HEIFEIGU -Chapter 14

People in the entertainment industry are more or less superstitious. After this incident, the director immediately invited a master.

Ning Yan dragged Xie Jixing to watch. “I heard this master is amazing!”

“The deposit alone was 8,888 yuan, and if he succeeds, he gets another 38,888.”

“How much?” Xie Jixing raised his eyebrows at the goateed man. This fraud was worth that much?

Secretly, he buffed the female ghost with yin fire.

Go, Miss Ghost! Slap this fraud in the face!

The master’s ability was questionable, but his equipment was complete and his disciples plentiful.

First, they brought in a huge incense burner filled with ashes. Then they pasted talismans all over the “corpses” of the camera and walkie-talkie.

Finally, he took out a green plant, dipped it in talisman water, and started flailing and twitching.

He looked like a monkey that had gotten drunk.

By now, the female ghost had calmed down somewhat. Floating in midair, she looked down at him with utter disdain.

Suddenly, the disciples lifted the master into an acrobatic human pyramid.

Then the plant leaf brushed against the ghost’s face.

The yin energy in the courtyard surged.

Xie Jixing covered his eyes, peeking through his fingers.

Oh no… she’s angry. The hard-to-appease kind.

Sure enough, the next second, her tiny bound feet kicked over the incense burner.

Ash flew everywhere, covering the “formation.” The human tower collapsed. Everyone rolled on the ground coughing violently.

Then she floated to the camera, tore off all the talismans, shredded them, and flung them into the director’s face.

The director froze like he’d been possessed.

The fallen plant, soaked in talisman water and ash, floated into the air like a fully inked brush and sprayed debris at the crowd.

Almost everyone got hit.

Only Xie Jixing was safe—he materialized the unlucky ghost as a shield.

After setting down the sputtering unlucky ghost, he saw the female ghost floating above the frauds, whipping them one by one.

When she got tired, she shoved the plant into the master’s mouth and poured the talisman water down his throat.

Then she floated away in anger.

So… so brutal!

Xie Jixing applauded in his heart.

He wanted to keep her even more now!

The exorcism turned into “the ghost exorcising humans.” The master’s team lost all face, returned the deposit, and fled.

The crew was in panic. If even a master lost this badly, they must have offended something terrifying.

---

That night was cloudy, with no stars or moon. The ancient-style mansion was so quiet that every insect chirp could be heard.

The crew rented two small courtyards nearby. Normally, nights were lively. Now, dozens of people were silent.

Those with means wore jade pendants or red strings from their grandmothers.

Those without at least put on red underwear from their moms.

Those with nothing hid under their blankets, trembling.

Everyone feared being “the chosen one.”

Most staff stayed in shared rooms. Only the director, assistant director, and screenwriter had single rooms.

At this moment, this privilege became the worst punishment.

The screenwriter had a habit of drinking milk tea when nervous. She’d stocked up on four cups that afternoon.

Now she desperately needed the bathroom.

But she didn’t dare.

She curled up in bed, turning left and right.

Uh…

The more she moved, the worse it got.

She took out her phone and found a novel to read. Read, read—once she got immersed, she shouldn’t feel so anxious anymore.

Unexpectedly, she picked a bad one.

It started out pretty well, but later the plot became chaotic, the characters collapsed, and the more she read, the angrier she got.

The screenwriter sat up and complained, “So trashy! Bad review! Even if you’re under pressure during serialization, you can’t feed readers crap, right?”

She angrily typed in the comment section, preparing to post her review, when a faint voice suddenly sounded by her ear:

“So you know it’s trashy too~”

“How about I feed you some crap as well?”

Along with those words came a cold, sticky sensation behind her ear. The screenwriter trembled violently and curled up tightly.

Wuwuwu… thank goodness she reacted fast and managed to control her bladder. She almost peed herself just now.

With tears in her voice, she pleaded to the air, “Miss Ghost, can you let me go to the bathroom first before scaring me again? Getting scared into peeing myself… that would be so socially humiliating if people found out!”

Female ghost: …

It did sound pretty miserable.

Forget it. Feeding her crap wasn’t worth this level of suffering.

She silently floated away to scare someone else and decided to come back tomorrow night.

The screenwriter lay on the bed trembling for a while longer. Only after she felt there was really nothing around did she clamp her legs together and twist her way to the bathroom.

The moment she sat on the toilet, she burst into tears and let out a long breath.

“I’m alive again!”

---

The next day, dark clouds hung over just three people in the small square: the director, assistant director, and screenwriter.

On the surface, they were still working, but their steps were unsteady and their eyes dull. They looked like they had died overnight.

Ning Yan whispered to Xie Jixing, “They ran into a ghost last night. So scary. Thank goodness it only targets the bosses. I’ve never been so glad to be just an intern.”

Then she sighed. “The filming might be delayed. If this isn’t solved soon, they might change locations. Someone’s already looking for backup sites, probably outside the city. Xingxing, are we going to stop being coworkers?”

Her meal ticket was about to run away?

Xie Jixing absolutely wouldn’t allow that!

“Xiao Yan, can you help me make a connection? I’ll buy you milk tea,” he said, opening the delivery app and smiling sweetly. “I can handle this. I’m cheaper than that master. If it doesn’t work, I won’t charge. It’s mainly for our friendship.”

Ning Yan looked him up and down. For some reason, she believed him. With how money-minded Xie Jixing was, if he wasn’t confident, he definitely wouldn’t treat her to milk tea.

She ordered an iced milk tea and confirmed, “Can you really solve it?”

Xie Jixing replied sincerely, “Trying doesn’t cost money.”

“Okay.” That made sense. If it worked, her chances of becoming permanent staff would increase.

And even if it failed, it couldn’t be worse than the master the director hired, right?

“I’ll go talk to the assistant director.”

Since the director thought the same, the feedback came quickly.

Facing the three “living dead,” Xie Jixing cautiously asked, “What did you experience last night?”

“She said I was an accomplice to a scumbag,” the assistant director touched his nonexistent green hat. “Said my wife would cheat on me someday.”

“She said I was blind and couldn’t tell right from wrong,” the director rubbed his red eyes. “Said I’d donate my eyes someday.”

Then it was the screenwriter’s turn.

Her nerves, stretched all night, finally snapped. She burst into tears.

“She… she said my script was trash… that I was feeding readers crap…”

“If I have to feed it, I’ll eat some too…”

Xie Jixing handed her some tissues. “May I ask—did you do any research before writing the script?”

The screenwriter blew her nose hard and froze.

Before writing, she had talked to the escape-room owner and learned that a Qing Dynasty-era young lady and a Shanghai-style young master once lived in the mansion.

She was good at writing melodramatic romance. The characters had strong appeal, and she’d been full of inspiration while writing that storyline.

After she finished it, the director approved it quickly. No one even thought about researching.

Wait… do you even need research for a variety show script?

She shook her head blankly.

Before, the female ghost had been lazy and laid-back, mostly just making small noises to scare visitors.

Even when Xie Jixing provoked her, she only planned to scare him.

But after seeing the script that day, she suddenly went crazy and even wanted to kill.

She burned his script and now criticized the screenwriter’s writing too.

“Then… should we look up some historical records?” Xie Jixing suggested. “I think the problem is in the script.”

Scammers…

Helping a scumbag…

Trashy plot…

Put together, the male lead in the script had serious issues.

“Alright!” the screenwriter said professionally. “I’ll start researching right now.”

“Then… should we film other parts first?” the director asked Xie Jixing carefully.

The crew had daily expenses. They couldn’t keep delaying.

Xie Jixing decided to get some benefits for the ghost.

“We can… but…” he hesitated.

The director understood. “What do you need? Just say it.”

“Rewriting the script is necessary. You’ve noticed the problem too.”

The “living dead” nodded.

“Before it’s fixed, we need to appease her,” Xie Jixing said. “I suggest offering trendy milk tea, cakes, snacks—daily.”

The assistant director hesitated. “Will that work? Don’t people usually offer pig heads or live chickens?”

“Ew.” Xie Jixing frowned. “Would you eat that?”

“Offerings should keep up with the times,” he said solemnly.

“Fine,” the director decided. “Tell the production assistant what you need. It’ll be paid from public funds.”

Great.

Xie Jixing ordered the most expensive brand with all toppings. He’d never even tried it—offering two cups was totally reasonable.