After Transmigrating as the Northeast CEO's Pampered Little Husband - Chapter 62

Changjing Academy of Fine Arts’ canteen had four floors. Each floor was essentially differentiated by price: the bottom floor was the cheapest, and the price increased the higher you went. The fourth floor was no different from a mid to high end restaurant outside, housing only two Western restaurants and one fine dining establishment.

Perhaps because the semester had just begun, the fourth floor wasn’t open. Gu Jiaoyang and Dai Gucan finished their meal on the third floor and lingered for a while before parting ways. Although Dai Gucan had taken the day off, he couldn’t refuse certain work if it required his urgent review.

“I’m leaving.” Dai Gucan stood downstairs, looking down at Gu Jiaoyang.

“Mm, go on.” Gu Jiaoyang waved his hand. His ice cream was melting rather quickly, so he didn’t have a spare mouth for conversation, his gaze entirely fixed on the mango-flavoured dessert.

Dai Gucan watched Gu Jiaoyang, who hadn’t moved after speaking. He waited for a moment, and finding Gu Jiaoyang still motionless, he shifted his arm as if concealing something.

“Why haven’t you left yet?” Gu Jiaoyang finished licking the melted edge of his ice cream and smiled at Dai Gucan.

“Cough.” Dai Gucan covered his mouth and cleared his throat. His eyes darted around. If he had a tail, it would surely have stood up, wagged, and then drooped again.

“Oh~ I understand!”

“Mua~ Bye-bye, darling!”

Gu Jiaoyang chuckled, stood on tiptoes, and kissed Dai Gucan’s cheek. Watching him finally get what he wanted, Gu Jiaoyang thought, I never expected my domineering CEO to be such a romantic simpleton. I bet he’s been secretly checking some dating guides, hasn’t he?

Dai Gucan, as if completing some ritual, mentally ticked off a note in a memo. “Call me if anything happens.”

“Mm.”

After sending Dai Gucan off, Gu Jiaoyang returned to the dormitory. His room-mate, Qiu Yu, was using the washing machine to wash his skirt. Although he didn’t want to admit it, Gu Jiaoyang did see the lace-trimmed bra pad…

Well, he might not agree with other people’s hobbies, but he had no right to object. Gu Jiaoyang finished his ice cream, pushed the incident to the back of his mind, returned to his bed, and flipped through the documents for purchasing land.

The matriculation ceremony was three days after the start of term. Unlike the ceremonies at ordinary schools, the one at the Academy of Fine Arts was much more relaxed. After listening to a collective speech, students were free to wander. They could choose to watch the performances or go straight to the society activities. The following day was when they would formally meet their classmates.

The teaching building wasn’t particularly close to the dorms, so after the speech, Gu Jiaoyang bought a small electric scooter for transportation and decided to explore the campus.

The performance stage for the ceremony was in the open-air square, running from afternoon until evening. Gu Jiaoyang wasn’t particularly interested in the performance itself, so he parked his scooter and headed over to the food street set up for the ceremony.

The food street was crowded, but he could still see the figures dancing on the square stage and the flashing coloured lights. The music was clear enough to hear distinctly.

“Giant Octopus Ball?”

The octopus balls at the stall were the size of a fist. Gu Jiaoyang even saw the stall owner put in a shrimp, corn sausage, tofu strips, and various chunks of vegetables. It looked more like a giant dumpling. He wasn’t sure how it tasted, but its novelty was appealing, so he bought one.

The Giant Octopus Ball was served in a paper bowl. It was quite large, and the flavour was decent, though the complex texture made it hard to immediately classify as strictly delicious or not.

The food street was busy and crowded. Gu Jiaoyang held his bag of snacks, carefully navigating the crowd with the bowl of octopus ball, but he still accidentally bumped into someone.

“Excuse me.”

The person he bumped into was a handsome boy in a white shirt, carrying a brown canvas bag and a tablet. He didn’t look like someone browsing the food stalls, but rather someone in a hurry.

“Ah, it’s fine.” The boy who was bumped shook his head, quickly replied, and immediately continued weaving through the crowd until he was swallowed by the sea of people.

Gu Jiaoyang didn’t think much of it at first. He looked down to check that his snack hadn’t spilled, but unexpectedly noticed a notebook lying on the ground.

It was larger than his palm and very thick. It must belong to the boy who had just rushed off.

Gu Jiaoyang picked up the small notebook and saw it was a journal. It didn’t have many pages, but it was thick and bulging because of many glued in items, fastened shut with a side strap. It felt heavy.

“Hey! You dropped something!”

When Gu Jiaoyang looked up, the boy had already disappeared. Even if he wanted to use his spiritual energy to track him, he needed a trace or mark left on the person.

“I’ll take it to the radio station tomorrow,” Gu Jiaoyang decided, tucking the notebook under his elbow and continuing his exploration of the food street.

“Hmm-mm-hmm~ La la la la~”

By the time he finished browsing the food stalls, it was evening. The performances in the square were still going on. Gu Jiaoyang carried his snacks and walked along the garden path, intending to head back to the dorms for a few rounds of gaming.

There were many small paths by the garden, each surrounded by dense trees, including bamboo and flowering shrubs. At night, these completely blocked the streetlights, making the path pitch black.

The night air in summer wasn’t particularly cool, but an ordinary person might assume the coolness he felt was due to the trees’ transpiration. Gu Jiaoyang, however, immediately sensed yin energy in the sudden gust of wind.

There was a ghost, but not a malicious one. Gu Jiaoyang paused on the path, sensing that it was a mischievous, prank-playing spirit. It was a permanent resident of the woods but lacked the energy of the dead, suggesting it hadn’t taken any lives and wasn’t yet powerful enough to cause real harm.

“Hello?” Gu Jiaoyang moved closer to the side of the road, stopping where the cold wind was strongest, and greeted the rustling woods.

According to the rules of cultivators, as long as a spirit didn’t harm humans, they weren’t required to actively hunt it. The justification was that the Grand Dao was compassionate, and the Heavens favoured life—there were good ghosts and good spirits.

Thus, they often left a chance for redemption. Perhaps the spirit would cultivate itself into a Ghost Immortal or a Ghost Official, successfully securing a position in the Celestial Court or the Underworld.

However, Gu Jiaoyang didn’t exactly believe in the existence of the Celestial Court or the Underworld. Cultivating was one thing; blind superstition was another. They might exist, but they had nothing to do with his chaotic spiritual root. If his chaotic spiritual root reached its peak, he would simply melt on the spot and scatter as molecules to every corner of the world.

The little ghost residing in the woods didn’t reply. The yin energy continued to provide free air conditioning, but no ghostly figure appeared.

“Alright then. I’ll come back and play with you next time?” Gu Jiaoyang shoved a piece of his deep-fried kebab into his mouth and waved at the woods.

Gu Jiaoyang continued walking towards the dorms, and a familiar figure approached from the opposite direction.

“Hello? When you came this way, did you happen to see a book dropped on the ground?”

The person was walking very slowly, head down, seemingly searching for something. When he saw Gu Jiaoyang approaching, he immediately rushed towards him, asking anxiously.

Gu Jiaoyang used the light from the person’s phone torch to look: it was the same boy he had bumped into at the food street. “You… Oh, it’s you. This is yours, isn’t it? You dropped it at the food street.”

Gu Jiaoyang handed him the book tucked under his elbow.

“Yes! That’s it! Phew… Thank you so much! Hello, I’m Qiu Xue, from the Illustration department, a new student! Which class are you in? I’ll treat you to a meal another day!” Qiu Xue grabbed the journal, exclaimed happily, flipped through it to ensure it wasn’t damaged, and then grabbed Gu Jiaoyang’s hand with immense gratitude.

“No, I was the one who bumped into you first…” Gu Jiaoyang wasn’t used to such enthusiasm. However, just as he spoke, a burst of cold yin wind suddenly blew past his ear, and a ghostly face slowly appeared behind Qiu Xue.

Gu Jiaoyang raised an eyebrow, looking at the ugly ghost with prominent yellow teeth behind Qiu Xue. He inexplicably detected a hint of grievance on the terrifying face.

“Huangfu?”

Isn’t that the Huangfu Ghost, the one whose laughter brings bad luck? So, this is the fellow who lives in the woods, blowing cold air as an air conditioner?

“Eh? How did you know I’m from H Province? Ha, is our provincial governor Huangfu so famous?” Qiu Xue was taken aback, touched his hair, and laughed loudly.

“Ah, I just guessed randomly,” Gu Jiaoyang pulled his hand back and rubbed his nose, feeling slightly awkward.

He hadn’t expected the Huangfu Ghost to be in Changjing. This ghost wore yellow clothes all over and constantly grinned with large yellow teeth. Anyone he laughed at would inevitably fall ill or suffer bad luck, lasting at least three months.

However… the Huangfu Ghost seemed quite attached to Qiu Xue.

Gu Jiaoyang glanced at the ghost clinging to Qiu Xue’s shoulder, his monstrous face full of visible grievance. Fortunately, he wasn’t laughing; his large teeth simply protruded naturally.

“Have you had any bad luck lately?” Although the question might sound rude, Gu Jiaoyang was curious if the clingy Huangfu Ghost had caused any trouble for Qiu Xue.

“Oh? Yes, I have. Sigh… I keep losing things recently. When I first arrived, I almost walked into the girls’ dormitory. I guess it’s not really bad luck, though. Maybe I’m just nervous about starting university, plus being so far from home?”

Qiu Xue seemed quite oblivious, not dwelling on these small matters. Assuming Gu Jiaoyang was just chatting with him, he suggested they walk back to the dorms together, catching up along the way and exchanging contact information.

Gu Jiaoyang didn’t object. On the surface, he listened to Qiu Xue’s rambling while his attention was entirely focused on the Huangfu Ghost trailing behind him.

The Huangfu Ghost clung to Qiu Xue until they were nearly out of the woods. Only then did he take his hand off Qiu Xue’s shoulder, stand still, and howl mournfully for a few moments, like a faithful sentinel. He stared at Qiu Xue’s retreating figure for a long time before plunging back into the woods and disappearing.

Interesting.

Gu Jiaoyang turned his head and gave Qiu Xue a few more thoughtful glances.

“Boss, the data has been sent to your email. See you next time.”

The voice on the phone had been specially processed and sounded unpleasant, but this didn’t stop Xichuan Bai from employing the speaker.

“Not necessary. That’s fine. Goodbye.”

Xichuan Bai hung up the phone, sat in front of his computer, opened his email, and slowly browsed the attached data.

The screen displayed information gathered by the private investigator he had hired. The first page clearly listed all available information on ‘Dai Gucan’, from childhood through to the present, including details on his parents and aunt. However, the information on his company was incomplete, indicating that Dai Gucan’s company had very secure trade secret measures.

Xichuan Bai wasn’t concerned with the business details, so he copied that section and sent it to someone else.

He only cared about Dai Gucan’s upbringing and family relationships.

Xichuan Bai slowly scrolled through the document and paused on the page labelled “Bar.”

It detailed the conflict in the Wang family, and how the calculating Wang heir schemed against ‘Gu Mian’…

Wait a minute, the name is Gu Jiaoyang!

“System, what’s going on? Why has ‘my’ name changed!”

Xichuan Bai frowned, clutching the mouse, a sudden coldness striking his heart.

He was ‘Gu Mian’, but ‘Gu Mian’ had vanished, replaced by someone named Gu Jiaoyang.

[Host, I told you when you accepted me that the identity swap would negate your original existence… The puppet we left could only temporarily evade the World’s Consciousness. Once the puppet failed, the World’s Consciousness automatically filled the vacant spot.]

“I’ve disappeared?”

“No! I’m not ‘Gu Mian’! I’m Xichuan Bai!!!”

Xichuan Bai’s eyes narrowed for a brief moment of confusion, but he quickly calmed himself, gripping the mouse and continuing to flip through the documents, pushing the cold feeling in his heart aside.

Gu Mian is gone. I am Xichuan Bai!

The cursor on the desktop landed on a photo of Dai Gucan and Gu Jiaoyang kissing outside the dormitory building. Xichuan Bai propped his chin up and gave a cold smirk. His eyes were like daggers smeared with poison.

“Hmph. Daring to get involved with someone else behind my back, is it, Gu Jiaoyang? You’d better enjoy these last few days of sunshine.”

Deep night slowly descended.

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