Chapter 14

However, Xia Zhiming’s sharp tongue did not affect Qi Xu’s good mood at all, because the Vice Bureau Chief also told her, “Although you just started work today, you’ll still get your full salary this month. That previous mission counts as completed jointly with Xia Zhiming, so there will be a bonus too. You can count on at least twenty thousand this month at minimum—keep it up!”

That was twenty thousand! Money she earned herself!

Just thinking about it made Qi Xu overjoyed.

Even Xia Zhiming’s words went in one ear and out the other.

After leaving the bureau, Xia Zhiming drove Qi Xu to school so she could pack her things, then they headed to her apartment. Qi Xu was quite obedient about this, because the Vice Bureau Chief had said that currently, no one except Xia Zhiming could stabilize her condition. Xia Zhiming might seem so carefree, but she was genuinely very capable; otherwise, she could not have become a first-grade investigator.

To keep her half-human half-ghost state stable and avoid fully turning into a lone wandering ghost, Qi Xu had no choice but to accept being bound to Xia Zhiming.

The Vice Bureau Chief conveniently assigned Qi Xu to work under Xia Zhiming as well, so Xia Zhiming would mentor her.

When she returned to the dorm, her roommates asked after her condition with concern. Seeing her pack her things—even putting her computer into its bag—they could not help but ask what was up. “It’s like this: I found an internship. I hadn’t settled on work before, but it got sorted out these past couple days, so…”

She racked her brains, unsure how to describe Xia Zhiming’s home. After struggling for a while, she finally said, “Moving to the employee dorms.”

Qi Xu was not very good at lying, but her dormmates did not pay it much mind and instead gave her thumbs up. “Awesome, you’re the real grind king—finding an internship already.”

Qi Xu laughed it off awkwardly. With Xia Zhiming waiting downstairs, she chatted briefly with her roommates, grabbed her suitcase, and headed down. Xia Zhiming saw her with just a suitcase and a computer bag and asked, “That’s all you’ve got?”

“You gave me a new set of toothpaste, toothbrush, towels, and such yesterday, right? The weather’s warming up soon too—no thick clothes needed. A few changes of lighter stuff will do.” Qi Xu always had the feeling she would not stay with Xia Zhiming for long, so she only packed for the time being plus summer clothes.

She figured she could sort things out in a few months.

Hearing this, Xia Zhiming nodded. She thought clothes could be fetched later or bought new ones. Qi Xu still had classes, so leaving some things in the dorm made sense for midday rests or naps.

The two were completely on different wavelengths, yet they reached an agreement.

Once the stuff was back at the apartment, it naturally needed sorting. They even shifted the downstairs sofa—not sleeping right in the middle anymore. Qi Xu dreaded waking up to Xia Zhiming hanging upside down from upstairs watching her again. They simply left the other sofa out as Qi Xu’s bed.

She even tactfully told Xia Zhiming that the sofa bed was a bit small and uncomfortable to sleep on. Xia Zhiming’s response was direct: “Then buy one yourself.”

“I’ll get one after payday.”

At that moment, Qi Xu felt a bit smug. She was going to have her own salary now! No more being a freeloading rice worm asking family for money every day!

Xia Zhiming even cleared out a small cabinet for Qi Xu downstairs to store her clothes. It was really just a short cabinet, only a bit bigger than a nightstand. But Qi Xu did not mind—having a cabinet was great. She could not ask Xia Zhiming for everything.

She stowed some underclothes in the cabinet, stuffing the rest into the suitcase pushed into the corner to dig out when needed.

Once everything was sorted, Qi Xu finally pulled out her computer. The desk was improvised from Xia Zhiming’s downstairs coffee table. When using the computer, she would just sit on the floor, legs crossed in front of the table.

It was a bit cramped—legs could not stretch out—but at least she had her little corner.

Seeing Qi Xu set up her computer, Xia Zhiming finally stirred. She enthusiastically shared the home WiFi password and even logged Qi Xu in. But in the next moment, her face changed, and she imperiously ordered Qi Xu:

“Go online and research some materials yourself, then log into the Third Bureau’s internal forum. Check out some past reports there and write one on the temple fair in the same style.” With that, she fiddled with her phone, and Qi Xu’s computer soon received a shared document from another device on the network.

“These are some materials I compiled and investigated before—write it up yourself. Hard requirement: no less than six thousand words. Tell me when you’re done. Oh, and add me as a friend.”

In front of Xia Zhiming, Qi Xu was always the one led along. By the time she realized Xia Zhiming’s contact was already in her social app, the task of writing the report had landed squarely on her.

She pulled a long face, trying to bargain: “But I don’t know anything—how am I supposed to write it?”

“I don’t care—finish it and send it to me.” She tapped away on her phone without looking up. “Don’t forget you got ten thousand for free out of this. Without me saving you, you’d have no life left, let alone that ten thousand. It’s just like writing a paper—not like it’s killing you.”

“Besides, don’t you university students love writing papers?”

—Rough words, but sound reasoning. ‘Which university student actually likes writing papers?!’

But with that line of reasoning, Qi Xu had no choice but to take it on. So in the days that followed, she buckled down to writing this extracurricular paper. It was only while organizing it that Qi Xu learned the Stone Spirit at the temple fair was not truly a spirit born from stone.

In the Third Bureau’s records, the Stone Spirit had always been portrayed as a harmless good ghost. It never actively attacked crowds, merely sneaking out during the annual temple fair to bask in human prosperity.

No one knew why, but on the fourth day of the fourth lunar month this year, it suddenly expanded the Ghost Domain and attacked the living.

Fortunately, Xia Zhiming had been keeping an eye on the Stone Spirit, preventing a major disaster.

Even with ready materials, the six-thousand-word report nearly made Qi Xu’s hair fall out. During breaks, though, she had time to browse other reports on the forum. The Third Bureau’s reports were not too numerous, but the head bureau’s were absurdly plentiful. Some were summaries of past missions, others explorations of ghosts as unique entities.

Some staff insisted ghosts were wholly unlike humans—harboring no goodwill, only desires to seize human lives and malicious intent. Others argued ghosts could be communicated with and had distinctions of good and evil.

The debate between these two factions was fierce, with some threads raging from the first reply to ten thousand. Among them, the “friendly faction”—as Qi Xu simply dubbed those defending ghosts—had cited Xintan City’s temple fair Stone Spirit multiple times as an example of a kind, good ghost.

Qi Xu thought of the Stone Spirit’s ferocious grin and felt it had nothing to do with “kindness.”

She had a premonition too: if she posted this report, the friendly faction would have a meltdown, while the hostile faction would seize it to attack ghosts further. As for herself, Qi Xu felt she stood in the neutral-but-leaning-hostile camp.

No helping it—she had been targeted by ghosts before, and those guys really meant to take her life. She refrained from full hostility only because she herself was kind-hearted.

As for being a “kind ghost” herself? That did not fly in Qi Xu’s mind at all, because she did not consider herself a ghost.

The next month passed remarkably stably for Qi Xu. On rest days, she shared three meals a day worth of punctual kisses with Xia Zhiming. Monday through Friday, she went to school during the day; with no midday kisses possible, the morning and evening ones stretched longer to make up for the missed one.

As a roommate, Xia Zhiming was actually pretty decent. She often vanished mysteriously. After getting the Vice Bureau Chief’s contact from the forum, Qi Xu curiously asked if Xia Zhiming was out on a mission.

No need to hide it—the Vice Bureau Chief denied it outright: “She has her own matters.”

Perhaps because she was so elusive and rarely home long, Qi Xu found her easy to get along with. Setting that aside, Qi Xu still thought Xia Zhiming was a good person overall. No matter how busy, she always remembered the kisses—definitely returning mornings and evenings for them first.

On rest days, she even holed up at home all day.

The apartment stayed very clean. Qi Xu did the cleaning, but most of the time it was tidying her own messes. Xia Zhiming produced pitifully little trash and was a bit nitpicky: clothes took forever to dry in the dryer, racking up high electricity bills, but she insisted on it—no hanging outside or tossing on the bed.

If even laundry was like that, no need to mention the rest.

With such a roommate, Qi Xu kept things spotless too.

Though she did not drive Qi Xu to or from school—leaving her to take the subway alone—whenever they ordered takeout or ate together, Xia Zhiming never let Qi Xu pay. For that alone, Qi Xu could kowtow and call her godmother.

One more thing was crucially important to Qi Xu: she gradually grew accustomed to the sensation of kissing, to their lips touching—like something only the most intimate couples did.

From initial awkwardness and clumsiness, not knowing what to do, Qi Xu became increasingly natural with kisses… and even started to enjoy them.

And all this took less than half a month.