Chapter 35 Faced with He Zhao's question, Qiao Yanyu answered again: "Yes, I actually wanted to go too..."

In response to He Zhao's question, Qiao Yanyu replied again, "Yes, I actually want to go too."

He Zhao asked Qiao Yanyu to wait a moment, and then began to mentally manipulate the system: "Is the system here?"

Not here.

"I knew you'd be there."

The system remained silent for a moment, then told He Zhao to get to the point. As a system within He Zhao's mind, it had clearly heard He Zhao's conversation with Qiao Yanyu and knew that He Zhao contacting it at this time was definitely not for anything good.

But this is its own host, so what can it do?

He Zhao didn't mince words and directly asked it to produce 2000 yuan worth of ghost money—not 2000 yuan in cash, but 2000 yuan in ghost money. The system, though inanimate, couldn't help but widen its eyes: [Host, what do you need so much ghost money for?]

He Zhao earns about 1,000 yuan a day, which is equivalent to 100 ghost coins. 2,000 ghost coins would mean she would have to work for 20 days. She hasn't even worked for 20 days yet, so where would she get 2,000 ghost coins? But He Zhao replied, "Money makes the world go round. Prepare more. Sister Qiao will take you on business trips. If we encounter any problems we can't handle, we can use money to solve them."

2000 ghost money is definitely not a small amount, He Zhao knows this very well, and the system knows it even better.

[Host, you haven't even earned 2000 ghost coins yet. How are you going to pay me back if I give them to you?]

He Zhao was shameless, but also intelligent. She came up with a solution: "Here's what we'll do: I'll pay you back the 2000 ghost coins in 100 installments, 20 ghost coins a day. I'll pay you back the principal for 100 installments, plus 5 more days, still 20 ghost coins a day, plus interest, for a total of 100 ghost coins. You pay 2000 ghost coins, and you'll get 2100 ghost coins in the end."

The system initially didn't want to agree. The value of ghost money far exceeded that of real currency, and He Zhao had asked for 105 periods, a total of 105 days of work. Most importantly, how many days of work had He Zhao actually done so far?

He Zhao could tell that the system was unhappy, so she started to whine and plead with the system in her mind, and even used the threat: "You can see how important Sister Qiao is to me. Before I met Sister Qiao, I would even set up my stall later than you stipulated, but after I met Sister Qiao, I set up my stall on time every day, and I even set up my stall faster than before."

"I'm even more attentive to cooking than before!"

"If something happens to Sister Qiao, I'll be devastated. I won't be able to eat or sleep, and I'll be distracted and half-hearted even when I'm setting up my stall. I might even cook the wrong food, making it taste terrible, and the customers won't be satisfied. Most importantly, the reputation of our late-night street vendor stall will be ruined! That's such a loss of face, System!"

With such a rogue host, what could the system do? After being coaxed and pleaded with by He Zhao for three minutes, the system surrendered. It negotiated a repayment plan with He Zhao again before distributing 2,000 ghost coins.

"You're charging so much interest, it's practically usury! If I ever get the chance, I'll definitely report you to your boss!" He Zhao said, dissing the system as he counted the money.

[...] The system was numb; it was completely powerless and didn't even know how to curse He Zhao. This was originally He Zhao's idea; it had merely followed her lead and, as she instructed, slipped her money. And now, He Zhao had turned around and bitten it back.

Feeling heartbroken is never about making a big fuss.

Regardless of what the system thought, He Zhao immediately used the ghost money she had just received to curry favor with Qiao Yanyu. She stuffed the ghost money she had just counted into Qiao Yanyu's face; it was quite a thick wad. For ease of use, and more importantly, for easy distribution, He Zhao had the system give her only 10-yuan ghost money.

If it's a 100-dollar note, it'll be gone in no time.

The stack of 2,000 yuan notes in 10-yuan denominations was quite thick. When He Zhao handed it to Qiao Yanyu, she was a little confused and just took it without thinking that He Zhao was just asking her to help carry it.

The next moment, He Zhao said, "Sister Qiao, you can't go out without money. I guess you probably don't have this ghost money either; it was generated by the system. But this stuff is definitely important to ghosts; it's probably some kind of powerful tonic. When you go on a business trip, you're bound to encounter some troublesome ghosts, especially since there's an old saying, 'It's easy to mess with the King of Hell, but difficult to deal with his underlings.' If you encounter such a ghost, just pay him off with money."

Only after He Zhao said this did Qiao Yanyu realize that the cold ghost money in her hand was extremely hot.

"This is too valuable, I cannot accept it."

He Zhao was right about one thing: none of them had any ghost money. They'd never even heard of it, let alone had any. The director had previously hinted that Qiao Yanyu should try to get some ghost money so the paranormal investigation department could study it.

But even someone as upright as Qiao Yanyu wouldn't do such a thing, especially since the target was He Zhao.

She immediately pushed the ghost money back to He Zhao and refused, saying, "I can't accept this money."

He Zhao pushed the ghost money back to Qiao Yanyu, explaining logically, "Sister Qiao, I'm giving this to you because I truly consider you a friend. I hope you can come back safely to my side. I don't want anyone else to be my bodyguard. I hope you'll still be with me in five days, okay? Besides, I'm not giving you all of this for you to spend. We should save what we need and spend what we need. Use it when you need it, and if you don't, that's fine too. You can just give it back to me then, isn't that good?"

Qiao Yanyu was silent for a moment before saying, "So, you agree to let me go?"

He Zhao nodded: "I know Sister Qiao, you are a very righteous and responsible person. Since the task has come to you, it means that the task is very suitable for you. Otherwise, the director would not have suddenly made such a request. If I stop you from going and something happens to the person who takes your place, you will definitely feel very guilty and upset."

“I don’t want to see this happen, so even though I’m reluctant to see you leave, I won’t stop you.”

Although He Zhao had never been in a relationship, she was the best hunter. She said things that softened Qiao Yanyu's heart; just hearing them made her think He Zhao was a truly good person. Qiao Yanyu had originally planned to use this business trip to cool off, at least to prevent her relationship with He Zhao from escalating further.

But as she clenched the cold paper money, which represented He Zhao's feelings, tighter and tighter in her hand, Qiao Yanyu's heart couldn't help but tremble because of He Zhao.

She didn't say anything more to refuse, as that would be too pretentious. She simply nodded to He Zhao and said, "I will definitely go and come back as soon as possible."

"good."

Actually, He Zhao had a little scheme in mind, because this stall was about to end. Today was already the fourth day, and Qiao Yanyu had been away for five days, which was exactly three plus two days. When she came back, he would have dinner with her again, and then they could happily get back to work together.

In other words, she only needs to spend three days with the investigator who will replace Qiao Yanyu!

By taking a step back to move forward, she must now be Qiao Yanyu's darling.

Next, He Zhao whispered some precautions to Qiao Yanyu, repeatedly reminding her to use the ghost money whenever needed and not to be stingy with it. She could earn 100 ghost coins a day, so 2000 ghost coins would only take 20 days.

Qiao Yanyu knew in her heart that earning ghost money was definitely not as simple as He Zhao said, because He Zhao was currently penniless and made money by setting up a stall every day. If he gave her all the ghost money, she would be unable to make ends meet for the next 20 days.

She accepted the ghost money, but she couldn't let He Zhao suffer too much of a loss. So Qiao Yanyu offered to exchange it for cash. He Zhao had briefly mentioned the exchange rate between ghost money and real currency during the Gossian incident, and Qiao Yanyu knew she couldn't get ghost money with real currency, but she still wanted to make a gesture.

“He Zhao, I’m transferring 20,000 yuan to you as a thank you for lending me these ghost money.”

He Zhao hesitated for a moment, wanting to refuse.

She gave Qiao Yanyu the ghost money sincerely, hoping Qiao Yanyu would see her sincerity. Accepting the money now would just make it easy for Qiao Yanyu to repay the favor, wouldn't it? She was a little cunning and didn't want things between them to be settled so easily.

Before He Zhao could even refuse, Qiao Yanyu said, "You must accept this money, otherwise I'll feel embarrassed to take this ghost money. This amount of money isn't much to me, and I know that no matter where I go, I can't exchange 20,000 yuan for ghost money. I can never repay your favor."

"But at the very least, I don't want to see you struggling to make ends meet because you lent me ghost money."

He Zhao touched her nose. She had to admit that Qiao Yanyu was indeed a good person, a very good person. She had been judging him by her own petty standards. Although He Zhao felt a little guilty, she knew that Qiao Yanyu wouldn't forget her favor, and she also knew that if she didn't accept it, Qiao Yanyu definitely wouldn't accept her ghost money.

So in the end, He Zhao accepted the 20,000 yuan.

This made Qiao Yanyu relax and breathe a sigh of relief. At this moment, the hesitant, conflicted expression on Qiao Yanyu's face truly disappeared. She felt a huge weight lifted from her heart, and her whole body felt much lighter.

After giving a few instructions, He Zhao didn't continue chatting with Qiao Yanyu, but instead told her to take a nap.

"You're going on a business trip tomorrow. If you don't get some rest, I won't agree to let you go. Who works a long night shift one night and then has to go on a business trip the next day? Isn't that pure exploitation?"

Qiao Yanyu smiled and didn't refuse. Instead, she lay down on the table and fell asleep.

In stark contrast to her previous restless and sleepless state, Qiao Yanyu now felt a great weight lifted from her shoulders. She lay down on the table and quickly fell asleep. She was no longer fidgety; instead, she sat steadily and calmly.

He Zhao also rested her head on the table. She looked at Qiao Yanyu, sighed, and said softly, "Sister Qiao, I'm waiting for you. You must come back."