1.16

"Dr. Wu," I glanced up to see him walking out onto my favorite spot in the penthouse, the patio with the pool, where I had been sulking ever since I'd stormed out of the room from Jianyu a few hours ago.

The bastard hadn't even approached me since then, only escaping into his own office on the second floor. There was still so much I had wanted to ask him.

A somewhat familiar-looking woman, dressed in a skirt suit, walked in behind him.

"Evening lil' Luna bug, I heard you've gotten into some trouble again," he ruffled my hair, not caring that the very professional woman behind him was giving him a stern look, "what did you do this time?"

I pushed his hand away to smooth out my still-damp hair. I'd spent the last hour or so attempting to swim away my temper.

"Hello," I stood up from the patio table to politely greet the woman. Trying not to be intimidated by how tall, curvy and pretty she was.

"Nice to finally meet you," she nodded her head, "I'm Mo Meilin." Then she sat down in the seat opposite mine, not caring that I was stumped in shock. 

There was this uncanny feeling, not to mention the familiarity I saw in her amber-yellow eyes, which were the same shade as mine. I could swear she was related to Zhiyue somehow.

Wracking my brain to recall those memories that psycho had given me, I recalled the surname Mo. That was Zhiyue's original surname.

I sat back down, lost in thought and ignoring the quiet conversation between the pair.

Jianyu finally entered shortly after they did, placing a tray of hot drinks and sweet snacks on the table in front of me like he was giving some weird apologetic offering. 

Begrudgingly I accepted it. Only because my stomach rumbled at the sight and smell. Thanks to my anger and the shock of seeing that dead thing, I'd not once left the patio for food.

"So, not that I'm complaining, but why are you both here?" I asked them once my stomach was full of almond cookies.

"You actually saw the ghost," Dr. Wu's hands clasped together as he leaned over the table eagerly, "what was your first encounter with the dead like?"

"Painful," I rubbed my head, remembering the feeling of my hair almost being completely ripped out.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Jianyu fiercely glaring at Dr. Wu.

Mo Meilin's hand smacked the back of Dr. Wu's head, "for a psychologist you sure are dense."

Ignoring his aggrieved expression she turned to me, "you don't need to satisfy this idiot's curiosity yue'er, just ignore him."

Her intimate nickname caught me off guard and Jianyu tensed beside me. 

Dr. Wu looked uncharacteristically childish as he grumbled and leaned back in his chair, arms folded.

They all appeared too relaxed over this conversation of a ghost appearing out of nowhere to attack me like it was just another day in the office for them. My curiosity was piqued.

"Why are you all not bothered by the fact there was a ghost, that actually attacked me," I sighed trying to adjust to this new version of my reality, "and what did you do to it Jianyu?" My curiosity subsided my anger towards him, for now.

Jianyu's cup halted in the air as he paused mid-sip, then he sat it back onto the table to look at me reluctantly.

"I banished it."

I groaned, why was he going back to being a cold, man of few words with me now? I was supposed to be the one aggrieved here, not him. Then again, he was yet to know that I knew he was a lying scheming bastard.

"How?"

"With a sigil."

"Yes, I saw that," I groaned again in frustration, resisting the urge to actually raise my fist to him.

Jianyu avoided my increasingly intense gaze to look at Dr. Wu expectantly.

"So you saw everything," Dr. Wu smiled, like a cat that was approaching a mouse to toy with.

"Yes, ancient dead woman, dressed in white, messy hair," I snapped at him, then picked up another almond cookie to erase the bitter taste in my mouth.

"Yes, but how did you see the ghost?" Dr. Wu asked with an excited glint in his eyes. 

"Oh," I dropped the half-eaten cookie. 

System had done that, but not everyone had a System. 

Unable to come up with an answer I shrugged and leaned back to look at Jianyu, "he saw it too though right?"

Mo Meilin glared at Dr. Wu, making him visibly calm down, "yes, but Jianyu can always see them."

Ignoring the duo before me, I glared at the stranger I shared a bed with, increasingly anxious at how little I knew about him.

"How can you see them, but they can't?" I asked. 

His jaw was clenched tight as he stared into space, lost in his own thoughts. 

"Inherited," was his quick reply.

"Who from?" 

Like I'd found a loose thread of a jumper, I tugged at it eagerly, hoping for the whole thing to unravel. 

This man spoke so little of himself around me, always avoiding my pestering on anything that involved his and Zhiyue's past. 

Now I had an inkling a lot of it was due to the lies he'd spun before about his and Zhiyue's recent history. I wondered how many more there'd be around his and Zhiyue's childhood past too. 

Did he truly just love Zhiyue that much? Or was he tricking me with a purpose? For the first time since I'd met him, I began to feel fear.

"My aunt," Dr. Wu answered for him, "it's a Wu clan thing."

"Clan?" I sunk onto the table, noticing Mo Meilin's worry as she looked at Jianyu.

Was it so wrong of me to ask?

A phone rang, interrupting the awkward silence. 

Jianyu jumped up, a bit too eagerly, and walked away whilst pulling out his mobile to answer it.

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked the duo opposite quietly.

"He doesn't like talking about his mother," Dr. Wu shook his head dismissively. 

"Why?" Was she not a good mother?

"Because she was murdered," Mo Meilin quietly explained, before pushing herself up to walk towards Jianyu who was returning with a brisk walk. "What's wrong?"

"Homicide," he spoke through clenched teeth, "you with me, Rui stay with Luna."

He did not even look at me, let alone speak to me as he turned around to leave.

"Eat," Dr. Wu placed a bowl of instant noodles in front of me. Jianyu and Mo Meilin had left a few hours ago and now it was almost midnight. My stomach had been grumbling for at least an hour, yet I couldn't muster the strength to get off the kitchen balcony swing I'd been hiding from him on.

Since I'd found this spot, System had been lecturing me on all it knew about the world following the new information given now it was aware of the world's energy. Here they used something called Taoism and Daoism to deal with lingering souls who couldn't, or wouldn't, move on.

Depending on which religion they followed the Taoists sent the soul to the void to reincarnate and the Daoists would absorb the soul's energy, completely killing them.

The power they used was given by Ancient Gods -immortals just like me but stronger, much stronger- to a few bloodlines.

Apparently, this body had that bloodline, something System had failed to mention prior much to my annoyance. Though I had little to no interest in knowing anything except how to tell the dead to fuck off.

"My arm hurts," Dr. Wu waved the bowl in front of my face, waking me from my stupor.

"Thanks, dad," I grabbed it and the chopsticks and hurriedly tucked in, not sure if I'd called him dad by a joke or by accident.

"I don't recall having such a grown-up daughter," Dr. Wu playfully reached out to pinch my nose before walking back into the kitchen, leaving me to hug the warm bowl with a blush.