IMMFBCG Chapter 31 V1

Chapter 31: The Ghost Summoning Talisman

After hearing that Ye Xue’s coat was given to her by Yu Qi, Bai Liu’s expression became even stranger. Something didn’t feel right—were Ye Xue and Yu Qi too close?

Bai Liu tentatively asked, “Shishu, you didn’t come back this afternoon because you were with Yu Qi, right?”

Ye Xue, shocked by the coat’s price, slowly regained her composure after hearing Bai Liu’s question. She was reminded of a few things.

Ye Xue slowly looked at Bai Liu, who had no idea he was dancing on the edge of danger. After asking his question, he started complaining to Ye Xue again, “Shishu, you have no idea how outrageous that ghost was! I was already on vacation, but he still made me work overtime. And he had the nerve to say I was using you as an excuse, hahaha! But we did make plans, didn’t we?”

As Bai Liu rambled on, he noticed something was off. Ye Xue hadn’t responded to a single word, so he called out, “Huh? Shishu? Shishu, why aren’t you saying anything?”

When he turned around, he met Ye Xue’s calm gaze.

Still confused, Bai Liu asked, “Shishu, why are you looking at me like that?”

Ye Xue smiled gently and asked, “It’s nothing. I just want to know—what exactly were you up to this afternoon?”

“Oh, nothing much.” Bai Liu, speaking a bit too quickly, let it slip, “I was playing video games in my room!”

“Ah, playing video games…” Ye Xue said thoughtfully. “You were so focused on playing all afternoon that you didn’t even answer texts or phone calls.”

Bai Liu suddenly realized what was going on. Seeing Ye Xue’s expression, he cautiously asked, “Shishu, are you mad?”

Ye Xue smiled sweetly and shook her head. “No, not at all. I’m not mad.”

Bai Liu: “…Shishu, your smile doesn’t seem right…”

But Ye Xue didn’t respond to him anymore. She placed his phone back in his hand, gave him a half-smiling pat on the shoulder, and said, “Good, then you can keep playing.”

With that, she left the room without looking back.

Bai Liu felt a chill run down his spine from that pat. Scratching his head, he muttered to himself, “Is she not mad?”

Later, as Bai Liu prepared for bed, he finally understood the meaning behind Ye Xue’s words because—

In his nightmare, the red-dressed ghost he hadn’t seen in ages appeared again!

She carried a stack of test papers as she phased through the wall, her voice calm as she said, “I heard you’ve been quite idle lately. Perfect timing—let’s have a little pop quiz to see how much you’ve learned.”

Bai Liu: “…”

He knew it—Shishu Ye Xue was mad!

…

Ye Xue’s room was very close to Bai Liu’s.

When the red-dressed ghost arrived, Ye Xue could hear Bai Liu’s wails of despair.

It was probably because he couldn’t answer a certain question.

Meanwhile, the cotton doll on Ye Xue’s windowsill was laughing gleefully.

Hearing its laughter, Ye Xue finally understood why the doll had laughed back then—it had been anticipating Bai Liu’s misery.

She helplessly glanced at the small doll by the window and teased, “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

The cotton doll giggled, “Hee hee hee…”

For some reason, it just didn’t get along with Bai Liu.

Ye Xue chuckled and shook her head.

Just then, her phone lit up.

Yu Qi had sent a message, letting Ye Xue know he had arrived home safely.

Ever since they exchanged contact information, Yu Qi would update Ye Xue on his whereabouts whenever they met.

Ye Xue picked up her phone, unsure of what to reply. A simple “Got it” seemed too dismissive.

As she was pondering her response, another message came through from Yu Qi, breaking the awkward silence: [The food at that restaurant tonight was really good.]

Ye Xue quickly typed a reply: [If we have the chance, I’ll take you there again~]

Yu Qi replied almost instantly: [Sounds good.]

Back and forth, they exchanged many more messages.

It wasn’t until Yu Qi wished Ye Xue goodnight and reminded her to rest that Ye Xue realized how long they had been chatting, and about the most mundane things.

She put down her phone and, noticing the time, said goodnight to Ye Ling before going to bed.

On the other side, Yu Qi stared at his phone in a daze, even though he knew the conversation was over. His eyes lingered on the words “goodnight” sent by Ye Xue, his fingers gently brushing over the message.

After a long moment, Yu Qi placed his phone on the nightstand, preparing to sleep.

Beside the nightstand sat a lantern, its flame long extinguished.

Yu Qi glanced at it and, for some reason, smiled again, his eyes filled with warmth.

That night, he wasn’t plagued by nightmares and had a rare, peaceful sleep.

The next day, after returning to school, Ye Xue followed her usual routine of spending an hour at the bubble tea shop when she had no afternoon classes.

When the time was up, she finally left the shop. However, after only a few steps outside, her movements halted abruptly.

She stood there, staring at the scene before her. A car crash ghost was stealthily poking its head out of the ground, looking around cautiously.

But before it could get a good look at its surroundings, a passing student unknowingly stepped on its head, pushing it back down.

Ye Xue: “…”

She rubbed her eyes lightly, thinking for a moment that she was hallucinating.

But after blinking a few more times, her expression became strange.

She hadn’t been mistaken—it was him.

The campus was full of living people with strong yang energy, which made it harder for spirits to linger. Some students, however, had enough sensitivity to unknowingly interact with ghosts.

But most students didn’t notice anything unusual. At most, they’d feel like they had stepped on something without seeing what it was.

Ye Xue watched the ghost repeatedly poke its head out, only to be pushed back down again like a game of Whack-a-Mole, and couldn’t help but find it amusing.

Unable to resist, she walked over and asked, “What are you doing, pretending to be the Earth God?”

The car crash ghost lit up with excitement when it saw Ye Xue. “Daozhang, I found you!”

Ye Xue’s sudden voice startled a nearby student, who turned around to glance at her in surprise.

“…” Ye Xue instinctively touched her earlobe, which was hidden by her hair, pretending to be on the phone. “Oh, I see. Got it, I’ll be there soon.”

The student withdrew their gaze, thinking she was just talking on the phone.

Luckily, Ye Xue had honed her acting skills over time, successfully avoiding suspicion. Otherwise, she might have been seen as crazy.

Without looking at the ghost, Ye Xue continued walking toward a more secluded area.

Seeing this, the car crash ghost quickly followed her.

But each time it tried to surface, it was pushed back down by the strong yang energy of the passing students.

The ghost eventually gave up struggling and simply followed Ye Xue, enduring the pain of having its head stepped on while chatting, “Daozhang, Haicheng University is huge! I almost got lost!”

There were too many students passing by, so Ye Xue, having learned her lesson, ignored him completely, acting as if she didn’t see the ghost and walking toward a more remote corner, letting him ramble on all by himself.

When the ghost and Ye Xue finally reached the quiet, deserted pavilion, she stopped.

The car accident ghost could finally reveal himself. He walked up to Ye Xue and, with a lingering sense of dread, exclaimed, “Oh man, that was suffocating!”

Ye Xue glanced at him, and after getting a good look, she froze. “…”

She cleared her throat, trying to suppress her laughter, and sat down in the pavilion.

The car accident ghost followed her in, still confused as to why her face was flushed. “Taoist, are you okay? Are you feeling hot?”

As he spoke, he accidentally touched his injury and winced in pain. “Ow, that hurts! Geez, these students stomp around like they’re trying to break the ground…”

Ye Xue remained silent.

The ghost gave her a puzzled look. His mask had somehow disappeared, and now, with a swollen, bruised face covered in footprints, he stared at Ye Xue and continued to ask, “Taoist? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

He moved closer, and the sight of his dirt-covered, boot-marked face right in front of her eyes was too much for Ye Xue to bear. She couldn’t even count how many shoe prints were on his face. The ghost, blissfully unaware, just looked more confused, which only made the scene even funnier.

Ye Xue couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst into laughter. “Oh my God! Get away from me, my stomach hurts from laughing!”

“Huh?” The ghost, finally realizing something, touched his face, only to make the pain worse.

He looked at Ye Xue with a hurt expression. “Taoist…”

With his dejected look, he became even more comical.

Ye Xue laughed so hard that her face turned red. “Pfft, hahaha! I’m sorry, but this is just too funny!”

The ghost continued to look at her with sorrowful eyes until she finally calmed down.

She coughed a few times to regain her composure and asked with a hint of amusement, “So, why did you come out from underground? Did you need something?”

The ghost explained, “It’s just faster to travel underground. I didn’t expect there to be so many people around. Oh, right…”

Finally remembering his purpose, the ghost pulled a book from his clothes. “This is the book you forgot to take with you when you left the Taoist temple. Lately, the Taoist temple’s been busy, and none of the other Taoists had time, so they sent me to bring it to you.”

Ye Xue took the book and realized it was her elective class textbook.

Apparently, after reviewing it at the temple, she forgot to bring it back with her. Since her elective class wasn’t until tomorrow afternoon, she hadn’t noticed the missing book, but it was lucky they realized and sent it over.

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” she said, smiling.

The ghost waved it off. “No problem, it wasn’t far—just a bit painful.”

As he spoke, he gingerly rubbed his face.

Since the ghost had gotten hurt while bringing her textbook, Ye Xue stopped teasing him and, with a smile, suggested, “How about I burn a helmet for you next time? That way, you won’t get stepped on again.”

The ghost’s face lit up. “Yes, please!”

Just then, Ye Xue noticed the sound of approaching voices. She glanced toward a group of students walking toward the pavilion and shifted her focus to the surrounding scenery.

The ghost noticed Ye Xue’s gaze linger on the flowers and greenery nearby, and commented, “The view around here is nice. Oh, right, doesn’t your school have cherry blossoms too?”

Ye Xue didn’t respond. She opened her book and began reading carefully.

The ghost was puzzled by her silence until he caught sight of the group of students in his peripheral vision.

Understanding dawned on him immediately.

Since his task was complete, he decided not to stick around. “Taoist, I’ll take my leave now.”

Ye Xue, already engrossed in her book, didn’t seem to hear him. She nodded to herself, deep in thought as she studied.

As the ghost left, he couldn’t help but muse, “What a shame Ye Taoist didn’t go into acting.”

The next day during their elective class, only Ye Xue and He Siqi had chosen this teacher’s course.

In the afternoon, they headed to the lecture hall together.

When they arrived, He Siqi was surprised to see how full the classroom was. She remembered that when they had first attended this elective, there weren’t nearly this many people.

Ye Xue found a seat and gestured for He Siqi to join her.

He Siqi sat beside her and suddenly realized something, glancing over at Ye Xue.

Ye Xue quietly reviewed her notes from the previous class, oblivious to the noise around her. She was so good at ignoring distractions that she could even ignore ghosts standing right in front of her, let alone the everyday chatter of the students.