Chapter Three
Angel let out a hum.
Mei Jiu tensed at the sound. "Are—are you human or a ghost?"
"Guess." If Angel hadn’t needed to confirm her own existence, she wouldn’t have bothered with such a foolish question.
Recalling the earlier instances of losing control of her body, Mei Jiu made a guess, her face paling. "What do you want, hiding inside me?"
"Surprising you can say something so reasonable. I thought you had no brain," Angel remarked coolly, her tone laced with sarcasm.
This girl had woken up without asking a single pertinent question, carefree to the point of earning Angel’s contempt.
Mei Jiu fell into thought, her grip on the bed’s edge gradually loosening as some color returned to her face. "Whether you’re human or ghost, I don’t sense any malice from you."
"Your senses are correct." Angel wasn’t lying—though in her understanding, whether one bore malice toward another had no necessary connection to whether they might kill them.
Hearing this, Mei Jiu relaxed slightly, though her voice remained taut due to the divide between humans and spirits. "What’s your name? Why are you following me?"
Now it was Angel’s turn to be puzzled. This girl had clearly been so nervous her heart was racing, yet she lowered her guard based on some intangible feeling? Utterly baffling.
After a long silence, Mei Jiu asked, "Are you still there?"
"Name…" Angel’s thoughts drifted. In her memories, there were only codenames—no recollection of a real name. "Angel."
"An Jiu?" Mei Jiu’s tone grew more familiar as she whispered, "I’m Mei Jiu—the ‘Jiu’ meaning ‘lasting peace.’ Is yours the same character?"
An Jiu it was, then. It hardly mattered. She couldn’t be bothered to explain and only said flatly, "Your parents had good wishes, but with your intelligence, lasting peace seems unlikely."
Mei Jiu didn’t fully understand but recognized the insult, her face flushing red.
"Hey, don’t get worked up!" An Jiu snapped.
She could feel Mei Jiu’s emotions, and the unfamiliar surge of agitation was unbearable. It was like cursing someone out only to realize you’d cursed yourself—an utterly bizarre sensation.
An Jiu decided seizing control of the body was now urgent.
"You’re absolutely insufferable!" Mei Jiu retorted angrily.
Outside the door, Wen Cui, who had been waiting, immediately responded to the raised voice. "Fourteen Lady, do you need assistance?"
"N-no, I don’t," Mei Jiu stammered.
An Jiu sighed into the void. She must have committed countless sins in her past life to deserve this torment now.
"Elder Sister." A familiar voice drifted faintly from outside.
Mei Jiu perked up, leaping from the bed and rushing to the door in delight. "A Shun!"
Wen Cui smiled. "Fifteen Lady came as soon as she woke. The bond between you two is truly deep."
Mei Jiu pulled A Shun inside. Seeing their eager reunion, Wen Cui tactfully refrained from entering and gently closed the door behind them.
"A-Jiu, you have to save me," A Shun whispered, tears suddenly spilling from her phoenix eyes, her fear unmistakably genuine.
Mei Jiu blinked, then smiled reassuringly. "Don’t be afraid. Mother said this is my home—no one will harm you here."
An Jiu couldn’t help but scoff. Hearing the sound, Mei Jiu stiffened slightly.A Shun was flustered and didn’t notice her subtle change. “Last night, those men in black wanted to kill me. I saw they didn’t intend to harm you and even wanted to take you away, so I… told them I was your blood sister…”
A Shun had originally thought that since Mei Jiu had no close relatives, she could just find an opportunity to explain things to her later. Who would have guessed Mei Jiu’s mother was still alive! If the lie was exposed, would she even survive?
“After I was separated from my mother, it was only because of your care that I lived to this day. In my heart, I’ve long regarded you as my own sister.” Mei Jiu pulled her to sit on the edge of the bed. “Don’t worry, I’ll speak to Mother soon.”
An Jiu had zero interest in this tedious display of sisterly affection. She had initially assumed it was the Mei family who rescued them from those men in black, but it turned out those black-clad figures belonged to the Mei family! Recalling the scene at the time, those people definitely hadn’t intended to save them—An Jiu didn’t doubt her sharp instincts for danger at all.
Considering Mei Yanran’s reaction, An Jiu speculated that the Mei family might have originally planned to silence her by killing her but kept her alive for some reason.
“Such great kindness cannot be repaid with mere thanks!” A Shun stood up and knelt before Mei Jiu.
“What are you doing? Please get up quickly.” Mei Jiu immediately bent down to help her up.
The two held hands as they spoke, the warm, soft sensation passing between their palms. An Jiu felt utterly uncomfortable—if not for close combat situations, she had hardly ever touched another person’s body in her life. How infuriating that she couldn’t just shake off A Shun’s hand! On top of that, she was forced to listen to their dull, meaningless chatter, nearly driving her to mental exhaustion!
So the moment A Shun left, she immediately snapped, “Can you stop casually making physical contact with people from now on?!”
“What… what’s physical contact?” Mei Jiu asked, puzzled.
“It means don’t casually hold hands, hug, kiss, or sleep with people!” An Jiu said.
Mei Jiu flushed red. “You—you—” She was too embarrassed to continue such a topic. “A Shun is a girl.”
“Girls are no exception!” Since An Jiu had no leverage over her at the moment, she resorted to threats. “You know I’m a ghost. If you don’t obey me, I’ll kill your mother!”
“I’ll obey, I’ll obey! Don’t harm my mother!” Mei Jiu panicked.
An Jiu realized she had overestimated this girl. It was almost too easy to intimidate her—so effortless that it left her feeling a bit disappointed.
“Think carefully about your current situation! I bet every whisper you just shared with that girl was overheard by that Wen Cui outside.” An Jiu reminded her. After all, they shared the same body, and until she figured out the relationship between soul and body, she didn’t want this vessel damaged.
“But she didn’t ask about it?” Mei Jiu didn’t quite believe it.
An Jiu couldn’t help but flare up. “Just because she didn’t react means she didn’t hear? Are your brains made of intestines?! Someone like you, the only contribution you can make while alive is turning into manure!”
An Jiu had never thought stupidity was a crime—after all, it didn’t affect her! But now that she shared a body with Mei Jiu, she couldn’t ignore it and was forced to communicate deeply with her.
At this moment, her frustration wasn’t so much hatred for Mei Jiu’s naivety as it was a sense of powerlessness over her own predicament.
Right now, she didn’t even have the chance to put a bullet in her own head!"You're utterly unreasonable!" Even a clay Buddha would show some temper when scolded like this, let alone Mei Jiu.
She rose angrily and stormed out, forgetting that An Jiu was shadowing her every move.
"Fourteen Lady, your health hasn't fully recovered yet. Please refrain from going out for now." Wen Cui stopped her with a gentle smile.
Mei Jiu froze. "Why is A Shun allowed to leave the room?"
"Shishi Niang is perfectly fine," Wen Cui replied.
Mei Jiu didn’t insist on leaving. Lowering her head, she murmured, "I want to see Mother."
"Coward," An Jiu's icy voice carried an inexplicable note of resentment.
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