Su Kun squinted at the old lady and the master, but the two being stared at kept looking east and west, studying the floor and ceiling, just not looking at Su Kun.

It was clear they knew something but were unwilling to say, making Su Kun's heart itch like a hundred claws scratching it.

"Piquing someone's curiosity but not giving the answer, that's too unethical. Typical of people who dig but don't bury!" Su Kun resentfully turned his gaze to Comrade Mo Bao, looking at him eagerly, and said, "You're in cahoots with them, what they know you must know too. If they won't say, then you tell me."

Comrade Mo Bao interlaced his ten fingers on his knees, sitting upright and elegant, pondering for a while, then shook his head and said, "Forget it, when you should know, you will naturally know."

Su Kun slapped the sofa armrest angrily, "I'm twenty-five, not two hundred and fifty, okay! This kind of talk is definitely used to coax children, you think I'll believe it? Too naive!" =_=

Comrade Mo Bao silently turned his face away, "Ahem, I hope you believe it."

Su Kun: "..." Too much! Bad review! QAQ

Seeing him looking like he couldn't understand and was about to go down with others, Gu Yan pursed his lips and silently floated to the master's side.

Taking advantage of his inattention, he gathered strength to pick up the red-haired little bird the master was holding in his hand, shook it in front of the master, and said with a deadpan face, "If you don't want this little thing to go bald, then don't give half-answers."

Su Kun: "Well done!"

The master twitched the corner of his mouth, looked at Pomegranate in Gu Yan's hand, stamped his feet and cursed, "This old man taught you to concentrate your mind and gather strength, not for you to come and pluck the feathers of my family's Pomegranate, you stinky boy!"

Gu Yan continued to look at him with a deadpan face, the force in his hand controlled just right, able to hold Pomegranate steadily without making it feel uncomfortable.

Moreover, probably because his own temperature was relatively low and his whole body was cool, Pomegranate felt quite comfortable being held by him, and even rubbed its bird head against the tiger's mouth of his hand, then looked at the master with a traitorous face and called out "chirp!" as if urging him to hurry up and not dilly-dally.

The master lamented its lack of integrity and said indignantly, "Chirping fart! How many times have I told you, don't imitate a chicken's call when you shrink!"

Pomegranate continued to raise its neck, "Chirp!"

Master: "...Stupid to death."

Looking at the essentially somewhat similar person and bird, Gu Yan's face became even more deadpan, constantly puzzled in his heart, are the people in this world a bit silly, or is he unlucky, unfortunately encountering all of this type?

Su Kun trotted to Gu Yan's side, then stretched out a finger to gently poke Pomegranate's round head covered with a layer of red fine fluff, and said to the master, "Old man, the more you hem and haw, the more curious I get. Your bird is still in our hands." →_. →

The master looked at Granny Camphor Tree, then at Mo Bao, turned back to look up at the ceiling, stroked his goatee beard, cleared his throat and said, "Sigh - actually it's nothing. The reason why that old woman and I mistook you for a ghost is because..."

"Because of what?" Su Kun saw him dragging out his tone, not continuing for a long time, so he urged impatiently.

Withdrawing his gaze from the ceiling light, the master looked Su Kun up and down for a while, finally fixing on his neck and not moving. After a long time, he pointed to Su Kun's chest and said, "Actually it's because of that jade hanging on your neck."

The old lady and Mo Bao, who had been watching the master, seemed to be slightly tense at first, but after hearing the master's words, they seemed to be a little understanding and a little helpless, glancing at the master. Of course, Su Kun did not notice these small movements of theirs, because he was staring wide-eyed at the moment, waiting for the master to give a clearer explanation.

However, Gu Yan, who was floating beside Su Kun, saw the changes in their expressions clearly. He did not remind Su Kun or interrupt the master to ask questions, but only held Pomegranate and lowered his eyes to ponder for a while, then looked at Su Kun thoughtfully.

"The jade on my neck?" Since meeting Gu Yan, Su Kun knew the unusualness of that jade pendant.

Considering Gu Yan's usual absorption method, the jade pendant must have been tainted with a lot of impurities and remnant souls in the twenty years with him, probably shrouding him in a gloomy aura, so that the old lady and the master both made a mistake...

This way it indeed made sense. So he nodded hesitantly, accepting the master's explanation.

However, this remark aroused his new curiosity - regarding the jade pendant hanging on his neck, most of what Su Kun thought of were just his own guesses. As for the origin of this jade and the reason why it was different from the ordinary, he did not know. Now that the master took the initiative to mention it, Su Kun felt that he should know something about this jade pendant, so he asked, "Old man, do you know this jade?"

"Eh - can't say I know it, otherwise this old man wouldn't have failed to recognize it at first and splashed dog's blood on you." The master waved his hand, then pointed to Gu Yan and continued, "But a few days ago this boy said your jade seems to have the effect of absorbing souls, and it's a remnant piece, not complete... This is a bit like a jade that an acquaintance of ours lost a long time ago. But his jade has been lost for over a hundred years, we only heard him mention it, never saw what it looks like, so we can't be sure. Wait a few days, when he comes up here, let him take a look and we'll know."

Su Kun pondered for a moment, and suddenly felt that this paragraph from the master contained a lot of information. He hesitated for a while and asked, "What does 'come up here' mean?"

The old lady, who had been listening to the master's rambling, interjected, tapping the ground with her toes, "He lives below, but every once in a while, he comes up to wander around various places, and by the way, takes the stray lonely souls we've packaged down with him."

Su Kun twitched the corner of his mouth, "Who is that acquaintance of yours? I feel something's not quite right when I hear it..."

The old lady gestured above her head, "Most of the time he wears a paper hat this tall, and holds a white bone stick in his hand -"

"Don't tell me his tongue is also this long..." Su Kun rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue, imitating.

The old lady praised with a smile, "Very smart."

Su Kun: "...Bai, Bai Wuchang*?" Holy crap, so I've been wearing Bai Wuchang's jade pendant around my neck this whole time!! Is this considered a blessing or will it shorten my life?!

*T/N: A God of Death who escorts souls of the deceased to the underworld.

He hadn't even recovered from the shock when he saw the master spread his hands helplessly at Gu Yan, saying, "Hurry and release my Pomegranate!"

Gu Yan grunted in acknowledgment and placed the fiery red little bird into the master's palm. However, his retracted hand didn't fall to his side but instead landed on top of Su Kun's head, ruffling the hair of that dumbfounded fool.

The master, afraid that Su Kun's curiosity would be piqued again and cause Gu Yan to grab his Pomegranate for a human...oh no, bird hostage, quickly ran off with the old lady and Comrade Mo Bao.

According to Gu Yan, among their group, only the master had a fixed residence. Ever since Gu Yan joined them, the few of them ran to Su Kun's place almost every day, practically treating it as a base.

Therefore, although Su Kun still had a mind full of questions, he temporarily suppressed them. He watched the three figures' retreating backs with a wistful expression, planning to wait until the next day when the master and the others visited to ask.

He originally thought that he would only need to hold back these questions for one night at most before getting answers from the master and the others. Who knew that this suppression would last two to three days because that very night, Gu Yan was urgently summoned away by them.

Apparently, a nearby small city had encountered a rather tricky situation and they were short on manpower. The only special department personnel there were two rabbit spirits who could handle small matters but would get scared and want to run at the first sign of a big problem. So they pulled in help from Laixi City's side.

However, Su Kun himself hadn't been idle these past two days either.

The renovation crew sent by the milk tea shop headquarters were obviously veterans. Coupled with the shop's small area, they quickly completed most of the renovation, fully equipping it with all the necessary equipment and ingredients, requiring hardly any effort from Su Kun. The only thing he had to do was undergo a small training session with two people transferred over by headquarters, familiarizing himself with the preparation methods of all the milk teas in the shop over the course of two days.

Although this guy appeared to have a rather desperate lack of IQ most of the time in daily life, he was actually quite efficient when it came to learning things seriously. By the afternoon of the second day, not only could he correctly prepare all the flavors of milk tea beverages, his technique also appeared quite proficient and his speed was very fast, not at all like a complete novice.

With everything ready, Su Kun just needed to pick a day for the grand opening.

After seeing off the people from headquarters, he carefully cleaned the renovated shop once more before picking up some ingredients from the supermarket, planning to cook a tableful of dishes and have a good meal with Geng Zimo.

Who knew that right after exiting the supermarket doors, he received a text message from Geng Zimo saying that he was working overtime that night and estimated that he would only be able to return after 8 PM. He told Su Kun to eat first and just leave him some.

As the end of the month approached, the date of Geng Zimo's transfer to H City drew nearer and nearer. Most of his procedures had already been taken care of and he had recently been busy handing over his work, often working overtime late into the night, his figure nowhere to be seen all day.

After replying to Geng Zimo's text message, Su Kun boarded the bus and sat in a window seat. In the gradually enveloping night, he watched the blurry line of lights outside the bus window and recalled the entire month's experiences in his mind. He suddenly felt that this month's life, with its ups and downs, was simply like a novel.

The doors to a new world opened one after another, subverting his worldview again and again. From the beginning to the end of the month, it felt so surreal, like a dream.

With Gu Yan absent these past two days and that group of eccentric people including the old lady not visiting, his life seemed to have suddenly returned to how it was in the very beginning. Every day, he would go out and run around, then hurry home before the sky completely darkened, carrying the ingredients he bought along the way, riding the bus, swaying all the way back to the neighborhood, then timidly crossing a small alley and entering his home. With that, the day would more or less come to an end.

After experiencing so many things, Su Kun suddenly felt that although this kind of life was peaceful, it seemed a bit lonely in its monotony. In just a month's time, he seemed to have already grown accustomed to having a poker-faced close buddy, and all sorts of strange people and events in his days. Having him return to an ordinary life, he instead seemed to have some difficulty adapting...

"Alright, the main reason is that poker face isn't here..." Su Kun muttered while carrying the groceries and opening the door. "Missing him so much after just two days apart, was my brain kicked by a donkey..."