Ghosts Know What I Experienced

Chapter 31 Part 2

The next morning, Chen Tao dragged his suitcase and prepared to leave. He finished eating breakfast, and it just so happened that Ye Jingzhi also needed to go out. The two of them took the elevator down together. As the elevator was going down, Fatty smiled, “Mr. Ye, you need to go to work?”

Master Ye thought for a bit: Ghost hunting is indeed work.

“En, I’m going to work.”

Chen Tao laughed, “Your cooking is really delicious. Brother Jia’s lucky to have such great food. Yesterday’s hotpot was truly geilivable!”¹

How could Master Ye understand “geilivable,” this type of Internet slang? He could only lightly nod, and it could be considered as a response.

The two of them split at the neighborhood’s entrance. Master Ye walked alone to leave, and Chen Tao was waiting for his appointed car to arrive at the entrance. After saying a word of parting, Ye Jingzhi turned to leave. However, he had only walked one step when he heard a serious voice come from behind, “Mr. Ye, is your relationship with Brother Jia really good?”

Ye Jingzhi stopped in his footsteps and turned his head, looking at Chen Tao in confusion.

At this moment, there were no traces of a smile on this little fatty’s face. He solemnly looked at this tall and handsome man. After a long time, he asked again, “Your relationship……seems to be very close?”

The tips of Ye Jingzhi’s ears became a bit red. A future married couple is indeed quite close. En……

Seeing the other nodding in approval, Chen Tao softly exhaled a breath, “Mr. Ye, we haven’t known each other for long, but I believe that you’re not a bad person. I believe in Brother Jia. For him to let you into his home, it shows that he trusts you. I’ve known Brother Jia for 5 years now. Since we first met at the start of college, I’ve never seen him close to anyone. Right now, I’m busy with work and need to follow different crews, flying all over the place. I can’t take care of Brother Jia like before. Of course, the current Brother Jia doesn’t seem to need me to look after him.”

Ye Jingzhi didn’t understand why the other would say these kind of words.

There were respect and entrustment in Chen Tao’s gaze. He said word for word, “Mr. Ye, since you are friends, I hope you can take good care of Brother Jia in the future. Really, thank you.”

Ye Jingzhi looked at the little fatty in front of him who looked serious. He also gradually straightened his expression and seriously said, “I will take good care of him for a whole lifetime.”

When Chen Tao heard this, his thoughts suddenly blanked.

……a whole lifetime? Wait a minute, why does that feel strange?

Without giving him another chance to say anymore, the car that he had called for had already arrived. Ye Jingzhi helped put his luggage in the car. Before Chen Tao left, he rolled down the window and sighed, “These years, Brother Jia……has it really rough.”

The car left very quickly. Ye Jingzhi gazed at the departing view of the car, pondering over Chen Tao’s last sentence.

A special physique was destined to have a special fate, forever unable to live like normal people.

“I will take care of him for a lifetime, please rest assured.”

Looking at the back of the car, Master Ye earnestly made a vow.

Chen Tao who was sitting in the car, “Achoo! Isn’t it spring already? Why is it still so cold……”

Fatty Chen never would’ve thought. What he had said was clearly a “I hope you can show some more understanding and take care of him as his friend.” However Master Ye, who had heard it, in his mind, it became just like a father’s entrustment when marrying off his daughter: I’m giving my family’s Brother Jia to you, ah! You have to be good to him, ah! You cannot let him suffer any grievances!

How could Master Ye let Xi Jia suffer any grievances?

A joke, he hadn’t even married yet, and their Modou accounts were already bound together, alright?

More than 6 million points ah! All directly connected to Xi Jia’s account!

Was there something in this world with a guarantee more dependable than this?

Not right. There really was one, and that was Master Ye’s promise.

A promise made by Hell King Ye had never been left unfulfilled.

In order to take good care of Xi Jia, he definitely wouldn’t let his wife suffer even a little bit of grievance or hardship. That day, Master Ye came back home at 5 o’clock in the afternoon after buying a huge pile of groceries. He virtuously made several kinds of dishes that he was best at for his wife.

During the meal, Xi Jia sighed with sorrow, “Chen Tao really doesn’t have luck in eating good food,” before happily filling another bowl of rice.

The following days were truly relaxing and free.

Xi Jia’s last movie, Xuanwu, was already in post-production. The big-name actors in the crew were already promoting it everywhere. He was only a small supporting actor. This type of stuff simply wasn’t his turn to do. The movie gave him a generous amount of pay. The amount wasn’t worth mentioning to those big stars, but for Xi Jia, it was enough for him to live comfortably for a year.

Recently, Chen Tao also gave Xi Jia some scripts, in which the pay was not bad. However, Xi Jia was very self-aware: 【 Taozi, you know that I don’t really know how to act. My acting isn’t much. If it isn’t a supernatural, horror, or thriller movie, if I go and act……it wouldn’t be good for their movie. 】

Chen Tao immediately replied back: 【 Brother Jia, how could you know yourself so well, hahahaha! 】

Xi Jia, “……”

After blacklisting his best friend for 5 minutes, the two of them continued to chat.

When Xi Jia went to Chang’an, he didn’t bring Song Song with him due to the seriousness of the situation. That was the Mausoleum of the First Emperor. Even Master Ye said that there could be some life-threatening danger. Of course Xi Jia couldn’t bring his family’s Song Song and take any chances.

At that time, he took the little rascal to his next door aunty and asked her to take care of it. Before he left, he tapped the little brat’s red nose, “I probably won’t be back for several days. You better eat your food obediently. If you are good and eat, I’ll ask Master Ye to roast a week’s worth of fish, okay?”

Song Song squeezed into Xi Jia’s arms like a spoiled child, not leaving him no matter what. There was a kind of “even if I don’t eat Master Ye’s fish, I still want to be with my master” determined bravado.

Xi Jia lifted the little brat and carried it to his neighboring aunty. He speechlessly said, “I know that you are thinking that even if I don’t ask Master Ye, if you just run into Master Ye’s lap and act cute, he would still make fish for you, right?”

Song Song meowed twice as if saying: That’s right, that’s right. Baby is smart, right?

Xi Jia hooked his lips into a smile, “If I come back and find out that you didn’t eat properly, I’ll ask Master Ye to never cook you fish anymore. Let’s see if Master Ye will listen to you or listen to me.”

Song Song was so scared that its eyes became round. It quickly withdrew into the neighboring aunty’s arms.

Just as expected, after Xi Jia came back from Chang’an, the little rascal absolutely didn’t lose any weight. It even gained a few sizes and was chubby to the touch. But that wasn’t the problem. Song Song was too spoiled by Xi Jia. It only ate fish and wasn’t willing to eat cat food. It was extremely clingy to people, wherever they went, it would follow, asking for a hug or kiss.

Before, its target to cling to was only limited to Xi Jia. It wouldn’t even give any other person a glance and was particularly finicky. When Ye Jingzhi first came, it didn’t acknowledge Ye Jingzhi either. However, ever since Ye Jingzhi gave it a plate of fish……

This little brat nested in Master Ye’s arms everyday and wouldn’t move!

Naturally, Song Song’s most favorite was still Xi Jia. Everyday when Xi Jia woke up, he would always see the little brat lying by the pillow, sleeping with its mouth open. He also didn’t know how it had learned how to open and close doors.

Because Xi Jia always stayed at home and didn’t go out, Ye Jingzhi also gradually decreased his ghost hunting time outside.

Everyday, whenever they sat on the sofa to watch TV, they would always see a bronze die flying up and down in the air randomly, letting the palm-sized black kitten pounce after it. For some reason, Wu Xiang Qing Li especially liked to tease Song Song. Each time Song Song was about to catch it, it would fly to the ceiling with a whoosh.

Song Song was still small. It simply couldn’t jump that high and could only randomly pounce into the air a bit.

When Xi Jia’s in a better mood, he would pick up Song Song and let it grab at Wu Xiang Qing Li. After getting caught, Wu Xiang Qing Li wouldn’t fly anymore. Instead, it would play a game of catch the ball with Song Song.

With these two clowns, the house wasn’t peaceful at all. There would be jingles and clattering all day long.

Apart from this, Xi Jia was also busy teaching Ziying lately.

“En, this grammar problem is a bit complex. You just have to remember this sentence, and also memorize a few more words. Grammar will be a problem to think about later……Eh? Wait a minute, you already finished reading the language and math books for primary school? You even finished maths?! That fast?!”

Ziying’s gentle voice softly sounded, “Primary maths is nothing but simple calculation questions. It does not require too much thought or correcting. Zengzi once said, ‘The Dao of Great Learning teaches to illustrate illustrious virtue, to renovate the people, to rest in the highest excellence.’ Now, I have only completed studying primary school. I have yet to touch upon the true Dao of Great Learning. Xi Jia, I cannot relax or be lazy. The knowledge of this era is too interesting. I really want to touch upon the Dao of Great Learning faster. I do not know how much longer is left until college? When can I start learning the college materials?”²

Xi Jia, “……”

Although he really wanted to say that the meaning of our college now wasn’t what you had said, just finished elementary school and already started to think about college.² Why did it seem like déjà vu of putting a finger to the head and contemplating, “Should I study at Tsinghua or Peking University?”³

Xi Jia couldn’t bear to attack Ziying’s enthusiasm. He couldn’t inform him: You have just finished primary school, and that the distance to college is the length of the Mariana Trench. Quickly wake up and don’t daydream anymore. He thought for a bit and started to shift the subject, “Lately, I heard that in the Xuanxue world, a lot of masters went to Chang’an again because the First Emperor woke up ahead of time. They plan on adding another 100 enchantments outside of the Mausoleum.”

“Is that so? No wonder I always hear all sorts of weird sounds every day, noisy to the point I am unable to study.”

Xi Jia apologized on behalf of the unreliable Xuanxue world, “Ziying, pardon them.”

Ziying was smiling yet sighing, “I think nothing of it, but Father Emperor had stormed out of the Palace of Eternal Life in anger early in the morning today, holding General Bai Qi’s Gulu Sword, saying that he would rush out and chop those noisy people who couldn’t do their constructions quietly.⁴ Oh right, Father Emperor had previously snatched away my primary language textbook. He probably learned that word for construction from that textbook.”

Xi Jia widened his eyes foolishly like a dog, “Snatched your textbook? Why would the First Emperor take your textbook?”

Ziying sighed, “Father Emperor had spent a week using 300 yin soldiers to solve the big questions of cows eating grass. Father Emperor allowed me to enter the Palace of Eternal Life that day to see him use 300 yin soldiers to assume a large formation of cows eating grass. After solving the problem, he very disdainfully said to me that these Lesser Daos are not the Dao of the Sovereign. And that these problems were quite easy.”

Xi Jia, “……” You could take 300 yin soldiers to do anything, but you go and do math problems instead!

Ziying, “Then, I praised Father Emperor, ‘Dad, good job.’”

Xi Jia, “Wait, why did you use English to praise?”

Ziying’s voice carried a smile, but he didn’t answer this question, “Father Emperor asked me what this strange language was. I told Father Emperor that it is English, and that there are least 300 million people who use this language. There’s 300 million people. Father Emperor flicked his sleeve at once and expelled me out of the Palace of Eternal Life. It just so happened that I had some language books on me, but I didn’t bring any English books. Father Emperor snatched them all away.”

Xi Jia, “……” Why did you need to emphasize the 300 million?! Did you want to say that your Papa First Emperor wasn’t as good as these 300 million people?!

That night, Xi Jia burned an entire set of books on communism for Ziying, hoping to pull Ziying, who had gone forever onto the Greater Dao of Black-Belly, back around and still be a honest and good baby, the cute Ziying that Papa First Emperor brags about.

After burning these books, who would’ve expected Ziying to give Xi Jia a reply the next day, “I understand. There should be no sovereign rulers in this world. Father Emperor’s way of thinking is wrong. Xi Jia, I know that you burned these books for my purpose, but I will properly advise Father Emperor later and ask him to stop his preposterous dream of reestablishing Da Qin.”

Xi Jia, “……” Your Papa First Emperor would cry for you to watch, would you believe it?!!!

Xi Jia always felt that he had somehow led Ziying askew. Although in some cases, Ziying was still unable to hold back and revealed a trace of admiration and respect for the First Emperor. However most of the time, whenever Ziying mentioned the First Emperor, it was all about the First Emperor recently solving math problems or reading whichever language book. He even said that he planned on finding an opportunity to show the First Emperor about the advanced ideology of Marxism, but he was quickly stopped by Xi Jia.

Nonsense, if the First Emperor were to really read Ma-dada’s book, the First Emperor might really jump out of the Mausoleum and exterminate this “preposterous” world with no Emperors.⁵

However, Xi Jia also gradually became aware of a fact in these words——

The First Emperor still wouldn’t allow Ziying to enter the Palace of Eternal Life.

It was impossible for more than 2,000 years of estrangement and ignorance to disappear because of a few books and some math problems. Ziying was always smiling as he talked to Xi Jia in the Mausoleum. However, when he’s not communicating with him, who knew if Ziying was alone in the ice-cold imperial tomb, quietly studying alone with no one paying any attention to him.

Translator’s Addition:

The Qin San Shi who cultivates the Greater Dao of Black-Belly – *sits and studies English in the Mausoleum* SHIIING! Oh, I leveled up again. I need to somehow inexplicitly show off to Father Emperor.

Translator’s Notes:

¹ 给力 Geilivable or Gelivable – Chinglish slang that means cool, awesome, incredible, etc. Literally means  ‘giving strength.’

² The quote is from a Confucian text, The Great Learning, officially translated by James Legge. I’ve revised it a bit to fit the later chapter (Added back in the Dao). Great Learning and college uses the same words 大学 Daxue, hence Xi Jia thinks that Ziying is talking about a different “college.” ↵

³ Tsinghua and Beijing University – Two of the top colleges in China with very low acceptance rates (if you’re native).  ↵

⁴ 轱辘剑 Gulu sword – literally means ‘wheel sword.’ ↵

⁵ 大大 dada – literally big big or great great. A suffix that netizens call content creators like authors, artists, singers, and gamers etc. that they respect/like them. Ma-dada here is Marx. ↵