GRMFBS CH231

…Sis, you really know how to find exactly the right person!

Shouldn’t you be hurrying back to keep treating Yang Ran so that once he wakes up you can go enjoy your happy romance? Why did you suddenly think of Xiao Gu?

Scroll the gossip feed, scroll the gossip feed… oh, bro, so you’re the one who did this!

Seriously, how did his brother’s train of thought jump all the way from sunscreen to dating?

Sis has already started getting people to investigate Xiao Gu’s Chaofan identity. How much longer can Xiao Gu keep his cover…

So stressful.

But he couldn’t refuse his sister. Right now, the task of investigating Xiao Gu’s Chaofan identity had fallen into his hands. That meant he could still help cover for Xiao Gu a little. If his sister went to someone else instead, that would be a real problem. So he had to show great confidence and keep the mission of finding Xiao Gu’s identity firmly in Approaching Science’s hands!

Approaching Science: “That’s easy enough.”

“But the range that needs to be screened is a bit broad, and the conditions are somewhat vague, so it may take a little longer.”

His sister replied immediately. Just from how fast she responded, Zhan Yan could already feel the pressure…

Good thing he could still stall a bit. In this world, there were quite a few players suffering from aftereffects, but only one detail was especially troublesome: things had started improving since last summer. There probably weren’t many “scapegoats” who fit that condition… He had to be careful. He needed to release them one by one, drawing his sister’s attention. That way, during the time his sister spent confirming all the wrong candidates, Gu Jiancheng would still have time to raise more favorability.

But he had no idea how much time this would actually buy for Xiao Gu.

Xiao Gu had better hurry up!

Zhan Yan felt an intense sense of urgency.

He opened the gossip feed to see what Xiao Gu was doing now.

[Gu Jiancheng removed his disguise and was getting ready to go to the courier station to pick up the package of pastries you mailed him.]

Gu Jiancheng was secretly delighted. Yan Yan had directly mailed him a package from home—didn’t that mean that Yan Yan actually no longer minded him knowing his home address?

And what did that mean? Round it up and it basically meant he was meeting the parents already!

[Gu Jiancheng discovered that the sender address on the package was the police station, and for one brief moment thought his wanted notice was still up.]

Zhan Yan: …pfft.

He had gotten up too early at the time and the courier station wasn’t open yet, so he had asked Sister Zhao Wen to help him send it.

He kept scrolling the gossip feed.

Gu Jiancheng had booked a hotel nearby under an ordinary person’s identity.

He returned to the dorm and opened the package. While opening it, he was secretly congratulating himself. As expected of him—he had dealt with the corrupting force in Yang Ran’s soul in a single night. If it had been someone less capable, if they had dragged things out for several days, the pastries Yan Yan had sent would’ve gone bad.

The ice packs in the cooler had already completely melted, but they still felt cold to the touch. The pastries had been carefully arranged in a compartmentalized lunch box, though some of them had crumbled during long-distance transport.

Gu Jiancheng pinched up one of the broken bits and put it into his mouth. Delicious!

[Gu Jiancheng thought the pastries were made by you. He cherished them so much that he even ate the crumbs, but couldn’t bear to touch the intact pieces.]

Zhan Yan: …Why is he so… so… ah, geez!

He sent Gu Jiancheng a message.

Zhan Yan: “I got a text notification saying the package was signed for.”

“Did you try it yet? How does it taste?”

Gu Jiancheng: “It’s incredibly delicious.”

“[Hamster stuffing food into cheeks]”

Zhan Yan: …Liar. You stuffing your cheeks?

Zhan Yan: “I’m glad you like it. They were made by the auntie next door. She’s super good at making Chinese pastries. Next time she gives me more, I’ll send you some again.”

[Gu Jiancheng was very disappointed after learning the pastries weren’t made by you.]

Pfft. Go ahead, be disappointed. Once you’re done being disappointed, hurry up and eat them. Keeping them around untouched would be such a waste of Aunt Bai’s craftsmanship.

Gu Jiancheng was only disappointed for a tiny moment.

So what if Yan Yan hadn’t made them personally? The fact that Yan Yan thought of him when he tasted something good—that was love! Gu Jiancheng happily continued eating the pastries.

Watching all this on the gossip feed, Zhan Yan suddenly couldn’t bring himself to think of ways to rush him anymore.

Sigh, Xiao Gu had just worked through the entire night. Better let him rest properly first. It wasn’t as if there was nothing Zhan Yan himself could do on his side.

The big chunk of favorability on his sister’s side had already been secured—they just still needed to cover up the hidden identity.

Zhan Yan decided to go see what his brother was doing. On the surface, his brother seemed to have believed the cover story their sister had given him, but what if? If his brother also suddenly got interested and started investigating Xiao Gu… the pressure would be enormous!

He opened his brother’s gossip feed.

His brother had gone to Chaofu Mountain.

Oh, right—he had gotten the news that Wanyan Cat had woken up and left on his own, so he had gone to check on the situation.

Zhan Jinli asked the Minghe Ghost Kingabout Wanyan’s state after waking up.

The Minghe Ghost King knew what he wanted to ask. “He still thinks of himself as a cat.”

Zhan Jinli couldn’t help frowning. “Even the power of the Candle Dragon couldn’t make him remember?”

“I think he remembered quite a lot.”

“Then why…”

“The river channel is not shaped by the river water.” The Minghe Ghost Kingreached a hand into the underworld river and scooped up a handful of water. It lay smooth as a mirror in her palm. “A soul is not shaped by memory.”

If you implanted a coward with the memories of a hero, when danger arrived, his instinct would still scream at him to run.

Memory was memory. Soul was soul. Wanyan’s problem lay in his soul itself. The power of the Candle Dragon could only help him trace things back—it couldn’t restore him.

The current Wanyan was still the same Wanyan from twenty-seven years ago, the one whose soul had been on the verge of shattering. What had forced that soul to continue existing was a curse cast by Linyuan using half of the demon core he had cultivated: the soul shall never know peace.

Wanyan’s soul had not recovered, so Linyuan’s curse could not be lifted. Thus Wanyan, whose soul had that “never know peace” embedded within it, had continued, according to the caster’s will, to “never know peace” in the gentlest way possible.

Wanyan Cat jumped everywhere, overflowed with energy, tossed little curses around, committed fake injuries, stirred up idle trouble, fished around… he could not be still, but that did not mean he could not be safe.

The Minghe Ghost Kingopened her hand. The water fell, merging back into the flowing river until it could no longer be distinguished.

Looking at the river flowing onward, she said, “There’s no need to rush him into recovering his memories. Once his soul heals, the memories will naturally return.”

Zhan Yan saw all this in the gossip system too.

Ahhh, so the method he had previously thought of to help Wanyan recover his memories had been completely wrong. Recovering memories did not mean the soul had healed—but if the soul healed, the lost memories could return.

But how could Wanyan’s soul be healed? Hmm… Sis was currently treating Yang Ran’s soul. The souls from the apocalypse world were somewhat different from the spirit-souls of this world. Could the methods sis used to treat souls be applied to Wanyan too? Also, was there any way Xiao Gu could help with this and earn some favorability while at it…

Zhan Jinli, meanwhile, had thought in another direction.

The Ghost Festival was coming soon. The Ghost Festival was the day heaven and earth offered salvation to the souls sunk in the mortal world. There was a natural force of worldly law in the cycle of heaven and earth at work within it. He had never studied it closely before. If he could truly understand the special nature of that day, perhaps it could benefit Wanyan’s soul.

There were still some days left before the Ghost Festival. He needed to gather some information first, and could use this chance to talk to Teng Jian as well. Since he was already out today, he might as well go see Teng Jian today.

At home.

Halfway through scrolling the gossip feed, Zhan Yan realized he was hungry. He checked the time and saw that it was already 1:30 in the afternoon without him noticing.

The house was still completely quiet, which meant no one else had come back yet.

Zhan Yan went downstairs to eat. He first opened the jar of diced pickled vegetables and scooped some out with a spoon. Vegetables pickled quickly. It had only been a day, so the taste was still light. He could sneak a little now. If he wanted more later, he’d have to wait until they were fully pickled. You couldn’t eat them midway through, since nitrite levels were high at that stage.

Rice with little pickled side dishes was delicious too. But what Zhan Yan really craved was the food his dad made by hand.

Sigh, when was Dad coming back? Let’s check the gossip feed.

Zhan Yunkai was chatting with Teng Jian.

Teng Jian was thoroughly confused. She had barely had any contact with the Demon King Chongming before. Why had the other side suddenly come looking for her? Was there somewhere they needed her ability? But if so, why not simply say what it was?

She couldn’t exactly leave, so she might as well chat.

Zhan Yunkai asked Teng Jian about her hobbies and used his double pupils to observe whether she was lying. He was very serious about this—Teng Jian had not only approached Yan Yan of her own initiative outside the movie theater, but had also later mentioned wanting a statue of Sui Ru. Targeting both his son and daughter all at once, His Majesty the Demon King, acting as a father, was extremely cautious.

Teng Jian, bewildered, went from talking about her hobbies to what she had been doing lately, when she suddenly heard the Demon King Chongming ask: “Do you like Ji Lele’s films?”

Teng Jian immediately perked up. “I do!”

She started rambling excitedly.

Zhan Yunkai confirmed it. Teng Jian simply had uniquely strange tastes, and had assumed Yan Yan shared them, which was why she had added him as a friend.

His Majesty Chongming felt reassured and continued, “Would you like to participate in Ji Lele’s new movie? You could also attend the preview screening.”

Ji Lele’s next movie was almost fully prepared and about to begin shooting, and this time Mingtang Films was financing it directly itself.

Teng Jian’s eyes widened in surprise. “Huh? Really?”

This was like saying to a gourmet obsessed with a certain master chef: you can visit the chef’s kitchen, join him in tasting every dish, and discuss the design behind each one!

Zhan Yunkai said, “Really. You can go find Xia Yuexian about it later. I still have things to do, so I won’t keep you.”

Teng Jian left, bewildered but happy.

[Teng Jian, after leaving Qixia Mountain, was found by Linyuan Ghost King, Zhan Jinli, and asked many questions about the Ghost Festival and spirit-souls. During the questioning, Zhan Jinli sounded her out about what she thought of the horror films made by Ji Lele.]

…

[After leaving Chaofu Mountain, Teng Jian received a message from the Great Musician Lingzhou Wendi. Lingzhou Wendi asked whether she had time lately, because Tianshi Ji Yueming wanted to meet with her and have a chat.]

Teng Jian: …Had she stabbed a nest of big shots today or something?

Zhan Yan: …pfft. Sorry about that, but this is the kind of weird thing that happens when you have bizarre popularity.

Now only sis still hadn’t gone to find Teng Jian yet, right?

Though sis, like him, didn’t know who Teng Jian was. She probably wouldn’t, like Dad, Mom, and Bro, use a Chaofan identity as a cover to approach and test her. Besides, sis still had to keep treating Yang Ran’s soul… ah, the preliminary stage of Yang Ran’s treatment was already over, but he still hadn’t woken up. The best way for a soul to recuperate was during sleep.

Zhan Suiru couldn’t sleep, but she wasn’t in the mood to do anything else either. Right now there was nothing urgently requiring her attention.

She stared at Yang Ran for a while, then suddenly remembered how whenever she got stuck while refining artifacts, Xiao Ran would solemnly suggest that she go play games with her little brother.

But little brother didn’t play games anymore now… forget it, she’d just play a few rounds by herself.

Zhan Yan saw this on the gossip feed.

He immediately took out his phone and started redownloading the game.

Sis, wait for me a moment, I’m coming!

The download progress bar had only loaded to six percent when his gossip feed refreshed again.

[Gu Jiancheng received an online notification from specially followed target “Big Hammer Eighty,” and immediately logged into his game account “Gossip King.”]

[Using the “Gossip King” account, Gu Jiancheng invited “Big Hammer Eighty” to team up, and chose a support role.]

No need to download the game anymore. Xiao Gu was trying so hard…

Support me on Ko-fi