GRMFBS CH82

Heroes have always had a weakness for beauties.

Zhan Yan: “…”

Gu Jiancheng’s eyes and brows were filled with a relaxed smile. “What’s wrong?”

Zhan Yan’s gaze lingered on Gu Jiancheng’s face. “Nothing.”

He savored the phrase “a beauty’s trap.” Oh, dear…

After agreeing to meet the parents, Zhan Yan started to worry.

He hadn’t even told his own family yet!

As he mulled it over, he opened his family’s group chat. Seeing his dad ask about his workout progress, Zhan Yan snapped a picture of his growing muscles and sent it.

“My fitness will soon be better than all of you!”

His family members chimed in with encouragement.

Zhan Yan was satisfied. It was impossible to be fitter than his dad—his dad wasn’t exactly human—but there was still hope of catching up to his older brother and sister!

Speaking of which, his brother’s fondant cake course was almost over, and he would be home soon.

–

Zhan Jinli and Luo Wang had made arrangements for the “flesh and blood anomaly.”

With Wan Yan being watched over, Zhan Jinli was much more at ease. He had also obtained the Glazed Mirror from Chaofu Mountain, a little trinket that was perfect for his current situation.

Zhan Jinli’s current supernatural power was uncontrollable; it could be triggered automatically whether he spoke to someone or they spoke to him. The Glazed Mirror added a new filter to his power—only words spoken with true sincerity could activate it.

From now on, he wouldn’t have to worry about pleasantries or lies.

Feeling a weight off his shoulders, Zhan Jinli was in the mood to think about his graduation project for the fondant cake class.

As he was sketching, his mind drifted to the message the Chongming Demon King had sent him through Luo Wang.

One part of the message was to say that Wan Yan was being looked after, which meant Lin Yuan’s side could investigate freely. The other part was about Wan Yan’s condition.

When Wan Yan was alive as a Diting¹, he had a lively side, but he was never as mischievous as he was now.

Chongming had looked into Wan Yan’s condition. With his divine double-pupiled eyes, he could see things others couldn’t.

When Wan Yan was a Diting, he had this power and thus didn’t like to be in crowded places.

But when he was alone for too long, he would get bored and come up with a solution: since he could hear the sounds of all things, he would often pick a living creature, listen to its heart, and then disguise himself as one of them. Sometimes he would become a deer and run with the herd in the forest; other times he would become a bird and migrate with the flock.

That was how he got the name “Wan Yan.”

In today’s terms, he was a total drama queen!

This drama queen’s soul was currently damaged, so his temperament was naturally unstable. Even a mortal who suffers a brain disease can have a drastic change in personality, let alone someone with a problem in their soul.

Wan Yan’s current state wasn’t necessarily related to the curse Lin Yuan had placed on him, but it couldn’t be said to be completely unrelated either.

Lin Yuan’s power was “fortune and misfortune are intertwined”, which was far more sophisticated than simply “blessing” or “cursing.”

It was an ability related to fortune. A creature’s luck is finite, and to truly change it, one must rely on oneself, not external forces. Forcibly bestowing blessings or curses sometimes doesn’t work, and even if it does, something else will eventually cause it to fail.

But “fortune and misfortune are intertwined” was different.

Back then, Lin Yuan had used the curse of a “restless soul” to forcibly seize Wan Yan’s soul.

Then, this curse of “restlessness” led his unstable soul back to the most turbulent period of his drama queen experiences.

But this wasn’t an unsolvable problem. Wan Yan’s current rotten personality was because his soul was damaged and his memories hadn’t returned. Once his soul was healed and he regained his memories, he would be fine.

However, healing a soul is a slow process. The memories, on the other hand, could be recovered sooner; his current soul was strong enough to handle it.

The sooner he gets his memories back, the sooner he returns to normal, and the sooner everyone can relax.

Zhan Jinli thought Chongming’s words made perfect sense.

But retrieving memories wasn’t an easy process. It was best to let Wan Yan’s soul heal on its own without supernatural interference. The ideal way was to let him remember by himself, so they should try to expose him to familiar people and things.

Zhan Jinli’s mind was on this matter as he sketched. As he drew, he unconsciously doodled a scene of Chaofu Mountain, with a Diting under a Wenyu tree, its head raised as if looking at something above.

The fondant-making master walked over and took a look. “Oh, are you planning to make a scene? From a myth or a legend?”

The teacher spoke normally. Even though they had an agreement, the teacher was considerate enough not to require him to speak in reply, but he couldn’t ask the teacher not to speak at all during lectures and critiques. So the teacher always spoke normally, just avoiding casual chat outside of class-related topics.

Zhan Jinli glanced at his drawing. He had been thinking about Wan Yan and had drawn this without realizing it.

The teacher didn’t wait for his reply, knowing this student didn’t speak. “Is this your graduation project? It’s a nice design.”

Zhan Jinli looked at the draft and sighed inwardly. I guess I’ll make this.

A few days later, Zhan Jinli’s graduation cake was finished: a small cat climbing a tree.

The teacher was completely baffled. The draft he saw a few days ago didn’t look like this at all.

Zhan Jinli thought, Of course I couldn’t actually make Chaofu Mountain and a Diting. What if someone who knows sees it? My cover would be blown!

The teacher looked at the cat-climbing-a-tree piece. Regardless of why Zhan Jinli had changed the design, this one was also very well done, with natural movement and exquisite details.

The fondant teacher was very fond of this student. He learned quickly and well, kept his workstation clean, and didn’t cause any trouble. His only flaw was his difficulty in communicating with others. With this problem, it would be hard for him to find a job on his own.

Thinking of this, the teacher couldn’t help but feel a little sympathetic.

Fortunately, making fondant cakes is a quiet craft. With this skill, his future life wouldn’t be difficult.

“Very well done,” the teacher commented, then added, “Don’t worry, your shop will definitely be a hit! Really!”

The blessing was truly sincere.

Zhan Jinli: I’m doomed…

The power of “fortune and misfortune are intertwined” was triggered. Zhan Jinli tried his best to adjust the power so that the misfortune part wouldn’t fall on the fondant teacher. This wasn’t difficult, as the blessing wasn’t meant for the teacher in the first place.

The curse wouldn’t fall on him either. Unless Zhan Jinli used his power on himself, the curse wouldn’t backfire.

But this “blessing” itself was basically a “curse” for him! He didn’t want his cake shop to be a hit! He wasn’t opening it to make money! He didn’t need money!

Sigh, this is so stressful.

…

The semester drifted by, and as final exams approached, Zhan Yan suddenly received a message from Xia Yuexian.

Xia Yuexian had a film crew coming to Beiling City for a shoot, and she was coming along to take a look. She remembered that the youngest son of the Chongming Demon King was studying here.

Originally, Xia Yuexian had no interest in the three mortal children of the Chongming Demon King’s family. She only knew a few things: the eldest son was an extremely socially anxious cake maker with an unusual palate, the second daughter was an artist with questionable artistic taste, and the youngest son was in school studying veterinary medicine.

But after meeting Zhan Yan on the plane, Xia Yuexian had a very deep impression of him.

From several rows away, he had noticed someone putting something in her cup and had even stood up to warn her. He was a sharp and righteous kid, very cute!

Since she happened to be in the area this time, she would just say hello and chat a bit. Hmm… I can’t do more than that, or it’ll look suspicious. She would have loved to bring him something, but what kind of film company boss gives gifts to the child of an eighteenth-tier actor in her company?

Just chatting was fine; they got along well.

Zhan Yan was very curious about Xia Yuexian. He knew she was definitely a demon, but he didn’t know what kind. She even opened a film company in the human world! How fun!

Zhan Yan: “Sister Xia, what film are you shooting in Beiling City?”

Xia Yuexian told him frankly, “A campus horror film. We timed it specifically for the winter break to shoot some scenes at the school next to yours.”

“Oh, by the way, we’re short on a lot of extras. Are you guys interested? We can provide internship certificates!”

This was a great opportunity! Zhan Yan asked for the details; the timing was right after their final exams.

The director was Ji Lele. The name sounded a bit familiar to Zhan Yan, and he thought for a moment. Oh! The director who specializes in horror films but is too scared to watch his own movies! His dad had mentioned him before.

Ji Lele was a fun character; Zhan Yan had heard some gossip about him. Ji Lele was afraid of ghosts yet he made horror films. He was a rather “particular” person, holding a worship ceremony with incense at the start of filming, another one when changing locations, and yet another one before shooting certain taboo scenes.

There were definitely a lot of students at their school who needed internship certificates. Zhan Yan didn’t need one, but he had never been on a film set! Being in a movie, how fun! And this was a demon’s film crew!

Zhan Yan: “I want to go, I want to go!”

“I’ll ask my classmates too!”

Zhan Yan first asked his roommates.

Duan Hong wasn’t interested; he was focused on preparing for grad school.

Bao Qingshan was very enthusiastic! He felt that this film crew was different from a normal one, and something fun might happen. So he signed up too.

“What about you?” Zhan Yan looked at Gu Jiancheng.

Gu Jiancheng asked, “Are you going?”

“Yeah, I’m going,” Zhan Yan said.

Of course he had to go! It was the perfect excuse to go home a little later for the holidays!

Given that he had absent-mindedly agreed to meet someone’s parents, and he still hadn’t figured out how to tell his family he had a boyfriend, finding a reason to delay was completely reasonable at this moment!

“Then I’ll go too,” Gu Jiancheng said without hesitation.

Duan Hong and Bao Qingshan were not surprised at all.

Zhan Yan also posted the news in the group chat. The chat immediately became lively, but only for a moment, as everyone’s energy was still focused on the final exams.

Veterinary medicine was no easier than human medicine. Human medicine students only needed to memorize human anatomy, but veterinary medicine students had to memorize the anatomy of a whole bunch of different animals!

[You find that using the system backup to memorize your notes is very useful.]

Zhan Yan: I know, I know, you get all the credit!

After the exams, everyone was relieved. Duan Hong, Zhan Yan, and Gu Jiancheng weren’t nervous, only old Bao had a long face.

He had missed a lot of classes in the first half of the semester because of the Grabeld Anomaly, and his regular grades were low.

Duan Hong comforted him, “It’s okay, you caught up on everything later, right? You might not fail.”

Old Bao said painfully, “You don’t understand!”

[Bao Qingshan’s intuition is triggered. He feels that he will definitely fail this exam.]

Because he was going to be an extra on this film set, Zhan Yan took some time to check on the crew’s situation with his gossip system. He even saw a familiar ghost in the crew!

[Ghost Yu Zhen was chosen by the casting director for his excellent portrayal of a ghost and has joined the film crew for work.]

Yu Zhen was the ghost who worked at a haunted house and got so annoyed by his boss’s scheduling that he used sleep paralysis to help his boss “adjust” his sleep schedule.

This incident was soon discovered by the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau. After he explained the reason for his actions, the working people at the bureau sympathized with the working ghost, gave him a lecture, and let him go.

Yu Zhen quit his job at the haunted house and found work on a film set instead.

The work on the set was good in every way, except the boxed lunches were terrible, and Yu Zhen couldn’t eat them anyway! But it didn’t matter. He was earning money to buy offerings for himself. He could starve a little now, and after he finished this job and got paid, he would go buy himself a big feast!

But their director was constantly holding worship ceremonies! The incense at the corner of the set was never extinguished!

Having a feast laid out in front of a hungry ghost every day, who could stand it!

Yu Zhen endured it for several days but couldn’t take it anymore. When no one was around, he quietly crept over, with most of his body hidden in the wall, only his head sticking out to sniff at the incense.

Zhan Yan’s gossip feed was also updating:

[Because the upcoming scene is quite scary, director Ji Lele is nervous and decides to go offer incense again.]

[Director Ji Lele sees the ghost Yu Zhen stealing incense and faints on the spot.]

1. Diting is a divine mythical creature in Chinese Buddhism associated with the bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha, famed for “hearing all things” and discerning truth, good and evil, and even the hidden nature of beings. It is often depicted as a composite beast (tiger head, dragon body, lion tail, single horn, dog-like ears, qilin-like legs) and sometimes described as originating from or resembling a loyal white dog that accompanies Kṣitigarbha and guards the underworld. ↩︎