My Gorgeous Neighbor Is Cooking Every Day - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The path seemed endless. No matter how far she walked, the scenery remained the same. There was only one road ahead and behind, and dense fog surrounded them. This was truly a case of the “ghost hitting the wall” (a Chinese term for getting lost in a seemingly infinite loop).

Xia Xingye was puzzled. She had been cycling fast, ahead of many people. She stopped and pushed the bike for so long, yet no one had come up behind her. It was as if she was in a different place from everyone else.

It was too strange. Xia Xingye took out her phone. There was no signal, and even the emergency number wouldn’t connect.

Shaking her phone, Xia Xingye resigned herself. It looked like she really had encountered something strange.

There were only a few contacts in her phone list. Xia Xingye looked at the newest number she had added and tentatively tried to call it.

Since emergency numbers wouldn’t go through, Xia Xingye didn’t hold out hope. The phone rang twice and, as expected, automatically hung up.

Xia Xingye sighed, put her phone away, and stopped pushing forward blindly. She pushed the bike and tried to lean toward the side of the road.

She was sure the road underfoot was the same as before, but whether she turned left or right, she couldn’t reach the roadside.

Even Xia Xingye, being slow to realize, understood that this was no longer the place she remembered.

No one had told Xia Xingye, nor would anyone tell her, what to do in such a situation.

Xia Xingye took a deep breath, calmed herself, and, while searching for a direction, repeatedly tried to call Jiang Yingyue.

She knew the call wouldn’t connect, but the moment she pressed the dial button, she felt a strange sense of calm.

Xia Xingye wandered back and forth along the path when a faint sobbing sound reached her ears, like a child crying. She followed the sound and soon saw a child huddled by the side of the road.

“Why are you here alone?” Xia Xingye asked with concern.

The child buried their face deep in their arms, and the crying grew louder, as if they hadn’t heard her at all.

Xia Xingye sighed, squatted down, and gently patted the child’s shoulder: “Let me take you out of here.”

In this eerie place, let alone a child, even Xia Xingye herself was terrified. Strangely, the moment she finished speaking, the child’s crying instantly stopped, like a toy with its pause button pressed.

Xia Xingye sensed something was wrong and instinctively took a step back. The child suddenly grabbed her hand with surprising strength.

“Didn’t Big Sister say she would take me?” The child looked up, their voice innocent.

Xia Xingye strongly resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She was now certain she had encountered a supernatural incident. Looking at the child’s persistent grip, she forced a smile: “Of course, I’ll take you, but could you let go of my hand first?”

“No,” the child shook their head. “If I let go, Big Sister will run away.”

“It’s normal for me to leave. I said I’d take you with me, not that I’d stay here to accompany you.”

“Why can’t you stay with me?” the child tilted their head and asked.

Xia Xingye casually made up an excuse: “Because it’s going to rain, and I have to go back and bring in my clothes.”

The child looked confused: “?”

Xia Xingye ignored their reaction and continued her fabrication: “I have a roommate at home who can’t take care of themselves. If I don’t go back, their clothes will get wet, and they won’t have anything to wear tomorrow.” As she spoke, she tried to pry the child’s fingers open, but as soon as she loosened them slightly, the child tightened their grip even more.

“Hiss—” Xia Xingye gasped in pain. She yanked her arm, trying to shake the child off, but she just spun around while the child remained rooted. She stared at her wrist and seriously began to consider whether to “sever her own wrist like a brave warrior.”

Remembering the plots in horror movies where people are trapped, Xia Xingye feigned fierceness and said, “If you don’t let go, I’m going to scream for help.”

“Go ahead and scream,” the child grinned, showing fangs that didn’t belong to a human. “If Big Sister can call someone here, I’ll let you go.”

Xia Xingye was annoyed. This little ghost was quite “coy” (a derogatory term for someone who pretends to be innocent). If the situation weren’t so dire, she would have slapped it. Suppressing her anger, she tried to negotiate: “Do you have an unfulfilled wish? I’ll help you realize it, and you let me go, okay?”

“I don’t want anything. I just want Big Sister to stay with me.” The child shook her hand in a pleading way.

“I won’t stay with you!” Xia Xingye finally snapped. “We’re not related at all, so why should I!”

She had a sudden flash of inspiration. “I’m warning you, I have backing! If you touch me, you’ll be out of luck!”

The child’s smile suddenly twisted, his mouth splitting to his ears, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth: “Is that so?” He slowly leaned toward Xia Xingye’s wrist, seemingly enjoying her fear.

Xia Xingye simply closed her eyes. If I can’t see it, I won’t be scared! The expected pain didn’t come. Instead, a miserable scream rang out. She secretly opened one eye and saw Jiang Yingyue standing in front of her.

“Jiang Yingyue!” Xia Xingye was overjoyed and tried to step forward, but Jiang Yingyue stopped her with an outstretched hand.

“Don’t get close,” Jiang Yingyue instructed her from the side, then pulled a few yellow talismans from her pocket. Before Xia Xingye could clearly see the markings on the paper, Jiang Yingyue tossed them out. The moment the talismans stuck to the little ghost, they instantly emitted blue smoke.

“Ah!” The little ghost rolled on the ground, wailing, “I’m so pathetic! I just wanted company…”

Jiang Yingyue watched coldly. She waited until he had wailed enough before speaking: “You’re too noisy.”

The little ghost immediately went quiet, looking at Jiang Yingyue in horror.

“Frighten anyone again, and I’ll send you on a day trip to the Underworld.”

The little ghost nodded frantically. Jiang Yingyue waved her hand, and the child’s eyes lit up. He quickly said thank you, and his figure gradually became transparent and disappeared.

As he left, the surrounding fog slowly dissipated. Xia Xingye then realized she was standing under a large tree, right next to the bicycle path.

“How did you get here?” Xia Xingye asked, both shocked and delighted.

Jiang Yingyue showed her phone: “Didn’t you call me?”

Xia Xingye checked her call log. Sure enough, there was a connected call.

“That’s strange. I didn’t hear your voice.”

“When I answered the call, I only heard static, so I worried about you and came looking.”

Little Jiang, in Jiang Yingyue’s backpack, murmured faintly, “Good thing we made it.”

Its tone was full of relief.

Jiang Yingyue patted the backpack, and Little Jiang immediately quieted down.

A fellow cyclist rode past, saw Xia Xingye on the side, and slowed down to ask, “Did your chain fall off? Do you need help?”

Xia Xingye waved her hand: “No, thanks. You go ahead. I’m just taking a rest.”

After the classmate left, Xia Xingye examined Jiang Yingyue: “How did you get here?” She didn’t see any other vehicles around.

“I took a ride-share,” Jiang Yingyue pointed a short distance away. “I borrowed a bike after getting dropped off.”

Xia Xingye followed the direction she was pointing and saw someone wobbling on a bicycle, next to another person with a motorcycle parked beside them.

“Practicing cycling?”

Jiang Yingyue nodded.

“Then how do you get back?” Xia Xingye looked at her own bike, which didn’t have a back seat, and worried.

“We can walk back slowly.”

Xia Xingye forced a smile: “It takes at least an hour to walk from here to the exit.”

She looked around and spotted the small team leader in charge of their group. She quickly waved for help.

“Team Leader! Could you lend us a bike? My friend needs one.”

The team leader called for instructions and replied: “Someone will bring a bike soon. Do you want to go with the main group first? I’m the tail-rider. If you don’t go now, you’ll be stragglers.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll catch up quickly,” Xia Xingye promised. “We’ll definitely be on time for the meeting.”

The team leader reminded them repeatedly before leaving.

Xia Xingye looked at Jiang Yingyue and let out a long sigh, unable to resist saying again, “Thank goodness you came.”

It seemed like no one else had noticed her temporary disappearance. If it hadn’t been for Jiang Yingyue, Xia Xingye wasn’t sure she would have seen the sun again.

Before long, a classmate arrived, riding one bicycle and pushing another. After handing the bike over to Xia Xingye, he rode off. Xia Xingye called to Jiang Yingyue, and together they set off on the return journey.

Xia Xingye, who had been cycling like the wind earlier, was now pedaling slowly.

“Why were you able to receive my call?” Xia Xingye asked. “I couldn’t even dial the emergency number just now.”

Jiang Yingyue explained softly, “It might have been an accidental call that went through.”

Xia Xingye couldn’t remember when she dialed the number. At the time, she was mechanically dialing Jiang Yingyue’s number repeatedly to distract herself.

She turned her head to look at the watch on Jiang Yingyue’s left wrist and suddenly felt that giving her this watch was the wisest decision she had ever made.

“Wait,” Xia Xingye finally remembered the crucial question after confirming their safety. “What was that thing you threw just now?”

Recalling the scene, Jiang Yingyue was like a descending deity. Although her vision was blurry, she clearly remembered that whatever Jiang Yingyue threw made the little ghost instantly flee.

“Did I really meet a ghost?” Xia Xingye was still having trouble believing it. She was half-skeptical during the ghost hitting the wall experience, but only when the little ghost vanished into thin air did she have to accept the fact.

“Not exactly a ghost,” Jiang Yingyue explained. “It’s a spirit entity that existed here before this area was developed into a park.”

“A Mountain God?”

“Not quite. More accurately, a Mountain Spirit.” Seeing Xia Xingye’s confused expression, Jiang Yingyue added, “These types of entities sometimes like to find people to play with. Your recent luck has been a bit low, making you an easy target.”

“My luck is low?” Xia Xingye was incredulous. She had always thought she had good luck, and her life had been relatively smooth since childhood.

“Luck is affected by many factors. Just be careful for the next couple of days.”

Xia Xingye instantly grew nervous: “Will something bad happen if I’m not careful?”

After receiving an affirmative answer from Jiang Yingyue, she cautiously asked, “In that case, could you…”

“Could I what?” Jiang Yingyue asked patiently.

“Could you not go out to work for the next couple of days? Just stay home,” Xia Xingye’s voice grew quieter as she spoke. She suddenly lifted her wrist. “See, it still hurts a lot where I was squeezed.”

A dark bruise was clearly visible on her fair wrist.

Jiang Yingyue’s eyes instantly darkened.

“Watch the road, watch the road,” Xia Xingye quickly reminded her when she saw her looking.

Jiang Yingyue then shifted her gaze, frowning as she asked, “Do you have any medicine at home?”

“Yes, I do, I do,” Xia Xingye quickly soothed her.

Her initial intention was just to keep Jiang Yingyue with her, but she hadn’t expected such a strong reaction. Although she didn’t know what exactly Jiang Yingyue did for work, she had a hunch it was very dangerous. Today’s little ghost—no, Mountain Spirit—was easily dealt with, but what if they encountered something more powerful?

Worried that something might happen to Jiang Yingyue, she used an excuse to try and keep her for a few extra days.

“It doesn’t actually hurt that much,” Xia Xingye tried to lighten the mood. “A little medicine, and it will be fine in a couple of days.”

On the way back, although Jiang Yingyue still responded gently, her mood was noticeably subdued.

Xia Xingye regretted having spoken up and making the atmosphere so awkward.

Back at the apartment, several garbage bags were piled at the door, left behind from Jiang Yingyue’s rushed departure.

Xia Xingye helped throw away the trash and came back to find that Jiang Yingyue had mostly finished cleaning up.

“Sorry for intruding these past few days,” Jiang Yingyue said softly. “I can go back to my own place to sleep tonight.”