After Marrying the Lord of the Underworld

Chu Banyang said he was going to run for election, and he really did it.

 

He stood on the podium, propped up his hands, and spoke in a very steady tone. “Hello everyone, my name is Chu Banyang, and today I am running for the position of Study Committee Member…”

 

Yao Gou was dumbfounded. “Wow! He’s also a tough guy!”

 

Wu Runzhi, who was originally crying a mess, was also stunned. He probably didn’t expect that Chu Banyang would be mixed in among the students.

 

Chu Banyang continued, “I have been excellent in my studies since I was a child. I have participated in various competitions since elementary school, including first place in the city’s Mathematical Olympiad, first place in the Youth Programming Competition, first place in the primary and secondary school Science Competition…”

 

He listed more than a dozen awards in one breath, each one different.

 

Then he said, “In junior high school, my grades were also very good. I continued to participate in various competitions, including the Hua Luogeng Mathematics Competition, the provincial ‘Chinese Cup’ competition…”

 

Again, there were more than a dozen different awards, all first place.

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

It’s been more than a decade, and Chu Banyang could still recite these awards fluently.

 

How many times must he have secretly rehearsed at night!

 

What kind of persistence is it, that made him remember until today!

 

The students below were also stunned, staring blankly at Chu Banyang.

 

Chu Banyang: “In addition to studying, my extracurricular activities are also very rich. I got the grade 8 certificate of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music for piano when I was in elementary school. I have learned horse riding, Go and chess, and I specialize in tennis and golf…”

 

He said a lot more, without stopping for half a second.

 

Just looking at his serious and earnest expression, the ups and downs of his tone, and his firm and strong attitude, he seemed to be analyzing the case in front of all the exorcists at the Green Lantern Association, not running for class office.

 

He wanted to continue speaking, but the teacher next to him coughed lightly, “Chu, each person only has 5 minutes for self-presentation, and your time is up.”

 

Chu Banyang only then reluctantly stopped, adjusted his collar, and elegantly said, “My speech is over, thank you everyone.”

 

After finishing, Chu Banyang walked off the podium with his head held high, feeling quite proud as if he had returned his sword to its sheath.

 

Everyone was stunned.

 

It took a while before hesitant applause came.

 

“This…” The teacher didn’t know how to comment, “This, our classmate Chu is very excellent, not only in terms of grades, but also in all-round development. So, are there any other students who want to run for the study committee?”

 

The class was silent.

 

The teacher asked several times, but no one responded. Everyone was stunned by Chu Banyang’s dazzling achievements.

 

So the teacher said, “Okay, let’s congratulate Chu for becoming the study committee member of our class!”

 

Everyone clapped their hands in a daze.

 

Chu Banyang nodded slightly, politely expressing his thanks to the people around him. There was satisfaction in his eyes, and he seemed to feel “it’s about time you recognized my worth”.

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

He once again deeply felt that Chu Banyang was completely hopeless. His obsession with “being first” surpassed everything.

 

In this way, the class meeting ended.

 

Ding dong dong——

 

The bell rang for the end of class, and the students packed up their things, ready to disperse.

 

Fang Yu also put his arm around Wu Runzhi’s shoulder and said, “Old Wu, shall we go play basketball? Today, those guys from Class 3 said they wanted to play a game with us.”

 

Wu Runzhi was stunned for a few seconds, then nodded with tears in his eyes, “Um. However long you want to play, we’ll play.”

 

“Why are you so happy today,” Fang Yu patted his shoulder, “This illness has cured all your hesitations. Let me tell you some good news.” He leaned into Wu Runzhi’s ear mysteriously, “Jiang Ruoyun will also go today.”

 

Jiang Ruoyun was Wu Runzhi’s high school crush.

 

He never said “I like you” until the end.

 

Wu Runzhi was stunned again, then walked away with Fang Yu, heading straight for the playground.

 

Yao Gou scratched his head and asked Lu Yingjiu, “What should we do? Shall we follow?”

 

“Let’s go and see.” Lu Yingjiu said.

When they arrived at the playground, it was bustling with people coming and going.

 

Except for the people from Class 2, the other students were just black shadows, their bodies diffusing with mist, without faces.

 

When Lu Yingjiu walked through the shadows, he tried to touch them. The fingertips that touched them were cold, the mist dispersed, and the entire shadow disappeared directly.

 

Yao Gou found it novel and touched several shadows on the road, causing them to disperse.

 

——Only the people from Class 2 are the deceased, remaining in this campus.

 

Others were not even ghosts, they were simply part of the background.

 

No matter how realistic it looked, it couldn’t hide the fact that this was an illusion.

 

The basketball game was about to start, a group of boys and Wu Runzhi huddled together, and five or six black shadows stood opposite.

 

A whistle sounded!

 

The basketball flew across the blue sky!

 

Three-pointers, blocks, dribbling past people, fadeaway jump shots…

 

Wu Runzhi started crying again while playing.

 

Crying while playing.

 

Playing while crying.

 

Surprisingly, he performed quite well, scoring several goals in a row.

 

Just like in class, no matter how hard he cried, no one felt anything was wrong.

 

The ghosts couldn’t tell he was crying, couldn’t tell he had already become a man in his thirties, couldn’t tell that decades had passed between them, separated by life and death.

 

On the edge of the playground, a girl in a white dress stood. She had a ponytail, held an unopened bottle of mineral water in her hand, and her eyes followed Wu Runzhi all the time, with a smile.

 

Lu Yingjiu sat on the bench on the playground and said to Jing Xian, “Look, that must be Jiang Ruoyun they were talking about.”

 

“Hmm.” Jing Xian nodded, slightly lowering his eyes, “It seems they have a mutual crush.”

 

He held hairball that had just run out in his arms, scratched its chin, and made the little beast hum comfortably.

 

Then Jing Xian stood up, and lifted hairball——

 

Before Lu Yingjiu had time to stop him, he saw Jing Xian throw hairball out in a standard throwing posture!

 

Hairball: “Awoo?”

 

It flew across the sky, accurately entered the hoop, fell to the ground and bounced several times, looking completely bewildered.

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

Just as Jing Xian turned his head back, somewhat proudly saying, “Look at my basketball skills, aren’t they good…..ah.”

 

He got a hard hit on the head from Lu Yingjiu.

 

Jing Xian subconsciously touched his head and said, “Didn’t you also throw it out before?”

 

“I did that out of necessity, not for fun like you.” Lu Yingjiu glared at him, “Go pick it up quickly.”

 

Jing Xian had to get up and pick up hairball that was running around, feeling a bit like he was being scolded for taking care of a child.

 

Wu Runzhi was still sweating profusely over there.

 

Finally, during the halftime break, he took a few sips of water from Jiang Ruoyun’s hand, wanted to say something to her, but didn’t speak in the end.

 

Then he went back to the court.

 

He performed well today, scoring continuously, and finally won by a large margin, which was very impressive.

 

By the time Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian wandered around the school and returned to the classroom, they saw that Wu Runzhi had also returned.

 

He sat in the classroom, forcibly holding Fang Yu from leaving, mumbling a lot of things in his mouth.

 

There was a basketball medal placed on the table. He had just cried too miserably, and his eyes were still red.

 

Chu Banyang also came, holding a class list in his hand.

 

Lu Yingjiu glanced at the list and found that he had even ranked the students’ names, and circled the names of the last five students, marking them as “need tutoring”.

 

He completely immersed himself in the role of the study committee member, conscientious and dedicated. Given more time, Chu Banyang would definitely go tutor personally, determined to make the class’s average score the first in the grade.

 

As soon as the three of them entered the classroom, Wu Runzhi turned his head abruptly and said to them, “You’re finally here!”

 

“How’s it going?” Lu Yingjiu sat down in front of him.

 

Wu Runzhi hurriedly asked, “I want to know, when will this illusion end? How much longer can I be with them?”

 

Lu Yingjiu pointed at the wall, “The calendar shows it’s March 21st, I checked the news, the incident happened on March 24th. So, at most, there are 3 days left.”

 

He added, “Moreover, time in the illusion often flows faster than reality. According to real time, you might only have about one day.”

 

Wu Runzhi was stunned for a moment, then continued to ask, “Is there any way we can save them? For example, stop them on the 24th and not let them get on that bus? Then they won’t die.”

 

“…It’s impossible.” Lu Yingjiu shook his head, “This is just an illusion, it can’t change the past.”

 

The light in Wu Runzhi’s eyes visibly dimmed.

 

Chu Banyang said indifferently, “I want to remind you that this illusion is very unstable and carries too many ghosts. It may not even last the day you mentioned.”

 

Wu Runzhi looked up sharply, “What should we do then!”

 

“…We can only try to maintain the stability of the scene.” Lu Yingjiu leaned against the window overlooking the campus.

 

Chu Banyang added, “Also, your classmates cannot die before the 24th. The departure of each ghost causes a great disturbance to the illusion. If they all dissipate, there will be no hope.”

 

Wu Runzhi looked at them, “I don’t understand exorcism very well, can… can you guys help me?”

 

He continued, “Since they asked me to come back in the dream, they must have some unfulfilled wishes. No matter what their wishes are, I want to try to understand and help them fulfill them.”

 

His voice was choked with emotion, a man in his thirties, as vulnerable as a child today.

 

Lu Yingjiu sighed silently.

 

Then he said, “Hmm, I’ll try my best.”

 

Chu Banyang also hummed lightly, which was considered an agreement.

 

Wu Runzhi kept thanking them, and finally left with his good friend Fang Yu, ready to go to the dormitory.

 

****

 

After Wu Runzhi left, Lu Yingjiu pulled Jing Xian, ready to take another careful look at the campus.

 

Most of the exorcism commissions he received were to break illusions and inner demons.

 

This was his first time protecting an illusion, and his experience was inevitably insufficient.

 

It was nearing dusk.

 

The sky was a transition of orange and deep purple, the rich colors spread across the horizon, coupled with the distinct layers of clouds, it looked like a painting.

 

Jing Xian took out two bottles of iced drinks from his four-dimensional backpack and handed one to Lu Yingjiu.

 

Lu Yingjiu took it and looked at the playground under the setting sun.

 

The laughter of the students and the sound of basketballs colliding came from the playground. They stood in the crowd, knowing that everything was an illusion, but for a second, they felt like they were in a real campus.

 

Lu Yingjiu remembered that when he was in school, he had seen many such scenes.

 

At that time, he sat by the window of the classroom, looking out, a huge sunset fell between the buildings, the warm light painted the glass. Students ran on the playground, the wind blew through the old trees of the school, causing a rustling sound.

 

The dusk was beautiful.

 

But after nightfall, shadows swallowed everything, and ghosts would become active.

 

Every time, he would subconsciously touch the longevity lock on his chest – this had almost become his habit, as if doing so would reduce the number of ghosts he encountered that night.

 

At this moment, Lu Yingjiu looked back and suddenly realized that he hadn’t touched the longevity lock for a long time.

 

He still wore it every day out of habit.

 

But when he was thinking and hesitating, his first reaction was no longer this.

 

Instead…

 

Lu Yingjiu turned his head to look at Jing Xian, his expression soft.

 

Jing Xian was staring at a few male students in the distance. Those students were sitting on the bench and were too bored, each holding a bottle of energy drink, throwing it forward forcefully, and the water flow rotated, creating a small vortex in the bottle.

 

Jing Xian watched them for a while.

 

Lu Yingjiu laughed in his ear, “What? Haven’t you seen it before?”

 

“I haven’t.” Jing Xian said, turning his head to nuzzle Lu Yingjiu affectionately, “Why don’t you teach me?”

 

“What’s there to teach.” Lu Yingjiu said, “You just bump the bottle forward, and the water will spin on its own.”

 

Jing Xian did as he said.

 

Indeed, a small vortex was created in the bottle.

 

Lu Yingjiu laughed, “See, you can do it now.”

 

Jing Xian spun it a few more times, then said to him, “This is not fun, not exciting enough. I’ll show you a trick from the ghost world.”

 

He unscrewed the cap, gently stretched out his hand –

 

A gust of cold wind rose, stirring the water to rotate in the air, extremely flexible, as if it had life. He hooked his finger again, and the water flow condensed into several small fish, swimming around Lu Yingjiu in the air.

 

Lu Yingjiu touched a small fish, and the water droplet turned into a blooming flower.

 

The petals bloomed layer by layer, the water flow had a warm glow under the light, with a unique crystal clear feeling.

 

Lu Yingjiu said, “This trick of yours would be great for picking up people, especially girls, they should like this kind of thing.”

 

He casually remarked, not expecting Jing Xian to be immediately alert, “I won’t go pick up others!!”

 

Lu Yingjiu: ?

 

Jing Xian visibly panicked, waved his hand, and all the little fish swam back into the bottle.

 

Then he tightly grabbed Lu Yingjiu’s hand and promised, “My love for you is as endless as the surging river, as steadfast as the distant green mountains, I would never use these tricks to pick up others!”

 

Lu Yingjiu: ??

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…Don’t be so nervous, I really just casually said it.”

 

Jing Xian: “No, all the novels I’ve read tell me that when you say something like this, you must be doubting something about me. Next is the breakup, then the chase for the wife’s cremation, and possibly even changing the male lead!!”

 

Lu Yingjiu: ???

 

He had never seen anyone put a hat on his head like this before.

 

He said in confusion, “Jing Xian, what kind of novels do you usually read… Calm down, this is my true words, I don’t have the habit of making hidden meanings…”

 

Jing Xian still agitatedly held his hand, “You don’t like flowers, right? Then I won’t perform these for you. Don’t be angry, I’ll show you something better! I guarantee you’ll like it!”

 

He snapped his fingers, and the water in the bottle surged out again.

 

This time, the water flow spread horizontally in the air.

 

Jing Xian snapped his fingers again, and the water flow flew out in groups, hitting the wall of the playground hard!

 

For a moment, all Lu Yingjiu could hear was the sound of bullets.

 

Dust was flying in front of him, and the white wall was shot with countless holes by the water bullets. The water flow swept across like a machine gun, extremely violent!

 

After demonstrating the water flow machine gun, Jing Xian turned his head to look at him, “Do you like this?”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

Looking at the wall full of holes and the stunned students, he quickly grabbed hairball with one hand and Jing Xian with the other, and fled the scene with his family.

 

As soon as they turned the corner, Lu Yingjiu started knocking on Jing Xian’s head fiercely.

 

Jing Xian was a bit wronged, and as soon as he reached out, he hugged him and asked, “Now you don’t misunderstand me, right?”

 

“I never misunderstood!” Lu Yingjiu knocked him, “You should read less novels in the future!”

 

Jing Xian continued to hold him, and after holding him for a while, his hand became dishonest and pinched his waist.

 

The sunset had only a little light left, and the broken light gently brushed Lu Yingjiu’s soft black hair, with a few strands of soft light.

 

The orange-red also fell on his side face, outlining the delicate eyebrows and eyes, the skin was smooth, just looking at it, one could imagine the delicate touch. The depression of the shoulder socket and collarbone was a distinct shadow.

 

In this corner, there were no other people except them.

 

Students rarely pass by here, they were like a couple afraid of being discovered, hiding in the corner of the campus.

 

The two looked at each other.

 

At this moment, Lu Yingjiu looked at Jing Xian and thought of many things.

 

He thought of the longevity lock, thought of the persistent “your time has come”, thought of the text messages sent by Mrs. Chen, the photos taken by Zhang Nianyun, and Chu You holding Chu Banyang’s hand before his death, asking him if he knew Lu Yingjiu.

 

He thought of the temple built by Chu Qianju, the exorcist in white in the mural with slender fingers, that was actually his previous life. He thought of the curse of the Peacock God and Chu Qianju, thought of their eternal inability to be together, only to fight each other, waiting for the next reincarnation.

 

He thought of the huge eye in the sky, mixed with lightning and thunder, summoning the attendant of the Heavenly Way, the blood flowing into a river on the highway, like purgatory…

 

These many disturbing images, skimmed over his heart.

 

Finally, his consciousness returned to the present, and he saw Jing Xian’s deep eyes.

 

Jing Xian held him and said in his ear, “What else do you want to see, I’ll perform for you?”

 

“No more,” Lu Yingjiu smiled helplessly, “I’m really afraid you’ll tear down the whole school.”

 

Jing Xian was still eager to say something, but Lu Yingjiu had already pulled his collar, asking him to lower his head, and kissed him.

 

The last ray of light in the world elongated their shadows and fell on the white wall.

 

The evening breeze was so comfortable that they both kissed passionately.

 

In the midst of the kiss, Lu Yingjiu thought: he didn’t need the longevity lock at all, because Jing Xian was by his side.

 

When Jing Xian backed away, the last light was just swallowed by the horizon, and the world dimmed.

 

He looked at Lu Yingjiu.

 

Lu Yingjiu’s emotional expression was not as outgoing as his, at this moment, all emotions were in his eyes. Jing Xian only felt that those eyes were still bright, divine and beautiful, and the brilliance in them never set.

 

That was a light he could never see in the ghost world.

 

It was also once his only salvation.

 

The surroundings were getting darker and darker, Lu Yingjiu said softly, “Let’s go, there’s no one left on the playground.”

 

“…Hmm.” Jing Xian nodded.

 

Lu Yingjiu took a few steps and said, “Don’t play with your drink machine gun anymore, and don’t use hairball for shooting.”

 

Jing Xian: “Hmm hmm hmm.”

 

As always, he perfunctorily agreed.

 

Lu Yingjiu said, “Let’s go and see those students again. As long as we don’t let them die, it’s fine.”

 

He said so, but he didn’t think it was a big deal.

 

As long as it reached the 24th, even if there was only one ghost left in the class, the illusion could end smoothly.

 

Although the illusion was different from reality, anything could happen. But in the school, no matter how one dies or no matter how unlucky one was, a class of more than 20 people would not die out in three days, right?

 

Just as Lu Yingjiu was thinking about it, he saw a boy from Class 2 running fast on the first floor corridor.

 

While running, he suddenly clutched his chest and fell down with a painful face.

 

“Ah!” he shouted, his tone emotionless, like a reading stick, “I have a heart attack! I’m going to die!”

 

Lu Yingjiu: ?

 

Before he could react from such a dramatic statement, the boy had already turned his eyes and turned into a cloud of gray mist and died.

 

Lu Yingjiu: ??

 

This one died?

 

The phone vibrated, and he picked it up full of doubts. Yao Gou’s panicked voice came. “What should I do! I’m on the rooftop, a classmate said he wanted to perform a backflip for me, and he just flipped downstairs!”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…Did he die?”

 

“I’m on the 10th floor, do you think he’s dead?!” Yao Gou was still panicking, “Do you think a person can grow wings in 2 seconds?!”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

He had a very bad feeling.

 

Just after calming Yao Gou and hanging up the phone, another call came in.

 

This time it was Chu Banyang.

 

Chu Banyang was silent for a while and said, “Two people just died in the dormitory.”

 

Lu Yingjiu took a deep breath. “How did they die?”

 

“They were secretly using an induction cooker to cook hot pot in the dormitory, and the induction cooker exploded and suddenly killed them.”

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

He seemed to see a ghost version of Final Destination.

 

Lu Yingjiu asked, “How many people are there in this class?”

 

The study committee member Chu Banyang answered quickly,  “Including Wu Runzhi, there are 24 people in total.”

 

“Let me tell you some very unfortunate news: in the past five minutes, we have lost 4 good classmates.” Lu Yingjiu said, “And we still have three days to go.”

 

Chu Banyang: ?