Throughout the entire meal, Yan Jing found himself unable to savor the food.
Several times, he considered simply getting up and leaving, but in the end, he managed to restrain himself.
Deep down, he knew that he was the one who had misunderstood the situation.
Strictly speaking, Shi Pengpeng had nothing to do with it.
Shi Pengpeng was merely giving her all to her job, not intentionally misleading him… and that was precisely what infuriated him the most!
If she had even the slightest bit of personal interest in him, he might have felt a little better, and not so utterly humiliated.
“Bro, bro…” Shi Pengpeng called out worriedly a couple of times, her finger lightly tapping his forehead.
“Are you okay?”
Feeling the warmth of her finger, Yan Jing suddenly snapped back to reality.
He instinctively leaned back a little to avoid her touch, his face tense as he asked, “What are you doing?”
Shi Pengpeng blinked, then said, “Oh, I just noticed you seemed distracted and weren’t responding, so I thought you might be in a daze again.”
“No,” Yan Jing muttered vaguely.
“I was just thinking about something.”
He looked up at Shi Pengpeng, hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke up, “Shenpo, there’s something I want to ask you.”
Shi Pengpeng: “What is it?”
Yan Jing: “When you came to me, was it because my grandfather paid you to protect my safety?”
“Yeah, didn’t you already know that?” Shi Pengpeng was a bit puzzled, unsure why he was bringing this up again, but she took the opportunity and said:
“Wow, you have no idea how nervous I was when you initially refused me. Grandpa Yan gave me sixty thousand, do you know what that means? That was my entire annual base salary back then! Thankfully, you ended up hiring me and even gave me so much more money!”
As she spoke, she gave a thumbs-up and offered her familiar praise, “You’re so great!”
Yan Jing: “…”
Although he had known the answer for a while, hearing it directly from her still dealt him a second blow.
It was only at this moment that he truly understood the weight behind those three words: “You’re so great.”
Beep good guy card.
After the meal, Yan Jing drove Shi Pengpeng home.
As she was about to get out of the car, Shi Pengpeng handed him a triangular-shaped talisman: “Bro, take this.”
Yan Jing: “What is it?”
Shi Pengpeng: “It’s a new talisman I drew for you.”
Yan Jing frowned, displeased.
“You’re not fully recovered yet, why are you drawing talismans?”
Shi Pengpeng waved it off casually.
“Well, I did promise to keep you safe. Don’t worry about me, this doesn’t take much out of me. It might not be as effective as before, but your ‘good health’ conveniently makes up for that, hehe.”
Yan Jing paused for a moment before taking it.
“Thanks, I’ll transfer the money to you.”
Shi Pengpeng’s mouth twitched.
“It’s just a talisman, why so formal?”
Yan Jing replied coolly, “It’s still the fruit of your labor.”
Shi Pengpeng: “…”
Was it just her imagination, or was he being sarcastic again?
But he had been in a low mood all evening-what could have triggered him?
After a moment of thought, she said, “Give me your hand.”
Yan Jing: “What for?”
Shi Pengpeng: “Just give it to me.”
Yan Jing was suspicious but still extended his hand.
Shi Pengpeng grasped his wrist, opened his palm, and with her right hand, quickly began drawing something on his palm.
Yan Jing felt an itch in his palm, and ripples of emotion stirred in his heart.
Before he could fully process the sensation, a gentle breeze swept by, clearing his mind and calming his mood.
Shi Pengpeng finished her drawing and withdrew her hand: “You’ve been restless all night, so I’ll give you a bonus-a calming spell. No need to thank me.”
Yan Jing’s heart was as still as water: “…Hmm, then I won’t thank you.”
After all, it was her fault to begin with.
“Well, I’m off,” Shi Pengpeng said, stepping out of the car.
Just as she was about to close the door, Yan Jing suddenly called out, “Wait.”
Shi Pengpeng tilted her head to look at him: “What is it?”
Yan Jing exhaled, hesitated for a moment, then leaned over to the back seat, picked up the enormous bouquet of roses, and handed it to her: “Here, take it.”
Shi Pengpeng was stunned: “Huh? This…?”
Yan Jing said indifferently, “It just occurred to me that your place is quite small… well, rather plain. Take it back and use it as decoration.”
He glanced at her and added, “And don’t just focus on work all the time. Try to improve your taste in life a bit.”
Shi Pengpeng:”….”
Sure enough, the good attitude from the past few days was just an illusion.
That sharp tongue of his had come back to life so quickly!
Yan Jing drove into the underground garage.
Because he was afraid of ghosts and the dark, he rarely lingered in the garage, always hurrying out as fast as possible.
This time, however, he didn’t get out of the car immediately.
Instead, he sat in the driver’s seat, replaying every moment of his recent interactions with Shi Pengpeng in his mind.
As he thought, he covered his face with his hands and rubbed it, wishing he could scrub his brain out.
How did it come to this?
He was both frustrated and regretful, unsure how to vent his emotions.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally managed to pull himself together and got out of the car.
Just then, his phone screen lit up with a voice message from his mother:
“Xiao Jing, your grandfather is home. Have you and your girlfriend discussed when you’ll come over? By the way, I just asked your grandfather, and he said he never arranged a match for you. What’s going on?”
Yan Jing:”……”
He had almost forgotten he had eagerly bragged about it to his family yesterday.
Great, now he had truly embarrassed himself in front of his family.
He didn’t know how to explain it at the moment.
After a while, he replied with five words: [“Busy, will talk later.”]
He put his phone away and was about to head to the elevator when his foot suddenly stepped into a puddle of water.
“!” The hairs on Yan Jing’s arms stood on end.
The Luojiang Shui’an community where he lived had excellent property management.
There had never been any water accumulation, not even on the roads, let alone in the underground garage.
Yan Jing looked down and saw that the entire garage was suddenly filled with water-black, cold water with clusters of dark green, seaweed-like plants floating in it.
A chilling, almost sticky aura enveloped him.
Yan Jing instinctively wanted to message Shi Pengpeng, but as soon as he touched his phone, he stopped.
At this distance, even if Shi Pengpeng rushed over, it would be too late.
Besides, he wasn’t quite ready to face her right now.
Yan Jing put his phone away and cautiously took two steps back.
Suddenly, the back of his head brushed against something, and a cold, needle-like sensation pierced his scalp.
Yan Jing was startled and spun around, nearly choking on his breath: “!!!”
Before him hung a severed calf clad in red high heels, its skin cold and cracked, riddled with bulging purple veins.
Yan Jing looked up and saw a hanged woman.
Her head, severed by the rope, dangled downward, forming an angle with her neck that defied all human logic.
Their eyes met, and the hanged ghost’s purplish-red lips split into a wide grin.
“Hello there.”
Yan Jing, as if seeing nothing, calmly turned around and prepared to leave.
Just then, a shadow flickered in the puddle before him, and a pale, bluish hand emerged from the water, reaching out like a drowning person grasping for a lifeline, aiming for Yan Jing’s calf.
Unfazed, Yan Jing stepped over the ghostly hand the moment it was about to touch him and continued walking as if nothing had happened.
The ghostly hand paused, then curled four fingers downward, leaving only the middle finger raised.
What a pretentious man!
The puddle surged, spreading in front of Yan Jing once more, blocking his path.
The pale, bluish hands emerged from the water, propping themselves on the ground as a dripping wet drowned ghost slowly crawled out.
His head was draped with seaweed, his face bloated and swollen from the water, his purple lips split to his ears as he gave Yan Jing a sinister smile.
“Hello there.”
Yan Jing ignored him and tried to walk forward.
The hanged ghost and the drowned ghost, unable to tolerate this any longer, both materialized directly in front of him, blocking his path.
One ghost faced him with its feet, the other with its head, both expressions as cold and terrifying as could be.
The drowned ghost said in a haunting voice, “Stop pretending. We know you can see us, Unwithering Bone.”
Only then did Yan Jing glance at them lightly, his chin slightly raised, his tone indifferent.
“You know I have the Unwithering Bone, yet you still dare to provoke me?”
This arrogant and domineering attitude left the two ghosts momentarily stunned.
They exchanged a glance, seeing confusion in each other’s eyes.
The hanged ghost said, “Why isn’t he afraid?”
The drowned ghost narrowed his eyes and scoffed, “He’s just pretending, isn’t he? Didn’t we hear? This guy is all talk, actually a coward who can’t do anything.”
“Right, I almost fell for it,” the hanged ghost snapped back to reality.
“Let’s not waste words with him. Let’s attack together!”
With that, he rolled his eyes, let out a “bleh,” and spat out a long, dark red tongue.
The tongue was soft and slimy, coated with a thick layer of fur and dripping with sticky saliva.
At the same time, the drowned ghost’s hands sprouted clumps of seaweed, which seemed alive as they coiled toward Yan Jing.
The two ghosts let out eerie, chilling laughter.
“Unwithering Bone, I died so miserably. Give me your body—”
The blood-filled tongue and the dark green seaweed inched closer and closer to Yan Jing, about to wrap around his body.
Yan Jing tightened his grip on the Lin Talisman that Shi Pengpeng had just given him, took a deep breath, and then raised his hand, throwing a punch.
“The Qilin has arrived!”
The roar of the Qilin tore through the illusions of the two ghosts.
The long tongue, the saliva, the puddle, and the seaweed all vanished in an instant, like popped bubbles.
“No “The bodies of the two ghosts twisted and contorted under the power of the talisman.
They clutched their heads in terror and turned to flee.
Yan Jing coldly threatened, “Do you really think you can escape?”
“Waaah waaah “The two ghosts were indeed frightened, trembling as they turned around and collapsed on the ground like a puddle of mud, weeping and begging for mercy, “Big brother, spare us! We were blind and didn’t recognize your greatness. Please let us go!”
Yan Jing, with one hand in his pocket, maintained his aloof demeanor, looking down at them and asking, “Who sent you here?”
The Luojiang Riverside community was a place he had specifically chosen after consulting a master.
It had excellent feng shui, and he had lived there for so long without ever encountering any supernatural disturbances.
This time, not only had two ghosts appeared, but they were clearly after the Unwithering Bone.
“N-no one sent us…” the drowned ghost stammered, “We just… heard it through the grapevine…”
The hanged ghost nodded in agreement, “Y-you’ve become quite famous in our circle of wandering spirits in West Luo. Everyone knows you have the Unwithering Bone, and they all want to… uh, connect with you…”
Yan Jing: “…..”
Yan Jing almost lost his composure and asked, “Who spread the word?”
The two ghosts exchanged glances, and the hanged ghost shook his head, “We don’t know.”
The drowned ghost blinked, “We saw it on Cat’s Paw. Lots of influencers were reposting it.”
Yan Jing: “?”