After Ghost Marriage with My Arch-Rival - Chapter 6

How did this kitten suddenly get so happy?

Before Liu Xiangyi could give it much thought, his secretary knocked on the door. “President Liu, the client has arrived.”

Leaving the cat in his office, Liu Xiangyi headed to the conference room. Upon entering, his pace faltered slightly.

He recognized the client.

They had been classmates in high school before the other moved away. The reason Liu Xiangyi remembered him was that this classmate was the first person in their school to come out publicly and he had pursued that brat, Zhong Qinhuai, with terrifying persistence.

Composing himself, Liu Xiangyi walked in calmly and extended a hand with a professional smile. “Hello, President Zhang.”

Seeing his business-as-usual demeanor, Zhang Ruolan sized him up for a few moments and clicked his tongue. “It’s been years, President Liu. You’ve not only grown more handsome, but you’ve grown heartless, too.”

Liu Xiangyi agreed with the first part, but not the second. How was he heartless?

He was perfectly cultured and polite; even his smile was a result of deliberate training—a flawless execution of the commercial etiquette expected of an elite CEO.

After the greeting, Liu Xiangyi sat down and opened the file before him. “Shall we begin discussing the acquisition of Jiutian Technology?”

As soon as he spoke, Zhang Ruolan laughed. “Is President Liu in such a hurry? No small talk between old classmates?”

Liu Xiangyi didn’t feel there was much for them to reminisce about, but he always respected a client’s reasonable requests.

“If small talk makes this acquisition go more smoothly, then I don’t mind a few words.” Liu Xiangyi closed the file and looked up. “So, what did you wish to chat about, President Zhang?”

Zhang Ruolan said suddenly, “I heard Zhong Qinhuai died. I actually went to pay my respects this morning.”

He cupped his face in his hands, sighing with emotion. “I saw his funeral photo on the headstone. My ‘White Moonlight’ really didn’t lose his looks with age—he looked even more stunning than he did in high school!”

Liu Xiangyi: “…”

However, providing emotional value to a client made business negotiations easier. Liu Xiangyi played along. “And?”

“While I was paying my respects, I asked around in Zhong Family Village. They said you were the one who buried him. You even pay them monthly to guard the tomb. So.”

Zhang Ruolan’s eyes darted around. “If you allow me to do one thing, I’ll sign this acquisition deal on your terms. What do you think, President Liu?”

Though the offer was tempting, Liu Xiangyi didn’t rush to agree. He asked calmly, “Tell me what you want to do first.”

“I want a ghost marriage with him.”

Liu Xiangyi: “?”

“When I told my friends, they all thought I was crazy!” Zhang Ruolan gave a self-deprecating laugh. “But you should understand, right? Back then, you two had that bet—whoever fell in love first would lose. I refused to believe in fate and sent him a love letter every single day, thinking I could make him the exception.”

Liu Xiangyi did not understand.

But having competed with Zhong Qinhuai from elementary school all the way through university, he had witnessed the endless gossip of people chasing him. Men, women, it was so exaggerated that Zhong Qinhuai had allegedly “turned” several straight men.

It was ridiculous. Truly ridiculous.

Zhang Ruolan’s desire for a ghost marriage was sensational, but compared to the past antics of Zhong Qinhuai’s pursuers, it wasn’t even the craziest thing he’d heard.

“I’ve consulted some Taoist priests,” Zhang Ruolan continued. “A ghost marriage requires a relic of the deceased. I don’t have one, so I want to open the coffin to take something—a piece of his clothing, some ashes, anything.”

Finally, Zhang Ruolan flourished the acquisition papers. “As long as President Liu allows me to open the grave, I’ll sign this immediately.”

Liu Xiangyi replied with a smile, “I wouldn’t dare make that decision for him. However.”

He opened his own copy of the deal, slid it toward Zhang Ruolan, and arched an eyebrow. “If President Zhang signs this, I can point you toward a ‘clear path’.”

Zhang Ruolan laughed.

No wonder the Liu family had three sons, yet the youngest, Liu Xiangyi, ended up as the successor. The man never lost out on a deal.

But ever since that first glimpse in high school, Zhang Ruolan had never met anyone more breathtaking than Zhong Qinhuai. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t be so obsessed as to covet a dead man.

Without another word, Zhang Ruolan signed.

Liu Xiangyi closed the file with satisfaction, giving him a smile tinged with an unspoken depth. “You can go to his grave and ask him yourself.”

Having acquired another company and expanded the Liu family’s business empire yet again, Liu Xiangyi was in a fantastic mood.

When he returned to his office, the little black cat was gone. Only the window stood wide open, the white curtains billowing in the wind.

Perhaps it ran off, he thought.

Seeing that it was already afternoon, Liu Xiangyi grabbed his coat, left the office, and drove to Mountainside.

He parked at the foot of the mountain in Zhong Family Village and stopped by a convenience store to pick some things up. He remembered the kid had saved his life that morning; he had to buy something to show his gratitude.

But Zhong Qinhuai was a ghost now. Liu Xiangyi didn’t know what ghosts needed, so he bought items based on the dietary habits he’d observed back when they used to sit across from each other with their cafeteria trays, trying to out-study one another.

A bag of carrots.

A bag of potatoes.

A basket of oranges.

Seeing this, the shopkeeper warned him, “Usually, people offer chickens, ducks, or fish. At the very least, they buy some steamed buns. He won’t care for these. You’d better watch out, or the ghost might come into your dreams tonight to cause trouble!”

Liu Xiangyi didn’t quite get it either, but based on his observations, the guy really did love those three things.

When paying, Liu Xiangyi gave the woman his customary polite smile. Perhaps because his trained smile was so pleasant and refreshing, it easily won people over.

The shopkeeper prodded further, “Are you a friend of that boy?”

Liu Xiangyi thought for a moment. They weren’t before, but since Zhong Qinhuai saved him this morning. “I suppose so.”

The shopkeeper let out an “Aie!” of sympathy. “His family was truly cursed. His grandmother fell for a student from the city back in the day. They married and had a kid, but then the student went back to the city, got rich, and found another woman to live the high life with, leaving the grandmother to raise the child alone in the village.”

“His mother, too. She was in poor health, and the doctor warned her not to get pregnant. But her husband told her if she couldn’t give him a child, he’d find another woman. Then she died during childbirth!”

The shopkeeper chatted away while snacking on melon seeds. “So don’t blame the village for keeping their distance. Aside from him being a ‘ghost-child,’ it was mostly his grandmother. She was terrified her precious grandson would turn out to be a ‘love-brain’ like his mother. She never let him come down the mountain to play with the village girls. She was on guard constantly!”

Liu Xiangyi instantly recalled high school, and how Zhong Qinhuai would only say one cold sentence whenever someone confessed to him:

“I don’t do relationships.”

One had to admit, the grandmother’s education was a success. From childhood to adulthood, the guy really never dated; he was always a loner.

In that case, President Zhang, with his ghost marriage plan, was likely in for a crushing defeat.

As night fell, Liu Xiangyi carried the offerings up the mountain. From a distance, he saw Zhang Ruolan running toward him, screaming and wailing.

To be precise, he wasn’t just running. He was fleeing.

As he got closer, Liu Xiangyi finally saw clearly: Zhang Ruolan was being swarmed by crows. There were hundreds of them, dense and buzzing like a disturbed hornet’s nest, surrounding him and vying to peck him with their sharp beaks.

Zhang Ruolan’s face was bruised and swollen, and his exposed arms and legs were covered in red welts. He didn’t even notice Liu Xiangyi; he simply wailed in agony as he scrambled and rolled his way down the mountain.

The sight left Liu Xiangyi with a lingering sense of dread.

He was about to keep walking when, suddenly, a small crow perched on a peach tree directly ahead stared at him, its yellow slit-pupils burning with rage.

“Ah, another one! This one wants a m-m-ghost marriage with A-Huai too! Drive him away!”

Liu Xiangyi was stunned—not just by the crow, but by the fact that it was speaking in a voice like a human child’s. Suddenly, strange cries erupted from the dense woods.

The sounds rose and fell like hidden guards in a forest responding to an order:

“Caw! Caw!”

Following a rustle of leaves, another flock of crows burst from the surrounding trees like a giant black net, slowly closing in on Liu Xiangyi.

Seeing the sharp beaks diving at him from all directions, Liu Xiangyi instinctively shielded his face with his hands.

However, the expected pain never came.

The crows’ cawing stopped. Even the faint sound of their wings vanished.

Liu Xiangyi peeked through the gaps in his fingers. The crows, as if receiving a sudden command, had vanished back into the woods in a flash.

The forest returned to silence. It was as if the crows had never been there at all.

Liu Xiangyi: “?”

Using the faint moonlight, he looked around. Not far away, on the balcony of a mountainside villa, a dim lamp flickered. A tall, slender figure in black was leaning against the railing.

Liu Xiangyi breathed a sigh of relief.

He walked toward the balcony, holding up the bag of offerings to show his intent.

“So, President Zhong,” he called out, “according to ghost customs, should I place these offerings in front of your grave, or should I leave them here for you to take inside?”

Zhong Qinhuai’s gaze settled on the bag of offerings Liu Xiangyi was carrying. Once he saw what was inside, a flicker of faint surprise crossed his eyes.

Slowly, he shifted his gaze back to Liu Xiangyi’s face, his lips curling into a knowing smirk.

“Is President Liu this attentive to every arch-rival? Buying his favorite things and delivering them in person?”

Liu Xiangyi: “?”

What’s with the smug tone?

Choosing not to overthink it, Liu Xiangyi sat on a bench beneath the banyan tree and looked up with a practiced smile. “Of course not. I only save this level of generosity for the ones who have passed away.”

He continued, “So, President Zhong, seeing as I’ve come with such sincerity, perhaps we could adjust our relationship appropriately? For instance, we could try—”

Liu Xiangyi was about to suggest “trying to be friends,” but before the words could leave his mouth, Zhong Qinhuai arched an eyebrow from the balcony.

“President Liu, you want to ‘adjust’ our relationship over a single bag of offerings? You’re making me look rather cheap.”

Liu Xiangyi: “?”

Well, at least the kid was talking. Since he hadn’t flat-out refused to thaw the icy relationship, Liu Xiangyi smiled. “President Zhong has a point. I shall redouble my efforts then, and strive to meet your ‘market value’.”

Zhong Qinhuai’s voice took on a peculiar edge. “President Liu is truly that eager to adjust our relationship?”

Absolutely! Liu Xiangyi thought. After all, if their relationship remained this hostile, it would be very inconvenient for him to get close enough to Zhong Qinhuai to secretly “siphon off his yin energy.”

Of course, he couldn’t tell Zhong Qinhuai the truth. Instead, Liu Xiangyi reminded him, “We’re still sleeping together tonight to continue our competition. President Zhong hasn’t forgotten, has he?”

At the words “sleeping together,” something seemed to click in Zhong Qinhuai’s mind, and his expression turned subtle for a fleeting moment.

Liu Xiangyi: “??”

Why is this guy being so weird today? Then again, he’s always been weird.

Liu Xiangyi didn’t dwell on it and turned to leave.

As soon as he was gone, the little crow flew over and perched on the balcony railing. It watched Liu Xiangyi’s retreating figure and tilted its head. “A-A-Huai, why didn’t you let me drive him away too? I d-d-drove the other one off!”

With a flick of Zhong Qinhuai’s hand, the bag Liu Xiangyi had left on the ground floated up and drifted onto the round table with a soft whoosh.

He reached in, pulled out an orange, and replied languidly while peeling it, “If we drive him away, how will we investigate his true motive for wanting a ghost marriage?”

The little crow: “?”

It felt like something was off, yet the logic sounded perfectly sound. Whenever the little crow thought too hard, its CPU tended to overheat, so it gave up.

Speaking of which, it remembered Zhong Qinhuai turning into a little black cat to investigate earlier that day. It asked, “So, did A-A-Huai find anything out during the day?”

Zhong Qinhuai’s hand paused mid-peel.

Recalling something, a hint of smugness flickered in his narrow phoenix eyes. He didn’t answer, instead asking with a smile, “Is that human gone?”

The little crow balled its claw into a fist. “D-D-Driven right off the mountain!”

It puffed out its chest, looking proud. “I’m even going to send the crows to caw at his bedside tonight. I’ll make sure he gives up on the idea of a g-g-ghost marriage with A-Huai for good!”

The little crow remembered that human. Back in high school, he was always harassing A-Huai, even trying to date him, until the crow scared him so badly he fled the country.

In short, it scared away anyone who tried to get close to A-Huai or date him.

The only exception was that human—Liu Xiangyi. A-Huai had said he was a rival and told the crow not to interfere. A-Huai wanted to “out-compete” him personally, so the little crow had let him be.

The little crow was feeling incredibly proud of itself until a segment of orange was stuffed into its long beak.

So sweet! The cool, sugary juice practically exploded with one bite.

It was an orange!

The little crow’s golden pupils rounded in shock. It looked closer—weren’t these the offerings that human brought?

It used a claw to rummage through the bag. Carrots! Potatoes! Oranges! They were all A-Huai’s favorite things.

The little crow sucked in a breath of cold air.

That h-human really is cunning! He even knows exactly what A-Huai l-l-likes to eat. No wonder A-Huai hasn’t figured out his motive for the ghost marriage yet—he’s too tough to handle!

The crow remembered what it heard when it flew over earlier. Before leaving, that human had provocatively claimed he was going to sleep with A-Huai tonight to continue their contest.

A-Huai’s grandmother had always said that a loveless marriage, if forced to share a bed, was nothing but a long, slow torture.

The little crow raised a tiny claw and squeezed it tight. “A-A-Huai, you must torture him m-m-mercilessly tonight!”

The corners of Zhong Qinhuai’s mouth curled upward.