My Ghostly Darling Cuddles Me Every Day - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Xie Yinwan’s Delight: “You Can See Me…”

The 15th day of the seventh lunar month (Ghost Festival).

Tonight was the grand opening of the youngest Bo daughter’s bar. Every member of the family was going to support her—except for Old Madame Bo and Bo Yu.

The former was an elderly woman who couldn’t handle the heart-pounding bass and chaotic noise of a modern bar. The latter had been weak and sickly since childhood. When she was six, a fortune teller warned: “This child has a unique constitution; she attracts ‘things.’ From now on, try to keep her indoors at night.” And so, Bo Yu had been restricted from leaving the house after dark for seventeen years.

During dinner, the Bo family gathered in the dining room. Half-sisters Bo Yu and Bo Jingxian sat on either side of the Old Madame. Bo Jingxian, reaching across their grandmother, dropped a piece of greasy braised pork into Bo Yu’s bowl with a performative air of concern.

“Sister, it breaks my heart that you can’t come to my bar tonight. If you want to see it, I’ll take you during the day. It’ll be empty and quiet, but I can call my classmates to keep you company. It’s better than you going out at night and bringing some ‘unclean thing’ home to make you sick, right?”

Her words were backhanded, and the table fell silent. Bo Jingxian was a college junior who had opened this bar on her father’s dime. To choose the Ghost Festival for her opening night was a pointed jab at her sister.

Bo Yu sat quietly in her simple linen shirt, her slender wrist adorned with a blessed agarwood bracelet given to her by her grandmother. She looked at the glistening, fatty pork. Her stomach, sensitive to heavy oils and salt, churned before she even took a bite.

Suddenly, a pair of chopsticks reached over. It was her cousin, Bo Mi.

Bo Mi snatched the pork from Bo Yu’s bowl and chewed it slowly, as if she were grinding someone’s bones between her teeth. Bo Yu’s lips quirked into a faint, appreciative smile.

“Your sister can’t eat greasy food, yet you give her fat pork,” Bo Mi said, eyeing Bo Jingxian coldly after swallowing. “Your sister can’t go out at night, yet you ask Uncle to open a bar for you. Of all the days to pick, you chose tonight. Jingxian, you’re truly a ‘considerate’ sister, always remembering to do the things she can’t. Your sister is so lucky to have you.”

Bo Jingxian’s face turned a mottled red and blue. She was speechless.

The awkwardness was smoothed over by their aunt, and the meal continued. Bo Yu ate her light celery and vegetables in peace, seemingly unbothered by her sister’s hostility or her father’s cold silence.

After dinner, as the family prepared to leave, Bo Yu stayed behind to walk the pets in the courtyard. There was Feifei, a plump British Shorthair cat who belonged to her uncle, and Hanhan, a golden retriever belonging to Bo Mi. Though they belonged to others, Bo Yu spent the most time with them, and they were most attached to her.

“Feifei really clings to you,” Bo Mi said, walking over to pat the cat’s rear. “Don’t mind that girl [Jingxian]. She’s just immature and jealous that Grandma spoils you.”

Bo Yu smiled. “I know.”

She knew her cousin was just trying to protect her feelings. Bo Mi then offered to take her fishing or to a quiet lounge during the day tomorrow, but Bo Yu teasedly asked if Bo Mi would “sneak her out” at night instead.

Bo Mi immediately grew serious. “Bo Yu, being sick isn’t a game. Every time you went out at night as a child, you were bedridden the next day. Even when we tried it after you grew up, the result was the same. I’ll spoil you with anything else, but this is non-negotiable.”

Bo Yu lowered her eyes.

The fortune teller hadn’t just said she was a “magnet” for things; he said she could see ghosts. Yet, in seventeen years, she had never seen a single spirit. Her aunt, a woman of science, had once tried medicine and exercise to build Bo Yu’s resistance, but science failed to explain why a single night out resulted in a week of high fever and weakness. Eventually, the whole family came to believe in the “curse.”

“I know, Sister,” Bo Yu said, lifting her head with a smile. “Go have fun. Send me videos of my dad and uncle looking out of place at the bar.”

The house grew quiet as the family left. Bo Yu sat on the sofa, sewing a suit for her grandmother, while the cat slept by her side and the dog at her feet. She loved hand-sewing; she had made clothes for everyone in the house.

Old Madame Bo came downstairs and invited her to play video games. Bo Yu skillfully navigated the games, occasionally letting her grandmother win to keep her spirits up.

“Don’t let me win, or I’ll be angry,” the old woman grumbled.

“I’m not letting you win, Grandma. You’re just good at it,” Bo Yu lied smoothly.

After a few rounds, the grandmother turned serious. “Today is the Ghost Festival. It’s the day the dead return to visit the living. I know you don’t like hearing this, but it’s a tradition for a reason. Don’t be mad that I kept you home. I just can’t bear to see you sick.”

“I understand, Grandma. I’m not angry. I didn’t even want to go to a bar anyway,” Bo Yu replied.

It was a half-truth. She didn’t care for bars, but she desperately wanted to see the city at night. Seventeen years of restriction had built a silent, suppressed desire within her.

By late night, Bo Yu was back in her room. She worked on her cotton doll, a fifteen-centimeter plush she had made herself. She named the doll “Xiexie” (Thank You), because the act of saying the word naturally formed a smile on one’s lips.

She lit some agarwood incense and fell into a peaceful sleep.

In her dream, she was walking through a tranquil forest. Suddenly, she felt a strange sensation on her neck—like a feather or a cool breeze. It was itchy and cold.

Still half-asleep, Bo Yu reached out and rubbed her collarbone, then let her hand fall back onto the silk duvet.

A moment later, the feeling returned, moving to her ear and her face.

“Sister? Stop it,” Bo Yu murmured.

No response.

“Feifei? Hanhan?” She smiled in her sleep. If it wasn’t her cousin, it must be the cat or dog sniffing her. She reached out to pat a furry head—but touched nothing but air.

Her eyes snapped open. She had locked her door; the pets couldn’t have gotten in.

Was it a bug? A butterfly?

What “thing” was currently kissing her?

As her vision cleared, she saw a woman’s face inches from her own. Who is she? How did she get in? And how… how is she so beautiful?

Shock and awe collided in Bo Yu’s mind. She forgot to move, forgot to breathe.

The woman was gazing down at her, her eyes deep and full of emotion, like water rippling on a summer lake. A stray strand of the woman’s hair brushed against Bo Yu’s lips. Bo Yu’s heart began to race.

“…Who are you?” Bo Yu whispered.

Xie Yinwan broke into a look of absolute delight: “You can see me?”

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