THEY ALL SAY I'VE MET A GHOST

Chapter 14

A Fan Translation

CHAPTER 14 - Giving a Lesson (Part 1)

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Xia Jin ran out of the electrical room and, beaming, said to Ning Tiance said, "Tianshi, now that the ghost problem has been solved, there's no need to dismantle the elevator, right?"

He looked irritatingly like a dog trotting at someone's heels.

Xiao Ning, still with an expression like his whole world had collapsed, nodded.

"Well, please tell me your account number. I'll ask the accountant to transfer the money."

"No need." Ning Tiance shook his head and looked at me. "I wasn't the one who got rid of the ghost. Mr. Shen did it. He was somehow able to wield the peach wood sword handed down from generation to generation by the Maoshan Sect. It’s truly astonishing, if only — "

“Don't!" I immediately interrupted him as soon as I saw where he was going. “I'm a university graduate with a degree in Ideological and Political Education. The only things I believe in are Marxism and communism. I will never join the Maoshan Sect."

He smiled wryly. "Since there's no chance of success, I won't ask. We’ll part now."

"Wait." When I saw that he was going, I got up, dusted off the seat of my pants, and ran up in front of him.

Though this Ning Tiance was full of feudal superstitions, hadn't gone to senior middle school, had attacked Mu Huaitong and groped me in the dark, he was still a good person. He'd stepped in to help me when those children had gathered around to hit me, and then he hadn't even known that it was me. I could have been any staff member. In this ever colder desert of society, Ning Tiance was a rarity.

So I had to thank him!

"That person in the bear costume at the mall yesterday who was getting hit by children was me. Thank you for helping me stop them," I said sincerely to Ning Tiance. "Although we have different beliefs, I still think we can be friends."

Xia Jin, who knew me pretty well, glared at me with a look that could have burned through my face. I ignored it, boldly looking at Xiao Ning.

Ning Tiance nodded slightly to me. "A small matter. In the future we may meet again."

"Where are you going tonight? We can go together, it might be on my way."

Ning Tiance shook his head. "I'm going out to the countryside."

Well, that wasn't on my way. I could only watch Xiao Ning leave the mall and disappear in the distance.

Xia Jin was still staring at me.

When Ning Tiance was gone, I said to him, "You can drive me."

Xia Jin said meaningfully, "Ning-tianshi is handsome, isn't he?"

I thought about the way he had looked wearing ordinary clothes yesterday and had to agree: "Yes, very handsome."

"Ha," Xia Jin sneered, "don't come to me to drink your sorrows away when your love affair goes wrong."

"Ha," I sneered back, "what a filthy mind. I was just grateful!”

"You know perfectly well what you were thinking," Xia Jin said as we walked to the parking lot on the first subfloor.

In fact, if it hadn’t been for yesterday's incident on the school bus, I would have told him what I was really thinking. When I was in university, I’d had a crush on a very handsome senior who played basketball. At the time, I wasn't very physically fit. In order to get close to him, I spent every day on the basketball court. Later, I led my basketball team to defeat the senior's team. He took some people to help him corner me at the school's back gate to beat me up, and instead they got beaten up by me. From then on there was an irreconcilable feud between myself and that senior I'd had a crush on. The only time my heart had been moved, that had been the outcome.