In Order To Ascend, I Became A Modern Wage Slave - Chapter 11: The Cherished Immortal Lord (10)

Chapter 11: The Cherished Immortal Lord (10)

 

Xi Yu closed his eyes, adjusted for a moment, and then slowly opened them.

 

The young man left the window and brushed past him.

 

He picked up the child who had fallen asleep beside the woman’s hospital bed and gently placed him on the neighboring bed, his hand lightly touching the child’s forehead.

 

Luo Yang, still shaken, walked forward on unsteady legs, slowly processing:

 

Ghosts really do exist. He had just seen two of them. Xi Yu might not have been lying after all…

 

“How is he?” Xi Yu casually asked as he passed the child’s bed.

 

The two Taoist priests on the floor were still unconscious, lying there stiffly. Judging by their positions, they might have woken up midway only to faint from fright again.

 

Seeing them sprawled so awkwardly was unpleasant. Xi Yu grabbed their clothes with both hands and dragged them to the wall.

 

The young man withdrew his hand, smiled calmly, and said, “They probably just fainted from fear.”

 

Dragged like that without waking? Could they really be dead? Xi Yu asked, “What should we do about them?”

 

The young man suggested, “Call the police.”

 

Luo Yang immediately agreed, “Yes, yes! This kind of thing should be left to the police. They’ve been swindling people for so long; they must have cheated plenty of money. Serves them right!”

 

“The police?” Xi Yu didn’t understand again, but fortunately, the young man was kind enough to explain, “They’re like law enforcers.”

 

This explanation made sense to Xi Yu, and he nodded in satisfaction. “That’s pretty good.”

 

Luo Yang acted quickly, pulling out his phone to contact the police. After explaining the general situation and hanging up, he finally felt like he was back among the living. Taking a deep breath, he asked in confusion, “That drunken man from earlier, did the ghost really take him away?”

 

His answer was the sound of a woman sighing from the bed.

 

She had woken up!

 

Luo Yang immediately dropped the question, rushing out of the room to find a nurse. The young man walked over to the woman’s bed, pressed a button, and then leaned to the side, his knee touching the table edge as he made room for Xi Yu.

 

After sighing, the woman opened her eyes slightly, her gaze slowly focusing. Though still dazed, she tried hard to lift her hand.

 

The young man, perceptive, asked, “Do you want water?”

 

The woman nodded with great effort.

 

The more Xi Yu looked at the woman, the more he felt something was wrong. She had three distinct moles: one near the corner of her right eye, another near the corner of her left eye, and the last one in the center of her right cheek—so-called “widow’s moles.”

 

For ordinary people, having these three moles might not matter because facial mole charts are based on standardized facial proportions, and no one’s features align perfectly. However, the positioning of this woman’s moles…

 

They were perfectly aligned!

 

This wasn’t a coincidence; it was divine retribution!

 

Ancient texts say: Everyone has a destiny. The ordinary are nature’s way. Extreme fortune is called a divine blessing. Extreme misfortune is divine punishment.

 

Xi Yu’s gaze shifted upward to the woman’s name: Shi An.

 

When the crowd came bustling into the room, the woman was already sitting up, weakly leaning against the window. After a thorough examination, the doctor breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Her condition seems stable…”

 

Xi Yu stepped out, approached Luo Yang, and, as he passed, dropped a line: “Let’s go.”

 

He thought everything was over, but Luo Yang stopped him. Soon, the police arrived. After understanding the situation, they took them away to make statements, and only then was Xi Yu able to leave.

 

The journey away wasn’t smooth either. They encountered a car accident ahead, which caused a severe traffic jam. After a long delay and taking a detour, they finally arrived at the police station.

 

Luo Yang successfully retrieved his money and, in high spirits, pulled Xi Yu into a restaurant they passed, saying he wanted to treat him to a good meal.

 

After a long day, Luo Yang was starving and looked as if he could devour the menu. He ordered recklessly, but just as he was about to hand the menu to the waiter, he paused, pulled it back, and handed it to Xi Yu. “See if there’s anything you want to eat.”

 

Xi Yu was quite picky. After scanning the pictures, he surprisingly found everything appealing. He handed the menu back and simply said, “No spice.”

 

The waiter smiled and replied, “Sure, no spice…? Are you sure you didn’t misspeak?”

 

The smile on his face turned stiff by the end of the sentence. Xi Yu nodded firmly. “I’m sure.”

 

But this was a Sichuan restaurant!

 

Since the dishes were already ordered, leaving now seemed inappropriate. Luo Yang had no choice but to grit his teeth, take the menu again, and carefully inquire about dishes that could be made completely without chili peppers.

 

The Sichuan restaurant wasn’t large or luxurious, but it was packed with people. A family of three shared a lively meal; a group of middle-aged men were drinking boldly; and young couples were whispering sweet nothings to each other… The atmosphere was full of life.

 

Xi Yu hadn’t felt this kind of lively energy in ages, and for a moment, he felt a pang of nostalgia.

 

Televisions hung on either side of the walls, and someone had tuned one to the news channel. Luo Yang glanced at it.

 

Oh! It was nearby!

 

It seemed to be the same accident they’d encountered earlier. A drunken man had run amok in the streets before crashing into a truck and being dragged for several meters. The scene was gruesome—the man was nearly split in two, with intestines trailing a long distance behind. It was utterly stomach-churning.

 

As the waiter reached for the remote to change the channel, the man’s ID photo appeared on the screen.

 

“Holy crap!” Luo Yang slammed the table and stood up.

 

The man in the accident wasn’t a stranger—it was the same drunk troublemaker from the hospital earlier that afternoon!

 

He had thought the ghost would take him quietly, but instead, he met such a horrific end. Truly tragic.

 

Reflecting on the man’s words at the hospital—gambling, wife-beating, and disdain for women—it seemed he got what he deserved.

 

Noticing the stares from others, Luo Yang apologized and sheepishly sat back down.

 

Unspiced Sichuan cuisine tasted strange, or maybe Luo Yang had set his expectations too high, leading to greater disappointment. Determined not to waste food, he kept eating, while Xi Yu only had a few bites before putting down his chopsticks and looking up at the television.

 

The channel had been switched. Luo Yang glanced at it briefly: a hit costume drama about a female protagonist taking revenge after being betrayed by a scumbag. In short, a “satisfying” story.

 

Having been involved in almost every part of today’s events, Luo Yang couldn’t help but recall everything as he watched the drama. He turned to Xi Yu and asked, “Do you think that female ghost who sought your help today was also out for revenge or something?”

 

Xi Yu studied others’ movements and figured out the purpose of a square object nearby. He pulled out a piece and slowly wiped his mouth, exuding elegance. But when he spoke, he shattered the refined image: “How would I know?”

 

Luo Yang stammered, “Maybe you could… deduce something?”

 

Xi Yu folded the napkin into a triangle and placed it beside his bowl. Hearing the words, he looked up in confusion, feeling Luo Yang misunderstood him profoundly. “I haven’t even figured out my own situation yet. Why waste time deducing someone else’s affairs?”

 

“Huh?” Luo Yang was taken aback.

 

He had read plenty of novels and watched many dramas. Usually, people like Xi Yu, skilled in cultivation, were full of compassion, mediating disputes even between quarreling elders.

 

Let alone now, when a ghost had come directly to him.

 

Shouldn’t he be actively tracing the root cause, seeking a solution, going to the scene, uncovering the truth, and ultimately bringing closure and happiness?

 

That’s more like it!

 

Xi Yu was not surprised by Luo Yang’s reaction. Instead, he raised an eyebrow curiously and asked, “What kind of evaluation are you planning to give me? Cold-blooded and ruthless, or unfeeling and heartless?”

 

In fact, Xi Yu didn’t care which term the other chose. After all, he was already labeled with descriptions thousands of times worse.

 

Luo Yang couldn’t understand why Xi Yu suddenly asked this. He waved his hand, denying both options. “Not to that extent. I just thought you would go to Luonan Mountain to save that woman.”

 

As soon as he finished speaking, Luo Yang immediately denied himself: “Well, not exactly save her, since we don’t know whether she’s good or evil. In any case, you’d go there to figure out the truth, uncover the reason. Maybe you could even…”

 

Xi Yu completed his thought: “Even bring me back and your friend as well.”

 

He was right. That was indeed Luo Yang’s purpose in bringing up the topic. Since Xi Yu was so straightforward, Luo Yang saw no need to hide it. He nodded heavily and began reasoning with him: “Since we don’t know the whole story, anything could be a key to understanding it. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Maybe, by some stroke of luck, we’ll stumble upon a clue.”

 

Xi Yu nodded. “You’re right. I will go to that place, but not now—certainly not under the premise of ‘leaving immediately.'”

 

Luo Yang asked naively, “Are you planning to calculate an auspicious date for the journey or something?”

 

“…I’m not that particular,” Xi Yu thought for a moment and then, to prevent Luo Yang from acting out later, said bluntly, “I’m waiting for an opportunity.”

 

He and that woman had been brought here from different places, and so many coincidences had followed, all seemingly pushing him toward Luonan Mountain.

 

In that case, he wouldn’t go as expected.

 

He wanted to see what tricks the person working behind the scenes would pull to make him willingly go there.

 

By now, the day was drawing to a close. The diners in the shop were leaving in twos and threes. Luo Yang, after thoroughly cleaning up each plate to ensure no food was wasted, leaned back in his chair, holding his stomach. He took a deep breath: “Damn, I’m stuffed.”

 

Xi Yu didn’t understand Luo Yang’s behavior, but he respected it. He had already stood up to leave but sat back down upon seeing Luo Yang too full to move.

 

At this moment, four people entered the shop: a married couple, an elderly woman, and a teenager who helped the grandmother to a seat behind Xi Yu.

 

The man picked up the menu but commented on something unrelated to ordering: “I really didn’t expect it. After all this time, we actually got that money back.”

 

“Exactly,” the woman said with a smile.

 

The elderly woman sighed, “It’s divine intervention!”

 

The teenager, however, scoffed, “There’s no such thing as divine intervention. It’s clearly the police being efficient.”

 

…

 

Upon hearing this, Xi Yu instinctively pressed his lips together, then relaxed and raised an eyebrow. Tapping his fingers lightly on the table, he turned to Luo Yang, who took another deep breath and asked, “Can we leave now?”

 

If such words had been spoken in Xi Yu’s time, the speaker would undoubtedly have been caught and reprimanded harshly. In more severe cases, they could have been punished and imprisoned for disrespect. Yet now, such remarks only provoked a few indulgent chuckles, which was truly surprising.

 

The next day.

 

After freshening up, Luo Yang walked out yawning and saw Xi Yu already sitting on the sofa, watching the news channel on TV with full concentration.

 

“With one week to go until Qixi Festival, related activities at Luonan Mountain are in full swing. We welcome everyone to join us!”

 

“Big data is really something,” Luo Yang muttered. He got dressed and was about to leave but suddenly turned back and stood in front of Xi Yu.

 

Xi Yu asked, “What’s wrong?”

 

Luo Yang said, “I’m heading to work. Do you want to come with me?”

 

Xi Yu asked, “What is work?”

 

Luo Yang briefly explained, “It’s like attending court. You know, court?”

 

Xi Yu understood. He was surprised that Luo Yang seemed to be quite accomplished and asked with interest, “What position do you hold?”

 

Scratching his head, Luo Yang replied, “Equivalent to… the emperor. Yes, the emperor.”

 

To Xi Yu, Luo Yang seemed more like someone serving the emperor rather than the emperor himself.

 

Initially, Xi Yu wasn’t interested at all. However, Luo Yang’s description intrigued him, so he eventually nodded and followed along.