Chapter 74: Repetitive Dreams (Part 2)
Pudu Temple was open from 10 am to 6 pm. It was not appropriate to go in the middle of the night.
Sang Jing thought for a moment and decided to go the next day.
After the ghost emissaries had taken Pei Rong away, Sang Jing spread the map on the table.
There were a dozen or so marked points, and a bunch of messy lines connecting them.
These points and connecting lines were probably all related to raising a ghost king. Pei Rong had died four years ago, which meant that the person behind this had been preparing for at least four years.
What on earth did she want to do?
On the other side, Hei Wuchang, who had finished her work, rubbed her wrists and looked up. She saw the person and the ghost in two separate corners of the shop and raised an eyebrow.
Are they… having a cold war?
Xiao Jing was looking at the map, and Xiao Xie… was looking at her phone.
Hei Wuchang quietly approached Xie Yu and saw her miserably shattered screen. “…”
Xie Yu’s peripheral vision caught sight of Hei Wuchang. She frantically covered her phone, then looked up and stammered, “Sister, Sister Hei, are you done with your work?”
Hei Wuchang’s lips curved into a meaningful smile, then she bent down and whispered, “Xiao Xie.”
Xie Yu blinked guiltily. “What’s wrong?”
Hei Wuchang raised an eyebrow. “Nothing. I just wanted to call you because you’re pretty and cute.”
Xie Yu: “…”
So scary. I thought she had seen it.
On the other side, Sang Jing looked up, then her thoughts returned to the map.
Hei Wuchang wandered around and came in front of Sang Jing again, resting her hands on the table and looking at her.
Sang Jing felt a little creeped out by her stare and looked up to ask, “Does Sister Hei have something to say?”
“Xiao Jing, don’t be so nervous. Let’s just chat,” Hei Wuchang’s voice was neither loud nor soft, and the people and ghosts in the incense shop could all hear it. “Do you have someone you like? A ghost is also fine. If not, what kind do you like? Your sister can help you look for one.”
Xie Yu’s ears perked up.
Sang Jing: “…”
Her eyelashes trembled. The dream from the afternoon floated up again. The cold kiss seemed to still linger on her lips.
“No, there’s no need to look.”
Hei Wuchang knew she would say that and immediately said, “You’re, you’re twenty-six this year, right? You’re not young anymore. You can’t just be alone for the rest of your life. Your teacher was already on her second marriage at your age. You too. If you have someone you like, don’t keep it to yourself. If you miss it, it will be a regret.”
Sang Jing’s eyes were filled with doubt. “Second marriage? Teacher’s wife said she and teacher were first loves.”
Hei Wuchang: “…You can’t say this to your teacher’s wife.”
Otherwise, her vacation days would be gone again.
“That’s not important. What’s important is the latter part. If you have a person or a ghost you like, say it boldly. Even if it’s a ghost, your teacher raised a ghost as his wife. It’s not like we don’t have the means.”
After Hei Wuchang finished speaking, she turned her head, and Xie Yu had already sat over. “…”
You’re so fast.
Sang Jing lowered her head to look at the map. “I know.”
“Alright,” Hei Wuchang stood up, raised her hand, and patted Xie Yu’s shoulder. She said to Sang Jing, “It’s good that you know. I heard from Xiao Shu that you didn’t sleep well last night. You should go to bed early tonight. Don’t you have to leave tomorrow?”
Xie Yu looked at Sang Jing. Last night, the reserved person hadn’t moved all night, and her breathing was steady. She hadn’t slept well?
Sang Jing: “…”
After looking at the map for a while longer, she still didn’t understand the relationship between the points and the lines on the map. Hei Wuchang found them an eyesore and sent both the person and the ghost up.
Xie Yu still used that excuse to take a shower in Sang Jing’s room. After her shower, she pretended to go out. A while later, when she was about to sneak back in, there was a talisman on Sang Jing’s door.
Xie Yu: “…”
Who is the talisman for? It’s so hard to guess.
Leaning against the wall and muttering a basket of bad things about the reserved person, Xie Yu was about to go back to that small room and small bed to sleep pitifully when a clap of thunder suddenly exploded in her ear.
This thunder woke up Sang Jing on the bed. She subconsciously turned her head to look at the door. A golden light was faintly flashing in the crack of the door. It was the talisman taking effect. A ghost wanted to enter her room.
Closing her eyes again, Sang Jing took a deep breath. A second clap of thunder sounded in her ear.
The thunder continued, and the noise outside the door also slowly subsided.
Low whimpers and sobs came through the door. Sang Jing suddenly remembered that ghosts were afraid of thunder.
She got up and got out of bed, without even putting on her shoes. She took a few steps to the door and opened it. Xie Yu was huddled by the door, her head buried between her legs, her hands covering her ears, her whole ghostly being trembling.
Sang Jing squatted down and carefully stroked Xie Yu’s back. “Don’t be afraid.”
Hearing Sang Jing’s voice, Xie Yu looked up. She reached out her hands and hugged her. “Sang Jing, I’m scared.”
Sang Jing froze for a moment, her hands suspended in mid-air for a long time. In the end, they still fell, and she loosely held Xie Yu in her arms. “It’s alright. It’s just thunder.”
Just as she finished speaking, another clap of thunder struck, so close it was as if it had struck her on the head. Xie Yu’s hands tightened, and her whole ghostly being drilled into Sang Jing’s arms.
The rain fell with a pitter-patter, accompanied by continuous thunder. Sang Jing looked up at the roof and sighed.
You really know how to pick a time.
She carried Xie Yu by the waist and walked in. Her peripheral vision caught sight of the talisman on the door, and Sang Jing raised her hand and took it off.
This was the first time she had put a talisman on her room, and it was also the last.
The sky above the incense shop was within the range of the thundercloud. Xie Yu held onto Sang Jing’s hand and wouldn’t let go, not daring to open her eyes at all. Every time it thundered, she would shiver.
Sang Jing held her and hesitated for a moment, then bent down, lifted the blanket, and stuffed her in. She also lay down beside her.
As soon as she lay down, Xie Yu hugged her, her hands and feet on her, her whole ghostly being pressed against her.
Sang Jing: “…”
A little cold.
The thunder continued until the early morning. Upstairs, a person and a ghost held each other tightly, quiet and beautiful.
Downstairs, Hei Wuchang held her phone and looked up at the upstairs with envy, sending a message. “Wuwuwu, Sister Bai, it’s thundering. Such a big thunder. I’m so scared. I’m the only ghost in the shop. What if this thunder strikes me?”
Bai Wuchang replied quickly on the other side. “Ten minutes.”
Her goal achieved, Hei Wuchang was not the slightest bit scared. She hummed a song in a good mood and waited for these ten minutes.
After the rain stopped and the thunder ceased, Xie Yu was not so scared anymore. She slowly opened her eyes and was stunned to see that she was being held in Sang Jing’s arms, lying on the bed.
Then her memory came back. She had been huddled at the door in fear. Sang Jing had opened the door barefoot. She had hugged Sang Jing, and Sang Jing had carried her back to the room and put her on her bed…
How could she not like her? How could she not be moved?
Xie Yu looked up at the sleeping Sang Jing. Complicated emotions intertwined. She carefully propped herself up and then lowered her head.
A careful kiss, a touch and then a separation, restrained and reluctant.
Sang Jing’s eyes moved. She seemed to have had a repetitive dream. Cold lips pressed against hers, but this time they didn’t lick her or part her lips, just simply pressed against them, and then left. The cold mass obediently drilled back into her arms, without any more excessive and presumptuous actions.
The next morning, Sang Jing opened her eyes. Thinking of the repetitive dream, she raised her hand and rubbed her forehead.
Why have I been having this dream so often recently?
“You’re awake?”
Xie Yu’s voice sounded in her ear, the happiness in it unconcealed.
Sang Jing turned her head to look at the side of the bed. Xie Yu was resting her hands on the side of the bed, her head on her hands.
Sang Jing’s first thought was, she’s not on the bed.
But it was good that she wasn’t on the bed. Otherwise, it would have been a little awkward.
Sang Jing sat up, licked her lips, and tasted a coolness on the tip of her tongue.
Xie Yu looked at her, a little nervous.
“I’m going to take a shower and change my clothes. You can go out first,” Sang Jing said, not looking at Xie Yu. After having two such dreams, she was also a little guilty and needed a while to face Xie Yu.
This time, Xie Yu didn’t cause any trouble and went out obediently.
Sang Jing didn’t go to the shower immediately but sat on the bed for a while. She raised her hand and touched her lips. It was different from the touch in her dream. In her dream, it was cool and soft.
Blinking her eyes, Sang Jing felt a little hot. She lowered her hand in annoyance, annoyed at herself for having such a dream, and annoyed at herself for acting without thinking, without consideration, and without principles these past few days.
To calm down, Sang Jing took a cold shower and unfortunately caught a cold.
When she went downstairs, Hei Wuchang hadn’t left yet. She was with Bai Wuchang, preparing to get a free breakfast from Sang Jing.
“Mm, alright. Wait a moment,” Sang Jing said, her voice thick with a nasal tone.
Xie Yu came over. “How did you catch a cold?”
Sang Jing turned her head to avoid her hand, which was trying to touch her forehead. “It’s nothing. I’ll be fine after taking some medicine.”
Sang Jing’s obvious avoidance made Xie Yu a little sad. She lowered her hand, a little regretful for impulsively kissing Sang Jing last night.
Did she know her feelings? And was she too embarrassed to say it directly, so she was avoiding her?
Hei Wuchang watched the strange atmosphere between them from the side and shook her head.
Oh my, still so young.
She turned her head and kissed Bai Wuchang on the side, giggling.
Bai Wuchang didn’t speak, but her eyes curved.
For this breakfast, Xie Yu still ate with no taste, as if she were chewing wax. It was probably because she was in a bad mood.
Borrowing the Ghost Gate and walking the Yin Road, it only took a few minutes to get to the vicinity of Pudu Temple.
Xie Yu attached herself to the small paper effigy and stayed in Sang Jing’s inner pocket.
Sang Jing followed the crowd into the temple. In the morning, the courtyard provided vegetarian noodles and vegetarian food. She reached out and poked the paper effigy in her pocket. “Want some noodles?”
“No.”
“What about vegetarian food?”
“I don’t want to eat. I have no appetite.”
Sang Jing began to think if she should find a hot pot restaurant nearby later.
Xie Yu really liked to eat hot pot. She wouldn’t have no appetite for this, would she?
After asking around, Sang Jing arrived at Master Huimu’s meditation courtyard.
In the meditation courtyard, a person was kneeling on a cushion, and in front of them was a statue.
Sang Jing walked over and was surprised when she saw the statue. She had thought it would be some kind of immortal or the founder of the Dao, Yun Zaiqing’s statue.
She hadn’t expected it to be her teacher, the founder of the Ghost Dao, Ji Zhi’s statue. Besides Ghost Masters, very few people would worship her teacher.
“Master Huimu,” Sang Jing called out politely from not far away.
Master Huimu chuckled lightly. “A fated person has come.”
She pointed to the cushion beside her. “Let’s pray together.”
Sang Jing did not refuse. No matter when or where, whenever she encountered her teacher’s statue or painting, she would pray.
Kneeling in front of the statue, after Sang Jing had prayed, she looked at Master Huimu and only then realized that her eye sockets were empty.
Master Huimu smiled slightly. “I was born without eyes. I didn’t scare you, did I?”
Sang Jing lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry. I was rude.”
Before Sang Jing could ask, Master Huimu took the initiative to speak. “You’re here for the girl who jumped off the building, right?”
Sang Jing hummed in agreement.
Master Huimu said, “At that time, I was invited to perform a ritual. On the way, I heard about that girl and felt it was a pity. I had a fate with that child. After finishing the ritual and preparing to leave, I met her again. There were traces of metaphysical arts on her, not good things. I couldn’t bear to see her suffer after death, so I took her away. A while ago, I divined that she had a chance to be freed, so I sent that brush out.”
“For Master to do this, aren’t you worried about getting too involved in karma?” Sang Jing rarely saw cultivators in Taoist temples and monasteries interfere in these matters.
Huimu chuckled lightly. “Life is full of karma. What I have done is not an evil deed. Why should I be afraid of karma?”
Sang Jing raised her hand and made a respectful gesture, bowing her head slightly to her. “Master Huimu is so open-minded. I have been taught.”
Master Huimu raised her finger and pointed in a direction. “The fated person can go in that direction.”
Sang Jing followed the direction she was pointing, and her mind instantly corresponded with the map that Lady Hei had given her.
That place only had one marked point, the Jiutian Media Company building.
“Thank you.”
After thanking her, Sang Jing left the meditation courtyard and also donated some incense money to the temple.
Only Huimu was left in the meditation courtyard. She knelt in front of the statue and raised her hand to touch her eyes.
She was born without these eyes, but strangely, she could see some things that ordinary people could not.
Someone had said that she had given these eyes to someone a long time ago.
