GRMFBS CH230

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Zhan Yan found Xiao Gu so sweet.

But he faced a problem now: he had stayed up all night. Previously, his nervousness had allowed him to brace himself and stay alert, but now that the matter was resolved, the tension in his heart eased, and he immediately became overwhelmingly sleepy.

However, his dad and brother were both home. He needed to find a suitable excuse to catch up on sleep… How should I explain staying up all night? Should I say I was addicted to a melodramatic TV show again?

The Gossip System refreshed another message for him:

【Zhan Yunkai returned home.】

Ah, right. His dad’s usual routine was to wake up at 5:20 AM, go back to Mount Qixia, transform into the Divine Chongming Bird, fly a lap over the city, and then return.

Today, his dad also handled some matters at Mount Qixia; otherwise, he would have returned even earlier.

If he didn’t get up and wash up now, his dad would be calling him for morning exercises.

Ah… what a sad story.

Zhan Yan dragged himself up to wash, preparing to hold on a bit longer. Once he made it through morning exercises and breakfast, he could just make up an excuse to go back to his room and sleep all morning until lunchtime.

The cold water helped him feel more awake. Looking in the mirror, Zhan Yan started to fret. But how do I get rid of these dark circles?

Seriously, why is it that my classmates can pull all-nighters consecutively without getting dark circles, but mine are this obvious after just one night without sleep?

I need to find something to cover them up… Meow it, why does no one in my family wear makeup?

When heading downstairs, Zhan Yan wore a baseball cap pulled down low.

Passing the kitchen door, he quickly greeted his dad and kept walking straight to the front door—opening it and closing it in one smooth motion.

Zhan Yunkai didn’t even have time to turn around and see his whole person; he only saw a back wearing a baseball cap.

… My younger son swept past me like the wind.

Is he that impatient to do his morning exercises today?

After leaving the house, Zhan Yan found a 24-hour supermarket, bought a concealer and a bottle of sunscreen. He first used the concealer to cover his little dark circles, then applied a layer of sunscreen as a cover-up.

When he returned home, Zhan Yan found his dad wasn’t there. There was breakfast and a note on the table, saying he had to go out for something.

【The Demon King of Chongming, Zhan Yunkai, decided to go chat with Teng Jian right now to avoid wasting the time his wife, Ji Yueming, spends at home.】

Zhan Yan: …

If I had known this, why did I go through the trouble with the concealer!

Zhan Yan decided to finish his breakfast before his brother woke up, so he could go straight back to his room to catch up on sleep. Anyway, his brother would just assume he was staying cooped up in his room again and wouldn’t worry.

Zhan Yan hadn’t taken many bites before his brother came downstairs.

Zhan Yan was shocked: “Brother, why are you up so early?”

Zhan Jinli typed: “I have something to do and need to go out today.”

“What’s that smeared on your face?”

Zhan Yan: “Ah… that.”

He remembered he needed to type: “Sunscreen.”

He knew applying something definitely wouldn’t escape his family’s sharp eyes. Anyway, his brother couldn’t tell the difference between concealer and sunscreen.

Zhan Jinli paused.

Sunscreen? My brother has never applied this kind of thing before. Why is he suddenly caring about his image?

A boy who never cared about his image suddenly cares about it… Could my brother be dating someone?!

Zhan Jinli recalled whether his brother had shown any signs of dating recently… he couldn’t tell. But he remembered that his sister had previously discussed with him the possibility that their brother might be dating.

His sister was indeed sharper in this regard than he was.

He had to ask his sister.

Zhan Jinli nodded without saying a word.

After finishing his meal, he would go ask his sister.

Zhan Yan quickly finished his breakfast, went upstairs, washed the concealer and sunscreen off his face, and tucked himself into bed.

So sleepy, so sleepy. Anyway, there’s nothing else that needs my attention. Sleep!

In the Gossip System that no one was paying attention to, a new melon strip slowly refreshed.

【Ghost King of Linyuan, Zhan Jinli, sent a message to his sister Zhan Suiru asking if you are dating.】

At the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau.

Although the matter was over, Ji Yueming didn’t plan to leave just yet. She needed to look into the matter concerning Teng Jian.

Yanyan’s interpersonal relationships were truly not normal. Previously, regarding those “Litchi is Not as Good” big grapes he wanted to invest in, when Luo Luoluo sent people to investigate, they found something amiss. Later, upon looking into it, they learned that the one who cultivated these big grapes was a grape demon.

The person in charge asked Puyang Xia how he knew their young boss. Puyang Xia said he was advertising to sell grapes, Zhan Yan bought them, found them delicious, and they added each other’s contact information, meeting just like that.

They also investigated Puyang Xia’s previous promotional ads selling grapes on other platforms.

A white-bearded old grandpa stood in front of the camera, solemnly and earnestly holding up a grape and giving a thumbs up: “Mentong County big grapes, sweet!”

Yanyan buys grapes and somehow connects with a near-thousand-year-old great demon. At that time, Ji Yueming didn’t think it was that much of a coincidence. Now, he watches a movie and adds Teng Jian. Teng Jian not only added Yanyan but also wanted to buy Suiru’s sculptures. Involving both her children, Ji Yueming felt it necessary to be vigilant.

Da Wuyue, knowing she wanted to investigate Teng Jian, said: “You should ask me about this.”

Teng Jian had once been collectively called the Twelve Beasts along with other divine beasts that consumed ghost qi. People carved their images to worship and pray to them in Nuo dances.

Nuo dance was considered a type of ritual, which fell under his expertise.

The so-called Dance and Music Rituals functionally served to borrow the power of heaven and earth, and formally served to communicate with and entertain the gods.

There were no gods in this world. Heaven and earth only needed to be communicated with and resonated with, not entertained. To ordinary people in ancient times, divine beasts born with various supernatural abilities were no different from gods. Therefore, they performed dance and music to entertain them and prayed for their protection.

While learning Dance and Music Rituals, Lingzhou Wendi had also learned various dance and music rituals for communicating with divine beasts. It was just that his talent was completely focused on resonating with heaven and earth, so although he learned them, he hadn’t practiced them often.

He briefly introduced Teng Jian to Ji Yueming like this, and then started gossiping:

“Including Teng Jian, there were twelve in total worshipped together at that time. But Qiong Qi forcefully squeezed his way in; he didn’t even eat ghost qi.

“Later, there were no more Nuo dances of the Twelve Beasts because they fell out due to differing aesthetics.

“Teng Jian liked the profoundly subtle and obscure style, Jia Zuo liked the ferocious beast style, and Qiong Qi, who forcefully squeezed in, liked to dictate the plays all day long. The dancing shamans were confused by them, and their group broke up. After that, no one worshipped the Twelve Beasts anymore.”

Lingzhou Wendi clicked his tongue, “Tsk tsk tsk. You see, perfectly fine, why did they have to fight? In the end, they all ran out of food, right?”

Ji Yueming listened to an earful of gossip and confirmed that Teng Jian liked the profoundly subtle and obscure style. Thinking again about Ji Lele’s horror movies and her daughter’s sculptures. Yes, very profoundly subtle, not easy to understand.

Teng Jian might truly have just wanted to add them as friends upon encountering those with similar aesthetic tastes. But caution was still necessary. She would go meet Teng Jian when there was a chance.

After finishing his educational explanation, Lingzhou Wendi continued gossiping.

“That ‘fan friend’ Deep Shadow mentioned couldn’t be himself, right?”

Previously, when Ji Yueming asked Deep Shadow about his friend who was a Tianshi fan, Deep Shadow had evaded her question.

Gu Jiancheng was mainly thinking of ‘Approaching Science.’ He definitely didn’t want the Tianshi to know he had gone roundabout to ask Deep Shadow to help him get an autograph.

Lingzhou Wendi: “People nowadays all know that ‘a friend of mine’ means ‘myself.'”

He didn’t care about fans or not before, but ever since being treated with a double standard by ‘Approaching Science,’ he involuntarily started paying attention to this area. Speaking of which, ‘Approaching Science’ was also a fan of the Tianshi.

Ji Yueming pondered for a moment and stated: “I don’t think it is.”

Deep Shadow’s gaze at her was very calm, lacking the excitement of a fan meeting their idol.

“Ah,” Lingzhou Wendi twirled the small flute in his hand, raising an eyebrow at Ji Yueming, “maybe he’s just really good at acting? Let me tell you, these seemingly serious people on the surface might have incredibly rich inner dramas privately. This comes from experience.”

Gu Jiancheng had already left the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau with Zhan Suiru.

The two still exited through the “Polar Radiance” store, and the shop assistant was still Shan Zhi.

Their job was also part of the welfare for the family members of Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau employees. It had a high salary and good benefits: working three days a week, rotating four shifts a day, with each shift being six hours, open 24 hours. Shan Zhi happened to be on the morning shift from 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

He showed the two of them a perfect professional smile, acting as if it were completely normal for these two customers to enter the darkroom yesterday and come out today.

Heh, just two more people from the real supernatural world. Doing their job, they’ve seen plenty.

So they were polite to everyone, because they never knew if the people entering the store were anime nerds or real big shots, or if those in bizarre outfits were playing cosplay or were truly supernatural.

Gu Jiancheng headed straight for the door. Zhan Suiru stopped in the store.

Gu Jiancheng turned to look at her: ?

Zhan Suiru: “I want to look at the things here.”

She wasn’t in the mood when she arrived, but now she felt these things were quite fun, and she could make some real replicas.

Maybe my little brother would like these kinds of toys? thought a certain artisan who had once attempted to replicate Iron Man armor.

Gu Jiancheng: … My future sister-in-law likes this kind of stuff?

So chuunibyou… But does this mean Yanyan might also like it?

Ah, speaking of Yanyan’s preferences, he remembered the lotus pond surprise from last time. Woo… if Yanyan doesn’t like melodramatic TV shows, why would he stay up late watching them and crying? Or does he just like watching them but not experiencing them?

Whether it was for Yanyan’s preferences or his future sister-in-law’s preferences, Gu Jiancheng decided to go over and take a look.

Shan Zhi smiled and began a professional introduction. Who says true supernatural big shots can’t be anime nerds who like cosplay?

Gee, looking at it this way, the man who scared him half to death yesterday wasn’t scary at all! Doesn’t he also like big chuunibyou toys?

Zhan Suiru was slightly surprised. Does Deep Shadow also like these toys?

Given that there were no other customers in the store and the only shop assistant was someone knowledgeable about supernatural existences, the conversation between the two gradually turned brutal.

Zhan Suiru: “Do you like this kind of thing? I can make a real one for you.”

Gu Jiancheng was genuinely a bit interested this time: “To what extent can a ‘real’ one achieve?”

Zhan Suiru: “Laser cutting, transformation, both are possible. If you want other functions, those can be added too. If you just want to play around, cutting a few meters into the ground is enough.”

Shan Zhi: …

Gu Jiancheng: “Toys are boring.”

Zhan Suiru: “If you want it made to coordinate with your abilities, that’s possible too, but I can’t do it; we have to wait for Xiao Ran.”

Once Yang Ran’s soul recovered a bit more, she could return his abilities to him.

The two big shots discussed very harmoniously. After parting ways, Zhan Suiru received a message from her brother, asking if Yanyan was dating.

Oh my, my dense oldest brother has finally caught on.

Unfortunately, she now knew Yanyan’s dating partner was not ordinary. So she absolutely couldn’t let her ordinary oldest brother get involved.

Zhan Suiru: “No.”

“Him applying sunscreen was probably just a sudden whim.”

“At his age, kids are prone to sudden whims.”

After successfully fooling her brother, Zhan Suiru also thought of Gu Jiancheng. She had delayed investigating her brother’s boyfriend for too long. Now that Xiao Ran’s troubles were resolved, she couldn’t delay her brother’s matter any longer.

Not being very good at information retrieval, Zhan Suiru decided to ask a professional for help.

Among the information-type supernaturals she knew, there was only one who was the most reliable and the strongest.

After waking up, Zhan Yan received a private message from ‘Artisan’ in the supernatural forum.

His sister thanked him very sincerely, and then asked if he could help investigate someone.

Zhan Suiru organized the clues:

Most likely a player from the Infinite—Zhan Suiru found Gu Jiancheng familiar;

Has aftereffects—needed her essential oils and blended incense beads;

Started getting better around last summer—last summer vacation was the first time Yanyan asked her for essential oils to give to a friend.

The Gossip System, unwilling to be left out:

【Zhan Suiru fully understands what it means to “leave professional matters to professionals,” so she decided to find your ‘Approaching Science’ identity to investigate who your boyfriend Gu Jiancheng really is.】

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