IMMFBCG Chapter 34

Chapter 34: A New Employee

Ever since Ruan Xinghua realized he’d had a close encounter with a ghost, he refused to take part in any ghost-related games. He wouldn’t even dare to mention the word “ghost” at night, and any small noise could scare him half to death. Ruan had been startled by the classroom air conditioner more than once. Whenever the temperature dropped even a little, he’d become paranoid, clutching his protective charm for comfort.

Ruan’s roommates, who had been initially shocked and confused, eventually grew accustomed to his jumpiness. Still, they were puzzled as to how a seemingly brave guy turned so timid throughout one weekend.

Luckily, as the weather gradually shifted toward fall and winter, the classrooms no longer needed air conditioning, saving Ruan some face. However, his reputation as “the guy who’s afraid of ghosts” spread throughout the dorm.

No one could believe that the same person who used to be eager to encounter ghosts was now constantly jumpy. His roommates would glance at him in confusion, but Ruan could only keep his thoughts to himself. The frustration of not being able to explain was eating him up inside.

Not only had he become more fearful, but he also developed a newfound love for burning incense. Since Haicheng University was close to Xuanzhen Temple, Ruan began visiting every couple of days to pray to the temple’s deities. His visits were more frequent than even Ye Xue’s, who only returned to the temple during her vacations. The temple was practically becoming Ruan’s second home.

At first, Ye Xue wasn’t aware of this. Later, she heard about it during a conversation with Bai Liu, and she couldn’t help but laugh. It seemed like Ruan Xinghua’s ghostly encounter had left a lasting impression on him.

Sometime later, Xuanzhen Temple finally hired new staff. Before that, the temple master Bai had renovated the guest rooms, ensuring they were ready for any new hires. Due to financial constraints, the temple only hired two new Daoists. One, Qin Haoran, was in his forties, well-versed in Daoist scriptures, and had experience presiding over rituals. He was knowledgeable about interacting with worshippers. The other, Su Xinghe, was about the same age as Xu Zhou, with a Daoist certification but little practical experience. However, Bai Liu joked that his good looks might attract younger worshippers.

With one person to draw in visitors and another to answer their questions, Xu Zhou’s workload finally lightened. When Bai Liu was still around, the two had split the tasks easily since there weren’t many visitors. However, after September, the temple’s business picked up, and even the temple master had to assist with answering worshippers’ questions. With two more people on staff, things became much more manageable for Xu Zhou and Bai Liu.

On Friday, after his class ended, Ruan Xinghua rushed to catch the bus, arriving at the temple even before Ye Xue. As soon as Ruan finished offering incense to the Three Pure Ones, Ye Xue returned with her backpack.

Seeing him, she couldn’t help but laugh, “You’ve made the temple your second home, haven’t you?”

Ruan sighed in resignation. “I don’t have much of a choice. I can’t even go to 404 anymore. When Jiang Cheng and the others asked why, I didn’t have the heart to explain. I couldn’t exactly tell them we ran into a ghost that day. Even if I did, they wouldn’t believe me. They’d just think I was trying to save face after being duped by that scammer.”

With a look of frustration, Ruan added, “The other day, they even wanted to play games at the old burial ground. I had to stop them…”

He now fully understood the anxiety of being surrounded by people with no fear of death.

At the mention of the “old burial ground,” Ye Xue hesitated for a moment. “Uh…”

Ruan noticed her expression and asked, “What’s up, Daoist Ye?”

Ye Xue replied, “You can just call me Ye Xue. I don’t want you to slip up and call me that at school.”

After all, they couldn’t exactly claim to be role-playing in front of everyone; they’d be seen as crazy.

Ruan chuckled. “Oh, right, Ye Xue… Sorry, I’ve gotten used to calling you that.” He scratched his head awkwardly, realizing his mom’s influence on how he addressed her.

Then, Ruan asked, “By the way, what were you going to say earlier?”

“It’s nothing much,” Ye Xue replied calmly. “You mentioned the old burial ground earlier. The ghost we summoned at 404 came from there.”

After some thought, Ye Xue decided to tell Ruan about it. At the very least, it might help him rein in the students who were constantly looking for paranormal encounters. They couldn’t afford another incident like the ghost-summoning spell.

As expected, Ruan’s face went pale with shock. “No way! There are ghosts at the old burial ground?!”

As he spoke, Ruan Xinghua couldn’t help but feel relieved. “Good thing I stopped them in time. Who knows what might’ve happened if we’d encountered something evil.”

Ruan had more questions for Ye Xue, but before he could ask, he noticed a young man in a Daoist robe walking toward them. Ruan stared at him for a moment, looking puzzled.

Seeing his sudden distraction, Ye Xue asked, “What’s wrong?”

Ruan scratched his head, confused. “It’s nothing. He just looks familiar, like I’ve seen him somewhere before. Oh, is he the new Daoist at Xuanzhen Temple? He looks so young.”

Following Ruan’s gaze, Ye Xue saw Su Xinghe and introduced him. “Yes, this is Su Xinghe, one of the new Daoists at the temple. There’s another one, but he’s probably helping the worshippers right now. Don’t be fooled by his age—he’s been a Daoist for nearly ten years and even has his certification.”

Ruan thought for a moment. “I see…” But he still couldn’t place where he’d seen Su Xinghe before.

As Su Xinghe passed by, carrying incense, he noticed Ye Xue and greeted her. “Daoist Ye.”

Ye Xue smiled and nodded. “Daoist Xinghe.”

Meanwhile, Ruan continued to scrutinize him, then hesitantly asked, “Excuse me, have we met before?”

Su Xinghe paused, surprised by the question. After thinking for a moment, he replied, “Did you ever visit Taihe Temple? I used to practice there.”

At this, Ruan’s memory clicked. “Oh! Yes, that’s it! I went there while traveling in the port city.”

Suddenly remembering something, Ruan quickly turned to Ye Xue, reassuring her, “I swear, it was just that one time. I haven’t ‘jumped ship’ or anything!”

Ye Xue laughed. “What do you mean, ‘jumped ship’? You’re not even a monk.”

Su Xinghe had more tasks to handle, so after briefly chatting, he excused himself and left with the incense.

Meanwhile, the day for the Weibo giveaway arrived. Bai Liu was reviewing the winners’ information, getting ready to send out the ghost-repelling charms. As he wrote down the shipping addresses, something seemed off.

He scrolled up and, upon seeing one of the addresses, was stunned. “Wait… this address is for Tianyi Temple in the city center?”

And when he saw the next address, he was even more shocked. “What the—this one, too?”

Hearing his outburst, Ye Xue thought something had gone wrong with the charms and walked in. “What happened? Is there something wrong with the charms?”

“No, the charms are fine,” Bai Liu replied, his face filled with disbelief. He pulled out his phone and showed her. “Look, these two addresses are both for Tianyi Temple across the street. What do you think they’re doing, trying to compete with us for ghost-repelling charms when they already have their statues?”

Ye Xue glanced at the screen. With her photographic memory, she immediately recognized the phone number—it belonged to Jian Caiying, the master of Tianyi Temple.

If this had happened back when Xuanzhen Temple and Tianyi Temple were rivals, Ye Xue would have told Bai Liu to redraw the winners. But now that the two temples were “brother institutions,” and considering that Xuanzhen Temple had originally gained visitors thanks to Tianyi Temple’s referrals, it didn’t seem necessary to make a fuss over a couple of charms.

Ye Xue made a decision. “Just send them the charms. You can save on postage by sending both together.”

Bai Liu, however, thought for a moment. “If we’re trying to save postage, why not just deliver them ourselves? That way, we won’t have to pay for shipping at all.”

He imagined how embarrassed Jian Sinian, the master of Tianyi Temple, would be if he found out his people had entered a giveaway. Bai Liu chuckled at the thought.

Ye Xue laughed, too. “Alright, let’s not make things too awkward for them.”

Ever since Jian Caiying received a private message about winning the giveaway, he had been eagerly waiting for the delivery. As soon as the package arrived, he couldn’t wait to open it.

At first, he was merely curious to see what kind of ghost-repelling charms Xuanzhen Temple was offering. But as soon as he saw the charm, Jian Caiying froze.

He could immediately sense the powerful energy radiating from the charm in his hand. It was far stronger than any other charms he had ever encountered.

Jian Caiying had never seen a ghost-repelling charm with such intense and powerful energy before.

He carefully picked up the charm, studying it closely, and confirmed his thoughts: the ghost-repelling charm from Xuanzhen Temple was not only genuine but even more effective than any other charm he’d encountered before.

The idea that such talent existed at Xuanzhen Temple made Jian Caiying feel deeply regretful.

So many geniuses—how great would it be if one of them belonged to his temple!

In a way, Jian Caiying’s feelings aligned with those of Bai Ziang in the beginning.

After Bai Liu sent out all the ghost-repelling charms, he suddenly found himself with nothing to do.

He had worked hard for an entire week and finally convinced Wei Xingteng to give him a day off.

While most people worked nine-to-five with weekends off, Bai Liu worked six days a week with only one day off. On top of that, his work hours were irregular, and he was always on call to work overtime.

It was even more exhausting than when he was at the temple.

At least at the temple, he could occasionally slack off. But as a Death Official, if he lost focus for even a moment, a ghost could escape his grasp.

Bai Liu wandered around the temple. The Daoists were busy, and Xu Zhou was tallying the temple’s income from the past few days. Everyone had something to do.

Changing direction, Bai Liu slipped into Ye Xue’s room.

A cotton doll was sunbathing, and when it saw Bai Liu, it snorted but didn’t say much.

It was always more restrained when Ye Xue was around.

Bai Liu had thought Ye Xue would be working on her assignments, but when he walked in, he found her drawing talismans instead. Impressed, he asked, “Shishu, you’re learning new talismans again?”

Without looking up, Ye Xue continued drawing while answering, “Yeah, I’ve already mastered the ones I learned before. Since things are quiet now, I’m using the time to learn something new.”

Seeing the tall stack of talisman paper next to her, Bai Liu couldn’t help but feel concerned. “Aren’t you tired, though? You’re learning different talismans every day…”

For him, just memorizing a single spell left him feeling drained, so he couldn’t imagine how exhausting it must be for Ye Xue, who had to learn everything from scratch.

Bai Liu was about to offer some words of encouragement, but then he noticed Ye Xue looking at him strangely. She shook her head and said, “Not really, it’s not tiring at all. I usually learn it within a few minutes—it doesn’t take much time.”

Bai Liu: “…Ugh, you’re showing off again.”

He had forgotten—there was a huge difference between how geniuses and average students learned.

Once again, Bai Liu, who struggled through every talisman as if it were a life-or-death challenge, was struck by the painful reality of a genius’s effortless mastery.