Baili Wuchang was on his last straw. He threw Wen Nuan’s shirt over his head.
“Wu…I can’t see.” Wen Nuan reached his little hands up and tugged the shirt down.
Baili Wuchang was expressionless. He said, “You can stay here today, but leave tomorrow at once. Wherever you came from, go back.”
After saying this, he walked away, his long legged strides equating three or four of Wen Nuan’s stride length.
No matter how Wen Nuan called him, he didn’t stop. Without putting his clothes on properly, he hopped off the sofa after him. “Wait, wait—just wait a minute…”
“Ka-chak—”
Baili Wuchang opened the door quite quickly to see Bai Wuchang, who hadn’t had the time to flee, standing caught red handed.
“Hi…boss…”
Bai Wuchang laughed sheepishly and stiffly looked up.
Baili Wuchang’s cold gaze swept over Heibai Wuchang. “What are you two doing?”
What were we doing? Obviously spying! And we even saw a mind-blowing scene…
But of course, Bai Wuchang kept his mouth shut in front of his boss, hemming and hawing until his face turned red.
“Boss, I’ll explain,” said Hei Wuchang calmly. “As we were standing in this place, we wanted to ask you about our future directions regarding our work.”
“Yes, yes, yes! It was work!” Bai Wuchang nodded his head as if pounding garlic. As soon as he’d found an excuse to latch onto, his mouth loosened.
Wen Nuan walked out of the room to hear Heibai Wuchang, slandering them internally. Why does it seem like regardless of this Heibai Wuchang or the Heibai Wuchang eighteen years later, there’s always one that’s completely unreliable?
Baili Wuchang’s tone was unperturbed. “Speak.”
Bai Wuchang’s gaze was erratic as it jumped between Wen Nuan and Baili Wuchang. He was obviously curious to death, but he couldn’t say anything.
Bai Wuchang said, “So it’s like this, boss. We received news earlier about a nearby school where a female student jumped off a building and died. But when the ghost envoys went to collect the soul, they couldn’t find the student’s, and the air was thick with resentment.”
Baili Wuchang raised an eyebrow as if he was annoyed.
Hei Wuchang added, “It seems that the female student’s soul escaped after death. Rather than report to Hell to reincarnate, it may have had unfulfilled desires, remaining in the world of the living.”
Bai Wuchang nodded wholeheartedly. “Right, it was because of unfulfilled desires. It’s really probable that she went to take revenge on her killer or something, or else the resentment leftover wouldn’t be so dense.”
This kind of thing wasn’t uncommon. Many new ghosts would be left with unfulfilled desires and be unwilling to reincarnate, using any means possible to stay in the living world. These kinds of jobs would mostly be taken care of by ghost envoys. Seldom would they ever be big enough to reach Baili Wuchang’s ears.
But this time was different.
Hei Wuchang said, “These past two days, people at that school have seen a shadowy figure, no matter if it’s day or night.”
“Hm?” Baili Wuchang rarely reacted. He let out a soft hum.
Standing at the side, Wen Nuan heard this, giving him the shivers down his neck.
He’d been eavesdropping up till now, finally letting out a noise of surprise. “No matter if it’s day or night? And many people saw it? That’s too weird.”
Bai Wuchang turned to him at his interruption. “Hey faker pretending to be our boss’s son, why are you talking big? What do you know?”
“I know a lot.” Wen Nuan patted his own little chest. I’ve been through thick and thin working at the Hell Chain Hotel for this long. I’m almost a full-time employee. After coming across ghosts here and there, I’m sure to know just a little.
Wen Nuan said confidently, “Normal ghosts only come out at night, because there’s a lot of people during the day. When it’s daytime, yang energy is high, so they can’t stand it and wait until it’s dark. So when you said it comes out no matter if it’s day or night, that is a little weird.”
That was the first bit, and then there was a bit more.
Even though ghosts mostly came out at night, if normal people didn’t have all-seeing eyes, they wouldn’t be able to see ghosts at all. It was only at special locations or on rare occasions that would trigger all-seeing eyes, and it would only last for a short amount of time.
For example, the guests of the Hell Chain Hotel had all-seeing eyes after midnight, but only if that condition was met.
Aside from Hell Chain Hotel, at places where resentment was heavy, or if yin energy was especially intense, could all-seeing eyes be activated for a bit.
Wen Nuan continued sagely, “Even opening the all-seeing eyes for a little bit is a very rare instance. When you said earlier that many people could randomly see that shadow, it was really worth thinking over. Unless…”
Wen Nuan raised his head to size up Baili Wuchang up and down.
Baili Wuchang squinted at him. “Unless what?”
Wen Nuan smiled. “Unless that shadow is like you. If it has high spiritual power, it could do whatever it wants, coming out regardless of if it’s night or day. If it wants people to see it or not, it would be in charge of that.”
Baili Wuchang’s furrowed brow became even more furrowed. Wen Nuan was right; every single word out of his mouth had reason.
It was just a ghost haunting a school, but unexpectedly, it became unordinary. Things escalated, and word reached Baili Wuchang’s ears.
Hei Wuchang said, “This situation has no other leads. The higher ups want us to quickly resolve it.”
“Understood,” calmly replied Baili Wuchang. “I’ll go to the school tomorrow to see.”
Bai Wuchang immediately launched into loyal-dog mode, holding his hands out. “Boss, boss; here are the school’s files. Here you go!”
Baili Wuchang glanced at him and nodded. “I still have other things to attend to. I’ll be leaving first.”
After speaking, Baili Wuchang left without a trace.
“Ah!” Wen Nuan gasped. “Wait! I still have things to say!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Baili Wuchang had walked far away, unable to hear Wen Nuan at all.
On the side, Bai Wuchang sighed, “Sigh—good thing the boss left. I almost thought I was going to die.”
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Lfl Qemtjcu rjlv, “Zbra ilxfis.”
Djl Qemtjcu mbcalcefv, “Ktf ybrr tjr remt j mbcmfcagjafv foobga. Lf’r jigfjvs yffc ibbxlcu obg rb wjcs sfjgr. Vfflcu atja jaalaevf, lo tf mjc’a olcv la, tf kbc’a rabq ecali tf vgbqr vfjv.”
Find the birthmark…
Wen Nuan looked at Bai Wuchang. Was he talking about the mark on his own back?
Bai Wuchang crossed his arms and wrinkled his face. “What’re you looking at, little imp?”
Wen Nuan: “…” Bai Wuchang’s so unfriendly to me.
Bai Wuchang cleared his throat and suddenly changed his attitude. “Little imp, when you were in the room with our boss, what were you up to? Let’s hear it.”
Wen Nuan couldn’t help but laugh, “If you beg, maybe I’ll consider telling you.”
Bai Wuchang: “…”
The tables certainly had turned. Bai Wuchang stared in disbelief. His words had been taken and used against him by Wen Nuan.
Seeing Bai Wuchang suffer from humiliation, Hei Wuchang couldn’t help but smile and shake his head.
Bai Wuchang hopped in place. “Xiao Hei! Don’t you dare laugh! Just whose side are you on! How evil. Little imp! I’m gonna teach you a lesson!”
Bai Wuchang waved the files in his hand and stomped about angrily, truly riled up by Wen Nuan.
Wen Nuan ducked once or twice, avoiding Bai Wuchang’s swings.
The files Bai Wuchang was holding flew out, landing near Wen Nuan’s shoes.
Wen Nuan glanced down. “Yi? This school…”
Bai Wuchang just said there had been a female student who died at a certain school.
These were events that had taken place a few days ago and were abuzz in the news. The female student’s grades at school were below average, her personality was reserved, and she had suddenly jumped off the tallest building in the school in what seemed like a suicide.
After this happened, reporters flocked to the school, picking apart the school’s teachers and authorities.
According to the school’s response, the female student’s academic performance was declining, and she would cut class every few days with a group of delinquents. Every few days, the teachers would try to dissuade her, but to no avail, leading to such consequences that they couldn’t do anything about.
The reporters stuck around for a few days before the heat of the news died down. These past two days or so, there hadn’t been any other problems, so the school returned to normal.
Coincidentally, this school in question was the very boarding school Wen Nuan’s aunt worked at—the place Wen Nuan used to live.
Wen Nuan picked up the file, a lightbulb going off in his head. He piped up enthusiastically, “This is where I live! Are you going there, too? I can take you there.”
Bai Wuchang snatched the file away. “This is classified information; you can’t look at it. Anyways, we know the way there, so we don’t need you to take us.”
Wen Nuan was undaunted by his repeated setbacks. He continued energetically, “You definitely need me. If you’re going to the school to investigate the shadowy figure, you need to look at the bigger picture. You’re all strangers. If you go, nobody’s going to tell you the whole story. Since I’ve always lived at school, I know a lot of people. If you take me to help ask around, you’ll absolutely find what you need. It’s so convenient!”
Wen Nuan kept talking nonstop to really try and make it seem true to life, as if he knew a lot of people at school.
No, no—that he really did know people at school.
Wen Nuan thought of Song Xing, who was a student there.
Bai Wuchang was actually a little swayed by his words. Truly, if he went to the school now, Bai Wuchang wouldn’t know where to start.
Wen Nuan continued to sway, “Think about it. It’s like you’re searching through carpet. That’s way too tiring! If that shadow senses any of your activity, it’ll run away. I can scout out news for you, find the location of the shadow, and then you guys can come out to catch it off guard. We’ll be able to find the shadow’s tracks within a day, yeah? We’ll finish the mission within a day.”
Bai Wuchang’s face displayed an obvious look of conviction. He muttered, “Seems reasonable. After this mission’s complete, Xiao Hei and I can retire. The faster we finish this mission, the faster we can take our vacation.”
Wen Nuan blinked, suddenly coming to an understanding. No wonder why the Heibai Wuchang of now was different than eighteen years in the future. Heibai Wuchang was two job titles, not two fixed ghost envoys.
In other words, after this pair of Heibai Wuchang left, the Heibai Wuchang that Wen Nuan recognized would be next, right?
Bai Wuchang clapped. “Fine. I see this little imp has some utility. Then you can stay here. Tomorrow, we’ll go to the school. If you help us find that ghost acting up, I’ll give you a reward.”
Wen Nuan nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes; with me, there’ll be no problem.”
Wen Nuan didn’t want that reward. As long as he knew Baili Wuchang would go to the school tomorrow, he would be able to see Baili Wuchang.
“Uh…” That being said, Wen Nuan couldn’t help ridiculing himself. How could he have acted like a lunatic just now? He must have been mistaken.
After running around the whole day, Wen Nuan was tired. His body was exhausted. As soon as he laid down on the hotel’s big bed, he dazedly fell straight asleep.
He sincerely hoped that after he woke up, he would open his eyes to be back in eighteen years in the future.
Darkness gradually faded, and daylight spilled behind Wen Nuan’s eyelids…
When Wen Nuan awoke, he didn’t immediately open his eyes. He was a bit excited and expectant as he hoped to wake up in the present.
“Little imp! Hurry and wake up—the sun’s rising on your butt!”
Wen Nuan’s hopes were dashed as he heard the scorchingly urgent voice of Bai Wuchang.
Bai Wuchang nimbly hopped onto Wen Nuan’s bed and ripped off his blanket. “Hurry up! Don’t laze about, we have to go to the school.”
Wen Nuan sat up, forehead propped against his hands as he looked around. “How come it’s only you two? Where’s Baili Wuchang?”
Hei Wuchang stood at the side. He replied, “Boss should already be at school.”
“Our boss appears and disappears as unpredictably as a ghost. He’s always been like that,” added Bai Wuchang.
Wen Nuan crawled off the bed. He couldn’t help cursing in his heart. Is it so hard to meet up with Baili Wuchang? How come I never thought so before?
Bai Wuchang was high spirited as he dragged Wen Nuan out of the hotel and all the way to the school entrance.
Right now, it was too early. The sun had only just risen, and the school was empty. Obviously, the first period class hadn’t even started yet. They only saw a few random students.
Even though the school didn’t permit outsiders to come and go as they pleased, Heibai Wuchang were ghost envoys with high spiritual power. If they wanted to jump a wall, they could easily do so.
Wen Nuan brought them into the school and raised his hand. He said, “Right in front of us is the school building. Come with me.”
Heibai Wuchang followed him, and as they turned…
Bai Wuchang’s eyebrows knit together as he said, “You call this a school building?”
“Um…” Wen Nuan wiped away his cold sweat.
After they turned, in front of them was a large clearing. There wasn’t a building at all, but an empty stadium. It was virtually desolated, save for a few early morning joggers.
Wen Nuan laughed dryly. “I was joking. Your funny bones must be built different.”
Wen Nuan did live here eighteen years ago, but that was when he was three or four years old. Even though he was three or four right now, he was already twenty-two internally!
He thought, Oh no, oh no; I already completely forgot the school’s layout. I boasted too big yesterday.
“My meaning is,” Wen Nuan said, staying true to his word as he pointed at the stadium, “Behind the stadium, that structure is the school building.”
The school was a bit bigger than Wen Nuan remembered. He was caught unprepared for a bit, not actually aware of where the school building was. But seeing some buildings near the stadium, he knew they weren’t dormitories, so he was probably eighty or ninety percent accurate, right?
“I can’t be wrong,” Wen Nuan whispered to himself.
Bai Wuchang didn’t doubt him. He thought Wen Nuan was making fun of him again. “They hurry up and take us there.”
Wen Nuan nodded, apprehension in his heart as he walked in that direction. The school building has to be in that direction, or else Bai Wuchang might explode.
“Ah, Xiao Hei, look!”
As they reached the stadium, Bai Wuchang suddenly shouted, causing Wen Nuan to jump.
Wen Nuan and Hei Wuchang turned towards where he was pointing…
“There seems to be a shadow over there?” said Wen Nuan hesitantly. “Like a black plastic bag?”
“Plastic bag?!” Bai Wuchang was more shocked than Wen Nuan.
Hei Wuchang frowned and took action. “I’ll go look.”
Bai Wuchang yelled, “I’m going too! Little imp, you stay right here! Don’t move!”
Wen Nuan didn’t have time to reply before the two took off, chasing after the “black plastic bag” flying in the wind.
Wen Nuan blinked. “Is that the ghost they’re looking for?”
Wen Nuan couldn’t catch up to them, and he didn’t know where they went, so he stood where he was and looked around, trying to remember where the school building was.
He looked all over until he saw a tall and small figure near the stadium. It was his aunt and gege.
The stadium had a small beverage stand. Wen Nuan knew that on hot days, before his aunt went to teach, she would bring his gege to the stand and buy him not just a beverage, but also ice cream.
Wen Nuan used to be envious, filled with expectation, but he never got any.
Seeing his aunt and gege walk over there, Wen Nuan was filled with an immature idea.
He might as well play the part of a little devil. Sneaking over, he saw a little boy walk out of the stand holding a big pink ice cream cone and a bottle of soda. He ate and drank, immensely satisfied.
His aunt smiled and said, “Be careful, it’s cold. Don’t drink too fast. Ai, who knows where that damned brat Wen Nuan ran off to.”
The little boy took a bite of his ice cream and said incoherently, “Mom, I think it’s great if Wen Nuan doesn’t come back.”
“That’s right,” agreed Wen Nuan’s aunt. “He better never come back and cause us no more trouble!”
Wen Nuan overheard them. He knew his aunt’s family disdained him. Before, he was very hurt, feeling like he was unable to do anything right. But now was different…
Wen Nuan wasn’t three or four anymore. He could take care of himself, and he could do what he wanted to.
Wen Nuan let out a “hehe”, continuing to sneak over. He jumped up on a large tree, climbing vigorously.
Underneath the tree was his aunt and gege. They didn’t notice Wen Nuan at all, nor did they notice the caterpillar Wen Nuan had prepared in his hands.
Wen Nuan climbed atop the tree, and waited for the right moment, he dropped the caterpillar down.
“Ah! Mom!”
“A bug!”
The caterpillar accurately landed on the ice cream cone and wriggled around. It spooked the boy until his face went white.
The boy screamed in fright, dropping his ice cream on the floor. His other hand holding the soda bottle wasn’t closed properly, so he dropped that in his shock as well.
When the boy yelled, Wen Nuan’s aunt yelled as well.
His aunt wasn’t scared of bugs, but it was because the sticky contents of the soda bottle got all over her.
“You damned brat, what are you doing?!”
“Look what you’ve done—I need to go teach, too.”
“Don’t even think about eating ice cream again.”
Wen Nuan covered his nose and mouth as he squatted in the tree. He was amused by the flying chickens and jumping dogs below. He had experienced no shortage of being bullied when he was little, so taking the opportunity, he wanted to prepare his retaliation.
The boy was berated by Wen Nuan’s aunt. With an assault of words pelting down on him, he was taken back home to change.
Wen Nuan watched them leave before he climbed down. He wasn’t going to confront them directly. Right now, his body was weak. He was just a kid without much power.
“This is what you call outsmarts.” Wen Nuan nodded in satisfaction, placing his little arms on his waist. He rubbed his nose, quite proud of himself.
Wen Nuan waited for a moment before walking away to find Heibai Wuchang. But no matter left or right, he couldn’t find them.
At some point, in front of him were some people walking in Wen Nuan’s direction.
Wen Nuan’s eyes sparkled. He waved his hand, thinking it was Heibai Wuchang who had returned.
“But…” Wen Nuan was unsure. “Why does it seem like multiple people? Three people? Could Baili Wuchang be with them?”
The three people came closer. They were clearer, and it wasn’t Heibai Wuchang, nor was it Baili Wuchang.
It was three boys wearing uniforms. Wen Nuan thought they looked familiar. Weren’t they the same delinquent boys who had surrounded Song Xing yesterday?
There hadn’t been many boys yesterday, and they were all bizarrely dressed. Now those three were wearing uniforms, but they were still incapable of masking their rebellious aura.
The three boys came up to Wen Nuan and surrounded him, all of them looking down at him.
“That’s him.” One of them reached out, wanting to poke Wen Nuan in the head.
Wen Nuan bent to dodge, eyeing them warily.
“Oh, he’s got guts. You brat!” Another widened his eyes and tried to scare Wen Nuan.
Wen Nuan was unperturbed. You guys are the brats. You have no idea who’s younger here.
The three boys surrounded him and started talking at once.
“You butted in yesterday, didn’t you?”
“You called the police on us.”
“How do you know Song Xing? Why don’t you mind your own business?”
“Do you want us to teach you a lesson?”
The three boys didn’t let Wen Nuan leave. Like a bunch of demons, they lifted their fists in preparation to hit him.
Wen Nuan avoided them and said calmly, “I am your homeroom teacher’s child. If you dare to hit me, think about the consequences.”
“Hey, who are you trying to scare?” The three boys laughed. “Don’t think we don’t know, you’re just a wild child temporarily living in our homeroom teacher’s house. You’re deadweight!”
“That’s right, if we beat you up, who cares? We’ll insist that you made it up. You’re just a three-year-old. Why would anyone trust you?”
“Hit him! See if any police will come to save him today!”
A boy gritted his teeth and raised his fist at Wen Nuan. He was startled and immediately crouched down to avoid it.
“Ho—”
The heavy gasp didn’t come from Wen Nuan, but from the student trying to beat him up.
The boy cried out in pain, shouting, “Ow! Ow! Let go! Let go of me.”
Wen Nuan had squatted down with his head covered by his arms. He opened his eyes and peeked up. Someone tall was beside him, much longer than Wen Nuan, who was on the ground. Because of the angle, the person looked like an insurmountable peak.
Indeed, Baili Wuchang’s appearance was just like an insurmountable peak.
The person who came was indeed Baili Wuchang.
Baili Wuchang blocked the boy’s fist, and then with a twist, the boy’s arm made a terrifyingly crunching sound.
“Who are you?! Are you looking for a fight?” The other two were startled, not expecting that someone would suddenly appear to help Wen Nuan.
Baili Wuchang wore a suit and had long, black hair. He looked indescribably out of place.
Ignoring the question, Baili Wuchang said, “I never mentioned, but I hate this kind of bullying.”
Happy holidays everyone ☃ I will be updating probably just once a week until I’m done stockpiling lots and lots of chapters! A fun fact is that chapters 1-27 were literally all translated during the months of August/September LOL. Hope you’re all doing well, and thanks for reading as always :^)
Ah no wonder they’re different, I thought the author suddenly switched their personalities 😭
Also, delinquents nowadays have the guys to hit a three year old? That means I have all the guts to beat you!! 👹👹
I love this novel, thank you! And happy holidays!
Imagine gangin up on a three year old. They should be ashamed