After Marrying the Lord of the Underworld

Lu Yingjiu handed the group photo to Ye Feng and asked him to keep it.

Ye Feng stared at the group photo for a long time, but didn’t see any reason for it either.

Lu Yingjiu asked, “You don’t remember the incident of ‘sweeping the tomb’ at all?”

“Don’t remember.” Ye Feng shook his head, “It’s so strange, I was 6 years old in 1999, I should be old enough to remember things, how could there be no impression.”

Lu Yingjiu said casually, “You couldn’t have bumped into a wall and lost your memory due to the collision, right?”

Ye Feng: “…..”

Lu Yingjiu: “Did you really bump into a wall?”

Ye Feng approached and pointed to a scar on his forehead.

The scar was so shallow that it couldn’t be seen hidden between the hair. He said, “This scar was due to being knocked on a wall. It was sewed with 4 stitches and was very painful.”

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

Ye Feng said, “I’ll ask my family after I go back. Let’s go out quickly, Xiao Li is still waiting at the entrance with someone.” He looked around, “But my second grandma is dead, why hasn’t the ghost hitting the wall disappeared yet?”

“She’s not dead yet.” Lu Yingjiu said, “Her body is not here, thus the resentment has not dissipated either. People who died of a simple illness would not have such a big resentment. Perhaps there were hidden secrets about her death back then.”

He added, “No need to worry about her for now, she is seriously injured and won’t come out to harm anyone for a long time.”

Ye Feng sighed deeply and rubbed his face. He didn’t notice that because his hands touched a lot of things, it left a few dark marks on his face.

He said, “Let’s go out first. God Lu, hurry up and break this ghost hitting the wall. Can we still go out using the outer wall—as you said just now?”

“No.” Lu Yingjiu said, “That exit has disappeared, we need to find another one.”

The three of them came to the corridor with the cardboard boxes in their arms.

The reddish sign [8th Floor] was still printed on the wall, and looked very horrifying.

Ye Feng vaguely felt that the ward here must have something to do with the ghost hitting the wall, it might be the layout, it might be the equipment, or it might be the eerie looking mirrors.

It’s a pity that after so many years, he didn’t remember the specific details of this floor very much.

Lu Yingjiu said, “Ye Feng, let’s do hopscotch.”

“Huh?” Ye Feng was stunned for a few seconds, “You’re letting me play this now?”

Lu Yingjiu bent his eyes and smiled, “Just try once, jump at random, jump one room away.”

Ye Feng: “………” He scratched his head, “Damn, hopscotch in a ghost hitting the wall, if word of this gets out, my integrity in the later years will not be guaranteed.”

“Don’t worry, only I am watching.” Lu Yingjiu glanced at Jing Xian next to him, “You can treat him as not a person.”

——His words are actually very reasonable, Jing Xian is really not a human being.

Ye Feng: “Don’t you feel embarrassed? I’m such a big person, and am approaching 30 with vigor and vitality on the way, yet still needed to play this.”

“I don’t think so, anyway, it’s not me jumping.”

Ye Feng: “…..”

That being said, Ye Feng knew that Lu Yingjiu would never lose his temper, therefore there must be a reason for such a request. He stood in front of the first ward, as before, imagining that there was a grid on the ground, and jumped up.

One step, two steps, three steps…

The sound of footsteps echoed in the empty space, and it was extremely clear. When it landed, dust was flying around his feet.

When he jumped to the end of the ward, Lu Yingjiu said, “How many steps did you jump in total?”

“Twenty steps.”

“Back then, when you were here, how many steps did you have to jump to cover a single floor?”

Ye Feng blurted out. “About a hundred steps.”

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he himself realized that something was wrong.

Lu Yingjiu said, “Even if there is a deviation, the distance you jump now is farther than when you were a child, and the number of steps should be reduced. But there are six wards here, which add up to 120 steps. There is one more ward, and that is what we are looking for.”

He pointed to the ward. “It’s not that there is a problem with the layout of the room, but the size of the room. When you unwrapped the talisman paper just now, I walked down casually. Except for the fifth ward, the length and width of the other rooms are about twenty steps. The fifth ward is twenty-six steps long, and it is deeper than the other wards.”

To the naked eye, this was a very small gap, not to mention when seen under the dim light at present.

“Ah,” Ye Feng said, “so there is a problem with the fifth ward.”

“Yes.” Lu Yingjiu nodded, “Before I came up, I saw the fire service layout of this building on the first floor, and every ward on the eighth floor is the same size.”

In fact, they just passed the fire layout. While others didn’t care much about it, Lu Yingjiu simply glanced at it out of professional habits, and then made a note of it.

Ye Feng never doubted Lu Yingjiu, just when he was about to go in, he suddenly stopped, “Wait, you can remember the size of the room at a glance, but can’t remember that there should only be five wards here? And you still need me to do hopscotch??”

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

Lu Yingjiu: “.”

I slipped up.

He just wanted to watch Ye Feng do hopscotch.

Ye Feng’s eyes widened, and his blood pressure soared, Lu Yingjiu grabbed his shoulders and brought him into the room. “Hurry up and exorcise the ghost.”

After entering the room, Lu Yingjiu pasted talisman papers on the four corners of the deepest wall, and conjured a spell.

A wind blew up on the flat ground, making their clothes flutter, the talisman paper danced wildly in the wind, and finally burst into brilliant light after a certain moment.

The light came and went quickly, it went out in less than half a second, leaving only a spot of light in the retina.

The yin energy of the entire floor disappeared without a trace in the light.

The ghost hitting the wall disappeared.

They carried the boxes downstairs again and successfully saw the floor below.

In this way, they left the Changliu Building, passed through the dilapidated nursing home, and saw the group of anxious anchors.

The group of people were obviously waiting anxiously, and they were all yelling at Xiao Li.

“Hey, that enchantment has disappeared, why don’t you let us go yet!”

Xiao Li reassured, “Alas, there is still such a long way down the mountain. What will we do in case we encounter danger? Let’s talk about it after those big guys come back.”

“Can’t you send us down first!”

Xiao Li was distressed. “Isn’t it because I’m not good at learning, when the time comes, we’ll be finished together, what to do…..”

Immediately, someone became dissatisfied, “What a crow’s mouth you are! Did you just curse us to death!” (TL: The crow’s mouth is that before a bad thing happens, someone says it will happen, and then it really happens. )

“No, no,” Xiao Li tried to smoothen things, “How dare I?” He turned his eyes away and saw the three people approaching, then his eyes lit up, “They are here, they are here!”

Lu Yingjiu said, “Let’s go, let’s talk when we go down the mountain.”

When he came over, his aura was different, the group of anchors didn’t dare to say anything, and followed him obediently to prepare to go down the mountain and leave this place of right and wrong.

To get back to the village from the nursing home, they still have to tread that small path.

Everyone walked with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and even the slightest disturbance made them nervous to death. They were in a state of extreme nervousness.

Fortunately, the journey went very smoothly, and they were able to see the village without encountering any incidents.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, quickened their pace, and soon reached the entrance of the village.

When they returned to the village with smiles and with a sense of rebirth after a catastrophe, Ye Feng stopped at the entrance of the village.

The hand holding the cardboard box was a little sore, then he looked back.

It was getting late, and the evening sun had long been swallowed by the mountain peak, leaving only a little residual red hanging in the clouds. The landscape remained continuous, the tips couldn’t be seen at a glance, and the dense forest was enough to cover anyone’s figure, naturally, including Zhang Nianyun’s.

He sighed in his heart, his head hurt like hell, then he turned around and followed Lu Yingjiu’s footsteps.

Back at the hotel, Lu Yingjiu helped Ye Feng unpack the things.

They placed the CD and tape next to Ye Deyong’s belongings, and carefully pasted talisman papers around to ensure that no accidents would happen.

They ate at the hotel in the evening.

The anchors all saw Zhang Nianyun with their own eyes. Facts have proved that second grandma’s ability to intimidate people was still very strong.

After the few anchors’ publicity, Xiao Li stepped forward and warned them, and most of the other anchors did not dare to act rashly.

What’s more, one of Zhou Liang’s assistants died—the news was like a depth charge, causing panic, which resulted in several cars leaving the village within an hour.

(t/n: Depth charge-A bomb that does not explode until it reaches a predetermined depth below the surface of the water.)

Some people, in order to seek stimulation, even run up the mountain without believing in evil. Lu Yingjiu had seen this kind of pure seeking death behavior too much, and he couldn’t stop it even if he wanted to. If he saw one, he would only remind them a few words and give them a talisman.

In contrast, the villagers here were surprisingly calm.

Everyone was calm and relaxed, and went out for a walk after dinner, as if they had made up their minds that nothing would happen to them.

The food in the hotel was not good.

Lu Yingjiu ordered fried rice with pineapple and seafood. In the picture, half a beautiful pineapple was filled with golden fried rice. The shrimp was fresh and the fish was plump.

In fact, the dish that came was just a messy pineapple filled with clean rice.

Let alone a fresh shrimp, he couldn’t even see a single dried shrimp.

Looking at the menu again, the sentence [please refer to the actual product] almost sounded like irony.

Ye Feng and Xiao Li were even more miserable. One was eating stir fried tomato tomatoes, and the other was eating fried potato potatoes.

Jing Xian was obviously very dissatisfied with the meal, and pretended to go out to get some air, but actually came to beat ghosts, and temporarily asked a few little ghosts to buy takeaways.

As a result, he took two boxes of 12-inch pizza and various snacks, and under Xiao Li’s gaze as if watching a god, he returned to the dining table.

Opening the box, the pizza was still steaming hot, the pineapple and ham were squeezed together, and the grilled chicken wings were golden.

The four of them finally saw normal foods, coupled with the tiring experience of going up and down the mountain for half a day, slices of pizza disappeared at the speed of light.

Lu Yingjiu maintained an elegant appearance, wearing gloves, and slowly biting a piece of Hawaiian pizza.

After eating, they went to different parts of the village separately.

Although the villagers here were not afraid at all, there were still some protective measures that should be taken.

Lu Yingjiu walked along the outskirts of the village, arranging the talisman papers as he walked, and with a flick of his hand, the talisman papers flew out lightly and stuck to the eaves, tree trunks, and walls, shining dimly in the dark.

Some residents were too close to the forest, and he knocked on the door of each house and gave out talismans.

Some villagers readily accepted it, while others were very vigilant, scrutinizing him repeatedly to see if he was a liar, and their eyes wandered repeatedly between him and Jing Xian, who seemed someone not to be trifled with.

Jing Xian smiled, “You guys must accept this talisman, it is to ensure your safety.”

Little did one know that he was dissatisfied with these people, despised them for not knowing good or bad, and for even suspecting Lu Yingjiu. This smile was full of yin energy, with an aggressive burst and it had the taste of “if you don’t accept this protective talisman, you will really be unsafe”, it made the other party startled, and then hurriedly took the protective talisman.

Lu Yingjiu saw everything in his eyes, and helplessly elbowed Jing Xian, signaling him to restrain himself.

Only then did Jing Xian forcefully put on a friendly expression, and when he walked a little further, he whispered, “They don’t know the goods.” (TL: ability to identify the quality of goods or identify people)

The protective talismans painted by Lu Yingjiu were the best.

Lu Yingjiu just laughed. “Be more patient, not everyone knows how to exorcise ghosts.”

Jing Xian said, “With me here, no ghost would dare to come to the village.”

“Just a few households remaining.” Lu Yingjiu said, “It’s always better to be safe, otherwise I won’t be able to get over my conscience. I can draw a lot of protective talismans, but if something happens to someone, I won’t have the chance to do it again.” The current weather was stuffy and hot, he comforted Jing Xian and said, “I saw a small shop just now. When the matter is resolved, let’s go and buy some cold drinks.”

It was only then that Jing Xian restrained his distaste, followed him to distribute protective talismans, and was able to show a “friendly” smile to the villagers at the right time.

After the talisman papers were pasted up and the protective talismans were sent out, Lu Yingjiu took him to the small shop as expected.

The small shop was next to the lake, and there was a dim yellow light in the shop, illuminating many colorful magazines. There were Coke, Seven Up, and coffee on the shelves, and different types of ice cream in the freezer.

The boss was a middle-aged man with a magazine draped on his chest. On the cover of the magazine was a beautiful girl with outstanding looks, which made him smile even in his sleep.

Lu Yingjiu stopped. “Do you want to eat ice cream?”

Jing Xian was stunned for a moment. “Good.”

Lu Yingjiu tapped the table lightly with his fingers. “Boss, two ice creams, please.”

The boss woke up startled and gave a big yawn. “Which one do you want?”

In the end, both of them got chocolate ice cream, which was crispy with crushed nuts.

Lu Yingjiu liked the taste, and walked by the lake with the wind blowing.

During the day, the turquoise lake water was rippling, and shadows of the trees were dancing, which was as beautiful as a painting. At night, there wouldn’t be much scenery to see, and it would be quite dark by the lake, with only the lights in the distance falling into the water, illuminating the ripples with a yellow hue.

He turned his head and looked at Jing Xian——Jing Xian frowned slightly, took a small bite of the ice cream, and his expression was a bit tangled.

Lu Yingjiu smiled immediately. “Your expression, why is it the same as eating ice cream for the first time?”

“Too cold.” Jing Xian said.

…Actually, it was his first time eating ice cream. This thing was icy and sweet, different from what he imagined. He thought it would be as cold and hard as the thick ice in the ghost world, but when he bit it, it was soft.

It’s really delicious.

No wonder Lu Yingjiu likes it.

He just came to this world, even though he tried his best to pretend, there were still many things he didn’t understand, even giving gifts to pursue someone was so clumsy.

Thus he took another bite, remembering that this was the taste that Lu Yingjiu liked.

After walking against the lake breeze for more than ten minutes, the ice cream was finished.

Half of the lake was completely dark, if Lu Yingjiu hadn’t lit two talisman papers and made it fly at their sides, they would hardly see their fingers.

Next to it was a soft grass slope. During the day, a lot of children would run around, or pull kites flying in the wind, or chase and fight. After falling together, they could roll all the way from the slope to the bottom of the slope, be covered in green grass foam, and then climb up the slope crazily.

They went up the grass slope and sat on the top. The grass was really thick and soft and felt great to the touch.

The black hairball came out automatically and consciously.

“Awuuu!” it cried, rubbing against Lu Yingjiu’s hand, and then laid down next to him in a ball, and began to eat a small flower.

Hairball really liked Lu Yingjiu very much, even if Lu Yingjiu didn’t use inviting gods, he would often come to play with him, nibble on fruit, grab the cat food, or fight with the cow cat by the way.

This hairball was too small, unlike other ghosts and gods, it had no obvious characteristics, and no one could recognize its variety.

This matter was actually a bit embarrassing to say.

When everyone saw Lu Yingjiu, they would guess that the gods he could invite should be the ones with a fluttering celestial aura. Not to mention the splendor of the Peacock God, and the Li Snake’s aggressiveness , after all, it should be as reliable and good-looking as himself.

For example, a graceful crane with long legs, a charming cat demon, a big furry fox and so on.

Therefore, when they saw the short-legged black hairball, it all melted into nothingness.

Whenever someone tried to find out the variety of the hairball, Lu Yingjiu would always say: “I don’t know, I just picked it up in the trash can by the roadside.”

When others look at the short-legged hairball again, they would always sigh in their hearts.

Others didn’t have a clue, but Jing Xian could recognize it: he knew that despite the harmless appearance different from humans and animals, hairball was actually a ferocious beast.

It should be a juvenile young Tao Tie. (TL: a legendary greedy beast)

Those who were willing to help exorcists were mostly demon beasts or priests who were gentle and close to humans. If one would not say it, no one would have guessed that the former chief of the Green Lantern Association could summon a ferocious beast.

Now, seeing Jing Xian staring at the lively hairball, Lu Yingjiu explained, “It’s a Tao Tie. I really picked it up in the trash can. At that time, it was gnawing on pears.”

Jing Xian was taken aback for a moment, and teased, “I heard you tell others about it before, but never mention its name.”

“Because there’s no need to tell them.” Lu Yingjiu looked ahead, not at him, “It’s a ferocious beast. If others know about it, there will be more troubles.”

Jing Xian: “Then why did you tell me?”

Lu Yingjiu: “…..”

What kind of answer did Jing Xian want to hear, he still can’t figure it out?

It’s just a personal recognition that Jing Xian was special.

Lu Yingjiu pretended to be ignorant, pretending not to hear clearly, and wanted to take it over vaguely.

Unexpectedly, Jing Xian chased after him this time. “Why are you not talking? Why are you not answering me? Did you not hear the question clearly? Then I’ll ask again, why are you willing to tell me? Sigh, hurry up and talk.”

This series of buzzing questions made Lu Yingjiu dizzy, it was like a villain was beating a drum in his head.

He doesn’t usually see Jing Xian this aggressive.

Seeing that Jing Xian wanted to keep asking if he didn’t answer, he quickly changed the subject. “Ye Feng also knows that it is a Tao Tie, but there is one thing that even Ye Feng doesn’t know.”

Sure enough, the “exclusive secret of Lu Yingjiu” had enough attraction for Jing Xian.

Jing Xian was completely attracted by his words, and put the questioning behind him. “What is it?”

Lu Yingjiu said, “If it wasn’t for the aristocratic family keeping the supernatural beings by blood or contracts, they would actually be very picky about who to tie contracts with. From my observations, they would pick ghost exorcists who are similar to themselves.”

Jing Xian had never heard of this theory before.

He didn’t even bother to pay attention to which ghosts and gods found their ghost exorcist today, and which pair of contractors fell out again tomorrow.

He said suspiciously, “Really, I see it eats so much, but why is it that your appetite is as small as a cat’s. Last time I made such a big bowl of baked rice, yet you couldn’t eat half of it anymore.”

Lu Yingjiu raised his forehead. “Didn’t you look at the size of that bowl, it’s at least five or six times the normal size, if I can eat half of it, I already have a big appetite.”

“Okay.” Jing Xian was a little unwilling, “Keep talking. So where are your similarities? Is it that you’re both cute?”

He just said it casually, but Lu Yingjiu was shocked by this “cute” thing. He never thought in his life that he would be described like this in his adult life.

Jing Xian should really learn how to speak, he uses strange words every day, which interrupts his train of thought.

He forcibly pulled back his thoughts and said, “What, not cute… I think the similarity between me and it, is that we are both greedy.”

He continued, “Tao Tie will endlessly pursue food and never be satisfied. Others may think that I have nothing to pursue. In fact, I really don’t want many things, but it’s just that they are difficult to achieve.”

“When I was very young, I encountered ghosts every day, and what I wanted most was to survive. No one guaranteed me this. Later, I learned a little bit of talisman paper and was able to exorcise ghosts by myself. My wish was to have friends to play with me, but until I grew up, it didn’t happen. When I met Ye Feng, we were already not at the age where we could do hopscotch or play marbles.”

“Now I don’t have any special pursuits.” Lu Yingjiu said, “If I have to say it, I want to find out about my death, but it seems impossible at the moment.”

“As a result, I’m always pursuing something that is very difficult to achieve. From a certain point of view, it can be considered very greedy.”

Jing Xian looked at him.

It was only after Lu Yingjiu finished speaking that he realized that the atmosphere seemed too heavy.

He just coughed and touched hairball. “Ah, not to mention, it’s still very cute, isn’t it?”

Hairball: “Awwuu!” It began to wag its tail desperately.

Lu Yingjiu spoke again, “Don’t you think…hm??”

He only felt a weight on his body, then the heaven and earth spun around, and a soft touch came from his back, with a little grassy wetness.

He was stunned for a few seconds before he realized: Jing Xian hugged him directly, and was rolling down from the top of the slope!

Just like those little brats playing around in the morning!

The eyesight constantly spun, one moment it was the green grass, next it would be the blue-black night. Jing Xian hugged him tightly, and rolled all the way down like this, without stopping for half a second, all thoughts seemed to have been thrown away.

After an unknown amount of time, they stopped at the bottom of the slope.

Jing Xian didn’t fully press on him, Lu Yingjiu only felt a little weight, but he inexplicably felt heavy. The dew was a little cold behind his back, but Jing Xian’s body temperature that continuously came from his chest was as hot as fire.

He was still not used to the assault brought by the same sex person, his body tensed for a moment, but it slowly relaxed again.

The two looked at each other, with drops of water and some green grass foam on the side of their faces.

The light of the talisman shone on Jing Xian’s side face, outlining a handsome line with sharp edges and corners, with a straight nose and sideburns cut like a knife, like a profound oil painting. His eyes were very deep, like the abyss in the ghost world, dark and unfathomable. When he looked at people seriously, it seemed as if the whole world was in front of them.

He raised the corners of his mouth to Lu Yingjiu, and said with a smile, “Isn’t this playing?”

“…” Lu Yingjiu couldn’t help feeling amused, “What, why are you so childish.”

“Childish or not childish, just be happy.” Jing Xian took it for granted, “Age is never a problem. If you want to play, we will roll from the top of the slope ten or eight times.” He stretched out his hand to stroke the ends of Lu Yingjiu’s hair, and pressed down a few messy locks. “How about it, do you want to play again? I can still roll a little faster! We can go as fast as you want!”

“Don’t, don’t.” Lu Yingjiu really laughed this time, until his eyes curled up and his chest trembled, “If we do it again, my brain will be shaken up.”

It wasn’t until he finished laughing that he realized they were still hugging each other.

Jing Xian was really too close, as long as he lowered his head lightly, he could kiss him.

Lu Yingjiu looked at Jing Xian, as if he had a lot of thoughts in his head, but also seemed to have nothing at all.

In the end, he just thought that he would have to wipe off the foam on Jing Xian’s face later.

“…Lu Yingjiu,” Jing Xian looked at him and said after a long time, “You have been thinking about something these past few days.”

Lu Yingjiu froze for a few seconds.

Then he said frankly, “Yes. I was thinking about the ‘time has come’ thing. I am not afraid of death. I have earned it to be able to live until now, and there is nothing to regret. I just don’t know what kind of death it is. Maybe my soul will scatter after death, and I won’t even be able to go to the ghost world.”

He looked at Jing Xian. “It’s not fair to you, we just met not long ago.”

“No,” Jing Xian said, “I came here for this matter.”

Lu Yingjiu was stunned, “You know?”

“Just a part of it.” Jing Xian said, “For some reason, I can’t tell you the truth, but I know in my heart that you will not die. Lu Yingjiu, I will definitely not let you die.”

Lu Yingjiu looked at him.

The mountain wind blew all the way from the top of the mountains to their sides, the lake surface rippled, the flames of the talisman paper flickered, and the scent of green grass and trees filled the nostrils. The night in this village was peaceful and beautiful, as if nothing could disturb it.

Just when Jing Xian felt that it was hard for the other to believe, since empty words couldn’t be used as evidence, Lu Yingjiu looked at him and smiled, “Mn. I believe you.”

The trust in his eyes was sincere and unreserved.

Jing Xian’s heart warmed up, and his heart pounded like never before, as if it was about to break out of his chest. The tide of joy squeezed together, rolling out snow-white waves.

This, he thought, was probably what it felt like to be alive.

Such warmth.

He heard Lu Yingjiu say again, “Because of this matter, I thought that even if we were together, there would be hidden dangers, so I was still hesitant…..But since you said so, I’m not worried about it anymore.”

He didn’t know if it’s an illusion, but Jing Xian’s ears seemed to be a little red, like an illusion brought by the fire.

——Lu Yingjiu stretched out his hand, and gently wiped away the dew and grass foam on the side of Jing Xian’s face.

Then he bent his pair of beautiful, cat-like brown eyes and said with a smile, “Okay, now you can continue pursuing me.”