Chang Xun had learned from his mistakes. Since Qi Wu was very interested in anything that made her money, he would constantly bring it up as a key phrase. As expected, Qi Wu immediately became very cooperative after hearing him say that.
"Yes!" She emphatically nodded. "Work to earn money."
"That's right! Come, let's fill in this form."
As Chang Xun watched Qi Wu solemnly fill out the form, he suddenly felt like he was a jaded father raising a precious daughter of his own. Well, Qi Wu was just too cooperative and obedient. After years of being tormented by Jin Si, Chang Xu felt a strange sense of unease.
However, that feeling did not last for long as he watched Qi Wu fill in the field for "hobbies and specialities" with activities such as sword dance, praying, and chanting.
What on earth?
"Wait!" Chang Xun interrupted with a dark look on his face.
"What even is sword dance? Is it a type of dance? Also, praying… Let's not write something that will build up an easily destroyed charade."
Qi Wu blinked at him, confused.
She was already holding herself back when filling out the form. Except for the activities listed, the most important part about being the high priestess was her eyes which allowed her to read someone's fate in a glance.
With that in mind, she turned and gazed at Jin Si in thought.
He was the ruler of life and death, the one with the power to kill.
It was a very intense fate that she had only ever seen in one person before.
However, that person had died to her sword.
Jin Si had noticed Qi Wu's gaze and planned to ignore her, but then he realized she seemed to be spacing out while staring at him. It felt like she was looking at another person through him with an explicable glow in her eyes.
"What is it?" he asked, subtly frowning.
Qi Wu shook her head and silently looked away.
He subconsciously tightened his hand around his glass of water when he saw that.
Meanwhile, Chang Xun had not noticed the weird tension in the air as he was busy racking his brains to modify the form Qi Wu had filled in to create a character she could use and develop further.
"Alright, take a look and tell me what needs to be changed. Don't worry about the character and story we created. You just need to do your best."
For a newcomer like Qi Wu, exposure was the most important thing she needed. Only people who were famous needed to maintain an image.
Qi Wu did not find anything that needed to be changed on the form, so Chang Xun took the form and put it away.
As he did not dare to stay any longer, he stood up and said to Jin Si, "I'll bring her to the agency tomorrow so she can be filled in on what she needs to know. Is that okay?"
"That's her business."
After that cold declaration, Jin Si left the living room.
Baffled, Chang Xun turned to look at Qi Wu in confusion. "Did he get up on the wrong side of the bed?"
Chang Xun had known Jin Si for a long time. While Jin Si had a horrible temper, he knew that Jin Si rarely got angry out of the blue.
After a few seconds of thinking, Qi Wu shook her head and replied, "He woke up as usual."
Chang Xun silently stared.
His lips twitched.
Whatever. Why was he concerned about that man? He was only making life hard for himself.
*
Jin Si had entered the study room prepared to just find something to do.
He did not know just what triggered that ball of anger raging in him, so he decided to push it out of his mind through work.
However, around ten minutes later, Qi Wu knocked on the door.
Through the surveillance system installed on his computer, Jin Si could see her standing outside the study room with the jar of lemon drops he bought her. She stood there, silently and sweetly waiting for him to open the door.
Hesitation flashed in his eyes. In the end, he opened the door.
When Qi Wu walked in, Jin Si stiffly asked, "What is it?"
She lowered her head as she unscrewed the top of the jar. "I had three lemon drops just now, but can I have two more now?"
He stared, speechless.
Jin Si realized that he had been feeling at a loss for words a little too often over the past two days.
For some reason, he wanted to laugh when he saw just how serious she was when she asked that question. The aloof and icy demeanor he tried so hard to put on instantly vanished.
"Why ask me? I bought it for you, so it's yours."
Qi Wu tilted her head and inquisitively asked, "Back when we were buying the jar of lemon drops, I heard a little kid ask for permission."
She could remember as clear as day how the child had asked his mother for permission to have a few more pieces of candy. His mother responded that she would not make him dinner if he ate too much candy.
While she wanted to have a lemon drop now, she also wanted her next meal.
As Jin Si paid for all of her meals now, she naturally assumed the role that the child played.
Jin Si silently stared.
Was she a baby ghost forced to work? Was it normal for ghosts to be so… foolish and guileless these days?
When he saw that Qi Wu was still staring at him, persistently waiting for an answer, Jin Si felt his mischievous side waking up.
Thus, he deliberately shook his head in cold rejection. "No."
Qi Wu instantly wilted with her head hung so low that she looked like a pitiful rabbit that did not even know she should be negotiating with her cute looks.
Jin Si had never seen her look this way before. The sight was so novel that he could not resist teasing her once more, saying, "You'll have cavities if you eat too much candy."
She pursed her lips. It did not occur to her at all that she was actually a grown woman, not a gullible three-year-old toddler.
Joy shimmered in Jin Si's eyes when he saw that she had easily believed her. "Still, if you eat more during proper meals, I can reward you with two extra pieces of candy."
When Qi Wu ate, she chewed very slowly and ate very little. Her body was rather malnourished in the first place, so her behavior only made her look even thinner and weaker.
Even so, this frail body was home to a monstrous strength.
His request…
Qi Wu eagerly nodded with eyes shining as bright as stars with excitement. "I can do that!"
Jin Si could almost see perked-up ears on her head from how excited she was.
*
When Chang Xun arrived the next morning to pick up Qi Wu, he found her still sitting at the dining table and solemnly focused on consuming her breakfast.
"Huh?
Chang Xun was bemused. Qi Wu should be watching her cartoons from the couch already by this hour.
To his immense horror, he watched as Jin Si walked out of the kitchen with a sandwich in his hands and handed it to Qi Wu.
Qi Wu silently stared at it with a pout on her lips. "I've already had a lot…"
Jin Si glanced down at her downturned lips and insistently held the sandwich out to her. When Qi Wu continued to glare at him with a reproachful glint in her eyes, he calmly and patiently stated, "One last sandwich."
Chang Xun knew that Jin Si was someone who usually cooked for himself since he disliked it when others disrupted his life, but Chang Xun could never have imagined Jin Si to be capable of cooking for others.
"Hello. Please wait for a moment. I promised Jin Si I would finish my breakfast," Qi Wu politely greeted when she spotted Chang Xun since she remembered who he was now.
Chang Xun's jaw dropped in confusion.
What? Was Qi Wu sure the "Jin Si" they knew was the same person?