CH 9

Wen Xi was asked to come down. When he arrived in a private guest room, Wen Xi thought he was witnessing a three-court trial1 with how many people there were in the room. Pi Xiu’s lackeys stared at the Female Ghost, looking as if they were ready to fight her at any given moment. Even the Monkey Spirits couldn’t hide their tails, while their upright positions and vicious aura surprised Wen Xi.

Wen Xi walked towards Pi Xiu and asked: “What’s all this about? Why did you call over all of the staff in your restaurant?”

“We didn’t have any customers in the morning.” Pi Xiu then raised his chin at the Female Ghost. “She was making a fuss because she wanted to see you. She said that she wouldn’t say anything unless you were here.”

Wen Xi was confused: “See me?”

Wen Xi looked at the Female Ghost, who was still kneeling on the ground, and said: “Why do you want to see me? Even if I once promised you something, times have changed, and the Wen Family no longer exists. I’m afraid I can no longer help you.”

“Hm, regardless of whether you can help her or not, let her speak first.” Pi Xiu said impatiently.

The Female Ghost looked at Wen Xi and asked: “Does Gongzi really not remember me?”

“You….” Wen Xi stared at her face, which was covered by her long hair, and only one eye could be seen. After pondering, Wen Xi finally said: “How will I recognize you like this? Don’t make it difficult for me.”

The Female Ghost was stunned. As she pulled back her hair, she revealed her face and asked: “How about now? Can Gongzi recognize me now?”

Wen Xi stared at her, but in the end, he shook his head: “No.”

The Female Ghost stood up, and Pi Xiu immediately reached out to pull Wen Xi to his side. As he stared at the Female Ghost, Pi Xiu asked: “What are you trying to do?”

“This way, Gongzi may be able to recognize me.” The Female Ghost posed her feet and brushed her hair back to reveal her face. As she shook her sleeves, she raised her voice to sing: “In order to assist Scholar Li to leave his home, who expected to be at the top of the Imperial Examinations—”

Wen Xi froze.

“The number one scholar wore a red robe, with a hat decorated with flowers from the Imperial Palace. So good, so fresh2—” The Female Ghost compared her hands to the Palace flowers in the hat. As the smile on her face gradually dissipated, she rushed towards Wen Xi to ask: “Does Gongzi remember Suzhen now?”

“I remember.” Wen Xi nodded and looked at her with a complicated expression on his face.

Previously, he had asked this actress to come to his house to sing a couple of times, but nothing more. Since she sang the best performance of ‘The Concubine’ when performing in the Opera, Wen Xi was happy to hear her sing. Even her name was the same as the Concubine in the play, Suzhen. Only the surname was different. This Female Ghost was surnamed Jia, while the character in the Opera was surnamed Feng.

Every time she came to the Wen Residence to sing, Wen Xi was so happy he would reward her immensely. On the day of his 20th birthday, he also invited her to sing at his birthday banquet.

“Can you speak now?” As soon as Pi Xiu said those words, there was a knock at the door.

The accountant was standing in front of the door with an unfriendly expression on his face. As the accountant stared intently at the Monkey Spirits, he asked: “Even after so many years of being a spirit, you can’t even tell time? Don’t you know what time it is?!”

The five Monkey Spirits ran away with their tails hidden between their legs: “Going to work, time to go to work.”

As the five Monkeys fled with their tails between their legs, Su An saw that Ren Jiao and Qiu Fu were still standing around doing nothing. Su An pinched the bridge of his nose and said: “Are you two waiting for me to go to the kitchen to cook for the guests?”

The Abacus Spirit’s eyes grew sharper and sharper. Unable to resist the pressure, Qiu Fu took the initiative to go to the kitchen. Ren Jiao wasn’t afraid of turning into a dead fish in boiling water, so he simply stood next to Lil Broom and said: “There aren’t many guests in the morning, so Qiu Fu is enough.”

When Su An noticed that their Boss hadn’t said anything, he also decided to speak no more. His eyes simply wandered between the Female Ghost and Wen Xi, reminding: “This room has been booked by guests. I will come back later.”

Implicitly saying: Hurry up and finish whatever it is you are doing. Don’t affect the business.

Pi Xiu waved his hand, as if saying ‘go, go’. His eyes were still fixed on the Female Ghost as he said: “Is there anything else you want to ask for? Say it quickly.”

Jia Suzhen didn’t look at Pi Xiu, her gaze remained solely on Wen Xi. With teary eyes, she asked: “Gongzi still remembers the painter Wu Yan—Wu-gongzi, who did the painting at Gongzi’s birthday banquet?”

Wen Xi lost his temper and said coldly: “You asked me to remember you, and now you want me to remember a certain ‘Wu-gongzi’? I have been dead for more than 600 years, how could I remember such trivial matters? What exactly is it that you want?! Say it directly! Don’t waste my time!”

Surprised, Jia Suzhen bowed and said: “Gongzi, don’t be angry. I just want to save Wu-gongzi, who you invited to your birthday banquet back then. Originally, he was a candidate for the Imperial Examinations in the Capital, but he was falsely accused of a robbery and was sent to prison. I…..”

“Falsely accused?” Wen Xi frowned. “Who framed him? What was he accused of stealing?”

Jia Suzhen: “His fellow villagers, who went with him to the Capital to take the Imperial Examinations, falsely accused him of stealing a jade heirloom he had with him.”

“Was the jade valuable?” Wen Xi was puzzled, and looked at Jia Suzhen, wanting to ask her how she knew this Scholar surnamed Wu. However, he changed his mind. He thought of the stories he read in those books, and said: “It’s been 600 years, it’s too late to save him.”

“Suzhen understands.” Her eyes were turning red again, and bloody tears began to fall. “This Gongzi (Pi Xiu) said that he could let me see Scholar Wu’s reincarnation. Suzhen couldn’t save Scholar Wu before I died, and I only wish to see his reincarnation. It would be enough to know he’s safe and has a good life.”

“People and ghosts are destined to walk though different paths. You can see him, and even talk to him, but you can’t scare him or mention his past life. More importantly, you can’t let him fall for you.”

After a while, Pi Xiu glanced at Jia Suzhen and added: “Anyways, it’s going to be hard for him to like you with your current appearance.”

Jia Suzhen: “……”

Wen Xi: “……”

Ren Jiao looked at the Female Ghost’s tears falling down her cheeks, and took hold of Lil Broom, who wanted to rush over to wipe the floor. Ren Jiao said lightly: “It will take some time to find that mortal’s reincarnation. She can’t eat, drink, and sleep in the Restaurant for free. I also noticed that we never had a waitress. Why don’t we let her tidy up her appearance and have her work for us?”

Pi Xiu looked at Ren Jiao with utter surprise.

‘What? Are you the manager of the Restaurant? Why are you arranging things so smoothly for me?’

After seeing Mr. Pi nodded his head, Suzhen cried with joy: “Thank you! Thank you for your help! Suzhen is willing to work extremely hard!”

Two more streams of bloody tears once again fell on the carpet. Lil Broom could no longer bear to see this, screamed and pushed Ren Jiao away. After rolling up the rug, he picked it up and ran off carrying the rug in his arms.

Wen Xi froze and asked: “What is he doing?”

“Don’t mind him, he’s addicted to cleanliness.” Pi Xiu sighed. “Since he’s a broom who became a spirit, he can’t stand seeing dirty stuff.”

Pi Xiu stopped Ren Jiao, who wanted to chase after Lil Broom, and pointed at Jia Suzhen: “Take her out and let Su An arrange everything. No salary!”

Ren Jiao ‘tsk-ed’: “You won’t give her a salary, huh? That’s illegal.”

After seeing Pi Xiu’s face changing again, Jia Suzhen hurried to say: “Suzhen doesn’t need money, as I’m the one to ask this Gongzi for help. Suzhen is lucky enough to be sheltered by this Gongzi. I’m willing to go through fire and water for this Gongzi, without asking for anything else.”

Wen Xi watched her go with Ren Jiao, and then turned his head to ask: “How are you going to find the reincarnation of that Scholar?”

“I’ll make a call.” As Pi Xiu said this, he took his phone and rummaged through his contacts: “I’ll just call an acquaintance and ask him to look for the Scholar for me. But I may have to go out.”

As Pi Xiu spoke, he dialed a phone number. There were several ‘beeps’ before the call was picked up on the other side.

At that, the man at the other side of the call said: “I don’t have any news, don’t ask.”

“What? I’m not calling you to find news about the Taotie again.” Pi Xiu said carelessly. “I want you to find a mortal ghost….”

“His life and family history, right?” The man was now interested. “Did you really fall in love with a few hundred-years-old little ghost? I heard that you had a child with him, and that the baby is three months old. When are you going to have a wedding? Since he’s a ghost, and I’m Emperor of Fengdu3, don’t I count as part of his ‘maiden family’? I’m willing to help him when you two get married….”

Pi Xiu raised his hand and hung up the phone.

Puzzled, Wen Xi asked: “What is it? Did they refuse to help?”

Pi Xiu’s face darkened and didn’t speak. ‘Apart from those who do nothing but create rumors, they also want to force me to have a partner by tying us up with a red thread. We are already in 2019 and those people still don’t understand the concept of singleness.’

‘He’s not talking. Is he angry?’ Wen Xi thought.

Wen Xi approached Pi Xiu and touched his arm, only to find that Pi Xiu’s skin was indeed quite hot.

“If it’s too troublesome, you don’t have to….” Before Wen Xi could finish, Pi Xiu’s phone rang again.

Pi Xiu answered the call and said: “Feng4, if you dare to talk nonsense again, see what I will do to that stupid forum of yours.”

“Why are you being so fierce, huh? I’m just looking out for you for the sake of our centuries-year-old friendship.” The Emperor of Fengdu laughed. “Come on, tell me the time and place of death of your beloved. Preferably with his birth date and eight characters5, so that I can find information about him more accurately.”

Pi Xiu said coldly: “It’s not him. It’s someone else.”

The Emperor of Fengdu was even more delighted: “Hey, so it’s true you really have a sweetheart? They really didn’t lie to me.”

Pi Xiu hung up the phone again, and pulled Wen Xi to his side to cool down with a darkened face. Even though the phone kept ringing, Pi Xiu didn’t care. Once he managed to calm down, Pi Xiu hung up the phone, stood up, and said: “I’m going out.”

As soon as Wen Xi heard this, his scheming mind became alive. As he deliberately softened his voice, Wen Xi asked: “Can I go with you? I promise to be obedient and won’t leave your side.”

“You want to come with me?” Pi Xiu walked to the window, looked at the sunlight outside, and then looked back at Wen Xi, who was eager to go. After pondering, Pi Xiu finally said: “It’s not impossible. Do you remember what that unlucky man surnamed Wu looked like?”

Wen Xi pondered and said: “I can’t say it for sure. Maybe if I see a portrait, I may be able to recognize him.”

When Pi Xiu heard him say this, he nodded: “Get into the Jade Statue, I’ll take you out.”

…

After greeting some guests, Pi Xiu left the Restaurant, took a cab, and went all the way to a cemetery. Once they arrived, the driver left without even asking for a five-star review on the app.

Facing the sun, Pi Xiu directly walked into a management office. Without even greeting anyone, he walked directly to an elevator that took him underground. Wen Xi, who hid inside the Jade Statue, asked: “Are we going underground?”

Pi Xiu ‘hmm-ed’ in response.

As soon as the doors of the elevator opened, noisy voices were heard all over the place. Several bald ghosts passed in front of Pi Xiu, muttering and cursing. Wen Xi, however, couldn’t understand what these ghosts were muttering about.

Mr. Pi brushed past them, kicked open the door of a private office at the end, and coldly said to the Emperor of Fengdu, who was on the phone: “Mr. ‘Feng’.”

“Mr. ‘Pi’.” the Emperor of Fengdu waved his hand with courtesy, when all of a sudden, his eyes fell on the Jade Statue in Pi Xiu’s hand: “Oh, I see you brought him here? Let him out so I can see him.”