Ji Fuyao

"Bullying?" Si Mucheng's expression changed slightly, and the smile disappeared from his eyes. "Workplace bullying?"

The girl scratched her face awkwardly: "Oh dear, I don't know if it's true or not, but that's what everyone's saying. Now it makes me look like I'm talking about someone behind their back... I'll just say I don't know anything, and please don't tell anyone else, I don't want to cause trouble!"

Si Mucheng nodded, wondering in his mind whether what the girl said was true.

For a moment, no one spoke.

The girl glanced at her watch, about to say that if there was nothing else, she would leave. She never wanted to see those two again, no matter how handsome they were!

At this moment, Wen Ya suddenly spoke up: "That group leader."

Si Mucheng and the girl looked at her together. Wen Ya's phoenix eyes were upturned at the corners, giving her a cold and stern look. She looked at the girl and asked, "Who is that group leader?"

The girl hesitated, but feeling she had already revealed everything, there was no need to hide anything anymore. She felt incredibly guilty, praying silently that nothing bad would happen, and took a deep breath, saying, "Well, the man who just walked past us, the one in the plaid shirt, his name is Guo Li… I can't say anything else, don't ask me! That's it! Bye-bye! Never see you again!" With that, she ran away as if fleeing.

Before Si Mucheng could react, all he could see was the girl's panicked figure running into the building. He opened his mouth, but could only look to Wen Ya for advice: "Great God, what should we say now?"

Wen Ya frowned slightly but remained silent.

Si Mucheng then looked at Zhang Wei, who had been floating to the side, and asked, "Hey, do you remember Guo Li?"

Zhang Wei's ordinary features went blank again. Si Mucheng knew he couldn't remember anything, and seeing his bewildered expression, a nameless anger rose within him. "He'd be a pathetic wretch even in death," Si Mucheng sighed. "What else could you possibly remember..."

In the end, I decided to go back first.

On their way home, Si Mucheng couldn't help but discuss with Wen Ya how things had turned out. He hadn't expected things to turn out this way.

"So, it's because of workplace bullying that the game, which should have been released a year ago, has been delayed until today by that damn team leader?"

Wen Ya remained silent, lost in thought. Si Mucheng looked down at her expression, thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up when he spotted a sesame seed cake stall by the roadside: "Master, want some sesame seed cakes? I heard there's a really good one here, this must be it, want to try it?"

Wen Ya's thoughts were interrupted by his words, and her gaze involuntarily followed the direction. However, before she could get a clear look at the sesame seed cake, she was drawn to a figure in front of the sesame seed cake stall.

The man wore a light blue linen stand-up collar shirt, the buttons undone, and matching trousers. He wore flip-flops. He was tall, but habitually hunched over, which made him appear even more nonchalant. His medium-length hair was half-tied into a bun, with a few strands falling over his smooth forehead. Then, he turned and met Wen Ya's gaze.

A look of surprise flashed in Wen Ya's eyes. The man's name was already on her lips, but the other man reacted faster. He laughed and said, "I was saying the divination was pretty good today. I ran into you as I came down the mountain. Wen Ya, it's been so long."

Si Mucheng originally wanted Wen Ya to eat a pancake to change her mood, but unexpectedly a man came, and it seemed that the two knew each other.

When the man walked over, Wen Ya nodded slightly and greeted him, "Zhao Wentian."

"Why didn't you come to see us when you came to Qicheng? Junior Brother was talking about you the other day." Zhao Wentian had just walked up to Wen Ya and Si Mucheng when his expression suddenly changed. He flicked his wrist and pulled out a calligraphy brush from somewhere. He asked warily, "Is there a spirit nearby?"

Si Mucheng was startled and instinctively looked at Zhang Wei. His action naturally didn't escape Zhao Wentian's notice, who paused, then asked Wen Ya, "Is he your disciple? Does he also have the ability to see ghosts? Are you here to exorcise spirits?"

Si Mucheng didn't understand how the man surnamed Zhao suddenly came to the conclusion that he would be Wen Ya's apprentice, but Wen Ya didn't answer the question. Instead, she said to Zhao Wentian, "I have something to ask you."

Zhao Wentian hesitated for a moment, thinking that since the person in front of him was here to exorcise souls, the ghosts present shouldn't be able to cause any trouble. He flipped his finger, put away the brush, and resumed his nonchalant smile: "Alright, this is a good opportunity to catch up. How about I treat you to lunch?"

Zhao Wentian found a teahouse. Since it was still early before lunchtime, he ordered a pot of tea and poured it for them while saying, "The vegetarian food here is quite delicious. You should try it later."

Si Mucheng looked around and couldn't help but exclaim, "This place is really nice, bro."

Zhao Wentian was amused by his familiar way of addressing her: "Wen Ya, your disciple is quite interesting. Where did you find such a treasure?"

Si Mucheng thought this misunderstanding was really huge. Who did he think he was, just because he was an apprentice? He had been following her around shamelessly. What if Wen Ya got angry because of the teasing and wouldn't let him follow her anymore? Where would he go to complain?

Just as Si Mucheng was about to explain, Wen Ya directly asked Zhao Wentian, "Why don't you exorcise the soul? The ghost we're exorcising today has been lingering for a year. If it hadn't come to me, it might have become an evil spirit." Her tone was calm, but a hint of reproach couldn't be held back in her eyes.

Her words contained a wealth of information, leaving Zhao Wentian stunned. He first picked out the question that surprised him the most: "Looking for you?? How did 'he' find you? Where did he find you?"

Wen Ya didn't want to hide it from him: "Xiqiao Village."

Sure enough, Zhao Wentian frowned: "How could a ghost leave the place of its death?"

In fact, Wen Ya had planned to go to Qicheng with the intention of finding the Zhao family to answer her questions. She composed herself and took out the small, simple lotus-shaped bronze lamp from her crossbody bag. At this moment, it was still flashing a faint light.

"The Soul-Returning Lamp?" Zhao Wentian recognized it at a glance. He was surprised. "Isn't this your family's heirloom magic weapon?"

“Yes,” Wen Ya replied calmly, “That ghost came to me because of it.”

Zhao Wentian quickly took it and examined it carefully: "Didn't you say that the method to activate the Soul-Returning Lamp was lost long ago? Where did you find it? And how did the ghost come here because of it?"

He bombarded her with a barrage of questions, seemingly without any clear direction. Wen Ya wasn't annoyed; she simply shook her head and answered his first question: "There's no method, no activation. It just suddenly started acting strangely, and then the soul came knocking."

“He said that a voice told him to come and find the Soul-Returning Lamp to revive his soul. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he came to Xiqiao Village.”

Even though Zhao Wentian grew up in the Zhao family, he had never heard of such a situation. He opened his mouth, realized something was wrong, pondered for a moment, glanced at Si Mucheng, a hint of hesitation flashed across his face, and then slowly said, "To tell you the truth, my family's soul-searching device has malfunctioned."

Wen Ya's eyes widened immediately: "When did this happen?"

"About a year ago."

Wen Ya was stunned, and a bad feeling crept into her heart: "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Zhao Wentian gave a wry smile: "The soul-searching device malfunctioned, and I dared not spread the word. You know, hardly anyone knows how to repair magical artifacts anymore. My old man spends all his time in the library, but he still couldn't find a solution. We had no other choice but to send everyone out to manually search souls, so oversights are inevitable..."

In the end, he felt this was a family scandal, and he became more and more embarrassed as he talked about it. He brushed back the stray hairs on his forehead and gave a nonchalant smile: "Don't tell anyone, the old man forbids us from talking about this. If he finds out I told you, I'll get a beating."

Si Mucheng was completely confused, but judging from Wen Ya's expression, it seemed to be a very troublesome situation. However, he wasn't ashamed to ask, raising his hand and inquiring, "Um... excuse me, what is a soul-searching device?"

Zhao Wentian was taken aback, then burst into laughter, clapping his hands: "Wen Ya, Wen Ya, how can you be so casual even when teaching a disciple? He really doesn't know anything!"

Si Mucheng chuckled twice, thinking to himself, "Of course it's not casual, because he's not her apprentice at all!"

But Zhao Wentian still answered his question.

It turns out that there are more than one soul-sending person like Wen Ya in this world. For example, the Zhao family has a Taoist temple that, in addition to exorcising ghosts and sending away souls on a daily basis, also teaches and spreads the Tao, and has produced many Taoist masters, making them a prominent family. There are several other such families, who guard their respective areas, essentially protecting the peace of their regions. If there are any dead souls or evil spirits in their areas, it is these families that send Taoist masters to deal with them.

Although it is a prestigious family, there are actually not many people in it. Nowadays, there are few people in this profession, and the land of China is vast. Sometimes, they are willing but unable to do so. The function of the soul-searching device is to accurately find where a new soul is born. The Taoist priest only needs to go there to dispel it, thus avoiding the futile search process.

Si Mucheng understood: "Without the soul-searching device, that's a real problem."

Zhao Wentian slapped his thigh in agreement: "That's right! There's simply not enough manpower right now, and everyone is full of resentment. If they weren't still alive, they would all become evil spirits." Then he added enviously, "Effort can't beat talent, but those of you with the ability to see ghosts are different. It's so convenient."

Si Mucheng was taken aback: "You don't have one?"

Zhao Wentian scoffed: "You think everyone has this kind of thing? It's something you can only come across by chance."

Si Mucheng thought to himself, "Go to hell! If you're envious, take it!" But he was scared half to death.

"How can you send off the soul if you can't see it?"

Zhao Wentian flipped his hand, and the brush he had used before lay quietly in his palm again. He winked at Si Mucheng: "We usually have to draw talismans, but we can't see them clearly. We can only see the outline of the spirit. Magical tools are used to help us."

Si Mucheng suddenly realized that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing to not be able to see them. After all, if you encounter a ghost with a tragic death, the visual effect is reduced by half. But then again, would a Taoist priest be afraid of ghosts?

He suddenly thought of Zhang Wei. "He" was currently floating under a locust tree outside the window, seemingly motionless unless called. "So honest," Si Mucheng thought to himself. "No wonder he gets bullied."

"By the way, what's the situation with that ghost you're trying to exorcise?" Zhao Wentian picked up his cup and took a sip.

Wen Ya had been deep in thought and hadn't spoken. She remained silent until now. Seeing this, Si Mucheng quickly told Zhao Wentian what they knew so far.

When Zhao Wentian heard that they had actually gone to the deceased's former company to inquire about information, he couldn't help but laugh and cry. But considering that this was indeed something Wen Ya would do, he could only sigh, "Wen Ya, you really are the same as always, you haven't changed at all."

Si Mucheng was puzzled.

Wen Ya clearly heard this, but she remained silent as she drank a cup of tea without changing her expression.

Seeing the two exchanging veiled insults, Si Mucheng stopped pondering it, but was somewhat worried: "What should we do now? What if that game just doesn't go online, and Zhang Wei's obsession remains unresolved? Will 'he' never be able to reincarnate?"

Wen Ya finally spoke, saying, "If there's really no other way, then that's all we can do."