“There's an empty seat here. Hurry up and come over!”
Senior Brother Li Zhi said as he kicked another senior brother aside.
Unable to decline his kind offer, I crouched down and scurried over like a little mouse.
“Thank you, senior brother,” I said gratefully.
“Don't mention it. The class advisor said we should take good care of you. Now you're the key protected object in our department,” Senior Brother Li Zhi joked.
I sat down awkwardly.
The senior brothers beside me started chatting aimlessly.
“Today's feng shui class was taught by an expert from the Qingwei School again, right?”
“Of course. Didn't you see the department head sitting there?”
“What expert would come to school to give lectures? Experts usually practice in the deep mountains and forests,” another one said.
“You don't understand! The truly reclusive ones hide in the bustling world. They're tempering their hearts in the mortal world... They're really awesome... Hey, the air - conditioner is set a bit too cold today!”
“...Yeah, it's getting colder and colder. Look, I've got goosebumps.”
Senior Brother Li Zhi was sitting beside me. I could see the hairs on his arms standing on end.
The faceless ghost officer, with a faint black mist around him, had floated behind me, like a spooky shadow.
I instinctively wanted to jump up, but the faceless ghost officer suddenly whispered in my ear, “Mrs. Gu, no matter where you go, I can follow you... I'm not an ordinary ghost from the underworld.”
I never expected that a ghost officer from the underworld would use such insolent methods. Just as I was considering whether the exorcism spell could get rid of him, there was a small commotion at the classroom door. Several students escorted a tall and thin young man onto the podium.
The young man put down the folder in his hand. When he looked up and smiled at everyone, I was stunned.
This so - called expert from the Qingwei School, the Taoist priest who was tempering his heart in the mortal world, was actually Master Du, the one who was pushed down the stairs by Gu Fancheng yesterday!!!
At this moment, he was wearing a neat shirt and suit pants, looking quite solemn.
He was good - looking to begin with. After putting away his slippery look, he actually had a bit of the air of a refined expert.
“Hello, everyone! Let me introduce myself first,” he said.
His voice was different from Gu Fancheng's deep and sexy voice. It was the kind of “handsome uncle” voice. As soon as he spoke, it made the female students from other departments who came to join the fun whisper to each other.
“Du Peilin,” he said, then turned around and wrote three large characters on the blackboard in a flamboyant style.
“Teacher, are you a Taoist priest?” a girl couldn't wait to ask.
“Yes, I'm the 21st - generation direct descendant of the Qingwei School,” Du Peilin replied.
“Then, teacher, can you get married?” another girl asked. “What are the requirements to be your girlfriend?”
The classroom erupted in laughter.
Du Peilin seemed to be used to this kind of situation. He smiled calmly and then said, “Yes, I can get married. But I don't like girls who are too sharp - tongued.”
“Why?”
“...Because I can't win a fight with words!”
Du Peilin's humor made the atmosphere in the classroom extremely lively. Two hours of classes passed by before we knew it.
Even after class, many students still surrounded him while he was packing up his teaching materials, asking him all kinds of questions.
Naturally, I didn't want to get involved. I planned to slip away while he was surrounded. But unexpectedly, he seemed to have eyes on the top of his head. He turned his head and accurately looked in my direction.
“This classmate, wait for me for a while,” Du Peilin said seriously, pointing at me.
Seeing the curious looks on the other students' faces, he added calmly, “The department head asked me to ask you some questions.”
“Oh!” Senior Brother Li Zhi, who was walking with me, immediately pretended to understand.
The incident in the girls' dormitory was no longer a secret in our department. It was reasonable for the department head to invite an expert to deal with the problem.
I quickly turned my head to look for the department head, but found that the old man had already disappeared without a trace.
Du Peilin packed up his folder and motioned for me to follow him. He walked out of the classroom and all the way to the department head's office. He even skipped the step of knocking on the door. He just pushed the door open and walked in.
“Old Du?” The department head was a balding little old man. He was just about to pick up his thermos to drink water. When he saw Du Peilin swaggering in, he immediately put on a smiling face and asked, “What else do you need? Your lecture was very successful today.”
“Brother Li, I'd like to borrow your office,” Du Peilin said, showing his slippery look again, no longer the modest gentleman he was in class. “All the little girls in your department have problems!”
“Ah?!” The department head's face immediately fell. One of the three new girls had already jumped off the building and another had gone crazy. If something happened to me, wouldn't it be a complete disaster?
“...I, I don't have any problems!”
I retorted. I knew Du Peilin was referring to the fact that I was hired by Gu Fancheng as a ghost wife.
“No problems?!”
Du Peilin exaggeratedly stared at me and pointed behind me. “That thing behind you is standing there in the classroom like a peacock showing off its feathers. It's hard for me to ignore it!”
Suddenly, the faceless ghost officer behind me trembled and menacingly rushed straight at Du Peilin.
“Don't...” I wanted to stop the ghost officer. “He caught that substitute ghost!”
Du Peilin didn't even blink when facing the blank - faced ghost officer. He curled three fingers of his left hand into a magic seal and stabbed straight at the ghost officer's face.
“Hiss.” A puff of black smoke emerged from the faceless ghost officer's forehead. He had never suffered such a big loss since he became a ghost officer. Being hit on the head by the Qingwei Thunder Seal almost made him lose his grip on the ghostly path.
He let out a series of shrill screams and retreated behind me.
“Oops!” Du Peilin also looked surprised. He sized me up and down. “Little girl, why are all the ghosts you've attracted so powerful?!”
“This... This is a ghost officer. I didn't attract him!”
I was helpless. It was he who was pestering me, not the other way around!
“A ghost officer. What is a ghost officer doing following you...” Du Peilin frowned and thought for a while, then immediately laughed. “I know. It must be that the fierce ghost attached to you is too powerful. The underworld had to send the ghost law - enforcement team to arrest him!”
“No way!!”
I didn't even notice that I was now completely on Gu Fancheng's side. “The ghost officer is here because you stole his business!”
“What do you mean?!” Du Peilin spread his hands.
“Didn't you capture Li Shanshan's ghost in the soul bottle?” I accused on behalf of the faceless ghost officer. “She was the ghost officer's client. He was supposed to take her back to the underworld, but you captured her instead!”
Du Peilin let out a long “oh”. “So, he's following you because he wants the ghost in the soul bottle back?”
I looked back at the faceless ghost officer. I could actually see an extremely excited expression on his flat face.
“Yes!” I nodded.
“No problem!” Du Peilin readily agreed. He reached into his pants pocket and took out a small, dusty clay bottle.
This was exactly the soul bottle that had sealed Li Shanshan last night.