Chapter 3 He Zhao is a lesbian, a fact she only discovered after starting university. But she never...
He Zhao is a lesbian, a fact she only discovered after starting university. However, she has never been in a relationship because her intuition is poor; she has no idea who else is also a lesbian. She occasionally added a few other lesbians on social media, but because she felt no attraction to them, none of these relationships developed into anything romantic.
After her parents passed away, she had no one to take care of her and stayed home all day, which further shrunk her social circle. She figured it was fine this way; she hadn't met anyone she liked, so being single wasn't such a bad thing.
As it turns out, at this very moment, there's a terrifying ghost sitting right in front of him. He Zhao suddenly realizes that it's not that he's not attracted to anyone, but rather that he hasn't met his type yet!
He Zhao glanced at the woman across from him several times, estimating that she was probably two or three years older than him. He also noticed that she had likely run all the way here and was a little out of breath. Her long black down jacket was open, revealing a fitted black sweater underneath.
After being stunned by her appearance, He Zhao immediately looked at the customer opposite him, and then couldn't help but glance at the woman: Good heavens, that lady shouldn't come any closer! This ghost looks so terrifying, what if she gets scared?!
But when He Zhao looked at the woman opposite him again, he found that her gaze was intense but she wasn't looking at him at all; instead, it was focused on the guest. There was no fear in her eyes, as if this terrifying ghost was completely ordinary to her.
He Zhao suddenly realized something—maybe her sister had come here chasing after this ghost.
After confirming that the ghost was sitting there obediently, the woman took a deep breath, regulated her breathing, and slowly walked towards He Zhao's stall. She pulled out a chair and sat down one seat away from the ghost. She stared at the ghost for a long time before shifting her gaze to He Zhao.
The moment the woman saw He Zhao clearly, her gaze turned to worry.
He Zhao guessed that she was worried about her safety, thinking that an ordinary person like herself would be in danger facing a ghost. He Zhao was extremely touched; her broken system hadn't worried about her at all, but the older sister she had just met was concerned for her!
What do you sell here?
"..." He Zhao didn't know how to start, and after hesitating for a while, she said, "White rice."
At that moment, the worry in the woman's eyes turned into confusion.
"?"
He Zhao didn't know what to say, but her little stall really only sold this one thing. If she had known it would confuse her sister, she would have learned to make plain noodles. At least selling plain noodles would make sense, but what was the point of just selling white rice?
Fortunately, the woman didn't hesitate too much and said, "Then give me one."
He Zhao nodded, then skillfully scooped out the rice and placed it in front of the woman. The moment he put it down, the woman looked at the rice, then at He Zhao. All her previous worry and doubt vanished, leaving only scrutiny.
Because He Zhao had made it a habit, the rice bowl placed in front of the woman was also arranged in the standard way of serving food to the dead. The tips of the chopsticks were stuck vertically into the rice bowl, and the rice was completely still.
"Haha...this is a local specialty." He Zhao thought, and decided to just laugh it off.
The woman glanced at He Zhao several times, but still took the rice; she didn't want to eat it. She wasn't hungry to begin with, and taking the rice was just to give herself a reason to stay. Most importantly, she needed to keep an eye on the ghost next to her.
Not to mention, this bowl of rice was completely unappetizing; not only was it cold, but it was also clearly meant for sacrificial offerings.
The woman's name was Qiao Yanyu, and she was an official who specialized in handling paranormal events such as ghosts. She had been investigating this ghost for a long time. It hadn't done anything to harm anyone; it just stood quietly on the road. But even so, it had frightened many passersby who accidentally bumped into it, sending some to the hospital and causing them to catch colds and fevers for several days after encountering the ghost.
If it weren't for this, Qiao Yanyu wouldn't have been able to keep tracking down this ghost.
After finally catching up with it today, Qiao Yanyu found it sitting in front of a small, late-night food stall, eating something. At first, Qiao Yanyu thought it was just a whim, and that it was just an unnamed roadside stall. But now, Qiao Yanyu felt that maybe the ghost was specifically after this stall, and that something about this stall was off.
In the dead of night, a stall was set up at the entrance of a deserted park, selling food made from the dead. The owner inside didn't seem to react much to the ghost, indicating that she was already used to it.
Qiao Yanyu's internal alarm bells were ringing, but no matter how she looked at him, she could only think that the boss in front of her was an ordinary person.
She took a deep breath and decided that it was more important to catch this ghost first.
Qiao Yanyu had been observing the ghost sitting not far from her. To her surprise, the ghost ate very slowly, and—it actually ate all the rice! The skin on the ghost's face was about to fall off, and from Qiao Yanyu's angle, she could clearly see the bones under its skin, including its jaw.
Such a skeletal frame shouldn't be able to eat at all. Even if it did eat something, it would simply fall through the gaps in its bones. Besides, in all the time Qiao Yanyu has been exorcising ghosts, she has never seen or heard of a ghost being able to eat.
But the ghost next to her was eating the rice in the bowl bit by bit right in front of Qiao Yanyu, and the rice was visibly decreasing without falling off the ghost's jaw.
Not to mention, the ghost seemed to enjoy eating it quite a bit.
Qiao Yanyu had dealt with ghosts for a long time and knew what a ghost's expression meant. Its eyes narrowed, and its body relaxed a lot; even the chilling aura it carried dissipated considerably.
This situation is enough to show that the rice ghost not only ate it, but also ate it with great pleasure.
Qiao Yanyu glanced at the bowl of rice in front of her. It was ice-cold, without a trace of warmth. Eating this in this weather would surely make her feel unwell for half a day. But seeing the ghost's expression, Qiao Yanyu couldn't help but wonder: Was this dinner really that delicious?
After hesitating for a moment, adhering to her professional ethics, she thought that since the ghost liked eating this rice so much, there might be something unusual about it. In the end, Qiao Yanyu picked up her chopsticks and took a bite.
Well, although the rice was cold, it still tasted pretty good. It was cooked to the perfect consistency, with a nice aroma. If it were warm, with some side dishes, Qiao Yanyu could definitely eat two big bowls of it.
The only problem is that it's cold, so it's a little hard to swallow.
Perhaps, it tastes completely different in the mouth of a ghost than it does to you.
Qiao Yanyu put down her chopsticks and stopped eating, which relieved He Zhao. Although she had bought normal rice and cooked it the way she normally would, the final dish on the table looked like food for the dead. It wasn't that it was inedible, but He Zhao was genuinely worried that something might happen to this woman if she ate it.
He Zhao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Qiao Yanyu had stopped eating.
The ghostly customer ate for a while longer. It seemed to want another bowl, but Qiao Yanyu kept staring at it, preventing it from continuing to eat. So it put ten yuan under the bowl and got up.
Qiao Yanyu also stood up and casually asked, "Boss, how much?"
"Ten yuan."
"..." The look in Qiao Yanyu's eyes made He Zhao feel a moment of humility. But Qiao Yanyu didn't say anything, scanned the code and transferred ten yuan, then left with the ghost.
Watching her dashing older sister leave, He Zhao felt a little lost. Unable to talk to anyone else, she could only speak to the system: "Do you think I'll ever have a chance to meet that older sister again?"
To everyone's surprise, the system saw right through her: "Don't tell me you're a lesbian."
He Zhao paused for a moment: "Am I that obvious?"
[...]
The system fell silent for a moment before telling He Zhao: "Actually, it's alright. It's just that my previous host was also a lesbian."
"..." This time, it was He Zhao who remained silent. She thought for a moment, then taunted the system: "Don't end up becoming a lesbian too."
The system started arguing with He Zhao, trying to tell him that it was just a system, genderless, and could never become a lesbian. He Zhao just scoffed.
He Zhao chatted with the system for a while, and her mood improved considerably. She glanced at the sky; dawn was approaching. She played on her phone for a bit, then quietly waited for daylight to break up shop. Lost in thought, she couldn't help but think of the woman she'd just met. She really liked her type; and women like that were probably rare.
"Meeting is like first love, and seeing each other again is like goodbye forever. Sigh, if a person is too lucky, they will be more anxious about other things. I am too destined for money, no wonder my love life is always unsuccessful."
The only system that heard this thought He Zhao was incredibly shameless.
After waiting a while longer, figuring no more customers would come, He Zhao decided to pack up her stall and head home. She was exceptionally quick, but only when packing up to go home. When setting up her stall, she would dawdle and struggle for ages, but when heading home, she packed it up incredibly fast.
After packing up his stall, He Zhao got on his electric tricycle and said happily, "Another day has passed, great! Time to head home!"
He Zhao left quickly, without any hesitation; all she wanted to do was get home and sleep.
She had no idea that not long after she left, the dashing young lady she had been longing for returned to the place where she had set up her stall.
Qiao Yanyu stood under the second streetlamp at the empty park entrance, bewildered: Where's the stall? Where's such a big stall? How could it have disappeared in such a short time?!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com