Chapter 136 — Your thoughts are obvious to everyone. This sentence…
—Your thoughts are obvious to everyone.
This statement can be said to have torn away all the child ghost's pretense. To be honest, the child ghost never bothered to hide his true intentions; he just wanted to cheat people out of money. He didn't even bother with any pretense; he just shamelessly said a few nice words and acted pitiful in an attempt to get money out of people's pockets.
Even the most clueless ghost, after a moment's hesitation, can figure out what it's thinking.
Children this age are too straightforward, so straightforward that they don't even try to hide their desires. If they grow up and become shrewd adults, things might be different. For example, many people selling health supplements for the elderly will carefully package themselves, do a lot of work for their target customers, and only after establishing some emotional connection will they slowly close the net and take money from their pockets.
Because of this emotional connection, those elderly people were deceived.
But the child ghost, having established no emotional connection and given nothing in return, was incredibly naive to try and swindle money from others. The mud ghost was the only ghost with whom it could potentially build an emotional relationship, but unfortunately, after realizing it wasn't a good person, instead of trying to repair the relationship, it directly broke off relations, missing out on this potential sucker.
Then they chose the wrong person.
He Zhao realized at this moment that, given the old woman's ability to control people's hearts, she would not be someone who would be easily swindled out of money by a child ghost.
Previously, the first family member who was pointed out as tall might have been the one who got harassed, but that was the old lady.
So even if He Zhao hadn't stopped her, the old woman would have guarded her purse carefully and wouldn't have let the little ghost take any money out of it. He Zhao was just too worried and lost his composure for a moment. But knowing that the old woman wouldn't be fooled, He Zhao was truly relieved.
Grandma noticed her behavior. She smiled and said to He Zhao, "Grandma will buy you candy, don't worry."
He Zhao was speechless again. Sometimes she felt that the old woman was very shrewd, but other times she felt that the old woman was confused. However, this time she did not refuse directly, but instead said perfunctorily, "Okay, okay, you can buy it for me later. Let's go eat first."
The old woman nodded and followed He Zhao to the stall to eat.
Seeing that its only goal had failed, and with all the ghosts over there refusing to buy it food, plus the fact that Grandma was there too, the child ghost, feeling somewhat ashamed, stomped its foot and ran away.
He Zhao ignored it and just urged the old woman to eat.
These days, everyone reciprocates kindness. The old lady keeps saying she wants to buy candy for He Zhao because she knows he's genuinely good to her. The seasonal clothes it's wearing were burned by He Zhao, and he's always treated it with great kindness. He even took extra care of it during the banquet.
Moreover, He Zhao was not trying to get anything from it, not for money, and certainly not for its meager amount of ghost money. She was simply taking pity on it and caring for it because it was an old man and the first customer she had ever met.
At your age, if you still can't tell who's good to you and who's bad to you, then you're a fool.
After the old lady finished eating and left, He Zhao figured that her day's stall business was probably almost over. The old lady usually came quite late, and now that she had finished eating and left, she figured no more customers would come. He Zhao took out her phone and sat down next to Qiao Yanyu. Qiao Yanyu was still looking at documents. The two of them would exchange a few words now and then, but most of the time they were doing their own things.
It might sound a bit boring, but being around it is surprisingly comfortable.
He Zhao waited patiently for the time to pass before closing up shop, but a customer still arrived.
It was a child ghost; it had returned and sat down opposite He Zhao and the other girl. The child ghost's voice was muffled as it said, "I want a meal."
He Zhao understood. If he couldn't get the money, the little ghost would still pay for it itself, just like the previous two days. It really liked the food He Zhao cooked, or rather, it really liked the handmade spicy strips it remembered. He Zhao didn't mock it or say anything like, "Oh, you still want to eat even if you can't get money," but simply served it some rice and let it eat slowly.
The little ghost finished eating and, like the other customers, placed its money under its bowl, but didn't rush to leave. It sat there for a long time before suddenly speaking, as if wanting to have a heart-to-heart talk with He Zhao: "Why does everyone dislike me?"
He Zhao put down the short video she was scrolling through, pursed her lips, and knew that this brat wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with her.
Under normal circumstances, He Zhao definitely wouldn't want to talk to this annoying little brat, but if he could help the brat remember something, it would undoubtedly lighten Qiao Yanyu's workload. He Zhao felt a little sorry for Qiao Yanyu, who had been flipping through documents for so long.
Therefore, He Zhao was still willing to have a heart-to-heart talk with the child ghost.
"So you like everyone very much?"
In short, the little ghost's CPU was overheated. It probably doesn't even have the concept of that; to the little ghost, everyone should like it. In fact, the little ghost does have many endearing qualities.
First of all, the little ghost is very cute. She's the kind of big-eyed, fair-skinned, and extremely adorable little girl that often appears in short videos and gets comments like "You're trying to trick me into having a baby again" or "It's a conspiracy by the Civil Affairs Bureau."
In terms of appearance, good-looking human babies are naturally liked.
In fact, the child ghost's beauty did play a role in this regard, getting the mud ghost to pay for it upon their first meeting, and He Zhao didn't think anything of it. It wasn't until the next day when it wanted to come again that He Zhao realized its intentions.
Secondly, the child ghost is very good at playing the victim and feigning innocence; its angelic mode can be switched on at will. With its good looks and angelic personality, it can win over a lot of aunties and uncles, who will treat it extra well.
But all of this depends on the premise that it can maintain its angelic form. Otherwise, if it shows even the slightest sign of something amiss and switches to demonic form, everyone who sees it will avoid it like the plague.
A beautiful appearance can only attract attention temporarily; a genuine personality is what makes others treat it well. And most importantly, it depends on the person. Even if it's always been an angelic, well-behaved child, it can only attract creatures like the Mud Demon who were overly kind in life. Creatures like He Zhao, who are averse to children, will only observe the child ghost from afar.
Let her take care of the child? Are you crazy?
This child ghost's personality is truly problematic, and this is completely exposed at this moment. It only thinks about why others don't like it, but it never considers that it doesn't like anyone else either.
It even subconsciously skipped over the question: "But they don't like me."
He Zhao pursed his lips, not giving the child ghost any room to escape: "You don't even like them, so why should they like you? If you're nice to others, they'll reciprocate. Of course, some good people will treat you well even if you don't show kindness at first, but in that case, if you don't reciprocate at all, it will only make others gradually distance themselves from you."
"The Virgin Mary is wonderful; no matter what you do to her, she will repay evil with kindness. But Virgin Marys are ultimately a minority in this world. People who ask for nothing in return are pitifully rare." Unlike many people online who think Virgin Marys are bad, He Zhao thinks Virgin Marys are wonderful.
Only a saint would be so wholeheartedly kind to others; there are so few people like that in this world.
He Zhao's words silenced the child ghost. He Zhao didn't consider the child ghost's appearance or age to speak in a childish way to make it easier for it to understand, because it was now certain that beneath its skin was the soul of an adult, and under these circumstances, it could understand.
It understood, but it still muttered to itself, "But I am... a child now."
In one sentence, the child ghost realized something was wrong. What did "now" mean? What about before? Was it no longer a child before? The child ghost's face suddenly turned several shades lighter. As a ghost, its complexion and skin were already very pale, but now it was so pale that it seemed to be glowing.
It seemed unable to accept what it had just thought of, and abruptly got up from its seat and left. He Zhao, considering that it had already paid, ignored it, but turned to Qiao Yanyu and said, "Is it okay? It ran away like that."
"It's alright, Wang Yu will take care of it."
After that day, the child ghost still came over often, but its behavior became increasingly different from before. It was no longer the brat who could switch into demon mode at any time. Instead, it became more composed, always sitting with its head down, seemingly lost in thought.
I finished my meal honestly, paid the bill, and left.
To be honest, it looks even more endearing now, and He Zhao finds it much more pleasing to the eye.
However, it still couldn't remember much, only that it realized it wasn't actually a child. Time passed day by day, the flower buds on the roadside trees quietly bloomed, and the temperature gradually rose. But the seasons here were too strange, making it somewhat difficult for He Zhao, a native of Guangdong, to endure.
It was hot one minute and cold the next, like having an unpredictable air conditioner. When the flowers bloomed, He Zhao, as expected, caught a cold. It wasn't serious; he just had a hoarse voice, kept sneezing, and a slight cough.
Compared to her, Qiao Yanyu was basically recovered. After a follow-up check-up at the hospital, she could walk a little bit each day and stand up slightly. In stark contrast to their previous relationship, He Zhao was pinned to the bed, and Qiao Yanyu took over as the one preparing the food.
Unlike He Zhao, whose culinary skills were systematically trained, Qiao Yanyu didn't know how to cook much. She could only make porridge in a rice cooker and buy some pickled vegetables for He Zhao. At most, she would order takeout to improve He Zhao's meals.
He Zhao was living a life of utter despair. His sister Qiao's leg was almost fully healed, and she might be completely recovered in a few days, but he himself had collapsed. Another very important thing was that—the food had also become utterly tasteless to He Zhao.
She's from Guangdong, so it's true she prefers light flavors, but this is too much! It's outrageous, absolutely outrageous! At this moment, He Zhao had no other thought than to eat meat.
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