GRMFBS CH18

Zhan Yan felt a great deal of sympathy.

Lu Jiandong was also pitiful. A big boss who had navigated the ups and downs of the business world, yet remained surprisingly pure-hearted, only to have his object of affection be a time management master with eight legs. The public didn’t believe he was unaware, thinking he was some kind of pervert who liked his partners to cheat.

Zhan Yan casually scrolled through more gossip.

[Ghost Tan Youcheng passed a primary school English test, carrying a cheat sheet on his arm, ready to enter Matthias’s dreams again.]

[Ghost Tan Youcheng, influenced by the residual aura of *&% (special character), recalled the hardship of learning English these past few days and became very angry, preparing to teach Matthias a lesson.]

Zhan Yan: !!!

He grabbed his phone and jumped up, running out. “President, I have an urgent matter to attend to! I’ll catch up on the overtime when I get back tonight!”

Zhen Hua was startled by his sudden movement. “Take it easy! You can come back tomorrow if needed.”

She saw that Ling Yuteng’s gossip would probably keep trending for a few more days, so there was no need to rush.

While the gossip about Ling Yuteng was still boiling, Lu Jiandong was in the middle of crying when he suddenly heard a muffled sound from the other side: “Lao Ma? What happened to you, Lao Ma?”

On the other side: “Zzzzz…”

Lu Jiandong: “…I’m not saying this to you, Lao Ma, but your alcohol tolerance is getting worse. Next week when you come over, let’s have two bottles of white liquor; I’ll help you practice!”

Matthias: “Zzzzz…”

Lu Jiandong: “Alright! You sleep. I’m hanging up.”

He put down the phone, splashed his face with cold water from the faucet, and looked up at his reflection in the mirror—his eyes bloodshot and disheveled. He gritted his teeth. “Damn it…”

“Ling Yuteng, you dare mess with me…”

Being a big boss meant that after a good cry and some emotional adjustment, he was ready to start dealing with people.

However, Lu Jiandong didn’t know that Matthias wasn’t at the hotel but in a small private room at a bar.

A few minutes earlier, Matthias suddenly felt dizzy. He put down his drink and looked at the bottle in confusion. He’d barely drunk half a bottle, so why did he feel so sleepy?

He shook his head, stood up, and opened the door, intending to wash his face in the restroom. As soon as he opened the door, he collapsed to the floor.

The waiter was startled and hurried over to turn him over. “Sir? Are you okay, sir? Can you wake up?”

Matthias: “Zzzzz…”

The snoring sound was very reassuring.

The waiter sniffed. A strong smell of alcohol.

He relaxed. It was just drunkenness.

But he was this drunk, and he was a foreigner—communication would be hard. Should he call his friend to check on him?

He noticed a recently ended call on Matthias’s phone screen.

The waiter was about to redial when Zhan Yan, who had been following the situation through the gossip system, made a call directly.

“Hello?”

The person on the other end picked up. “Hello, are you a friend of the person in question?”

“I am.”

“I’m a waiter at Little Lucky Bar. Your friend is drunk here. Could you come and look after him?”

“Alright, I’ll come right now.”

The address was provided. Zhan Yan hung up the phone, then quickly took a taxi and asked the driver to get him there as soon as possible.

In the back seat, he closed his eyes and logged into the extraordinary forum, sending a private message to the admin area with the address where the residual aura had caused the garbled error. He then took out the liquid he had prepared earlier, following a guide from the forum’s best posts on how to temporarily open his Yin-Yang eye, and applied it to his eyelids. The main ingredient was clear water, with various other miscellaneous ingredients added. Fortunately, it only needed to be applied to the eyelids; if it had to be dropped into his eyes, he would’ve given up.

After applying it, Zhan Yan looked around, but didn’t notice any difference.

Hmm, it seems there are no ghosts nearby.

He had specifically filtered through this method, as it had the highest success rate. The post mentioned that this was the most basic temporary method for opening the Yin-Yang eye, something any ordinary person could succeed at, unless they had absolutely no talent. The chances of failure were almost one in a million.

When Zhan Yan arrived at the bar, he saw Matthias had already been helped to the sofa, with a waiter sitting beside him.

When the waiter saw Zhan Yan, he sighed in relief and handed Matthias over to him.

Zhan Yan sent the waiter off, locked the door, and glanced at the gossip system.

[Ghost Tan Youcheng attempted to enter a dream but was interrupted by the waiter, becoming very irritable.]

[Ghost Tan Youcheng stayed by Matthias’s side, waiting for the moment when no one was around to enter the dream again, and became very agitated when he saw you enter.]

Zhan Yan scanned the private room. Besides Matthias, who was snoring loudly, there was only himself.

[Unfortunately, it seems you are one of those rare individuals with no talent at all.]

Zhan Yan: …

Zhan Yan quickly took out the Eight-Treasure Cinnabar and applied a line on his forehead. Whether or not he could see ghosts wasn’t the priority; ensuring his safety was! He had already drawn the vermilion on his palm on the way here, and the forehead application was a bit more obvious, so he planned to do it after arriving.

He took a few steps forward to test.

[Ghost Tan Youcheng felt the immense pressure from you and retreated two steps in fear.]

Very good! The Eight-Treasure Cinnabar given by Sister really works! No wonder the system had certified it as a high-quality item!

Zhan Yan was about to apply some to Matthias as well.

Tan Youcheng grew anxious.

He stepped forward but was once again forced back by the Ghost King Seal on Zhan Yan’s body.

When Tan Youcheng first saw Zhan Yan walk in, he had assumed he was just an ordinary person. But as this young man got closer, he suddenly felt a terrifying aura.

Cold! Dark! Like being pressed to the bottom of a thousand-foot deep pool, the chill was unbearable even for a ghost.

He only wanted to collect a debt, so why did he have to face such a terrifying big shot?

This big shot even had cinnabar powder on his forehead! The vermilion mark was as fiery as the sun!

The alternating cold and heat made Tan Youcheng feel like he was getting a fever, and he was very aggrieved. Under the immense pressure, his emotions, influenced by the abnormal garbled aura, gradually returned to normal.

[Ghost Tan Youcheng thought learning English words was really painful and began to sob in agony.]

[Ghost Tan Youcheng regained his sanity due to the immense pressure.]

Zhan Yan: ???

Learning English words was that stressful? It even had this kind of effect!

Since Tan Youcheng had regained his sanity, that meant communication was possible. It was best to resolve the matter now.

Zhan Yan said, “Tan Youcheng.”

Tan Youcheng was startled, feeling both aggrieved and scared, and dared not escape. He responded cautiously, “Eh.”

Zhan Yan couldn’t hear him, so he relied on the gossip system to see what Tan Youcheng had said. He guessed his position, turned around, and asked the air, “Why are you bothering him?”

[The position you’re looking at is off by one spot from Ghost Tan Youcheng’s position, and Tan Youcheng suspects you are a big shot with poor eyesight.]

Zhan Yan cleared his throat and subtly adjusted his line of sight.

Tan Youcheng, seeing that this big shot seemed willing to communicate, felt his grievances surge, and he threw himself on the ground, wailing:

“Great one~~”

With tone and rhythm.

“I am from the Ming Dynasty, during the Xuande period. In my life, I was frugal and saved some family assets, and I was charitable, often helping my neighbors. This person, Ma Dazhuang, was my old neighbor in life…”

“Speak plainly.” Zhan Yan said expressionlessly.

You’ve learned English, but now you’re quoting all this archaic stuff!

“Ma Dazhuang owed me money when he was alive, and he died without paying me back. After I died, I couldn’t accept it, so I tried to collect the debt, but I couldn’t find him, and I couldn’t reincarnate. Now that I finally found him, he’s turned into a foreigner!” Tan Youcheng explained in one breath.

Zhan Yan was momentarily at a loss for words. How many years had passed since the Ming Dynasty’s Xuande period? It must have been about five or six hundred years, right?

“Didn’t anyone else owe you money in your life?” Zhan Yan asked.

Did he collect all the debts from others and not reincarnate until he got them back?

Tan Youcheng said bitterly, “Yes, but I found everyone else after I died, and they all paid me back. Only Ma Dazhuang! I’ve never been able to find him! I can’t accept it! I’ve been waiting and searching… and now I’ve wasted all this time and still haven’t reincarnated!”

Zhan Yan felt it was too complicated to explain.

“…Yan? Why are you here?” Matthias groggily said.

He hadn’t drunk much, but because Tan Youcheng had forced his way into his dreams, he had fallen asleep. Now that Tan Youcheng had stopped entering his dreams, he had woken up after some time.

Zhan Yan looked at Matthias’s handsome face with high nose and deep-set eyes: “…Ma Dazhuang.”

“What?” Matthias asked in confusion, turning to Tan Youcheng. “Who is this person… Oh my God! Aren’t you the man from my dream? How are you here? Am I still dreaming?”

Some people, when their luck is low, can see ghosts related to their fate. Matthias had just been forcibly entered into a dream by Tan Youcheng, and now, half-dreaming, he could see Tan Youcheng.

“It’s not.” Zhan Yan replied in Spanish, intending to explain, but Matthias had already started speaking again.

“Yan? I really dreamed of you this time!”

“You’re such a good friend who keeps promises!”

“Can you translate for me what he’s saying?”

[Tan Youcheng looks at you expectantly.]

Zhan Yan: …Forget it, if he thinks it’s a dream, let him think it’s a dream. If Matthias knew he was seeing a ghost, who knows what would happen.

Tan Youcheng was still playing the victim: “Great one, you don’t know, English is so hard to learn! I barely passed, and now I find this foreigner, and he doesn’t even understand what I’m saying!”

Matthias looked at Tan Youcheng in confusion, then turned to Zhan Yan. “What’s he saying?”

Zhan Yan: “…He says you don’t understand English.”

Matthias became angry and spoke in heavily accented English.

Tan Youcheng raised his arm and read from the cheat sheet: “Kānyóusī bìkè chāi nìzi āo yīng gē léi shì?”

Zhan Yan: “…Switch back to Spanish! And speak Chinese!”

Zhan Yan helped these two switch back to their native languages to communicate.

Matthias: “What do you think I owe you?”

Tan Youcheng: “Two hens.”

Zhan Yan: ?

“You’ve been waiting for hundreds of years just for two hens?!”