heavy graveyard during the day.
Ah Sheng often went out to do big jobs, bringing back incense offerings that could last a year or half, and would share some with him, which is how he had avoided starving to death all these years.
Mu Bai, sitting on the tree trunk, leaned back slightly. He sat on the branch swinging his legs, eagerly beginning to count on his fingers how many hours were left until nightfall.
The little ghost gazed in a certain direction, for the first time so eagerly anticipating the sun to set.
Once it got dark, he could eat again.
Thinking of the warm, satisfying feeling of a full stomach from last night, Mu Bai felt incredibly hungry.
It felt too good.
The feeling of absorbing spiritual energy was like immersing frozen limbs in hot soup on a winter's day, so comfortable it almost made one sigh in contentment.
He had been so hungry last night, eating quickly and urgently, almost swallowing the spiritual energy whole without having time to properly savor the taste.
Tonight, he had to taste it properly!
A few hours later.
As the sun's last ray of light was swallowed by the horizon, the city's street lights gradually came on.
On the windowsill of the detached villa, Mu Bai skillfully slipped into the living room.
He came earlier tonight than last night, and when he came down from the window, he was startled by a round-headed object.
Mu Bai stood on the sofa, curiously yet cautiously watching the round-headed object automatically cleaning up trash on the floor, then buzzing from the living room towards the bedroom.
He felt an irresistible urge to touch it, secretly reaching out to pat the buzzing object that was running around everywhere. But before long, his attention was quickly drawn to the sound of running water.
The sound of running water came from the direction of the bathroom.
Mu Bai's eyes lit up, and he eagerly floated into the bedroom just like yesterday, diligently making the bed, then began to wait for his new target to come out of the bathroom.
At first, he waited patiently, but he was really craving badly, and his heart longed for the new target to finish bathing and go to bed soon. So he couldn't help but secretly peek at the situation in the bathroom.
Eventually, Mu Bai simply snuck up to the glass door of the bathroom, his eyes sparkling as he waited for the new target to bathe.
The spacious bathroom had black and gold marble floor tiles, filled with swirling mist. Under the recessed shower head stood a very tall man, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, pale skin, and smooth, taut muscle lines.
Yan He stood under the shower stream with his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling slightly. He ran his fingers through his forehead hair a few times, revealing an exceptionally handsome face with perfectly arched eyebrows and a straight nose.
The bathroom was full of swirling mist. He closed his eyes and pressed the black button control, and the water flow from the overhead shower suddenly stopped.
Yan He ran his fingers through his wet bangs. As soon as he looked up after finishing his shower, he saw the little ghost who hadn't appeared all day, eyes sparkling, sprawled on the bathroom door staring at him.
Openly and unabashedly staring at him.
Yan He: "..."
He was silent for a moment, but eventually reached for a towel and wrapped it around his lower half.
The little ghost on the glass door looked down, then hissed, exclaiming in amazement, "It's so big..."
Like a mutant giant carrot.
The little ghost's amazed muttering wasn't quiet at all, clearly audible even through the glass door.
Yan He calmly dried his hair, then slowly tightened the towel around his waist a bit more.
He had a pretty good idea what kind of ghost was in front of him now.
It was almost certainly a little perverted ghost.