Chapter 38 Part 3
Xi Jia carefully recalled every sentence Ziying had said to him, but he didn’t think that there was a single sentence where he could write a touching love-hate taboo novel. Only “Ghosts Know” would dare to so brazenly publish such an unscrupulous author’s written work of immorality.1 If it was released outside at jjssw, this kind of written work wouldn’t even be released at all and must be locked up with a red card!2
The path of giving “Ghosts Know” a submission had been completely broken.
Xi Jia was now extremely regretting it. If he knew earlier that his Body of Extreme Yin would get exposed at the Poyang Ghost Market, how great would it be if he had given the submission to “Ghosts Know” himself! With this submission, at least 100,000 points could be earned according to Pei Yu. Why worry about settling debts?
Of course Xi Jia knew that if he submitted his and Master Ye’s matters to “Ghosts Know,” it might get selected. Right now, the Xuanxue world’s quite curious about his physique, with the news being a bit hot. But, Xi Jia truly couldn’t think of anything good about himself to write about. As for Master Ye……
Xi Jia quietly turned his head to look at Master Ye who was currently sweeping the floor earnestly.
Suddenly noticing that he was being watched intently by his wife, Ye Jingzhi instantly straightened his back. While sweeping with his head lowered, he nervously thought: Why is wife looking at me……It’s been 10 seconds, 30 seconds……one minute! Why is wife still looking at me, why is wife still looking at me……Why ah?!!!
How could Xi Jia know that Master Ye was so caught up that he was already starting to doubt life, worrying if he was too ugly today, and causing Xi Jia to stare at him like this. He looked away and helplessly sighed: Master Ye’s gossip……He didn’t want to write them. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t want those Celestial Masters to know.
The most suitable method to earn points had been broken. Xi Jia naturally knew that he was definitely unable to make magic treasures to sell. He thought for a very long time, and he had no other choice but to pick the last route, “Master Ye, can I hunt malicious ghosts to earn points?”
Just as Ye Jingzhi was thinking if he had worn his clothes inside out today or if he hadn’t combed his hair properly, Xi Jia suddenly went up to him and asked this question. Master Ye’s mind shook, and he returned to his senses, blankly asking, “Hunt ghosts……to earn points?”
Xi Jia nodded his head, “En. I’m not a person of the Xuanxue world, but if I hunt ghosts, will I be able to earn points?”
Ye Jingzhi first shook his head, but then nodded, “Should be able to.”
Xi Jia’s eyes brightened, “What should I do?”
Ye Jingzhi explained, “The Xuanxue world has two rankings. The Tian Gong Rankings records the ranks of the Xuanxue world’s magic treasures. Once a month, it would announce the rankings on ‘Ghosts Know.’ But because there are Celestial Masters hunting ghosts at all times, Tian Gong Pavilion developed the modou to update the Celestial Masters’ ghost hunting points in real time. That is the Modou Rankings. Every time before Celestial Masters punish the malicious ghost, they will use the modou to process the confirmation and record the malicious ghost’s information. With the information, the points on the Modou Rankings will change, and you can earn points.”
Xi Jia understood clearly, “As long as you use the modou to confirm before hunting the ghost, it’ll be good?”
Ye Jingzhi nodded.
Xi Jia slightly smiled, “Master Ye, tonight……when you go out to ghost hunt, can you take me along?”
Ye Jingzhi was promptly stunned silly.
For the first time, Xi Jia truly went out to hunt ghosts.
As the sun descended and the moon ascended, the yin energy greatly flourished. The mortals slowly returned home as they got off work. The lonely souls and wild ghosts that were hiding in every corner during the day started to fly out and enjoy the night world that belonged to them.
Poyang County was a small county town. The people did things when the sun was up and rested when the sun was down. This didn’t mean that only farmers would work and rest according to this kind of schedule. A lot of people in the city would get together with at most three or five friends after they had finished with work. But, they would all definitely go home to sleep by 9 or 10 o’clock.
The shops closed their doors at 10 o’clock at night. There were only a few people who had stayed outside and hadn’t gone home. When Xi Jia went out, it was 11:30. There were no cars on the empty main street. Occasionally, a car would drive past, and the sounds of the tires rubbing against the ground would echo through the road for a long time, making it seem even quieter.
Walking in such an empty street, Xi Jia seemed to be walking through an uninhabited city.
A big city wouldn’t be as tranquil as this. The people here would steadily live their days peacefully and simply. Although it was ordinary, it was very comfortable.
There were actually not that many lonely souls or wild ghosts in Poyang County. After all, the population of the entire county wasn’t much. The ghosts would naturally be less. In the past, Ye Jingzhi would fly away from Poyang County to find ghosts throughout G Province. However today, it was Xi Jia’s first time hunting ghosts. He accompanied Xi Jia as he tried his hand at it in the county town.
“Vroom——“
A car rapidly went by and passed through a lost soul’s body.
Xi Jia had past by this male ghost and saw that this male ghost was dizzily drinking while holding a wine bottle in one hand. Suddenly a car passed through its body. He loudly yelled with strong dissatisfaction, “Watch where you’re going! Fortunately, laozi is okay. If something happened to laozi, you better watch out!” After that, the lonely soul held the wine bottle and wobbled through the street.
Xi Jia watched this ghost with a calm gaze, and Ye Jingzhi said, “It’s a lost soul. It still doesn’t know that it’s dead.”
Xi Jia nodded, “It should be aware that it’s dead after a few days, right?”
Just as Ye Jingzhi wished to speak, the male ghost holding the wine bottle suddenly stopped across the street.
After a long time, it slowly turned it head and looked at the place where something had just passed through its body. It stiffly looked at that place, and its body violently shook, mumbling repeatedly, “That car……didn’t kill me? That car, how did it pass through me……”
It repeated said this for five minutes when the male ghost’s fingers suddenly slackened. The wine bottle fell to the ground, changing into a burst of yin energy and scattering. He raised his head to look at the sky and said with a sudden realization, “I’m already dead……”
Next, his figure slowly faded before finally disappearing into the air. He had already gone to enter reincarnation.
The two of them continued to walk ahead.
Along the way, they only saw three ghosts. They were all lost souls. Not to mention malicious ghosts, even a wild ghost couldn’t be seen.
Xi Jia wanted to carefully search for a trace of a malicious ghost here. However, no matter how he searched, this small town was steady and peaceful with no malicious ghost haunting in sight. By the time it’s 3 o’clock in the middle of the night, patrols were already walking around everywhere in the city. Empty-handed, Xi Jia sat down on a bench by the roadside and hung his head in disappointment.
In response, Ye Jingzhi hurriedly said, “It’s really difficult to find a malicious ghost in Poyang County. But recently, I saw that the neighboring county seems to have yin energy gathering. Let’s go over there tomorrow to take a look.”
Xi Jia nodded, smiling, “It’s also because Master Ye is so good at ghost hunting. With you here in Poyang County, there are no malicious ghosts.”
Being praised with a sentence like this, Ye Jingzhi was a bit shy and softly uttered a sound in response.
Since they couldn’t find any malicious ghosts, the two of them naturally went home. On the streets, only KFC and the movie theatre still had their lights on. Xi Jia didn’t believe it and still wanted to find if there’s a malicious ghost. They walked back home together. When they reached the movie theatre entrance, Xi Jia continued to be engrossed in finding malicious ghosts. Only after walking thirty meters did he notice that there was no one behind him.
He turned his head to look and said in shock, “Master Ye?”
Ye Jingzhi was standing at the entrance of the movie theatre and earnestly looking at a movie poster.
Xi Jia walked over in bafflement. After seeing the movie’s name clearly, he uttered a sound of surprise and looked down to read the ant-sized print at the bottom of the poster. From start to finish, he read it twice. Xi Jia couldn’t help but smile, “I didn’t expect a movie that I shot last year to be showing now. In this movie, I have five scenes. The crew gave me face and even wrote my name on the poster.”
Ye Jingzhi’s gaze concentrated on a poster. He earnestly looked at two small words on the poster that said “Xi Jia” before looking at the body of the poster again. With this glance, Ye Jingzhi blankly asked, “Why doesn’t the poster have your picture?”
Xi Jia said it matter-of-factly, “I’m only a minor supporting character. The male and female protagonists are on the poster. Of course, I’m not on it.”
Ye Jingzhi looked at the ant-sized words that said “Xi Jia.” He pursed his lips and didn’t talk.
Xi Jia watched for a bit and suddenly thought, “Master Ye, could it be……you want to see this movie?”
Ye Jingzhi’s body trembled.
Xi Jia softly laughed, “This movie is too crappy. There’s only a few good ghost movies. Let’s not watch this movie.”
Seeing Xi Jia’s calm smile, Ye Jingzhi was a little disappointed in his heart, but he didn’t oppose it.
However, slowly, Xi Jia finally reacted: Could it be that…..Master Ye has never seen a movie before?!
Suddenly thinking of this matter, the more Xi Jia thought, the more certain he was. Master Ye’s master had passed away early, and he was living by himself. He needed to cultivate and also take care of himself. After growing up, he still needed to go ghost hunting. How could he have the time to watch movies?
Now, he only wanted to watch a movie, that’s all……
Xi Jia pointed his finger and slightly smiled, “Master Ye, let’s go see this movie.”
Ye Jingzhi widened his eyes, “Ah?”
Xi Jia grabbed his hand and walked towards the movie theatre, saying as he walked, “I’ve never seen my own movies at the theatre before. It just so happens to be a ghost movie. Since we didn’t run into a malicious ghost today, we can go see one in the movie. The director of this movie has a backer. It tells a story from before the founding of the country, and it really has ghosts.3 Let’s watch it together.”
The excitement in Master Ye’s eyes lit up bit by bit, and he was so happy that fireworks were exploding in his heart. He happily followed after XI Jia into the movie theatre. This was his first time inside a movie theatre. Xi Jia went to buy tickets, and he obediently stayed and waited in his original spot. From time to time, he snuck glances at those posters pasted at the theatre’s display windows.
By chance, this horror movie had a showing in five minutes. The young woman selling tickets never expected anyone to watch this movie at this time. She looked at Xi Jia with a skeptical look and gave him two tickets before looking down to watch her entertainment circle gossip video.
Xi Jia took the tickets and went to Ye Jingzhi. Behind him, the young woman selling tickets tapped open a gossip news. A resounding voice came out from the mobile phone, “It is reported that yesterday night at 8 o’clock, renowned Film Emperor Fang Moting accidentally fell down the hotel’s stairs while attending a certain brand campaign. Five minutes ago, Film Emperor Fang has stated on his Weibo that it is a small injury and asks the fans to be at ease……”4
The young lady loudly cried as she called out, “Ah, Film Emperor Fang! Fortunately, you’re alright! Fortunately, you’re alright!”
Xi Jia went directly to Ye Jingzhi. Once he bought the tickets, he turned around. Master Ye withdrew his eyes that was stealing glances at the posters and quietly waited in his original place, well-behaved. Xi Jia stuffed a movie ticket into his hands and asked while smiling, “Master Ye, do you want to eat popcorn, or do you want fruits? Want to drink coke?”
Ye Jingzhi thoughtfully looked at Xi Jia, “What do you want to eat?”
Xi Jia thought for a bit, “I want to eat popcorn.”
Ye Jingzhi nodded his head hard, “I also want to eat popcorn.”
Three minutes later, Master Ye held a large bucket of popcorn. He couldn’t hide the expectation and joy in his eyes as he entered the movie theatre to watch the first movie in his life.
The Author has something to say:
C+: Mine is clearly news submission! The First Emperor and Ziying are clearly like that. You’re the one who has a problem with their brain, humph ╭(╯^╰)╮!!!
Mirror: Wife’s movie, I get to watch a little movie with wife in the middle of the night. (*′∇`*) 【 Immersed in his own world. 】
Translator’s Notes:
1 骨科 immorality – term literally means orthopedics, but slang for immorality/incest. There’s this story about a guy who pushed over his sister and got his legs broken by their dad. He went to Germany to get orthopedic treatment and I think the sister went to take care of him. There a couple versions out there, and I dunno which is true. But that’s the gist of it…..And if you forgot, Lanling Kuku Sheng wrote The Love Affairs of those Years in the Great Qin Dynasty. ↵
2 jjssw – jjwxc censored. ↵
3 Before the founding of the country – before the PRC was founded by Mao Zedong in 1949. ↵
4 Weibo – Chinese microblogging sites like Twitter. ↵