Chapter 20

Warm, wet, and a little sticky.

Gu Shuge’s eyes widened in shock.

The door was opened from outside, and a female voice came through. “Chairman, you called for me?”

Shen Juan immediately came back to herself and said calmly, “I pressed it by mistake. Go out first.”

The board secretary saw the blood on Shen Juan’s hand and exclaimed, “Your hand is cut. I’ll go get the first-aid kit.”

“No need.” Shen Juan steadied herself, smiled at the girl, and said, “It’s just a small cut. I’ll wipe it myself. Go out.”

The girl seemed to want to say more, but although her boss’s tone was gentle, it clearly allowed no disobedience. She could only withdraw.

Gu Shuge felt a little dizzy. Just now, when she saw Shen Juan cut her hand, she had been too busy panicking to notice anything else. Now that the panic had passed, her attention focused on her finger. Seeing Shen Juan’s blood, a fierce hunger rose in her stomach.

So hungry, Gu Shuge thought. She stared fixedly at Shen Juan’s finger, practically drooling.

“How did you suddenly become able to touch me?” Shen Juan asked the moment she sent the person away.

Gu Shuge seemed to have entered a muddled state. She could still think, but the temptation of the blood was like water to someone trapped in the ​read the original at bailiantales.com​desert for three days and three nights without a single drop. It was utterly irresistible.

She could hear Shen Juan’s question and answered, “I suddenly could touch you. I don’t know why either.” Yet her gaze remained fixed on Shen Juan’s finger, and her body bent down involuntarily. Her tongue touched the wound. She did not suck at it, but did her utmost not to irritate the cut, carefully licking it once.

The taste of blood spread across the tip of her tongue. Unexpectedly, there was no bloody taste. Instead, it was like hot water drunk on a winter day, warm as it slid down her throat and all the way into her lower abdomen.

The feeling of hunger was soothed. Warmth rose from her stomach and spread throughout her whole body. It was very comfortable.

Shen Juan’s hand trembled. Gu Shuge had already been very nervous, afraid that touching Shen Juan’s wound would hurt her, and hurriedly said, “D-don’t move.”

Shen Juan truly stopped moving and did not pull back, as though she could hear her.

Gu Shuge let out a slight breath of relief and licked again, very carefully, like a small animal licking its owner’s hand to curry favor. She did not hurt her. The blood on Shen Juan’s finger was quickly licked clean, and no new blood flowed out.

Gu Shuge felt a warm sensation travel down her esophagus and stomach, spreading outward. Her soul-body seemed to have been nourished. She lowered her head to look at her hand, and it seemed less transparent now.

After a while, the warmth faded, and everything returned to normal.

Gu Shuge was somewhat dazed, not understanding why such a change had happened.

She looked toward Shen Juan. Shen Juan’s expression was a little unnatural. She had turned her head to the side and was looking out the window without speaking.

Gu Shuge froze for a moment before realizing that Shen Juan could not see her. Softly, she said, “How strange. I suddenly could touch you, and then suddenly really wanted to…” She stopped. Belatedly, she felt afraid. Turning into a ghost was one thing. After all, she had Shen unauthorized copy Juan, and the evil thoughts did not dare come out to tempt her. She would not harm anyone, nor would she become a fierce ghost.

But now, she had actually found fresh blood delicious.

“Xiao Ge,” Shen Juan called her.

Gu Shuge answered, and then she saw that Shen Juan’s face was a little red.

“Are you hot?” she asked in concern.

Shen Juan could not hear her and continued speaking to herself. “We need to figure out why you suddenly became able to touch me.”

Gu Shuge’s attention was drawn away.

“I think it’s the blood,” Shen Juan continued, her gaze lowering slightly. “My finger was cut and bled. The place you… just… touched… happened to be the wound where the blood was flowing.”

Gu Shuge nodded. She thought so too. Then she saw that after Shen Juan finished saying this, her face grew even redder. When she spoke, her pauses had also been a little unnatural. She had stalled slightly around the words “touched,” but the other sentences were very smooth.

“Are you really all right? Should we lower the heating a little?” Gu Shuge grew even more worried. In winter, the indoor temperature could very well be too high.

“Let’s verify this guess first.” Shen Juan’s gaze was gentle.

Gu Shuge suddenly felt very moved. Sister must be [stolen content]very happy because Gu Shuge could touch her. All at once, she was filled with strength. Since she could touch Sister now, maybe in the future, she might be able to let Shen Juan see her too.

Gu Shuge immediately felt that being a ghost was also something with great prospects, something with hope.

Shen Juan bent down to pick up the porcelain shards. Seeing this, Gu Shuge guessed what she wanted to do and hurriedly said, “Don’t!”

Shen Juan’s blood had dripped onto the floor just now. Gu Shuge quickly dabbed her fingertip in the blood on the floor, then tapped twice on the back of Shen Juan’s hand.

She touched her again.

This was the second time Gu Shuge had touched Shen Juan, yet she still could not stop herself from feeling happy. Her eyes shone brightly as she looked at Shen Juan. Blood really could be touched.

When the back of her hand was tapped, it felt a little ticklish. The blush that had just faded from Shen Juan’s face returned a little. She paused, then said in a steady tone, “It seems you can use blood as a medium to touch things.”

Gu Shuge thought so too.

“Then you can use blood to write, and we’ll be able to talk,” Shen Juan said.

Gu Shuge nodded.

She dipped into the blood on the floor again. Shen Juan saw the shape of the blood drop on the ground change, then gradually disappear. Gu Shuge wiped all the blood on the floor onto her fingertip before crouching down and writing on the tile.

She felt a powerful resistance. Moving her finger was very difficult, like someone walking against a violent wind, unable to take a step forward. Gu Shuge used a great deal of strength before finally writing one [unauthorized copy]horizontal stroke, but there was not enough blood on her finger, and she could not write the next stroke.

Although they had not spoken, Shen Juan could tell that the horizontal stroke had been written very slowly and with great difficulty, and that it had suddenly stopped. Blood was sticky and not suitable for ink.

“Wait for a moment,” she said, then made a phone call, ordering someone to go to the blood bank and buy several bags of blood.

The person receiving the order was utterly confused, unable to understand why the chairman wanted blood bags, but he still hurriedly drove to the blood bank.

There was still some time before the blood bags would be delivered. Shen Juan continued cleaning up the broken porcelain shards on the floor. Her wound had already stopped bleeding; as long as it was not touched, it would not hurt. Her movements were efficient, and she quickly picked up all the shards. There were still some tiny fragments left, which would need to be cleaned with tools.

So she sat to one side and did not touch them again.

Gu Shuge sat beside her. She was very uneasy now. On one hand, once they had blood bags, she and Sister would no longer have to worry about communication. On the other hand, she was a little afraid. She had actually wanted to drink human blood. That was too frightening.

She remembered something she had heard when she was little.

Farm dogs raised to guard the house could not be fed chicken bones, because once they had tasted how delicious chicken bones were, they would become addicted. They might very well chase and steal the live chickens in the yard.

She was very worried that she would become that farm dog that had tasted marrow and could no longer forget it, becoming dependent on the deliciousness of human blood.

She had only been a ghost for nine days. The moral values of human society were still deeply carved into her bones. Just imagining herself drinking fresh human blood made her hair stand on end.

Was she about to fall from a yin ghost into a monster? Gu Shuge thought sadly.

“Are you nervous?” Shen Juan asked.

She spoke so suddenly that Gu Shuge, already panicking, was startled. She stammered in answer, “N-nervous.” And also very guilty. She did not dare tell Shen Juan that she had just drunk her blood.

She knew Shen Juan definitely would not hate her, but what if Shen Juan found that kind of behavior terrifying and became afraid of her?

But if she did not say it, then she would seem very dishonest.

Gu Shuge grew troubled, hesitating over whether she should tell Shen Juan about this.

Shen Juan looked much calmer. She stood up, went to pour herself a cup of water, and took a sip before gently comforting her. “Don’t be nervous. As long as we can communicate, things will be easier. Later, we’ll write on the coffee table.”

The coffee table was made of glass. Its surface was smooth, with less resistance, so writing on it would be a little easier than writing on floor tiles.

Gu Shuge was affected by her calmness. She took two deep breaths and nodded. She thought that after they returned home tonight, she should still tell Sister about human blood being tempting to her.

For some reason, she had just been worried that Shen Juan would be afraid of her if she knew, but now, after hearing one comforting sentence from her, Gu Shuge suddenly felt that perhaps Shen Juan would not only be unafraid, she might even go to the blood bank to buy blood and feed her.

It was clearly a very frightening thing, but thinking of it this way, Gu Shuge actually began to smile.

Almost an hour passed before the blood bags were delivered.

The person handling the matter was very thorough. Since Shen Juan had not said which blood type she wanted, aside from rare Rh-negative blood, which was difficult to find on short notice, he bought one bag of every blood type.

After Shen Juan received the blood, she locked the office door from the inside. Then she took a cup, cut open one of the bags, and poured the blood into it. The smell of blood spread through the room, somewhat pungent. Shen Juan furrowed her brows almost imperceptibly, but a moment later, she returned to normal, and no discomfort could be seen on her face.

Gu Shuge’s nervousness had frozen in place from the moment the blood bags were brought in. She felt that something was not quite right, because when she saw this blood, she did not feel that it looked delicious or that she wanted to eat it.

This blood held no attraction for her at all.

“Xiao Ge, come here,” Shen Juan called her.

Gu Shuge steadied herself and thought, I don’t want to eat it, but maybe I can use it. She walked over and used her right index finger to dip into the fresh blood in the cup. Then she saw her finger sink into the blood, while the surface of the blood remained still and unrippled.

She could not touch this cup of blood.