Chapter 9

On the rosewood desk sat a pair of red canvas shoes. It was apparent they had been worn for many years. They were very clean, but the heels were visibly worn.

Knock. Knock.

From outside the study came Gongliang Ye’s voice. “Master, Jiang Wu has left.”

Lu Sheng looked at the canvas shoes for a moment, then raised his index finger. The two loose shoelaces simultaneously knotted themselves.

Just then, Gongliang Ye asked hesitantly, “Are we just letting him leave like this… What if he doesn’t come back?”

With a wave of his hand, Lu Sheng made the canvas shoes disappear. His voice was deep and low. “He will be back.”

—

At that moment, Jiang Wu stepped out of the grand residence and was immediately greeted by the bustling traffic of the city center.

He didn’t look back. He followed the sidewalk straight ahead. Half an hour later, he arrived at his part-time job.

He had no classes today and had scheduled a shift.

Jiang Wu had been very calm the entire way there, until his supervisor handed him a frog costume. The supervisor frowned at him. “What happened to your hand? Can you work like this?”

Jiang Wu’s fingertips trembled slightly as he took the costume. He smiled and said, “It’s just cold. Shivering from the cold.”

“No, not that,” the supervisor pointed at his right arm. “It’s bandaged. This job requires constant use of your hands. Are you sure you can do it?”

As if waking from a dream, Jiang Wu moved his right hand. “I can.”

The supervisor looked away, handed him a thick stack of flyers, and said, “Lunch is a boxed meal provided at noon. Someone will deliver it to you.”

As the supervisor went off to handle other things, Jiang Wu—who had worn mascot costumes before—struggled a bit to put it on this time due to his injured right hand. Once suited up, he picked up the flyers with his left hand and walked out of the mall.

The flyers were designed quite romantically. They were event promotions for the mall’s Cloud Top Restaurant.

The New Year was approaching, and there would be a fireworks display in the city center. The Cloud Top Restaurant was the best viewing spot, with a minimum spending of 1231 per person.

Jiang Wu was very targeted in his approach. He didn’t bother people who were walking hurriedly, choosing instead to approach young people who were strolling around, carrying shopping bags. By lunchtime, he had already handed out most of the flyers.

Before long, a girl ran over and gave him a boxed lunch and another thick stack of flyers. “Hand all these out, then come find me in the first-floor break room to settle your pay.”

Jiang Wu nodded. He looked around, then took his boxed lunch over to a flower bed. He pulled out a tissue, wiped the edge of the flower bed clean, took off his frog headpiece, and sat down beside it to open the meal.

The rice was only slightly warm. It came with three side dishes: stir-fried greens, stir-fried pork, and green pepper stewed with soft tofu.

Jiang Wu didn’t like fatty meat, and the stir-fried pork was mostly thick slices of fat. With his right hand hanging down, he snapped open the disposable chopsticks with his left. He placed the box on his knee, lowered his head, and carefully picked out the fatty pieces, putting them onto the lid.

Once he’d removed the fat, Jiang Wu first picked up a lump of the soft, stewed tofu. The taste was neither good nor bad; a bit too salty. He quickly shoveled a mouthful of rice down, swallowing to let it settle. He recalled the bowl of Yellow Croaker Noodles he’d had that morning.

Was it because he was the Ghost Emperor? Able to make even ordinary noodles taste that good?

Was that man truly the Ghost Emperor?

Had he appeared before him because… Jiang Wu was also about to die?

A sudden, fierce pain shot through his right arm, causing his left hand to tremble along with it. Jiang Wu nearly dropped his chopsticks. He exhaled softly, tightened his grip, and continued eating his rice in large bites.

Compared to the unknown fear and potential death, his most pressing matter at the moment was that his books were still at the landlady’s house. He had to finish handing out the flyers early and make a trip back to Kongming Village.

He was almost finished eating when a pair of nice black Doc Martens appeared in his field of vision. Jiang Wu swallowed his rice and looked up, finding a face looming right in front of his own.

“Whoa, nice shoes. Limited edition.” Tan Yiqian had his hands in his coat pockets, his chin buried in a soft, warm cashmere scarf. He bent down and grinned at Jiang Wu. “A gift from Xie Qingyuan?”

Jiang Wu glanced at the very warm shoes on his feet. Limited edition, huh? He wiped the soup from his lips and said, “None of your business.”

“I’m asking out of concern for my boyfriend.” Tan Yiqian tilted his chin to the left, pointing at Ge Bei not far away. “We just finished eating and didn’t expect to run into you out here.” His eyes curved into crescents. “Handing out flyers for my family’s mall.”

Having eaten his last bite of rice, Jiang Wu put down his chopsticks, closed the lunch box, and grabbed a flyer. “Then why don’t you take one for me—no, make it two.” He grabbed another one and offered both to Tan Yiqian. “There are two of you, you and your boyfriend. Two flyers.”

Tan Yiqian smiled a plastic smile. “No problem.” He took the flyers and casually tossed them aside. “Give me two more.”

Jiang Wu set down his lunch box, got up, retrieved the two flyers from the ground, turned back, and offered them to Tan Yiqian.

Tan Yiqian’s eye twitched. He snatched the flyers and threw them again. “Pick them up! Keep picking them up!”

Jiang Wu was no innocent little lamb! When no one else was around, he’d fire back with sharp, sarcastic words. When others were present, he’d put on an act of silent endurance to provoke him. Even an award-winning actor couldn’t put on a better show than Jiang Wu!

Actually, Tan Yiqian was overthinking it. This time, Jiang Wu genuinely wasn’t provoking him. Compared to the disgusting severed hands and tongues from the previous night, Tan Yiqian was clearly much cuter. Just harmless verbal barbs, and he’d even proactively delivered a generous breach-of-contract penalty. Seeing Tan Yiqian again actually gave Jiang Wu a tangible sense of reality and stability—the certainty that he was truly still alive.

It was quite endearing.

Jiang Wu picked up the flyers again, dusted them off, and asked, “Still want two more?”

“Yes!” Tan Yiqian gritted his teeth. He was just about to take them when his hand was grabbed.

“Enough.” Ge Bei tightened his grip on Tan Yiqian’s wrist, pulling him closer. His brow was furrowed. “Let’s go.”

Tan Yiqian sneered, “Oh, don’t tell me you’re heartbroken?”

Ge Bei immediately shot a glance at Jiang Wu. “What nonsense are you spouting! I’m worried about you standing in the cold wind. Stay or leave, I don’t care.” He released Tan Yiqian’s hand, turned, and strode away with large steps.

Tan Yiqian was initially angry, but when he saw Ge Bei actually leaving, a flash of panic crossed his eyes. He looked at Jiang Wu again, but Jiang Wu completely ignored them, busy putting on his frog head. Tan Yiqian narrowed his eyes slightly and ultimately chose to run after Ge Bei.

After putting his costume back on, Jiang Wu threw his bundled trash into the bin and continued handing out flyers.

There were fewer shoppers in the afternoon. It was almost five o’clock by the time he finished. After receiving his pay, Jiang Wu came out and saw the mall directory. The men’s clothing was on the third floor. He paused for a moment but ultimately walked out of the mall and went to a generic shoe store along the street, where he bought a pair of ordinary canvas shoes.

The soles of the casual shoes he’d been given were a bit dirty. Jiang Wu asked the shop owner for a few sheets of shoe-wrapping paper, carefully wrapped each shoe, placed them in the shoe box, and carried it to the bus stop.

As Route 211 pulled into the station, Jiang Wu noticed a silver-gray sedan parked behind the bus. No one got out, and no one got in. When the bus started moving, the sedan moved with it.

By the time he got off at the terminal, the sedan had followed him slowly the entire way.

His steps grew slower and slower. The sedan trailed for a while longer, then finally accelerated and stopped beside him.

The window rolled down. A guy with short, brownish-red hair cleared his throat. “Jiang Wu, you must be seriously broke to live in a godforsaken dump like this!”

Confirming it wasn’t that Ghost Emperor, Jiang Wu kept walking without looking sideways.

Ge Bei was taken aback for a moment, then drove up again to follow him. The streetlights glowed a faint orange, casting light on Jiang Wu’s profile.

It was truly repulsive… so uneven and misshapen.

How could someone lack even a slightly decent facial contour?

Ge Bei was so angry his teeth ached.

The first time he saw Jiang Wu, he was just this ugly.

It was the morning of the freshman orientation speech, nine-thirty am. He and his friends naturally hadn’t gone downstairs; they were “inspecting” the new students from the window. Someone suggested each of them hit on a new student to take racing that night.

Ge Bei was completely uninterested. The loser friends surrounding him were brimming with excitement.

“Are you gonna pick a guy or a girl?”

“I’ll try a guy for a change.”

“Holy crap! There’s an explosively ugly person over there.”

“Who?”

“Math Department, second row from the left. Last person at the end, the skinny tall one.”

“Tch, so skinny and tall, and still that hard on the eyes. That bro really knows how to grow.”

Ge Bei glanced over lazily and suddenly spotted a pair of light-brown, fox-like eyes. His heart skipped a beat, and his body instinctively leaned forward. Then he saw that grotesquely shaped face.

Absolutely! Jiang Wu was the ugliest person he had ever seen, without a doubt! A flat, doughy face, thick lips, a squashed nose, and thin, limp, yellowish hair—so ugly he was in a league of his own, standing out like a crane among chickens!

“Bei Ge!” Someone bumped his shoulder. “Wanna make another bet? The loser abstains for a week!”

“Spit it out!” Ge Bei said casually.

“That one, the ugliest guy.” A finger pointed at Jiang Wu. “If you can hook up with him, all of us will go without sex for a week—no, half a moon!”

“…”

The next day, Ge Bei went to the Math Department and blocked Jiang Wu’s path. “I lost a bet. My punishment was to ask you out. So, what do you say?”

If Jiang Wu had done something, said something, Ge Bei wouldn’t hold a grudge. He was magnanimous and understanding. But Jiang Wu hadn’t even lifted his eyelids, hadn’t glanced at him once. He’d simply walked right past him, completely and utterly ignoring him!

So ugly, yet so arrogant. Just who did Jiang Wu think he was!

From then on, Ge Bei unilaterally harbored a grudge against Jiang Wu, periodically going to pick a fight.

A complex light flickered in Ge Bei’s eyes. He stared intently at Jiang Wu, grinning through clenched teeth. “I heard orphans get subsidies, right? You just rotate those two coats all year. In sub-zero weather, you can’t even spare the money for a down jacket. What are you spending your money on? Don’t tell me someone as ugly as you is trying to date? Your… your hand…”

Jiang Wu suddenly stopped.

Ge Bei quickly shut his mouth and braked. Jiang Wu turned his head to look at him. Ge Bei’s heart tightened with nervous anticipation. His eyes blinked rapidly, and he ruffled his own hair. “What?!”

Jiang Wu seemed genuinely earnest, his face full of sincerity as he asked, “Ge Xi, what exactly are you trying to say?”

Ge Xi…

Ge Xi?!

Ge Bei turned to stone on the spot. For a moment, he couldn’t even speak, just stared in shock. After a beat, he ground his teeth and snarled, “Jiang Wu, you’re good. Real good. You just remember this!”

He spun the car around, kicking up dust, and drove off in a fury.

Jiang Wu’s expression remained unchanged. He waved a hand to clear the dust and continued walking quietly ahead.

The sky was changing; it looked like it was about to pour. Jiang Wu quickened his pace. Just a second before the rain came crashing down, he ducked into the corridor of his building.

BOOOOM!

The thunder was as terrifying as it had been half a month ago. The urgent sound of heavy rain drowned out all other sounds between heaven and earth.

The torrential downpour whipped the thin trees in front of the building this way and that. The landlady’s family lived on the first floor. Light seeped through the crack of the door. Jiang Wu stepped up and knocked.

The landlady’s voice and footsteps came simultaneously. “Who is it?”

Jiang Wu said, “Hello, I’m Jiang Wu. I’m here to pick up my luggage.”

“Coming!”

There were more footsteps, but when the door opened, it was not the landlady.

Two men in police uniforms showed their badges. Several more officers blocked the path behind Jiang Wu.

“Jiang Wu, you are currently suspected of involvement in a murder case. Please come with us to the police station to assist in the investigation.”

Inside the room, the landlady’s eyes were red and swollen. She pointed at Jiang Wu excitedly, “Arrest him! It’s him! My husband only argued with him before he died! The day he moved out, my husband was brutally murdered right after! He must have resented my husband for kicking him out and secretly returned to kill him for revenge!”

“Someone even saw him! The day after my husband was killed, he sneaked back to the scene to observe!”

“Look at his arm, he’s injured! It must be from my husband resisting!”

Jiang Wu looked down at his right hand. The landlady’s speculation was actually…

Quite logical.