Chapter 44: Secret Tryst

As He Xunye spoke, Tan Xueci’s scalp prickled with an inexplicable tension. He suddenly didn’t want to go anymore. The white mountain mist of the night drifted in, reflecting the swaying light from the overhead bulb. It made Tan Xueci’s skin look exceptionally pale, his face resembling a small, white full moon.

“Thinking of regretting it so soon?” the ghost murmured, caressing his wife’s cheek. “If Xiao Xue doesn’t come, I’ll just have to go to you. I’m sure you wouldn’t want Lu Qi to see… anything?”

Tan Xueci froze. His eyes snapped wide, and his already pale face lost every last drop of color.

His mind filled with images of Lu Qi and Jin Chen sleeping right next to him while a malevolent spirit pinned him under the covers to kiss him. Knowing He Xunye’s perversion, he’d definitely be rubbing his bottom while they kissed.

Lu Qi he could deal with; if He Xunye took him right there, Lu Qi would at most get angry and then cowardly pretend he hadn’t seen a thing. But if Jin Chen stumbled upon two men in such a position, he might just go hang himself out of shock.

Would that count as me killing him?

What if Jin Chen becomes a vengeful spirit after he dies and comes back to haunt me?

It wasn’t that Tan Xueci couldn’t hide his emotions, but since he’d dropped the act with He Xunye, things were different. He knew He Xunye was just a lecherous ghost, and He Xunye knew his head was full of bad ideas and schemes. Consequently, he often forgot to mask himself in front of the ghost.

The ghost lowered his eyes, watching his wife’s beautiful face shift from tension to teary-eyed anxiety. He didn’t speak, patiently waiting for Tan Xueci to willingly climb into a ghost’s bed.

“I…” Tan Xueci finally seemed to make a decision. He picked at his fingers and swallowed hard, whispering, “Hu… hubby, I’ll come. Don’t come looking for me.”

The ghost’s gloomy, thick gaze settled on his face, and his lips curled upward. “Good.”

He knew Tan Xueci must like him.

He had thought Tan Xueci would agonize over it for a long time; he hadn’t expected him to agree so quickly. Perhaps before long, they could live like a real married couple.

If Tan Xueci liked being on variety shows, he’d accompany him. If not, they could stay home forever. He could kick He Wuling and the others out.

Then, he would turn the He family estate into a nest for his Little Sheep.

Tan Xueci had no idea what He Xunye was thinking. He was terrified someone might overhear them. He grabbed a small rag, hurriedly dried a few bowls, and left with his basin.

The other guests played a game of Werewolf that evening. Tan Xueci hovered nearby, and since he couldn’t understand the rules, he pretended to be deeply engrossed in Chen Qing’s books. Chen Qing was so moved that he gave him several more volumes.

Tan Xueci: “…”

The weight of all that knowledge felt heavy on his heart.

He felt he was starting to dislike Chen Qing, yet his beautiful, lustrous face still managed a smile. “I’ll read them carefully. I’ll memorize them.”

He said it through gritted teeth.

“No, no… there’s no need to be that serious.” Chen Qing was flattered; it was the first time he’d heard someone say they’d memorize his work.

Nearby, under the candlelight, the ghost was peeling chestnuts. His pale, strong fingers looked elegant no matter what they did, and he peeled the chestnuts perfectly.

Tan Xueci was a bit bashful. He was actually living a life with a ghost, acting like they were a real couple. But he really wanted to eat.

When he’d been locked up in the past, a bowl of plain noodle soup was a luxury. As a result, he’d become quite a glutton since getting out.

Aside from Zhang Chengfa, who was a local of Yanxia Village, the other guests weren’t used to the local wild vegetables. They were fishy and had a persistent, unpleasant odor. The guests only ate them out of politeness.

Only Tan Xueci ate them with gusto. Seeing that others didn’t want them, he wished he could stuff them all into his own stomach.

He fumbled around and secretly snatched a chestnut. Seeing that He Xunye didn’t seem to notice, he waited a moment and stole another. He specifically took from the edge, like a child digging a hole in a bowl of rice. But unlike rice, which stays put, after a few thefts, the hollowed-out mountain of chestnuts collapsed right by his hand, giving him a fright.

The ghost shielded his mouth to hide a laugh, seemingly afraid of offending Tan Xueci and being secretly hated. But his dark, phoenix eyes were already curved into crescents.

Even if Tan Xueci had given his spirit tablet to Yu Qingxu, he wouldn’t have been angry. They had a marriage contract; that was just a minor domestic dispute.

On the night of the “Seventh Day” (the return of the soul), He Wuling had likely feared he wouldn’t be able to summon him, so he had bound He Xunye and Tan Xueci with a “death contract” for all eternity. It was much more powerful than a standard ghost marriage. Unless one of their souls was utterly annihilated and barred from reincarnation, they would be together forever.

A few Taoists couldn’t affect their marriage.

Besides, Tan Xueci couldn’t even pull off a bad deed properly. He would tie himself in knots of anxiety, finally do something minor and stingy, and then he’d be the one who ended up unlucky.

Tan Xueci was flushed with shame, tears nearly falling. He lowered his head and muttered, “I… I was just tasting to see if they were spoiled.”

“This one,” the ghost said, popping one into his mouth with a smile, “is this one spoiled?”

Tan Xueci didn’t notice the ghost’s gaze turning increasingly dark. He picked at the plastic tablecloth.

He Xunye fed him a few more. Chen Qing’s book, which had been resting on Tan Xueci’s knees, slid down his legs with a thud.

Knowledge was scattered all over the floor.

After finishing his snack, he was startled and hurried to pick it up, relieved that Chen Qing hadn’t noticed.

Lu Qi and the others were getting ready for bed. Tan Xueci rushed back to wash up. The lights were turned off, but Tan Xueci’s eyes remained open like two small lamps.

He clutched his small backpack, feeling the hard spirit tablet inside. His heart was pounding. He planned to wait until Lu Qi and the others were asleep before going to his tryst with the ghost.

But Lu Qi kept scrolling on his phone, refusing to sleep. Tan Xueci grew anxious, terrified that He Xunye would lose patience and suddenly appear under his covers. He turned his head and frowned at Lu Qi. His pale face looked even more ghostly in the white glow of the phone screen.

“Holy shit…” Lu Qi cursed under his breath, startled. “What are you doing staying awake like that?”

Tan Xueci backed away gloomily. He felt that if He Xunye appeared and scared Jin Chen into hanging himself, it wouldn’t be his fault.

Every debt has its debtor; Jin Chen would have been killed by Lu Qi.

Shaken, Lu Qi lost interest in his phone and muttered, “Sleeping, sleeping.”

Tan Xueci closed his eyes, and his “lamps” went out. Once the breathing around him became steady and deep, he sat up with a start, left the tablet behind, and ran to find He Xunye.

The courtyard was pitch black. The rain had stopped, but the moon hadn’t come out. The mountain village was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.

It seemed someone was still awake in Zhang Chengfa’s room. Though the lights were off, he could faintly see a figure moving.

Tan Xueci held his breath, terrified of being discovered. He felt he really should capture He Xunye; otherwise, was he going to keep messing around with this male ghost forever?

Whether to capture He Xunye or not depended on whether he wanted to be a cowardly Xu Xian (from Legend of the White Snake) or treat He Xunye as his Nie Xiaoqian (from A Chinese Ghost Story).

Tan Xueci didn’t know. He had been struggling just to survive since he was born; love was a very distant concept.

The only light in the courtyard came from He Xunye’s side, appearing to be candlelight. Tan Xueci pushed the door open tentatively, his heart thumping. He was afraid he might see a naked man the moment he opened the door.

He felt He Xunye was capable of such a thing.

Maybe I should call the ‘Anti-Vice’ squad to arrest him?

Before he could think further, the door creaked open. There was no naked man.

He Xunye was quite decent; he wore a thin sweater, and the black Buddhist beads on his wrist contrasted sharply with his deathly pale skin. He seemed to be looking down at something near the candle, then he picked up a glass cover and gently placed it over the flame.

“Hubby,” Tan Xueci walked over slowly, stalling for time. “What are you doing?”

He Xunye didn’t have a particularly “righteous” look; perhaps his features were too deep and his lips too red, giving him a gloomy, ghostly air. But the beads on his wrist seemed to suggest something different.

On the malevolent spirit, they lent an aura of Buddhist serenity, making him look like a monk practicing under a lonely lamp.

“Has Little Sheep never heard the saying?” the ghost smiled and told him. “‘Treading softly to avoid harming an ant; cherishing the moth by shading the lamp.'”

Tan Xueci: “…”

Didn’t understand.

What is he babbling about?

Only then did Tan Xueci notice that in this cold weather, there was actually a tiny moth repeatedly bumping against the lamp cover. Close up, the moth looked fuzzy and round. He Xunye raised his hand to block it; it bumped into his palm, and the ghost pushed the window open to let it out. Then he smiled and said, “Come here.”

Tan Xueci’s scalp tightened instantly. In the dim candlelight, the ghost approached him step by step. He swallowed repeatedly and squeezed his way onto the edge of the heated brick bed (kang).

The ghost reached out and caressed his cheek, tucking a few long strands of black hair behind his ear. Seeing the other staring at his lips, Tan Xueci mistook it for a signal to kiss.

Fine, a kiss is a kiss.

The sooner we finish, the sooner I can go back to sleep.

Tan Xueci reached out, looped his arms around He Xunye’s neck, and kissed him with the desperation of a moth flying into a flame.

The ghost paused. This wasn’t what he’d intended, but he was more than happy to accept Tan Xueci’s initiative, as it was usually he who took the lead.

At first, Tan Xueci just pressed their lips together a few times, making a wet smacking sound when they parted.

But He Xunye’s large hands were clamped on his waist, with no intention of letting go. He knew this “dead ghost” liked to “eat” his tongue. His lashes fluttered, and he parted his lips to actively lick He Xunye.

Then, the ghost’s tongue drove deep into his mouth. His saliva was shamelessly claimed, and the kiss left him parched, forcing him to keep swallowing the ghost’s cold “saliva.”

Tan Xueci felt a bit disgusted and wondered if he’d get sick from consuming such things.

He Xunye was still pinching his cheeks, forcing him to stick his tongue out for the kiss. Tan Xueci resisted, his face turning away. His eyes grew red, and he started to sob.

He felt like a little dog.

However, the ghost’s dark, cold eyes looked down. He rubbed Tan Xueci’s snowy cheeks until they were flushed red, refusing to let go.

He didn’t care about himself; Tan Xueci could do whatever he wanted with him. Even if Tan Xueci killed him a thousand times, he wouldn’t be angry. If Tan Xueci wanted, he could even bear a thousand children for him—even a spirit would suffer, but it wouldn’t matter.

But what he wanted, Tan Xueci had to give him. There was no room for negotiation. Tonight, he simply wanted Tan Xueci to willingly stick his tongue out for him.

Tan Xueci couldn’t win against the ghost. He could only close his eyes, his small face flushed as he stuck his tongue out just a little. The ghost’s icy tongue immediately met his.

He was forced into a mutual licking. Whether it was a man’s tongue or a ghost’s, it made him feel a bit sick.

Tan Xueci didn’t even know if he was gay. He liked to cling to He Sui, but that was initially because he wanted to “eat” He Sui.

Living as a human was so painful; he felt it would be better to be a ghost. But to be a ghost, you had to die first. He was afraid of pain and didn’t know how to kill himself. Then he thought about how ghosts eat people. If he ate someone, maybe he’d become a ghost. So, he’d secretly taken a small lamp out to look for a target and found He Sui in the bushes.

Unfortunately, He Sui said he had been brought by A-Yan. If he ate He Sui, A-Yan would find out, so Tan Xueci had to give up.

Later, he wanted to marry He Sui because every time He Sui came over, he would be allowed out to play. He Sui represented freedom.

For freedom, he was willing to give himself to He Sui or even kneel and serve him like an ancestor. He really didn’t want to stay in that attic anymore. Yet He Sui never liked him.

But even back then, he’d only ever thought a man might “play” with him; he hadn’t expected a man to kiss him like this.

Tan Xueci secretly opened one eye to see just how long He Xunye’s tongue was. He unexpectedly met the ghost’s blood-red eyes and saw the tip of a crimson tongue that was slightly longer than a human’s.

He was so scared he slammed his eyes shut.

Okay, okay, it’s just a little bit longer. It’s not the kind that hangs down.

Tan Xueci was kissed into a daze. His thin fingers gripped the edge of the bed, his body uncontrollably leaning back.

He thought he heard the sound of someone walking and coughing outside. He wondered if Zhang Chengfa was still awake and smoking.

Tan Xueci’s face was beet red, and he felt inexplicably guilty. Zhang Chengfa didn’t see me sneak over here to find He Xunye, did he?

It felt like an affair.

He Xunye didn’t kiss him for long tonight—maybe ten minutes—before cupping his face and letting go.

The ghost’s lips looked even more lustrous than before. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he asked Tan Xueci impatiently, “Little Sheep, can we start now?”

Tan Xueci’s beautiful eyes were watery. He let out a confused “Ah?” Wasn’t it over?

“You don’t seem to understand what I mean,” the ghost said, his long fingers sliding into his wife’s still-parted, crimson lips. He poked deep into his throat a few times and laughed. “Do you understand now?”

Tan Xueci’s dark hair was stuck to his cheeks. He was still confused. The videos Lu Qi had shown him didn’t feature anything like this. He had only seen two men getting down to it in a way that looked disgusting. he stared at He Xunye in dismay until his throat felt a bit swollen from being poked. Suddenly, it clicked.

What…

What?!

Is he talking about THAT?

Tan Xueci’s mind went blank. He saw the ghost smiling as he withdrew his finger, which was dripping with saliva. He jumped off the bed and tried to run, but he was grabbed by the waist and pulled back, pinned against the bedding.

“How can you not even know this?” The ghost’s red lips curled. He leaned down, licking Tan Xueci’s wet, red lips. “How pitiful. Didn’t he teach you?”

Tan Xueci’s eyes were red. He wanted to run but couldn’t. He Xunye’s arms braced beside him. Under the ghost, he felt exceptionally weak and powerless. All he felt was fear.

“Then what did you do with him?” the ghost pinched his neck, his face almost touching his nose. “Hmm?”

“I… I don’t know…” Tan Xueci’s lashes trembled, and his voice took on a sob. He didn’t understand what He Xunye was saying; he just wanted a chance to escape.

Why do I have to do this for a man? He’s not even a man, just a ghost.

“Alright, don’t cry,” the ghost said, seeing his wife crying in a heap. He grabbed his shoulders and turned him over. “I won’t ask anymore. If he didn’t teach you, I will. Okay?”

Tan Xueci looked at He Xunye blankly with his tear-reddened eyes. The ghost then pulled him up by his hands to stand on the floor.

His legs were weak. He could only stand with help. Then, he saw the ghost kneel before him without hesitation, the black leather shoes creasing as they hit the floor.

Tan Xueci was startled and stepped back in confusion. It wasn’t the feudal era; he’d only seen his mother kneel to gods and Buddhas. He wasn’t a Bodhisattva.

Before he could dodge, the icy breath suddenly approached. Tan Xueci let out a short, muffled cry of alarm and tried to grab onto something for support. He only managed to clutch the ghost’s hair, which was taken as encouragement.

Click.

Tan Xueci stumbled and accidentally knocked over the candlestick. Shaken, he tried to catch it, but the thick night surged in like black water, swallowing the flickering flame. The candle flame resisted for a moment before being consumed by the pitch-black darkness.

The person in the courtyard was still coughing. Though it had nothing to do with them, Tan Xueci felt a guilty pang, as if the coughing were a reminder of their “dissolute” behavior.

He pushed hard against He Xunye, but the ghost wouldn’t let go. Tan Xueci wanted to slap him, but he felt that doing so in this situation would be too “scummy.” In the end, he couldn’t make a sound, leaving only suppressed breathing.

The nearby candle hadn’t completely gone out; it seemed to be stretched by the darkness, flickering a few more times. Sparks flew, and finally, it died.

The ghost’s lips were now completely red—a gloomy, ghostly red—but he was smiling. He rose and cupped Tan Xueci’s cheeks to share something “good.”

He lowered his long lashes and asked, as if casually: “Did Baby feed him this as well?”

Tan Xueci clutched his throat, unable to speak, wanting to vomit. Aside from He Xunye, surely no one else was this disgusting.

Taking his silence as a “yes,” the ghost smiled and said softly: “Then I’ll go cut his tongue out. You said I couldn’t kill him, but you didn’t say I couldn’t cut his tongue out.”

“W… What if I had done that for him?” Tan Xueci’s scalp crawled. He suspected He Xunye would cut He Sui’s flesh into strips and feed them to rats, yet he couldn’t help but ask.

“Then I’d just have to cut something else off,” the ghost said flatly, his expression momentary freezing.

He didn’t understand why there was such a shameless person hiding in his wife’s body.

Though he wasn’t in the right based on who came first, a ghost doesn’t care about logic. To him, He Sui had occupied his wife for three months. No matter what had happened, the man deserved a thousand cuts. Of course, he wouldn’t let He Sui die so easily.

The He family couldn’t control their child. If Tan Xueci hadn’t stopped him, he would have dragged He Sui in front of He Wuling and He Sui’s parents and flayed him alive.

Tan Xueci’s heart raced. He didn’t know how to handle a ghost’s jealousy. But due to the extremely traditional upbringing of Tan Chongchuan and Gao Ying, he actually had a bit of a “macho” mindset.

Since He Xunye had done that for him, he felt He Xunye was like his “wife.” He could scold a ghost and slap a ghost, but he couldn’t hit his “wife.”

Unaware of his thoughts, the ghost took him into his arms and very gently and meticulously helped him pull up his pants. He suddenly asked, “Little Sheep, have you learned?”

Tan Xueci felt as if the skin on his neck were being pinched. Fearing that if he said he’d learned, he’d have to return the favor, he quickly said with teary, pitiful eyes: “N… Not yet.”

The ghost seemed satisfied enough for tonight and didn’t press him. He said, “Then hubby will teach you once more tomorrow night.”

Don’t ‘reward’ yourself again.

Tan Xueci mumbled, neither agreeing nor refusing. He wondered if He Xunye was “sucking his yang energy” like this.

He was being clung to by He Xunye. The ghost didn’t want him to leave. Sensing that Tan Xueci had softened toward him, he pleaded: “Little Sheep, I’m scared. Stay and sleep with me tonight.”

So annoying.

What is a ghost afraid of?

Tan Xueci wanted to hit him, but then he remembered his rule about not hitting his “wife.” Still, he couldn’t help but ask, “What are you afraid of?”

“The dark,” He Xunye’s deep, dark eyes looked at him. He leaned on Tan Xueci’s thin shoulder and said softly, “I’m especially afraid of the dark. When Little Sheep isn’t around, I cry myself to sleep.

“Doesn’t Little Sheep know how to write my name? Xun means ‘fear.’ I’m afraid of darkness, so that’s why I was given this name.”

A ghost afraid of the dark sounded absurd, yet strangely logical. Tan Xueci was half-convinced.

He pushed He Xunye away, wanting to get back to sleep quickly for fear of being caught sneaking out. But before he reached the door, he heard a blood-curdling scream. It sounded like Chen Qing in the courtyard.

Tan Xueci pushed the door open. The other crew members seemed to have heard it too, as they rushed out in their cotton-padded jackets, bleary-eyed. “What happened? What happened?”

Chen Qing was deathly pale. He hadn’t even had time to put on his jacket and stood shivering in the courtyard in his pajama bottoms, pointing at the room he shared with Zhang Chengfa. “Some… someone…”

The other guests saw Tan Xueci coming out of He Xunye’s room and smiled teasingly. Tan Xueci’s face burned, but the ghost was thick-skinned. He walked over and took Tan Xueci’s hand.

He Xunye stood diagonally behind him. With Tan Xueci in front, the act of holding hands looked like a protective gesture. Tan Xueci felt himself growing “taller” and even had the courage to ask Chen Qing, “Who is in there?”

“I… I just fell asleep,” Chen Qing was clearly shaken. “I heard someone eating. At first, I thought it was Boss Zhang, but I called him several times and he didn’t answer…”

Chen Qing was nearly in tears. “Then I reached out to my side, and Boss Zhang was sleeping right next to me. He hadn’t gotten up at all.”

He had always liked paranormal things and had even explored cemeteries with paranormal streamers, but nothing was as intense as suddenly hearing someone eating right above your head in the middle of the night.

It was a rustling sound. He remembered the shrine was less than a meter above him and Zhang Chengfa. A bowl of rice had been placed in front of the shrine. He inexplicably felt that the person had buried their whole face in the rice bowl, swallowing it in large gulps.

He was relatively brave, so he’d opened his eyes to peek. He’d seen a blurry black shadow, hunched over the bowl and eating. His experience with paranormal streamers told him this was not right.

He hadn’t even bothered with Zhang Chengfa; he’d just bolted from the room with his eyes squeezed shut.

“What’s going on?” It was too noisy outside. Zhang Chengfa seemed to have woken up too. He rubbed his eyes as he came out. Seeing everyone outside staring at his room, he felt an eerie chill. He managed a smile and asked, “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“Maybe you just saw things,” the director comforted the guests. “Maybe it was a big rat or something. Mr. Chen is nearsighted, after all. Tell you what, I’ll have the cameraman pull up the night footage.”

The crew filmed night scenes, so there were two fixed cameras in the courtyard.

The footage was soon found. Rewinding it by over an hour, they saw no one enter Chen Qing’s room. It was around 11 PM, and they hadn’t been asleep yet; they definitely would have noticed someone entering.

“Mr. Chen,” the director patted Chen Qing’s shoulder. “See? Everything’s fine.”

Chen Qing still felt something was wrong. He was wrapped in a thick military coat but was still shivering. “A little further back.”

The cameraman rewound the footage a bit more to when the guests had returned to their rooms. Chen Qing had gone in first. Zhang Chengfa had smoked a cigarette outside before entering. But right after Zhang Chengfa turned off the lights, a dark shadow appeared. It was blurry and looked like a hunched-over old man. He moved slowly, following right behind Zhang Chengfa into the room.

The night was too dark after the lights went out; they could only barely make out the shape. They couldn’t tell who it was.

“Holy shit?!” Zhang Chengfa’s scalp crawled. He hadn’t realized someone was right behind him.

The other guests also felt a chill down their spines.

He Xunye moved closer to Tan Xueci. He embraced him from behind. Seeing Tan Xueci turn around, He Xunye lowered his eyes and said, “I’m scared.”

Tan Xueci was about to ask what a ghost could possibly be afraid of, but He Xunye leaned against his shoulder and whispered, “He seems very powerful. I didn’t even feel him coming.”

Tan Xueci paused. It seems… it seems so. And who said a ghost couldn’t be afraid of another ghost? Ghosts and humans weren’t that different; they had different statuses and classes.

Humans could turn other humans into “meat lingzhi” to eat, so why not ghosts? A powerful malevolent spirit could devour a lesser ghost for no reason. He had always assumed He Xunye was powerful, but perhaps there were ghosts even more formidable than him.

Tan Xueci didn’t say anything else, letting He Xunye hold his waist and bury his face against his back.

Chen Qing looked miserable. Despite all their shouting outside, Auntie Zhang’s family hadn’t woken up.

It was quite strange. Auntie Zhang’s family went to bed punctually at 10 PM every night. The family of four slept in the room across from the main hall. Sometimes the guests returned late or had things to do at night, but they’d never seen the family come out. There wasn’t even any sound. Xiao Cai and Xiao Shuan never made a peep.

“Let’s go back to sleep for now,” the director said, feeling a bit spooked himself. But having filmed this show for seven years and visited many eerie villages, he had some confidence. He comforted the guests: “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Maybe it’s just one of those things that would take three episodes of Approaching Science to explain. I’ll go ask Secretary Bo tomorrow.”

Bo Shuizhang was the village’s deputy secretary. He lived at the village committee office, about a fifteen-minute walk away.

Chen Qing and Zhang Chengfa didn’t dare go back to their room. The thing in the video had entered and never come out. Finally, the guests reached an agreement: Tan Xueci would sleep with He Xunye, and the other two would squeeze in with Lu Qi.

Tan Xueci initially didn’t want to go, but he was afraid He Xunye might be “eaten” by a ghost. He had thought the “extra guest” He Xunye had devoured was the one eating rice in their room, but apparently not. That meant the other one was indeed very strong.

He could accept He Xunye being captured and locked away until Leifeng Pagoda fell and the West Lake dried up, but He Xunye was always so impeccably dressed—so prim and proper it was almost pretentious. He couldn’t imagine He Xunye being eaten by some wild mountain ghost.

He didn’t know what kind of end He Xunye would have, but it shouldn’t be like that. It sounded too pathetic.

Tan Xueci was afraid Zhang Chengfa and the others might accidentally touch his backpack and find the spirit tablet inside. He went to get his bag first and then went to find He Xunye.

He Xunye had already laid out the bedding for him. The two sets of bedding were placed intimately close together. Tan Xueci sneakily moved his a bit further away, lying down about a meter from He Xunye.

He closed his eyes, but after a few minutes, he still couldn’t sleep. Suddenly, he heard the ghost sigh softly.

Hearing a ghost sigh in the middle of the night made Tan Xueci’s scalp crawl. He opened his eyes and found He Xunye staring at him. He whispered, “What… what are you doing not sleeping?”

“That ghost is very powerful,” He Xunye’s lashes lowered. “I’m afraid he’ll come and eat me in the middle of the night. Then I’ll never see Xiao Xue again. So, I want to look at you a few more times.”

He spoke as if they were facing a final parting.

Tan Xueci’s tiny bit of remaining conscience began to ache. It did sound quite pitiful. He wiggled his bottom and scooted back to press against He Xunye. “How about now?”

In the pitch-black night of the mountain village, a hunched-over figure approached their door. But before he could open it, a pale, bony ghost-hand reached out silently from behind.

The hand had no nails and carried a bloody aura of death. It reached out and plucked the figure’s head off, placing it in its mouth with a smile.

Tan Xueci didn’t hear a thing, but he felt something was wrong outside the door. He propped himself up to look.

“Don’t look, Xiao Xue,” the ghost pulled him back under the covers. Before Tan Xueci could struggle, he cupped his face. His dark phoenix eyes looked eerie and terrifying in the night, but his tone was like he was acting spoiled as he told his wife, “I’m scared.”

Tan Xueci felt it was indeed quite scary. If even He Xunye was afraid, it must be a terrifying ghost.

He tucked his head in and didn’t dare look anymore. He squeezed close to the ghost’s cold body, his eyes wide. “How about now?”

“Still a little scared,” He Xunye said.

Tan Xueci had no choice but to reach out and embrace He Xunye, patting his back. “Is this better?”

His eyes were bright, like a pair of moons that could drive away the night. The ghost got his wish, leaning against his wife’s warm, soft chest. He curled his lips and said, “Much better. Thank you, Xiao Xue.”

It was rare for Tan Xueci to be thanked. His face reddened, and he said earnestly, “You… you’re welcome.”

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