Chapter 34: Jealousy

Seeing that Tan Xueci had no reaction for a long time, looking completely dazed, He Xunye held the ghost infant forward slightly and said, “Since you didn’t say whether to throw it away or not, I brought it back.”

Tan Xueci still hadn’t come to his senses.

How should he put it? Influenced by his parents, he had always felt that marriage didn’t count as a family—only having a child made a true family. However, he never expected to achieve this in such a way.

Biting his lip, Tan Xueci lifted his beautiful, dark, moist eyes. He looked at He Xunye, then at the ghost infant, and suddenly felt that he didn’t really need a family all that much.

Just as he was stammering and unable to speak, Lu Qi walked over and asked curiously, “What are you standing here for? Why haven’t you packed your luggage yet? Should I help you?”

“No… no need,” Tan Xueci said hurriedly.

He Xunye was still standing at the room door, only about a meter away from Lu Qi. Lu Qi felt a slight chill on the back of his neck and rubbed his throat, but he still couldn’t see He Xunye, nor could he see the ghost infant.

It was as if the ghost infant didn’t exist at all.

Tan Xueci’s tense spine finally relaxed, and his pale face regained a bit of color. For the first time, he was glad he was “having an episode.”

He asked Lu Qi to wait outside while he went in to pack. But upon entering the room, he found his suitcase already packed; even the memorial tablet and incense burner had been tucked into his small backpack.

Tan Xueci: “…” How strange.

He Xunye could actually carry his own memorial tablet. Was it possible that if his husband got hungry, he could offer incense to himself?

Lu Qi waited outside, thinking it would take at least half an hour, but Tan Xueci came out huffing and puffing with his suitcase almost immediately. Lu Qi was bewildered. Tan Xueci looked as if he wanted to say something but stopped, eventually muttering awkwardly, “Let’s go.”

When they reached the hotel lobby, Tan Xueci froze again. Aside from the rest of the crew, there was a Taoist priest dressed in a yellow robe, holding a horsetail whisk and an Eight Trigrams mirror. He looked to be in his sixties or seventies, with a flowing white beard and an immortal, sage-like aura.

“This is the priest invited by Master Wen,” the assistant director said, unable to express enough gratitude. Seeing everyone had arrived, he introduced: “We’re leaving the hotel; let’s not bring any ‘dirty things’ to the new place. Let the priest check us before we get on the bus.”

Normally, Wen Yaochuan would have said something, but he looked exhausted after staying up all night and was busy making phone calls.

He Xunye seemed to dislike crowded places. When they came down earlier, he told Tan Xueci he would wait in the car, so only Tan Xueci and Lu Qi were standing there.

The crew members were checked by the priest one by one. When Tan Xueci walked over, the priest suddenly widened his eyes, looked up at the sky, and spat out a mouthful of blood, startling everyone.

“Priest?” the assistant director cried out in panic. “What happened to you?”

The priest waved his hand and said, “It’s no major issue, but I need to have a few words in private with this young Master Tan.”

He was quite adaptable, knowing that people in the entertainment industry liked to call each other “Master.”

Tan Xueci walked to the side with him, feeling lost.

Once they were away from the others, the priest’s face suddenly darkened. He said to Tan Xueci with deep regret, “Do you know there’s an evil spirit following you? How did you raise it to be this powerful? It’s only been dead for a short time, and it has already become a Malignant Specter!”

His expression was so exaggerated that Tan Xueci’s heart tightened. Another evil spirit? What evil spirit? He saw so many ghosts every day that he didn’t know exactly how many evil spirits were following him.

“But there’s still time,” the priest frowned, forming a hand seal. “If we let this evil spirit be any longer, it will be impossible to subdue. I don’t know what it experienced in life to have such immense resentment, but you’re lucky to be alive.”

Tan Xueci grew nervous at his words. He gripped his fingers fearfully and asked timidly, “Then… what should I do?”

“Subdue it,” the priest said decisively. “It’s best if you have the other party’s memorial tablet or clothes they frequently wore. Especially the tablet—if I can get my hands on it, I’m confident I can blast it into ashes so it can never enter reincarnation again. If you have neither, items you’ve used frequently lately will work; they’ll surely have the other party’s aura. I’ll summon it to the temple and capture it in one go. The effect will just be slightly weaker; at most, it will prevent it from finding your scent so it can’t follow you anymore.”

Tan Xueci opened his mouth, his face filled with hesitation.

The priest, likely used to people not trusting him, didn’t mind, but he still warned Tan Xueci with a solemn gaze: “You can go back and think about it, but you can’t delay any longer. It grows stronger every day. Think about whether many strange things have happened around you. If this continues, everyone around you—including yourself—will die. Specters only know how to take greedily; they don’t know restraint. Sooner or later, it won’t be able to resist dragging you into its grave.”

Tan Xueci’s pale, timid face looked flustered. How was he supposed to find the other party’s memorial tablet? He didn’t even know who that evil spirit was.

After the priest finished speaking, he flicked his whisk and turned to leave, leaving Tan Xueci’s heart in a state of turmoil.

Lu Qi had been watching from the side. Once the priest left, he hurried over to ask, “What did he say to you?”

He couldn’t help it; he was afraid Tan Xueci was being scammed for money. Tan Xueci was exactly the kind of “little lamb” who was easiest to cheat.

His acting fees, aside from what he lent Lu Qi, had mostly been scammed away by Zhai Fang pretending to be a fan. He only had 300 yuan left in his card. Once Lu Qi was discharged from the hospital and didn’t need him to stay overnight, he planned to buy incense to feed the ghost kittens on the roadside.

Because he had heavy Yin energy, small animals rarely approached him; almost only ghost kittens would actively rub against him.

On the way there, the driver intentionally took a detour and charged him 30 yuan. Only 170 yuan was left.

By the time he got home, Tan Xueci had only 11 yuan and 30 cents left. The “little lamb” had stared blankly at his balance. That night, he fell asleep with tears in his eyes.

Tan Xueci scratched his cheek, hesitating on how to speak. Finally, he just said, “I won’t give him any money.”

Lu Qi gave him a suspicious look, but the crew was about to set off, so he didn’t press further.

When they reached the parking lot, He Xunye was already sitting in the back seat. When the man came out, he had changed back into his usual black suit, with cold black Buddhist beads on his wrist. With his legs crossed, he made Lu Qi’s beat-up car look like a high-end business vehicle.

Jin Chen reached out to pull the back door, but he couldn’t open it after several tugs. Just as he was about to shout for Lu Qi, he saw Tan Xueci get into the car from the other side perfectly fine.

Jin Chen: “…”

Jin Chen tried a few more times but still couldn’t open it. He felt uneasy—it was truly eerie—but he didn’t really want to sit with Tan Xueci anyway, so he went straight to the front passenger seat.

The evil spirit seemed to be in a very good mood today. Although his eyes held only gloomy loathing for the ghost infant, a smile lingered on his lips, as if having a child could bind his wife’s heart.

Tan Xueci, however, exuded a moist, pitiful aura. For some reason, seeing the smile on He Xunye’s face, he suddenly remembered something he had heard before: Don’t fear a ghost’s cry, fear a ghost’s laugh. The more human a specter looked on the outside while smiling, the more dangerous it was.

The person around him who loved to smile the most seemed to be He Xunye…

He stared blankly at He Xunye. Lu Qi suddenly slammed on the brakes, causing the car to shake. The small backpack in Tan Xueci’s lap wasn’t zipped properly, and He Xunye’s memorial tablet fell right out.

Tan Xueci’s heart shrunk in fear that it was broken. Without even considering that others were in the car, he hurriedly picked it up to check.

Fortunately, it wasn’t chipped.

Tan Xueci hugged the dark tablet and sighed in relief. When he looked up, he met Jin Chen’s suddenly widened eyes. Jin Chen asked in disbelief, “What is that?”

He couldn’t even explain it away. Because the tablet clearly read Spirit of Deceased Husband, He Xunye. Furthermore, the moment the tablet fell, Tan Xueci’s eyelashes were wet and his vision blurred, as if his husband had actually died.

Tan Xueci: “…”

Jin Chen probably didn’t get along with Tan Xueci, but he wasn’t a bad person. Seeing that it couldn’t be hidden anymore, Lu Qi helplessly told Jin Chen about Tan Xueci’s marriage alliance with the He family.

Jin Chen’s face darkened. After a long silence, he gritted his teeth and said, “These dead men… they’re still restless even when they’re hanging on a wall.”

He suddenly found Tan Xueci a bit more likable, perhaps because they were both victims of men. He would participate in “anti-men movements” 366 days a year.

Tan Xueci: “…”

Tan Xueci pursed his red lips and took a cautious look at He Xunye, wondering if he would be angry. But He Xunye seemed to have no reaction to being insulted like that.

He couldn’t figure out He Xunye’s boundaries or what made him angry. Every time he thought He Xunye would be mad, he had no reaction; when he least expected it, He Xunye’s face would be gloomy.

He Xunye’s skin was deathly pale, carrying an unapproachable, gloomy ghostly aura. The corners of his eyes were traced with a reddish tint, creating a very dark and cold face. Yet now, he was holding Tan Xueci’s hand, gently folding it into his palm and smoothing out his fingers one by one.

Tan Xueci let out a small sigh of relief and looked at Jin Chen, blinking as he asked in a small, concerned voice, “Is your face cured?”

He could pull a dark face now; he didn’t look paralyzed at all.

Jin Chen: “…”

Jin Chen: “You talk as if your mouth is coated in poison.”

Tan Xueci: “You too.”

Jin Chen: “…”

After years of illness, Tan Xueci was pale and frail. His eyes were a unique shape—like those of a little lamb, feminine and alluring. His expression was always timid, making him look weak and easy to bully.

But Jin Chen always felt that Tan Xueci was quite “evil” sometimes.

Jin Chen shut up aggrievedly. Tan Xueci’s situation was special; he knew nothing, and even basic self-care was an issue when he first came out. These things couldn’t be hidden from someone who saw him often, so Jin Chen knew a bit about the Tan family, though not as much as Lu Qi.

“Anyway, this He-whatever is already dead,” Jin Chen turned around, his eyes burning with a desire to save him. “You’ve had too little contact with girls. You only know your mother—and that mother of yours isn’t even worth mentioning. Tell you what, I’ll take you to a bar next time to meet more people your age. You’ll realize there’s more than just men in this world.”

Tan Xueci was stunned. How did this turn into going to a bar?

He Xunye had been looking down, rubbing Tan Xueci’s hand, but he lifted his head now. His eyes were deeply dark, differing from those of a human, carrying a gloomy ghostly aura that betrayed no emotion.

As Jin Chen spoke, he pushed several WeChat contacts to Tan Xueci. “Don’t be nervous. These are people I met while learning to dance. We’re friends. I told them I was introducing a younger brother to hang out with.”

Tan Xueci’s eyelashes fluttered, and his snow-white face turned bright red. He didn’t dare add them; he was too embarrassed to add girls. He clutched his phone helplessly, not knowing what to do.

The evil spirit tilted his head. It started raining in the capital again, and gloomy clouds moved in. Even though it was daytime, the car interior was very dark. He turned his pitch-black, lusterless eyes toward Jin Chen.

Jin Chen was over 1.8 meters tall with a fit build and good reflexes, but when the seatbelt suddenly tightened around him, he still didn’t react in time.

Even if he had, there was nothing he could do. The seatbelt felt as if it were covered in countless tiny ice shards—both cold and stinging. He couldn’t even touch it. He felt as if he were being choked until he bled.

The seatbelt dragged his body, pulling him toward the car window. Half of Jin Chen’s body was soon leaning out the window, drenched by the gray rain, nearly falling out.

Lu Qi was scared to death and quickly pulled over, reaching out to drag Jin Chen back.

Tan Xueci intended to help, but before he could move, a cold black mist wrapped around his waist. Wet and cold, like tentacles, it crawled into his collar and trouser legs. Tan Xueci shivered. Just as he was about to speak, a surge of black mist stuffed into his mouth, filling it so completely he couldn’t make a sound.

“Baby is so greedy,” the black mist’s voice was low, hoarse, and spectral. It seemed to chuckle, stirring his tongue with a cold, strange tone. “Besides your husband, am I not enough?”

Tan Xueci struggled to close his mouth, but the black mist felt as if it had been bitten off, remaining stuffed in his mouth. His eyes grew moist, shimmering in the rainy car interior.

If he opened his mouth now, the other party would surely push back in. If he didn’t, he could only let that tentacle-like black mist toy with his tongue. He felt his tongue must be rubbed red, yet the other party still insatiably tried to push into his throat.

He Xunye rolled down the window, silently watching Lu Qi sweat as he tried his best to pull Jin Chen back into the car. He had no intention of helping; he just watched coldly with a faint smile on his lips.

It wasn’t until he turned his head and noticed Tan Xueci’s expression seemed off that he gently and worriedly touched Tan Xueci’s cheek, which was pushed out into a soft bulge by the black mist. He asked, “What’s wrong, Xiao Xue?”

Tan Xueci’s eyes turned wet and red, but he couldn’t make a sound. He lifted his hand to pull He Xunye, but the specter noticed his intention and actually used the black mist to encircle his fingers, forcing his hand up into a ten-finger lock, preventing him from moving.

“Xiao Xue?” He Xunye’s face grew more worried. “Xiao Xue? Why aren’t you speaking? Are you feeling unwell?”

The thick black mist seemed to want to drill into every opening of his body. Tan Xueci was powerless to resist. Amidst the other’s increasingly excessive caresses, he suddenly sensed a strange emotion.

The other party was jealous.

This ghost… was likely the “evil spirit” the priest had mentioned.

Then, the only thing the other party had touched was him. They had been, and still were, intimately close.

The car was in chaos. Tan Xueci’s body was rubbed with large red marks, and tears welled up in his eyes. Before he could cry, the other party finally let go. Lu Qi also managed to pull Jin Chen back, collapsing into his seat out of breath.

“What kind of crappy priest is he?!” Lu Qi cursed. “Worse than not finding one at all. We just left and already hit something evil.”

Once released, Tan Xueci immediately hugged He Xunye’s arm. He Xunye didn’t know why his wife was afraid, but he considerately put an arm around his shoulder and held him in his embrace.

Finally, they arrived at the new hotel safely.

The priest hadn’t left yet; it seemed he would be following the crew for a while. The assistant director welcomed him warmly, as he had been afraid of accidents happening to the crew.

The priest was still downstairs talking to the assistant director, so Tan Xueci had no choice but to return to his room first. Putting the evil spirit aside for a moment, Tan Xueci wanted to take the ghost infant back to ask about it.

He really didn’t know what to do. The ghost infant looked less terrifying now; its resentment seemed to have partially dissipated. It should be able to be “transcended,” right?

Who would have known that by nighttime, the priest still hadn’t appeared. He seemed to have gone to check the filming location with the assistant director. The ghost infant kept crying incessantly. Tan Xueci was a bit scared; since it was crying like that, he didn’t dare touch it, fearing it would bite him.

“Does Baby not want it?” He Xunye finally showed a bit of human understanding. “You don’t need that priest. This hotel is an hour’s drive from Qilian Temple. Just send it there to be transcended.”

“When…” Tan Xueci’s beautiful face crumpled. “When can we go?”

He Xunye poked his cheek and smiled. “We can go now. Take it there, and someone will naturally open the door for you.”

Only then was Tan Xueci at ease. He hurriedly wanted to take the ghost infant out, but the crying seemed audible to others. The hotel front desk even called, saying a guest reported hearing a baby crying in their room and asking if they had brought a child.

Tan Xueci hid timidly behind He Xunye, clutching the fabric of the man’s back. “Hubby, why does it keep crying?”

“It’s hungry,” He Xunye said, scaring Xiao Xue with his nonchalance.

Tan Xueci also felt like crying. With misty eyes, he asked blankly in a small voice, “H-hungry? Then what should we do?”

Did he need to buy formula? Feed a ghost baby formula? Crying like this, there was no way to take it out.

Tan Xueci bit his finger, standing by the bed helplessly. He didn’t even notice when the ghost infant stopped crying. A small, greenish-black hand grabbed his pant leg and started climbing up him.

Tan Xueci looked gentle and compassionate, living up to his name. It felt as if no matter what you said to him, you could receive forgiveness. Although he was thin, he made people feel his embrace was soft and warm.

Tan Xueci was originally terrified, but the ghost baby’s crying was so pitiful that he eventually reached out to hold it and sat leaning against the headboard.

Once in his arms, the ghost infant stopped crying. It buried itself in Tan Xueci’s chest, its black fangs bared, and suddenly opened its mouth to bite.

Then He Xunye frowned and picked it up, drawing a talisman on its fontanelle. It finally closed its mouth, appearing to have fallen asleep.

Tan Xueci’s pale cheeks turned red. This little ghost wanted to bite his chest—could it be that it wanted to nurse? He didn’t dare think too much, fearing the ghost infant would start crying again, and asked He Xunye to drive him to Qilian Temple.

By the time they reached Qilian Temple, it was past one in the morning. The mountain outskirts were deep with heavy dew. Tan Xueci got out of the car holding the ghost infant, but He Xunye didn’t move. His soft face leaned against the car window. “Hubby, aren’t you coming with me?”

“…” The evil spirit lifted his dark eyes and curved his lips. “Does Xiao Xue want me to go? It’s not that I can’t.”

He made a move to get out of the car.

The back door of Qilian Temple was only a few hundred meters behind them, looking solitary and solemn in the night. Tan Xueci’s heart, usually plagued by specters, seemed to relax a lot here.

But his heart pounded for some reason. He stopped He Xunye and said expectantly, “Hu… Hubby, I think I’ll go by myself.”

“Okay,” the evil spirit got out of the car anyway. He stood by the car, his eyes exceptionally gentle in the night. “I’ll wait for you here.”

Tan Xueci dawdled, leaning in to hug He Xunye. In the sacred Buddhist grounds, he was too embarrassed to kiss, but he tilted his head and gave He Xunye a messy kiss on the face.

“Hubby,” Tan Xueci whispered, “It’s so cold.”

The icy aura on He Xunye was heavier than before—colder every day. Yet He Xunye seemed to treat him better every day. Why was he so good to him? It felt as if no matter where he wanted to go, the man would accompany him without hesitation.

Tan Xueci just kept softly calling him “Hubby,” his tone both clingy and soft. The evil spirit couldn’t help but chuckle, resting his forehead against the top of Tan Xueci’s head. “Are you acting spoiled, Baby?”

“No,” Tan Xueci wouldn’t admit it, but he kept calling him “Hubby,” rubbing his nose against He Xunye’s neck. He had always felt He Xunye had a very nice scent; thinking about it now, it was like the fragrance of lotus. He murmured softly, “I feel like I’m dreaming.”

Everything that had happened lately felt unreal. Tan Xueci’s already confused mind was now completely scrambled. But in this world, there are no ghosts—there shouldn’t be.

When he was a child, he insisted he had encountered ghosts, even saying there were ghost nurses at the hospital consultation desk at night. Xie Yun had patiently taken him there countless times. When he said there were ghost nurses, Xie Yun held his hand to see her at night. That nurse had ashen skin and blood-red nails, but she truly didn’t harm him; she even stiffly raised her hand to pat his head and gave him a piece of candy.

Xie Yun smiled and said, “Xiao Ci, look, how could there be ghosts? She just broke the rules and wore nail polish.”

Tan Xueci later found out the candy was expired—a sticky, rock-hard mess when opened. He hurriedly ran to find Xie Yun, who opened his own drawer and said, “Doctors are very busy and often forget to eat the candy they buy. I have expired ones here too; it doesn’t prove anything. It was just a piece of candy.”

Xie Yun was always calm, patiently deconstructing everything for him and telling him that ghosts were just projections of his own heart. “Xiao Ci, your illness isn’t that severe. That is to say, you won’t have long-term hallucinations; every episode almost always lasts within half an hour. Do you understand? If you keep seeing ghosts, you’re just having a nightmare. Don’t wallow in your own dreams.

“There is nothing real there; there is no love.

“You must find a way to eliminate the ghost that keeps affecting you, then you will naturally emerge from the nightmare.”

Xie Yun was calm, gentle, and professional; Tan Xueci had no reason not to trust him. He wanted to be loved so badly that he developed delusions, wandering in a daze and unable to wake up. But he felt Xie Yun was wrong about one thing—even in the dream, the love he felt was real.

He had fallen in love with someone in a dream, but that person was already dead, making it impossible for him to leave or let go.

If only He Xunye were still alive. From the first time He Xunye held his hand and called him Xiao Xue, he really wanted to marry him.

Tan Xueci buried himself in He Xunye’s icy embrace for a long time. When he lifted his head, he had cried two small wet patches onto the chest of He Xunye’s suit jacket—two obvious circular marks.

Blushing, Tan Xueci took a cautious look at He Xunye, who didn’t seem to notice.

He picked up the ghost infant and turned to run toward the mountain gate. Just as He Xunye had said, the other party seemed to know he was coming; a young monk opened the door as soon as he ran over.

Then, without asking anything, the monk took the ghost infant from his hands, gave him a bow, and closed the door again.

The faint sound of chanting came from within the temple. Tan Xueci ran back toward He Xunye. Halfway there, he felt a very soft sensation on his cheek, as if a small hand had gently touched him, then vanished in an instant, turning into a night breeze under the bright moon.

“…”

Tan Xueci was stunned. He clung to He Xunye, his eyes wide, and got back into the car while mumbling to him.

He Xunye told him to describe everything he saw in his dream last night as much as possible and send it to He Wuling. Tan Xueci spent the whole ride sending the messages, finally finishing when the car returned to the hotel parking lot.

He felt as if He Xunye had been studying him all night, making him feel nervous and wanting to cover himself up.

“Baby,” the evil spirit suddenly called him.

Tan Xueci shivered. “…Huh?”

He Xunye lowered his eyes, staring at Tan Xueci’s flat chest for a while. The evil spirit’s deep, sharp face suddenly leaned in, and he said something shocking: “If it can’t, can I eat?”

Tan Xueci: “…………”

No, you dead ghost, listen to what you’re saying.

Tan Xueci was dumbfounded, unable to believe his ears.

He Xunye had already leaned down. Tan Xueci’s mind went blank. He had never encountered such a thing in his life. Even when He Sui made him take off his pants to sit on his lap, it sounded more normal than He Xunye’s request.

Tan Xueci felt panicked and afraid. His face was a mask of tension as he said hurriedly, “Wait, wait a second!”

But the evil spirit seemed to have endured for too long and didn’t care at all what he wanted to say. He grabbed Tan Xueci’s waist and leaned down.

Tan Xueci was terrified, his eyes turning red. In the chaos, he accidentally lifted his hand and slapped He Xunye across the face.

A dull thwack sounded.

The evil spirit seemingly hadn’t expected Tan Xueci to hit him. His head was turned aside by the slap, a clear handprint visible on his profile.

Tan Xueci was startled; he didn’t expect to hit someone. He hurriedly reached out to hold He Xunye’s face. “Hu… Hubby, how are you? I didn’t mean to, are you okay?”

It was slapped red.

The evil spirit wasn’t angry, though. He just lifted his head to look at him, his tone faint and cold. “Now that Baby has a child, you don’t need me anymore?”

Tan Xueci was flustered by his words, as if he were a scumbag who abandoned his husband and child.

“I won’t bite,” the evil spirit buried himself in his wife’s embrace, holding his waist. He lifted his head, his dark phoenix eyes looking up at him as he coaxed in a low, hoarse, and muddled tone, “Just a smell, okay?”

Tan Xueci smelled very good.

Being buried in his wife’s embrace, he couldn’t pull himself out.

He originally thought it was because Tan Xueci had heavy Yin energy, which was why he smelled so good to him. But no matter what, it shouldn’t be this good. Tan Xueci’s lips, cheeks—many places were fragrant, making him want to keep smelling and licking, burrowing inside and never coming out.

Why won’t Baby let me eat?

Hiding all the good things.

“Can I?” The evil spirit’s eyes grew darker. His hard finger bones were already gripping Tan Xueci’s waist, yet he was still asking.

Tan Xueci originally wanted to refuse, but he had already refused once tonight. It seemed bad to refuse again. Finally, with a red face, he agreed, “Okay…”

He thought He Xunye meant something like a hug—burying himself in his embrace for a moment. He thought he could accept that. But he didn’t expect the evil spirit’s cold fingers to suddenly grab the collar of his hoodie and pull him forward forcefully. Several buttons popped off; he didn’t have time to cover up before the evil spirit had already buried his head there.

Tan Xueci’s breath hitched.

In the dark car, almost nothing could be seen clearly. There was only his own low, hot panting. He slumped onto the seat, his body going soft and unable to resist. He could only tremblingly hold the evil spirit’s head, his snow-white cheeks burning red, a misty wateriness spreading in his eyes.

Something was wrong.

Everything was wrong.

He really needed to wake up.