Chapter 38

At this point, the situation finally came to an end. Pu Li could finally continue the project with peace of mind, no longer having to worry about any unforeseen accidents suddenly occurring, causing people to mistakenly think that he had resorted to violent demolition because the residents hadn't moved out.

As for the old ghost, although he had to pay a hefty fine, Lu Li did not confiscate his golden Buddha, showing mercy.

Such a large golden Buddha, after paying the fine and his son's medical expenses, still left a substantial amount, enough to ensure that they would be free from worry for the rest of their lives.

The old ghost had lived a frugal life, even as a spirit, scamming money from other ghosts. Logically, he should have been disqualified from reincarnation, but now he was only required to pay a fine, and there was nothing much to argue about.

As for the golden Buddha’s fate, it was eventually decided that Pu Li, acting as the developer, would send it to the old ghost’s descendants.

The old ghost was originally trembling, worried that because he had bullied Pu Li earlier, Pu Li would refuse to help him. But to his surprise, Pu Li readily agreed.

Having been tormented the whole day, Pu Li now strangely entered a state of sage-like tranquility. He wore a calm and contented smile, even looking at the old ghost with a peaceful gaze.

With Master Ke’s unwavering predictions, he was now filled with an unprecedented sense of hope for the future and naturally, he no longer cared about the old ghost’s previous offenses.

He was even no longer afraid of the golden Buddha.

Since Master Ke had said that the misfortune came only because the Buddha had been sealed inside the wall and that it would be fine once it was unearthed, what was there to be afraid of?

With Master Ke's words, he now felt like he was walking with the wind, full of vital energy!

However, the golden Buddha that the old ghost had accumulated for his descendants was so heavy that Pu Li couldn’t lift it properly. When he tried to pick it up, it nearly caused him to stumble forward.

The old ghost was startled and quickly rushed to help, repeatedly asking in concern, "Oh no! Are you okay, young man? I know you enjoy helping others, but please don’t rush. Don’t hurt yourself!"

His hands passed right through Pu Li’s body, offering no real comfort aside from emotional reassurance.

Xie An, who was watching from the side, felt a chill run down his spine. Despite having been so afraid earlier, Pu Li now wore a simple, innocent smile, repeatedly declining help, "No need, no need. Oh, old sir, you’re too polite! I was just a bit unprepared..."

He straightened up and brushed off the dust from his clothes.

The elderly ghost and the young man exchanged a look, both thinking of the wonderful future ahead with their families. They both laughed heartily, the scene oddly harmonious, almost like the cheerful ending of a public service ad.

If one of them wasn't a ghost and his body didn't become increasingly transparent under the bright lights, Xie An might have been moved to tears by this grounded neighborhood camaraderie.

...He felt he might need to have his father take him to a psychiatrist for a proper checkup.

Xie An turned his head, wanting to seek approval from Ke Xingzhou, but when he looked back, Ke Xingzhou was nowhere to be seen. He searched around and finally found him in the shadows not far away.

From Ke Xingzhou's expression, it seemed like he had encountered something troubling.

Ke Xingzhou noticed his gaze, looked up, and gave Xie An a reassuring smile. However, when he turned around, his tone was far from pleasant, "You could have asked me to collect ghosts, that would have been fine, but to take in these good ghosts—what were you thinking? I don’t even have a house to live in."When Pu Li was busy outsmarting the golden Buddha, Lu Li secretly called him over to the side.

Ke Xingzhou thought he had something important to say, but it turned out that he was talking about how the Underworld was overcrowded with ghosts, and despite several rounds of recruitment for ghost officers, they still couldn’t keep up with the workload.

However, according to the rules, these good ghosts had violated the regulations for staying in the mortal world. After being reprimanded and educated, they could no longer be allowed to roam freely in the human world. Someone needed to be assigned to monitor their behavior.

Lu Li’s gaze then landed on Ke Xingzhou.

Ke Xingzhou: "…"

He didn’t want to bother with this at first, but Lu Li had known him for over three years and was well aware of how to handle him: “Increase the merit!”

Just one sentence made Ke Xingzhou stop in his tracks.

The issue of his low merit and being unable to receive the appropriate divination gold had been bothering Ke Xingzhou for a long time, and Lu Li’s words had struck a sore spot.

But the ideal was grand, while the reality was that he himself was currently temporarily staying at the Ke family’s house. Before severing ties with the Ke family, he still had to participate in the "All-round Idol" show, so there was no time to keep an eye on a bunch of good ghosts every day.

Lu Li, however, gave him a meaningful look: “You have it.”

Ke Xingzhou: "?"

—

Aside from the old ghost, the other good ghosts, seeing how accommodating Pu Li was, began to stir. They started pestering him to deliver messages to their family members or to remind them of the hidden bank account passwords they left behind when they were alive.

Dozens of ghosts with different death appearances surrounded him, and the cold wind howled.

The early-rising residents nearby, just stepping out of their homes, felt the cold air outside. They tentatively walked a few steps, but the chilling breeze made them quickly give up on their morning run.

It was too cold, they’d try again tomorrow!

Pu Li’s memo was soon filled up. Not only did it have the details of the good ghosts' living family members, but it also included a long list of reminders from each ghost. He had already written as small and tight as possible, but it still stretched on and on, with some parts of it being too long to see the end, requiring two or three lines to finish.

As he continued writing, the good ghosts started to feel a little guilty. They had bullied him before, and now they were troubling him again.

Pu Li, however, had no complaints.

His family teachings had always instructed him to be as kind as possible to others, as no one could guarantee that they would never encounter difficulties in the future and need to ask someone for help.

These ghosts, after all, were residents of the land, just that they were gone before the demolition.

Listening to their overlapping requests, it became clear that the Underworld’s reincarnation quotas were tight. If these good ghosts remained obedient, they might end up staying for decades or even hundreds of years, not much different from regular residents.

Moreover, the messages they asked him to deliver were mostly things his grandfather and grandmother would say to him. Writing these messages down felt like having a conversation with the deceased relatives, which unexpectedly made him more patient.

However, since he had to stay on the construction site to handle the follow-up matters, he couldn’t send Ke Xingzhou and Xie An back.

Xie An had no choice but to take a taxi.

He had wanted to persuade Ke Xingzhou to return to the Xie family with him. After all, the atmosphere at the Ke family was unbearable. Even when they were there, Ke Zhengye was so irritable that Xie An worried Ke Xingzhou would be mistreated when he returned.

However, before he could speak, Ke Xingzhou spoke first: “Let’s go to the production team first.”

The driver, seeing these two handsome men come out of the construction site, couldn’t help but glance at them: “So late, did you two just get off work?”Helping people catch ghosts and change their fortunes was indeed Ke Xingzhou's main job, so he naturally nodded in agreement with the driver’s remark.

"Just working overtime."

The driver immediately looked at them with new admiration: "You're so handsome and still working on a construction site, and working overtime this late! Young people like you who are practical and grounded are really rare these days! You guys have a bright future!"

Working on a construction site...

Realizing the driver had misunderstood, Xie An tried to explain, but suddenly felt the seat next to him sink slightly. A familiar cold wind swept by, and when he turned his head, he vaguely saw the good ghosts from before crowding up.

Seeing that he had noticed them, the good ghosts laughed: "You can still see us? That's great. Squeeze in a bit, there are more ghosts coming in behind!"

Although they had argued before, they were now speaking quite politely, which contrasted sharply with their aggressive actions as they pushed forward.

Xie An watched helplessly as the ghosts squeezed into the car, their souls filling up the entire vehicle, almost turning it into a sardine can. Some agile ones even climbed to the roof, looking nothing like ghosts who had died of natural causes.

With everyone packed like this, there was no more room to avoid the living. Xie An watched as an old lady ghost, taking advantage of her seniority, shouted that she was carsick, crawling over the driver and sending her bound feet straight across his forehead.

The driver, about to lament how today’s young people were so ungrounded, suddenly felt a foul smell around his mouth and nose and couldn’t help but gag.

"You guys... ugh, it's so late... ugh... still going to the west side of the city, renting there... ugh... wait, why does it suddenly smell so bad?" The driver, shocked, continued speaking without even realizing he was gagging, then shuddered. "Is the car’s air conditioning broken? Why is it getting colder, and the fuel consumption seems higher than usual... ugh!"

Xie An: "........"

He silently held his breath and dared not speak.

--

Despite the driver’s persistence, Ke Xingzhou and Xie An successfully reached their destination.

The driver, unwilling to accept the strange situation, fiddled with the air conditioning for half an hour but ultimately gave up and opened all the windows, driving with cold air blowing through. Even so, the driver’s face had turned a deep purple, his eyes bulging, looking as though he was about to pass out.

Despite this, he still made a strong effort to remind Xie An: "Remember... ugh, give me a... ugh, five-star rating..."

Xie An dared not refuse and was so guilty that he almost cried. He quickly gave a five-star rating in front of him and wrote a 50-word review with a picture.

The driver, as if he had finally accomplished something, seemed to regain some color in his face. With a final gag, he slowly drove away from the filming base, leaving with a calm expression.

On the way, he thought to himself, these two young people really understood how to empathize with others. Even though he had been gagging all the way, they had never shown any signs of disgust.

However, the more he looked at them, the more familiar they seemed. After thinking for a while, he realized that he had seen similar faces on the variety show his daughter was following, and his heart skipped a beat.

If only I had taken some photos to show my daughter!

They have the faces of celebrities!

...

Filming Base.

Xie An looked in amazement at the brightly lit filming base in front of him: "Is there another show coming in to film?"The moment he finished speaking, Xie An immediately negated himself. He shook his head; Wanli Group was wealthy and powerful, and even though there had been no filming for a while, they wouldn't rent the venue to others.

But from what he knew, all the contestants had left, and they wouldn't return to resume filming until after the Spring Festival.

Could it be that the production team staff was working overtime to prepare the sets and props for after the holiday?

This seemed quite possible. Xie An turned to look at Ke Xingzhou, but found his expression somewhat subtle. He couldn’t help but call out in curiosity, “Brother?”

Ke Xingzhou came back to his senses. He took one last glance at the dazzling light of merit, paused for a moment, and still stepped forward into the base's gate.

Inside the base, Nie Chen was listening expressionlessly to his subordinate’s report. Suddenly, it seemed as though he noticed something and looked up toward the direction of the door.

The assistant who had been reporting froze, his scalp tightening, and he instinctively panicked. His mind raced, trying to figure out which part of his report had gone wrong. For a moment, he even thought about which bridge he could jump off after losing his job.

Then, he felt the tense atmosphere around him suddenly loosen, as if a spring breeze had melted the tension. In an instant, all the pressure vanished.

The assistant subconsciously glanced at Mr. Nie, surprised to find that his mood seemed to have improved significantly.

—There was no real basis for this, after all, Mr. Nie had always been inscrutable. Even the senior board members couldn't read him. At that moment, his expression hadn't changed, but the feeling he gave off had.

Maybe it was just the illusion before he got fired.

The assistant thought dejectedly, but suddenly heard an astonished voice from the direction of the door: “Brother, Mr. Nie is here too!”

Looking toward the source of the voice, he saw two young men in their twenties standing at the door. One of them was wearing the uniform issued to contestants of All-Round Idol, clearly a contestant.

The assistant's head buzzed, and he thought, "It's over, it's really over now, I'm going to lose my job."

Didn’t they send out a notice telling the contestants who were staying at the filming base to stay in their dorms and not go out? How come there were still two big fish slipping through the cracks?

He hurriedly went up to chase them away, but unexpectedly, Mr. Nie responded to them: “Hmm. Why are you back?”

His voice was so gentle, his attitude so warm—something the assistant had never heard after three years at the company!

The assistant froze, completely at a loss, caught in a dilemma and rooted to the spot.

Fortunately, at that moment, Assistant Liu returned. He quickly assessed the situation and found an excuse: “There’s something going on with the master from Qingyun Temple, you go assist him.”

The assistant felt as if he had been granted amnesty and quickly agreed before leaving.

Xie An, confused, watched the assistant leave, then looked around at the situation. Unlike the busy scene he had imagined, the filming base was indeed filled with many people, but not all of them were staff. More of them were wearing robes and moving about.

Having met Nie Chen a few times, Xie An felt that he was very easygoing, so he didn’t have the same unease that others felt around him. With a question in mind, he asked directly: “Mr. Nie, what’s going on with the production team? There are so many masters, what are they busy with?”

Nie Chen’s gaze was fixed on Ke Xingzhou, but upon hearing the question, he slowly turned his head.

His eyes swept over the dense crowd of good ghosts behind the two, who seemed to be watching the commotion like people at a village gathering. Nie Chen calmly moved his gaze away, but his eyes briefly lingered on Xie An’s hand, which was holding Ke Xingzhou’s wrist.

The faint curve at the corner of his lips straightened again, and Nie Chen stared at Xie An, answering in a soft voice: “Performing rites.”

Xie An: “?”

Was it his imagination, or did it seem a little colder around here again?

He turned around to look, and saw that the good ghosts, who had been avoiding Ke Xingzhou’s cold stare, were now a few steps away, so logically, they shouldn’t be affecting them.Assistant Liu, standing next to Nie Chen, felt immense pressure. Seeing his expression, he quickly added: “There have been quite a few incidents with the production team recently. To reassure everyone, Mr. Nie specifically invited the Taoist priest from Qingyun Temple to help dispel some of the false rumors.”

In reality, after the last banquet, Mr. Nie had heard rumors from somewhere about the production team being haunted, so he spent a large sum to bring the Taoist priests from Qingyun Temple over to prepare for this ritual.

He also felt that something had been off with the production team recently. The experience from the last time had completely shifted his worldview, and he had come to accept the existence of ghosts.

However, the rumor about the production team being haunted definitely couldn’t be allowed to spread, so the blame had to be placed on those spreading the rumors.

Xie An still looked at Nie Chen with suspicion.

Having “run away from home” for the past few years, although he had not lacked in material comforts, he had suffered quite a bit in terms of human relations. He had become more cautious and slowly realized that Nie Chen was displeased.

But after looking at the busy scene around him, he thought perhaps he was overthinking it.

Mr. Nie had a lot on his plate, and now he also had to deal with matters concerning the production team. It was normal for him to be unhappy, right?

Xie An felt like he had figured it out and, with a thoughtful expression, leaned closer to Ke Xingzhou’s ear to remind him: “Brother, Mr. Nie seems to be in a bad mood. Let’s stay away from him later.”

With his excellent hearing, Nie Chen: “…………”