Chapter 24

Originally, Shen Juan had planned to stew curry beef. The ingredients had all been washed, but when she remembered Gu Shuge’s anger while writing “I can’t eat. I can’t taste anything,” she hesitated again.

In any case, she was not especially hungry, so Shen Juan took out some fruit and made herself a salad.

While making it, she thought again: since Xiao Ge could touch her blood, then if she put a little blood into food, would Xiao Ge be able to taste it?

She just did not know whether food from the mortal world would harm her soul-body.

As she was thinking, Gu Shuge drifted in.

Shen Juan was cutting fruit. Her slender, fair fingers pressed against an apple, while her other hand held the knife and cut the apple into cubes. Her movements could not be called skillful, but they were definitely not clumsy either. The frequency with which the knife fell was steady. The blade landed on the cutting board with dull, muffled sounds, rhythmically carrying over. Somehow, it gave people a sense of reassurance.

Gu Shuge stood beside her and thought that even if all she did was listen to Shen Juan cut fruit, she could listen for a whole year without getting tired of it.

After Shen Juan finished cutting the fruit, she put it into a bowl, added some salad dressing, found a fork, and carried it to the dining table. She sat down and asked, “Is Xiao Ge here?”

As usual, Gu Shuge went to tap her hand, but her finger passed straight through Shen Juan’s hand. Gu Shuge was shocked and looked at Shen Juan in panic.

Shen Juan did not know what had happened and asked the air again, “Are you here?”

Gu Shuge tried again, but still could not touch her. Fear spread through her heart like sparks. Why couldn’t she touch her? She lowered her head to look at her own hand. There was no longer any blood on her fingers.

Was it because the blood on her fingers had run out? Gu Shuge guessed in panic. She looked toward Shen Juan. Shen Juan had not received a response, but she did not eat dinner either. Instead, she put down her fork, as if waiting for something.

Gu Shuge ran to the study. The half glass dish of blood was still there. The moment she entered, she smelled the fragrance of blood. Gu Shuge let out a breath of relief, but her heart was still lifted high until she touched the blood in the glass dish. Only then did she finally settle down completely.

It should be because the blood on her fingertips had run out that she could not touch Shen Juan.

That was good. Just now, she had truly been afraid that Shen Juan’s blood had also lost its effect on her.

If that had been the case, how disappointed would Shen Juan be? She realized that what she feared most was not returning to a state where she could not communicate with others, but Shen Juan’s disappointment.

After all, Shen Juan had been so happy that they could talk. She had also carefully asked Dr. Mu how to draw blood and how to store blood, preparing to raise her for a long time.

Only after Gu Shuge dipped her fingers in the blood did she realize that the blood in the glass dish had already coagulated into a gel-like form. She rubbed her fingers over the surface twice, and only when a little red could be seen on her fingers did she go out and return to the dining room.

She had forgotten to remind Shen Juan to add water just now. This blood was already not very usable. Fortunately, she could still scrape a little from the surface. Tomorrow, they had to hurry and buy anticoagulants.

When she returned to the dining room, Shen Juan still had not started eating. Just now, she had not received Gu Shuge’s bailiantales.com response, but she had sensed faint panic beside her. She was somewhat worried. When Gu Shuge returned, she first tapped Shen Juan to show that she was there.

Shen Juan carefully sensed her for a moment. The panic was gone. There were no emotions she could sense, which meant Xiao Ge’s emotions were fairly calm now. Only then did she pick up her fork again.

Gu Shuge sat beside her. It was quite strange. When she had been alive, she had liked fruits and vegetables too. Sometimes when she got busy, it had been common for her to gnaw on an apple and make do. But now, she could not muster the slightest interest in that bowl of salad. Instead, meat made her appetite open wide just by thinking about it.

She seemed to have become a complete carnivore.

Was this the influence brought by the yin malevolence after becoming a ghost? But her personality did not seem to have changed much.

Shen Juan swallowed the food in her mouth and asked, “Were you here the whole time just now?”

Hearing her ask, Gu Shuge drew a cross on her left hand. Shen Juan spread open her left palm. Gu Shuge thought that she probably wanted to ask why Gu Shuge had not responded when she called twice, and whether she had not been there.

So she wrote stroke by stroke in Shen Juan’s palm, “Just now, the blood on my fingertips ran out. I couldn’t touch you and got startled. Then I went to the study to dip some more.”

Shen Juan now knew where her panic had come from. Her heart immediately filled with tenderness. She said, “Don’t be afraid.”

Gu Shuge hurriedly drew a smiling face in her palm.

Shen Juan smiled and said nothing more.

After dinner, she played a movie for Gu Shuge and went upstairs to wash up. This time, she used screen casting. The screen was huge, and Shen Juan even turned off the lights for her, making the atmosphere more suitable for watching a film.

Laziness was a common trait among humans. After Gu Shuge became a ghost, although she could no longer feel tired, she still retained human habits. As soon as Shen Juan went upstairs, her sitting posture became less proper. She leaned against the sofa, sat cross-legged, and stared at the screen with full concentration.

Shen Juan was upstairs for almost the length of one movie. When she came down, the ending theme happened to begin. Gu Shuge had watched with great focus. Shen Juan had very good taste in films. Everything she chose had both plot and quality.

One second, Gu Shuge was still thinking about the meaning behind the final shot of the movie. The next second, once she saw Shen Juan, she threw everything else away.

Shen Juan had showered. Her hair was still half damp and draped over her shoulders. She wore soft trousers and a cream-white knit sweater, as if she still carried the misty moisture from the bathroom. Her entire person looked gentle and warm, even the corners of her eyes touched with laziness, without the slightest trace of the sharpness she had when outside.

Seeing this version of Shen Juan, Gu Shuge became entranced. Her heart beat quickly. She did not blink, only staring at her in a daze.

Shen Juan did not sit down immediately. She did not know where Gu Shuge was sitting and was worried she might press down on her, so she spoke first. “Was the movie good?”

There was no response.

Shen Juan was puzzled. Was Xiao Ge not here? She quieted her heart and carefully sensed for a moment, then felt an inexplicable emotion nearby.

It was like lines of waves, rising and falling, like the surging of the sea.

Shen Juan did not understand. What kind of emotion was this? Happiness, or sadness?

Raising a little ghost was clearly much more difficult than raising a person or a pet. Because Shen Juan could not see her, she did not know what expression she wore or what state she was in. Now, there was even this very strange emotion, hard to grasp.

But Shen Juan’s patience toward Gu Shuge had always been inexhaustible. She pondered it for a while but could not figure it out, so she called, “Xiao Ge.”

The wave lines grew even stronger, like the scenes often shown in dramas, when a patient brought back from the brink of death suddenly caused the electrocardiogram beside the bed to fluctuate violently.

Shen Juan was startled and did not dare speak again.

After a little while, icy fingers cautiously touched her palm. Shen Juan identified the words: two characters, “I’m here.”

Receiving a response at least proved that Gu Shuge could communicate with her. Shen Juan sat down at the other end of the sofa, thinking about how to figure out what emotion Gu Shuge had just felt.

Gu Shuge was still looking at her, and her heartbeat had not slowed. She was even somewhat thankful that Shen Juan could not see her. If Shen Juan could see her, she definitely would not dare stare at her like this. Gentle, warm Shen Juan was truly beautiful. It was not a weak gentleness with no mind of her own. She was still Shen Juan, with that crisp presence and resilient character. It was just that the comfortable, relaxed state after washing up had drawn back much of her aura. Her graceful fair neck, her softened brows and eyes beneath the light—everything reflected her gentleness.

“Why are you ignoring me?” Shen Juan asked.

Gu Shuge immediately felt the guilty panic of having her thoughts seen through. She did not dare stare at Shen Juan anymore. Lowering her eyes, she wrote in Shen Juan’s palm, “I was just thinking about the movie’s plot and got distracted.”

Distracted… Shen Juan thought.

“Was the movie very complicated?” she asked again.

Perhaps because she had been a leader for a long time, even when her tone was gentle, she could always take the initiative. Gu Shuge involuntarily followed her question and answered, “Complicated. A lot of the shots were very meaningful too.”

So the wave lines a ghost produced meant complexity in emotion. Shen Juan suddenly understood and quietly noted it in her heart. It was like exploring an entirely new field and recording all the new knowledge she obtained.

It was already late, close to ten. But as usual, Shen Juan had to wait until midnight, then record how long the ghost at home could be sensed tonight.

There were still two hours until midnight. Gu Shuge felt a little worried. Once or twice would be fine, but if Shen Juan did this every night, not only would her schedule be disrupted, her sleep time would also be insufficient. Moreover, the amount of time Gu Shuge could be sensed every night was increasing. If this went on, Shen Juan would only sleep later and later. It would hurt her body too much.

She wrote all these thoughts into Shen Juan’s palm. Only after waiting for her to slowly finish writing everything did Shen Juan say, “When the time becomes longer, I’ll go to sleep.” She paused for a while and smiled. “Perhaps one day, when I wake up, I’ll still be able to feel your presence.”

Gu Shuge’s expression was firm as she wrote in Shen Juan’s palm, “You definitely will!” She even added an exclamation mark to emphasize her tone.

After nine days, the amount of time she could be sensed each night had increased night by night. If this continued, before long, what Shen Juan said would come true.

They had only been able to communicate for half a day, yet Shen Juan had already grown used to Gu Shuge being by her side, using her finger ​read the original at bailiantales.com​to write words into her palm. She had even adapted to Gu Shuge’s slow, gentle writing speed.

Her palm felt itchy. If she sensed it carefully, she could distinguish that Gu Shuge’s fingers seemed somewhat different from human fingers. Her fingertips always carried a yin chill, like jade soaked in ice water—not soft, and somewhat stiff.

But Shen Juan was not afraid at all. She could even imagine Gu Shuge writing stroke by stroke in her palm with great seriousness, and felt she was extremely cute.

“I don’t need to sleep now. After you go to bed later, I’ll write down the case details I know. When you wake up tomorrow, you’ll be able to read them,” Gu Shuge wrote in Shen Juan’s palm again.

Until now, they had not yet talked about the case. Gu Shuge brought it up first. Shen Juan nodded. “All right.”

At midnight, Shen Juan sensed the presence beside her.

At first, she had only been able to vaguely feel that Gu Shuge was there. But now, Shen Juan could already sense her outline specifically, and even distinguish whether she was standing or sitting. Aside from not being able to see her, Gu Shuge’s existence had already become very vivid.

She carefully told Gu Shuge about these changes, then smiled and said, “Maybe after a few more days, I’ll even be able to sense exactly what posture you’re standing or sitting in.”

Affected by Gu Shuge’s slow writing speed, Shen Juan’s own speaking speed had also slowed accordingly.

After Gu Shuge finished listening, she immediately sat upright and proper, showing off her good sitting posture.

Shen Juan sensed the person beside her move and guessed that she was adjusting her sitting ​bailiantales.com​posture. She could not help laughing softly.

Author’s Note: Did you notice? A ghost’s emotions are very complex. They aren’t just simple panic, joy, or anger. When her heart beats faster, she even produces wave lines.