Chapter 70: Raising a Ghost

“I treat you well?” Xiu turned back in surprise, but became speechless when he saw Wen Chu lowering his eyes and playing with his phone.

In all fairness, he felt that he treated Wen Chu quite badly.

From the start, he treated the other party as a murderer, then guarded him like a prisoner, used force, injured his wrist, and even discussed how to capture him in front of Wen Chu.

At most, he bought the other party some food and gave him a phone.

If this counts as good, then there are no bad people in this world.

“Are you an idiot?” Xiu couldn’t help saying, his tone carrying a bit of helplessness.

“Maybe.” Wen Chu didn’t look up. “You always call me stupid, although I think I’m quite smart.”

“But you are the first person to treat me so well.”

Xiu fell silent.

He remembered Wen Chu’s body missing all five viscera and six bowels, Wen Chu crying loudly while hugging him after waking up, and the bone flute absorbed by the other party.

What kind of hatred made the Wen family torture such a child into a spectre back then?

Wen Chu felt that his words about treating him well were like a sharp knife stabbing into Xiu’s heart.

“I don’t treat you well.” Xiu walked forward carrying Wen Chu on his back, emphasizing to him, “The people before didn’t treat you well either.”

Carrying Wen Chu, Xiu scanned a shared electric scooter and explained patiently, “If you like me because you think I treat you well, then this kind of liking is wrong.”

This was entirely him taking advantage of the situation, a “goodness” only in contrast to that group of trash.

Wen Chu raised his head and thought seriously for a while: “No, I like you even when you treat me badly.”

Xiu was about to open his mouth to say something, but when he looked up, he saw Wen Chu’s determined gaze in the rearview mirror.

Xiu: …

Xiu corrected: “That’s not right. You can’t fall for people who have a bad attitude towards you. They don’t deserve you.”

Wen Chu made a gesture as if to strangle him: “I forbid you to speak ill of yourself.”

Feeling the cold touch on his neck, Xiu could only say dryly: “Alright then…”

Since Wen Chu thought this was liking, then let it be. At worst, he would treat Wen Chu even better in the future, making the other party realize how outrageously wrong he was before.

Now Xiu was most worried about another problem.

The spectre on his back was most likely the escaped Formation Eye, and for him to send Wen Chu back with his own hands… he couldn’t do it.

He couldn’t lock Wen Chu back into the array knowing there was another story behind it.

But the exorcists’ operation would be finalized in a week.

If he openly let Wen Chu go at that time, he would obviously become a traitor to all mankind directly.

There was only a week left.

He had to go to the Wen family’s ancestral home quickly and find the truth of that year.

As long as he knew why the exorcists back then insisted on using Wen Chu as the Formation Eye, he could deduce the setting conditions of the Reincarnation Array.

Only in this way could it be possible to find a method that neither made Wen Chu the Formation Eye nor destroyed the Reincarnation Array.

If he couldn’t find it…

Xiu glanced sideways at Wen Chu playing with his phone on his back.

If he couldn’t find it, there were ways even if he couldn’t find it.

He wouldn’t just watch Wen Chu jump into the fire pit alone.

.

On the other side, Wen Chu felt that he had made it clear, and Xiu shouldn’t treat him so well in the future, so he started playing with his phone with peace of mind.

Xiu had downloaded many apps on his phone. In these days, besides browsing shopping apps and Baidu search, Wen Chu was watching short videos.

After a few days of use, the short video app had formed big data recommendations.

[Latest MBTI Test 100 Questions | See Your Most Compatible Soulmate]
[Such Zodiac Signs Love to Not Reply to Messages the Most]
[How is the Future for You and Him/Her? | Tarot]
[Universe Message | When Will Your Other Half Arrive?]

The system watched helplessly as Wen Chu spent 52 to do the test questions and another 99 to find a Tarot reader, finally unable to help but speak out.

【Feudal superstition is undesirable.】

Wen Chu was puzzled: 【What is feudal superstition?】

System: 【It’s what you are doing right now.】

Wen Chu was serious: 【No, this is asking the universe to see if Xiu and I are destined by fate and if we have a future.】

System: 【…】

Told you not to give phones to kids casually.

Now look, getting scammed as soon as getting online.

Just as the system was preparing to list the unscientific nature of various metaphysics to Wen Chu, Xiu stopped the electric scooter.

Before Wen Chu could see the divination result he spent 99 to get, he looked up from the chat interface of the Tarot reader he just added. Seeing the desolation around him, he was about to ask what was going on when he saw a black car, as long as three or four cars, driving slowly from the side.

Wen Chu was startled: “What kind of car is this? A train?”

Xiu parked the shared electric scooter: “Stretch Lincoln. The way back is a bit long, afraid you’ll get bored, this car is just right.”

Wen Chu was even more shocked: “Didn’t you have no car?”

He had seen Xiu on the subway before.

The driver got out and opened the door. Xiu carried Wen Chu into the car naturally and explained, “No, it was just that I had something to do at school at that time. Taking the subway to the venue was more convenient. Going home, there is no subway station near my house, so driving is faster.”

The rear and front rows of the car were separated by a partition. Xiu put Wen Chu on the massage chair in the back seat and lowered the movie screen casually: “This car is too long, turning and making U-turns in the city center is inconvenient, so I asked the driver to pick me up a bit further away—any movies you want to watch?”

Wen Chu sat on the massage chair in a daze, finally realizing with hindsight: “…You are rich?”

Xiu was choosing a movie. Hearing this, he couldn’t help laughing: “If I were a pauper, could I afford to raise you? Do you know how much the talisman paper you eat costs per sheet?”

“That talisman that burns food into green smoke? How much?” Wen Chu had no concept of the purchasing power of currency. “Is ninety-nine yuan enough?”

Xiu shook his head and gestured “ten” to him.

“One hundred yuan?” Wen Chu probed.

“One hundred thousand.” Xiu chuckled lightly. “That’s talisman paper for offering to ghosts and calming resentment. The lower grade is one hundred thousand, which only burns it over. If you want the burned things to retain their original taste, it starts at a million with no upper limit.”

“Cough… cough cough cough?!” Wen Chu choked. “Wasn’t that bread only ten yuan?”

“En, the bread isn’t expensive, but sending the bread to another world is expensive.”

Xiu looked at the blushing Wen Chu with interest and couldn’t help reaching out to pinch his cheek.

“Little ghost, it’s very expensive for big brother to raise you.”

Wen Chu felt a bit guilty. He didn’t resist being pinched on the cheek and mumbled indistinctly: “Then I won’t eat anymore.”

He could live by eating Xiu’s Yang energy. Eating these messy things was mainly because he wanted to taste delicious food.

No wonder Xiu didn’t think of feeding him at first.

After all, no one would spend a huge sum of money to feed a stranger spectre.

Hearing Wen Chu say this, Xiu raised his eyebrows: “Did I say I wouldn’t let you eat?”

“Too expensive.” Wen Chu explained sincerely. “I don’t want to trouble you.”

“Stupid.” Xiu ground his molars and put down the remote control in his hand.

He pulled out the snack cabinet next to him, took out a handful of talismans, and pasted them on.

“Wait—”

Wen Chu couldn’t stop him in time and could only watch helplessly as half a cabinet of snacks turned into green smoke.

Xiu threw the remaining talisman paper like waste paper and grabbed Wen Chu’s wrist, which was reaching over trying to stop him.

The warm human body temperature contacted the spectre’s cold skin, and both were stunned.

Wen Chu carefully looked up at Xiu, and Xiu also lowered his eyes to look at this spectre.

The car cabin was spacious and the sound insulation was complete enough. For a moment, Wen Chu could only hear Xiu’s breathing.

After a long while, the young man’s cold and awkward voice came from above.

“Eat it if I give it to you.”

“I drew the talisman paper. I have as much as I want. You took it seriously when I bullied you. Are you stupid or not?”

“Oh… oh.”

Wen Chu only felt his grabbed wrist burning, and his heart pounding.

He responded absent-mindedly, almost daring not to look directly into Xiu’s transparent blue eyes.

The younger, sharper, and more mischievous Xiu, he also liked very much. Looking at each other still made his heart beat uncontrollably.

Wen Chu thought he might really be a bit stupid.

He would believe whatever Xiu said.

After speaking, Xiu also realized how ambiguous the current posture was. He let go of Wen Chu’s wrist and sat on the other side of Wen Chu.

The TV hadn’t been selected for too long and automatically jumped to the movie on the homepage.

It was a horror movie, starting with a burst of sharp female ghost laughter, but one of the audience present was an exorcist and the other was a spectre. Neither the person nor the ghost changed expression.

The snacks that were burned into green smoke just now automatically surrounded Wen Chu.

Wen Chu reached for one, broke off a little, and tasted it.

It was crispy shrimp chips, delicious.

Seeing Wen Chu start eating snacks out of the corner of his eye, Xiu opened the small refrigerator in front and asked, “Any drinks you want? I asked the driver to put soda in before coming.”

Wen Chu said: “Anything is fine.”

So Xiu took a can of cola for Wen Chu and burned it over, then took two blankets from the back, one for him and one for Wen Chu.

Wen Chu looked at the fluffy blanket covering his knees and suddenly realized something was wrong.

Picking up the blanket to look, sure enough, there was a talisman paper pasted on the back of the blanket.

Looking at the seat again, there was also a talisman paper pasted next to his seat.

No wonder he could sit on the chair.

Hugging the gray blanket, Wen Chu turned to look at Xiu: “Does this count as you treating me well? Can I like you now?”

Xiu propped his chin watching the startling horror movie, glanced at him from the corner of his eye, and chuckled softly: “This is called good?”

Is this not good either?

Wen Chu didn’t understand.

He thought for a while and said: “Because I have no way to repay you like this, so I think you are very good to me.”

Xiu narrowed his eyes, leaned in directly, reached out and pinched Wen Chu’s cheek to examine carefully.

Wen Chu’s cheek was pinched out of shape, and he obediently raised his head while being pinched by Xiu.

“Strange.” Xiu muttered to himself. “Doesn’t look like a love brain.”

Wen Chu: “Wu?”

Xiu was genuinely confused: “Then how could you be deceived away just by watching a movie?”

As he spoke, he let go of Wen Chu and instructed seriously: “If you encounter other exorcists or other ghosts treating you like this in the future, never confess immediately. Exorcists outside will do anything to drive away ghosts. Spectres like you are the easiest to be deceived.”

Wen Chu rubbed his cheek which still had Xiu’s residual warmth.

“I won’t.” Wen Chu said.

Only because it is Xiu, that’s why I feel everything about Xiu is good.

Xiu misunderstood Wen Chu’s action. He thought Wen Chu was hurt by his pinch, so his fingertips moved slightly.

The Five Emperors Coins on Wen Chu’s wrist emitted a golden light, gently covering Wen Chu’s cheek, stroking away all the pain.

Wen Chu’s rubbing action paused.

He thought, clearly the one easiest to be deceived is Xiu.

It’s only been a few days, and the Five Emperors Coins used to injure him in the array back then became a tool on his wrist to heal and defend at any time.

Xiu still insisted that he didn’t treat him well and didn’t allow him to like him.

How could I not fall in love with Xiu?

.

Xiu’s car not only had movies but also connected controllers to play games.

Wen Chu and Xiu drew the curtains, playing a movie while holding controllers and scrambling to learn how to drive a racing car.

Finally, when he and Xiu were watching the second movie, the car stopped.

Xiu put down the controller: “Arrived.”

Wen Chu also put it down.

The driver opened the door outside, turning a blind eye to the blanket floating in the air, and said respectfully: “Sir, we have arrived.”

Wen Chu consciously put the blanket back in place, lay on Xiu’s shoulder, and got out of the car with Xiu.

When he saw the scene in front of him, Wen Chu was completely stunned.

What came into view was an estate with almost no end in sight. On Xiu’s shoulder, Wen Chu could only see scattered houses and buildings in the distance.

At the entrance was a small square. In the center of the square was a small fountain, with a little angel sculpture on top pouring water from a bottle.

Their car was parked in the parking space next to the fountain, and the security guard nearby saluted them.

“Here… is all yours?” Wen Chu was shocked.

“En.” Xiu took Wen Chu onto a sightseeing car. “My income is quite high, most of my savings were used to buy this estate.”

The sightseeing car driver started the vehicle. They sat in the last row of the sightseeing car, but since there were only one person and one ghost on the car, the view was still very open.

Wen Chu looked at the trees retreating on both sides of the driveway. In the gaps between the trees, he saw patches of fields inside, and drones were spraying pesticides overhead.

It was early summer, the wheat had just headed, still a tender green, standing in the field presenting a delightful scene.

Wen Chu couldn’t help but remember the small garden he built for Xiu in the last world. Comparing this, it was simply insignificant.

“Buying such a big estate.” Wen Chu stared unblinkingly at the scene outside. “Is it troublesome to manage usually?”

Helplessness flashed between Xiu’s eyebrows: “It’s okay, not troublesome for me, just expensive. Need to hire many people. But the ecology of the entire estate can basically be self-sufficient. Plus I set up arrays around it, no wronged souls disturb, so it counts as a pure land.”

The sightseeing car took them all the way forward. The building complex Wen Chu saw from a distance just now finally magnified. Behind the wide central courtyard was a huge European-style building complex.

“That is…”

“Residential area.” Xiu answered.

Wen Chu was almost lying on the car window, looking at the scene outside, forgetting what to say for a moment.

From the beginning of his memory, he was in the square inch of the laboratory. Later to the ocean, to the steam world, Wen Chu at most circled Xiu’s small courtyard.

As for what human building complexes were like and how big they were, Wen Chu actually had no concept at all.

“So big.” Wen Chu exclaimed. “Why did you think of buying such a big home?”

Xiu was confused for a moment: “I don’t remember either. Because… like to raise some things?”

He had no parents, grew up in this world, joined the Exorcist Association, and as his status rose step by step, his remuneration became higher and higher.

But he himself was just a student still in graduate school and couldn’t spend much money.

At first, Xiu just bought a small villa with a yard.

Later, as the balance in the account grew more and more, Xiu found that he could afford an estate, so he simply changed to an estate.

But to say he had any passion for farming and raising chickens, Xiu really didn’t. He just occasionally went to see the growth in the fields and felt assured looking at the granary full of grain.

…Could it be that he actually has a hoarding habit?

Xiu fell into doubt about his hobbies.

Wen Chu lying on the window was stunned.

This scene, even this conversation, seemed incredibly familiar.

【System.】 Wen Chu called the system uncertainly.

【Did Xiu buy this estate because of me too?】

System: 【En.】

Wen Chu blinked in disbelief.

The system added: 【You said it, want to raise you.】

To raise a person, so move all food, clothing, housing, and transportation home, solving most of a person’s needs at home.

This might be the idea in Xiu’s subconscious.

It’s just that Xiu probably didn’t expect that in this world he and Wen Chu would be separated by Yin and Yang directly. Everything he prepared for humans couldn’t be used on ghosts at all.

Wen Chu felt the corners of his eyes getting wet again.

He was going to cry disappointingly again.

Wen Chu’s fingers slowly tightened, turning his head directly to pounce into Xiu’s arms, hugging Xiu’s waist and saying: “You are the person who treats me best, you are not allowed to refute in the future!”

Xiu was inexplicably clung to by Wen Chu like a koala. While patting Wen Chu’s back, he wondered: “What’s wrong?”

Wen Chu hugged Xiu’s waist tightly: “I just want to like you, no matter what anyone says.”

Xiu: …

What exactly happened?

Just looked at the scenery outside the window, why did Wen Chu seem to have suddenly made a big determination?

The sightseeing car passed through the central courtyard and finally stopped at the banquet hall next to the main building.

Xiu dragged Wen Chu out of the car and walked into the banquet hall.

The entire banquet hall had been arranged like a buffet restaurant. The long table was filled with various delicacies, and chefs were roasting suckling lambs outside.

Wen Chu was originally hugging Xiu’s waist tightly.

After smelling the aroma of roasted suckling lamb meat, Wen Chu poked his head forward.

Walking into the banquet hall, seeing the table full of dishes, Wen Chu’s body had already flown out mostly.

Seeing the chocolate waterfall on the dessert table, the whole ghost Wen Chu had flown away with the waterfall.

“So, so much.” Wen Chu floated in front of the chocolate waterfall. “Can I eat all of it?”

“En.” Xiu stood behind Wen Chu with a light smile. “I’ll get you whatever you want to eat. Don’t worry about waste, someone will deal with the leftover food.”

“My food here is much better than outside. Don’t think about those buffets outside after eating.”

Wen Chu was so happy he almost flew up, pouncing to Xiu’s side and giving him a big “smack” kiss.

“Thank you.” Wen Chu said. “I like it so much. I will definitely be obedient in the future.”

The favorability panel was taken by the system for upgrade and hasn’t appeared until now, so Wen Chu couldn’t see Xiu’s favorability.

But Wen Chu felt that if there was a panel for his favorability towards Xiu, then his favorability towards Xiu must be 200/100 now.

He could happily accept dying for Xiu.

Wen Chu watched Xiu dip marshmallows in chocolate for him, pass them through cold water, and burn them over to him, completely dismissing the thought of dying with Xiu.

Xiu in this world is so good, living in such a big place, with such a good future.

【You said before, I only need to succeed three times in four worlds, right?】 Wen Chu asked the system.

【Right.】 The system sensed something wrong. 【What do you want to do?】

Wen Chu floated down from above the chocolate waterfall, lowered his head and held Xiu’s right hand, carefully examining the red marks on Xiu’s right hand.

【I was just thinking…】

Scenes of getting along with Xiu flashed through Wen Chu’s mind.

【Thinking that Xiu in this world clearly could live very well. He shouldn’t be killed by me because of my selfish desire, accompanying me in eternal damnation without reincarnation.】

【Xiu has always been a very very good person. I am dragging him down. The first two worlds were fine, but at least in this world, I don’t want to make things difficult for Xiu.】

【Getting hurt really hurts a lot.】

Under Xiu’s gentle gaze, Wen Chu ate the green smoke of the chocolate marshmallow with an “Ah-wu”.

【I’ll accompany him to the Wen family’s old residence. I have a hunch that I can find all my memories there. Then when he acts, I’ll avoid him and go back to be the Formation Eye myself.】

【In this case, he will never know that I am an evil ghost, nor will he feel guilty for personally locking me into the array, and he can still get the credit for capturing me back.】

Wen Chu counted all the benefits, looking at the void system screen with sparkling eyes.

【If I fail the mission this time, it’s the same to do well in the next world. It’s just that if I fail, can you take me away faster? I’m afraid of pain.】

The system was silent for a long time before saying: 【Are you stupid? One meal coaxed you into losing your bearings.】

【Playing with the phone for so long was all in vain? Ghosts like you would be called a simp (lick-dog) on the internet.】

The system’s tone was mean and resentful of his failure to meet expectations, looking like it wished to knock him on the head twice to wake him up.

Wen Chu mumbled: 【Not stupid, not dumb. I am very smart. I understand what I want very well.】

【I like Xiu, just want Xiu to be happy. How does liking count as being a simp?】

“Is it delicious?” Xiu turned his head and asked Wen Chu, who hadn’t spoken for a long time after eating the chocolate marshmallow.

Wen Chu nodded with bulging cheeks: “Delish.”

He liked sweets, or rather there was no flavor he didn’t like.

At this moment, the sweet taste mixed with chocolate and marshmallow spread in his mouth. Wen Chu looked at Xiu’s profile, suddenly feeling it was a bit too sweet.

Sweet enough to be slightly bitter.

Xiu put down the bamboo skewer: “Good that it’s delicious. Let’s go eat something else first, and come back for dessert after you finish a round?”

Wen Chu nodded vigorously.

“Xiu…” He called the other party indistinctly.

“Hmm?” Xiu looked back at him.

Wen Chu lowered his eyes, floated over and hugged Xiu’s waist.

“Nothing, I like you so much.”

At this time, Wen Chu realized that he was completely wrong from the beginning.

Liking to this extent, no matter how opposed, how irreconcilable the conflict, one simply couldn’t bear to hurt the other party.

Wen Chu’s hand happened to cover Xiu’s lower abdomen. Xiu only felt something move in his abdomen again.

Not the tiny change yesterday, the place where the thing in the abdomen made noise today was obviously a circle larger.

Xiu frowned. The strange feeling of being filled almost gave him some inappropriate physiological reactions at this time.

What exactly is going on?

Is it really his reaction to Wen Chu?

Xiu’s earlobes were slightly red. He turned his head away, daring not to look at Wen Chu’s face again.

“If you don’t understand, don’t talk nonsense.”

---

Author’s Note:
Made up their minds to save each other.
But on different wavelengths.
(And a gradually growing child who was ignored (You guys actually got pregnant out of wedlock))
(It’s just me talking nonsense, don’t take it seriously, no living thing is born, pregnant with a ball of spiritual energy + ghost energy)