GRMFBS CH123

Sweet Sweet cake shop.

Zhan Jinli slowly kneaded the fondant, while five little ghosts helped out beside him and gossiped.

Although these five little ghosts weren’t strong, they were quite versatile and had a wide network in the Underworld. Thanks to them, even though Zhan Jinli had been hiding all this time, he hadn’t been cut off from news about Mount Chaofu and the Underworld.

Wan Yan Ghost King suddenly started acting up, and the pitiful Ghost King Tie Lao was tormented so much he wanted to resign. Zhan Jinli felt somewhat guilty. If he hadn’t replied to Wan Yan Ghost King’s task, Wan Yan Ghost King wouldn’t have suddenly acted crazy.

He had the five little ghosts ask about the current situation in the Underworld, and then found out that they were still using the old-fashioned office methods of the past.

It would be a miracle if Ghost King Tie Lao wasn’t worked to death!. The living world had already switched to modern, efficient office systems.

But it was normal for Ghost King Tie Lao not to have thought of this. He was so busy his head was spinning, making it hard to have the energy to notice the current popular work models in the living world.

Thinking about how his twenty-six years of life in the living world were built on Ghost King Tie Lao working overtime in the Underworld, a guilt-ridden Zhan Jinli promoted the benefits of systematic office work to him.

To reduce his workload a bit, so he could hold out a little longer.

Ghost King Tie Lao, having received guidance from his senior, was deeply moved.

Wu wu wu, Senior Ghost King Lin Yuan was forced to hide everywhere by Wan Yan Ghost King, yet he still remembered to care for him. He was truly too kind!

After finishing today’s cake orders, Zhan Jinli returned home, only to find that his younger sister and brother weren’t there. Usually, he was the last one to get home, so why was it the other way around today?

“Zhan Suiru’s studio got some orders, she said she’ll be back later”. Ji Yueming had just finished arranging a vase of flowers on the table, looking left and right, extremely satisfied.

Zhan Jinli remembered that he had casually given his sister a blessing for a flourishing career.

Then it was fine, it was normal for her to be busy. However, to avoid fortune and misfortune coming hand in hand and causing trouble, the blessing Zhan Jinli gave Zhan Suiru was very light. With her sculpture aesthetics, she could actually suddenly receive so many orders. Was the effect of his blessing that good?

Zhan Jinli: [Where’s Yan Yan?].

Zhan Yunkai poked his head out from the kitchen: “He went out to exercise, he’ll be back in a bit”.

The aroma of stewed spare ribs drifted out through the crack in the door along with the steam. Zhan Yan would definitely be back before mealtime.

In the small plaza, Zhan Yan was teaching Baduanjin to the uncles and aunties of the plaza dancing group.

In the competition with fitness exercises like Wuqinxi, Yijinjing, and Tai Chi, Baduanjin stood out because its movements were relatively simple and easy to learn—Zhan Yan was going back to school tomorrow, so he couldn’t teach them hand-in-hand like this anymore.

A group of uncles and aunties surrounded Zhan Yan, following his movements to learn, while Auntie Bai stood to the side holding her phone to record a video, clearly recording Zhan Yan’s movements and dictated key points. This way, after Zhan Yan started school, they could also compare against the video and help correct each other while watching.

Everyone was very interested in health-preserving exercises that could train the body, and were extremely enthusiastic towards Zhan Yan.

This made Zhan Yan very regretful. Everyone loved learning it, but unfortunately, his brother and sister hadn’t learned it successfully. They could only wait until he came back for his next holiday. Sigh.

After practicing for a while, Zhan Yan’s phone alarm rang.

“I have to go home,” Zhan Yan said.

“Oh, it’s already so late.”

“It is time to go home for dinner. Thanks for your hard work today, Teacher Xiao Yan.”

“Ah, don’t be so polite, don’t be so polite.” Zhan Yan waved his hand with a smile. “My dad might not be very used to things in the cultural troupe, so I’ll have to ask everyone to please look after him.”

Although His Majesty the Demon King had mingled among ordinary people for over twenty years, he usually only dealt with family members or people from his company. Mingtang Pictures was a property of the Wan Yao Alliance; with the big boss Xia Yuexian taking care of things, his dad truly lacked opportunities to deal with ordinary people. Zhan Yan worried that his dad wouldn’t get along well with the people in the cultural troupe.

“No need to worry about your dad, he sings incredibly well!” The old man who taught his dad how to boil soup paste waved his hand. “He’s now the treasure of our cultural troupe! You are our Teacher Xiao Yan, and your dad is our Teacher Xiao Zhan.”

Zhan Yan: ?.

What happened again?

He’d check the gossip threads once he got home!

Zhan Yan and Zhan Suiru arrived home one after the other. He had just finished washing his hands when he saw his sister carrying a large bag of things into the house.

“Sis, what did you bring?”

Zhan Suiru’s expression was hard to describe: “Let’s eat first, we’ll talk after dinner!”.

She had only come home because she was thinking about the dinner her dad cooked; otherwise, given the volume of tasks she accepted today, she could have stayed in the black market for a week straight without coming back.

After dinner, Zhan Yan helped his sister unseal the pile of things, all of which were cat toys.

Zhan Yan: “Sis, are you asking Xingxing for a favor?”.

Zhan Suiru slapped him lightly: “Go! Help me carry Xingxing over, I want to see what toys cats like”.

This was all Ghost King Tie Lao’s fault. He had placed an order with her for something that could attract a cat’s attention.

But although Wan Yan Ghost King had transformed into the appearance of a cat, he wasn’t a cat; he wasn’t even a ghost formed from a cat after death.

Zhan Suiru then asked Ghost King Tie Lao what hobbies Wan Yan Ghost King had. Every time she asked, he didn’t know.

You care too little about your colleagues! You two worked together at Mount Chaofu for so many years!.

Ghost King Tie Lao probably also felt that it wasn’t good to order a customized toy from someone without being able to provide any preferences, so he forced out an answer: “He likes Ghost King Lin Yuan”.

Zhan Suiru: ….

Could I somehow capture Ghost King Lin Yuan and bring him back?.

Without any reference material, Zhan Suiru had no choice but to study Wan Yan Ghost King as a cat.

First, she bought all kinds of cat toys available on the market to test which ones cats preferred.

Various cat teasers, burlap fish dolls, yarn bell balls… Zhan Suiru first picked up a feather cat teaser. Xingxing immediately started pouncing after it.

Zhan Yan found it amusing, so he sat across from her, holding a bell ball to tempt the little kitty.

With a shake of the small ball, the bell inside began to ring. Xingxing’s ears twitched, its eyes widened as it looked over, ready to make a move.

Zhan Suiru dangled the feathers in front of its eyes again, and Xingxing couldn’t resist wanting to pounce on the cat teaser again.

There was still a pile of cat toys on the floor. Everyone was very interested in this activity, so it evolved into the whole family sitting around on the carpet, each holding a different toy, with Xingxing surrounded in the middle.

Xingxing: Suddenly surrounded by happiness!.

Ten minutes later, Xingxing couldn’t be happy anymore.

It had just prepared to pounce on the rattle in Ji Yueming’s hand, when it was attracted by the electric mouse controlled by Zhan Jinli. Before it could even pin down the electric mouse, an irresistible scent wafted from the catnip doll in Zhan Yunkai’s hand!.

Xingxing ran in front of Zhan Yunkai, but just as its little paws rested on his knees, Zhan Yunkai placed the catnip doll into Ji Yueming’s arms.

Before it could shift targets, the sound of high and low bells rang out from behind.

Xingxing: “…Meow!”.

So anxious, so anxious!

Why is there only one Xingxing? There isn’t enough time to play with so many toys!.

The little kitty was tired and panting, lying on the carpet with its belly rising and falling, its eyes still staring at the toy in Zhan Yan’s hand.

Zhan Yan felt bad for his own cat and stuffed the yarn ball into its paws: “Alright, alright, Xingxing is tired”.

Zhan Jinli put away the electric mouse, thoroughly satisfied. He was the one who had run the cat ragged the most just now!

Zhan Suiru sighed. Xingxing was universally loving; there wasn’t a single toy it disliked. The test was a massive failure.

“Sis, what are you trying to research?” Zhan Yan asked.

“Researching a toy that a cat can’t resist playing with.”

Zhan Yan: ?.

But Zhan Suiru had already walked away in a daze, looking like she was deeply immersed in figuring out how to design a cat toy.

With her research stalled, Zhan Suiru continued to chat with Ghost King Tie Lao.

Artisan: [I think using a cat as an analogy for Wan Yan Ghost King isn’t very reliable.].

Wan Yan Ghost King was a Ghost King, after all. Even if she made a toy that every cat couldn’t resist, would Wan Yan Ghost King really be interested?.

Ghost King Tie Lao: [I think so too.].

Artisan: [Wan Yan Ghost King is a Ghost King after all, think again about what hobbies he has.].

Ghost King Tie Lao: [Cats aren’t as psychotic as him.].

These two messages were sent by the two of them almost simultaneously.

Artisan: [?].

Just how psychotic did Wan Yan Ghost King have to be?.

She had never interacted with Wan Yan Ghost King, and only knew some news about him from the chaofan forum. Judging from the forum, besides being incredibly obsessed with finding Ghost King Lin Yuan, there didn’t seem to be much else to Wan Yan Ghost King, right?.

Although Ghost King Tie Lao didn’t know Wan Yan Ghost King’s hobbies, he knew very well how psychotic he was. To help the Artisan understand Wan Yan Ghost King better, Ghost King Tie Lao began introducing his crazy exploits.

Ghost King Tie Lao: [He really did pretend to be a stray cat, pulling scams in the living world to trick people into giving him snacks.].

Zhan Suiru: ???.

Ghost King Tie Lao: [He previously suspected that Ghost King Lin Yuan was hiding in the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau, and when they didn’t let him investigate, he caused a ruckus at their place, recklessly throwing curses that caused hair loss and constipation.].

Zhan Suiru: !!!.

As Ghost King Tie Lao continued speaking, it turned into complaining.

Ghost King Tie Lao: [Ghost King Minghe stopped him to keep him from running around recklessly, so he treated Ming He River like a surfing wave and rode it.].

Artisan: [Alright, I understand.].

But understanding was useless. She was a normal person, unable to comprehend the thought process of a psychotic cat.

Artisan: [Do you have an image of Ghost King Lin Yuan?].

Artisan: [Would it work if I make a large-scale figurine of Ghost King Lin Yuan for Wan Yan Ghost King?].

…

Zhan Yan picked up Xingxing. In just the few steps up the stairs, Xingxing fell asleep; it seemed it was quite exhausted. Zhan Yan placed Xingxing into the cat bed; its little belly rose and fell as it purred, and it didn’t even wake up when placed in the bed, merely rolling over and continuing to sleep.

Zhan Yan took off the yarn ball hooked on its claws. Xingxing felt its arms were empty and stretched out its limbs to scoop it back up. Zhan Yan stuffed the burlap fish into its embrace and watched as it unconsciously hugged it and continued to sleep.

What to do when his sister was suddenly completely fixated on cat toys? Help her figure out a solution, of course.

Ordinary toys didn’t seem like they’d cut it, but Zhan Yan also couldn’t think of any special cat toy design plans at the moment. He opened his phone and started searching for videos of cat games.

Hmm… his sister had already bought most of them back, leaving only some large assembly toys, like cat trees, cat mazes, and so on.

As he was scrolling through videos, Gu Jiancheng’s goodnight call came.

They would be able to see each other tomorrow when he returned to school, so the little couple didn’t have anything they absolutely had to talk about, but just casually chatting made them very happy.

Gu Jiancheng: [What are you doing?].

Zhan Yan: [Looking up cat toys again.].

Gu Jiancheng: [Are you buying them to play with the cat?].

Zhan Yan: [Yeah.].

Gu Jiancheng: [Meow.].