Good Night, Mr. Ghost - Chapter 74
Mr. Ghost felt utterly dejected. Could it be that even here, there was no solution? Were there really so few supernatural beings capable of divination these days?
Bao’er, noticing the ghost’s overwhelming sadness, waved his hand and explained, “No, that’s not it! I do have a way. I just meant you don’t need to be so formal with me.”
“Really? You have a way?!” Mr. Ghost was thrilled, stepping forward and placing his hands on the counter. “What do I need to do?”
Seeing the ghost’s joyful expression, Bao’er sighed inwardly and said, “You don’t need to do anything, just wait a minute while I find it.”
He glanced at the cabinet behind him, muttering, “Where did I put that compass? Ugh, I’ve forgotten. I guess my brain’s rusted from all that sleep.”
He swiftly opened and closed the tightly shut drawers, searching through their contents with rapid movements, appearing almost as a blur.
In less than half a minute, Bao’er found what he was looking for. He nodded at the drawer, pulling out a disk about the size of a plate and ten centimeters high.
The brownish-red disk was inlaid with gold and jade ornaments, engraved with the five elements and eight trigrams1, with a Si Nan2 at its center, currently still.
With a thud, he placed it in front of Meng Loudi, saying, “This is what you need. Just infuse it with your spirit energy and think of the person you’re looking for.”
Without hesitation, Mr. Ghost channeled his ghostly aura into the disk.
The dark aura flowed like water, continuously circulating within the disk.
After half a minute, the Si Nan began to move.
Bao’er softly said, “It’s done.”
Meng Loudi withdrew his hand, observing the device.
As the Si Nan shifted, the five elements also moved.
With a final click, Bao’er looked at the device and said, “Got it, it’s in the water, thirty degrees southeast, fifteen hundred kilometers away.”
Meng Loudi clenched his fists.
Was his Chenyi really there?
“So, what do I need to do?”
He hadn’t forgotten that this was a pawnshop.
Bao’er picked up the disk, thought for a moment, and said, “Forget it.”
“Uh.” Meng Loudi was taken aback.
Bao’er waved his hand, urging him out, “Hurry up, if you delay any longer, he might not be there.”
“Alright. Thank you.” Mr. Ghost said, quickly dashing out.
Watching him disappear, Bao’er wiped the sweat from his forehead, his heart still racing. “Goodness, that was nerve-wracking. I wouldn’t dare ask for anything in pawn. Just don’t wreck my shop in the future.”
He caressed the disk in his hands, his gaze tender and affectionate. “These are Bao’er’s treasures, after all.”
Meng Loudi hurried back to the small shop.
Perfect timing, the wontons were ready.
The old lady looked at the man rushing in and asked, “Oh dear, would you like to take it to go?”
“Yes!” Mr. Ghost replied firmly.
With an astonishing speed, the old lady packed the wontons, a stark contrast to her previous slow, tooth-aching pace.
Meng Loudi took the wontons and turned to Bai Lu, “Pay up, I’m leaving.”
Bai Lu didn’t even have time to raise his hand before watching his boss dash off.
Facing the old lady, Bai Lu was at a loss, “Boss, how much?”
The shopkeeper smiled warmly, “Twenty wontons, two thousand yuan.”
“What?!” Bai Lu was shocked.
The old lady, with her kind and friendly face, said, “Two thousand yuan, after all, there are so few people. It’s rare to open the shop, gotta earn a bit more.”
Bai Lu: “…”
That’s not how you do business.
No wonder there’s no one at your door!
Meng Loudi, holding the steaming wontons, flew in the direction pointed by the Si Nan.
He was sure he could find Chenyi!
The man soared through the sky.
A ghost could travel a thousand meters in an instant.
Inside the cabin, Jiang Chenyi was completely drained of water.
He felt the moisture in his body slowly evaporating as his body heated up.
His parched throat couldn’t utter a word.
The young man gazed at the ceiling with blurry eyes, and in those fleeting moments, he even saw Mr. Ghost’s smiling face.
Jiang sighed.
He was going crazy.
Mr. Ghost must be frantic searching for him.
He was truly an irresponsible man.
Just left without a word.
Luo Yun still stood a few meters away, leaning against the wall, watching Jiang Chenyi gasp for air like a fish out of water.
“Still not giving up?” The woman tilted her head, “You really have some perseverance.”
Jiang Chenyi couldn’t even produce saliva now; he didn’t want to say a word.
“Oh dear, guarding your chastity for that ghost, now that I think about it, it’s quite touching. Why, did you always prefer men? Are you naturally a deviant? Are women not good enough?”
Her eyes focused on him, seemingly trying to see through his frail body to his heart within.
“What he gives you, I can give you too, and I’ll do it better,” Luo Yun rambled, attempting to persuade him.
Jiang Chenyi closed his eyes, pretending he was already dead.
Really, there’s no point in arguing with someone with such outdated beliefs.
This woman with her stubborn feudal mindset was truly baffling.
They had no common ground; even if they were together, it would be mutual torment.
I can love whoever I want.
None of your business.
Luo Yun watched him, moved closer, picked up a cup, and poured some water into the young man’s mouth.
Jiang Chenyi hadn’t lived enough yet, so he obediently drank the water.
Suddenly, the woman asked, “Why does no one want to be with me? Am I really that awful?”
His mouth was dry, but he was still hanging on. Jiang glanced at her sideways, “It’s not that you’re awful, it’s just not a match.”
“You’re lying, there’s no such thing as not a match in this world.” The woman squatted down, still maintaining her graceful posture.
After all, she was a child raised by a prominent family.
Even if internally twisted, the hardware was still quite durable.
Jiang felt as if he were on the brink of death, his words unusually kind and earnest, “Suitable? Truly suitable people are rare, very rare. You have to find someone who fits you by yourself. Don’t listen to those silly motivational speeches; sometimes harsh truths are better. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. It’s not something you can solve by trying or by persistence.”
His voice remained hoarse.
The woman looked at him and said, “If you could cooperate with me.”
“Cooperate with what? I have a family, and my thoughts are quite conservative. I don’t want to cheat, nor do I want to live a life of compromise,” Jiang scoffed, exhausted, and closed his eyes again.
Luo Yun watched him, her eyes devoid of emotion, and said calmly, “You won’t be able to hold on. When you can’t anymore, you’ll naturally come to me.”
The young man, eyes closed, mocked her, “Stop kidding. There are things in this world more important than life.”
The woman reached out and touched his cheek, speaking with a tone that seemed to see through the world, “No, nothing is more important than life. Without life, there’s nothing.”
The young man fell silent.
But inside, his thoughts continued to churn.
Nothing more important than life?
That’s because your perspective is too narrow.
Love, dreams, mission, family-so many things.
All more important than life.
Suddenly, Luo Yun sensed a dangerous presence. She stood up abruptly, a hint of surprise on her face.
This shouldn’t be happening!
No one should be able to find them.
She had severed ties with her family and was carrying that precious item; no one could know their whereabouts!
She hurriedly went upstairs.
Jiang Chenyi felt himself drifting into a daze, slowly sinking into darkness.
Meanwhile, Luo Yun stood with her sword, confronting the man floating in mid-air.
The woman’s smile was somewhat bleak as she looked at the other’s lofty demeanor.
About to lose, huh.
“So annoying.”
Annoyed that her plans were disrupted, annoyed that her future was changing, annoyed by these so-called big shots.
Even more annoying was their disdainful expressions.
Luo Yun was the child who was never valued, right from the start. When she was born, when the family confirmed she was a girl, everything was destined.
This is what they call fate.
“A girl?”
“Tsk tsk tsk, why is it a girl? The first child should definitely be a boy.”
“That’s right, the heir should be a boy. Didn’t they say this one would be a boy?”
“Who knows, maybe there was a mistake. It’s not a hundred percent certain, but, oh well.”
“Women are soft-hearted and prone to emotional decisions, not suitable for sword cultivation. Let her learn something else.”
“Just send her away, send her over there, let her live like a normal child, study and work.”
“Anyway, don’t keep her in the family to be an eyesore, right?”
…
Because she was a girl, Luo Yun was abandoned at the age of three.
She was left in an apartment, her parents hired two nannies, and never cared again.
Everything in her life was completed under the care of these two nannies.
Attending kindergarten, going to elementary school.
After she turned three, she never saw her parents again.
And the young girl cried out for her parents, only to receive a cold response from the other end of the phone.
“Don’t look for me anymore.”
Even the nannies realized that the “owners” of this “home” didn’t care about their child at all.
Never asked a single question, not even a phone call, not once a year.
Luo Yun was still somewhat different. She was precocious, and from the moment she was abandoned, she understood that it was because she was a girl that she was discarded.
How absurd.
Because she was a girl, because girls are deemed emotional, she was abandoned.
Not a single person in the family cared about her.
Luo Yun felt lost and helpless, yet she didn’t know how to change any of it.
Crying and fussing were useless; they only brought about the nannies’ irritation and cold stares.
Without the protection of her parents, she was like a soft target, easily bullied.
At some point, Luo Yun got used to having bread and milk for all three meals.
If the nannies overslept, she had to take herself to school.
For a child of five or six.
The world seemed anything but gentle.
Her parents’ absence made her prematurely aware of her peers’ harshness.
“A kid without parents!”
“An orphan, she’s an orphan, my mom told me!”
“Haha, a kid with no mom and dad!”
Those thoughtless yet cruel words initially sparked anger in the girl, and she would lash out, pinning those who taunted her to the ground.
But after being reprimanded by teachers and locked in her room by the nannies, Luo Yun understood that this was just how things were.
Without parents, she had no right to fight back.
Children with parental protection, those who gossiped about her, had their moms and dads, and even the teachers favored them.
Because she didn’t.
From a young age, Luo Yun realized she had no one to rely on; having parents or not made no difference.
Might as well act as if they didn’t exist.
Her world seemed destined from the start to be unfortunate.
Footnote:
- Five Elements and Eight Trigrams(五行八卦): The “Five Elements” (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) and “Eight Trigrams” (symbols from the I Ching) are fundamental concepts in Chinese philosophy, used to explain natural phenomena, balance, and divination.
- Si Nan(司南):An ancient Chinese compass, typically made of lodestone (a naturally magnetized mineral), used for divination and geomancy. It predates the modern magnetic compass and was an important tool in traditional Chinese navigation and Feng Shui.
