Just moments ago, Jiang Meng had been imposing and intimidating while confronting Han Fengchen, even slamming the door shut with a deafening bang out of some inexplicable emotion.
But now that the door was closed and he was facing Chu Mingjia, whose expression had turned cold and stern, Jiang Meng immediately became timid again.
Chu Mingjia shot him a glance, said nothing, and walked further into the room.
Jiang Meng’s heart was filled with anxiety. He nervously looked at Chu Mingjia, then hung his head and followed her inside.
The room was lit with warm yellow light. Chu Mingjia sat down on the sofa and looked at Jiang Meng. “Take off your clothes. Let me have a look.”
Jiang Meng: “…”
The tips of Jiang Meng’s ears instantly turned bright red. He hesitated and said, “Th-this… Mountain Lord, is this really necessary?”
Chu Mingjia was a bit irritated. “What, do you want me to do it myself?”
Jiang Meng: “…”
That would be even less necessary.
Jiang Meng hung his head and first took off his cap. After all this time since their reunion, this was the first time Chu Mingjia had seen Jiang Meng without his hat.
Jiang Meng’s facial features were sharp and angular, with high brow ridges that made his eyes appear very deep. He had a buzz cut, revealing a tough, sharp face that looked even more fiercely imposing.
Chu Mingjia glanced at his hair and said casually, “Wearing a hat all the time, I thought maybe after all these years apart, you’d gone bald.”
Jiang Meng: “…”
Jiang Meng looked at Chu Mingjia in disbelief. How could he possibly go bald!
“I wear it to hide my eyes,” he said.
He sounded a bit aggrieved. Heaven knew how much trouble he’d gone through all these years just to conceal his eyes.
Modern society was fine, but a hundred years ago, many people had seen him as a freak, a demon. Whenever he appeared, he would be driven away. There had even been times when practitioners of the mystical arts had banded together to hunt him down.
Fortunately, he was fast on his feet.
As he spoke, Jiang Meng raised his hands and pulled off his short-sleeved T-shirt, revealing his muscular upper body.
His muscle lines were perfectly defined. They weren’t noticeable when he wore clothes, but now that he had taken his shirt off, his toned abdominal muscles and elegant Adonis belt were clearly visible.
Chu Mingjia looked at the various scars, big and small, all over his body. There was a new wound on the right side of his abdomen, a gash about ten centimeters long.
Chu Mingjia stood up, walked over to stand in front of Jiang Meng, and examined the wound.
Jiang Meng’s face flushed with embarrassment. “Mountain Lord…”
Chu Mingjia was standing too close. Jiang Meng felt shy, his heart racing, his whole body growing hot.
Chu Mingjia frowned. “You are a Sky-traveling Yaksha, capable of traveling a thousand miles in a day. How could you not catch up to a Vengeful Beauty Ghost?”
The ghost had been injured and had even severed one of its own arms. Even if Jiang Meng had lost half of his divine power, he still shouldn’t have failed to catch it.
Jiang Meng said gravely, “I really couldn’t catch it. The Vengeful Beauty Ghost is very fast. What’s more, it injured me.”
As he said this, Jiang Meng felt ashamed. He truly wasn’t what he used to be. He didn’t know if the Mountain Lord would despise him for it.
Chu Mingjia walked around Jiang Meng in a circle, then suddenly reached out and slapped him on the back with a smack. Caught off guard, Jiang Meng let out a muffled grunt. Unable to stop himself, the horns on top of his head emerged. He turned his head, his deep blue eyes looking at Chu Mingjia. “Mountain Lord…”
Chu Mingjia sighed. “Rest here tonight. You’re not going anywhere.”
Jiang Meng hung his head and silently sat down on the sofa.
Seeing Jiang Meng in his current state made Chu Mingjia’s mood very grim.
Jiang Meng had once been her guardian deity, her most loyal protector. He was the foremost of all ghosts. At the height of his divine power, not to mention a mere Vengeful Beauty Ghost, even the King of Yan would have obediently bowed before him.
But now, he had lost half of his divine power and could barely even conceal his true form.
So what had happened back then, when she had gone into seclusion to sleep?
Why had she woken up to find herself in someone else’s body, with a thousand years having passed?
Thinking about these things, Chu Mingjia couldn’t fall asleep. She got up in the middle of the night and saw a huge black figure prostrate on the floor, its enormous black horns rising from its head, its four limbs curled beneath it.
The great beast’s tail lightly swished against the floor. Obviously, it wasn’t asleep either.
Chu Mingjia got out of bed and walked straight to the beast’s abdomen, curling up in its warm, thick fur.
The great beast quietly opened its eyes and looked at the Mountain Lord sleeping on its belly. Its heart was filled with tenderness. This scene reminded it of the days on Qishan Mountain a thousand years ago.
Early the next morning, before Chu Mingjia had even woken up, Jiang Meng, still bare-chested, gently laid her down on the bed. A loud bang bang bang came from the door. Jiang Meng frowned, quickly walked over, and peered through the peephole. To his surprise, it was Han Fengchen.
Jiang Meng opened the door expressionlessly, radiating a low-pressure aura as he stared at Han Fengchen. “What do you want?”
Han Fengchen hadn’t slept all night. With dark circles under his eyes, he stared at Jiang Meng for several long seconds.
Without his cap, Jiang Meng was a total hunk. Han Fengchen almost didn’t recognize him.
He wasn’t even wearing a shirt, showing off his eight-pack abs. Who was he trying to impress?
As if he didn’t have any himself.
Han Fengchen tugged at his own clothes and asked with a stern face, “Where’s Sister Chu?”
Jiang Meng also had a stern face. “She’s not awake yet. What’s your business?”
Han Fengchen was furious. “What do you think? Do I have business or not?”
Damn it, his stepmother had spent the night with another man, and now this man wasn’t even wearing clothes and had come to the door to provoke him!
Jiang Meng couldn’t be bothered with him. “If you have nothing to do, get lost. The livestream is about to start.”
With that, Jiang Meng closed the door.
Han Fengchen: “…”
Han Fengchen gritted his teeth and continued pounding on the door. “Wait! You get back out here!”
Han Fengchen banged on the door for a good while, but Jiang Meng completely ignored him. Han Fengchen was about to die of anger.
Just then, Liu Jun arrived with a camera on his shoulder, followed by a young production assistant.
The assistant said very politely, “Mr. Han, the livestream is about to start. Have you had breakfast?”
Han Fengchen snapped, “Eat what? I’m already full of anger!”
The assistant: “…”
Despite Han Fengchen’s tantrum, the livestream had to go on.
After breakfast, Chu Mingjia changed clothes and left the room with Jiang Meng. Within less than half a day, everyone on the production team knew that Mr. Jiang and Sister Chu had shared a room late into the night!
Yet not a single person dared to say anything about it, not even to gossip.
After all, with a master like Chu Mingjia, even if there was gossip, it wasn’t something just anyone would dare to talk about.
Han Fengchen wore a stern face and didn’t even greet Chu Mingjia when he saw her. The usually talkative person was now so sullen that he didn’t utter a single word. It seemed he was truly upset.
Chu Mingjia knew he was throwing a tantrum, but she didn’t plan to explain anything. This was something Han Jinfeng should address.
The production team hadn’t scheduled any tasks for the day because the members of the special department had come looking for them.
They arrived in a great hurry, looking quite excited. “Miss Chu, we have a discovery. We need you to take a look.”
Chu Mingjia led them into the room. “What discovery?”
The special agent took out an iPad, turned it on, and opened a livestream.
He selected a video and hit replay. “Take a look at this streamer.”
Upon hearing this, Han Fengchen, who had been stubbornly silent, couldn’t resist his curiosity any longer. He awkwardly shuffled over and watched the video together with Chu Mingjia.
The video featured a young, beautiful female streamer. Dressed in a pink, frilly outfit with cute bunny ears, she was chatting with her audience. Occasionally, she would stand up to dance or sing a few lines.
Chu Mingjia really didn’t see what was so interesting about this kind of stream, yet it had over a hundred thousand viewers!
Han Fengchen exclaimed in surprise, “Ah, it’s her! I know her!”
Han Fengchen continued, “She’s a pretty famous influencer. Our company has worked with her before. I think she appeared as an extra in one of my music videos.”
As for why he remembered, it was because his music videos usually featured professional dancers, but someone with connections had pushed her into the cast.
Han Fengchen clicked his tongue. Taking advantage of the fact that the livestream wasn’t on, he muttered under his breath, “Her dancing really isn’t very good.”
He had no idea how she had become so popular.
Liu Jun chimed in from the side, “Ah, these days, as long as someone has a pretty face, people will watch whatever they say or do, and they’ll get support. People watch streamers for their faces, don’t they? If they really wanted to watch singing and dancing, they’d go watch celebrities. Who would watch streamers? Different audiences have different needs.”
Han Fengchen: “…”
Damn, that actually made a lot of sense.
The group watched for over ten minutes but couldn’t figure anything out. It wasn’t until the twenty-minute mark that the female streamer finally began her next segment.
A makeup transformation.
Yes, this female influencer, who sang and danced in her livestream, was actually a beauty blogger.
She had very delicate features and fair, flawless skin. She tied up her thick, lustrous black hair and began applying makeup.
“Now I’m going to do an ancient boudoir makeup look. With just this one brush, I can complete most of the makeup design,” the streamer said as she started painting her face.
The special agent asked Chu Mingjia, “Her makeup technique is very unusual. Could it be…?”
He was a middle-aged man, yet he was saying this makeup technique was “very unusual” as if he had seen many.
Han Fengchen bit his tongue repeatedly but managed to hold back and not say anything.
Chu Mingjia frowned. “But her arm is fine.”
The special agents sighed. “From yesterday until now, we’ve investigated several hundred people. To be honest, this one is the most likely.”
Chu Mingjia went to the blogger’s video homepage and scrolled through some past videos. After a moment of silence, she said, “Let’s observe her for now. I don’t think it’s her.”
While the makeup aspect did resemble the Vengeful Beauty Ghost, what was even more telling was that on this blogger’s workstation, besides bottles and jars of cosmetics, there were also several pairs of golden scissors. That was just too obvious.
The special agents were disappointed. They had just been excited, thinking they had found a suspect.
After the special agents left, the production team finally dared to hand Chu Mingjia the task card.
The director said, “This time, the client is a very young man. He’s here to seek help for his girlfriend.”