After Swapping Identities With My Archenemy - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: C’mon, Let’s Eat

For the first time, Jiang Huaiyi didn’t feel scared. A wave of uncontrollable anger surged in her heart.

After she saw the sweet melon turn into a toad, she only felt a wave of disgust.

Anger overcame fear. She closed her eyes, raised her leg, and kicked the dead ghost out.

She shouldn’t have done it, she shouldn’t have done it, she shouldn’t have pretended to be her master to deceive her.

The ghost that was pressing on her quilt was kicked away. It suddenly felt that Jiang Huaiyi’s anger was incredibly high.

When a person’s anger is high, ordinary ghosts cannot get close.

The soul body will feel uncomfortable, which is why some ghosts are afraid of fierce and intimidating people and people who swear.

The moment the door opened, Shen Wensi walked in from outside. She turned sideways to dodge the female ghost who was kicked away.

Shen Wensi closed the door. She had rushed over because she had noticed there was a commotion in Jiang Huaiyi’s room.

Remembering how scared she was, she didn’t even care about the politeness of opening the door.

Now that she saw the kicked ghost, Shen Wensi was relieved.

She glanced at the hair still stuck in the door and didn’t touch it because she found it dirty.

She walked to the bedside. The light from outside came in. Jiang Huaiyi wasn’t awake. Her hands were tightly gripping the quilt. The tear marks on her face glistened in the moonlight, turning into a shallow silver light.

She was still a coward and was scared to tears. Her eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and her mouth was a thin line.

Shen Wensi sighed, pulled the tightly held corner of the quilt from her hand, and covered Jiang Huaiyi with the quilt in a fumbling manner.

Perhaps she felt the warmth, as her tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed.

Jiang Huaiyi wanted to open her eyes, but her eyelids were still very heavy.

In a daze, she felt a gentle figure taking care of her all night. She had no dreams that night and never saw the little old lady in her dreams again.

At dawn, Jiang Huaiyi’s body clock woke her up on time.

She opened her eyes and rested for a while before she realized she was no longer on the carved bed in the old temple.

She had just moved in and was still a little unaccustomed to it. Jiang Huaiyi stretched out her arm to look.

The five black finger marks on her slender, white wrist were still there, but the color had become a little lighter, like a bruise after a bump, a faint greenish-black.

It seemed like there was a pool of blood coagulated inside, but it didn’t hurt when touched. It felt cold, which was a mark left by a ghost.

She sat up from the bed, got dressed, and went downstairs to wash up.

The morning light was beautiful. As she walked down the light-colored, original wood staircase, the sun slanted through the stained-glass windows, casting a fresh green and mottled light.

The orientation of the entire house was excellent. The interior looked warm and cozy.

Shen Wensi sat on the white sofa. Her well-defined hands were holding a newspaper, and her right hand was wrapped around a cup of steaming tea.

There were various kinds of hot breakfast on the coffee table. Jiang Huaiyi slowed down her steps in her slippers and sat down awkwardly on the sofa next to her.

The green leaves in the cup were still swirling. Shen Wensi sipped the pale yellow tea.

She held up the newspaper in her hand and handed it to her.

She pointed to the breakfast on the table and said, “I don’t know what you like to eat, so I bought a little of everything. Look at this.”

Jiang Huaiyi quickly thanked her and took the newspaper she handed her.

She saw the “xiaolongbao” on the table with her sharp eyes. This was the one from the best-selling shop at her school’s entrance when she was in school. When she had money, she could eat it for two meals.

Now she was so poor that she hadn’t eaten it in a long time.

As soon as she opened the box, the fresh and fragrant smell of the “xiaolongbao” wafted out.

Jiang Huaiyi picked one up with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. It was still warm. The fresh and savory juice burst between her lips and teeth, filling her entire mouth along her tongue.

Jiang Huaiyi squinted her eyes in satisfaction, holding her chopsticks and reading the newspaper.

The “Qianjiang Evening News” was a local newspaper. Basically, only people from the city would subscribe to it. The content was very varied.

It had a kind of local flavor. Jiang Huaiyi didn’t even have to flip the pages. She saw the big headline on the front page.

“Floating corpses appear again at the Huaxiang Road ghost pond. The government urges nearby residents to stay away!”

Below was a long report. Uncensored photos of the scene were also published, but they weren’t close-ups. They were just two blurry photos put together.

The dead fish in the center of the color print looked a little eerie.

In this overnight report, the forensic doctor pointed out a suspicious point. Security guard old man Zhang had drowned, but the other man, old man Wu, had not. It seemed he had died of a heart attack.

So there was no water in his lungs. The two of them seemed to have been fishing together, but old man Wu had died a day earlier than old man Zhang.

After this report, the matter became even more bizarre.

Shen Wensi turned on the color TV in the living room. The morning news was broadcasting this matter.

The voice of the host came from the TV, saying that the police had already intervened in the investigation of the current case.

Jiang Huaiyi took a sip of the sweet soy milk. She knew that the police wouldn’t be able to find anything. Because both old man Zhang and old man Wu had indeed drowned.

After eating the “xiaolongbao,” she opened a “shouzhuabing” (hand-grabbed pancake). It had egg, pork loin, and sausage in it. It was a grand slam.

She looked at the “shouzhuabing” and felt that she was about to lose control of her drool, but she still asked, “Do you want some?”

Seeing Shen Wensi shake her head, she put the “shouzhuabing” into her mouth. It was her favorite tomato sauce. Jiang Huaiyi took two big bites.

Shen Wensi said, “Tonight, we’re going to the air-raid shelter. I’m not very familiar with the situation on Huaxiang Road. What kind of place is this air-raid shelter?”

The fine silk cloth appeared in her hand at some point. The elegant small words on it showed “Huaxiang Road Air-Raid Shelter.”

Jiang Huaiyi thought for a moment and explained, “It’s that pond. I heard from the older generation that it was an air-raid shelter before it collapsed. I don’t know if it has been cordoned off by the police now.”

Jiang Huaiyi privately felt that there should be no air-raid shelter there anymore. After all, the original location of the air-raid shelter had become a pond.

But what it was really like, she would have to go and see for herself.

Shen Wensi said, “Let’s leave this afternoon. You can sleep for a while so you don’t feel tired when we get there.”

After saying that, she turned and went upstairs. Jiang Huaiyi looked at her tall back and sped up her eating. She ate a lot. She basically finished all the breakfast on the table by herself.

She felt a warmth in her heart. Shen Wensi seemed to have a cold personality, but she basically bought her a portion of everything delicious.

All the things on this table were almost half a month’s worth of her food expenses.

After eating, she felt a little embarrassed and started cleaning the house. Shen Wensi’s villa was so big. It would definitely cost a lot to hire a cleaning lady.

Living in someone else’s house, she naturally knew her place. Although the other person didn’t say anything, she had to show her attitude.

Jiang Huaiyi had good physical strength. After cleaning the basic areas, she went upstairs and started folding paper ingots. The paper ingots from yesterday were all burned and taken away by Bai Wuchang.

The underworld officials were now her trump card. Although she was still scared, it was better than seeing ghosts directly.

A new line of words appeared on the fine silk cloth, but Jiang Huaiyi was folding the paper ingots and didn’t see it.

She slept for a while in the afternoon and was woken up by the alarm clock.

When Jiang Huaiyi went downstairs, Shen Wensi was already sitting on the sofa downstairs. She was wearing a gray cashmere coat and was leaning on the sofa watching TV.

A popular costume drama was being broadcast. Her eyes were not on the large color TV but were vaguely looking at the teacup in front of her.

Seeing Jiang Huaiyi come down, she turned off the TV. After they met, they set off.

The car was driving, and as they got closer to Huaxiang Road, it was obviously difficult to move. The two sides of the road were crowded with small electric vehicles.

The two of them had no choice but to get out and walk.

The public security in the city was good. Nothing like this had happened for several years, so when people heard there was something to see, they rushed to see what was going on.

The closer they got to the pond, the more people there were. There were three layers and three outer layers surrounding it, even more densely packed than the old locust trees around it.

The crime scene had been cordoned off with blue and white police tape. Jiang Huaiyi finally managed to squeeze through to the front and found that Shen Wensi was standing beside her at some point.

Her clothes were a little wrinkled from the squeezing, but Shen Wensi was completely unaffected, still looking neat and tidy.

Even a single hair was not out of place. Jiang Huaiyi looked at her suspiciously, wondering how she had gotten in.

But soon, her attention was attracted by the people standing next to the police officer.

Two people wearing ordinary dark blue Daoist robes were standing next to Officer Ren. These two were none other than her uncle, Jiang Jiling, and her senior sister, Chu Lianxue.

She hadn’t seen them for a while. At this moment, people around were talking.

Jiang Jiling’s temple had a certain number of believers in the local area. The family members of the deceased had invited them over, which was actually approved by the police.

Even Officer Ren from the police force greeted the two of them: “Daoist Jiang, you’ll have to wait a bit for your ritual. We’re still working on the case.”

Jiang Jiling nodded to show understanding. She moved closer and said, “I’ll coordinate with the family. For now, the ritual will be done at home. But the family wants to set up some incense sticks nearby. What do you think?”

Officer Ren waved his hand, gesturing for them to do as they pleased.

After getting permission, the two of them set up a “Plum Blossom Incense Array” under the old locust tree where the fishing hook was hanging.

This three-incense stick array was convenient and simple for predicting good or bad fortune.

They just had to light the incense sticks and see how they burned. Once the array was set up, external interference would have a hard time affecting it.

The two of them were done in a short while. The incense smoke was curling under the old locust tree. The two of them were about to leave the crowd when they suddenly saw them here.

As their eyes met, Jiang Huaiyi’s heart was a little excited. She subconsciously wanted to wave.

She saw the two of them walk a little closer. Chu Lianxue stepped forward and greeted them with some surprise: “Wensi, you’re here too! Let’s go! Let’s go to the temple for dinner tonight!”

Jiang Huaiyi’s heart sank. She silently lowered her hand, feeling an unspeakable bitterness in her heart.

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