When Heihei regained consciousness, he noticed a faint red mark on his hand, wrapping around his wrist like a red string.
The other end of the string was tied to the middle finger of the boy's left hand, a faint glow emanating from it, undulating restlessly like a small tail.
As a well-informed ghost, Heihei could immediately discern that the two had forged a bond through some unintended coincidence.
Since last night, he had become his ghost attendant. No, he was his own ghost attendant, that was more accurate. It was
just that other people bonded with their pinkies, so why was he only using his middle finger? That was uncivilized... Well, a bond between oneself and oneself would keep the benefits within the family.
Heihei carried the feverish, unconscious Qi Ye on his back. After getting out of the car, he walked with familiarity to the door of the shabby apartment deep in Maoer Alley. He fished a keychain from the third pocket of Qi Ye's jacket, picked out a key from the chain, and unlocked the rusty iron door.
His movements were seamless, a gesture Heihei knew all too well; this was the home where he grew up.
He wasn't worried about bumping into anyone when he entered the house. His uncle was definitely not here at the moment. His younger brother, who was three months younger than him, had gone back to his hometown for the winter break. The whole apartment was freezing cold and deserted. Heihei wasn't afraid of the cold, but the guy behind him was.
As a ghost, he was considerate enough to help the guy behind him take off his shoes, socks, jacket, and jeans. He then went to boil some water and used a hot towel to wipe Qi Ye's face,
who still had his makeup on. Even after decades, Heihei could still recognize his own white towel among a row of towels.
As he wiped his own face, Heihei thought to himself, how miserable he was back then. He ran all the way home without even removing the makeup from the haunted house. How scary it must have been on the way home. After removing the other person's makeup, Heihei felt even more sad. This kid looked even paler and scarier without makeup than with ghost makeup on. His face was hot, but his hands were cold. Unfortunately,
he was a ghost. He had no warmth in his body and couldn't warm the boy's cold hands and feet.
Qi Heihei washed the towels and hung them back in their original places, and turned on the air conditioners in the house. In the past, when they were poor, air conditioners were just decorations.
Now that he is back, he is reluctant to let "himself" suffer such grievances again. If he loses money, he can earn it again. There is no need to suffer from hunger and cold.
Heihei is not as he was in his heyday. He cannot be seen in broad daylight. Seeing that dawn is approaching, he hurried to the kitchen to wash rice and cook porridge, and prepare breakfast for this sick guy before daybreak.
He knows better than anyone how perfunctory he was in his childhood.
...
The pale blue light leaked into the room through the screen window. On this side, Qi Ye was worried about the electricity bill. In a hurry, he got up barefoot and turned off the air conditioner. The warm wind stopped abruptly, and he felt dizzy again.
Qi Ye went back to bed and lay down. He finally calmed down. He smelled the faint fragrance of rice and wondered who was making breakfast. It was nice.
But the silence didn't last a moment before he heard a gurgling sound coming from the kitchen. Qi Ye's eyes snapped open. Could it be his uncle coming home? It wasn't supposed to be this late... could it be Ning Xiao?
"Uncle...?"
"Xiao...?"
No one answered. Qi Ye sat up in bed again, wary. If no one was home, it could be... a ghost.
Before his feet even touched the ground, a pair of hands pushed him back onto the bed. "Why is the air conditioner off again?"
Heihei asked knowingly, flipping the air conditioner back on.
Qi Ye, assuming he was hallucinating, rubbed his eyes. Seeing the clown-masked figure still lingering before him, he replied matter-of-factly, "I can't pay the electricity bill."
Heihei replied, "I'll pay it for you."
Qi Ye naturally didn't believe this and instead asked, "Why did you follow me to my house?"
Heihei replied nonchalantly, "I'm not following you. We accidentally formed a pact last night, and now I'm your ghost servant."
"Pact?"
"Yes, if you don't believe me, look at my left middle finger."
The young man then looked at his hand. Sure enough, a red thread was wrapped around the pale fingertip. He raised his middle finger and shook it, the thread swaying with his movements.
"Just look, why are you giving me the finger?"
"…"
The expected cold reaction. Ever since transforming into a demon, Heihei had let loose. He was no longer the reserved youngster he once was. Now he spoke his mind, acted as he pleased, and followed his whim.
Especially in front of him, his unbridled demeanor was exponentially increased.
"I made some porridge. Have some and go back to sleep."
"Um, what's your name?"
Heihei thought for a moment. He couldn't just say he was Qi Ye. As he hesitated, the system message "New plot for character 'Qi Heihei' generated" flashed through his mind, and he blurted out,
"I share the same last name as you, Qi. Just call me Heihei."
With that, Heihei turned and drifted to the kitchen. He retrieved a porcelain bowl and ladle from the cupboard, washed them, and filled them with porridge. In a flash, he brought the piping hot porridge to Qi Ye's bedside.
"Drink some while it's hot. Fill your stomach and then rest."
"...Thank you." Qi Ye took the porridge hesitantly. Growing up, he hadn't had a good impression of ghosts. He was always teased or bullied by them, and he'd never received such attentive care from a ghost.
But no matter how attentive they were, this person was just a ghost they'd met by chance... Perhaps they were being so attentive because they wanted to break their ghost servant contract?
Heihei smiled. "Drink it, it's okay. I wouldn't be so bored as to poison you."
"..."
"But don't eat anything given to you by ghosts other than me."
"I understand."
He knew that, of course, even if they had formed a bond as the old villain claimed, he shouldn't have believed it. But for some reason, Qi Ye gritted his teeth and drank the bowl of porridge under the other's urging and expectant gaze. Just
for this strange ghost, he'd make an exception.
Heihei looked at his obedient yet reluctant appearance with a smile. Qi Ye met his gaze, feeling a little uneasy. "Is there any way to break the bond?" "
Why do you need to break it?"
"..." Formed a bond for no apparent reason, and then kept it, creating a bond?
"With me protecting you, ghosts won't dare to bother you."
Qi Ye hesitated for a moment, then spoke in a lingering manner, "But aren't you a ghost too?"
"..." That made perfect sense.
As the daylight grew, Heihei's power grew weaker. Things were different now. Those three years of earthbound spirits had left him severely weakened. He yawned in the morning light.
"There's still some porridge in the pot. If it's not enough, go get more. It's daybreak. I'll sleep for a while and I'll find you in the evening."
"...I'm going to work in the haunted house tonight."
"You're sick, how can you go?"
"It's okay. " "Don't bother,
just lie down and I'll make you something to eat in the evening."
"..."
"By the way, don't turn off the air conditioner. I'm afraid of the cold."
Ghosts are afraid of the cold? I'm afraid they believed your lies.
After explaining, Heihei turned over and lay on his bed. Qi Ye was stunned and pushed this ghost who was not at all shy with him. The other party seemed to be asleep and did not respond.
Qi Ye felt a little helpless and a little amused. How did this ghost know his address? Could it be that he had been following him for a long time? Qi Ye was lying on the pillow when he suddenly remembered that he hadn't removed his makeup. He touched it and it was surprisingly clean. It was obviously wiped off by someone. Could it be this old villain? He turned around to look at the sleeping Hei Hei, only to find that he had disappeared.
After years of living with ghosts, Qi Ye more or less understood that disappearance to the naked eye is not real disappearance.
So he suppressed his heartache and didn't turn off the air conditioner.
...
After the sun went down, Hei Hei finally woke up. He was lying in his bed, not knowing what day it was. He turned over as usual and slapped the boy with his hands. Hei Hei was stunned for a moment and then he remembered that he was no longer the same Qi Ye. He had been dead for many years.
Qi Ye didn't wake him up. His eyes were tightly closed, his long thick eyelashes trembled, and a sickly red flush appeared on his fair and clean face. Hei Hei touched his forehead and found that the fever had indeed worsened.
He fished Qi Ye's phone from his pocket, expertly unlocked it with the passcode, and ordered fever-reducing medication on the delivery app. On a whim, he checked the boy's bank account balance and found only 68 yuan. He smiled bitterly, the feeling of poverty and helplessness all too real.
Less than half an hour later, the medication arrived. The boy, obedient, had placed it on the hallway shoe cabinet according to the instructions. After the man had left, Heihei opened the door to retrieve it and then boiled some hot water for the boy to take.
"Qi Ye, wake up and take some medicine first."
Seeing the boy lying there, clean, fair, and tender, Heihei blurted out "Qi Ye."
Qi Ye was pulled to his feet, groggily awake only when the fever-reducing medication and warm water were brought to his lips. He opened his misty eyes, looked at Heihei, opened his mouth, and, with Heihei's hand, drank the water and swallowed the medication.
He tried to argue that he wanted to go back to work, but Heihei rubbed his head and pushed him back onto the bed, and he fell back into a heavy sleep.
After confirming Qi Ye was sound asleep, Heihei heated up the porridge in the pot and left the house to find his own food. While there weren't any powerful ghosts near Mao'er Alley, there were plenty of smaller ghosts. While the food was bland, it was enough to fill his stomach.
Having been severely bullied by wandering ghosts as a child, Heihei was now a sure-shooter. In less than half an hour, he'd captured twenty of them, rolling them into noodles and gulping them down in one gulp, finally feeling somewhat full.
Besides filling his stomach, Heihei's ghost hunting also yielded lucrative news. A wealthy businessman in East City had purchased a notoriously haunted house in the city. Several years prior, a murder and dismemberment had occurred there. The house was rumored to be deeply haunted, so the businessman bought it at a low price and was recruiting warriors with strong yang energy to exorcise the evil spirits. The reward was 200,000 yuan within three months.
In the real estate industry, there's a rule for delisting haunted houses. No matter how haunted a house is, if someone lives there for a month or two and nothing happens, it's downgraded. If someone lives there for three to five months, or even a year or two and nothing happens, it's declared a haunted house.
For Heihei, isn't this just a cheap deal where he gets free food, drinks and money?