The milk level gradually dropped by half a cup, and a bite mark appeared on one of the small pastries on the nearby plate.
Xie Ningwan paused his work, resting a finger against his chin with one hand as he focused on watching the food across from him diminish.
“You can hear me talking, right?” he said.
The milk level stopped dropping. Song Yaoyao lifted his head, blinked, and said nothing.
Xie Ningwan looked at the milk in the cup and continued, “I know you mean me no harm. Thank you for protecting me last time. Don’t be afraid—I won’t do anything to you.
“But I need to figure out why you’re by my side and who you are.”
He laid his cards on the table.
【System, System.】 Song Yaoyao grew a bit nervous, held his breath, and kept calling out to the System in his mind. He hadn’t remembered the System’s employee number on the first day, so he could only shout like this.
He wasn’t sure if he could just come clean to Xie Ningwan about his own situation.
Just like last time, the System didn’t appear.
Song Yaoyao held the milk cup and glanced at the small pastries beside it, torn.
Xie Ningwan was truly cunning. He pretended to be kind by giving him food, only to pry for information.
He had originally planned to secretly muddle through, staying by Xie Ningwan’s side just like that. Now, it seemed he really couldn’t hide anymore…
He kept trying to contact the System. Xie Ningwan continued, “Can I see you?”
Song Yaoyao stayed silent, pursed his lips, and failed again to reach the System. Since the System wouldn’t show up, he could only improvise.
Song Yaoyao glanced around, leaned forward gently, and poked the pen next to Xie Ningwan’s hand.
“Clatter-clatter…” The pen rolled to the edge of the desk, where Xie Ningwan steadied it.
Outside the office, quite a few employees were still whispering about the big incident at the company that day—some discussing the high-level shakeup, others the haunted meeting room—chattering away.
“Someone’s really getting demoted this time, huh? No idea who it’ll be.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not something ordinary employees like us can guess. We’ll find out when it happens.”
“Better to think about whether we might get promoted if someone up top leaves.”
“Hahahahaha.”
Everyone murmured on.
“But the haunted meeting room—is that for real?”
“Come on, you believe that? Stick to materialism and reject feudal superstitions.”
“I’m sorry, President Xie has no time right now. He’s not seeing anyone.” Assistant Lei stood guard at the door, blocking two middle-aged men who had just argued with Xie Ningwan in the meeting room.
The two men exchanged a glance. One of them said discontentedly, “We had a misunderstanding with President Xie during the meeting just now. We’re here specially to clear it up. What’s this about not letting us see him?”
“President Xie said he has no time. No one can disturb him.” Assistant Lei didn’t budge.
Compared to the noise outside the door, inside the office, one man and one ghost—Xie Ningwan held that pen, silently pondering.
Knowing of the little ghost’s existence was one thing; seriously thinking it through was another.
What exactly was the deal with this little ghost?
Xie Ningwan didn’t say anything for a while. Song Yaoyao continued drinking milk and eating pastries. One small pastry quickly vanished bite by bite into thin air.
Xie Ningwan’s gaze fell on the plate holding the pastries. He tapped his fingers on the desk, suddenly thought of something, and stood up to head outside the office.
Xie Ningwan opened the office door. Assistant Lei was still dealing with the two middle-aged men and looked over when he saw Xie Ningwan emerge. “President Xie, you…?”
The two middle-aged men hurriedly seized the chance. “President Xie, you really misunderstood us today. Let’s talk it over properly…”
Xie Ningwan raised the back of his hand to silence them and said coolly, “No need to say more. The investigations are done. Assistant Lei will handle the rest.”
“Yes, President Xie.” Assistant Lei acknowledged and blocked the two men.
Brushing past the two ashen-faced middle-aged men, Xie Ningwan strode straight to the reception room.
If he remembered right, the reception room’s desk had fresh flowers and dolls that the executive secretary had thoughtfully arranged.
Sure enough. Xie Ningwan walked to the desk, picked up a little bear doll figurine from the surface, and turned back to the office.
Song Yaoyao sat on the swivel chair, having finished the milk and pastries. He spun the chair to see what Xie Ningwan was up to.
Xie Ningwan closed the door and placed the little bear doll in front of Song Yaoyao.
“Now, when I ask you questions, you can nod or shake it with this bear,” he said.
Song Yaoyao looked at the doll bear in front of him, hesitated for a moment, then picked it up and pressed down on its head.
It looked just like the little bear nodding.
“Good,” Xie Ningwan nodded too. He lowered his gaze, thought for a moment, and asked, “Do you have some purpose for following me around?”
The little bear doll nodded first, then shook its head twice in quick succession.
Xie Ningwan stared at the little bear. Song Yaoyao looked at Xie Ningwan innocently.
…That was close. He almost gave himself away.
How could he possibly tell Xie Ningwan that he needed to absorb the Fortune from his body to turn human? That would be admitting he was a bad ghost.
Xie Ningwan didn’t show any particular expression. He pondered for two seconds and continued, “Why did you appear by my side?”
Song Yaoyao patted the little bear doll’s head, making it shake its head.
He wasn’t exactly lying. Although the System had told him the general reason—that he had grabbed this book when he drowned and needed to absorb the protagonist Xie Ningwan’s Fortune to turn back human—he himself had no idea why something as bizarre as transmigrating into a book had happened to him.
“Got it.” Xie Ningwan nodded.
It seemed this little ghost was clueless himself.
“Then you can stay by my side for now,” Xie Ningwan said.
Song Yaoyao hadn’t expected Xie Ningwan to be so agreeable. He sat in the chair, looking up at him. Xie Ningwan returned to his desk and truly didn’t press Song Yaoyao further.
Song Yaoyao fiddled with the little bear doll, holding it in his hand and moving it around.
As Song Yaoyao moved, the little bear followed along, looking utterly adorable.
“I won’t pry into where exactly you came from for now, but I need to see you,” Xie Ningwan said, his gaze falling on the little bear floating in midair. “From now on, you always carry it with you, okay?”
The little bear hovering in the air nodded twice as the little ghost pressed its head.
Xie Ningwan hadn’t been at the company for a while. Although he handled some work from home, tasks had piled up.
After this initial exchange between one man and one ghost, Xie Ningwan resumed working. Song Yaoyao balanced the little bear doll on his head and sprawled on the sofa.
Xie Ningwan was probing him, but Song Yaoyao wasn’t idle either—he was thinking too.
Xie Ningwan wanted him to always carry the little bear, which made it impossible for him to conveniently stick close to Xie Ningwan or sprawl on him to absorb Fortune. But—
If he didn’t carry the little bear, Xie Ningwan wouldn’t know, and he couldn’t see him anyway!
So Song Yaoyao took the little bear doll off his head, placed it on the sofa in a pose that suggested a little ghost was right beside it, then floated over to Xie Ningwan as usual. He pounced onto his shoulder, smugly and contentedly hugging his neck.
…
Xie Ningwan focused on work for forty minutes, then lifted his hand to take a sip of coffee from the desk. When he set the cup down, his movement paused.
His shoulders and neck started feeling heavy and sore again.
“…” Xie Ningwan’s gaze subtly swept over the little bear doll sitting primly on the sofa, then shifted to his own shoulder.
He really hadn’t guessed wrong. This was a rogue little ghost that loved sticking to him.
