GRMFBS CH19

Chasing a debt for two chickens for hundreds of years—how do you have the nerve to call yourself charitable?!

Tian Youcheng looked aggrieved. “A debt is a debt, even if it’s just a penny!”

“Fine, I’ll pay him back for you. Later, I’ll go to the market and buy two roasted chickens for you to use as offerings,” Zhan Yan said.

“My lord, how could I take something from you? Whoever owes the debt should repay it,” Tian Youcheng waved his hands frantically. “Besides, that’s not how it’s calculated.”

Alright then. Zhan Yan translated this to Matthias.

“Oh, oh, two chickens? That’s a minor issue. I’ll go buy them right away,” Matthias replied.

But Tian Youcheng shook his head. “That’s not how it’s calculated.”

“Then how is it calculated?” Zhan Yan asked.

Tian Youcheng pulled out an abacus and started clicking away. “Well… a hen lays eggs, and the eggs hatch into chicks. A hen can lay a hundred eggs a year. Ma Dazhuang borrowed my hen 573 years ago. So, calculating it…”

Zhan Yan rolled up his sleeves, revealing a red cinnabar mark on his palm, and said expressionlessly, “Care to calculate that again?”

Tian Youcheng panicked. “Uh… uh, okay, okay. Let’s not count the chicks that hatched. Just the eggs the hen laid!”

“Then calculate!”

“A hen lays a hundred eggs a year, and over 573 years, that’s—”

“Your hen lived for over 500 years?”

“But… but the chicks can live on and keep laying eggs!”

Seeing Zhan Yan raise his hand again, Tian Youcheng fell to the ground and started crying miserably. “My lord! I waited for him for over 500 years just to say one word to him! Every night, I studied foreign things, learning English vocabulary… I… boohoohoo…”

“Why is he crying so hard?” Matthias curiously poked Zhan Yan.

Tian Youcheng was crying so pathetically that, if not for their genders or orientations, it could’ve been mistaken for a tragic love story of someone waiting bitterly at the Bridge of Helplessness for a faithless lover.

Ma Dazhuang’s handsome face showed a trace of sympathy. “Oh, he sounds so heartbroken. I could buy him a drink.”

Zhan Yan coldly translated Tian Youcheng’s method of calculating the debt.

Ma Dazhuang was shocked. Even as a foreign capitalist, he had never seen such exploitative calculations!

“Let’s settle it as two hens, plus the eggs they could lay while alive,” Zhan Yan decided mercilessly.

Tian Youcheng was still reluctant.

Zhan Yan added, “Hens need feed too! If you keep arguing, we’ll calculate how much grain the hens would’ve eaten over these centuries. You’ll have to pay for the grain before he gives you the chickens!”

Tian Youcheng was speechless.

“Alright, Yan, so now the three of us should go eat chicken…” Matthias swirled his wine glass. “There should be two roasted chickens on the table. But there are three of us, so I’d prefer three chickens, with some salad on the side…”

Tian Youcheng looked at him like he was an idiot. “What’s he gesturing at an empty table for?”

After talking for so long, he still thought he was dreaming. Judging by his state, Matthias probably couldn’t hold his liquor well and was still drunk.

Zhan Yan couldn’t bear to look. “Wait here. I’ll go buy some roasted chickens and get some wine and side dishes for you. Consider them the eggs.”

“I don’t want yours. The debt is his, and he should repay it…”

“I’ll ask him for the money later.”

“Oh…” Tian Youcheng reluctantly agreed.

Seeing Zhan Yan about to leave, Matthias stood up and grabbed him. “Yan, are you leaving? I wanted to nap a bit longer.”

Tian Youcheng leaned over. “Can I pick the chickens myself?”

Matthias also reached out to grab him. “Are you leaving too?”

His hand passed through thin air.

[Matthias’s arm went straight through the ghost Tian Youcheng’s chest.]

Matthias’s expression grew increasingly horrified.

Zhan Yan said, “It’s fine. You’re dreaming, remember? This is normal.”

The shock sobered Matthias up bit by bit.

[Congratulations, Ma Dazhuang, for finally realizing he’s not dreaming.]

From his throat came a scream that was one-third weak, one-third terrified, and one-third bewildered.

Zhan Yan: “…Don’t be scared. Just buy him two roasted chickens, and he’ll never bother you again.”

Zhan Yan, dragging a terrified Matthias along, completed the ritual. He bought Tian Youcheng three chickens, a bottle of wine, two boxes of snacks, and a basket of eggs.

Tian Youcheng took a bite and cried, “My hen~~~”

Another bite, another cry: “My chicks~~~”

Yet another bite, yet another cry: “My eggs~~~”

Zhan Yan, annoyed by the endless scrolling updates in his spectator system, smiled at Tian Youcheng. “Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you something. Ma Dazhuang’s reincarnation is Spanish and speaks Spanish. All that English you learned was for nothing.”

Tian Youcheng froze for a moment before bursting into even louder sobs.

[The ghost Tian Youcheng carefully tucked an egg into his arms, wiped his tears, and headed off for reincarnation.]

What? Was he planning to hatch a chick in the afterlife?

Matthias, still stiff from fear, poked Zhan Yan. “Is he gone?”

Zhan Yan reassured him, “Don’t worry. It’s all resolved. He won’t bother you again.”

Matthias: “Oh God… No, I mean, dear Yan, what do you believe in?”

Zhan Yan: “…It’s fine. You can keep believing in God.”

“No, it’s not like I go to church often anyway.” Matthias looked at Zhan Yan with teary, sparkling gray-green eyes. “Yan, you saved my life! From now on, you’re my dearest friend.”

God must be facepalming at this unfaithful believer.

Matthias, still emotional, exclaimed with shining eyes, “Yan, are you a wizard? You can see ghosts and communicate with them! Do you know other magic? Mysterious Eastern magic!”

“No,” Zhan Yan denied.

After all, he’d just been officially certified by the system as a pure-blooded Muggle. [Awkward smile.]

Matthias took a deep breath and nodded solemnly. “Understood! I get it! I’ll keep it a secret!”

Zhan Yan: …That works too.

He took out a special cinnabar powder and smeared it on Matthias. Tian Youcheng’s garbled, chaotic aura had forcibly entered Matthias’s dream earlier, and who knew if it left any aftereffects?

[You’ve just completed an extravagantly wasteful ritual to dispel ghostly energy.]

Matthias carefully held out his palms, afraid to smudge the cinnabar marks.

With teary eyes, he vowed, “Yan! My dearest friend! If you ever have any trouble, come to me!”

Zhan Yan sent the overly emotional foreigner back to his hotel. By the time he returned, it was almost the end of the workday.

Entering his residential area, he ran into a neighbor.

“Zhan Yan?” The neighbor looked at him in shock. “Did you run into some thugs?”

“No.” Zhan Yan noticed her gaze fixed on his forehead. He wiped it with his hand and found it covered in red.

The cinnabar on his forehead had been forgotten and accidentally smudged. In the dim evening light, it indeed looked like blood at first glance.

“It’s from messing around with a friend. I forgot to clean it off,” Zhan Yan said, showing her his hand.

The neighbor, Zhao Wen, a sharp-eyed policewoman, relaxed after confirming it wasn’t blood. “Alright, if anyone bullies you, let me know. Your sister asked me to look after you while she’s away.”

“No one’s bullying me, don’t worry.”

Zhao Wen, a close friend of his sister Zhan Suiru, had always been protective of Zhan Yan.

After washing his face at home, Zhan Yan found that his editor-in-chief, Zhen Hua, had already sent the remaining work to his email. She told him there was no need to come to the office and that he could work from home if he had other matters to handle, as long as he finished by Wednesday. If the hot gossip about Ling Yuteng the “octopus” was still trending, he could take even longer.

What a generous boss!

Zhan Yan downloaded the email and decided to get the work done early so he could enjoy a break.

That evening, his brother and sister both messaged him, saying they wouldn’t be coming home.

His sister’s absence was understandable—her studio had a fully equipped rest area. But how could his brother sleep in that tiny bakery of his?

Zhan Yan sent a message to Zhan Jinli to ask about it.

Sweet Cake Bakery.

Summer evenings stayed light late, and it was far from closing time. The aroma of freshly baked bread and cakes filled the air—a blend of butter, nuts, cream, and the sweetness of heated fruit. The scent wafted through the chime-decorated porch and out the bright glass doors.

Passersby, caught off guard by the enticing aroma, couldn’t resist stepping inside. But the ovens had already been turned off, and the display cases were empty.

“Is anyone here? I’d like to buy some bread.”

The masked shop owner rose from behind the counter and tapped the “Closed” sign.

The customer’s gaze lingered on the greasy paper with only crumbs left in the display case. “Not even one? I just want one.”

The shop owner shook his head.

Disappointed, the customer left.

Pulling down the shutters and locking the door, Zhan Jinli removed his hat and mask. His perpetually half-lidded eyes lifted, and his cold, deep gaze swept the floor.

“Speak up. What’s going on?”

The little ghost on the ground shivered.

“In the afternoon, the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau suddenly went berserk, capturing all the demons and ghosts in the southern district. They even set up checkpoints under the pretense of searching for a dangerous fugitive,” the little ghost explained.

This reaction didn’t seem like a routine operation to catch demons and ghosts. It felt more like they were searching for something specific.

Recalling the Bureau’s anomaly cleanup the previous night, Zhan Jinli had a guess.

They were likely searching for the anomaly that had been vomited out by the hungry ghost.

That anomaly had hidden inside the hungry ghost, and Zhan Jinli hadn’t noticed its presence until the ghost threw up after eating the cake.

The Bureau must not have detected the anomaly during their cleanup last night. However, by this afternoon, they seemed to have found a lead and suspected that the anomaly had hidden itself inside a living creature or ghost to escape, prompting their large-scale operation.

“Is the Wen Yao Alliance cooperating with them?” Zhan Jinli asked.

Last night, the Chongming Demon King hadn’t reacted. Now that the Bureau was arresting demons, the Alliance’s lack of response could only mean they were involved.

What exactly was this anomaly?

“I-I think so,” the little ghost stammered. “I saw demons standing with those people, trying to persuade other demons.”

Zhan Jinli told the little ghost to stay and handed him a piece of bread.

The overly sweet bread transformed on the offering tray into a towering pile of bread.

The little ghost was moved to tears. “Thank you, sir!”

Zhan Jinli left five ghosts behind. “You stay here and watch the shop.”

He retreated into the shadows, his figure vanishing in an instant.

The five ghosts—red, yellow, black, white, and green—surrounded the little ghost. “Heh heh, smells good, doesn’t it?”

The little ghost nodded while munching on the bread. “Delicious! So fragrant and sweet!”

Ghosts fed on energy, and while Zhan Jinli’s bread wouldn’t taste sweet to humans, its overwhelming richness transformed into an abundance of edible energy for ghosts, inflating and fluffing up several times over.

“All the bread and cakes we used to give you were also from the master,” the red ghost said.

“The master has a kind heart. Seeing you lonely, unoffered wild ghosts pitiful, he’s always had us bring you food,” the yellow ghost added.

“Now you’ve had the fortune to learn that the one providing for you is the master,” the black ghost said.

“You must remember the master’s kindness and never expose his identity,” the white ghost warned.

“Understood?” the green ghost asked.

Five pairs of ghostly eyes glowed with a cold light, staring at the little ghost.

“Understood! Understood!” The little ghost clung to the bread, trembling with fear.

“If you dare reveal anything, we’ll tear you apart!”

“I wouldn’t dare! I’ll always remember the master’s kindness!” The little ghost nodded furiously.

The five ghosts were satisfied, their eerie aura vanishing instantly.

“By the way, this bread you’re eating is a new flavor the master developed,” the red ghost said, swallowing hard.

“We haven’t even tried it yet,” the yellow ghost said, staring hungrily at the tray.

“It smells so good. Can we have a piece?” the black ghost asked.

“Just one each,” the white ghost said, licking his lips.

The green ghost held up a finger, looking expectantly at the little ghost.

Before setting out to investigate, the former Ghost King messaged his younger brother, who immediately responded with concern.

Oh, right. He was just planning to scout the situation. If he finished early, he’d need somewhere to go for the night. Coming home late would only cause worry, so he might as well book a hotel in advance.

The former Ghost King, now seriously committed to living as an ordinary human, paused and found the nearest hotel.

The hotel had a pink neon sign and a soft, cozy interior, looking quite refined.

“Are you staying alone?” the receptionist asked.

Zhan Jinli nodded. He didn’t go to the room, taking the key card and heading straight out again. Before disappearing into the shadows, he sent Zhan Yan a message:

“I’m staying at a hotel.”

A hotel? The house was right here—what was the point of staying at a hotel?

Zhan Yan couldn’t help but glance at his gossip system.

[Zhan Jinli booked a room at a couple’s hotel.]

Zhan Yan: Pupil quake!