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Looking for a roommate. 2BR furnished apartment. Private balcony. Pets OK. High-speed Wi-Fi included!

When Wei Ying sees the ad and the very affordable rent below it, he doesn’t think twice. If he does, someone else might snatch that amazing deal away from him, so he clicks on the contact button, states that he is extremely interested in the available room, and waits impatiently for a reply.

The response arrives sooner than he expected, considering that it’s five minutes shy of midnight and most people are asleep, and not in caffeine-induced insomnia like him.

Thank you for your interest! You can come to see the apartment right now! The surprising response comes accompanied by a couple of smiling emojis.

It’d be wiser to wait until morning to go to a place he has never visited before, but Wei Ying has been looking for an apartment to finally move out of the minuscule studio he moved into after he graduated for quite a long time, and perhaps it’s because he knows that he won’t be able to sleep after the three cups of coffee he chugged down earlier, but he doesn’t think too much and walks to the door.

According to the address in the ad, the apartment is not too far away from Wei Ying’s current home and his workplace, which makes him feel luckier about having found the listing before someone else did.

The first thing Wei Ying notices about the building is that it looks like it has seen better days, but he is not going to judge it because of that!

The elevator is out of service, so Wei Ying climbs the stairs up to the fourth floor and knocks on the door of the third apartment. He waits for a moment until the door opens, slowly, creaking like its hinges have never been oiled.

The interior is completely dark and a cold breeze that makes him shiver comes out of it.

A young man stands on the other side of the door and looks at Wei Ying with an awkward smile. His long, dark hair frames his ashen face, and he wears black, ripped clothes. Wei Ying likes that clothing style too!

“Good night! You must be Wen Ning—the one who’s looking for a roommate?”

“Yes, that’s me,” his voice sounds rough like he hasn’t used it in a long time.

“I’m Wei Ying, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Wen Ning’s skin is cold when they shake hands. “Please come in.”

Wen Ning moves to the side and Wei Ying walks into the apartment. The lights are out, the curtains drawn, and he can barely see past his nose.

“It’s a bit dark in here,” Wei Ying comments when Wen Ning closes the door and the sole source of brightness disappears, leaving the apartment in the dark.

“Oh, right! I—I forgot you need light to see in the dark.”

Wei Ying laughs. His—hopefully—new roommate is so funny. They’ll definitely get along!

Wen Ning turns the lights on, and Wei Ying can finally take a look at the room. At first glance, the apartment is nice and clean, and mostly empty. There are only basic appliances and a sofa in the middle of the living room.

It appears that Wen Ning is a fan of minimalism and Wei Ying can’t relate. It’ll take him a while and a few trips to fully move out because of all the possessions he has accumulated over the years. He can understand why people like to only own the essentials, though—the emptiness makes the apartment seem more spacious, and after living cramped in a tiny studio, Wei Ying appreciates that.

Wen Ning takes Wei Ying on a tour around the apartment.

“The elevator of the building it’s not working nowadays, but everything else is in good condition,” Wen Ning comments.

“I saw the out-of-service sign on the elevator when I arrived.” Wei Ying nods, following him. “Will it be repaired soon?”

“Oh well—I’m not sure,” Wen Ning clears his throat, it does nothing to make his voice less raspy. “Hope that it won’t be a big inconvenience for you.”

Wei Ying doesn’t mind using the stairs in exchange for affordable rent. Not at all!

Despite it being of an acceptable size, there’s not a lot to see in the apartment. The kitchen looks good and there’s a small dining table for four. The bathroom smells strongly of disinfectant, but there’s nothing wrong with it. The view from the balcony could be better, but that’s not something reasonable to complain about.

“That is my room,” Wen Ning points at a door at the end of the corridor, “and this will be your room, if—if you’d like that,” he adds, opening the door to a bedroom with only a bed and a bedside table in it.

“Simple but good,” Wei Ying says, walking past the threshold. “I’m not a minimalist, but I still would like to live here.”

“That’s nice, I thought no one would like to live with me.” Wen Ning nods, smiling shyly. “It’s late, you can stay here tonight if you wish.”

“Then don’t mind if I do!” Wei Ying smiles back at him.

“Oh, I’ll give you the Wi-Fi password.” Wen Ning walks to the living room to retrieve a slip of paper and a set of keys from the coffee table.

He gives both to Wei Ying and then wishes him a good night before excusing himself to get into his room.

Wei Ying connects his phone to the Wi-Fi and gets beneath the covers to play mobile games. He hears faint noises and voices all night long, and a persistent laugh, but he doesn’t focus too much on that. There is a chance that his new neighbors are night owls just like him.

His phone starts glitching after a while, freezing when he is about to level up, and for an instant, it seems like a hand is coming out of the screen. A trick of his tired eyes, so he gets that as his cue to let the phone fall to the bedding, and finally close his eyes to fall asleep.

👻

The thin curtains do little to stop the bright sun from getting inside the room and Wei Ying groans.

He is not sure when he fell asleep, but he knows he was up for most of the night. When he checks the time on his phone, it’s not surprising for him to find out that it’s noon.

Wei Ying gets out of bed, stretching up his arms.

He didn’t think about the downside of staying in the new apartment at night, but now he can tell that maybe he acted a bit impulsively. For once, he doesn’t have any clothes or personal items aside from what he is wearing, his phone, and his wallet.

The apartment is empty when Wei Ying walks out of his room. His new roommate is nowhere to be seen.

“Wen Ning, I need to go out,” Wei Ying calls. “I’ll be back later!”

No one replies. Wei Ying suspects that Wen Ning had to leave earlier and let him sleep to his heart’s content instead of waking him up to let him know. His new roommate is so nice and considerate!

Wei Ying puts on his shoes, intending to grab breakfast on his way to his old place, and then bring as many things as he can manage in a single trip.

He jumps startled when he opens the door and notices that a peculiar-looking person is standing right in front of him—a man around his age, wearing a full set of traditional white robes with blue details that resemble clouds embroidered on the pristine fabric. A white ribbon with more clouds is tied around his forehead and completes the outfit.

“Can I help you?” Wei Ying asks.

The stranger grabs Wei Ying by the collar of his sweatshirt and pulls him out of the apartment, closing the door behind him.

“What—” Wei Ying smooths down his clothes. “There was no need for that!”

“You were in danger,” the stranger replies with a serious face in a monotonous tone that doesn’t match the urgency of his words.

He walks past Wei Ying to attach a lot of slips of paper to the door.

“I… wasn’t?” Wei Ying frowns. “There’s no reason for me to be in danger here.”

“Mn.” The stranger stares at him with a straight face for a few seconds and then glances back at the door. “Don’t come back,” he adds and turns around to leave, his robes waving dramatically.

“But I live here now!” Wei Ying chases after him.

That makes the man stop in his tracks.

“Don’t come back,” he repeats, a bit harsher, before resuming his walking.

“I’m just moving in! I won’t move out now!” Wei Ying crosses his arms and follows him down the stairs. “I looked for a new apartment for months and this is the nicest one I found.”

“It is still dangerous.”

“Who are you, anyway?” Wei Ying asks, once again looking at the elegant robes worn by the man. “A cosplayer? A model? An actor? You are a bit lost, Hengdian is nowhere near here.”

Wei Ying laughs at his joke. The stranger surely looks handsome enough to work in the entertainment industry.

“I’m the Second Young Master of the Gusu Lan Clan,” the stranger answers, without any hint of humor in his voice.

“That sounds fancy, but you can’t tell me what to do.”

“Don’t come back,” the Young Master punctuates one last time and leaves, but not before attaching more slips of paper to the façade of the building.

Now that the sun is shining bright in the sky, Wei Ying notices that the building looks more neglected than he initially thought, but that’s not something that cannot be fixed with some paint!

Not wanting to feel deterred by a strange man appearing in front of his door telling him that he should move out of the place he is about to move into, Wei Ying shrugs and walks away.

He buys enough hot dry noodles and soda to sustain himself for the day and returns to his old apartment.

After sleeping in his new place, the studio seems even more cramped and cluttered, and that makes Wei Ying more eager to move out. He spends the rest of the afternoon packing his belongings and cleaning, taking breaks now and then to eat and message everyone he knows to tell them the good news.

It’s past sunset when he is done. He collected a couple of bags of trash and everything he wishes to keep is now inside a few boxes, two big suitcases, a smaller carry-on, and his backpack.

It’d be impossible to use public transport to take all his things to the new apartment, so Wei Ying takes his phone to get a cab to move the luggage first. That’s where he put most of his clothes so it has priority.

The cab driver stares at Wei Ying for a moment after he tells him the address like he can’t believe Wei Ying would be willing to go there, but takes him to his destination anyway.

It’s not a long drive, but the driver is jittery all the way there.

“Take care!” The driver exclaims and speeds away, giving Wei Ying just enough time to get his luggage out of the trunk.

If there's something Wei Ying doesn’t look forward to, it is climbing the stairs with his belongings. He is not out of shape—he swam competitively until his last year of university—but carrying heavy luggage upstairs is intimidating to anyone.

He repeats to himself that he doesn’t mind using the stairs in exchange for affordable rent, as if that would give him the strength to drag his suitcases upstairs, over and over again.

It doesn’t work.

Wei Ying has barely arrived at the top of the first flight of stairs when he starts hearing the faint sound of someone humming a song and tapping that follows the rhythm of the melody.

The sound gets louder, and Wei Ying notices a girl—how is it possible that he didn't see her before?—walking slowly down the corridor, tapping a bamboo staff on the ground. She lifts her head and Wei Ying notices that her eyes are completely devoid of color. She looks young, 13 or 14 years old.

She keeps moving in Wei Ying’s direction and he finally realizes that she is blind.

“Hey,” Wei Ying says when the girl is about to collide with his chest.

She doesn’t stop and stumbles right into him. Wei Ying grabs her by the shoulders, so she won’t fall.

“Are you alright?” he asks.

The girl doesn’t answer but looks up at him. Red tears slide down her cheeks like rivulets, and a bit of blood escapes from the corners of her lips before she opens her mouth and more blood pours out.

Wei Ying smiles.

“This is such a cool costume!” he exclaims.

“Uh?”

“The fake blood looks very real.” Wei Ying sniffs. “It even smells like real blood!”

“Uh?” The girl takes a step back. “You’re not scared?”

“No, but your costume is creepy! I’m sure you worked hard on it.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter now,” the girl mutters and turns around to leave, running down the stairs before Wei Ying has the chance to tell her that she could still scare most people.

Wei Ying shrugs and starts climbing the next flight of stairs. The corridor looks empty with no new neighbors to greet, and Wei Ying breathes, preparing to keep going.

“So, you’ve decided to come back.” It seems like he is not alone after all.

Wei Ying stops and turns around.

A young man, barely out of his teens, has arrived and is leaning into the wall. He wears dark tattered clothes that leave most of his chest uncovered, and he is light on his feet for sure, Wei Ying didn’t hear him coming at all.

“Yes, I had to go get my things, but I’m moving here from now on,” Wei Ying explains.

“Really?” the newcomer asks, his lips curving upwards in a smile to show twin rows of pointy teeth.

“Yes, apartment 403,” Wei Ying replies. “I’m Wei Ying.”

“I’m Xue Yang and I live in apartment 404.” He offers his hand to him.

Wei Ying shakes his neighbor’s cold hand. He jerks when Xue Yang’s whole arm falls from its socket.

“This is awesome!” Wei Ying says after a beat, taking a closer look at the arm. “A top quality prop.”

Xue Yang laughs and his smile gets even bigger. The blood starts gushing from his shoulder, staining his clothes and the floor.

“Aren’t you afraid?”

“Nah, but your costume is great, I just met a girl who likes creepy costumes too, and—”

“Why aren’t you afraid?” Xue Yang pushes, getting closer to Wei Ying, looking like he might jump at him.

Suddenly, there is a sword in between them, shiny and sharp.

Wei Ying blinks and follows the line of the blade up to the arm holding it, up to the face of the person whose arm is holding the sword.

“It’s you!” Wei Ying exclaims.

“I told you to stay away from here,” the Young Master he met earlier says. He still looks dashing in his pristine white robes.

“And I told you I live here now.”

“Ghosts inhabit this building. It is my duty to exorcize them, and yours is to stay away,” the Young Master explains, speaking more than he has done before, and pointing his sword at Xue Yang. “He is a ghost.”

Wei Ying laughs, still holding the arm, and inadvertently staining his shirt with fake blood.

“Pfft, ghosts are not real. This is just one of my neighbors having fun,” Wei Ying replies, shaking his head. “It’s fine, I’m not scared, I watch horror movies all the time, I’m sure nothing can scare me now.”

The Young Master stares at Wei Ying with a frown, and somehow it feels like he is judging him and his ancestors with that single glance.

“You can lower your sword, there’s no need to use it here, definitely not against a guy wearing a costume.”

“Mn.” The Young Master hesitates but complies.

“Where did you get the sword?” Wei Ying asks because having a sword is cool.

“It is a unique family heirloom, passed down for generations.”

And that effectively ends Wei Ying’s dreams of ever owning a sword like that one.

Xue Yang takes a cautious step forward, moving closer to Wei Ying and stopping when once again, there’s a sword on his way.

“Chill, I just want my arm.”

“You can have it back,” Wei Ying holds it out for him. “It looks very realistic.”

“Of course it does.” Xue Yang’s mouth twists with displeasure as he snatches the arm from Wei Ying’s grasp.

“See you around!”

“Whatever,” Xue Yang mutters and turns around to go downstairs. “Cultivators, always ruining the fun.”

Wei Ying chuckles.

“I will keep an eye on him,” the Young Master promises and leaves in the same direction, leaving Wei Ying, alone in the corridor once again.

It doesn’t take long for him to notice the sound of chains being dragged across the floor, and a few metallic thumps as the sound gets clearer and closer. He expected another youngster in a costume, but instead, is Wen Ning walking downstairs. He stops when he sees Wei Ying.

“Hey!” Wei Ying smiles. “Nice to see you.”

“Uh—hi! You’re back!”

“Yes, you were gone before I woke up, so I didn’t tell you, but I went to collect my belongings.” Wei Ying signals to his luggage, choosing not to focus on what could be the reason for Wen Ning to look so surprised and relieved to see him again.

“Sorry! I didn’t leave. I don’t come out of my room during the daytime,” Wen Ning explains.

“Oh, I understand,” Wei Ying nods, “you work from home and were busy.”

“Yes… that’s it. ”

Wei Ying smiles and takes a deep breath, tightening his hold on his luggage, and preparing to go up the next and last flight of stairs.

“I—I can help you!” Wen Ning offers. He is such a nice roommate!

“I’d appreciate that,” Wei Ying replies.

Wen Ning nods and surprises Wei Ying by taking both of his big suitcases, lifting them effortlessly, and carrying them on his shoulders.

“Wow, you’re really strong.”

Wen Ning doesn’t reply but rushes up the stairs faster. Wei Ying follows him, carrying the remaining carry-on.

“By the way, can I invite a couple of friends for a small get-together next weekend?” Wei Ying asks.

“Sure, this is now your home too.”

“Great! You can also join us if you like,” Wei Ying tells him. “We’ll eat snacks and get drunk.”

“I’d like to meet them, but I don’t get along with people easily,” Wen Ning mutters.

Wei Ying thinks about it for a moment. Wen Ning surely looks like someone who doesn’t go out much, he works from home, and even told Wei Ying he thought no one would like to move in with him. He probably has social anxiety.

“You can meet them, and if you don’t feel comfortable enough to stay, you can go back to your bedroom. No worries!”

“That sounds nice.” Wen Ning’s lips curve upwards in a smile.

They arrive soon enough at apartment 403 and Wen Ning stops in front of the door.

“I forgot someone attached talismans to our door.” Wen Ning lowers the luggage. “Sorry, I can’t open it like that.”

“How did you get out then?”

“I jumped out the window.”

Wei Ying laughs. Wen Ning is so funny.

“It’s fine, these are just slips of paper.” Wei Ying quickly peels the talismans away and uses his new key to open the door.

Wen Ning gasps.

“How did you do that?” Wen Ning asks, following Wei Ying into the apartment. “Those talismans were infused with strong spiritual energy.”

“Really?” Wei Ying laughs. “I didn’t notice anything.”

Wen Ning barely has time to put the suitcases down in the middle of the living room before there is a knock on the door.

Wei Ying rushes to open it. The girl and the young man he encountered before are standing in front of him on the other side, no longer wearing their blood-stained costumes. They are not alone, a couple of men are with them—one has a kind smile and white bandages tied firmly around his eyes, while the other looks at him with a serious expression.

“Hello!” The smiling man starts. “We are your neighbors.”

“Nice to meet you!” Wei Ying replies, animatedly. “My name is Wei Ying.”

“I’m Xiao Xingchen and this is my partner, Song Lan.”

The taller man doesn’t change his expression for a friendlier one but nods at Wei Ying.

“It has come to our knowledge that A-Qing and Xue Yang tried to scare you,” Xiao Xingchen continues. “They made a bet on who could be the scariest.”

“So that’s what happened! Their costumes were really good!” Wei Ying exclaims.

“Still, we have told them that scaring people is not very nice, so they’re here to apologize.”

A-Qing and Xue Yang stare at each other for a moment in a way that reminds Wei Ying of when he was younger and had to stand in front of the school’s principal with Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang, waiting for any of them to make the first move at apologizing for making a ruckus in class.

Those were good times.

The girl finally sighs and turns to Wei Ying.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbles.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry too—whatever.” Xue Yang shrugs.

“See? It wasn’t too hard!” Xiao Xingchen pats their shoulders. “We will see you around, Mr. Wei. Have a good night.”

“You too!”

When Wei Ying closes the door, he wonders for the umpteenth time why that strange man urged him to move out by telling him that he is in danger. His neighbors are amazing!

👻

“Welcome to my new home!” Wei Ying exclaims with excitement. “Don’t just stand there, come in.”

“Thank you,” Nie Huaisang replies, taking a step into the apartment. “I bought a housewarming gift for you.”

He retrieves a box from his bag and offers it to Wei Ying as Jiang Cheng closes the door and kicks out his boots.

“Oh, thank you,” Wei Ying replies, accepting the box.

“I paid for half of it, so it’s from me too!” Jiang Cheng pipes in.

“I also bought a couple of bottles of baijiu.” Nie Huaisang adds with a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows.

“You know me well, Huaisang.”

“A-jie sent some soup for you,” Jiang Cheng says, holding up his bag. “She’s worried that you’ve been living on instant food and takeout.”

“And she’s not wrong.”

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.

“Where’s your roommate?” Nie Huaisang asks. “We also have a gift for him.”

“I’ll go get him,” Wei Ying comments, walking to Wen Ning’s room.

“At least the interior of this place is not too bad,” Jiang Cheng grumbles just loud enough for Wei Ying to hear.

“Don’t be mean, Chengcheng.” Nie Huaisang shushes Jiang Cheng and whispers something else that Wei Ying doesn’t catch.

Wei Ying shrugs and knocks on Wen Ning’s door. It opens just a bit, enough for Wen Ning to take a peek outside.

“Do you want to come out to say hi? It’s fine if you don’t.”

“I do,” Wen Ning replies.

For the first time since Wei Ying moved a week ago, he takes a glimpse of Wen Ning’s bedroom when he opens the door to walk out. There’s not a lot inside it, just a desk, a bed, and a bookshelf. In comparison, now that Wei Ying has brought over all of his belongings, he barely has enough space to store all his trinkets.

Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang have not moved. They stand near the entrance with their bags in hand as they look around.

“I want you to meet Wen Ning,” Wei Ying starts. “He’s my roommate.”

“Hey!” Nie Huaisang waves at him, but his voice lacks a bit of his characteristic cheer.

“Wen Ning, this is Nie Huaisang, my best friend,” Wei Ying continues, moving to stand in between Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang, and placing his hands on their shoulders. “And this is Jiang Cheng, my didi, his parents took me in when I was a child.”

For an awkward instant, they all look at each other, waiting for someone to say something. Anything.

“Um, I have a gift for you,” Nie Huaisang says at last, grabbing another box from his bag. “Thank you for having us in your home.” He offers the box to Wen Ning and reaches to poke Jiang Cheng in the ribs.

“Yes, nice to meet you.” Jiang Cheng swats Nie Huaisang’s hand away.

“That’s—thank you.” Wen Ning nods and accepts the gift. “I’ll retire back to my room if that’s okay.”

“Yes, sure!” Wei Ying exclaims. “He has social anxiety, but he’s really nice,” he adds after Wen Ning has closed his door with a soft click.

“Anyone letting you live with them is really nice,” Jiang Cheng says, but despite his words, there’s a smile tugging at his lips.

Wei Ying nudges his shoulder and revolts his hair, and Jiang Cheng pushes him away as they chuckle.

Wei Ying heats soup for them and serves it in three identical bowls. Meanwhile, Nie Huaisang takes out the bottles of liquor to pour some into their glasses, and Jiang Cheng opens a couple of bags of snacks.

They sit together like they used to do before Wei Ying moved out of their shared apartment after he accepted a job on the other side of the city—Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng on one side of the table and Wei Ying in front of them.

“Let’s eat! Jiejie’s soup tastes the best when it’s hot.” Wei Ying takes his bowl.

It smells delicious and he knows it tastes even better. Just a spoonful of it feels like a warm hug from his sister.

“You got most of the meat,” Jiang Cheng complains, but still drinks his share of soup with delight.

Nie Huaisang starts by taking a few sips of alcohol before touching the soup.

“Hard day at work?” Wei Ying tries.

“You could say that.” Nie Huaisang sighs and refills his glass.

“What about you, A-Cheng?”

“It was okay.” He shrugs. “But I spent the entire day on my feet.”

“Being an adult is not fun.” Wei Ying sighs.

“Have you met any interesting people here?” Nie Huaisang asks, changing the subject as he takes a bite of a piece of lotus root. “Let’s not talk about our jobs and responsibilities tonight.”

“Yes, I have,” Wei Ying replies without missing a beat, lowering his bowl. “There’s my new roommate, of course, but also a nice couple next door that seems to be younger than us, but have gotten their lives together; a girl and a young man who like to wear costumes—and oh, there’s also a weird guy obsessed with ghosts.”

During the week Wei Ying spotted the strange Young Master a few times when he was leaving or arriving from work. He was always hiding behind pillars and corners with his sword in hand, staring at Wei Ying with an unreadable expression.

“Ghosts are not real,” Jiang Cheng comments, tasting the alcohol.

“That’s what I told him multiple times!” Wei Ying whines, emptying his glass in one gulp. “He thinks he can appear whenever he wants to, looking gallant in his ghost-hunting robes to tell me that I should move out even though I just moved in.”

“I don’t know, maybe he is not completely wrong,” Nie Huaisang squirms in his seat and fiddles with his glass. “I mean, there’s something creepy about this place.”

“I don’t agree, the building just needs some maintenance, that’s all.” Wei Ying reaches for the bottle to fill his glass again.

“Are you sure?”

As if his words are a presage, the lights suddenly go out. Wei Ying moves to flick the light switch back on, but nothing happens.

“There’s a blackout,” he declares, returning to his seat, being careful to not walk into the furniture. “The lights will probably come back in a few—”

“Did any of you just touch my arm?” Nie Huaisang interrupts, his voice sounding higher than usual. “It happened again. Jiang Cheng, are you touching my arm?”

“I’m not!”

“Then who’s doing it?”

“Not meee,” Wei Ying intones.

Nie Huaisang takes his phone and turns its flashlight on. Indeed, there’s no one touching him.

“Well, maybe I’m—It happened again!” Nie Huaisang cries, illuminating all the corners of the room with his phone. There’s no one in it but them. “This is not funny.”

“I didn’t see anyone touching you, Huaisang,” Wei Ying says.

Nie Huaisang laughs nervously, pushing his glass of liquor away from him. “Maybe I’m already too drunk and imagining things.”

“That’s probably it,” Jiang Cheng tells him. “This is a strong liquor, and you should already know that drinking on a mostly empty stomach gets you drunk faster—Wei Ying, did you just grab my ankle?”

“I didn’t.” Wei Ying holds up both of his hands.

“Then who the fuck is holding my ankle?”

The color drains from Jiang Cheng’s face and his eyes get wide as he scrambles to his feet. Nie Huaisang follows him, clinging to his arm. Both rush to the corner of the room.

“Jiang Cheng stop tugging at my hair.” Nie Huaisang smacks Jiang Cheng.

“What are you talking about? I’m not tugging at your hair, Huaisang!” Jiang Cheng exclaims. “You stop blowing air into my ear.”

“Oh no, this place is truly haunted.” Nie Huaisang starts hyperventilating.

“Ghosts are not real—” Jiang Cheng starts.

“Really?” Nie Huaisang cuts him off in a serious tone. “ I know you’re scared too.”

“Calm down,” Wei Ying says, walking up to them. “I’ll go to my room, look for a flashlight, and then I’ll go to check if the building’s fuses are blown.”

“Don’t leave me here!” Nie Huaisang whines and wraps his arms around Wei Ying tightly—too tightly. He is stronger than he looks.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t add anything but walks just a step behind Wei Ying and Nie Huaisang.

With his flashlight in hand, Wei Ying knocks on Wen Ning’s door to tell him that he will be back soon and guides his friends out of the apartment. They go downstairs together. Wei Ying in the front, followed closely by Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang.

They don’t find anyone else on their way down which is for the best, Wei Ying doesn’t want to even imagine Nie Huaisang’s reaction if they encounter A-Qing or Xue Yang wearing their horror costumes.

Wei Ying gives the flashlight to Jiang Cheng, whose hands are not shaking as much as Nie Huaisang’s, and opens the building’s electric panel.

“It seems nothing’s wrong here,” Wei Ying declares. “It’s likely that the wires are old and there’s a short circuit somewhere else.”

“I want to leave,” Nie Huaisang comments.

“You can’t leave, you haven’t finished your soup yet—”

“Wei Ying.” Nie Huaisang puts both of his hands on Wei Ying’s shoulders. “I tried to support you because you’re one of my best friends and because you flooded our group chat talking about the amazing new apartment, but this place is creepy and grim, and I want to leave.”

“Yeah, what he just said.” Jiang Cheng nods.

“Even your roommate is a bit scary, haven’t you noticed he is as pale as a ghost?” Nie Huaisang asks.

“He looks dead,” Jiang Cheng blurts out.

“Don’t be mean!” Wei Ying responds. “Wen Ning works from home and doesn’t go out much, he doesn’t tan because of that.”

Nie Huaisang doesn’t reply. He looks past Wei Ying with big eyes instead. Wei Ying turns around and notices a young man standing at the end of the hallway staring back at them. His long hair looks messy, his face is unnaturally white, and there are bright red circles around his eyes.

“A ghost!” Nie Huaisang exclaims and faints. Jiang Cheng barely manages to catch him before his head hits the ground.

“He is probably just wearing makeup,” Wei Ying says, turning around to take a better look at his new neighbor, but there’s no one there when he does.

👻

Wei Ying doesn’t think there is something terribly wrong with the building he moved into, but he couldn’t change Nie Huaisang’s mind.

“I know someone who can take care of this problem, a professional on spiritual affairs,” Nie Huaisang said when he woke up on Wei Ying’s couch after he recovered from fainting.

The lights were back on, but he had not paid attention to that.

“A professional?” Wei Ying couldn’t imagine what kind of person would be a professional in that business.

“Sorry, but this place is haunted for real, and you can’t live like this.” Nie Huaisang declared and asked for Jiang Cheng’s help to stand up. Then he drank the rest of his cold bowl of soup in one long gulp, gave a business card to Wei Ying, and left—ran away—dragging Jiang Cheng behind.

Wei Ying fiddled with the card—simple and elegant, with golden characters, and an email address on it—for a couple of days, before he decided to send an email to contact Lan Wangji from the Cloud Recesses.

Mostly out of curiosity, but also because Nie Huaisang kept sending daily messages to him with pleading face emojis, trying to convince him to do so. If anything, Wei Ying wanted a second opinion to prove to Nie Huaisang that there is nothing wrong with the building.

And so, the following Friday someone knocks at his door at 7 p.m. on the dot, and Wei Ying knows it must be the person he hired to survey the building.

“It’s you again!” Wei Ying exclaims when he opens the door.

Once again, the Young Master that keeps telling him to move out, is standing in front of him, wearing his spotless white robes.

“So, your name is Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying says in place of a greeting. “And your courtesy name is Lan Wangji, who even has a courtesy name nowadays?”

“Mn.” He just nods.

“Nie Huaisang gave me your business card,” Wei Ying comments, “why do you know him?”

“His brother married my brother.”

Wei Ying has only met Nie Mingjue a handful of times. He is tall and intimidating and gives crushing hugs. After Nie Huaisang got into university, he moved back into the home they inherited from their parents in another province and got married a couple of years afterward.

“Does your brother hunt ghosts too?” Wei Ying asks because Nie Huaisang has only mentioned his brother’s spouse briefly, and Wei Ying is a bit curious about him.

“It has been our family’s business for centuries.”

“I see.” Wei Ying nods. “Well, if you think you can inspect the building in a completely objective way and tell Huaisang that there’s nothing wrong here, you can start working.”

“Mn.”

Lan Zhan turns to leave, and Wei Ying makes a last-second, impulsive decision.

“Wait! I’ll go with you. I’m curious about what you’re going to do.”

Lan Zhan doesn’t agree, but he neither tells Wei Ying to stay home, so he supposes it’s fine.

They walk along the hallway together and then go downstairs. Lan Zhan holds a strange artifact in his hand. It looks like a compass and from time to time when its needle points to a door, Lan Zhan leaves a red mark on the number plate.

“What are you doing?” Wei Ying asks after a moment.

“Marking the apartments with the strongest resentful energy.”

“Does it mean that you think a ghost lives inside?”

Lan Zhan agrees. He keeps working silently and Wei Ying can guess he is not someone who likes to speak a lot.

“Why do you always wear traditional clothes when you work?” Unlike him, Wei Ying loves to make conversation. “Why white? Why do you tie a ribbon around your forehead?”

“My robes are woven with protective charms and have been worn by my family for generations.” By now it’s pretty obvious that Lan Zhan likes tradition and has no problem living as his ancestors did. “In regards to the ribbon, that is personal.”

They are surveying the second floor when the power starts failing. Wei Ying has yet to find the short circuit that causes the sudden electricity interruptions.

“The lights are flickering because a ghost is near,” Lan Zhan points out, speaking without being prompted by Wei Ying for the first time in the evening.

“Lan Zhan, this is an old building, the electric installation needs some maintenance, that’s all,” Wei Ying replies with a smile. “Believe me, I know about this.”

He winks. Lan Zhan doesn’t look like he believes him at all, but he still lowers his strange compass.

“So, what do you think so far? Huaisang was right in urging me to call you?”

“A few ghosts are inhabiting the building and they are powerful enough to materialize and be seen,” Lan Zhan explains. “You are in great danger.”

Wei Ying pouts.

“Lan Zhan, do you know how hard it is to get a nice apartment at an affordable price nowadays?” Wei Ying shakes his head. “Why are you so convinced that ghosts are living here? I’m sure there’s a scientific explanation for everything.”

Wei Ying decides to go back to his apartment. Lan Zhan follows him wordlessly.

“I mean, if this building was truly haunted and ghosts were real, I’m sure we should’ve seen at least one of them by now, but we haven’t,” Wei Ying continues. “Even that night with Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang, we didn’t see anyone or anything!”

Wei Ying stops in front of his door and notices that Lan Zhan also placed a red circle on it.

“Really? On my door too?” Wei Ying asks. “No ghosts are living in my apartment, Lan Zhan. I think your compass is broken.”

“Your roommate,” Lan Zhan replies simply.

Wen Ning? A ghost? That sounds ridiculous.

“So, according to you, Wen Ning is a ghost?”

“No.”

“I told you, ghosts are not—”

“He is a fierce corpse.”

Wei Ying doesn’t know how to respond to that, but he feels like he should defend Wen Ning’s honor somehow.

“I have a proposition for you,” Wei Ying says. “What about we sit down to discuss this one of these days? You can explain whatever you think I need to know, and I’ll tell you what science says.”

Lan Zhan seems to think about it for a moment before nodding.

“Great! Let me add you on WeChat so we can agree on a date and a time to meet,” Wei Ying fishes his phone from his pocket. “You can choose the place, anywhere is fine with me.”

“Mn.”

Lan Zhan takes his phone out of the bag he keeps tied at his waist—like his robes, it is also white and has a couple of clouds carefully embroidered on the fabric.

Wei Ying notices a cute bunny charm hanging from Lan Zhan’s phone. He never expected Lan Zhan to be someone who owns something as cute as that.

He scans Lan Zhan’s QR code to befriend him and then Lan Zhan excuses himself, walking gracefully down the stairs.

Wei Ying sees him leave before opening his apartment door.

Wen Ning is sitting on the couch watching a drama. That is nice. Usually, Wen Ning prefers to stay in his room, but as the days go by, he dares to venture out more often, which is a good sign of him getting used to having a roommate.

“Hey!” Wei Ying sits by his side after kicking out his shoes.

“Hello,” Wen Ning looks at him with that cute and awkward smile of his.

“Remember that I told you about a weird ghost hunter?” Wei Ying starts, hugging a cushion and itching to recount what just happened. “Well, his name is Lan Zhan and I just walked around the whole building with him.”

“Oh.” Wen Ning laughs nervously, not looking excited about that. “What did he tell you?”

“Some weird things.” Wei Ying sighs. He prefers to not tell Wen Ning that Lan Zhan told him he looks dead… or that he is the second person so far to tell him that.

“Weird things?”

“I ended up inviting him to hang out so we can talk about what he said today.”

“Like a date?”

Wei Ying freezes. Now that he thinks about it, it really sounds like he invited Lan Zhan on a date. He even got his personal WeChat to contact him!

“A date,” he echoes softly. “Oh, no!”

“I—I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have made assumptions.” Wen Ning is quick to apologize.

“It’s fine.” Wei Ying pats his shoulder. “I’m sure he didn’t think of it as a real date. I mean, he wouldn’t have accepted if he did, I don’t think he likes me very much.”

Still, Wei Ying gets excited when he wakes up the following morning to find out that Lan Zhan sent him a message at an ungodly hour with the details of their outing.

Really, who is awake at 5 a.m. of their own will?

👻

The meeting with Lan Zhan is definitely not a date. It takes place a couple of days later in front of a fancy tea shop that Lan Zhan chose, and Wei Ying has to do a double-take when he sees him.

Unlike the previous times, Lan Zhan is not wearing his traditional robes, but a more modern look—pristine white jeans, a blue shirt, and a jacket, also white, that has a cloud motif on the hems of the sleeves. His long, silky hair is tied up in a ponytail and Wei Ying notices it is held up with the white ribbon that he usually keeps tied around his head.

Does he always wear white and soft shades of blue? Is it because light colors suit him very well and he knows it?

“Hello!” Wei Ying exclaims, feeling very underdressed in his ripped black clothes and muddy sneakers.

“Good evening,” Lan Zhan replies in his usual humorless tone.

His light clothes make him glow in the sunset light and Wei Ying pretends he is not slightly mesmerized by him.

They walk into the tea shop and sit together. Wei Ying orders a caramel milk tea with extra caramel, and Lan Zhan orders black tea, making Wei Ying wonder if everything he eats is healthy and boring.

“So, about the other day,” Wei Ying starts, after taking a sip of his drink. “Do you think the building is haunted?”

“Mn.”

“What about Wen Ning, what did you call him?”

“A fierce corpse.”

“I know that Wen Ning doesn’t go out much and needs to take more sun but calling him a corpse is a stretch.”

“Ordinary corpses can be reanimated if their resentful energy is strong,” Lan Zhan explains. “Fierce corpses are stronger and more aggressive than the rest of the undead, and thus, very dangerous.”

“Well, there you have it.” Wei Ying says. “Wen Ning buys food for stray cats, likes plants, and would never hurt a fly. He is not dangerous at all.”

“He is a sentient corpse,” Lan Zhan clarifies. “That allows him to act similarly as ordinary humans do, but the rigor mortis still affects him, limiting his movements and facial expressions despite his extraordinary physical strength.”

Wei Ying takes a minute to process that. It’s true that Wen Ning’s limbs look stiff sometimes, and that his smile is awkward, but again, that doesn’t mean that he died and came back to life! That’s impossible!

Wei Ying takes another sip of his drink and swipes his tongue across his lips to collect the caramel.

“So, you said there are different types of undead,” Wei Ying starts after a moment. “What other kind of living dead are out there?”

“Walking corpses, classified as the weakest of them all, and hopping corpses, which are more popular in the traditional legends and folklore.”

Wei Ying has heard about those and knows jiangshi fiction is a reasonably popular genre, but that has never led him to believe that they could be real.

“What about ghosts?”

“They are the spirits of the dead and cause harm when provoked.”

“If you are so sure the building is inhabited by ghosts and your job is to eliminate them, why haven’t you eliminated the ghosts in my building?”

“You live there now and they might attack you if I confront them.”

“Oh,” Wei Ying breathes, and Lan Zhan looks away, a subtle pink blush tinting his ears.

That sounded like Lan Zhan cares—at least a tiny bit—about Wei Ying’s safety.

“Anyway,” Wei Ying chuckles, trying to don’t think too much about that, “I still think ghosts are not real.”

“Mn.”

“I read that the power of suggestion alone is enough to convince almost anyone that ghosts exist.” Wei Ying speaks with conviction. “Telling a group of people that a place is haunted will convince them that it’s truly haunted compared to a different group of people who didn’t receive that information beforehand.”

“Mn.” Lan Zhan looks at Wei Ying intently.

“Most people who believe in ghosts do so because they experienced something they consider paranormal, or because they grew up in a home surrounded by people who believe in the existence of spirits.”

Wei Ying pauses to drink more tea. Lan Zhan is still staring at him and has barely touched his cup.

“Lost objects, doors closing on their own, unexplainable noises; it’s easy to credit ghosts as the source of those happenings because people want to believe in them.”

Lan Zhan nods once. He opens his mouth to speak, but before he can say anything he frowns and takes his phone out of his pocket.

“I have to leave,” Lan Zhan says, taking a glance at his phone screen. “My apologies for cutting our time together short.”

“Family emergency?” Wei Ying asks.

Lan Zhan shakes his head. “Ghost emergency.”

“Can I go with you? I promise I won’t stand in your way.” Wei Ying jumps to his feet. “I’m curious about what you’re going to do.”

Lan Zhan shakes his head again.

“Please.” Wei Ying pouts. “You won’t even notice I’m there. Please, please, please.”

Lan Zhan groans but finally nods and Wei Ying cheers, finishing the rest of his drink. Lan Zhan also drinks his tea and pays for both of their beverages before Wei Ying can grab his phone to pay for his.

They take one of the last buses to the outskirts of the city and then walk for a few more minutes past homes and roads, into the forest until Lan Zhan’s GPS tells them that they have arrived at their destination.

“A couple of kids were playing in this area and encountered a resentful ghost as the sun went down,” Lan Zhan explains, unsheathing his sword. Wei Ying didn’t even notice when he got it. “Stay here.”

Lan Zhan lunges forward with his sword in hand. His forms are elegant and precise, and not even the best-choreographed battle scenes from dramas could hold a candle to them.

It’s evident that Lan Zhan is excellent at jumping and spinning, but he is swinging his sword at nothing.

“Lan Zhan, are you aware we are alone here?” Wei Ying asks.

“The ghost is not strong enough for you to see it,” Lan Zhan replies, not stopping his movements, and well… that’s hot.

It goes like that for a couple of minutes more before Lan Zhan sends his sword flying. It makes an arc in the air before returning to his hand, something that Wei Ying would have deemed as absolutely not possible if he had not seen it with his own two eyes.

Lan Zhan sheaths his sword and keeps surprising Wei Ying when he takes out an entire guqin from his bag, materializing it out of nowhere, and that is really cool but still strange.

“Why do you have a guqin now? Who carries an instrument into battle?”

“Music cultivation is my family’s specialty.” That’s all Lan Zhan says, like it’s obvious and not too vague and confusing at all.

His slender, deft fingers move across the strings, playing a nice melody that gains intensity steadily like the music reflects his feelings and he is preparing for an attack.

That moment never arrives, though. Lan Zhan lowers his guqin eventually and sighs.

Wei Ying takes one step to get closer to him and then another.

“Did it go away?”

Lan Zhan nods and Wei Ying would pat his shoulder, but he got the feeling that the gesture would not be very comforting for him.

A moment passes. Lan Zhan slings his guqin over his shoulder to carry it on his back and dusts off his clothes.

“Can I take a closer look at your sword?” Wei Ying asks, pointing at the sheathed sword hanging at Lan Zhan’s waist.

Lan Zhan hesitates.

“Come on, there’s nothing wrong with that!”

Lan Zhan doesn’t seem completely convinced, but he relents and unsheathes his sword to show it to Wei Ying.

Wei Ying takes a moment to inspect the sword, the long, polished blade, the elegant hilt, and the characters engraved on the metal: Bichen.

“Can I hold it?”

“Spiritual weapons cannot be wielded by someone other than their owner,” Lan Zhan replies.

Wei Ying pouts.

“Then let’s take a selfie! You hold your sword in a cool pose, and I hold the phone.”

Lan Zhan doesn’t look particularly happy about that—he doesn’t look particularly happy about anything—but he still holds the sword in front of him, like he is preparing to attack.

Wei Ying stands closer to Lan Zhan and keeps his phone in front of them. He makes a peace sign and snaps a couple of photos. The light is far from optimal for a photoshoot, but the photos come out acceptable.

“I’ll send the photos to you—”

“Behind you,” Lan Zhan interrupts him with urgency, and Wei Ying turns around, but there’s nothing there.

The next thing he knows is that Lan Zhan has wrapped an arm around his waist to move him out of the way, raising his sword again.

Lan Zhan is, more often than not, cold to him, but his body is warm and firm. Wei Ying can feel him breathing against his ear, and suddenly his knees feel a little weak.

“Lan Zhan—” Wei Ying starts, looking at Lan Zhan’s handsome face that’s unexpectedly too close to his.

Lan Zhan is frowning, focusing ahead, and holding the sword firmly.

Wei Ying forces himself to stop looking at Lan Zhan’s jawline to turn and see what caught Lan Zhan’s eye.

There’s still nothing in front of them.

Wei Ying is about to ask more questions, but then the blade of the sword starts glowing, and maybe it is just a trick of the light or the power of suggestion finally getting to him, but for a fleeting instant, he can see a vaguely human shape in front of them.

Then it is over, the figure fades and disappears.

Lan Zhan lowers his sword and jumps back, putting a safe distance in between them. Wei Ying, suddenly and inexplicably, feels breathless.

“So, that happened,” he starts. “That was the ghost, I suppose.”

“Mn.”

“Well, thank you for allowing me to accompany you, this was interesting.” Wei Ying laughs uncomfortably.

Lan Zhan sheaths his sword once again. Wei Ying doesn’t know what else he should say, his brain is too busy trying to process everything that happened while clinging to the memory of Lan Zhan holding him in his arms—not romantically of course! But still memorable.

Thankfully, Lan Zhan is someone who can walk in silence for a long time without feeling outright uncomfortable and gives Wei Ying time to reflect.

Lan Zhan calls his client to let them know that the job is done while they wait at the bus stop, and Wei Ying seizes that moment to send their selfie to the group chat he shares with Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang, quickly describing their outing and asking them if it could be considered a real romantic date.

Lan Zhan doesn’t seem to be in a conversational mood on their bus ride back downtown, and that doesn’t change after he tells Wei Ying that he is going to walk with him back to his building.

Wei Ying is glad when they finally arrive at their destination and he sprints to the entrance, leaving Lan Zhan behind.

“It’s fine, I can go upstairs on my own,” Wei Ying smiles. “I’ll see you later, Lan Zhan.”

“Mn.”

Lan Zhan nods at him and walks away. Wei Ying gets moving too, climbing up the stairs of his building to arrive home and continue thinking about his not-a-date with Lan Zhan all night long.

He is not paying attention to his steps  and almost collides with someone else on the stairs—a young man who gasps and Wei Ying recognizes immediately thanks to his wide eyes surrounded by bright red eyeshadow.

“Hey! I saw you the other night—”

“No, I’m sure you didn’t!” the man rushes to say.

“Yes, I did, you were wearing makeup too.” Wei Ying smiles. “I’m Wei Ying, I moved into apartment 403 not long ago.”

The young man hesitates for a moment, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“I’m Mo Xuanyu,” he replies at last. “From apartment 208.”

So that’s why they haven’t encountered each other yet, they live on different floors.

“Nice to meet you!”

“I—um, really need to leave now.” Mo Xuanyu averts his eyes.

“I understand. I hope I’ll see you around more often.”

“Maybe,” Mo Xuanyu mutters, and well, that’s better than a no.

He nods at Wei Ying one last time and leaves, rushing downstairs. Wei Ying shrugs and keeps going up until he arrives at the fourth floor.

Wen Ning is inside his room, so Wei Ying walks into his own and closes the door behind him.

He takes his phone and notices that he has several notifications from the group chat. He was too busy surviving his outing with Lan Zhan to remember that he sent the photo and asked for advice.

Wei Ying opens the app and notices that Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng completely ignored his question. Instead, most messages—at least a dozen of them—are from Nie Huaisang telling him that there is a strange shadow with a vaguely human face right behind him, lurking and waiting for the right moment to attack him.

Jiang Cheng joined the conversation and said there was nothing strange with the photo until Nie Huaisang re-sent it with the face outlined for him, to which Jiang Cheng simply responded with ‘fuck!! there’s truly a ghost behind him’.

Wei Ying stares at the photo as he plops down on the bed. Lan Zhan looks gorgeous, and the lack of light just adds a mysterious air to him.

Focusing on less important things, Wei Ying notices that, indeed, there’s a subtle shadow over his shoulder, but its shape is too vague to call it a face. Sure, if he stares at it for long enough, he can see a couple of dots that might resemble eyes and a line that could be a mouth, but that’s highly likely because Nie Huaisang sent an edit pointing out those fractions.

Like Wei Ying has been proving himself, the power of suggestion is incredibly powerful.

He sends a quick text to the group chat, telling them that, rather than a ghost, it’s just face pareidolia. Then, he goes to knock on Wen Ning’s door to ask his opinion on his not date, and to invite him to watch a movie.

👻

Wei Ying can barely contain his excitement when he opens the door.

“Jiejie! You’re here!” He hugs his sister before she can take more than one step into the apartment.

It’s been a while since they last saw each other. Their schedules don’t match often now that Wei Ying works full time and Jiang Yanli has a toddler to take care of, so now that she is at his door, Wei Ying makes sure to hug her extra hard.

Jiang Yanli hugs him back, equally tight.

“I’m glad to be here,” she says with a smile when Wei Ying finally takes a step back.

The evening gets even better when Jin Ling enters his field of vision, walking slowly with his short legs.

Jin Ling is three and a half and has way more energy than he needs. He inherited his strong personality from his maternal side of the family, and looks like a tiny, angrier Jin Zixuan; even more so when he is clad in the ridiculously expensive designer clothes that his father insists on buying for him. At least he got his mother’s eyes and nose.

“Lingling, come here and hug your favorite uncle,” Wei Ying kneels and wraps his arms around Jin Ling.

Jin Ling hugs him back, circling Wei Ying’s neck with his little arms.

“Since when you’re the favorite uncle?” Jiang Cheng asks, appearing at the threshold, carrying Jiang Yanli’s bags and Jin Ling’s bee backpack.

“We have already talked about this,” Jiang Yanli reminds them. “No one is his favorite uncle and he loves all his uncles equally. Right, A-Ling?”

The kid hesitates but nods.

Wei Ying knows his favorite uncle is whoever gives him his new favorite gift. A position difficult to fulfill as his father and grandparents already spoil him too much, but currently held by Meng Yao, who gave him a puppy after consulting it with his parents. What Jin Ling wants, Jin Ling gets.

“Alright! We want to see your new home, A-Ying,” Jiang Yanli smiles. “We can start in the kitchen; I brought the ingredients to make a delicious dinner.” She pats the bags Jiang Cheng is carrying.

Wei Ying told her she didn’t have to cook, but she didn’t take no for an answer and insisted until he accepted.

“Sure! Please come in! Make yourselves at home!”

Wei Ying takes them around the apartment. There’s still not a lot to see, but for Jin Ling, everything is interesting and new… yet it’s not enough to hugely impress him.

“My house is bigger,” he says after Wei Ying asks him what he thinks.

Wei Ying laughs and ruffles Jin Ling’s hair.

“Not everyone is as rich as your father’s family, A-Ling,” he mutters.

He would have liked to introduce Wen Ning to them, but he told Wei Ying earlier that he was going to visit the hospital that his sister inhabited. Wei Ying didn’t ask questions, but she is most likely a doctor, spending more time at work than at home.

Jiang Yanli installs herself in the kitchen, taking out vegetables, meat, and other groceries from her bags. Jiang Cheng helps her, placing a heavy container of soup on the counter. Then he stands awkwardly in the kitchen until Jin Ling walks up to him and asks for his backpack.

Wei Ying offers to help with the food, but Jiang Yanli, despite being a guest, urges him to go to the living room and spend time with Jin Ling.

“He has been asking about his dajiu since you visited for the last time and wants to show you his new toys,” Jiang Yanli insists, looking at him with serious, unwavering eyes. “I’ll ask for help if I need it.”

Wei Ying nods and goes to the living room to join Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling. Jin Ling has taken his favorite dog plushie out from his backpack—Jiang Cheng got it for him for his birthday and used to be his favorite gift until Meng Yao stepped up his game—and a handful of little cars.

“Didn’t know you were coming,” Wei Ying comments, sitting next to Jiang Cheng on the couch.

Jiang Cheng shrugs.

“Jin Zixuan works until late today and I was not going to let A-jie and A-Ling come here alone,” Jiang Cheng responds. “There is something off about this place.”

Before Wei Ying can reply, Jin Ling places a couple of cars on his lap to show them to him.

“Baba told me—Baba told me I’ll get a big car when I’m older,” Jin Ling says, holding up a shiny sports car.

Both Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying chuckle at that. Jin Ling giggles and shows all his new cars to Wei Ying before lowering himself back onto his knees, shifting his attention to play, moving the cars across the floor.

“There’s nothing off about this place,” Wei Ying tells Jiang Cheng.

“You have no self-preservation instincts.” Jiang Cheng crosses his arm and rolls his eyes.

Wei Ying throws his arm around Jiang Cheng’s shoulders.

“Come on, I’ll show you there’s nothing wrong,” Wei Ying declares.

“I’d like to see you try.” Jiang Cheng dares.

Wei Ying smiles, up for that challenge.

“Do you want to explore the building with us, A-Ling?” he asks.

Jin Ling stops his vroom vroom noises and looks up at Wei Ying. He can guess that for Jin Ling, exploring an unknown building sounds more exciting than just playing in the living room.

“He doesn’t,” Jiang Cheng mutters.

“I do!” Jin Ling declares anyway, throwing his arms up.

“Yes! Now go ask your mother for permission.”

Jin Ling cheers and gets up, running toward the kitchen. Wei Ying follows him to see him tugging at the skirt of his mother’s dress, clearly excited.

“Can I go to explore the building with dajiu?” he asks.

“Yes, you can A-Ling, have fun.” Jiang Yanli smiles.

Jin Ling cheers and runs to the door to put his shoes back on.

“We’ll be back in a moment!” Wei Ying says, kneeling to help Jin Ling with his shoelaces.

Jiang Cheng stands next to them with a frown but doesn’t object when Jin Ling makes him carry his cute backpack again and tugs him outside along with Wei Ying.

Jin Ling steps out of the apartment with excitement and an arm around his dog plushie. The lights in his shoes flicker every time he takes a step as they walk toward the stairs.

“In this apartment lives a nice couple,” Wei Ying comments when they walk past Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan’s door. “They often give me candy or fruit when I encounter them after work.”

“Candy!” Jin Ling cheers.

“Delicious candy, I eat all of it in a day.” Wei Ying smiles. “But you shouldn’t do that, A-Ling, it’s bad for your teeth.”

“I won’t!” Jin Ling promises.

“Xue Yang and A-Qing are usually around too—they like to play around and try to scare people.”

Wei Ying doesn’t know what kind of relationship they all have, but Xiao Xingchen—the one more open about his feelings—often treats A-Qing like a little sister or even a daughter, and Xue Yang like a menacing younger cousin while being immune to his menacingness.

“There are other neighbors too, like Mo Xuanyu, but he is shy, and I’ve only talked to him once,” Wei Ying continues as they go downstairs.

“Don’t you think everyone here is weird?” Jiang Cheng asks.

“We are all weird, A-Cheng.” Wei Ying pats Jiang Cheng’s shoulder. “Even the expert on spiritual affairs that Huaisang made me hire is weird.”

He doesn’t elaborate. Lan Zhan might be hiding behind a corner keeping an eye on them, and Wei Ying doesn’t want to upset him by letting him know that sometimes he is even weirder than his neighbors.

They arrive on the first floor and walk out. Dashes of orange are already tinting the sky with the colors of sunset as nighttime draws closer.

Jin Ling immediately takes notice of the flower beds that Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan keep well-watered and free of weeds in an attempt to make their building look nicer.

They looked excited when Wei Ying asked for their help to improve the building and now Wei Ying usually encounters them gardening at night, like everything else they do. He supposes they work all day and only have time for their pastimes after the sun has gone down.

Jin Ling states that he wants to pick some flowers and Wei Ying offers him his phone to take pictures instead.

“You can’t pick the flowers because we didn’t ask for permission,” Wei Ying tells Jin Ling, “But you can still take a lot of photos that your mother will love.”

Jin Ling gets excited at that and runs towards the flowers. Wei Ying stays a couple of steps behind next to Jiang Cheng, looking at their nephew doing his best to take nice photos.

After a moment, Jiang Cheng takes out his phone too and taps at the screen with his thumbs, quickly and fiercely.

“Who are you texting?” Wei Ying asks.

“Huaisang,” Jiang Cheng replies, not pausing his tapping.

“Why?”

“He asked me if the building’s vibes have improved since our visit,” Jiang Cheng lowers his phone.

“And well, have they?” Wei Ying nudges Jiang Cheng’s shoulder.

“Not at all,” Jiang Cheng answers, tapping his screen a couple more times before pocketing his phone, and turning back to Jin Ling.

The kid is still taking photos and mumbling at himself.

“You need to relax a bit, look at A-Ling, he doesn’t mind it here.”

“He is three,” Jiang Cheng points out.

“Someone once told me that kids are more perceptive when it comes to supernatural beings,” Wei Ying says.

That someone is Lan Zhan. He typed a thorough explanation of that phenomenon after Wei Ying asked him why, apparently, the kids were able to see the ghost, but the spirit was too weak for Wei Ying to see it too during his latest ghost hunting mission.

“If he’s calm and happy it means there’s nothing wrong with this building,” Wei Ying continues.

Jin Ling finishes taking photos and rushes back to his uncles.

Wei Ying takes a look at the photos. It’s getting darker so the lighting could have been better and a couple of them are blurry, but he knows Jiang Yanli will love them.

“Okay! Let’s go back upstairs.”

Going upstairs is slower than going downstairs. Jin Ling refuses to be carried, insisting that he is no longer a baby, and his short legs can only take him up one step at a time.

They arrive at the second floor and Wei Ying notices that Mo Xuanyu is standing at the end of the hallway, in front of his apartment.

“Hey! Good evening!” Wei Ying exclaims and waves at him. “Say hi to Mo Xuanyu, A-Ling.”

“Hi!” Jin Ling waves too.

“Wei Ying,” Jiang Cheng starts, placing a hand on Wei Ying’s shoulder, “you know there’s no one there, right?”

Wei Ying turns to Jiang Cheng and takes in his serious face before glancing back at Mo Xuanyu, except he is no longer there.

“He just walked into his apartment.” Wei Ying shrugs. “Mo Xuanyu is shy and has avoided me before.”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t seem convinced by that answer.

When they reach the third floor Xue Yang is there. Leaning against the wall and playing with a pocketknife.

“Good evening,” Wei Ying greets him.

“Hi!” Jin Ling waves at him too.

“Really, there’s no one here but us,” Jiang Cheng says. “This is not funny, Wei Ying!”

Xue Yang grins when he hears that, but Jiang Cheng is already moving, climbing the stairs at a faster pace than before.

Wei Ying and Jin Ling stay behind to excuse themselves.

“Talk to you later,” Wei Ying tells Xue Yang. “As you can see, I have guests tonight.”

“Sure,” Xue Yang nods. “Have fun, neighbor.”

“You too!”

“Oh, I will.” Xue Yang chuckles.

“Bye-bye,” Jin Ling says as Wei Ying guides him toward the last flight of stairs.

Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing are standing in front of their apartment. Song Lan is not with them, but Wei Ying can guess he is not far away. He never leaves Xiao Xingchen’s side for long.

“Hello,” Wei Ying says and notices the way Xiao Xingchen lights up when he hears his voice.

“Hello,” Jin Ling echoes.

“Good evening,” Xiao Xingchen replies.

“Who’s the little kid?” A-Qing asks when he notices Jin Ling. It took Wei Ying a couple of weeks to find out that she is not blind.

“My favorite nephew!” Wei Ying beams. “And I’m his favorite uncle.”

He doesn’t mention that Jin Ling is his only nephew or that he is not the favorite uncle nowadays because no one needs to know that.

Wei Ying almost expects Jiang Cheng to appear out of nowhere to object, but he doesn’t. As if he doesn’t introduce himself as Jin Ling’s favorite uncle too when Wei Ying is not around.

“Hey there,” A-Qing crouches to be at Jin Ling’s eye level, supporting some of her weight on the bamboo staff that she always carries around to whack mean people’s kneecaps, according to her. “Do you want to play, little guy?”

Jin Ling nods and takes A-Qing’s hand. They sit down together a few meters away, from where Wei Ying and Xiao Xingchen can see them.

“It’s nice you have guests tonight,” Xiao Xingchen comments. “They came here to visit you despite this place’s reputation, your friends from a while ago too. I can only guess they are close to you.”

“Yes, it’s nice.” Wei Ying smiles.

Sure, the building still needs a fresh coat of paint and its surroundings some weeding, but that is common for buildings a bit further from the downtown area. It can’t have much of a terrible reputation because of that no matter what Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang say, right?

“My jiejie is preparing dinner tonight, so it’s going to be great,” Wei Ying continues, changing the topic a bit.

“It indeed sounds like you’ll have a wonderful time.”

“You should join us sometime,” Wei Ying offers. “You and Song Lan, and A-Qing and Xue Yang too! My jiejie’s cooking is the best!”

“Thank you for the kind invitation.” Xiao Xingchen clumsily pats Wei Ying’s shoulder and fumbles to open his apartment. “Wait here, I have something for you.”

Xiao Xingchen walks into the apartment and Wei Ying shifts his attention back to Jin Ling. He is babbling and holding his dog plushie moving it like it is dancing, barking from time to time. A-Qing is seated in front of him, listening to him with a smile.

It doesn’t take long for Xiao Xingchen to be back, this time followed by Song Lan and carrying a black box decorated with delicate golden lines.

“It’s a box of pastries, please share them with your family.” Xiao Xingchen offers the box to him.

Wei Ying accepts it. It surely looks fancier and more expensive than any other gift he has gotten from his neighbors so far. He will make sure to buy something equally nice for them the next time he goes to the mall.

“Thank you!” Wei Ying beams. “I think it’s time for us to return inside.”

“Of course, enjoy the rest of the evening,” Xiao Xingchen says. Next to him, Song Lan nods.

“Let’s go, A-Ling, your mother is waiting for us,” Wei Ying calls him.

“Yes, dajiu.” Jin Ling stands up and returns to Wei Ying’s side. “Bye-bye,” he adds, looking at A-Qing.

“He’s cute,” she says.

“He’s the cutest!” Wei Ying declares and walks the remaining steps to his door.

He didn’t know what to expect when he walked in and kicked out his shoes, but it sure wasn’t to find Wen Ning and Jiang Cheng sitting together at the table.

Jiang Cheng is pressing a bag of frozen peas against his forehead with a frown and Wen Ning looks relieved when he notices Wei Ying has arrived home.

“Welcome back,” Jiang Yanli smiles at them. She is stirring a big pot of soup that smells incredibly good.

“Jiejie! The food smells delicious!” Wei Ying praises.

Jin Ling runs past him to hug his mother’s legs and tell her about his adventures outside, so Wei Ying turns toward Jiang Cheng.

“What are the frozen peas for?” he asks.

“Shut up,” Jiang Cheng mutters.

“He fell and hit his head,” Jiang Yanli answers. “He barged into the apartment and tripped when he was taking off his shoes.”

Jiang Cheng groans.

“No, something hit my shoulder when I was taking off my shoes and startled me a bit,” Jiang Cheng lets his head fall back. “The whole story is important.”

“Why did you come back running so suddenly, anyway?” Wei Ying asks. “You just missed meeting my neighbors next door, they were generous enough to give me a box of pastries to share.”

“Because you were being weird, and I wanted to make sure A-jie was alright. I asked her if something weird had happened to her while we were gone,” Jiang Cheng replies.

“Nothing weird happened here,” their sister assures them. “But your roommate returned and helped me to find this big pot to heat the soup.”

Wen Ning smiles abashedly.

“Did you have an enjoyable time visiting your sister?” Wei Ying asks him.

“I did.” Wen Ning nods.

“That’s nice, you should invite her here one of these days, maybe after her shift at the hospital is over?” Wei Ying suggests.

“Oh, I—that’s… I—I will ask her,” Wen Ning stumbles over his words so he looks down at his hands instead.

“Cool!”

Jiang Yanli makes sure that everything on the stove is cooking properly and lowers the fire to take Jin Ling to the bathroom before joining them again with a smile.

Wei Ying and Jiang Yanli try to make small conversation but as it turns out, Wen Ning is still a bit too anxious around people he doesn’t know, and Jiang Cheng is sulking, which is not the best combination to carry on a conversation.

After a moment, Jiang Cheng excuses himself to go to the bathroom just to run out of it yelling not even a minute later.

“The tap water is not water, it’s blood!” he exclaims.

“Are you sure?” Wei Ying stands up and walks up to him.

“Huaisang was right, this place is haunted.” Jiang Cheng points at the sink.

Wei Ying stands in front of the sink. There are no traces of blood on the porcelain, so Wei Ying opens the faucet. Jiang Cheng gasps but the water that comes out if it is clear, without any trace of red, or any other color for that matter.

“Everything’s fine, A-Cheng.” Wei Ying closes the faucet and wraps an arm around Jiang Cheng’s shoulder. “I think you’re just stressed out.”

“But—but it was red just an instant ago!” Jiang Cheng frowns. “A-jie, did something weird happen when you used the bathroom before?”

“No, A-Cheng.” Jiang Yanli smiles apologetically. “The water was clear too.”

“Come on, maybe you should sit down for a moment.” Wei Ying guides Jiang Cheng back to the table.

Jiang Cheng groans and lets himself fall back to his chair, pushing Wei Ying away.

“I’m fine and know what I saw,” he grumbles.

“What about you, Wen Ning?” Wei Ying asks, turning toward his roommate. “You have been living here for longer, has something like this ever happened to you?”

“No, sorry. I have not—Nothing like that has happened to me.” Wen Ning rushes to answer, too interested in the table out of a sudden.

Luckily for all of them, the food is ready to be eaten before the atmosphere gets even more uncomfortable.

They all start filling their bowls with food and even Jiang Cheng’s appetite seems to have returned after he takes a look at the soup.

“I’d have loved to prepare everything from scratch here, but it takes a few hours for the soup to be perfect,” Jiang Yanli comments as Wei Ying fills his bowl to the brim.

“Don’t worry about that, jiejie. Your soup is always the best.” Wei Ying smiles, his mouth watering.

The soup is as delicious as Wei Ying expected. The rice is fluffy and well cooked, and the jiaozi are great. Jin Ling is the first one to finish his share of food, and he returns to the living room to play with his cars while the adults finish their meal.

Both Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng, whose mood improved greatly after he took the first bite, get a second bowl of soup after they are done with the first one. Then they scramble to grab the last jiaozi, and Jiang Cheng smirks victoriously when he is the one who manages to pick it up with his chopsticks.

Wei Ying pouts, opening his mouth to complain, but Jin Ling’s giggles, loud and cheerful, interrupt him. The kid is sitting alone in the living room, with his toys spread on the floor in front of him.

“A-Ling, did you remember something funny?” Jiang Yanli asks.

Jin Ling looks at his mother and shakes his head. “No, Qing-jie just told me a funny story.”

“Who?” Jiang Cheng frowns.

“He’s probably talking about the neighbor: A-Qing,” Wei Ying answers.

Jin Ling nods.

“Oh, she told you something funny earlier when you met her?” Jiang Yanli tries instead.

Jin Ling shakes his head.

“No, she came here to tell me.”

“Where is she?” Jiang Cheng frowns.

“She left.”

Jiang Cheng makes a face.

“You can’t tell me that’s not weird,” Jiang Cheng mutters to Wei Ying.

“He’s just playing.” Wei Ying replies. “That’s nice, A-Ling, do you want a pastry?” he adds, remembering the fancy box of pastries that Xiao Xingchen gave him.

“Yes!” Jin Ling runs back to the table.

Everyone takes a pastry from the box, even Wen Ning, who has barely touched his soup.

They don’t talk for long afterward. Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng have to work the following day, but most importantly, Jin Ling has to attend his fancy bilingual kindergarten in the morning and won’t be in a good mood if he doesn’t sleep enough.

Wei Ying goes downstairs with them. Jiang Yanli parked her car in one of the building’s vacant parking spaces. Wei Ying has yet to see a car taking any of the other parking spaces, but as weird as it is, no one in the building owns a car.

Jiang Cheng helps their sister by buckling Jin Ling in the car seat while she calls her husband to let him know that they will arrive home soon, standing close to the flower beds.

That reminds Wei Ying of the pictures Jin Ling took earlier. He forgot to show them to Jiang Yanli, so he fishes his phone from his pocket to send them to her, but notices he has a new text notification from Lan Zhan.

I will stay close in case something goes wrong and you need my help. It says in response to Wei Ying telling him about his family’s visit.

“You’re smiling at your phone,” Jiang Yanli comments, getting closer to Wei Ying. “Is it a special lady? A special man?”

“Well, he’s special, but don’t get the wrong idea, we’re not even friends.”

At least Wei Ying is sure that Lan Zhan would not call him a friend.

They have been exchanging texts but nothing more. Usually, Wei Ying is the one who starts the conversation and then carries most of it on his own. He often tells Lan Zhan about his day, and his job; sends him photos of things he supposes Lan Zhan likes, mostly nature and clear skies.

In return, Lan Zhan answers his questions, allowing Wei Ying to know more about him. So, Wei Ying has gathered a few pieces of information about Lan Zhan, but nothing too personal. He is not someone who divulges details about his private life easily, but Wei Ying is willing to be patient and become his friend.

“I’m sure he likes you.”

“If you say so, but he is serious and aloof, and we’re not very close,” Wei Ying replies.

“Give it time, A-Ying.” Jiang Yanli smiles and pats his shoulder before pulling him into a hug. “Hope we can meet again soon.”

“Me too.”

She gets into the driver’s seat afterward, and Wei Ying waves at Jin Ling through the window until they leave.

The night is quiet, so Wei Ying hears the soft but clear steps approaching him from behind.

“Wei Ying.”

He turns around with a smile.

“Hey, Lan Zhan! Do you want to go inside to eat pastries?”

Lan Zhan comes to a stop in front of Wei Ying. He is wearing his casual outfit again, but his sword is hanging at his waist like he intends to fight soon anyway.

“Just promise you won’t scare my roommate with your sword.”

“Mn.” Lan Zhan nods, opening one of his magic bottomless bags to put his sword away.

Wei Ying’s smile gets even wider as he grabs Lan Zhan’s arm and guides him to his apartment.

👻

It took a while for Wei Ying to convince Wen Ning to hang out with him outside of their apartment.

He never intended to be pushy. Instead, he tried to drop hints here and there about cool places in the city to have fun with friends.

Wen Ning was not interested in restaurants or in spending a day in the park, but eventually accepted to go to the arcade and a cat café with only a couple of conditions: visit both after the sun goes down and avoid the busiest streets. Wei Ying understood and planned their outing accordingly.

They walk together side by side across lonely alleyways, stopping every few minutes so Wen Ning can take photos of the stray cats he finds. Wei Ying is sure that if Lan Zhan gets to know Wen Ning one day, he will stop calling him a fierce corpse because he is anything but fierce—or a corpse.

It’s a quiet night away from the hustle and bustle of the downtown area, and Wei Ying even talks less than usual to not disturb the calmness or the cats that shyly let themselves be photographed.

They see even more cats when they arrive at the cat café. They are two of the last clients in the establishment and sit at the loneliest table, away from the rest of the patrons.

A lady walks up to their table to remind them to treat the cats gently and respectfully, and to take their orders. Wei Ying asks for something with lots of sugar and caffeine, as usual, but Wen Ning takes a bit longer to decide on a latte with cute cat art on top.

Their drinks arrive soon, but Wen Ning is more interested in petting the cats softly than in touching his coffee before it gets cold. The cats like him too, maybe because he moves slower than most humans, and they get close to him. One of them even falls asleep on his lap.

“I’m glad you are having an enjoyable time,” Wei Ying comments, taking a sip of his drink.

“I am.” Wen Ning smiles.

“You should adopt a cat,” Wei Ying tells him.

“Oh! I don’t know if a cat would like to—um, live in the building,” Wen Ning replies, allowing another cat to jump into his arms.

“But cats like you and I think they’d like to live with you.” Wei Ying pats Wen Ning’s shoulder. “It’s okay to have pets in the building, right?”

“Yes, I will think about it.”

Wen Ning focuses back on the cats and Wei Ying snaps a few photos of him to send him later. They leave after Wei Ying finishes his coffee. Wen Ning didn’t drink his latte, halfheartedly lamenting that it got cold before he could, as he is not a fan of cold coffee, but seemed excited to go to the arcade.

It doesn’t take long for Wei Ying to find out that Wen Ning is surprisingly good at fighting games. His fingers slam down the buttons at the right moments to make his avatar land precise punches and kicks.

Wei Ying wins a handful of matches, loses some others, but laughs the entire time. They play until the arcade announces they are closing for the night after a couple of hours that felt shorter.

It’s unavoidable for them to cross a busy avenue to get back to the loneliest streets on their walk home.

Despite the hour, plenty of people, mostly young, are out looking for fun. Wen Ning is tall, but he slouches in a futile attempt to appear smaller when strangers surround him.

Wei Ying feels bad for him, so he hurries up until he reaches a lonely street. He stops, huffing when Wen Ning walks into him.

“I—I’m sorry,” Wen Ning mutters.

“Don’t worry—”

Wei Ying unexpectedly catches a glimpse of white robes amongst the crowd they just left behind. The person in white stands out in the group not only for their clothing, but also for the elegance in their steps and their perfect posture. Wei Ying could recognize those traits anywhere.

“Is that Lan Zhan?” Wei Ying asks as the person walks into a lonely street not far away from where they are. “I think that’s Lan Zhan.”

“He probably is.”

“Wen Ning, is it okay if I say hi quickly to Lan Zhan before we head back home?”

“Uh, sure,” Wen Ning replies, his voice barely audible.

Wei Ying smiles and hurries behind Lan Zhan with Wen Ning following him closely.

“Lan Zhan!” he calls, “Lan Zhan, wait!”

The white-clothed person stops and turns around. Wei Ying stops in his tracks, feeling a mix of disappointment and embarrassment when he sees the stranger’s face.

He doesn’t even react when Wen Ning walks into him for the second time in the night because the stranger in white looks and dresses like Lan Zhan, but there are clear differences in their features. For one, he is smiling, a gesture that’s nowhere among Lan Zhan’s favorites.

“Sorry, I thought you were someone else,” Wei Ying apologizes.

“Don’t worry,” the stranger replies. “It has happened before and will happen again sometime. I’m Lan Huan, courtesy name Lan Xichen, Leader of the Lan Clan, and Lan Zhan’s older brother.”

He bows respectfully and Wei Ying mirrors him.

“You are Nie Mingjue’s husband,” Wei Ying says, remembering that detail. “I’m a friend of Huaisang’s,” he adds, because it’s weird to know the marital status of someone he just met.

Lan Xichen laughs. “Yes, I am.”

“Oh, nice to meet you. I’m Wei Ying,” he introduces himself.

“My brother has mentioned you quite a lot of times.” Well, that improves Wei Ying’s mood a little. “What about you?” Lan Xichen turns toward Wen Ning.

Wen Ning looks surprised to be addressed at all.

“I’m Wen—Wen Ning.” His eyes shift to the sword at Lan Xichen’s waist. He doesn’t add anything else, but Wei Ying can’t blame him. It’s definitely shocking to see a real sword, sharp and lethal, for the first time.

“He is my friend and roommate,” Wei Ying throws his arm over Wen Ning’s shoulders, pulling him closer.

“I see.”

“I hope Lan Zhan has only told you good things about me,” Wei Ying says, trying to dissipate the awkward air that is suddenly engulfing them.

“He told me you are smart but foolishly fearless, and not a believer of supernatural entities despite being able to perceive them clearly—a quality not everyone possesses,” Lan Xichen replies.

“Is that good?”

“Yeah, you would have been a naturally talented cultivator if you had started training at an early age.”

Lan Zhan has told Wei Ying a bit about that training. He has been following his ancestors’ lifestyle since he learned how to walk and studying old cultivation techniques since he learned how to read.

He also attended ordinary school while growing up and graduated from Tsinghua not long ago. Wei Ying admires him for that. Doing twice the normal amount of homework as Lan Zhan happily did during his formative years sounds terrible. He wouldn’t have survived that!

“I think flying swords are the coolest kind of swords, but I don’t think a cultivator’s lifestyle is for me,” Wei Ying replies.

Lan Xichen nods. “That’s fair but call me if you change your mind.”

Wei Ying doesn’t know if that’s a joke. Lan Zhan joins them before he can ask, walking into the alleyway gracefully. His eyebrows twitch subtly when he notices that his brother is not alone.

“Hey, Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying greets. “We just met your brother.”

“Mn.” Lan Zhan hums and stands next to Lan Xichen.

With them wearing remarkably similar robes and standing side by side, their resemblance is even more evident.

“You truly look like twins,” Wei Ying comments.

Lan Xichen starts laughing again.

“We are told that often, but I’m a couple of years older than him,” Lan Xichen replies.

They are both attractive. Even unfairly so, but there’s something special about Lan Zhan that makes him even more pleasant to Wei Ying’s eyes. He could stare at that stoic face for quite a long time.

Wei Ying clears his throat, deciding that he is not going there. Not tonight. “Well, we have to go, but it was nice talking to you.”

“Likewise, I hope we can meet again the next time I visit the city.”

“Sure, that’ll be nice!” Wei Ying nods. “Goodbye.”

“Oh, wait!” Lan Xichen calls. “Don’t you want to go with them, A-Zhan?” he asks his brother.

“Brother—”

“It’s fine if you want to, we’re done with tonight’s work, and I know how to get back to your apartment,” Lan Xichen assures him. “I’ll call Mingjue, it’ll be fine.”

Lan Zhan seems to think about it for a brief moment before he nods. Wei Ying waves at Lan Xichen as they leave.

The closer they get to their building, the more relieved Wen Ning looks. That’s good. Wei Ying will get him a new plant to try to make up for the awkward encounter with Lan Xichen.

“I didn’t know your brother came to visit,” Wei Ying starts. “He seems nice.”

“Mn. He came to help me with a pending request and will leave tomorrow,” Lan Zhan replies.

“Can I ask what it was?”

Lan Zhan looks at him for an instant. He has told Wei Ying that he is too curious sometimes.

“We were asked to get rid of a couple of water ghosts from the river,” Lan Zhan answers at last. “They drowned a man recently, so we had to deal with them quickly.”

Wei Ying heard about that in the news—about the man who drowned, not the ghosts. Apparently, he was drunk, fell into the water, and didn’t know how to swim, something aggravated by his intoxicated state. There was nothing strange about that, right?

“Hope it went well,” Wei Ying says.

“It did.”

“And that it wasn’t too hard to deal with,” he adds.

“It was.”

“Well, at least it’s over now.”

“Mn.”

They don’t talk for the rest of the walk. It is not a long one, thankfully. Wen Ning seems overjoyed to be home.

“Good night, Young Master Lan,” he says and rushes upstairs.

Wei Ying stays alone with Lan Zhan, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and looking at his attractive profile under the artificial light of the lightbulbs.

“Do you want to go up?” Wei Ying asks, hopefully.

When Lan Zhan visited his home a couple of weeks ago, he sat next to Wei Ying on the couch, listening to him talk and eating pastries. He piped up now and then to reply to Wei Ying or ask concise questions, but just listened for the most part. Lan Zhan is good at listening.

They eventually started a movie, and it didn’t take long for Lan Zhan to fall asleep on Wei Ying’s shoulder. It was surprising until Wei Ying asked about it the following morning and Lan Zhan, slightly disheveled after a night spent on the couch, told him that usually when he doesn’t have any ghosts to exorcize, he goes to sleep around 9 p.m.

Now Lan Zhan shakes his head, refusing Wei Ying’s proposal:

“I do not wish to leave my brother alone for longer.”

“Right, I forgot about that.” Wei Ying can’t even feel disappointed knowing that Lan Zhan would rather spend time with his brother who is visiting for a fleeting time.

“Go see your brother, Lan Zhan. I’ll see you soon?”

Lan Zhan nods and leaves without another word.

The lights flicker a few times, and a cold breeze makes Wei Ying shiver as he climbs up the stairs. He has barely set foot on the third floor when Xue Yang and A-Qing jump in front of him.

They are both wearing tattered clothes with red paint splattered all over the fabric. There are crimson tear tracks on A-Qing’s ghostly pale face, and Xue Yang’s ratty shirt is halfway open, revealing a realistic-looking stabbing wound in the middle of his chest.

“Hey, guys!” Wei Ying waves at them, cheerfully.

“Where’s the cultivator that stayed over the other night?” Xue Yang asks. He is wearing red contacts and a smirk is tugging at the right corner of his lips, revealing teeth stained red.

“Did you bite your tongue?” Wei Ying asks instead of answering. Xue Yang’s pointy teeth seem like a real risk, but it’s probably more red paint. “There’s a bit of blood on your teeth.”

A-Qing giggles and Xue Yang blinks a couple of times. “What—”

“To answer your question, Lan Zhan left. His brother came to the city, so he prefers to spend time with him.” Wei Ying sighs. “Hope we will have time to hang out soon.”

The youngsters appear disappointed at his answer.

“Did you want to scare him with your costumes? His job is to hunt ghosts, so I don’t think he gets scared easily.” Wei Ying smiles at them.

“We wanted to see if we could get away with it and have some fun!” A-Qing replies.

“The last time he shoved a sword in my face, but he likes you.” Xue Yang rolls his eyes. “So maybe he won’t stab us if you hold him back?”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Lan Zhan doesn’t have many reasons to stab you, even if you try to scare him,” Wei Ying assures them. “He is aloof and stoic, but also nice.”

Xue Yang makes a face and A-Qing doesn’t look convinced either.

“That sounds fake,” Xue Yang declares, at last, crossing his arms.

“Don’t get upset, your costumes are cool!”

“Who is wearing the best ‘costume’?” A-Qing asks, adding air quotes to costume.

“This time, I have to say A-Qing.” A-Qing cheers at Wei Ying’s words. “But Xue Yang won last time. That trick with the fake arm was too good.”

A-Qing pouts as Xue Yang smirks down at her. She shoves him and he shoves her in return. It goes like that until A-Qing hits Xue Yang in the shins with her bamboo staff before running away upstairs.

“Fuck!” Xue Yang curses. “You hit me harder than last time!” He chases after her, leaving Wei Ying alone.

Wei Ying shrugs and continues his path.

The lights blink for a moment before they stay on for, hopefully, the rest of the night.

Lan Zhan’s theory about lights, and even electronics, working strangely when a ghost is near seems far-fetched. Hence why Wei Ying decided to consult a couple of electricians about the building’s electrical installation. They visited to inspect the lights but couldn’t find any problems with them.

Still, Wei Ying is not convinced that a supernatural entity is causing the problem. That’s simply illogic.

👻

“Lan Zhan, do you know what happened in my building?” Wei Ying asks.

They are sitting side by side, ignoring that there are a couple of unoccupied seats in front of them. It’s not a date, not a romantic one at least, but they are having a wonderful time as maybe-friends.

Lan Zhan has a book of classic poetry open in his hands, and Wei Ying keeps stealing glances at his handsome profile while he focuses on taking photos of his dessert to share on his socials.

“Why are you asking now?” Lan Zhan asks, lowering his book. He chose to wear a baby blue button-up shirt and a navy jacket that suits him even more than plain white.

“Well, usually my take-out orders get canceled for some reason—an app issue or something like that—but the other night a scared delivery guy finally showed up at my door with my spicy fish ball soup and asked me if I was aware of the building’s creepy history. So, do you know about it?”

Lan Zhan doesn’t answer for a moment, but when he does, his voice is even more solemn than usual: “I do.”

“Does it have anything to do with you always being in the area? Keeping watch and telling people to move out?” Wei Ying teases, placing an arm on the table, and leaning a bit closer to Lan Zhan.

Lan Zhan stays still, barely blinking at him.

“Yes, all of that was part of my work.”

“Well, are you going to tell me what happened?”

“No,” Lan Zhan replies, taking a sip of his oolong tea.

“Why?” Wei Ying whines.

He really wants to know what happened! The Internet has not been really helpful, was it something so terrible and shameful that everyone decided to forget about it? Or was it nothing to worry about and just superstition?

“You should ask the building’s residents about it.”

“So now you’re making this purposefully difficult for me,” Wei Ying nudges Lan Zhan’s shoulder.

“Mn.” There is a teeny-tiny smile on Lan Zhan’s lips as he nods.

Their arms are pressed up together, and Wei Ying likes the way Lan Zhan’s attractive face looks up-close—cannot help but feel a bit tempted to get even closer to him for no other reason than to keep admiring his perfect fractions in a completely platonic way, of course.

“Anyway, do you want to take a selfie with me?” Wei Ying lifts his phone from the table and distances himself a bit from Lan Zhan, just enough for his maybe-friend to be more comfortable.

Lan Zhan nods and Wei Ying snaps a picture of themselves. He posts it along with the dessert photos he took earlier and pockets his phone for the rest of their outing.

As usual, Lan Zhan doesn’t start their exchanges but listens to Wei Ying and replies when he is prompted to. Despite the initial question, their conversation stays away from supernatural creatures, and that’s nice. Very nice.

Wei Ying talks about his favorite spicy dishes and Lan Zhan replies with his opinions about them because Wei Ying keeps asking. As it turns out, Lan Zhan is not a spicy food enthusiast, but he promises to eat spicy noodles with Wei Ying soon.

They talk about cute animals—Lan Zhan has a soft spot for rabbits and Wei Ying likes all animals but canines—and their favorite books—Lan Zhan appreciates classic poetry compilations while Wei Ying can be entertained for hours reading fantasy.

Lan Zhan is not a fan of the foreign action movies that Wei Ying loves, and doesn’t even recognize the name of the most popular mobile game of the year that Wei Ying has been playing religiously since it was released.

They’re complete opposites, but their differences can bring them closer.

Their outing is pleasant enough and sunset has fallen by the time Wei Ying boards the bus back home. He told Lan Zhan that he didn’t have to walk him home and waved at him through the window of the bus.

He spends the short ride scrolling down Weibo, and the walk from the bus stop to his building is a lonely, uneventful one like usual.

Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan are in front of the building when Wei Ying gets home. They are carrying gardening tools to the flower beds they have been taking care of.

“Good evening!” Wei Ying calls, getting closer to them.

“Good evening!” Xiao Xingchen answers. Song Lan nods at him and lowers a huge bag of soil that he was carrying like it weighed nothing.

Song Lan goes back upstairs, moving slowly like Wen Ning does, and Xiao Xingchen sets to work, kneeling to start weeding the area. He almost picks one of the flowers by mistake, so Wei Ying walks up to him and crouches by his side.

“That’s a flower,” he says when Xiao Xingchen’s hand hovers over a growing peony.

“Thank you, Song Lan usually helps me, but he went back home to get flower seedlings to plant over there.” Xiao Xingchen points at an empty patch of land.

“Don’t worry, I don’t mind helping with some gardening,” Wei Ying replies.

“Thank you.” Xiao Xingchen smiles.

For a while they work without speaking, pulling up weeds by the roots, and inspecting the flowers to make sure that there are no pests in their leaves. Luckily, all of them are growing up healthy.

“Do you know about the history of this building?” Wei Ying asks before he can think too much about it, interrupting the pleasant silence.

Xiao Xingchen pauses his tasks and turns toward him.

“Yes, I do,” he answers.

“Oh, nice. I have been trying to find out more about this building’s history.”

Xiao Xingchen sighs.

“I have not been a resident since the beginning, so it’s not my story to tell—I don’t even think I’m good at storytelling! But I can try.”

“I’d appreciate that!” Wei Ying smiles.

“Alright.” Xiao Xingchen sits in a more comfortable position. “This building is around 35 years old. A rich businessperson close to the government planned to build an apartment complex here, but those plans changed after they lost a great sum of money in illegal international investments.”

“So, the businessperson sold the building at a cheap price to one of their associates under the table, and disappeared, but the building’s bad reputation was just starting.”

“I suppose this is when the story gets darker,” Wei Ying comments.

Xiao Xingchen nods.

“The man moved into the building with his family and rented the rest of the apartments.” Xiao Xingchen sighs. “Everything was fine for half a decade or so, but then the entire family died in mysterious circumstances. ”

“I see,” Wei Ying says. “Can I ask why you moved in here?”

“Oh sure,” Xiao Xingchen smiles a little. “After the incident, the residents started looking for new options to live in. As more of them moved out, more of us moved in.”

Song Lan walks up to them, holding a tray with lots of tiny seedlings. He kneels next to Xiao Xingchen.

“We looked for a place to belong for a long time, wandering in the shadows, hiding,” Xiao Xingchen continues. “But we found that place here.”

He smiles and leans into his partner with contentment, and Song Lan holds him by the waist.

“Thank you for telling me about this,” Wei Ying smiles.

“You can ask more residents about the building,” Xiao Xingchen suggests.

“I think I will do that now, then.”

“Good luck!”

Wei Ying nods at Song Lan before walking into the building. The corridors are lonely as he goes upstairs to the fourth floor. That doesn’t surprise him, more often than not he doesn’t encounter anyone in the corridors.

Xue Yang and A-Qing are sitting in front of apartment 404, Xue Yang with his back against the wall and A-Qing on the windowsill, swinging her feet as she hums.

Wei Ying walks up to them. “Hey! What are you up to tonight?”

“I’m sharpening a stick.” Xue Yang waves a knife. “I like making lances.”

“What about you?” he asks A-Qing.

“I was about to go down and help with the flowers.” She shrugs.

“Do you have time to answer a question?”

“It depends on the kind of question.” Xue Yang inspects the tip of the lance, pressing his finger against it.

“Do you know what happened in this building?” Wei Ying leans into the wall.

“Oh, so now you are interested in this.” Xue Yang lowers his knife.

“Have been for weeks now,” Wei Ying replies. “Xiao Xingchen already told me a bit about it.”

“We don’t know much about the subject aside from what he knows,” A-Qing says.

“Xuanyu knows more about it,” Xue Yang comments. “I think he can answer all your questions, if you can convince him to talk, that’s it.”

“Oh, that might be a bit difficult.” Wei Ying sighs. “He has avoided me so far.”

“He avoids everyone at first.” A-Qing nods. “Give it some time and he will warm up to you.”

“How long is some time?”

“I don’t know, a few years. Maybe?” A-Qing shrugs.

“That’s too long!”

“Well, why don’t we pay him a visit right now anyway?” Xue Yang smiles.

“Is that okay?”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s home.” Xue Yang stands up.

“Are you coming, A-Qing?” Wei Ying turns towards her.

“Nah, I already told you I promised to help with the flowers.” A-Qing jumps to her feet and walks to the stairs. “Bye.”

Wei Ying and Xue Yang go downstairs as well, stopping on the second floor.

Xue Yang bangs on Mo Xuanyu’s door with the skill of a brawler until Mo Xuanyu opens the door, just enough for him to look at them. As usual, he is wearing shimmery red eyeshadow, bright and stark against his pale complexion.

“Xue Yang, what do you want now?” Mo Xuanyu only needs to get one look at Xue Yang to look tired. “You can’t trick me into cleaning your apartment’s bloodstains again.”

“It’s not that.” Xue Yang smirks. “Our newest and most alive resident wants to know the details about the building.”

Wei Ying waves at Mo Xuanyu, who finally turns to look at him.

“Hi! I know we haven’t talked a lot, but I was wondering if you know what happened here in this building?” Wei Ying asks.

“I do,” Mo Xuanyu replies.

“Nice! Will you tell me?”

“I don’t think I should.” Mo Xuanyu moves to close the door.

“Wait! Why shouldn’t you tell me?” Wei Ying asks, stopping the door with his hand. “I promise I won’t reveal any details to anyone if you don’t want to.”

Mo Xuanyu bites his lower him, pondering his answer for a moment—for an entire minute, perhaps.

“Alright, let’s talk.” Mo Xuanyu opens the door for him. “You wait here.” He adds when Xue Yang tries to walk in.

“That’s boring and I came to have fun if you know what I mean.” He shakes his knife in hand. Wei Ying is not sure of what that means.

“You wait here.” Mo Xuanyu repeats.

“Yeah, sure.” Xue Yang huffs, using his knife to make the tip of the stick even pointier. “Guess I’ll have to go and find another person to bother—”

Mo Xuanyu closes the door with a sigh and Wei Ying follows him into the apartment. It’s dark but Wei Ying can notice that there is not a lot of furniture inside. He discerns the shape of a sofa, a coffee table, and a T.V.

“You can sit on the sofa.” Mo Xuanyu points at it, turning on the lights.

“Uh, sure.”

Wei Ying takes a seat. The apartment looks emptier than Wen Ning’s before Wei Ying and his countless belongings moved in. There are a couple of eyeshadow pallets on the coffee table, but nothing else.

“Well, tell me what you know.” Mo Xuanyu prompts, sitting on the opposite side of the couch.

Wei Ying recounts what Xiao Xingchen told him earlier and Mo Xuanyu smiles sadly afterward.

“Yeah, that’s what happened,” Mo Xuanyu confirms.

“But there are things left unanswered! Like, what was that mysterious incident that killed the family? Why are people so hesitant to come here?”

“The answers are not pleasant,” Mo Xuanyu starts. “People have died here, starting with a boy who was never favored by his family—his aunt, uncle and cousin—and after years of being belittled, he took his own life and left a note for his relatives.”

“A note?”

“It said, ‘I will get my revenge’,” Mo Xuanyu punctuates. “No one took it seriously, but only a couple of weeks later, they all died. The official report states it was carbon monoxide poisoning, but they could never find the real cause or the culprit of the crime.”

“Rumors say that all family members had terrified expressions like they were frightened to death.”

“By what?” Wei Ying asks.

“A vengeful ghost,” Mo Xuanyu whispers. “It’s not hard to guess why people avoid this building. I wonder why you didn’t hear the rumors before.”

“Oh, I didn’t grow up here and lived on the other side of the city.”

Wei Ying was not expecting such a tragic outcome for everyone involved, but now he can understand why people are not lining up to live in the building despite the affordable rent prices. After everything that went wrong, it’s surprising that there are residents at all.

“It must have been hard to move in here after something so terrible happened,” Wei Ying comments.

“Not really, I never said they didn’t deserve it.” Mo Xuanyu purses his lips and clutches at the fabric of his pants. “I already said too much. Please leave.”

Wei Ying stands up with Mo Xuanyu trailing close behind. He waits for Wei Ying to put his shoes back on in silence, and opens the door for him.

“Wait! One last question,” Wei Ying says, pausing after he takes the first step outside. “A cultivator told me I should stay away from the building because it’s inhabited by ghosts. What do you think about this?”

“You should listen to your friend!” Mo Xuanyu declares and slams the door shut.

The lights start falling then, Xue Yang is nowhere to be found, and a cold breeze that comes from nowhere makes Wei Ying shiver.

He rubs his arms as he walks upstairs to his apartment.

👻

If there is something that Wei Ying appreciates after a day of hard work is to relax with a glass of alcohol.

Tonight, the alcohol is beer, and he forgoes the glass. He goes up to the building’s roof and sits down under the stars, staring at the city lights and enjoying his drink.

The weather is getting warmer, and summer will arrive soon. Wei Ying can’t wait for those long, sunny days.

It’s unexpected but pleasant to hear the sound of footsteps approaching him a moment later—light and airy, and familiar. He only knows one person who walks with such effortless grace.

“Lan Zhan, what are you doing here?” Wei Ying asks before Lan Zhan can even reach him. “It’s way past your bedtime.”

Silent as ever, Lan Zhan comes to a stop by Wei Ying’s side.

“I came to capture a ghost that poses a threat,” Lan Zhan answers. “He is fast and managed to escape, but I confiscated his weapon.” He lifts Xue Yang’s lance to show it to Wei Ying.

Wei Ying chuckles.

“That was not a ghost, that was my neighbor.”

“Both are not mutually exclusive.” Lan Zhan stores the wooden lance inside one of his pouches.

“Well, now that you’re here, wanna take a seat?” Wei Ying pats the ground next to himself.

Lan Zhan answers by sitting next to him. Once again, he is wearing his cultivator robes and Wei Ying wonders if he will still wear so many silky layers when it’s hotter.

“It’s a nice night, don’t you think?”

“Mn.” Lan Zhan nods.

Wei Ying drinks another sip of beer and notices that Lan Zhan is staring at him.

“Do you want some?” Wei Ying offers the can to Lan Zhan.

“My clan rules state that alcohol is prohibited.” Lan Zhan answers.

“Then why were you staring at me so intently?”

Lan Zhan looks to the side, avoiding Wei Ying’s eyes and giving him a clear view of his pink ears, which prompts Wei Ying to laugh.

“It’s fine, Lan Zhan. You don’t have to answer.”

The tips of Lan Zhan’s ears are still bright pink when he tilts his head up and focuses on the night sky. Wei Ying looks up too.

It’s a clear night. The only clouds nearby are the ones embroidered on Lan Zhan’s robes.

“I’ve been reading about the Mo family tragedy.” Wei Ying comments. “That’s what happened here, right?”

Lan Zhan nods.

“The police tried to keep the case away from the media because of the wealth of the Mo family, but that led to even more speculation, and it’s not easy to separate the facts from the theories nowadays.”

“That is correct.”

“Yes! I think I’m great at investigating,” Wei Ying smiles. “I bet one of the tenants—Mo Xuanyu, is a distant relative of the family members who died. I’m sure he grew up hearing all about the tragedy and that’s why it’s hard for him to talk about it.”

“Not quite.” Lan Zhan says. “You are adequate at investigating.”

“That’s one of the nicest things you’ve said to me, Lan Zhan.” Wei Ying pats his shoulder and takes another sip of his drink. “When you say ghosts are haunting this building, are you referring to the Mo family?”

“No, the main family is no longer in our world.”

“If not them, then who?”

“Other ghosts, mostly unrelated to the tragedy.”

“I will keep investigating then,” Wei Ying declares. “I won’t stop until you call me a great investigator.”

Wei Ying chuckles, and there’s even a tiny smile tugging at the corners of Lan Zhan’s lips. He should smile more often.

“Speaking of ghosts… Lan Zhan, do you know why I’ve never believed in ghosts?” Wei Ying asks after a moment.

“Mn.” Lan Zhan shakes his head.

“My parents died in an accident when I was a child. It’s been so long that I don’t remember their faces anymore,” Wei Ying tells him. “When I was younger, I wished to feel their presence again—watching over me, but I never did.”

Wei Ying looks down at their hands. Their fingers are almost brushing, and it wouldn’t be hard to finally take Lan Zhan’s hand.

And yet, it’s easier said than done.

“You’re the first person I tell about this,” Wei Ying comments, letting the tips of his fingers brush against the back of Lan Zhan’s hand.

“Your parents didn’t linger with the living to enter the resurrection cycle.” Lan Zhan says.

“I’d love to get to know them in another life.” Wei Ying sighs.

“Mn.”

Wei Ying laughs, and Lan Zhan looks at him.

“It’s just that Jiang Cheng—the son of the family that took me in—used to be afraid of ghosts when we were still kids discovering horror movies,” Wei Ying explains. “His mother always used to tell us to not fear the dead because living people are scarier. She was not wrong.”

Lan Zhan nods and Wei Ying drinks the remaining beer in one go, suddenly feeling like a stone had lodged itself inside his throat. He takes another can and opens it.

“Are you sure that you don’t want a sip, Lan Zhan?” Wei Ying offers the beer to his friend. “No one in your clan has to know.” He winks.

Lan Zhan ponders about it for a moment before he accepts the can of beer and takes a sip. If Wei Ying is honest, he never expected him to accept.

“It’s bitter,” Lan Zhan notes.

“Yeah, but it gets better if you drink more.”

Lan Zhan gulps down more beer and purses his lips, handing the can back to Wei Ying.

“I will not test that hypothesis any further.”

For a moment they don’t talk, and Wei Ying’s gaze shifts back to the city lights. It’s getting close to midnight so maybe it would be better to continue their conversation in his apartment, Lan Zhan would be more comfortable that way.

“Do you want to go inside, Lan Zhan?” Wei Ying doesn’t get an answer. “Lan Zhan?”

Wei Ying turns to look at his friend just to notice that Lan Zhan has fallen asleep.

Lan Zhan’s neck is bent at an uncomfortable angle and his face is flushed a soft pink color. He looks relaxed and content, but Wei Ying knows it won’t be like that when he eventually wakes up with a crick.

Wei Ying reaches for his shoulder to wake him up, but he pauses. Now it’s his turn to stare at his companion—at his delicate features and long lashes—following the slope of Lan Zhan’s nose down to his parted lips.

He is not happy to admit it, but a part of him wonders what it’ll be like to kiss Lan Zhan. Not because he has harbored romantic feelings for his friend. He is simply curious about it!

Is Lan Zhan a demure kisser? An unexpectedly bold one? Has he ever kissed someone before?

Wei Ying is not going to make their relationship awkward now that they are getting along better, but if Lan Zhan ever offers to kiss him, Wei Ying is definitely not going to object. His lips are on the thin side, but Wei Ying is sure that they must be soft, warm, and perfect.

Lan Zhan suddenly wakes up and Wei Ying gasps.

“You fell asleep for a moment, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying tells him, taking another sip of beer nonchalantly like he was not thinking about kissing him just a second ago.

“Mn.” Lan Zhan stumbles closer to him and Wei Ying notices that his blush has spread all over his face.

“Are you drunk?” It seems impossible, but what else could explain Lan Zhan’s sudden lack of grace and his red face. “You only had a couple of sips of beer.”

Lan Zhan shakes his head. He has told Wei Ying that his clan values honesty, so if he’s lying now, he is intoxicated for sure.

“I’ve never seen someone getting so drunk so quickly,” Wei Ying chuckles. “Next time I’ll make sure to have something else for you to drink.”

Lan Zhan springs to his feet and takes a few wobbling steps like he is trying to find his balance, before he gives up, swaying on his feet.

“Where are you going?” Wei Ying has no choice but to follow him.

They get into the building and Wei Ying follows Lan Zhan downstairs to the second floor. He catches a glimpse of Mo Xuanyu conversing with Wen Ning and overhears a bit of their conversation about a cat that got into Mo Xuanyu’s home, before Mo Xuanyu’s eyes get as big as saucers and he scurries away into his apartment.

Wen Ning doesn’t have a place to run so he stays still with the cat in his arms as Lan Zhan sways over to him.

“A sentient fierce corpse,” Lan Zhan murmurs. “The rarest kind of corpse.” He pokes Wen Ning’s chest.

Wei Ying moves and throws an arm over Lan Zhan’s shoulders to hold him away from Wen Ning, and because he looks like a breeze could knock him down.

“Don’t mind him, he’s drunk.”

Wei Ying and Wen Ning jump away when Lan Zhan takes out his sword.

“I must eradicate evil.” He swings the sword dangerously.

“Lan Zhan, I don’t think you should do that!” Wei Ying calls.

“Maybe I should leave.” Wen Ning says.

“No, there’s no need for that!”

But Wen Ning is already opening the window. Wei Ying sees him jumping out and he rushes to the window to make sure Wen Ning didn’t get injured in the fall, but his friend looks unharmed, waving at him from below and still holding the cat tenderly against his chest.

“That wasn’t too nice, Lan Zhan.”

Lan Zhan just lowers his sword and attaches a few talismans to Mo Xuanyu’s door.

“I think it’ll be better for us to go to my apartment,” Wei Ying suggests. “Do you want that?”

Lan Zhan shakes his head enthusiastically.

“Why?”

“Ghosts,” Lan Zhan answers, simply.

“Come on, there are no ghosts in my apartment.”

It’d suck if Lan Zhan tried to use his sword to stab someone again, so Wei Ying guides him toward the stairs despite his initial refusal to go indoors. Surprisingly, Lan Zhan doesn’t protest any further and lets Wei Ying guide him.

When they arrive on the fourth floor, Lan Zhan gets away from Wei Ying’s hold.

“Wait! I don’t think you’ll need that,” Wei Ying says, pointing to Lan Zhan’s sword.

“Mn.” Lan Zhan takes a look at Wei Ying and hands him his sword. “Hold it.”

Bichen is heavier than Wei Ying expected because Lan Zhan surely handles it like it weighs nothing.

“Why are your arms so strong?” Wei Ying blurts out.

“I copy the rules often as an act of self-discipline.”

How can someone develop muscles while writing? Wei Ying is not sure. Could it be possible that Lan Zhan’s drunk brain misunderstood his question?

“Lan Zhan, are you sure about this?” Wei Ying asks. “What happened to that talk about spiritual weapons not liking to be wielded by someone other than their owners?”

Lan Zhan is too busy attaching a lot of talismans to Xue Yang’s door. Way too many. Wei Ying wonders how many of those Lan Zhan can store in his sleeves and bags.

“Come on, let’s get inside.” Wei Ying opens the door of the apartment.

Lan Zhan still looks a bit reluctant to go inside, but he attaches some talismans to Xiao Xingchen’s door and follows Wei Ying, nevertheless.

“You can rest on the couch.”

Lan Zhan trips trying to take off his boots, plopping down on the couch, while Wei Ying retrieves a glass of water for him.

Now that Lan Zhan is indoors and can’t inconvenience the neighbors, Wei Ying takes a better look at the sword. The blade is long, well-polished and attached to an elegant hilt that matches the scabbard hanging at Lan Zhan’s waist.

When he turns back to Lan Zhan, he notices that for the second time in the night, Lan Zhan has been looking at him closely.

“Is there something on my face?” Wei Ying smiles, lowering the sword onto the coffee table.

Lan Zhan hums and takes Wei Ying’s hands. “Wei Ying.”

“I’m here.” Wei Ying assures him. “Do you want to sleep now?

Lan Zhan shakes his head.

“Okay, we can stay awake for a bit longer.”

Lan Zhan seems pleased with that and squeezes Wei Ying’s hands. Lan Zhan’s robes are rumpled, and his hair tousled. He still is unfairly attractive.

“Your forehead ribbon is slanted,” Wei Ying mentions with a chuckle.

“You can have it.” Lan Zhan tugs at it to untie it.

“Wait! You never told me why you always carry it around.” Wei Ying quibbles, not objecting further when Lan Zhan places the ribbon on his open hands.

“For you.”

“Lan Zhan, I—” Wei Ying doesn’t get to finish that phrase.

The first thing he notices is that Lan Zhan’s lips are indeed unbelievably soft. The second thing is that Lan Zhan is kissing him clumsily but kissing him regardless.

Lan Zhan doesn’t move away so Wei Ying allows himself to kiss back, and even circles Lan Zhan’s neck with his arms before his dazed brain remembers that Lan Zhan is drunk.

“Wait, Lan Zhan—” Wei Ying starts. “You’re drunk.”

It’s like realization falls upon Lan Zhan’s face like a bucket of icy water.

“Sleep.” That is all he says as he discards his cultivation tools and the outermost layer of his robes.

“Sure, I’ll bring you a blanket.” Wei Ying stands up and walks to his room.

In the dark he touches his lips, smiling despite himself. When he sprints back to the living room, Lan Zhan is already lying down with his eyes closed.

“I’d love to do this again when you’re sober,” Wei Ying says, covering Lan Zhan with the blanket, and placing his ribbon next to the sword.

It’s slightly disappointing that Lan Zhan is already gone by the time Wei Ying wakes up the following morning.

👻

The café is nice, but Wei Ying’s mood is not.

“And that’s what happened.” Wei Ying finishes.

He just bared his heart to his friends, telling them everything that happened with Lan Zhan the other night from the moment he joined him on the roof to the unfortunate ending.

The day is sunny and hot, and very humid, which makes it awful. Wei Ying feels awful too.

As expected, Jiang Cheng looks somewhat annoyed, Nie Huaisang is supporting his head in his hands, holding onto every detail of the gossip, and Wen Ning is just sitting with a kind, supportive smile.

“So,” Nie Huaisang starts, he holds a portable electric fan in front of his face, trying to dispel the heat with little success if his flushed face is anything to go by, “to summarize everything: you had a break-up, but you were never together in the first place, and now you notice how important Lan Zhan was to you.”

“I don’t know, there’s still a chance that he doesn’t like me,” Wei Ying whines.

“But—you just said you almost had his tongue inside your mouth,” Wen Ning pipes up.

Wei Ying appreciates that Wen Ning accepted to join them on their outing for the first time, but he doesn’t appreciate that he just reminded him of that unfortunate fact.

“And now that won’t happen!” Wei Ying groans and buries his face in his hands as Nie Huaisang giggles.

“Maybe he just feels a bit embarrassed about what happened,” Nie Huaisang tells him, patting his shoulder. “The Lan family members can’t hold their alcohol at all.”

“You could’ve told me that earlier.”

“Well, you never asked.”

Wei Ying sobs and gulps down half of his drink. “He is not answering my texts or calls.”

“Maybe he’s busy.” Jiang Cheng shrugs.

“At least he has not blocked you yet,” Nie Huaisang offers at the same time.

“That’s not really comforting, guys.”

“You used to say he was weird, so why are you so sad?” Jiang Cheng asks, drinking a sip of his dark coffee.

“It’s just that Lan Zhan is so handsome and intelligent, and strong, and—”

“Why do you talk about him as if he’s perfect?” Jiang Cheng interrupts him to ask. “I’m sure he’s not.”

“You’re right,” Wei Ying whines. “He doesn’t like spicy food, but I can change him.”

“What?”

“Or rather, could’ve changed him, who knows if we will eat hot dry noodles together anytime soon, that was the first step of my plan.”

Wei Ying sighs and calls the server to keep drowning his sorrows in pricey, extra sugary, frappes. If the weather were more bearable, he is sure that he would be drinking liquor in some bar instead.

“I have an idea, what if we ask his brother for advice?” Nie Huaisang proposes. “He is the person who knows him the best.”

“Can you do that for me?”

“Of course, you’re my friend,” Nie Huaisang fishes his phone from his pocket. “And I want to know all the details about this story’s development.”

Nie Huaisang types a quick text for his brother-in-law and Wei Ying gulps down his new frappe as they wait for a response.

“So, Wen Ning,” Nie Huaisang tries to make conversation after a couple of minutes of silence. “What do you like to do in your free time? Is there something you are passionate about?”

“Not much I… I like plants and feeding stray cats,” Wen Ning replies.

Nie Huaisang smiles politely. “Oh, that’s kind of you.”

“I suppose I used to like archery when I was still aliv—young.”

“Archery is cool, Jin Zixuan—”

“—our annoying brother-in-law, and little Jin Ling’s father.” Wei Ying clarifies.

“He used to compete at an international level in archery, right, Chengcheng?” Nie Huaisang nudges Jiang Cheng’s shoulder, trying to make him join the conversation.

“Yeah, he was extra annoying every time he won a medal or something,” Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. “But not as annoying as he was when he lost.”

The conversation stalls after that, so Wei Ying is grateful when Nie Huaisang’s phone chimes with a new notification.

“It’s Xichen-gege, let’s see if he has some helpful advice,” Nie Huaisang says, taking his phone to read the reply.

“I hope he does,” Wei Ying groans.

“He said, and I quote, ‘my brother has never been good at expressing his feelings. I’m sure he misses Wei Ying but thinks it’s better to stay away for now. Just keep the alcohol away from him and this misunderstanding will clear up soon enough, smiling emoji, smiling emoji’.’”

“See? You—you only need to be patient,” Wen Ning says.

Wei Ying slurps the rest of his frappe.

“Maybe I do.” He sighs.

“Are you doing something this evening? We can go somewhere else to cheer you up after we’re done here,” Nie Huaisang proposes, patting Wei Ying’s hand.

“No, but tonight is movie night,” Wei Ying replies.

Wen Ning nods. “We watch movies on Thursdays.”

“It’s been too long since I watched a movie with you guys,” Wei Ying shakes his head. “What if you join us?” he looks expectantly at Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang.

“In your haunted apartment?” Nie Huaisang asks.

“My apartment is not haunted,” Wei Ying answers.

“I’m not sure of that.” Jiang Cheng frowns.

“You have to come, Jiang Cheng!” Wei Ying exclaims. “I know you didn’t have the best time when you visited with jiejie, but it wasn’t too bad.”

“No.”

“Come on,” Wei Ying pouts, “it’ll be fun! Don’t you want to tell A-Ling that you’ve conquered your fears?”

“I’m not afraid!”

“Okay, then prove it.”

“Alright, fine! I’ll go,” Jiang Cheng groans. “Ghosts are not real.”

Everyone turns to look at Nie Huaisang.

“What? I don’t wanna go,” Nie Huaisang whines. “Lan Zhan has not exorcized the place yet.”

“There’s no need for that! I have yet to encounter a ghost.”

“But I’m sure that I saw a ghost the last time I was there,” Nie Huaisang insists. “They had blood around their eyes, and that was scary enough. Who knows what else lurks in the dark?”

Wen Ning makes a sound that sounds like he is choking.

“Don’t—don’t mind me.” He says and the attention returns to Nie Huaisang.

“I’ll let you pick the movie,” Wei Ying promises.

“That’s not going to change my mind.” Nie Huaisang shakes his head.

“You’re going to miss out on the fun.” Wei Ying singsongs. “Actually, what are we waiting for? Let’s go there right now.”

Everyone pays for their beverages, and they all walk to the exit. Wei Ying throws his arms over Wen Ning and Jiang Cheng’s shoulders.

“We’re going to have lots of fun!”

Despite his words, Nie Huaisang follows them quietly, clutching his fan in his hand, all the way to the place where Jiang Cheng parked his fancy car—a graduation gift from his parents.

“Thought you were going home,” Jiang Cheng asks when Nie Huaisang catches up to them.

“I don’t feel like taking the bus.” Nie Huaisang shrugs. “Calling dibs on the copilot seat!”

“Then I call dibs on the aux cord!” Wei Ying exclaims.

“Too bad, I’m already choosing the music.”

“My car, my music.” Jiang Cheng gets into the driver’s seat and struggles to get the cord back.

Wen Ning is the last one to get into the car. He sits shyly next to Wei Ying in the backseat. Wei Ying has noticed that he is always a bit wary around cars, so thankfully for him and everyone else, for all the rage that he stores in his body, Jiang Cheng is a cautious driver… most of the time.

There’s not a lot of traffic, so they arrive at the building in no time.

“If something attacks me up there, I’m going to unfriend you,” Nie Huaisang turns in his seat to meet Wei Ying’s eyes before he can open the door to get out.

Wei Ying huffs. “Nothing’s going to attack you.”

There is nothing out of place when they climb up the stairs or when they walk into Wen Ning and Wei Ying’s apartment. There is nothing out of place when they fail to choose a movie for almost 40 minutes or when they bring out the snacks.

There is nothing out of place until they are an hour into the movie and the T.V. screen glitches before the distorted image turns into static.

“That’s weird.” Wei Ying comments. “This has never happened before, right, Wen Ning?”

“Oh, yes!” Wen Ning answers, awkwardly. “I’m going to—um, see if I can find someone to fix it.”

He jumps to his feet and walks out of the apartment.

“Where is he going to find someone to fix the T.V.?” Jiang Cheng asks, leaning back into the sofa.

“I don’t know.”

“Do any of you suddenly feel cold too?” Nie Huaisang asks, rubbing at his arms.

“Now that you mention it, it surely feels colder,” Jiang Cheng agrees.

Wei Ying checks up on the A/C. Nothing is out of place, but he still turns it off. The lights go out then.

“Not again!” Nie Huaisang whines.

“Don’t worry, this happens sometimes.”

Just as Wei Ying takes his phone to turn its flashlight on, the T.V. comes back to life. The static is still on and illuminates the room in an eerie light.

“You can’t tell me this is not weird,” Nie Huaisang says. “Why are the lights out but the T.V. on?”

“It’s highly likely just a problem with the lightbulbs,” Wei Ying replies, looking up. “I’m going to get another flashlight, wait here.”

It doesn’t take Wei Ying longer than a couple of minutes to get into his room and rummage among his belongings to find the flashlight, but in that fleeting time, the screams coming from the living room start.

“Is everything ok?” Wei Ying asks, running back to his friends.

They are no longer sitting but crouching behind the couch.

“No,” Jiang Cheng answers, slowly standing up. “There was a creepy young lady on the T.V. and it seemed like she was getting out of the screen before you came back.”

“I’m sure that only happens in horror movies.” Wei Ying says, looking at the screen.

There’s no one there.

“She was there just a second ago,” Nie Huaisang mutters, taking a peek at the T.V. from his hideout.

They wait for the young lady to appear again, but it never happens.

“Well, maybe it was just your imagination,” Wei Ying sits down and turns off the T.V.

“It was not,” Jiang Cheng insists.

“Maybe it was, who knows.” Nie Huaisang laughs nervously.

The sound of a plate breaking takes them by surprise and startles them.

“Not my dishes!” Wei Ying exclaims and runs to the kitchen. “I was sure I stored them correctly and closed the cabinet earlier.”

Another plate breaks, this time the sound comes from behind Wei Ying. He turns back to the living room to find a shattered plate in the middle of it.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Nie Huaisang walks back until his back hits a wall. Jiang Cheng stays rooted in place but takes the lamp and holds it like a weapon.

“That was weird.” Wei Ying uses the light to inspect the ceiling and the corners, but there is no explanation for that broken plate. At least not one that comes easily to his mind.

“Is this blood?” Nie Huaisang screeches and jumps away from the wall. “The wall is bleeding.”

Wei Ying turns the flashlight towards him and with the light, it is easier to see that Nie Huaisang’s shirt and hands are covered in reddish paint. The wall is white as ever when he illuminates it, though.

“Did you cut yourself by accident?” Wei Ying asks Nie Huaisang.

Nie Huaisang shakes his head. He looks faint so Wei Ying reaches to hold him.

“Why aren’t you scared?” Jiang Cheng shouts at him, swinging the lamp around.

Before Wei Ying can answer, the lights come back on and the T.V. returns to normal, showing the movie once again. The protagonist is about to march into a decisive battle, but no one cares.

They freeze when they hear the doorbell.

“Jiang Cheng, come here, hold Huaisang for a second.”

Jiang Cheng does, still holding the lamp, and Wei Ying moves to the door. He opens it to a scene he has already seen before.

“Oh, hello!”

A-Qing and Xue Yang are standing in front of him. Their hair is messy and they’re wearing blood-stained clothes. They stare at each other with a frown, like both are unwilling to be the first to apologize. Nothing new.

Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan are behind them with Wen Ning.

“The T.V. should be fixed by now!” he says, giving Wei Ying a thumbs up.

“It has come to our knowledge that A-Qing and Xue Yang tried to scare your guests,” Xiao Xingchen starts. “Once again they made a bet on who could be the scariest.”

Song Lan takes a quick look past Wei Ying at the inside of the apartment and shakes his head. A-Qing lowers her head when she notices that she has disappointed one of her guardians.

“This time was scarier for sure, you’re improving,” Wei Ying replies, trying to cheer A-Qing up. “Good job!”

“Yes, but we have told them that scaring people is not nice, so they’re here to apologize for not being well-behaved ghosts.”

“Oh, sure,” Wei Ying turns toward the living room. “Jiang Cheng, Huaisang, did you hear? A-Qing and Xue Yang are here to apologize for not being well-behaved ghosts—Wait! What?”

Wei Ying turns back to the door so fast he gets slightly dizzy.

“What do you mean by well-behaved ghosts?” he asks.

“I mean that they shouldn’t be around causing a ruckus,” Xiao Xingchen answers, clearly confused. “There’s no excuse for them to not be polite to your guests.”

“Yes, but you said ghosts.”

For a moment it seems like everything, and everyone stops. No one dares to move or speak. It’s all quiet and awkward.

“Oh, well, we thought you already knew—” Xiao Xingchen finally breaks the silence, his smile falling.

“What kind of idiot moves into a haunted building and doesn’t notice it is haunted?” Xue Yang mutters, rolling his eyes.

“I’ve always been convinced that ghosts are not real,” Wei Ying replies.

Xue Yang takes a step toward Wei Ying and smiles. His pointy teeth are stained red with blood.

“News flash, ghosts are real,” he says, and Wei Ying hears Nie Huaisang’s gasping.

It looks like Jiang Cheng’s hold is the only thing that keeps him on his feet, but even Jiang Cheng is pale and unsteady now.

“That’s it! This is too much!” Nie Huaisang’s hands shake as he takes his phone. “I need to call someone.”

Wei Ying can easily guess who is going to be the receiver of that call.

“We’re sorry for not making it clearer that we’re ghosts,” Xiao Xingchen apologizes. “It was not alright to assume it was obvious.”

“You’re great at pretending to be still alive, so it wasn’t obvious at all!” Wei Ying replies.

“You only see us at night, often covered in blood,” Xue Yang starts, “the lights flicker and other electronics act up whenever we’re near, and the room temperature drops. Isn’t that suspicious enough to you?”

“Now that you mention it, it is a bit suspicious.” Wei Ying nods. “But still I pull all-nighters sometimes and thought you all were night owls like me.”

“We—we don’t eat either,” Wen Ning adds.

“I seriously thought you preferred to take meals alone in your room.”

Xue Yang raises an eyebrow.

“Even though we’re ghosts, I think that Xue Yang and A-Qing still need to apologize.” Xiao Xingchen places his hands on their shoulders.

“Sure, come here friends!” Wei Ying motions Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang to join him.

They look at each other and walk with trepidation to the entrance.

“Can you believe this, Jiang Cheng?” Nie Huaisang whispers at him.

“No.” Jiang Cheng’s eyes are wide. “I couldn’t see them at first, but they’re ghosts and they’re here.”

“Sorry for tonight,” A-Qing bows respectfully. “I promise to do better from now on.”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry for tonight,” Xue Yang echoes. “And sorry for the other day, and for messing with you the first time you visited, I guess.” He turns to Wei Ying. “And maybe I should tell you that you don’t lose the remote control often, I hide it.”

“Oh, wow. That’s evil,” Wei Ying says. He won’t recover the countless hours that he has spent pacing around the apartment looking for the remote control.

“I’m not promising to do better, though.” Xue Yang finishes.

“That’s not how we apologize,” Xiao Xingchen intones.

“Fine, I’ll try to do better. Happy now?”

“We’ll work on that, and make sure that they won’t bother you anymore,” Xiao Xingchen assures them.

Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng nod, still looking uneasy.

“See you later, then.” Xue Yang says, shoving his hands into his pockets. “What a way to ruin a perfectly funny night.”

He has only taken a couple of steps before a sword that Wei Ying could recognize anywhere by now, appears from nowhere and points at him, making him stop.

Wei Ying looks around, feeling his heart beating hard and steady inside his chest.

He finds Lan Zhan crouching on a windowsill. His long hair and forehead ribbon wave in the night breeze. He jumps into the building, looking flawless in his spotless white robes.

“Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying calls.

Lan Zhan’s eyes find him, and his heart skips a beat when Wei Ying notices that there’s something other than indifference in his friend’s gaze.

“Zhanzhan, my dearest childhood friend!” Nie Huaisang cries out, running towards him. “You came!”

Lan Zhan avoids him and walks up to Wei Ying.

“Wei Ying, are you injured?” he asks, placing his hands tenderly on Wei Ying’s shoulders.

“No, I’m fine, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying answers, allowing himself to relax under Lan Zhan’s touch. “Thank you for coming but things are better now.”

“Mn.” Lan Zhan hums, taking in the scene that surrounds them, not feeling entirely convinced by Wei Ying’s words, but his hands stay on Wei Ying’s shoulders, keeping him close.

“Lan Zhan, I’m so sorry!” Wei Ying apologizes. “The other night I really wanted to keep kissing you, but you were drunk and then you left before I woke up and didn’t answer my messages.”

“Really? Right now?” Jiang Cheng mutters and Wei Ying can see him facepalming out of the corner of his eye.

“There is nothing to apologize for,” Lan Zhan replies. “I left without any explanation.”

“But I kissed you without asking!”

“That was not unwanted.” Lan Zhan’s ears turn red.

“Still, I should’ve waited until you were sober.” Wei Ying gets struck by an idea. “Actually, I’m going to ask you right here, right now.”

“Go ahead.”

“Or maybe wait until you’re alone?” Jiang Cheng comments before Nie Huaisang shushes him.

“Don’t you dare interrupt this love story, Jiang Cheng,” he says.

“Lan Zhan, I really want to kiss you!” Wei Ying declares. “I wanted to kiss you back then and I want to kiss you right now! I want to keep kissing you for as long as I can!”

Lan Zhan nods and Wei Ying doesn’t waste another second. He slams his mouth against Lan Zhan’s. It’s not a great kiss, it’s a bit painful, but then Wei Ying tilts his head to the side, and it gets better.

“We need more practice,” Wei Ying whispers against Lan Zhan’s lips.

Wei Ying had envisioned something more romantic for his second time kissing Lan Zhan, but he wouldn’t change a thing. The third kiss ought to be better, he just needs to lean in slower and—

“Hey! Your sword is still pointing at me!” Xue Yang exclaims. “Come on! Why are you always so ready to stab me?”

Wei Ying looks at him. Bichen is floating in the air, shifting, and following Xue Yang whenever he moves like a compass signaling the North.

“Mn.” With an easy hand movement, the sword flies back into his sheath.

“You’re so cool, Lan Zhan.”

“Should we—Um, leave you alone?” Wen Ning asks, and Wei Ying finally pays attention to the rest of them.

Wen Ning is shifting on his feet, Xiao Xingchen is smiling gently and by his side, Song Lan pretends to be interested in the ceiling. A-Qing and Nie Huaisang look excited, and Jiang Cheng seems to be reevaluating his life decisions.

Wei Ying laughs merrily. Everything’s good but it becomes even better when Lan Zhan’s fingers silently reach to take Wei Ying’s hand.

👻

“I have to admit that your neighbors are not so bad, even though they’re dead,” Nie Huaisang says.

He is wearing one of Wei Ying’s old shirts at least a size too big for him. Xiao Xingchen kindly offered to pay for his bloodstained shirt, but he refused, arguing that it was already going out of style.

“I told you so, but you didn’t believe me,” Wei Ying replies. “They’re the nicest ghosts out there.”

“You just discovered they’re ghosts,” Jiang Cheng tells him. “And at least two of them like to scare people.”

“They are just having fun!”

“Whatever.” Jiang Cheng crosses his arms and kicks a nearby pebble.

“A-Cheng you don’t have to be upset because you can’t see ghosts as easily as us.” Wei Ying slings an arm over Jiang Cheng’s shoulders.

“Shut up, I’m not upset about that!”

They push each other playfully.

“Feel free to join us for movie night wherever you’re free,” Wei Ying says.

“We should host it at our place instead,” Nie Huaisang replies, opening the door of Jiang Cheng’s car. “I said that your neighbors were cool, not that I liked this place, it’s still creepy.”

“That’s what makes it so special.”

Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang disagree before saying their goodbyes and getting into the car to leave.

Wei Ying is sure that they’ll be back despite their words.

Lan Zhan is standing on the other side of the parking lot and seems to be invested in his conversation with Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan, so Wei Ying jogs to the side of the building instead of meeting up with him.

“Hey! Mo Xuanyu!” he calls.

Mo Xuanyu, who was hiding behind a streetlamp, startles.

“I wasn’t spying on you and your friends,” he lies.

“It’s fine.” Wei Ying assures him. “You should’ve come out of your hiding to say hello.”

“I don’t think they’d have appreciated that.” Mo Xuanyu shakes his head. “They wouldn’t like to be associated with me if they knew the truth.”

“That you’re a ghost?” Mo Xuanyu gasps at Wei Ying’s words. “As long as you don’t try to scare them, it’ll be fine.”

For a moment, they don’t speak, and Wei Ying focuses back on Lan Zhan. He is nodding at Xiao Xingchen while he recounts a story, flailing his arms and patting Song Lan on the shoulder.

“Is he one of your friends too?” Mo Xuanyu asks.

“Yes.”

“You should go to him,” Mo Xuanyu says, turning around to leave.

“Mo Xuanyu!” Wei Ying calls for him, making him stop. “About the story you told me before, not everyone is bad intentioned, and the vengeful ghost deserves to have friends too.”

It takes a moment for Mo Xuanyu to answer, but when he does, he looks at Wei Ying with a smile. The first smile he has ever seen on his face.

“Thank you.” Mo Xuanyu nods at him and leaves.

Wei Ying watches him phase through the wall to get into the building in a cool but weird way before he runs to Lan Zhan and his neighbors.

“Hey, what were you guys talking about?” Wei Ying asks, joining them.

“Nothing out of the ordinary, just a casual talk between cultivators,” Xiao Xingchen answers. “Or to be more precise, a talk between a cultivator, and a ghost and a fierce corpse, who used to cultivate back in the day.”

“Does this mean you have a sword too?”

Xiao Xingchen laughs. “Yes, my Shuanghua and his Fuxue. We can show them to you one of these days if you’d like that.”

“That’d be awesome! Thank you.”

“There’s no problem, sometimes it’s nice to reminisce.”

Song Lan agrees with a nod.

“So, four ghosts are living in the building right now—” Wei Ying starts.

“And two fierce corpses.” Lan Zhan completes for him.

“Four ghosts and two fierce corpses.”

“That’s correct.”

“So, you aren’t a ghost?” Wei Ying asks, turning toward Song Lan.

Song Lan shakes his head and Xiao Xingchen speaks for him: “He’s a fierce corpse, just like your roommate.”

“I see,” Wei Ying nods, “you were right all along, Lan Zhan.”

“Mn.”

“Why do you only come out at night?”

“The light hurts us,” Xiao Xingchen replies. “Plus, holding a physical form it’s not an easy thing to do and takes a lot of energy. We need to rest and there’s no better time for it than during daytime.”

That’s interesting.

“Can I ask something else that might be a bit too personal?”

“I think I already know your question.” Xiao Xingchen lowers the collar of his shirt. He always wears turtlenecks, even when it’s hot and sunny, and now Wei Ying knows why—there is a thin red scar on the right side of Xiao Xingchen’s neck.

“That’s—”

“This is how I died. It was inflicted by my own blade.” He points to Song Lan’s chest. “He has a scar like mine right there.”

Wei Ying nods and smiles apologetically. “Actually, I wanted to know why you haven’t entered the reincarnation cycle like most ghosts.”

“Oh,” Xiao Xingchen laughs, taking Song Lan’s hand. “That’s easy, I wanted to stay with him and make up for the lost time.”

“I understand.”

“Thank you for not being afraid of us and for always treating us as your neighbors.” Xiao Xingchen tells him sincerely.

“Well, you’re my neighbors.”

Xiao Xingchen beams. “Despite the rocky beginning, it was a nice night, but now it’s time for us to go to rest. Good morning.”

“Good morning to you too!”

The first rays of sunshine appear on the horizon when Wei Ying looks up at the sky.

“Do you still think I should move out?” Wei Ying asks, focusing on the orange clouds.

“You should if you are not happy here anymore.”

“I like that answer more than the previous ones.”

“Mn.” Lan Zhan smiles more openly than he has ever smiled before.

It’s a contagious smile. Wei Ying’s lips curve upwards as well.

“I think I’m going to become a ghost enthusiast,” Wei Ying comments after a moment. “I’m sure there are a lot of things to learn about them.”

“You are welcome to visit The Cloud Recesses’ library to know more about ghosts and other creatures at any time.”

“That’s your home, right?” Lan Zhan nods. “I feel honored, Lan Zhan, and will take you up on your offer for sure.”

Lan Zhan hums. Wei Ying sighs and bridges the gap to grasp Lan Zhan’s hand again. His fingers are long and rough after a lifetime of training with swords, and yet, nimble to play beautiful music. They are perfect.

“You gave me your forehead ribbon the other day, what does it mean?”

“It means that you are my fated person,” Lan Zhan clarifies.

Wei Ying’s heart skips a beat.

“Lan Zhan, what I said earlier it’s true, I want to keep kissing you for as long as I can.” Wei Ying leans into him. “You have very kissable lips.”

“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan whispers, untying his forehead ribbon. “You may,” he adds, trying the ribbon around their joined hands, and placing a delicate kiss on Wei Ying’s wrist.

Wei Ying takes him up on that offer too.