After Marrying the Evil God - Chapter 40

“W-what’s wrong?” A layer of crimson instantly flushed across Shi Zhi’s fair little face. He lowered his head slightly, his eyes flickering as he stole glances at Pei Yu.

Pei Yu gazed at Shi Zhi with an expression of absolute earnestness. Within those deep, bright eyes seemed to dwell an infinite tenderness as he stared directly at the person he had been yearning for.

“Everything Xie Chouzhuang just said, about the matters between us—what do you think?” Pei Yu asked, his tone soft and gentle.

Hearing this, Shi Zhi couldn’t help but grow nervous. His hands instinctively toyed with the hem of his shirt. He hesitated for a long time before finally gathering his courage to look up. With a gaze full of shyness, he looked toward Pei Yu and said softly, “Um… your name is Pei Yu, right?”

Shi Zhi took a deep breath and continued to speak in a bashful, fidgety manner. “It’s just… right now… do you still like me?” After asking this question, Shi Zhi’s heart thundered in his chest, and he instinctively lowered his head.

Xie Chouzhuang: “???” This development felt a bit off. He felt like he shouldn’t be in the room, but rather under the bed.

Pei Yu hadn’t expected Shi Zhi to ask such a question. The corners of his mouth curled up into a brilliant smile, and he nodded without a moment’s hesitation. His eyes, shining like stars, watched Shi Zhi intently. “I do. I have always liked you.”

Upon receiving an affirmative answer, the heavy stone hanging in Shi Zhi’s heart finally fell to the ground. His cheeks grew even redder. After a moment of silence, he mumbled in a small voice, “Well, actually, I… um… quite like you too. I mean, if you want to see me, you can just come over directly. Don’t show up in my dreams in the middle of the night AAAHHH! Don’t spin me, I’m going to get dizzy!”

Upon hearing Shi Zhi’s reply, Pei Yu became exceptionally excited. He lunged forward, picked Shi Zhi up, and began to spin him in circles.

“I’m going to throw up!” Shi Zhi shrieked in terror.

“Zhizhi, I am truly happy.” Pei Yu set Shi Zhi down. “I thought you wouldn’t like me anymore. I had to summon so much resolve just to decide to meet you. I’m so lucky you still like me.”

“Who likes you?” Shi Zhi snorted. He wasn’t about to admit he had fallen in love at first sight with a male ghost. If it was love at first sight, it had to be Pei Yu toward him! Hmph!

“Zhizhi, do you not like me anymore?” When Pei Yu heard Shi Zhi say that, his mood instantly plummeted from the heavens into a bottomless abyss. He became listless, like a giant puppy that had just been drenched by a rainstorm. His ears seemed to droop piteously, and he stared fixedly at Shi Zhi with eyes full of sorrow and grievance.

Shi Zhi was already captivated by this look. Seeing Pei Yu so upset, Shi Zhi blurted out almost without thinking, “I didn’t say that!”

After the words left his mouth, a trace of regret welled up in Shi Zhi’s heart. He secretly blamed himself for being so useless he had only met this male ghost once, and yet he was already so infatuated and dizzy that he had abandoned all his principles. Was this man a male fox spirit in his past life? How could he handle him so easily!

While Shi Zhi was harshly condemning himself for being spineless, he simultaneously tried to save a bit of face. He mumbled, “However, all of this depends on how you perform from now on! If you perform well, it’s not impossible for us to be together. If you perform poorly, I’ll find someone to exorcise you!”

Standing to the side, Pei Yu took in every bit of the regretful expression on Shi Zhi’s face. Seeing Shi Zhi like this, Pei Yu couldn’t help but think of the person he used to be—the one who always said the opposite of what he felt. Back then, Shi Zhi would often act exactly like this: clearly loving something to death in his heart, yet refusing to admit it with his words.

Thinking of this, the corners of Pei Yu’s mouth turned up in an imperceptible smile. He thought to himself: Truly, no matter how much time passes, even if Zhizhi has lost his memories, he still subconsciously retains those cute little habits from before.

“Your wish is my command, Zhizhi!”

“Um, have you two forgotten that this is my house?” Xie Chouzhuang, who had eaten breakfast followed by a full bowl of “dog food” (public displays of affection), felt like he was about to burst. He sat on the sofa and weakly raised a hand to signal them.

The two looked a bit embarrassed.

“Chouzhuang, your husband isn’t here, so we should go shopping! I heard a haunted house attraction opened nearby that’s supposed to be incredibly intense. The owner insists that no one can walk out of there on their own two feet! I haven’t participated in such an exciting activity in ages. Why don’t the two of us go?” Shi Zhi quickly changed the subject.

“You’re at it again?” Xie Chouzhuang hadn’t expected this guy to go right back to looking for trouble after just attracting a Ghost King. His love for all things supernatural really was deep-seated.

“Where there is the supernatural, there is Shi Zhi,” he declared confidently. “Besides, even if there are ghosts, we have Pei Yu! He’s definitely more powerful than those ghosts.”

As he spoke, Shi Zhi seemed to unlock a new train of thought. He slapped his hands together. “That’s right! I need to film videos anyway. Now I don’t have to worry about whether the places I go are haunted or not—I can just rely on my ghost’s influence! Haunted houses within a thousand miles will all fall before me, gagaga!”

Xie Chouzhuang massaged his forehead in exasperation. “You really know how to put people to use.”

Watching Shi Zhi’s lively behavior, Pei Yu’s eyes were filled with nothing but him. “It’s fine. I can accompany Zhizhi wherever he wants to play.”

“Pei Yu, you’re the best! You’re truly my big darling!” Shi Zhi’s eyes sparkled. The more he looked at Pei Yu, the more pleasing he found him, and the more he liked him.

“As long as Zhizhi is happy.”

“Enough, enough! You’d better hold back a bit. Even though Pei Yu is powerful, you aren’t, Shi Zhi. You’d best not reveal anything about Pei Yu. He is a Ghost King, after all, and there are many ghost-taming families out there searching for powerful Ghost Kings to use for themselves. Human hearts are treacherous; if they ever discover Pei Yu and use you as a threat to force him into a contract, what do you think he would do?”

“Wait, is that actually a thing?” Shi Zhi was stunned.

Xie Chouzhuang had recently learned many secrets from the Occultists’ Association app. Among them were the ghost-taming families. To refine a powerful ghost, some would marry a woman and shower her with affection until she became pregnant. On the day she returned to her family home, the man would personally murder her entire family before her eyes. Finally, he would use medicine to keep the woman alive while cruelly murdering the child in her womb, causing her to be consumed by overwhelming resentment. This was how they refined powerful Mother-and-Son Vengeful Spirits.

When the truth was eventually exposed, the man was hunted by everyone in the Occultists’ Association. Ultimately, because his injuries were too severe, he suffered a backlash from the Vengeful Spirit he had contracted. Not only was his physical body devoured, but even his soul was not spared. This tragic case was later recorded on the occultist website. From then on, any ghost-taming family joining the Association had to undergo strict scrutiny to ensure their contracted ghosts were obtained through legitimate means.

Despite this, there were still many rogue ghost-tamers scattered about who accumulated malice by killing people to refine ghosts.