After Ghost Marriage with My Arch-Rival - Chapter 17

The words had barely left his lips when Zhong Qinhuai stiffened. He stopped nuzzling Liu Xiangyi’s nose.

The ghost sat up abruptly. Then, a teasing remark floated down through the darkness: “No matter how deep your secret crush on me is, I’m not getting into a relationship. Are you disappointed, President Liu?”

Liu Xiangyi: “…”

Typical!

He bolted upright as well, arching an eyebrow. “Since you have no intention of dating, then stop doing things that lead people on. Can you manage that, President Zhong?”

Just stay quiet and let me siphon your yin energy. Don’t do anything extra.

“I’m not like you, President Liu, using someone then tossing them aside.” Zhong Qinhuai raised his hand and gave it a deliberate shake, his eyes full of icy, meaningful depth. “Burning the bridge after crossing it, without a shred of warmth afterward, is President Liu really this much of a scumbag?”

Even in the pitch-black master bedroom, that hand was visible—pale to the point of being spectral. Slender and powerful, with distinct, elegant knuckles.

Liu Xiangyi had just experienced the icy temperature of that hand and the sheer force of its grip. More importantly, that hand was currently slick and damp.

Then, Zhong Qinhuai raised his fingers and gave Liu Xiangyi’s lip a light, lingering swipe.

At the thought of what was on that hand, Liu Xiangyi practically leaped off the bed. This is psychopathic! He lunged straight for the bathroom.

As the door slammed shut, he could still hear the ghost’s wicked laughter echoing from outside. This brat!

Liu Xiangyi twisted the faucet and began scrubbing his hands frantically. He wasn’t a man of strong desires; usually, he only dealt with things himself occasionally. Back in school, he knew his peers would huddle together to watch “adult films” or help each other out, but he had never participated.

If he was like this, surely Zhong Qinhuai was even more of a loner. The guy had never had a friend since childhood—except for his arch-rival.

He remembered a time in high school when he’d taken a few days off for an illness. The next day, the student sitting in front of him whispered that while he was gone, Zhong Qinhuai hadn’t uttered a single word, acting like a complete mute. He was silent with everyone else, yet in front of his rival, he was always full of passive-aggressive barbs and trash talk.

Therefore, Liu Xiangyi seriously doubted the kid actually knew what he was doing. Even though Zhong Qinhuai talked a big game about their “wedding night,” he probably didn’t even know the mechanics of how two men worked.

When they had gotten carried away earlier and helped each other out, Liu Xiangyi’s own technique was unpracticed, but clearly, Zhong Qinhuai hadn’t been any better.

Their “scaredy-cat” game was officially veering into dangerous, bizarre territory.

Troubled by his thoughts, Liu Xiangyi didn’t sleep well at all. When he rose the next morning and wandered into the living room like a ghost, he almost thought he was hallucinating.

Zhong Qinhuai was in his living room, sitting at his dining table, resting his chin in his hand. He greeted him with a smile: “President Liu, we’re ghost-married. It isn’t too much to ask for breakfast together, is it?”

Liu Xiangyi walked over and scanned the table: two beef burgers, two bottles of milk, and two orders of crab roe buns. This definitely wasn’t cooked by Zhong Qinhuai. But wasn’t he only visible to Liu Xiangyi? Where did this come from?

As if reading the suspicion in his eyes, Zhong Qinhuai unwrapped a straw, poked it into a milk carton, and slid it toward Liu Xiangyi. He explained languidly, “I drifted down the mountain this morning to pick it up.”

“Pick it up” was an understatement. The owner of the breakfast stall had likely turned around to find half his stock missing, thinking a thief had struck, only to find a pile of cash appearing out of thin air. The surveillance footage would be even weirder—showing items vanishing and money manifesting without a soul in sight.

Liu Xiangyi could guess the chaos based on that one sentence, but at least the kid had the humanity to pay.

I might as well eat; I’m not losing out either way. Since Zhong Qinhuai had prepared it, Liu Xiangyi didn’t act coy and sat down to eat. He had just taken a sip of milk when Zhong Qinhuai dropped a bombshell question.

“Is your hand still sore?”

Liu Xiangyi nearly choked. He took a deep breath, feigning total calm. “With your level of skill, President Zhong, I don’t think you could ever make my hand sore.”

Zhong Qinhuai didn’t fire back a retort for once. He simply offered a deeply meaningful smile.

Liu Xiangyi: “…”

That’s actually terrifying.

After breakfast, Liu Xiangyi went to work. While waiting for the elevator with his employees, he overheard them gossiping.

“I saw it with my own eyes! The boss had just packed a steamer of buns, and in the blink of an eye, they were gone!”

“Is it haunted?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Ghosts are dead; why would they eat steamed buns like a person?”

Liu Xiangyi blinked. He remembered that at the table, Zhong Qinhuai said they were eating together, but the ghost hadn’t actually touched much. He was just “sitting in” for the atmosphere. So, can ghosts actually eat?

Before he could figure it out, the elevator chimed. He stepped out and headed into the conference room.

A young man sat inside, looking to be about twenty. Liu Xiangyi had scanned the files his secretary provided: his name was Xia Qing. Despite his youth, he was rumored to be a drone prodigy at Liucheng University. Only a senior, he had already founded a tech company and was here to seek investment from Liu Xiangyi.

At the sound of footsteps, Xia Qing looked up. Liu Xiangyi immediately noticed his eyes—they looked colder than the sharpest blade. But the moment he saw who had entered, that icy gaze melted into a sudden warmth.

“President Liu,” Xia Qing spoke. His voice was as steady as still water, possessing a maturity far beyond his years. He stood up and extended a hand.

Liu Xiangyi looked at the hand, remembering the Parkinson’s-style shaking from the gala the night before. He hesitated for a second before reaching out.

This time, the handshake was normal. Liu Xiangyi was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he noticed something wrong. Xia Qing’s hand was trembling slightly. He seemed to be exerting immense effort to control it, but Liu Xiangyi could still feel the vibration.

He glanced down. Xia Qing’s other hand, hanging at his side, was clenched into a white-knuckled fist—as if he were enduring excruciating pain. His nails were digging so deep into his palm that beads of blood were beginning to surface.

Liu Xiangyi immediately withdrew his hand nonchalantly and greeted him with a smile. He took another glance at Xia Qing’s side. Sure enough, the moment the contact broke, the “pain” seemed to vanish. Xia Qing’s fist relaxed, and his breathing returned to normal.

Liu Xiangyi’s heart sank. What is Zhong Qinhuai playing at? Preventing anyone from getting close to him, was he still holding a grudge over the impotence rumor? But wasn’t that settled already?

Fortunately, the contract signing went incredibly smoothly—so smoothly it was almost suspicious. According to the records, Xia Qing’s company was already being hailed as the most promising “unicorn” in the city. He didn’t actually need to come knocking; dozens of firms would have been happy to throw money at him.

Liu Xiangyi smiled and asked, “As I understand it, you aren’t lacking for investors, President Xia. May I ask why you chose the Liu Group?”

“Because I believe in you, President Liu.”

Liu Xiangyi was stunned. He hadn’t expected such a direct answer. Xia Qing didn’t elaborate; instead, he changed the subject with a faint smile. “Actually, I’m your junior from the same schools. If you don’t mind, you can call me Ah Qing.”

As he spoke, the corners of his mouth lifted, revealing two small dimples that completely contradicted his sharp, cold aura. For a moment, he actually looked like a bright, energetic college student.

Liu Xiangyi laughed. It was a coincidence—they shared the same middle school, high school, and university. However, Liu Xiangyi was four years older, so they had never overlapped. He hadn’t intended to use their “school ties” to push the deal, but since Xia Qing brought it up, he played along. They were partners now; building rapport was essential.

As they prepared to leave, Xia Qing stood up and extended his hand again. Liu Xiangyi glanced at the other hand, where the palm was still bloodied from his own fingernails. He didn’t reach out this time. He simply offered a smile and declined.

“Since we’re alumni, we don’t need to be so stiff with business etiquette.”

Was it his imagination? He thought he saw a flash of disappointment in Xia Qing’s eyes.

Liu Xiangyi: “?”

The emotion vanished instantly. Xia Qing regained his composure and calmly invited Liu Xiangyi to lunch. This time, Liu Xiangyi didn’t refuse. It was his custom to have a meal with new partners to build a relationship, and Xia Qing had beaten him to the punch.

Before leaving the office, Liu Xiangyi had his secretary bring a Band-Aid. He handed it to Xia Qing, gesturing for him to treat the marks on his right hand.

Xia Qing froze, seemingly caught off guard by Liu Xiangyi’s attention to detail. He accepted it with a hint of bashfulness. “Thank you, President Liu.”

He looked down at his right hand and explained, as if afraid of a misunderstanding, “My apologies. I had a bit of a cramp just now.”

Liu Xiangyi kept a polite smile on his face, while internally, he was cursing Zhong Qinhuai up and down.

Then he remembered what his second brother, the priest, had said: if he just thought of Zhong Qinhuai’s name, he could summon him. His heart skipped a beat. He scanned the room; everything looked normal.

He glanced out the window. It was high noon, and the sun was at its fiercest, seemingly hot enough to crack the glass. With the sun this bright, surely that kid won’t come out to cause trouble during the day, right?