GRMFBS CH263

Gu Jiancheng directed all his unusable energy onto Ghost King Lin Yuan.

Day one of cooperation:
Ghost King Lin Yuan: Vigilant.

Day two of cooperation:
Ghost King Lin Yuan: Still vigilant.

Day three of cooperation:
Ghost King Lin Yuan: …?

Deep Shadow: “Are you bored of waiting? If you’re bored, let’s watch a cooking anime together?”

Zhan Jinli: …Is Deep Shadow hungry?

Gu Jiancheng had no other choice either. Ghost King Lin Yuan’s hobbies were simply too eccentric; he had pondered for ages before finally coming up with this idea.

Zhan Suiru at least had a hobby of playing games. What hobbies did Zhan Jinli have? Making sickeningly sweet desserts and dedicating himself to promoting his own unique tastes?

He also seemingly had a hidden Gary Stu complex, but Gu Jiancheng couldn’t exactly find people to act out a “Return of the Dragon King” trope with him. Oh wait, he already had five little ghost subordinates who cooperated with his performances.

So “eating” was the only direction left—Ghost King Lin Yuan had chosen Yan Yan’s house; could it be because Yan Yan’s father had incredible cooking skills?

Anyway, Gu Jiancheng knew he didn’t have the culinary skills to conquer Ghost King Lin Yuan through food. Fortunately, the other party seemed to have a dream of becoming a Master Chef or Cake King, so they might as well watch cooking anime together. Perhaps cooking anime was exactly the kind of satisfyingly dramatic show Ghost King Lin Yuan enjoyed? Since they couldn’t do anything else, cultivating a shared hobby would have to do.

Zhan Jinli wanted to refuse.

But in the early stages of Dawn World connecting to Reincarnation, there really wasn’t much to do.

Being idle = having nothing to do, which in Deep Shadow’s thought process likely also = lying flat = lazy = needing to be motivated = needing to be instilled with the concept of hard work…

Then he might as well watch the cooking anime with him.

[Lin Yuan Ghost King Zhan Jinli accepted the invitation of Deep Shadow Gu Jiancheng, and the two watched the cooking anime “Return of the God of Cookery” together.]

Zhan Yan: …Pfft.

Sorry, he really couldn’t hold it in.

Watching a cooking anime was fine; at least it wasn’t sprinting in the opposite direction.

“Yan Yan, what are you looking at?” Gu Jiancheng leaned over again.

This was his shadow avatar.

Zhan Yan was quite curious about this skill and had looked it up in the Gossip System. A shadow avatar was somewhat like a remote-controlled puppet; it had consciousness and perception but lacked physical sensation, somewhat akin to a data representation—he could know the temperature of an object he touched, but he wouldn’t actually feel the hot or cold. So…

Zhan Yan turned his head to look at him, feeling that the expression on Xiao Gu’s face looked pitiful.

“School is starting soon, we need to go home and pack our luggage.”

Gu Jiancheng: “…Oh.”

What do you mean “oh”. They would see each other when school started in a couple of days.

Gu Jiancheng felt down.

School was starting… which meant living in the dorms. Besides, his attempts to farm favorability points with his future brother-in-law over the past few days didn’t seem to be going very smoothly.

Zhan Yan gave him a kiss: “We also have a lot of free time for internships this semester.”

They wouldn’t have to be at school!

Gu Jiancheng’s breath hitched, and his eyes instantly lit up as if they had been charged with electricity.

They didn’t stay lit up for long before Zhan Yan took Xingxing back home.

There was less than a week left before school started, after all.

Upon returning home, Zhan Yan was first startled by the situation in the yard.

They had gone out for a trip and upon their return, the yard had been all tidied up. The area where the floor tiles were removed was now planted with greenery, and a swing set had been set up on the lawn. For the newly transplanted summer plants, any blooming flowers were snipped off first to help them adapt to their new environment.

Xingxing got excited, bounded out of the cat carrier Zhan Yan was carrying, and started running wildly around the yard.

Meow meow meow! After going out for a trip, there’s a new playground at home meow!

Ji Yueming was currently weeding the yard, wearing a long apron and gardening gloves. Seeing them return, she straightened up from the bushes, her eyes curving as she smiled.

There was space left between the plants for future growth, which acted just like a little running track for the cat.

Xingxing darted back and forth across the yard, fixing his eyes on a newly transplanted little maple tree.

Jump on, swing!

Zhan Yan: “…Xingxing, get down from there quickly!”

Ji Yueming: “It’s fine, let him play.”

It was a little maple tree spirit; it wasn’t that fragile and wouldn’t be harmed by a cat hanging off it a few times.

Zhan Yan had already seen this in the Gossip System.

The little maple tree spirit hadn’t gained sentience for long and was still rather ignorant; its innate ability was being sensitive to auras, and it would even change color upon encountering bad auras. When it was in the nursery, it felt that the auras of Zhan Yunkai and Ji Yueming as they passed by were incredibly good, so it worked very hard to shake off its two best-looking leaves, hoping to be taken away.

Zhan Yunkai and Ji Yueming each picked up a maple leaf, and the moment their eyes met, they simultaneously thought of expressing their love through the maple leaves.

The two felt that adding an automatically color-changing environmental detector to the house was no big deal, so they chose this very hardworking little maple tree.

Zhan Yan scrolled through the gossip posts while heading back to his room with his mother.

[Chongming Demon King Zhan Yunkai secretly replenished a little spiritual energy for the little maple tree spirit to help it adapt to the environment sooner.]

[Tianshi Ji Yueming obtained plant growth repair fluid from the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau and secretly watered the little maple tree spirit, hoping it would repair its root system sooner.]

[The little maple tree spirit ate its fill. Seeing the little maple tree spirit growing well, both Chongming Demon King Zhan Yunkai and Tianshi Ji Yueming thought the little maple tree spirit had excellent natural talent.]

This meant the family had gained another pet.

“Mom, is Dad not home?” Zhan Yan asked.

“He went to buy groceries. Is there anything you want to eat? Call and ask him to buy it.” Ji Yueming was taking off her gardening gloves and apron. Seeing Zhan Yan wrestling with his suitcase, she added, “Stop busying yourself, just rest for a bit since you just got home.”

Zhan Yan had his back to his mom, rummaging around like a little squirrel hiding its food, when he suddenly turned around, holding up a pair of exquisitely crafted glazed vases: “Ta-da! Mom, do you like them?”

Ji Yueming’s eyes widened slightly as she took them with a smile: “So pretty! Yan Yan has really good taste!”

Zhan Yan followed his mother around the house like a little golden retriever, testing out where the vases would look best.

“It looks good here.”

“Oh my, it looks really nice here too.”

“I bought too few, too few!”

…

Xingxing went crazy in the yard for a while until he couldn’t stand the heat anymore, then ran inside to follow them, wandering all over the place.

Finally, Mom chose a satisfactory spot and placed the pair of vases there.

Xingxing curiously circled the vases, sniffing them.

“Xingxing, don’t push them over.”

Xingxing was an agile and nimble little kitty; he wouldn’t break things.

Unless it was on purpose.

Just as the vases were set down, Dad also returned with the groceries.

Zhan Yan pulled out the gift for his dad—a colorful recording microphone!

Zhan Yunkai narrowed his eyes: “What are you trying to do?”

Zhan Yan: “You can record it when you sing, so Mom can listen to it anywhere, anytime.”

Zhan Yunkai: “Not a bad idea. Don’t you want me to share a copy with you?”

Zhan Yan: “It would be great if you shared it, of course. It’s not like I’m going to post it publicly.”

His dad sang so beautifully, yet he had surprisingly hidden it for over a decade without them knowing.

There was no chance of hearing his dad sing in person, so he would just listen to it secretly by himself—at most, he would share it with his older brother and sister.

His youngest son’s eyes blinked rapidly.

Zhan Yunkai: “What do you want to eat?”

Hehe~

Zhan Yan felt happy.

Zhan Yunkai went to cook. The potted meat and diced pickled vegetables in the cupboard were ready to be eaten, but he hadn’t expected to bump into Xiao Gu when going out this time, so he hadn’t brought any.

He would just bring them when school started.

Having just returned home, Zhan Yan went to take a shower first, randomly scrolling through something to relax.

He checked Weibo, which he hadn’t logged into for a long time. Apart from a few promotional posts for the game, grapes, and grape juice that he posted to cooperate with Luo Luoluo, there was nothing else.

The hype around Ghost School had already started to decline, and his Weibo comment section had quieted down significantly.

Zhan Yan clicked into his dad’s Weibo.

Other than pausing updates for a while when traveling with his mom, the rest was his rock-solid daily diet posts, completely ignoring the wails in the comments begging him to release a song.

Hehe, you guys can’t hear it, but I’ll be able to hear it very soon!

Zhan Yan happily posted a picture of the microphone to his WeChat Moments.

Gu Jiancheng was the first to like it.

Even though he didn’t know what posting a picture of a microphone meant, he still had to give it a like!

Zhan Jinli watched as Deep Shadow suddenly took out his phone and tapped on it twice in the middle of watching the cooking anime.

He didn’t understand it, really didn’t understand. No matter how you looked at it, Deep Shadow didn’t seem to like cooking anime, so why did he drag him to watch it together? He had even prepared a full set of projection equipment.

Zhan Jinli retracted his gaze, continuing to stare boredly at the screen.

Food was meant to be eaten. A cooking anime only offered visuals; you could neither taste nor smell the flavors. Relying purely on graphics and music, what was so good about it?

However, it wouldn’t be bad if Deep Shadow could get addicted to cooking anime; that way, his competitive intense nature wouldn’t be dragged onto him.

Gu Jiancheng had no particular obsession with food. He was happy eating good food, but he could choke down bad food just fine; watching cooking anime was just for the spectacle.

Ghost King Wan Yan was sitting on the empty floor between the two of them, his round cat eyes staring wide, his little whiskers twitching from time to time as he watched with extreme focus.

Ah… it looks so delicious! Slurp!

Gulp swallowing saliva.

“…Fragrant, glutinous, and bouncy. With just a press of the tongue, your mouth is filled with gelatin.”

Could braised pork really be made this deliciously? He hadn’t even eaten it yet!

He couldn’t take it anymore!

Ghost King Wan Yan stood up: “Meeow-ow!”

I’m leaving!

He was going to find the chef; the chef had promised to make him a huge feast!

He was going to eat braised pork!

Zhan Jinli was quick-eyed and deft-handed, grabbing the cat’s tail in one swift motion.

“Where are you going?”

Who knew when Dawn World would connect over? Ghost King Wan Yan had to wait here.

Ghost King Wan Yan unhappily tugged at his own tail: “Meow-aow mi-wu meow!”

Don’t pull my tail! Watching it made me crave it, I want to eat braised pork, I’m going to find the chef to make me a huge feast, he promised me!

Zhan Jinli: ?

At such an important time, you want to run off to eat braised pork?

“You’re not allowed to go. You will stay here and behave.”

Ghost King Wan Yan angrily pulled his tail back.

You guys watch delicious food every day to make me crave it, and you still won’t let me go out to eat!

If you’ve got the ability, keep watching me every day; one day I’ll be able to run out!

Zhan Jinli had a headache. Ghost King Wan Yan’s Eternal Unrest soul was starting to act up again, and he really wasn’t confident in keeping his eyes on him forever without letting him run. Ghost King Wan Yan had already gained experience in running away; he would seize the opportunity to escape the moment he turned his head.

He suddenly felt a loosening in his grip, leaving only a section of a fluffy cat tail in his palm, which dissipated into sparkling ghostly energy.

The “tail-severing for survival” Ghost King Wan Yan had already darted out; the specks of fluorescent light scattered from the cat’s tail gathered towards him again, reforming into his tail behind Ghost King Wan Yan’s back.

Gu Jiancheng: ?

This mentally unstable Ghost King cat was going to look for Yan Yan?

How could he allow that?!

The shadows unfurled, quickly drawing a prison.

Don’t run!

Ghost King Wan Yan slammed Duang into the shadow wall, turning his head to glare at Deep Shadow with wide eyes.

What is wrong with you? I have no grudges or enmity with you!

Zhan Jinli let out a sigh of relief: “Thank you.”

Gu Jiancheng said deeply: “No need to thank me. I didn’t want him to run away either.”

[Lin Yuan Ghost King Zhan Jinli and Deep Shadow Gu Jiancheng reached a consensus on preventing Ghost King Wan Yan from escaping, and developed camaraderie by jointly stopping Ghost King Wan Yan’s various whimsical ideas regarding escape.]